Dominican and Haiti Updates

"Aqui Estoy. Enviame a mi."

Isaias 6:8

I want to introduce you to the 20 men from Santiago who felt the urge to go and serve in an area of their country where most Dominicans wouldn't choose to visit. This place is called Batey 9. In the southwestern part of the island, there are miles and miles of sugar cane fields. Within these fields are the communities known as the Bateys. There are 14 Bateys and they are mostly made up of Haitians who work in the sugar cane fields. These men, women and children are paid just enough to buy food to keep them energized for another day's work. Again, there is no reason to visit unless you have family living there.

G.O. Ministries has partnered with Pastor William Decena to bring The Word to a place where there isn't much hope. Because of the faithfulness to God and the testimony of Pastor William, Batey 9 is home to one of our ministry hubs. There we have a church, feeding center and dormitory to house short term mission teams. After a long summer filled with work for William and his family, we decided to take a group of young men from Santiago to do sports clinics for the kids of Batey 9 with the hope of encouraging the church. When we started planning this trip, our idea was to take Pedro (basketball ministry), Jose Luis (baseball ministry) and Romano (soccer ministry) in order to perform the best clinics possible. That's where our plans stopped and our pea-size faith was put to shame. As people started hearing about the trip, they came to me and asked if they could go and serve as well. I was floored. By the time the word had spread, there were 20 names on a list. I couldn't figure out why these guys would want to ask off work, leave their families and go somewhere knowing they wouldn't get paid and they'd be out of their comfort zone. Then I realized the effect that so many groups from the U.S. have had on these guys over a number of years. They've seen God send out His servants and they wanted to be sent out as well. It's working!

When we arrived in the Bateys, the mission team from Santiago was in a little bit of shock. Many questions were asked about why these people would want to live in a place like this rather than in a city like Santiago. The fathers in the group wore heavy hearts as they saw children running around with absolutely nothing to wear or nothing to eat. This was huge!!! As many of you know, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, although share the same island, don't get along. There is a strong dislike for one another that started many years ago. It's rare to see a Dominican respect a Haitian worker. These men didn't only come to respect the Haitian community in Batey 9, they came to SERVE them.

During the week, we did a basketball, baseball and soccer clinic and fed the kids of this community. In the evenings we played basketball and softball games against the adults. At night, before going to sleep, we challenged the men from Santiago to become true men of God in their homes, with their friends and in the streets. We also made sure there was time to hang out and goof off. We learned real fast that lockerroom talk/behavior doesn't change from country to country. The week was amazing! Watching these guys love on the Haitian kids was incredible. Please pray for them as we continue moving forward through Bible studies and other service projects. Here are their names:
Jose Luis, Pedro, Romano, Isaias, Kerlyn, Chaguito, Joel, Endry, Gabriel, Jon, Neno, Poton, Patico, Angelito, Alan, Wisaro, Simon, and Alex.
I know they would love your prayers.

As all of you know, a group of men can't make it a week without some sort of support from women somewhere, so we were smart enough to bring Audrey, Jackie and 3 women from our kitchen staff. The kitchen crew fed us and Audrey and Jackie encouraged us through taking pictures and putting together a video for the guys to enjoy. If you want to see this video, please click on the you tube link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANW2yU0k3cI

Other info:
With 3 months left, we still need to raise $20,000 to finish our budget for the end of the year.
We are still praying for the funds to come in for a new sports ministry minibus as well.
Please help us pray for God to provide through His faithful supporters.

We miss you all as usual and can't wait to see many of you over the holidays.

Que Dios les bendiga mucho,

<><
Will and Audrey

Please enjoy pics from the Bateys below