John 15:8
The last two months have been filled with fruit. There have been countless reminders of what God is doing on the island of Hispaniola so it's only fair that I share them with you all.....the people that so faithfully support and encourage our ministry.
For the third straight year, our home church in Louisville, Ky, came down for a week long mission trip at the end of March through the beginning of April. Throughout the week, we talked a lot about the large steps the church has taken in over seas missions. When we decided to move to the Dominican Republic 4 years ago, everyone was asking what our needs were. Of course we had many prayer concerns and monetary needs, but the one thing that we remember asking of everyone was to come down to the D.R. and experience it. No matter how many pictures we show or stories we tell, it's just not the same as someone physically walking the streets, hugging the Dominicans/Haitians, sitting in the homes, smelling the coffee, riding in the cars in crazy traffic, feeding a kid in a feeding center, eating ice cream at Bon or working alongside our Dominican and Haitian staff in the hot sun. So after almost 4 years of living on the island, we are praising God for the fruit He has provided in answering our prayers and our requests.......people are coming down to serve and experience the Dominican Republic. Thank you to all that have come, will come and for those of you that cannot, thanks for praying for the people that can. We are encouraged every time we see a familiar face and so is our Dominican Family.
St. John United Methodist Church, Louisville, KY
Sports Ministry is making huge strides in the training of our work crew both spritually and in leadership. We have continued to study R. Kent Hughes' book The Disciplines of a Godly Man and the response has been....fruitful. Pedro, Romano, Jose Luis, Simon, Alan, Alexander, Kerlyn, Wilson, Eric, Mike and Will are learning what it means to be Godly men in our homes, work, relationships, mind, devotion time, worship, church, leadership, giving, witness and ministry. Please continue to pray for this journey we are on.
At the end of April, we tested a new area of sports ministry and it was a success. A group of 11 men from Illinois came down to help us with a football camp.....American football! We knew we were in for a ride when the kids looked funny at the ball, then picked it up and tried to throw it like a baseball. We started from scratch and by the end of the camp, we were ready to call the NFL about a couple of new Dominican prospects. The kids loved it and caught on very quickly. Two kids that particpated in the football camp are now new Believers and are attending the church. God's fruit.
These same men from Illinois held a men's conference in a city called La Vega. There were close to 150 Dominican, Haitian and American men that attended and it was incredible. The topic for the week was "Breaking the cycle of Sin". In the Bible, it gives many examples of sin being passed on from generation to generation and gaining power on the way down. Many people today struggle with the sins of their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers, but it doesn't have to be passed on to our children. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" We celebrated that promise all weekend long.
Group from Illinois
The final fruit we want to share covers the entire G.O. Ministries organization. Every four yearsour ministry takes a few days to look back and see what God has done. We call it the Celebrationof Partnerships. All 61 of our Dominican, Haitian, Columbian and Mongolian workers and their spouses (about 100 total) made their way to Puerto Plata (northern coast of D.R.) to meet up with our North American Partners that support the ministry. We worshipped in 3 languages, participated in Beach Olympics, ate together, swam together and celebrated together what God is doing through His unworthy servants. It was an incredibly refreshing time as we took this opportunity to get to know one another on a deeper level and sing praises to our King. Thank you to all of you who play such a huge role in expanding the Kingdom.
group photo from the celebration of partnerships
G.O. Staff
egg toss competition
human pyramid competitionPlease pray for us as we head into the summer months and host many short term mission teams. Pray for safe travels and that we will not get in the way of what God has laid out for us. We'd love to hear from you, so don't be afraid to toss an email our way!!
With love,
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Will and Audrey Partin
