Dominican and Haiti Updates

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

Luke 15:20

This is a verse we need to read more often as it portrays the love that God has for his children, the unconditional kind. I love as the story continues in Luke when the prodigal son begins his speech about how he's not worthy to be called his father's son anymore because he's sinned against him and God, but his father isn't even listening because he's calling for his servants to bring clean clothes, food, sandals and the family ring to place on his son that has come home; his son that was "dead and now alive again."

How many times have we been ashamed to turn around and head back home to our Heavenly Father? Only to find that as we begin our journey back to Him, He's already running towards us to embrace us, kiss us, protect us, clothe us, feed us and clean us. This was the message that we shared at our first new worship service for the tigeres (tigers is what they call "street thugs") of Hoya del Caimito.

I was standing outside the church one day wondering why the kids from our camps weren't attending church when I realized that they didn't feel welcome. Someone along the way has planted in their head that they have to clean up before they go to church. So the new worship service alongside the basketball court is called, "Come as you are". 80 people did just that on Thursday night. Some soaking wet from playing basketball, some looking for the prize at the end of the service (we raffled off two tickets to a professional basketball game) and some a little tipsy after having a few drinks on the corner of the street. It was different.....it was church.

The praise band was made up of people who are passionate about music and sharing it with the people that surround them. All are young people from the community that have participated and led sports activities over the last few years. They did an incredible job and you could feel the energy as they worshipped God through playing and singing. We began a series on the Prodigal Son as we're trying to get these young men and women to understand that just like the father ran to his son in the story, God is wanting to do the same to us no matter what we're in the middle of. Something we can all remember daily.

Meet the band: Kerlyn, Isaias, Mike, Kendrix, Romano, Audrey and Goody

We recently had an incredible sports week as well. The Indiana Wesleyan Men's Basketball team came down for a week to do construction, basketball camp and compete in a tournament against teams from the Dominican Republic and Miami. They were outstanding as they were so excited to work in the Hole and dig a 15 x 15 x 15 ft. sistern at the land for our new central church. As far as the tournament was concerned, after a rough first game, they took home the gold by beating the Santiago all-stars in a rematch. They were a joy to watch as many of them have been transformed from young basketball players into true men of God. Thank you IWU for coming and serving here in the D.R. Check out the video below from their week.

http://www.vimeo.com/1509476

Please continue to pray for G.O. Ministries and all that is going on in the Dominican Republic. Pray for the new worship service that we'll have two thursdays a month. We love you all and pray that you experience God running to you as well!

Love,
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Will and Audrey