Since our last update in July, Audrey and I have had the opportunity to serve in a me
dical clinic in Los Salados, construction in Brisa del Campo (a new church for one of our Hatian pastors), an all girls basketball clinic with Indiana Wesleyan's women's basketball team, childrens' ministry in 10 or so churches, and we have continued running our basketball league here in Hoya del Caimito. The picture to your right is a little boy from the medical clinic who had a cist on his forehead that needed to be drained. He was a great sport about it! We have learned that you grow the most in Christ when you are broken and tired. We have had to learn how to rely solely on Him especially when there's not much left in our tank. God has been so good through this summer as each group brought a certain energy that allowed us to continue to serve Him.
Audrey just finished a 6 week basketball tournament where she was playing with a women's team here in Santiago. There were 4 teams in the tournament and bragging rights were at stake. Her team won the championship and she made the local newspaper and her picture will forever be on the walls of Club Pueblo Nuevo. She made awesome relationships with the girls on her team and is really looking forward to nurturing them.I had a great opportunity to return to Haiti for the second time. We had a videographer come down to help us with our new G.O. Ministr
ies video. This visit to Haiti was a little different because I was the only one that had ever been there. We had 3 groups down here at the time, so I volunteered to lead a group of 4 to Quanaminthe. God was so amazing as he made the entrance and exit to and from Haiti a smooth one. Usually it takes quite some time to get across the border, but that day we only spent about 5 minutes trying to get through. It was a great day in Haiti as I got to sit down and interview Arsenio (pastor) and hear why he has such a deep passion for the Lord and his people in Haiti. We spent time in the feeding center, market, school, and joined in on a prayer and worship time in the church. Listening to people worship in their native language is a beautiful thing! Please continue to pray for God to change lives and perform miracles there!
We were really excited to have IWU's women's basketball team here this past week because they were like trailblazers for the girls side of sports ministry here in the D.R. This is the first time we've had an all-girls team come down to hold an all-girls clinic. As you can imagine, the females of the community were beyond excited. The girls had a 3 day clinic and participated in a tournament in the evenings. Womens' selection teams came in from 3 different cities to play against the IWU girls. The tournament included Santiago, La Vega, Mao and U.S.A. The Americans won the tournament and had a great time sharing their testimonies and forming relationships with their sisters in Christ. Please pray that the girls from these different cities and the 25 girls from camp who came forward after an altar call, will continue to pursue a relationship with Christ.
In the midst of all of the groups, we had two visitors come down to experience life in the Dominican. Tom Goodwin, a good friend joined us for 4 days. He was able to see a lot of the ministry and he mentioned that he felt that tug to come back again to serve in the D.R. Audrey's sister, Melissa (Sis), also came for about 5 days. As you can imagine, they had a blast hanging out and traveling all over the place seeing what kinds of things we do here. I enjoyed being the driver and tour guide! We have been so blessed to have visitors as they bring such encouragement and strength at the right times.
Prayer Requests:Please pray for the sports ministry as we're on the brink of something big. We really need to raise funds for this minibus as we have developed relationships with kids all over the city that would like to participate in clinics and leagues, but don't have transportation to get everywhere.A group of 15 men from our churches and work team here in the D.R. just left for a mission trip to Columbia. For many of them, this is their first time out of the country. The goal of our ministry is to empower the people of the Dominican and Haiti to spread the gospel......God has answered prayers as these men have left their comfort zones for a month to go and make disciples of all nations!! Pray for them and their safety as they work and serve.Just please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will boldly move throught this island!
We love you and miss you all and we hope to receive updates about you all soon!!
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Will and Audrey
Sis and Audrey
