The Barnabas Foundation...

Ready or not, the Cool Spring are on their way so by 7pm tonight I will just have to get ready! Actually, the last few days I have been able to catch up on the essentials and as far as I can tell, everything is good to go.  If nothing else, they will eat well! (My kitchen is full of supplies and food!) The Chinese food banquet is ready to be delivered tomorrow afternoon so no one should go hungry!

Remember, the focus of this project is youth. We will be doing a True Love Waits discipleship emphasis in 5 different barrios- 3 new ones! Please continue to keep these areas in your prayers, and for God to draw specific persons to Himself and provide leadership in each of the communities. I met last night with our Dominican translators and am very pleased with our group. Please pray for them as they are so essential to our ministry. Pray that they will have a opportunity to share with Dominican youth and be a model of spiritual integrity in these communities.

Our Richmond team is on the way, pray for traveling mercy and for protection from accident and sickness this coming week. Pray for special grace for all of us to be patient as we work together under extreme heat! 

Thanks for being patient this week as I have not had opportunity to update the blog. Our meetings in Puerta Plate went extremely well.  We made a quick ministry visit Monday to Santiago which went well, we just didn't have as much time as we had hoped.  I just got 60 poeple off on the bus to the airport and have 15 more to go and then I too will head home to get ready for the Cool Spring gang which arrives Saturday!

Please continue to keep them and our project in your prayers. They will be leading a True Love Waits focus for teenagers, working in three new communities as well as Guayacanal. Pray for the men of peace to emerge very clearly and that home Bible studies will form immediately after the Cool Spring project. 

If you look at this site Wednesday afternoon, pray for all our missionaries that are traveling home to various parts of the Caribbean/Middle America region. 

I haven't checked email for a few days but I hope to get caught up tomorrow. Our meetings have gone extremely well. Unfortunately, a significant number of folks have been sick with one thing or another.  Actually, our meetings have finished and tomorrow I will get our folks off to the airport and head home!  Cool Spring folks- I appreciate your emails and comments and will get back to you tomorrow with answers. Marsha, I did get your emails just haven't been able to respond.  I have a pay by the minute arrangement for internet access but that hasn't been the problem- it is keeping up with all the logisitics of 130 people!  I will be catching up tomorrow and Thursday.

Whew! Tuesday was a busy day- thankfully I was able to get everyone picked up and delivered where they were supposed to go and the meetings got off to a good start.  Unfortunately, I came down with a HORRIBLE bug that just killed me. High fever, body aches and a terrible head ache. That lasted about 48 hours. I think I am through with it. Good thing because today our group of 65 arrive at the airport and the full meetings get started tonight. It seems as though we have everything under control, but you know how it goes, the best of plans can fall apart rather quickly!

It has been good to reconnect with missionary friends around the Caribbean. I have not had to attend the meetings yesterday and today- it is for 1st term missionaries so I have had time to visit and finalize details for the MK program and other details.  I also had a training session yesterday for a new responsability I am assuming- guiding new DR missionaries through their first year on the field.  I think it will be exciting. Now we just need some new DR missionaries!

I have a unique opportunity this coming Tuesday. Dr. Rankin (president of the International Mission Board) and Dr Templin (regional leader for the Middle America and Caribbean region) will be visiting our ministry sites in Santiago. They will have a chance to visit in the Hole, in Los Santos and maybe some other places as well, depending on our time. 

Please continue to pray for our upcoming youth project. Victor and Sol were able to secure the use of a school in Cien Fuegos which is a real blessing. The school is very close to where we did the medical clinics and it just so happens that Sol has a friend that lives very close too- she hadn't seen her in over 12 years and it turned out she is just a half a block from where we did the medical clinic! Sol told her to watch out- God must have plans to make her a Christian too!

Wow, even though the group doesn't arrive for nearly two weeks, for me it is just a few days. I leave tomorrow morning for our annual meeting. All the IMB missionaries assigned to the Caribbean meet for a week each year for training, basic business stuff and most important, an inspirational time worshipping together. I am in charge of the logistics for this event- we have about 120 people flying in that need transportation to and from the airport and all the other details that go in to a conference. I think I am ready!

Today I did as much shopping for the Cool Spring youth as possible. It was fun to think of our upcoming project.  We also were checking on locations for the ministry teams. It does look like one team will work in Cien Fuegos near where we did the medical clinic. We visited the principal of the school today and even though he couldn't let us use that school, he gave us a lead on another one nearby where we will try. Victor and Sol will go tomorrow to try to nail down the specifics on the location. I am excited about the possibilities. It is such a large, populous area with so much need!

I will not be able to update the blog quite as frequently, but I should be able to do so every few days. I will be checking email almost daily- marsha.davidson@macregion.org.  Thanks for your prayers- this upcoming project with teh Cool Spring youth is very ambitious and potentially could lead to an explosion of new churches! Pray it will be so.

I am glad to hear the medical team arrived home, albeit late. Flight delays are no fun!  Today was a day for me to catch up on the churches and folks I hadn't seen during the medical clinics. we had a good morning in Villa de Yaque, our leaders were very enthused with the experience on Friday at La Canela. We had a special prayer for that community and for Franklin, our contact person there. One of our other leaders shared that he and many others in Villa are experiencing spiritual warfare- bad dreams, sicknesses, etc. We talked about God being stronger than any other spirit, and prayed specifically for healing and for these spirits to leave that area. Villa de Yaque has a LOT of drug use, a lot of idol worship and just your regular run of the mill corruption; it is a community that desperately needs a revival!

From there, Victor and I went to Guayacanal to give some food and mattresses we had received from the Civil Defense. One of our ladies lives in a critical situation- the kids are rarely bathed, she cooks outside, etc. I have become too accustomed to poverty but this case is worse than what I normally see. I hadn't been able to get this help to her during the medical clinics and thought it was strange I hadn't seen her Thursday when we were there. Today we found the house locked and found out from neighbors that her husband had nearly beat her to death this past week- I think Thursday- the same day we were there! Her mother somehow found out and came and took her home with her. We found out where they were and went to visit today. It turns out he kept her basically imprisoned in the house for several days and wouldn't let her leave with the kids. Finally when her mother came, she was able to get out with two of the five children. The little boy had been beaten badly, and over a long period of time. We don't know where the other three children are. It just kills me to think of what is happening with them- they were in terrible shape when they were with their mother, I can only imagine now! I don't like to offer financial help without consulting with my leaders as to the best way to actually help, so after we left her (at her mother's) Victor said he would follow up with her this week. First priority is to seek help from the Protection of Mother and Children agency and to find those children! And then secondly, to get her to a doctor for follow-up care.  She looked okay but she had obviously been beaten pretty bad.  Pray for Victor as he works with her and her family and pray for these little children who have suffered so much.  Natividad said she had been to church in her mother's community (it is an urban poor barrio too but has several evangelical churches present.) I doubt she will ever move back to Guayacanal but we will continue to pray for her and help her through this crisis.

That whole experience was draining, but we pressed on for the worship service in The Hole- it was a great day with them, after we cleaned the river mud out of the church.  They have had to do that so much lately that they were making plans to build a wall to keep the water/mud from coming in- can't blame them! What an awful chore!

Then finally I went to see Sol's finished furniture. She has completed her class on how to cover furniture (the english word escapes me).  Her work was VERY impressive.  I was pleased for her and hopefully she can begin to get some clients and get her business off the ground. 

I had intended to go back to Los Santos for worship even though another man is preaching tonight but I was jsut exhausted so I walked the dog, took a shower and am doing a little office work in preparation for our annual meeting this week. Tomorrow I will be doing some shopping and errands getting ready for the NEXT Cool Spring team which arrives June 30, just three days after I get back from my meeting.  I have learned to get as much done while I can because you never know what may happen!  Please pray for the youth team as they make their final preparations for their ministry here and for us here as we prepare!

What a great final day- I had never done any sort of activity in La Canela (Cinammon) and so I am very pleased that our first "event" went really well. We had a large group of people to see- actually more than we could attend. Things went very smoothly and our Dominican leaders did an outstanding job of sharing with people and making contacts. We saw a great deal of interest in Bible study- after our children's and youth camps (1st week of July) we will begin a weekly visitation and Bible study there. That is exciting!

We rushed from the medical clinic to the fire house where Brent (and the rest of us) had a chance to meet the Firefighters and Civil Defense unit. We had a good "visit," sharing greetings and a little information about Henrico County Firefighters and La Canela firefighters. Then we got a "tour" of their equipment and station. It was a good time of sharing- the Fire hats that Brent had to give away were VERY well received!

We finished up with a wonderful taco lunch/dinner, saying goodbyes to our Dominican helpers, and of course, the daily mango hunting. I think about 300 mangos are picked up and taken home EVERY day! Brent led the charge for a mango smoothie.  The team was dead tired but stayed here at the house visiting and "chilling out" (although it is too hot for any true "chilling" out!)  They are back at the hotel now, hopefully getting a quick shower and getting to bed because we leave the hotel at 5:50am.  They will be pretty tired when they get home, but it is a good tired.

I thank you all for praying for them and for our mission- it has definately been a fruitful adventure in every respect.  Thanks Cool Spring for sending your folks and supporting our ministry!

I will do everything possible to get a collection of pictures up tomorrow for you to "see" a little of all we have done.

The team is getting so good working together they might just finish up the 100 patients by 10am! Today we enjoyed the time at Guayacanal- it is a community just on the outskirts of the city but it has more of a country feel than urban.  They team enjoyed a prayerwalk before starting the clinic, and also got a lesson on cock fighting from Johan, one of the interpreters.  (He has a cock worth over $300!)

Everything went great during the clinic and then we enjoyed a visit with Johan's dad, Johnny, one of our mainstays in the bible study group.  We also had a chance to walk around the monument. It is under construction so it wasn't quite as nice a visit as normal. 

As always, lunch was great and then the team had a brief chance to shower and get ready for our service tonight. We went back to Guayacanl for our regular bible study time but tonight the team shared some testimonies and Wayne had a good message for the developing group. After, we had a good time of talking and sharing. I was so pleased to hear Victor (not from the Hole but the Victor from Guayacanal share with me how his life has been changing these past months as he has drawn closer to the Lord- he has given up drinking and is making some other changes in his life. Continue to pray for our group as they mature- once they make the firm commitment to follow Christ in believer's baptism, we will be well on our way to seeing a new church born and watch it grow!

Tomorrow we finish up in La Canela, or Cinammon. It promises to be another good day. It is a new place of ministry so who knows what will happen. Pray for our Dominican church leaders (Sol, Carolina, Milagros, Hector and Victor) as we share and get to know people- pray for us to be sensitive to the Spirit in finding people who are truly seeking to know God.

It has been such a good week- every day we are in a different community so everyday is a little different. Our clinic today was in a new community where we are praying a new church will develop- we are certainly off to a good start! We saw over 100 patients by 1pm and had a good time sharing with folks; Milagros had more than a dozen people who wanted a follow up visit to get them started on our gospel of Matthew study. Plus everyone got a tract that outlines salvation using the Scriptures. It was a great day! But enough from me. Here are some comments from the group:

Greetings from the DR! It is Wednesday afternoon and we have just finished a delicious early dinner prepared at Marsha's house. We thought we would share some facts and some personal experiences.

• We have seen approxiamately 450 patients: Sunday 100/Monday 140/Tuesday 100/Wed 110.
• We have been to: Santiago Civil Defense, The Hole, Cien Fuegos, Villa de Yaque and El 7 (Seven)
• Brent provided training to the Civil Defense and will meet with the Fire department Friday at La Canela
• Counted 5000+ pills, 21 at a time!
• Brent put up his shingle for the first time- we call him Dr. Mango!
• Made lots of new friends!
• Survived the flooding of Santiago and the Hole. It has rained every late afternoon!
• We are praying for new churches to develop in Cien Fuegos and El 7- our youth will be working in these areas very soon.  The nature of our team has enabled us to do diverse things: physical therapy assessments, rescue training, patient assesments, pharamcutical therapy (giving medicines).  We try to help people physically although we know we can't meet all their needs so we also point them to the Living God and Loving Saviour who can as well as cooperating with a church plant that will leave a church behind that will minister long after we leave.
• Tomorrow we will share testimonies in Guayacanal in the evening, after having done the medical clinic during the day. Thank you for your prayers- they mean a lot! 
• Our interpreters have become a part of our team doing everything with us- even staying at our hotel!
• We have learned: BE FLEXIBLE!!
• It is beautiful to see the church members here using this time to share God's word as patients get registered and also when they receive their medicine.
• Letha adds: this is a great group to serve with- You should try a partnership with them some time on a mission. (Letha is a member of Bon Air BC in Richmond and joined up with the Cool Spring team. She was here last Fall with the Pennsylvania nurses. We are glad she is back!)

So there you have it! It has been quite a week- lots of fun, lots of ministry, lots of using gifts and talents in service to the Lord.  Thanks for your prayers!

Today we worked in Villa de Yaque. Interestingly enough, the Cool Spring Youth group was the first group to go to this community (prayerwalking) three years ago. They went even before I did! Today, the medical team worked in our own building, and we had a great group of leaders to work with us- all new to Christ since that first CSBC arrived three years ago- it is fun to look back and see how God has worked and people/churches have grown.  I was very gratified today to see how the community acted- very calm, we had no chaos or dissatisfied customers, which has been true of other experiences. I think they have begun to see that we will treat them fairly and with love and there is no need for shouting and pushing, etc.  Because we had been there last October with the Nurses, we had our organization all ready and things went so smoothly that we saw over 100 patients by about 12:30pm!  That gave us a chance to share and visit with our church leaders (something we haven't really been able to do because of either time constraints or rain). We had a chance to see Juli's shoe factory which he has set up just beside their house. It was a great day!

And sure enough, it downpoured this afternoon. Some had gone out window shopping near the hotel and those guys got wet, but thankfully I was at home and got to enjoy the rain from a dry spot. I was glad the team had a "light" afternoon because they have been hard at it from the time they got here.  Yesterday was a super intense day so today's experience was a welcome change. 

The storm that blew through also brought down a lot of mangos so we had a feast! Brent is going to turn into a mango pretty soon!

Tomorrow we are working in "Seven".  There is a lot of spiritual warfare going on in this community and some difficult dynamics for me to sort through. Remember, I am just starting here so please pray for our experiences tomorrow and especially for Morena and her family and whoever might emerge as potential leaders for a new church plant. 

The team is enjoying your blogs so keep them coming!