Merry Christmas from the Dominican Republic



Group from Abiline, TX

 Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ!

Cindy and I have returned to the DR for two weeks.  We arrived on Christmas Eve around midnight.  Praise God we made it out of Des Moines which was experiencing a snowstorm that morning.  Due to a delay in Dallas and short turnaround in Miami our bags did not arrive with us.  A word of advice if you don't already do so, pack at least two days worth of clothes in your carry-on!  The Christmmas holiday caused the baggage delivery service to delay our bags by an extra day so we finally got our bags on Sunday at about 3:00pm. 

One interesting note about the holiday here in the DR, most people celebrate with family on Christmas Eve and then just take Christmas day off.  Gifts are usually exchanged on Epiphany or Three Kings Day, January 6.  We've heard rumors that the government is trying to change that day to a Friday or Monday so people aren't taking off work in the middle of the week . People too keen with the government messing with a holy day!

This week we are hosting a group from Abilene, Texas.  They are mostly older adults (I'm not going to identify what I mean by "older") and a high school freshman.  They are constructing a chapel, benches, and conducting ministry outreach and dental clinincs.  For not being here before, they are doing a great job.  In fact after one day of work they are nearly 2/3 done with the chapel!  This is great progress considering we only have three days to build this chapel as opposed to the normal four.  We also have much needed help from our Dominican staff who are off work for the Christmas holiday.  The chapel is being built for Pastor Gregory, who has graduated from the Bible Institute started by Pastor Rudy at the church next door to the TIME Center here.  Pastor Rudy was in in turn led to the Lord by by a pastor that TIME founders Zeral and Doretta Brown witnessed to back in the late 1940's.  This is a shining example of the consequences of discipleship for future generations. 

The weather here at this time is very comfortable.  Dry with days in the lower 80's and nights in the 60's.  It's strange actually having to put on a long sleeve shirt or use a blanket at night, and yes, the mosquitoes are still around.  Cindy and I will have the first mosquito bites of the year!  Christmas decorations abound, and lights are on the houses but it is a bit unusual seeing lights in palm trees.

Cindy and I will return to the States on January 8 and will spend a few weeks visiting friends and family in Minnesota and continue our partnership building.  At the beginning of February we plan to put our home in Des Moines on the market and plan to return to the DR for the spring and summer sometime in March.

Our training in Colorado Springs was invaluable.  We learned much about ourselves and the challenges we expect to face on the mission field.  Our days were filled with classes, simulations, role play activities and small group discussions.  Evenings and weekends were spend relaxing, hiking, fellowshipping and just trying to digest the material learned over the previous week.  Cindy and I also survived a virus similar to the one that went through the DR this summer.  From what we heard from those who had it, it wasn't pleasant.  We made lifelong friends with missionaries who will be travelling to the utermost parts of the earth, working for the same cause.  It will be a time remembered and we'd highly suggest any of you future missionaries participate in the progam if you have the opportunity!

That's a quick update, thanks all for your prayers and support and hope you can take some time in the busyness of the season to reflect on our Savior's birth and the free gift given to us.

Kris and Cindy

Praises:
Safe arrival in the DR and eventual arrival of our luggage.

Great training program at Mission Training International and safe travel.

Our prayer partners, monthly and one time support continues to grow.

Good health.

Prayers:
Fruitful time of ministry and planning for 2011 here in the DR.

Successful sale of our house in Des Moines.

Continued prayer, monthly and one time supporters.

Our home church, Indianola Heights Evangelical Free Church is planning a trip to the DR this summer.  Pray that all the planning would go well.



TIME Site Director Noe Figueroa & Pastor Gregory




Cindy gets out from behind a desk!





Kris using his Minnesota lumberjack skills



Long time no blog



Mission Training International, Palmer Lake, CO

Hello all!  It has been quite some time since the last blog.  We are currently in Palmer Lake, CO at Mission Training International.  We will spend three weeks here learning about cultural adaptation and interpersonal relationships.  The training has been great so far, revealing as much about ourselves as the challenges we'll face working with others.  It is amazing being with missionaries who will be serving the Lord all over the world.  We have also met missionaries who serve in the DR as well.  Speaking of which, we will be returning to the DR on Christmas Eve for two weeks.  We'll be assisting with another group and working on the budget for the next year.  Pray for us during this time that we are away from our families during the holidays.  When we return to the States in early January we will continue our partnership building and hope to sell our house in Des Moines.  Provided our partnership building goes well we hope to return to the DR in March on a more permanent basis.  Please see below our activities over the past couple of months.

After returning from our trip in the DR in Sept/Oct we attended the TIME Ministries board meeting in Dallas, TX.  We had a great time of fellowship with missionaries from the Monterrey, Mexico and Dallas, TX locations.  Plans were discussed for the coming year and Cindy and I were officially approved as missionaries!

In late October we took a short vacation and visited friends in Orlando, FL.  The day after we arrived the four of us (six if you include two Shelties) drove up and spent a week at a cabin in Gerton, NC.  The fall colors in the mountains were beautiful and it was a great time of relaxation. Upon returning to Orlando we continued partnership building with churches and individuals we met during the summer in the DR.

From Orlando we flew to the DR to help with a senior high group from Ovilla Christian School.  Apparently during this week grades 9-12 take missions trips.  The seniors travelled to the DR and built a chapel for a Hatian community in Santo Domingo.  It was a great experience for them and we even had some impromptu baseball ministry at a nearby sandlot.

Praises:

Our partnership building goes well.  Although we are at 37% of our total monthly need, we are at nearly 61% of the minimum we need to leave for the field.

The opportunity to attend training at Mission Training International.

Our supportive church family.

Opportunity to return to the DR on a regular basis until we are there full time.


Prayer Requests:
That God would provide the resources and work out the details for the sale of our house.

Our full support would come in by March.

Pray for our families as we are away during the holidays.





Training at Mission Training International