October 2016
Thank you so very much for your prayers and
contribution towards our missionary retreat!
God is so good and faithful and blessed our time at the retreat with
fun, fellowship, team building, and resting in “green pastures” and “quiet
waters.” The theme of our retreat was
Psalm 23, understanding what the Lord as our shepherd does for us. One of the aspects of the retreat that stood
out was hearing our fellow teammates’ testimonies. Stories of overcoming drugs, drinking,
depression, death of loved ones, anger, bitterness, resentment, self-reliance,
entrapment, voicelessness, and financial strife. Through the grace of God, His mercy and deep
love He met each one in the midst of the circumstance. The power of God restoring each one for the
purpose He has for them in serving our kids here in the Dominican Republic. It’s powerful. It’s breath taking and inspiring. God at the loom weaving the threads of our
lives into a beautiful tapestry for His glory and honor.
It was a privilege to shower upon our missionaries
and their families with small little gifts of appreciation and thank you for
all they do here in serving our 1,900 children all over the DR. Many also serve and work along side our
amazing Dominican staff and families of our children. I am thankful that you and I are a part of
this team.
I have had some great opportunities to sit down
one-on-one to talks with a handful of my teammates. Getting to know them better personally as
well as their ministries and the roles they have. These times have been very rewarding to me
because I get an inside glimpse of what they are doing in serving our kids,
their families, and staff. Also, I get
to see how God is working in their own lives as they share.
I was invited to lead a Bible study with three
other women. It was an answer to prayer,
being a part of a women’s Bible study. Our study is the book, “Inside Out” by Dr. Larry
Crabb. It’s been amazing to hear how God
is already using this study to show each one of us areas in our lives where we
need to completely trust and depend on Him.
I really am grateful for this group of women and their encouragement
they give me.
One of the
areas of member care that I have been working on and researching material is in
the Dominican culture and language. One
of the things I learned from my time at CIT is to learn as much as you can of
the culture group you are serving.
Culture can tell you a lot about the reason why things are done the way
they are. About religious practices and
even the words they speak. The indigenous
group, TaÃno, originally inhabited the island of Hispaniola. This is the people group that Christopher
Columbus came upon when he landed on Hispaniola in 1492. There are still many TaÃno words that are
still used in the Dominican Spanish. The
Spanish spoken here in the DR is unique because they use apostrophes in their
words to take place of letters. For
example, in English the word “willing” some use “willin’.” Some letters they just do not pronounce even
though it should be pronounced in Spanish.
This can make learning the Dominican language a little more challenging
for our missionaries to learn. One of
our Dominican house Dads brought this to my attention and now we are trying to
come up with Dominican words and phrases that are common here to share with any
new missionaries who arrive to the island.
Just one way to help equip our missionaries who will be living and
serving in the DR.
In the
coming year we have one couple, one family, and three singles who will be
joining our KAI family here in the DR.
Very exciting! Each on is in a
different phase of candidacy and it’s been great to be able to reach out to
them. Encourage them. Give them some helpful tips. Looking forward to being a part of their
transition once they arrive to the island to make it as smooth as
possible. Many things will happen
through experiencing it (good or bad) but making sure they have the tools to go
walk through it and accompany them through the journey.
“The Lord
is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me
lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores
my soul, He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalm
23:1-3
PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise
the Lord for an amazing retreat with my fellow KAI missionaries!
Praise the Lord for you!
Pray
for God’s leading as I build relationships with my fellow KAI missionaries.
Pray
for wisdom and discernment when I meet with each person.
Pray
for two practical projects: making a cookbook for living here in the DR to give
to new missionaries; for making a directory of all our missionaries and
directors.
Pray
that I will get to talk to all four of our missionaries serving in Constanza
this month.
Shannon thanks for sharing you experience. It is also to see how God is working in, around and through you. Blessings Pam
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