For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
March looked like a workshop, youth group, small group, and getting to see some family…
Lately, I have been able to spend some time with these two lovely ladies, Ana and Meily, and a few other youth from the community around IB Emaus. I have stated to host an English class out of my apartment twice a week. This has been something that the youth have been asking for since last June, but things didn’t quite line up to make it work and be consistent until now. It has been encouraging to see how invested and interested these 2 young ladies are about coming over and learning English. In reality, this class was started so that they, in particular, would continue to be connected with the church. My prayer is that this group would be more than just an English class, but a place for discipleship.
One class, I asked everyone to give an example sentence in present tense. Meily responded with “I talk to God every day.” I was so encouraged by this small and quick sentence. It can be so easy to make assumptions about people and their faith journey when they aren’t attending a small group or church on Sundays, but God is at work. I can see that God is at work in her life, even if it seems small. I pray that there will be more opportunities to talk about walking with Jesus in the days to come.
JUBAREDO hosted a workshop for youth leaders in the Ozama region on March 15th. There were 13 of us, representing 4 churches in this region. 
I had the privilege to teach the workshop. JUBAREDO’s focuses for the year are helping the local church and whole-life discipleship, so I thought it was fitting that we looked at the information in Fuller Youth Institute’s book Faith Beyond Youth Group. We took time to learn, reflect on our ministries, and took time in our ministry teams to be planning how we can implement what we learnt in our youth ministries.
I pray that workshop would be the first step in forming more relationships between youth leaders from different churches to be encouraging and helping each other. I pray that this time would continue to encourage and challenge the leaders to be thinking about their ministries and inspire them to continue serving intentionally.
IB Emaus had their monthly Youth Saturday, and this month we took time to be talking about anxiety.
Mental health is such an important topic for all, but especially for youth and young adults. I had the chance to give the talk that evening and we looked at how Jesus is with us in our anxiety and learnt a spiritual discipline that we could practice.
God is at work in the lives of these youth and young adults. I am glad I get to see it and be apart of it.
I also had a visit from part of my family. It was great to spend time with familiar faces, relax, and getting to show a quick look into my life here in the DR. Times like these are precious, especially when you live away.
Prayer Requests
– Be praying for the English class that I am hosting twice a week at my apartment with a few local youth. Be praying that this would be a good time of connection, not only for learning and practicing English, but fordiscipleship.
– Crandall’s Claystone program comes as a SENT team from April 19 – May 3. Be praying for them as they travel and learn about how God is at work here in the DR. Be praying for our partner IBAREDO, the churches in the northern region that will host them, and specifically pastor Ygnacio as he dedicates time to this team. Be praying that this would be an encouraging time for all those involved.
– Be praying for the ministries happening within IBAREDO churches. These updates typically highlight the ministry I am directly involved with on a monthly basis, but God is at work here in so many ways in all of the churches within the association.
– Be praying for the academic tutoring program within 6 IBAREDO churches. Be also praying for the Transformative Leadership diploma program and the pastors meetings in each area. Be praying for the partner as well as they complete quarterly reports about the different projects.
– Be praying for the small group initiative that is taking place in many IBAREDO churches. God is a work through these groups and many new leaders are being trained to continue the model and have an impact in their communities.
