Friday, August 18, 2006

Hello everyone!! Well the summer full of short term mission groups has officially ended for G.O. Ministries and the staff is taking a moment to re-energize before the Fall. With 16 teams in 3 months, we were able to accomplish a lot through medical, construction, sports, childrens' ministry, VBS, ongoing training for pastors, and simply loving on the people of the Dominican and Haiti. The Holy Spirit is moving in this place and God's people are fired up for ministry.

Since our last update in July, Audrey and I have had the opportunity to serve in a medical 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. Ministries 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

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Hey everyone! We just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you for your prayers and your support. We can feel the showers of prayer that are being poured upon us every day. We know that each day prayers are answered as we wake up and experience God in new and exciting ways. We are also so grateful for the financial support and the special gifts that people are sending. After about 3 rough months in a row for raising funds, God provided in a major way for the month of June. Thanks to all of you, June was our largest financial month yet which has allowed us to take care of many ministry expenses we've had for the summer sports camps and leagues we're having for the kids. When we received our monthly donor report, we were blown away by how many people have responded to supporting this ministry! We know that every month won't be like June, but we thank you and ask you for your continued support as we know it is needed in the future.

Some of you have been so supportive in other ways as well. We have received brand new sports equipment from Louisville Slugger, basketball shoes from North Oldham Middle School, and all of our vitamins and sunscreen have been provided as well. There is a baseball team that we spend time with every Thursday and they are ecstactic about their new equipment. The basketball league has begun and kids are able to play in real basketball shoes. We are staying healthy and feel energized because of our vitamins. Again, thank you all for being so creative and generous with your support.

In love with Jesus,

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Audrey and Will



Vitamins, Sunscreen, Louisville Slugger gear & shirts

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Greetings from Santiago! This is our first update since we arrived back here in the D.R. on June 13 after a nice visit in the States for 6 weeks. When the plane landed here a couple of weeks ago, we hit the ground running in preparation for the 9th annual basketball camp in Hoya Del Caimito. In 1998, this camp consisted of 10 American helpers and 30 Dominican campers. This year we had 160 campers and 35 Americans come down to serve. The presence of God has been working in this camp as it continues to grow.

Every morning we began camp with chapel. Three women from the church and a few men formed the praise and worhip team as we lifted our hands through singing. All of the kids in the camp loved clapping, worshipping, and laughing at the Americans who had no rhythm. Each day one of the Americans shared their testimony and a Dominican friend of ours, Samir, preached. By the end of the week, the response was great as 40 kids came forward to find out what a relationship with Christ is like. Please pray for these kids who are hungry for the gospel. Audrey, Pedro, and I are spending this week visiting the houses of those who want to learn more. Pray that we will all be consistent in our walk with God.

We are now preparing for the first ever G.O. Ministries basketball league that will begin July 4th. This will be an 8 week league where kids will practice, play games, and have a Bible study with their teams. We are praying that this will provide consistency, commitment, and discipline in the lives of the children here; 3 big things in which they are lacking.

The summer is a very busy time for the ministry as a whole. We have two teams down here every week working on a variety of things. Right now, a church from Illinois is here for a medical clinic and construction. Also, a church just south of Indianapolis is here to serve in construction and children's ministry. Because this is such a jam-packed summer with short term mission trips, sports leagues, and the usual daily ministry, please pray that we are able to continue to grow spiritually as a staff. Many of us know what it is like to get so busy that we forget our daily time with God. Please keep us accountable by checking in with us and asking if we are continuing our much needed quiet time.

We are so excited about being back here and we can't wait to see what God has in store for the summer. Each day He reveals something new to us and He becomes bigger and bigger. There is great comfort in knowing His plans are far great than our dreams. Thanks again to all of you who are praying and supporting us. We are blessed to be here. Please enjoy the pictures from the basketball week!
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Audrey and Will