Good Friday we set up a tent in the parking lot and had special music and mini messages highlighting the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the Matthew children singing "Emmanuel". Cindy sang, "Via Dolorosa", "Arise My Love", and more. I sang, "In The Garden", "My Redeemer Lives", and more. We had 25 to 30 people there.

Easter Sunday meant break out the suits and pretty dresses!

Buddies in their handsome suits!

Daddies and sons!

Beautiful girls, without their Easter bonnets!

Our Sunday School class!





Pretty Ladies! This is Rebecca and Candy! Faithful servants in Cabo Rojo!

Jeannette brought us delicious cake for after the service! Yummy!

The Rineholts and their band. we had a great time at their concert that was right on the ocean front!

A Story to be Told

It started 31 years ago! My husband and I,, along with our son Jake, were working in a church in Rumford, Maine, when a new family joined us! They were a sweet family with three young girls. The youngest, Sarah, was Jake's age and they soon became fast friends. They went to the same school together for kindergarten. After one year in the public school both Sarah's parents and us decided that we wanted our children in a Christian school, but our church didn't have one. So we did the only thing we could… we started one. I taught elementary, so I taught both Jake and Sarah! Those were awesome years. We had many meals, laughs, and much fellowship with this family. Sarah became a part of our family! Our children grew side by side into teenagers. As life often does, years separated us. Sarah and her family moved to Baltimore, Maryland and then on to Pennsylvania. We stayed in Maine. Our son Jake passed into heaven at a young age of 24. We thought of our many friends from his childhood and we missed them. Five years later God blessed us with another son. During my pregnancy, I was very sick. One day, I got a call from Sarah and her mom. They were coming through Maine and wanted to see us. I was just too sick, so it didn't work. My heart was heavy. I wanted to reconnect with this family. They were dear to my heart. More years passed and we moved to Baltimore and, from there, God called us to Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Many times in Baltimore I thought, I must be near Sarah, but our paths never crossed. Meanwhile, I started using Facebook. It was a great way to stay in contact with my family and friends when we moved. As I was looking around on Facebook one day, I found Sarah! I asked her to be my friend, and we began to reconnect. It was sweet and though she was much older, I still saw the young girl that sat in my classroom and played at my house so often. It was bittersweet as she is the same age that Jake would be if he was still here, but memories are precious and she provided many! As I chatted with Sarah, I came to know of a dear friend of hers named, Jen Rineholt. Jen and her family had just moved to the Dominican Republic. Knowing how tough a move like that could be, I contacted Jen on Facebook. I told her I was an old friend of Sarah's and wanted to pray for and encourage her family, and we started to converse on Facebook as well.

This brings us to today and what I want to share with you. The Rineholt family just spent the weekend with us! Thank you Sarah and Facebook for connecting us with this amazing family.

Last October, Shawn, his wife Jen, and their 5 children, sold their business, rented their house, packed a few belongings and boarded a plane, destination, Dominican Republic! There they rented a house in a rather rough area. Their house is surrounded by barbed wire to keep thieves out. They also have dogs to add to the safety. They do not leave their house after dark. They have electricity MAYBE 4 hours a day, and the time is not consistent. They cannot drink the water, brush their teeth with the water, or for that matter, open their mouths in the shower. There is trash every where. When asked how they dispose of their trash, they told us everyone burns it. Jen misses the smell of burning trash. All veggies must be bleached before eating. Their small yard is dirt and full of local children. They come in all stages of dress or undress. Jen says she has sent home many children to get clothes on. Many people in the village have warned them don't let this one or that one in your house. They are bad. Jen's words to me were, "they might be bad, but if we don't love them who will?" Across the street is a building that will house their radio station. It will reach all of the DR and some of Haiti, with Christian music and teaching. They are learning Spanish by complete immersion! Shawn has 4 or 5 young men that he is discipling. They have found the people to be uneducated in may ways. They have a vision for a school and an orphanage!

As they headed back to the states to raise more support, they stopped in Puerto Rico for a visit. It was so sweet to meet them in person and no longer just be "Facebook" friends! You might think that they are relieved to be going home for a bit to rest and be with friends, enjoy electricity, good food, and long showers, but it was quite the opposite! The DR has become their home. They shed tears as they showed us pictures. Even the children were sad to be leaving. The comforts of home can not replace the precious people in the DR or the call on this family's lives!

So 31 years ago a friendship developed that grew to a larger friendship encompassing this family and the DR! We are blessed and anxious to visit their mission when they return. Please visit their blog, missiondrhaiti.blogspot.com!

We just had our 1st annual Sweetheart banquet. We had 6 couples, including the Matthews and ourselves. It was a very intimate and sweet time. Cindy and Pastor Julian transformed their dining room into an Italian restaurant. Then the Matthew girls dressed in black and white, with cute little aprons, and were our greeters and servers. They took their jobs very serious and were very impressive. We started with a delicious salad (made by Cindy) and bread with oil for dipping. Then the main course was Spaghetti with sauce and homemade meatballs, made by yours truly. There was much laughter and talking as we all dined together with the lights low and the candles lit. The Matthews beautifully sang, "It is Well". Then my husband and myself did a skit called, "The Ledger", it was fun to perform with him again. We couldn't do the skit in spanish but most understood english, and those that didn't, I think, got the body language. Then my husband shared a short message on love. We then moved onto coffee and dessert, tiramisu cheesecake. yummy! Then Pastor Julian shared about reconciliation. It was an awesome time of fellowship around the table and the Word of God. The couples all shared testimonies of God's work in their lives. I love intimate times like this. It is the "glue" of body life.

As the first guest arrived, Cindy was still in her working clothes (teeshirt and shorts), mopping the dining room floor so that it would shine for the dinner. (you could have eaten off it) As my husband and I greeted and talked with the first guest, she quietly disappeared. In a few minutes she exited her bedroom completely transformed. She was a beautiful shining star. I thought of how this is like Christ with us. He takes us in all our dirt and sweat and in a moments time He turns us into a shining star. Then we just simple glide around and let His light shine through us. That is what this night was like, Gliding and shining, smiling and touching, ministering and blessing, and humbly serving!

We also celebrated Pastor Julian's birthday. I will try to post a video for you.

I have been very remiss about blogging since we have been here in Puerto Rico! I am excited to get started again. Hopefully you have kept up with our lives by receiving our newsletters. If not here is a quick review of the last year.

We hit Puerto Rican soil, February 8th 2010! Our time started with a fast paced convention and schedule. It has not slowed. We have been singing, cleaning, praying, visiting, knocking on doors, playing, visiting the nursing home and much more. Micah is doing very well! He is homeschooling this year (preschool so nothing major) and we are looking to put him in a school for kindergarten this fall! He has grown and lost any signs of toddlerhood! *sniff sniff*

We have been to the states twice for major events. First for Meagan and Bryan's wedding followed by an awesome week at our international convention. Five months later we returned to the states again, this time for Micah to have minor surgery. All went well! Our visit ended up lasting for a whole month!

We are glad to be back on Puerto Rican soil and putting our hands to the plow! We are having a Sweetheart banquet this weekend at the Matthew's house!

Nursing home ministry is flourishing! I know this because it has been meeting some opposition! We know that we are sometimes the only loving touch these precious souls get, so we press on! We refuse to get distracted. We have returned to the orphanage to visit the sweet little ones! They are near to God's heart so they are near to ours.

We have seen some of our precious friends move away! Greg has moved to Baltimore to attend Bible school. Miquel and Rebecca are in Florida, for a couple of years, helping her family. It is their house that we are living in! We are right in the middle of the pueblo which makes it much easier and cheaper to get along.

This last Sunday, I sang with Abi and her mom in church! It was sweet! My husband has been teaching the seven footsteps classes every Sunday morning and covering for Pastor Julian while he was in Haiti!

God has been very gracious to us! We are blessed!

The Rock that is higher than I

I woke up yesterday engulfed by the details of life....... no the details of moving to Puerto Rico. There is so much to be done, we have no money, we need to sell more stuff, raise support ect..ect... Knowing this is not a productive way to wake up or think I started praying. As I was praying the song, "Lead me to the Rock", came to my mind. I started humming it and God reminded me that I just need to go to that rock that is higher than I. In my minds eye, I pictured a large rock and realized that there is only one thing to do on a rock like that! Sit! So I sat! I sat on the rock and I rested. It's funny what happens when you sit on that rock, so far above the details that you can't see them, you start to experience faith rest! The scenery up there is beautiful and peaceful! I recommend if you haven't spent anytime sitting on that rock that you try it! Oh, and do you know what you can do while sitting there? You can pray! Another amazing thing happened as I sat there resting and praying, instead of being consumed with details, I became consumed by God's love and I began praying for others to experience this. So if you haven't spent time on "the Rock" today, do it now. You will enjoy it!

The song of the coqui

I woke up this morning thinking of Puerto Rico and the coqui. If you have been to Puerto Rico you know what a coqui is, and for those of you who don't know, a coqui is a little frog that lives on the island. As dusk sets in this little frog fills the air with it's song. It proclaims, in a voice much louder than it's size, "COQUI, COQUI". I don't know about others but I personally found it to be soothing. While we were there visiting, little Julian showed me his pet coqui and it was the size of a house fly. I was amazed that something that small could make such a large noise.

This morning as I was thinking of Puerto Rico and the coqui, I couldn't help but think of the body of Christ there. It is much like the coqui. It is small in size but makes a large noise as it proclaims the Gospel to the island. As we join the body in Cabo Rojo, we too will join the song. As the threat of "darkness" begins to settle over the island, we will join together with our brothers and sisters and sing the gospel loud and clear. All who hear it will will find it comforting and it will bring them peace. As we sing, we will roll back the threat of darkness and reveal a light, the light of Jesus Christ! It is our desire that all who live on the island, and even those who come to visit, recognize the song of the gospel, and like the coqui our song will become a symbol of Puerto Rico. "Oh, Puerto Rico, where both the coqui and the christians sing their song loudly, yes, I have been there and I have heard it!" Beautiful!