March Newsletter

SHANNON’S CORNER

March 2018

Christ the Lord is risen!  Risen indeed!

Debrief Retreat

Debriefing is a time of processing and reflecting over things that happened during a certain time frame.  It is a good tool to use in order to stop and see and feel what happened to you and others around you.  It is a time to reflect on what you learned or where you messed up and what are the next steps for you.  It’s a time if you allow for God to pour into you and to fill you up again.  Holy week and Easter are also a time of debriefing and reflecting on what Jesus has done for you and for me.  A time of refreshment at the feet of our Lord.  A time to be renewed and refilled with His love.  Jesus says, “Come all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28.  Come.  Drink.  Rest.

Walking alongside our missionaries through difficult situations can be very messy, ugly, and downright hard.  As I hear their stories and struggles, there are many times where I want to be able to fix it for them so that it is not messy, ugly or hard.  But God is teaching me that life is messy.  Life can be ugly and hard.  That is okay.  Because God uses these situations to mold us, shape us, and refine us into the godly men and women He wants us to be.  God is teaching me what it means to “love one another,” this is a command Jesus gave his disciples.  The world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples by our love one for another as well as the love the Father has for them.  God has me on this journey of how to love my fellow man even when life is messy and ugly and hard.

I am so excited for Kaela, who is now heading and leading our ministry forward in the area

Kaela teaching trauma care

of emotionally traumatized children.  In this area of training our house parents and home directors first and later our school staff will provide the holistic care for the children we serve.  Kaela and Kasandra have received training and are certified to teach and train others through the ministry called Back2Back Ministries.  The training has nine modules that Kaela is teaching.  I am part of the Ark-Jarabacoa group and we just finished module two of the nine.  Pray that our staff at the home and it’s leaders understand the value and need and are on board with this new emphasis in caring for the emotional and social areas of our kids’ lives.

Habichuelas con dulce

Some interesting facts about Holy Week called Semana Santa in the Dominican Republic.  It is a country predominately Roman Catholic.  Semana Santa is more celebrated than Christmas.  It is a time when families usually go way to visit family or friends.  They go to the beaches and rivers to hang out.  Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo) there is a mass in the morning and one in the evening for the Lord’s Supper, washing of the feet and a procession.  Good Friday (Viernes Santo) at noon is a mass.  Saturday (Sábado Santo) at 11PM until dawn is an Easter vigil.  Easter Sunday (Domingo de la Pascua) there is a noon mass.  There are many who attend mass during this time of the year than any other.  There is also more drinking that occurs during Semana Santa to the point that the police and Red Cross have placed different wrecked vehicles around the highways to remind people not to drink and drive.  Many stores and businesses are closed from Thursday to Easter Sunday.  The traditional foods eaten for Semana Santa are fish, seafood, potato salad and sweet beans (habichuelas con dulce).  In the Haitian communities, they have a gagá celebration.  There are gagá drums, homemade trumpets and some other instruments, along with dancing.  This celebration has both magical and religious parts to it.  It originated in Haiti but with the sugar cane plantations in the Dominican Republic the Haitians that stayed in the bateyes (where they live) continued this tradition.

“A new command I give you:  Love one another. 

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise the Lord for Gabby arriving safely and transitioning well!

Praise the Lord for the debrief retreat went very well!

Praise the Lord for Kaela starting the complete training course for our three children’s homes!

Praise the Lord for his protection!

Pray for my spiritual walk…growth.

Pray for Cory as he is here in Caraballo for a month helping with teams and child sponsorship project.

Pray for Kaela as she teaches this new trauma care material and that our house parents and home directors will get behind it 100%.

Pray for the planning of our summer program and our summer intern program.

Pray for Missionary Women’s Retreat April 20^th-22^nd as Leslie and I are planning it.