The Rose of Sharon Education Center

The first plot of land in 2011

The school under construction

About a week after I arrived in the Dominican Republic (Aug. 2011), I was invited to go see a piece of land. A pastor had a school and had to change locations. He was talking to Mitch Martinez (view his blog here) about the idea of building a school on the small piece of land so that his students could continue their education. At that time I didn't understand Spanish very well and I didn't understand the need for a Haitian school in La Vega. The good thing is that Mitch understood the need and agreed to help the pastor. A missions team came at the end of August and we started the construction. After just a few weeks and a few donations, a school was built, and the students started the year.


The finished school in 2011

The first school year went well, and while I was home over the summer I received a phone call about trying to find sponsors for the students. Many of the families could not afford the $9/month tuition and the uniforms. God continued to provide and each child's tuition was paid, including the teacher! Since support for 26 of the students and the teacher was going through Transition Ministry, I became much more involved in the school. We planned a wonderful Christmas party for the students in December that was paid for by supporters (read my blog about the event titled "A True Blessing").


God continued to do wonderful things at this school. A missionary came and gave water filters to the 26 families and the school. My parents came down and my dad held a dental clinic for all of the students. Two Dominican dentists joined and we were able to see all of the students at the school. The students that had urgent needs were then able to go to the dentist's office for further work. I took my afternoon English class from LVCS on a missions trip to the school. My 6th-8th graders shared a devotion, a dance, and gave food to each student. It really opened the eyes of some of my students about the lives of other children in our same town. We have also had many other missions teams from the U.S. visit this school.



The new land that we just purchased

However, we knew that we didn't want to just stop with what we had. We had the desire to one day buy the land around the school and build a nicer and bigger structure. There were problems with the owner of the other property, and we had to look for other options. That is when the pastor found this plot of land. We talked to the owner on a Monday and decided to buy the property that Friday. We were trusting in God to provide the finances since we only had $15,000 of the $28,000 that we needed. On Tuesday there was nothing, but God started to answer our prayers and the prayers of many. We received a check on Wednesday from a generous donor for $2,000. That left us $11,000 to go with just two days before we were planning to close on the land. The time to meet with the lawyer was 5pm on Friday. After hearing nothing all day Thursday, exactly $11,000 showed up at 4pm, Friday. God answered our prayers just one hour before the deadline!! We were blown away by the response and how God worked for us to buy this land.

Now begins the next stage of this journey. An architect has drawn up the plans for a wonderful structure which will be named, The Rose of Sharon Education Center. It will be made of concrete block and able to have two stories. We will begin with a fence around the property and the first level which will have four classrooms, school offices, a large eating area, and a room for a person to sleep and watch the property. The lunch area will be large enough to hold church services and chapels. The plan is to have the Haitian school, a Dominican after school homework session, and a church using the facility. If the school or church begins to grow, the second story will be added for more classrooms or a large sanctuary. The price for this building is estimated at $48,000. There is the goal of having short-term missions teams to come down and do some of the construction. This will help keep the costs lower. I believe that God wants this building built and a lot sooner than we think. Two donations totaling $15,000 have already come without us even making an appeal!! When I received those phone calls I began to yell and shout praises to God. There are not even words to express how grateful I am for the generosity of people in the U.S. There is no way that we would be able to accomplish these goals without faithful supporters who are answering God's call to help. There is still much help that is needed, but we know God has a great plan. Please keep this project in your thoughts and prayers. God is SO good and we are trusting in him to provide. We know He will because these Haitian and Dominican children are His beloved children.


Here is a short youtube video that I filmed at the new property. Thank you to the people that donated to make this happen!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBeI_5NBYE

At the new land with Pastor Juan