New Opportunities

I am just about a week away from heading north to Georgia! Which leads to the question: why does home have to be so far away from home? A couple of years ago, I would never have traded the hills of North Georgia for anyplace in the world; now I wouldn't trade beautiful, tropical (and right now, WET) Dominican Republic for anything.

As most of you know by now, I am happily "courting" a Dominican by the name of Abel De la Cruz Acosta. He is a music minister in a nearby Baptist church, and has been involved here in Juan Tomas since 2008. We have taught classes together, and this morning had the opportunity to present the ministries to a prominent Dominican Christian violinist and conductor. Music students from both churches gave him a "concert," (for many, the first time to perform), and he left enthusiastic about helping us in whatever way he can. Pictured below is Camila, a 12-year-old student from Juan Tomas practicing "Nothing but the Blood."

ALSO -- Here on the farm, we had piglets born last week!!! They're so cute it makes you want one... until you look at the mother.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, and have a wonderful week!

End of School, Beginning of Summer

The school year is coming to an end! Remember that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you stared at a 5 page exam in which all of a sudden you couldn't think straight, your mind went blank, and the phrases and questions on the page might as well have been Greek? For the last two weeks, students have been reviewing, studying, cramming, praying, and sometimes panicking as they went through EIGHT SOLID DAYS of exams. And it's not just hard for the students; after all, they have 10 or 12 exams, and they're (hopefully) done! I have learned that the teacher has ALL the exams from EVERY class to grade, plus any final projects! I now completely forgive any professor I have ever had to hand my work back a little late or get grades posted at the last possible minute! Now I realize that to get everything done, a teacher sometimes has to be a miracle worker! (Or at least have late nights!) Please keep the teachers in your prayers, as we will continue to work and plan for most of the month of June.

With the summer come more groups from the U.S., working around the school and church or in a camp. Each and every group is a blessing for the ministry and the people here in the village, and we in the church also want to be a blessing to them.

We continue with the instrumental music lessons in the church. We have tried in vain to get all the students together for a picture, but so far have not succeeded. In addition to those pictured, there is one more piano student, two more guitar students, and four more string students.

Blessings from the Lord

Last week was a good one in many ways, filled with blessings from the Lord.
First, here are a couple of mango pictures to help you visualize what I was talking about it the last post. The first picture shows five of the twenty mangoes that I peeled and sliced up on Tuesday to turn into "peach" cobbler.
This second picture is of the mango tree that hangs it's branches over the garage roof, which is connected to my apartment roof. At night the mango tree likes to go bowling (minus the pins) -- it tosses a mango onto the roof, which then rolls down with a classic bowling ball sound. Speaking of the roof, we had a mission team arrive from Oregon last Saturday, some of whom have begun installing a ceiling in my apartment. This is a great blessing, as the temperature inside would go up 10 degrees or so in the late morning and afternoon, and be very slow to go back down even after it cooled off at night. With the insulation and some of the panels now up, the temperature has remained pretty constant -- so far rising only about 2 degrees in the afternoon. There is a HUGE difference between 84 and 94 degrees!!!

We finished up the classes for this semester, and begin Finals tomorrow. Having already reviewed with several of my classes, I was able to invite a guest art teacher who is here on the mission trip to teach in some grades. This set me free to spend more time planning and preparing for the classes I had. On Wednesday night, the Lord laid it on my heart to do an evangelistic "chalk talk" for 10th grade, who had class with me at the last period on Thursday. At first, I said "NO WAY am I doing that." This is something I hadn't done in 6-7 years! Then a simple, but communicative picture began to come to mind. So I said, "But they won't listen. They're all ready for summer break." Well, Thursday morning found me working on the colors for the picture and drawing in the sky and background for the presentation.... and praying that half the class would skip and go home early! But the vast majority didn't. And although a couple did try to be disruptive, when I concluded the chalk art message with a presentation of the Gospel, they were all quiet and attentive. I am praying that having received the Gospel message in different way will plant it firmly into their minds, and that a picture will truly "be worth a thousand words."

Tropical Paradise...

Last week began with a tree throwing a mango at me (it missed). It ended with me throwing a mango at the tree (I missed). Let me explain: it is now mango season and different varieties of the fruit are easily to be had, as the trees grow everywhere. So last Monday, I was minding my own business when the huge mango tree standing by the house threw the ripe mango at me. Since the tree is so big, there are two ways to get ripe mangoes -- either wait for them to fall, or throw a fallen green mango at the ripe mango to make it fall. I have had multiple successes with the first strategy for obtaining a mango or two, and no success whatsoever with the second, even though I told the tree I wanted one more mango to make a mango pie (which I made anyway).

It is ALSO the rainy season. This means cloudbursts at any moment without much warning. It means one moment the road between the farm and the church can be hard as concrete, the next a muddy, sticky bog. But the rain is a blessing (even when a downpour means the starving students can't leave at 1:55 p.m. when school gets out). With the extra warm climate this spring, the rain cools down the temperatures, and makes for a refreshing atmosphere as long as it lasts.

Now for real news: in the school, we are all working hard (frantically?) to prepare for Finals and all the things associated with the end of the school year. My 11th grade class is planning to perform a drama of The Pineapple Story in chapel, but due to some unforeseen events, we have lost some much-needed practice time. Please pray for us over the next week as we try to make it presentable! In the church, there has been some new excitement and motivation to organize regular special music for the services. Please pray for this as we get started on some new goals.
Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support!

Praise Him with Music

"...Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs." Psalm 150:4b

It is exciting to see the growing passion for good instrumental music among the Christians in this area. We are blessed to still have the string class going strong, with some students putting aside as much as 4 hours a week to come practice, in order to be a blessing to our church here or a sister church in the nearby town of Villa Mella.
I have enjoyed spending time working with enthusiastic students, among whom, on mastering a new technique are able to communicate it to other students much faster than I can in Spanish!

In addition to the class for violin and cello, we have been blessed to have guitar and piano lessons given once a week by Abel De la Cruz, the music pastor from Quisqueyana Baptist Church in Villa Mella, who has been involved with the music ministry here in Juan Tomás since 2008. There are several guitar students, as well as 2 piano students, who, according to the technique being presented should be playing just about any hymn by ear within 6 months.


The goal for these classes is to bring glory to God in the church of Juan Tomás. Please pray for us as we encourage the students to continue to use their talents for the Lord in the midst of a village full of merengue, salsa, and reggae.

On a side note: cashew nuts grow here! In this picture, the cashew nut is located on the top (or bottom?) of the "cashew apple," a soft spongy fruit. The next time you eat cashews, be VERY appreciative of the people who extract the nut from it's "shell," which contains a poison similar to poison ivy!

Music for God's Glory

Finally!!! Here are some pictures from the Strings class!!

Our strings class got off to a rather slow start due to church activities, a 15th birthday party (in which everyone in the class was involved), and the vacation week right before Easter. But we are now back on track with some enthusiastic students. Right now the class is small, but there is growing interest within the church for the ministry of instrumental music, and a door has been opened up for our young adults to have the opportunity to learn not only strings and piano, but also guitar -- paying only for any materials that might be used in the class.
Our goal with the music classes is to develop church leaders who will use their musical abilities for God's glory. As each student progresses in his or her instrument and music theory, they will also learn about Biblical standards for music in the church. Please be in prayer for these classes, as a main purpose is to draw each student closer to the Lord and give them a desire to serve with music. As I take on some students from the school, it is quite possible that some will not yet have a personal relationship with Christ. Please pray for that God will open the door of their hearts through music.

On a side note (but very important), I greatly enjoyed the visit of Kristina and my parents, and was sad to see them leave this past week. Kristina has her own personal fan club in the 8th and 9th grades, and with her gift for singing has given some of them a new ambition for a school choir.

Still Learning!

After months of living in the Dominican Republic, I have found that I am still learning every day about the language, students, and culture. One example would be learning where to use the question words for "what" and "which," seeing that in many places that we ask, "what" in English, they ask "which" in Spanish. Another example is the disaster I had with a Dominican cooking lesson last Monday -- the brown rice I wanted to use in the dish is not used in the Dominican culture! (to see this humorous story, visit www.partnersnchrist.org/ingrid.html) I thank God for brave Dominican friends here who will help me learn and experiment, to the detriment of their own reputation as cooks!

I am still learning much about my students; out of all the classes, seventh grade has grabbed my attention the most in their love for music, and has also come a long way in their behavior. A focus of their teacher has been character development, and we have recently begun to address the area of respect for others. Just as in the U.S., people can be very cruel to one another in their words, and when it comes to expressing oneself in music, drawing, or writing, many degrade their own work so they won't be disappointed if another does the same. Please pray for the teacher, Josefina, and me as we teach the students the value of each person in the eyes of God.

Kristina is here to visit for a little while, and I am as exciting about her being here as she is! She is always a help around the farm and school, and will take part in the music while she is here. This week the school is on break for Semana Santa (which, according to the Dominicans, is anything but "holy), so she and I will have plenty of time to spend together.

I thank God for all of you who faithfully keep me in your prayers. Thank you for taking part in this ministry!