July 2008

MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Busy… it´s the best word to describe my summer down here. We have been really bless with all the staff we have because everyone has work so hard all summer long, it´s been great. One of the thing I got to do was to go back to batey 9, I love that place. While we were there we worked on the new chuch/feeding center builing for three days, it was great. We had a group there from Illinois, they worked really hard. And for myself is always great to go back there, work hard and get to see old friends.
2. Another areas we have been working on all summer are in the houses of Luis and Rene (These are two of our construction workers who have been working with the ministry for over 10 years,) the church/feeding center at the HOLE and the church/feeding center at Brisas de Ocampo. We have acomplish a lot in these locations. Thanks to all the groups we have receive, there has been a lot of progress in these three areas.
3. Lastnight we baptized another girl in the youth group, Im really happy because she has been hungry for the lord, she never misses bible study and she is always asking deep question about how she can live her life better. She came up to me saying that she wanted to get baptize and since the moment she told me that I have notice that she couldn´t wait to be under water. She has shown that she wants to live a new life for christ and we are happy to be part of it. Here is a video of our worship team singing ¨renuevame¨while she got baptize.
PROJECTS WORKING ON:
1. This week we start a new service at the basketball court of the community. Will, our sports coordinator has put this together. This is going to be service exclusive for the those guys in the community who would not come to church because they are involve in gangs, drugs, etc. But they would come to the basketball court for a service. Pray for this program.
2. Preparing for another meeting with the youth pastors.
3. Planning a retreat to Batey 9 (church in the south part of the country, 6 hours away).
4. This Saturday we are going to Hato del Yaque to have a service with both youth groups together.

PRAYER REQUEST:
1. For many upcoming activities that we have planed this summer
2. Keep praying for the youth who are involve in gangs and drugs… we have a hard battle against that here, because for the kids in my community, if you are not part of these things you are not cool. We are glad that many of them have make clear that God is their priority.

MINISTRY CHALLENGES:
This year we have been teaching that God has to be in the first place of our life. If he is in the first place, then we won´t have to worry about following a bunch of sets of rules like the Pharisees. As this year goes by I want everyone in the group to live their live according to what God wants not by what the world says.


Again, thanks for your prayers and all your support. We are gong to continue doing what we do and the kingdom of God is just going to continue to grow. I pray that God bless your families and those of you who have been here, we hope to see you soon and those who have never been here, make sure you plan on coming soon because God might have some big things for you. Peace!!

In Christ,
I.G.