First 3 weeks

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have updated this.  I have been busy getting ready for the school year and everything else that is going on here.  I decided that I should try to list the specific things that I am involved with here as well as the needs that have come up.

We started school last wednesday and it is looking like it will be a great year.  I am the assistant in the 3rd grade and 6th-9th grade English classes.  We work with the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) Program where the kids work at their own pace through booklets.  The supervisor in the classroom helps with academic questions and the assistant answers all other questions.  I also will start teaching my own English class in the afternoon starting next week.  I have the elementary 6 class which is 6th-8th grade intermediate/advanced students.  In that class I have 11 students and we will be focusing mainly on conversational English.  During the morning English classes they learn a lot of reading and grammar.  I have also been asked if I would like to help coach the school's baseball team.  I don't know exactly when the season starts but that is a possibility that I am considering.

There are many other opportunities that have come up.  I am looking to start a youth ministry with a friend within the next few weeks.  We are planning a Bible study with the students at the school and hopefully have it grow over the months.  He started something similar here a few years back and when it ended he had about 150 students show up each week.  There are a few teams that are planning to come down and work with Mitch and Debbie doing evangelism and construction.  One team gets here tomorrow and I think there are at least four more teams coming before Christmas.  When I am not at the school I try to help out with those teams as much as possible.  There is also the possibility of me preaching at the English church in Santiago.  There is so much that I can inform you all of, but I don't want to make this too long.

There are a few needs that have come up within the last few days.  I wanted to let you know so that you could keep them in your prayers and help in whatever way possible.  Today we went to see some land where a pastor in town is planning on building a school.  He had a school for Haitian kids but had to close it because of a bad location.  Haitian kids don't go to the public schools because most of them don't know Spanish and they will be made fun of.  This pastor is looking to build an open-air building so that the kids will have a place to go to school.  He needs $2,000 to build the roof and area for the school.  Over $1,000 has already been raised.  Right now the school will have dirt floor.  He needs $260 to pour a concrete foundation.  There are also students attending my school but are too poor to pay tuition.  There are scholarship opportunities as well as sponsors in the states for students like these.  However, there are still some students that are not able to afford a uniform or books.  There is also a church that needs construction needs or teams to come work on it. I ask that you would keep these needs in your prayers.

Arrived in the Dominican Republic

Well I have almost finished my first week here in the Dominican Republic and things are going great.  I arrived safely from Guatemala on Sunday afternoon and had the missionaries waiting for me.  So far this week I have been staying at their house as we look for another place to stay.  A house opened up on Monday and we have been talking to the owner throughout the week. It looks like the family is going to move out tomorrow and we will be able to move in Saturday.  It is a 3 bed 2 bath house and I will be living with another teacher at the school and a Dominican pastor.  The rent is very cheap here which is nice, about half the price of what I thought I had to pay.

So far this week we have had training at the school from about 8-12. In the afternoon I am normally home trying to get settled in and get everything taken care of.  I got a Dominican cell phone today for $4 and $8 a month for the service.  I am looking at buying a small Honda scooter to get around town.  It just so happened that a friends sister in law decided to sell hers at about half the price of another, and it is in great condition.

In 4 days here I have been able to make so many connections.  The missionaries that I work with know so many people that either run baseball leagues or baseball camps.  I have talked to one man that runs the league for the next town over.  Today the missionary was on the phone with an ex-mlb player who is now the president of the Arizona Diamondbacks Dominican team.  He is coming to La Vega Sunday to meet with him.  I have made contact with Ultimate Potential Inc., which is a Christian baseball outreach ministry that has camps in the Dominican Republic.  One of the guys here that is around my age was wanting to get a student ministry/bible study going here soon and wondered if I could help.  He did it once before and got up to 150 kids attending each week.  There are so many different areas that I would love to help, so it is going to be hard to narrow it down so I don't wear myself out.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.  It has been so encouraging to know people are praying for me in the US and in Guatemala.  Right now I could use prayer that everything with the house and scooter work out, and that God would lead me into a ministry that would be meaningful.  I don't want to just join 10 different things, and then wear myself out and not be effective. I will keep you informed as things unfold in the next week.  And next week is still training at the school.  School starts on the 17th.