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February Newsletter

SHANNON’S CORNER
February 2017

The Tower of Babel was a time in human history where mankind tried to build a monument to their own greatness.  The Lord God saw what the people were doing and he confused them by having different languages so the people could not understand one another.  The Lord also scattered the people all over the world.  This brought about the different cultures and languages that are in our world today.  Not one culture is better than another because all cultures are fallen as we live in a fallen world since sin entered the world.  A saying that many missionaries say and even live by is “It’s not right or wrong…it’s just different.”  How multifaceted our God is, like a face of a diamond that through languages and cultures we can see God’s reflected in the beautiful rays of lights. 

I had the opportunity to translate for one of the two reading teachers at our ANIJA School in Jarabacoa, they not only instructed the teachers on different approaches to use in teaching kids to read.  But both reading teachers also modeled and demonstrated in each of the elementary classrooms in how to use the skills with the kids for their grade and reading level.  It was really interesting for me to see how our teachers at ANIJA were interested and saw how it could function in their classroom.  One part of the process was to work with a small group of kids, four kids with the teacher while the others did independent reading.  Many of the kids were not use to reading independently so for some it was a struggle to stay focused and reading for 10-15 minutes alone.  The independent readers were instructed to write down questions they may have and what they liked from reading the book(s).  Some of the kids in each classroom would have four to five post-it notes filled out and some with just one or two.

It has been a pleasure to host a handful of people this month.  Dave Rhodes whom I served with in Peru for two years has come to help Josh with hosting our teams for a month.  It has been such a blessing to serve again with Dave.  A photojournalist, Johanna came and stayed various days with me during her trip to see all of our 10 ministry sites, taking photos of our kids and hearing some of their stories that will be used in various KAI communication pieces.  It was great to get to know her and her passion for being a photojournalist.  A Dominican couple, Luis and Loida, who serve in our various ministries on the island, stayed with me a couple of nights.  I had the chance to get to know them better as we will be working maybe closer together in the future and how I can serve them.  I also wanted to learn from them about the Dominican culture as well as the Christian culture here in the DR.

My fellow missionary women and I had a retreat up on the North Coast in a town called Carabete.  It was a great weekend and I really enjoyed the fellowship with the women.  Continuing to build upon the relationships I have started and starting the building process with others whom I have not spent much time with yet.  I was very thankful for the week I spent in Santo Domingo with the 18 people from the Dayton United Methodist Church.  It was great to reconnect with Randy and Peggy and to get to know everyone on the team.  I got to spend more time with the Ciprian Family who are the directors of the Care Center and hearing their testimonies and babysat their three kids so Romulo and Kami could have a date night.  I also got to spend more time with David and see him interact with the team as the team host for our Santo Domingo site.  You can read more about the retreat as well as my week with the Dayton United Methodist Church in Santo Domingo in my blog http://www.shannonreaton.blogspot.com.

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation…’”
Genesis 12:1-2a

PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise the Lord for the Women’s retreat!
 Praise the Lord for the Dayton UMC Team!
Praise the Lord for Dave Rhodes time here in the DR!
Pray for God’s healing and mercy
Pray for God’s leading as I build relationships with my fellow KAI missionaries.
Pray for the Schneider Family arriving March 7th.
Pray for protection over and spiritual covering over our missionaries, our staff, and the kids we serve.
Independent and Small Group Reading

Women's Retreat Session

Puppet Ministry

Site Clean Up Crew

7 youth at the Ark were baptized


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