more Mon 18 Oct Romania team - worship / dentistry

Romania trip

Since it's working so well tonight (10:35 Mon) i'll try and update you as to what has been happening.

This is the group of worship leaders that Roger and I taught on Friday night and Saturday afternoon-night

Here is Julie, Annie, Fred and Danielle. Annie is a Romanian who came to the Lord in her teens and went on to become a Doctor. She will be helping out most of the week

Danielle is putting fluoride on this girls teeth.

The last picture is of a gypsy family. the husband and wife both had work done. Just as an aside, several people had as many as 3 teeth pulled in one sitting. just Novocaine -

Romania mission team - Monday 18 Oct

Monday in Romania

I’ll try and put a picture up tonight. It’s of a woman who is only 57 years old. You would not believe it by looking at her though; she looks like she’s around 65 or so. She came up for some teeth work, but when they took her blood pressure it was 260 over 140. no one could believe it! All the nurses were saying that she should be dead by now. We sent her home without doing anything. Tonight at our team time we prayed that God would do a miracle in her so that we could work on her teeth tomorrow.

when i have more time i'll catch up everyone on what happened the first several days.

Today is the first time the internet is working well enough to send this.

Romania mission team - background

Adapted from an email sent last week by John Sarno
"8 MCC people will be in Western Romania primarily working with the Roma people (gypsy). We are going over with the mission Remember The Children, the mission that Andy Baker leads.

Most of our trip will be taken up with dental hygiene, but there will also be other opportunities to meet and work with people who need to hear of God’s love such as handing out shoes and hats, leading VBS style after-school classes, construction and anything else that Andy sees as a need. I’ll also have the opportunity to do some teaching in the area of worship with local gypsy worship leaders and will also help in leading worship there in a gypsy worship service. Now that sounds like a fun worship service. :)

Please pray for us as we minister to and with these people.

Andy Baker
Bryan Cornell
Heather Hill
John Sarno
Julie and Fred Parker
Lyn Murphy
Sara Tamasauskas
Emilee and Dwayne Draper who attend another church will also be going with us. Emilee went on a mission trip to India with us in the past.
Kristi Cornell is our home-base contact person

DR team Wednesday update

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

We awoke in the morning to another good day which the Lord had made. We agreed that we would rejoice and be glad in it! The day’s agenda was simple…follow hard after Christ and “be Jesus” to everyone we encountered.

The entire team and the church leaders set out for sail to enjoy a boat ride and the beach together. This was a wonderful time of connecting with one another both as a MCC DR Mission team and as a grander mission team, the Church. It was wonderful to watch Pastor Ignacio, his wife Paula and their son Samuel enjoy their time together! We played hard, laughed a lot and soaked up every minute of time our God had graciously given to us. A powerful moment for our team was when Fernando, a young leader in the church, led a time of prayer for us while wading together in the beautiful blue Caribbean water. God’s presence was so powerful in those moments as the sun shone down so brightly. It was a special time of unity amongst fellow believers and I personally felt encouraged and strengthened in my inner being. As we headed back to shore, Jill, Jenny, Tom and Scott walked to the front of the boat and did a cannonball into the water. They shouted “All in and making waves…CANNONBALL!” I cannot put into words just how powerful that moment was for me. It was a physical expression of my desire to surrender all and to follow God wherever He is leading.

In the afternoon, we departed for Madre to participate in a prayer service teach a CHE lesson and to share a drama about the Good Samaritan with the kids. The worship was time was lively and Spirit-filled. Young and old were gathered together to sing “Hallelujah, Gloria a Dios, Jesuscristo es el Senor!” Dorinda was able to reconnect with a special little girl, Pamela. It was beautiful to watch the two of the reunite. It was difficult to take in and process such poverty, and it was hard to leave and say goodbye knowing that so many are without Christ as Savior. We will continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to move in this community and for greater things to come, FOR HE IS ABLE.

We returned to the church in the evening for a night of Women’s ministry. It was a powerful night of women united in Christ. We served cupcakes, tea and fruit punch. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the women with the cupcakes, as they have never had them before!! They did not know how to eat the cupcakes so they found small plastic spoons to eat them with, while the Americanas devoured them with their hands. It was quite a sight!!! Dee shared a powerful devotion about how we can experience God in our lives every day to the full, despite our circumstances. The Holy Spirit spoke through our “Mighty Mouse” (that’s what we like to call our powerful, little Dee). God allowed each of us to connect with the ladies in a very deep and meaningful way. It is hard to describe in words just what took place around a few plastic table and chairs, but God was at work and we were all deeply blessed.

We four men also planned a special evening to minister to four of the local pastors and key leaders (8 total). It was the quintessential “guy’s night out” including pizza, soda, ice cream, dominos and Dutch Blitz to bless our four friends. It was great to get these guys out where they could laugh and have some fun with the boys.

There is a lot pressure on leaders here to “perform” and grow the church. That tends to keep these guys pretty isolated and makes it hard to have friends, buddies, just guys to do guy stuff with. So our goal was to just have FUN! Mission accomplished!!! The extra pound or two we all gained though through lots of pizza and ice cream was well worth it. It was especially good to see Pastor Ignacio laughing and yucking it upJ! We had noticed at the beginning of the week we was a bit distant and seemed depressed. We wanted to join our team to the ministry he is called to here in Monti Cristi so early on we invited him, his wife and 9 year old son Samuel to be a part of our team…that has made a HUGE difference in his demeanor day by day. If you remember from our initial post his father passed away 2 ½ weeks ago and he has been struggling ever since. He told us yesterday that our team has helped him through his pain by sharing life together…GLORIA A DIOS. The other guys (Pastor Damian and leaders Mendes and Fernando) also had a laugh fest. It felt like a pressure valve had been released and levity was the result…some of the weightiness was gone. By the way I (Tom) won 5 of the 6 dominos games we played…sure, I know what you’re thinking…I should not have crushed our Dominican hosts so badly…yeah, whatever…HAJ!

So as we prayed last night over these guys we reminded them of our night out on Wednesday and pleaded with them to have times like this on a regular basis and to invite other maturing men to join in for the laughs.

To cap off the night for our team Irv had the testimony and devotion…way to go IRV…God is faithful!

D.R. team Tuesday update

Tuesday, October 12

Greetings from the Dominican Republic…this is our fourth full day in the service of our Lord here in this wonderful place. We have been blessed with great weather that has been fairly cool with rain in the evening cooling things down even more! We start every morning with an awesome breakfast prepared with love by Fransesca, Chava and Maribell.

We have had many successful events that have blessed us all with the way they have been received by the people here.

This afternoon after lunch took gift bags we prepared this morning to present to the patients in the local hospital…it is a very sad place with none of the conveniences we are accustom to in America. There is a NP on our team and she says the medicine and procedures used here are equivalent to the way things were done in the early 1900’s in the US. There are no sheets or even toothpaste and toiletries available unless the family members bring them in. The items we had to distribute came from our kids at Mt. Kidmore and Camp Kidmore and they were very much appreciated, the bags include soap, tissue, toothpaste & brush, lotion, shampoo and deodorant.

After we returned home and had another amazing lunch we took some time to walk around the area that is close to the church and mission where we stay…it is very disturbing to see how the people here have to live, open sewage dilapidated houses and very meager belongings, but yet they are proud and very welcoming when you stop at their house and always produce chairs for us to sit in. They are very generous people full of love and are not really sure it seems sometimes, about us Americano’s. The children have a special place in my heart and I spend most of my time playing with and trying, with some surprising success, to communicate with them. The way they sing worship songs with such enthusiasm has touched the heart of every team member.

Also tonight was the first ever CHE lesson done here in Monte Cristi, we were invited to Pastor Ignacio’s house for bible study and he allowed us to do a CHE lesson! Tom Moen, Bill Beyer, Jill Shuck and myself (Dorinda Veydt) did the river crossing lesson and watched with great joy as the people there, about 17 of them really began to “get it” especially the Pastor, his face lit up and continually nodded with agreement as the lesson progressed to include comments from everyone there on what they had seen! At the end of the lesson we sang more worship songs accompanied by Pastor Ignacio on guitar and after that Pastor asked if anyone present would like to accept Christ as their savior and two people raised their hands and accepted Christ!! It was an amazing night…

One of the most important things we wanted to accomplish here on this trip was to open communication with Pastor Ignacio and build up relationship, and to tear down walls of miscommunication. The men have really rallied around him and have gotten thru to him that as the teams from Mountain come we want to work with him in reaching his people. I cannot explain in words the difference in his countenance he is very open and relaxed with us, spending much time with us in fellowship along with his wife Paula and son Samuel.

A second group from our team went to another Bible study at a church members house in Los Maestros, that was mostly from youth group and they came back with glowing faces and remarks about an awesome message given by a young man named Fernando whom we all need to lift up in prayer as he could be the next generation to serve the people here in Monti Cristi .

We are all doing well physically and emotionally stretched but all feeling very blessed to be on this trip together in Christ.

D.R. team Monday update

Buenos Diaz, and thank you for your continued prayer. Monday, day 4, the adventure continues and we are blessed to see God’s mighty hand working here with us.

Today the team visited Alta Gracia, an elderly woman who had just suffered a stroke two months ago. She is confined to a wheelchair and was in some discomfort and pain. Alta, we believe, felt much better and her spirit was lifted, when the women in our team began reading scriptures and singing songs and just loving her. Alta Gracia loves the Lord and has such a kind spirit. Melissa massaged her left arm and hand to help soothe her and gave Alta Gracia’s daughters advice on how she could sleep more comfortably and position her arm in a better way. The men were going to repair Alta’s roof. After assessing the damage, the men developed the game plan, knocked down some of the loose pieces and determined what supplies were required to repair the roof. We ordered the material and supplies needed to complete the job. However, we were disappointed when the materials could not be delivered til later that afternoon. It would have to be completed another day.

In the afternoon the team headed to a private Christian school. The school is run by Ebony, an American Christian, from Detroit, MI serving in the Dominican Republic. There, we set up four different stations: balloons, face painting, freeze dance, and jump rope. The kids were so excited and actually performed and sang a song in English. They were magnificent, their voices were beautiful and touched our hearts. We organized the children by grade 1^st-4^th and rotated them through the four stations. It was fast and furious painting faces and making balloon animals for seventy five kids. Even though we had 75 kids we made over 150 balloon animals and swords. The children had a great time running around having sword fights and barking dogs could be seen flying around the play ground, laughter and joy could be heard all around. Jill was dressed as a clown and brought joy and laughter to the children as she moved between the different classes. When we departed Jill drove which was just hysterical, she kept her clown suit and wig on while we were blowing the clown horn driving through Monte Christi. The looks we received were just as funny. It is not every day they see a clown driving a van filled with laughing Americans.

In the evening the women arranged to have a baby shower for Damian’s wife Suyapa. She is expecting to deliver later this week. It is certainly exciting for the team members that have known Suyapa and Damian for years, and are anxiously awaiting God’s great gift. During the baby shower laughter could be heard for blocks as the woman played games to include over 20 games of “baby shower” Bingo. It was definitely a special time for Suyapa and the women who support the church.

The men spent their time in fellowship. Scott and Irv went with Damian, Fernando, and Mendy down to the water front enjoying the cool night air and fellowship. Damian‘s English is significantly better then Scott and Irv’s Spanish, thank goodness. It was a challenge, but the evening was a great time and Irv and Scott even learned a few new words of Spanish and about Monte Christi. Tom and Bill spent the evening with Ignacio talking about Monte Christi, the church, the mission, it was a great time of encouragement and lifting each other up.

For team time we went to “Many Breezes”, the top of Alberto’s house under the stars and soaking up God magnificent creation. Scott gave his testimony and led a devotion on prayer. The team continues to draw closer together and work well together serving the Lord. We want you all to know we are eating well, the food here is absolutely awesome. We can honestly say we will not be losing any weight on this trip. We thank you again for your love and prayers and look forward to sharing our God stories with you.

Brothers in Christ

Irv & Scott

Dominican Republic team update - Sunday, October 10

Thank you for your continuing prayers for us. These past three days here at the DR have truly been very enriching . The presence of God is very real in every situation. It gives us the opportunity to talk to Him and ask Him how we should respond to what we see, to look around us in His eyes of love and feel how He feels for these people. I breaks my heart to see how God feels for the places we have been.

We attended a service at Buenos Aires in the morning which is just a few miles away from Monte Cristi where we stay. This is clearly a more impoverished area. We were warmly greeted by a throng of children, who were just so excited and happy to see us. I never knew how kids could so easily pour out such sweet love on us. They did not treat us as strangers , they just embrace us, sat beside us and love on us in their most gentle and sweetest ways. I couldn’t explain what I felt but as the children sang various songs in worship, tears kept streaming down my face. They were just so into it. I love their voices and God gave me a glimpse of how please He is for the way these children come to Him in worship. Their innocence and humble spirit is what God needs from us. Many of them really smell bad despite their seemingly clean clothes. I wished I could bathe them and teach their parents to take care of them well. But right there God showed me the insurmountable tasks the pastor of this church has to take. Are they prepared for this? Who can they raise as leaders in that church when the parents of the kids are absent. I thank the Lord, I know now what to pray for.

The children responded so well in the skit we presented about the good Samaritan. They were so happy with the art works that they did and with the lollipop each of them got. How I wish we could give more than this, just to make them get thrilled with many of the things many kids in America enjoy. But in the end, poverty could be their richest gain since it is the love of the Lord that they can rest on.

In the evening, we attended the service at Monte Cristi . It is reassuring to see a young boy from a bunch of young girls danced for the Lord. Again, there were just a handful of adults. I feel sad for such a big building that was built for God, and yet it is not filled. The children here are better dressed than the kids in B uenos Aires. We did the same thing that we did at Buenos Aires with these kids and I pray that what they have seen and learned will grow in them.

In both services, Bill Beyer, one of our team members who speaks Spanish preached.

There is so much work to be done here. It is the building of the church that is badly needed not the physical structure because they have one made of stones but spiritual bodies who will be in these buildings. Please pray for wisdom upon the pastors on how to start the rebuilding, how to win people for Christ. Please pray for a few currently being used to help to remain steadfast. Five to six people are in regular attendance in both these churches. Your prayers, our prayers will help resurrect this place where the Lord is hardly noticed.

With gratitude,

Dee Barretto for the DR team

Domincan Republic team - first full day

We are very blessed to have a great mission staff here at the church. Francesca is the cook of the group and has been feeding us well. None of the kitchen mission staff speak English, but they smile and laugh so much, you can’t help but feel all the love from all of them. Maribell is a helper who is deaf and mute, and she works very hard to make us feel welcomed. She is so funny and loves to imitate us. Chava and Rita have shown us new ways to vegetables and make some dishes. We have eaten together, shared stories, and prayed together. One definite thing that is seen, is that God gives us no real barriers when it comes to love.

We have experienced very hot days above 90 degrees, as well as evenings with down pours of chop rain. The electricity and water seem to go out the same time every day here, so we are appreciating the trash can filled with water and bucket to dump over ourselves to cool off. The most amazing thing about awakening in the morning is that the roosters truly wake you up. I have never heard so many roosters crow for so long! There is also very loud music heard from the streets that can go on all night long.

I personally have had multiple feelings of being overwhelmed since arriving. It is so unbelievable to see people who live in shacks as their homes, most without any electricity, and children wandering outside for hours. People ride more mopeds than travel by car, and with 3 or 4 people on them (it is common to see small children and babies being held on them too). What is interesting is that they seem quite content with their lives, mostly I believe because they know no different. It makes me wonder if we really do appreciate all that we do have, and if we need all that we do have.

Thanks for your prayers—continue them for a productive week ahead!

Melissa Cummins, for the DR Team

From the men’s ministry perspective we had a great day Saturday. There were 47 men who travelled with their families, some coming from as far away as two hours by bus. If you have been to the DR you understand that that might be a life threatening experience. If you haven’t you would not believe it any way.

We had some great worship, and a talk by Tom Moen to set the tone for the day. Early in the day, Tom had a translator but after going thru a few small group discussions during the day He was comfortable speaking with and praying with the men in Portuguese. As with the women, smiles and a willing heart somehow allow people to communicate. During he day we discussed the role of Fathers in the family. In context, Dominican men for the most part are not involved in the upbringing of their children and there are not Rec Council Baseball and soccer leagues that the kids participate in and parents run around to. The mend went thru some scriptures and then had small group discussions and we pray for the conviction of God’s Word in their hearts to change ingrained cultural and generational practices which are dysfunctional and harmful to the sanctity and unity of the family structure and parental responsibilities. IT IS A BIG DEAL, BUT WE SERVE A B IG GOD. We heard some heartfelt discussions and reports from the small groups. We hope to have stirred up some feelings that will lead to a thirsting for God’s guidance in these and other matters in their lives.

Having 47 men present was huge as men are for the most part absent in the Dominican church. Sunday in two services in two churches there were less than 10 men total at worship. Damien, one of the local pastors , has 11 men in Mens Frater nity on Saturday evenings, but says they all come up with excuses for not being in church on Sunday. We are praying for God to show the local pastors new an creative ways to engage the men here in Monte Cristi.

Existence and the reality here in the DR are really eye opening. It is opening our eyes to a poverty that we can’t even imaging from our US experience. Interestingly, there is tremendous joy in the small things of life, and our being here and meeting with people, our trying to speak their language and spending time with people in church or on the streets seems to bring them joy and maybe (hopefully) a better sense that “because God loved us first, we love one another”. We are trying to live this verse and message this week and pray they we will be a blessing to both the local church and God’s church during our visit here in the Dominican Republic.

Reporting from Monte Cristi, DR THE BOYS

Dominican Republic team arrive Fri 8 Oct

Your prayers on our behalf have been to great effect as we are currently sitting in the fellowship hall of the church here in Monti Cristi.

Upon arrival at Puerta Plata we experienced the wonderful humid heat found in this part of the world. After lunching at the Burger King...yes the BK is alive and well here, we experienced a harrowing 3 hour van ride dodging pedestrians, vans, bikes, dogs, chickens, donkeys and pot holes all along the way.

We are just now “installed“ in our rooms and awaiting supper. It has been four years for me since I was here last and upon arrival have already seen many changes. This speaks well of the faithfulness of the church here and Kingdom Participants who have given sacrifically to edify the body here.

We will tell many life stories of the saints here in Monti Cristi during our time here and posts there but let me start by asing for your prayers on behalf of the pastor here, Ignacio. He has been pastoring here for three years having come from Santo Domingo to lead the church. His father passed away a week and a half ago and it has been very difficult for him. We believe our presence and my experience with loosing my father in June of this year will be a blessing for him.

We are excited, pumped and sweating...ready to be poured out as drink offerings amongst the Lords people. Pray for us as we incarnate the Christ‘s presence and pray for us “that when we open our mouths we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel“.

With you in making God‘s Name GREAT among the Nations...Tom (for the DR Team)

Kenya team (repost from their team blog) Oct 6

Wed - Last Day at Ewaso

Wed- things are winding down at the clinic for today, our last day here. Wednesdays are "mommy days" - lots of pregnant women come for prenatal treatment and also bringing babies in for immunizations. The team has been so blessed this week to work beside the wonderful folks here at this clinic. Yesterday we went to a very remote clinic to work with Samuel, a Maasai nurse who has been here for more then 25 years. That was an amazing experience. Four of us went to a school near the clinic and gave fluoride treatments to over 700 kids! Wow! I think each of us has been deeply touched by the Maasai people and we can't wait to come home and share with all of you. Please continue to keep the Maasai in prayer!!

from their team blog

Kenya team repost from their team blog - Oct 4

Monday with the Maasai

We had a great weekend and a great time at church yesterday celebrating and praising our God with the Maasai People. The people are so worshipful and full of energy. You would be blown away at how they just praise God. The preaching, the music and dancing. Pastor James spoke, and the service was translated from Maa into Swahalli, and then into English. Our own Pastor Dennis Curran also gave a wonderful message.

We then had dinner with Mary Nampaso. This is a remarkable women. She has been washing our clothes and taking good care of us. She cooked this great dinner at her house in her village. It was a traditional Maasai meal, shared with everyone in her village. It was amazing.

We have another full day at the clinic and seeing many patients. Jenn B. has just diagnosed more patients as HIV positive, which is always a heartbreak. Especially when it's a child. But aside from medical treatment they also provide counseling and outreach. Dr. Wells and Dawny have had many surgeriens, mostly lipomas, and many of us have been able to assist. This is an incredible place.

We have also been able to provide floride treatments to all the children (over 800) in the school next to the clinic. We will all have many stories to share on the many ways these kids have blessed us.

Kenya team re-post Oct 2

Clinic - Ewaso Ngiro

The team arrived at Ewaso Ngiro clinic several days ago, and we have been very busy. Treating teeth with fluoride (hundreds of school children) and lots of pregnant women and babies. The treatment rooms are never empty. God has managed to challenge and use each of us. The clinic director, John Sankok and his wife Grace were very gracious and hosted us for dinner in their home last night - a wonderfuly home cooked meal. Several of our team members have gotten ill, but lucky we have a team of doctors and nurses here to take care of us! We have also been to the school, where Jennifer W. was able to teach a class and Linda and Tracy entertained the kids and took lots of pictures. Dennis will be delivering the message in church tomorrow. So much going on!

Please continue to keep us in prayer. And of course, all of the folks here at the clinic. This is a very dedicated and hardworking group of people here.

(from the Kenya team main blog)