First Baptist Church of Troy’s Mission Team was in the Dominican Republic on July 23rd-30th. Listed below are the daily email updates that we received from them and would like to share with you. (Scroll down to read the most recent ones) We ask for your prayers, not only for our team, but for the people who will hear the good news about Jesus!
Prayer Update #1 Sunday
Well, we finally got in bed last night at around 3:00 for most of the team (Craig, Jake, Tori, Kimberly, Rhonda, KJ, and Bryant) and 4:00 for the Colemans, Kathy, and Bubba. Those are “a.m.” times! The plan was for us to start out around 8:30 this morning with breakfast, a worship service at around 9:30 with a long-time friend of ours (Antonio) in Bayona and lunch at the Coleman’s before hitting the road for Ocoa at around 12:30. But because of how long it took for us to get to bed this morning, we were given (and took) the opportunity to sleep in and just get together for lunch at the Coleman’s.
It has rained off and on all day and has been fairly cool – cooler than Texas right now for sure. The trip up the mountains into Ocoa went well – it takes about 2.5 hours to make the drive. We arrived here about two hours ago and began the massive off loading of baggage and equipment (we brought several extra bags of baseball equipment to leave here with the Dominicans).
We have 3 Dominican translators staying here in the hotel with us for the week: Osiris, Maelo, and Elvis. The Dewett family are also here for a couple of days to translate. Everyone got their baggage into their respective rooms when we found Bubba walking around with a concerned expression on his face – one of his bags, the big one with all his clothes and “stuff”, is missing.
He remembers it getting into the van from the airport last night, Rhonda remembers looking around the van to make sure nothing was left before we pulled away from the airport, and I watched all the baggage while the stronger ones among us carted it all up from the van here at the hotel. This lost bag is a real mystery. It was all locked in the van behind a locked fence last night at the Coleman’s home so we aren’t sure where it is now. So …. The guys are going to loan him shorts and we can supply him with t-shirts. We may need to do a bit of shopping though.
We are going to eat dinner in the El Barcon Hotel (where we are staying) restaurant in a few minutes and then head over to the little church in Pastor Robert’s outdoor garage. I’ve been told that it is so small that us and our translators won’t fit in it so I am hoping it doesn’t rain tonight. Tonight Sharon is planning to use the materials I put together to teach the church members how to share the gospel with just a pencil and piece of paper. I had planned to do the training but I really think she will do so much better and be able to keep their attention without the translation going on. We will be there for probably a couple of hours and then call it a night.
· Please be praying for a young man that will be joining us tomorrow. His name is Christian. He doesn’t know the Lord yet, but he is very interested in baseball and is very excited to have the chance to be with us and learn. Of course he will be hearing the good news about Jesus every day as he hangs around us.
· Pray for Bubba as he deals with the great inconvenience of being here with nothing much but the clothes on his back. (He’s out there singing with Craig right now so it doesn’t sound like it is bringing him down much.)
· Tomorrow the guys will be doing work with some of the baseball teams and Rhonda, Tori, Kimberly, and I will be doing prayer walking in the rain and maybe doing some more church training.
Thank you SO much for praying for us. We depend on you doing that. Thank you.
Prayer Update #2 Monday
It is 1:40 in the afternoon and we have a couple of hours to rest before taking on the rest of the day. It is “siesta time”. That is usually the time I’ll be telling you what has happened since the last update and what we’ll do the rest of the day so you can pray for us.
First, to last night – we went over to Pastor Robert’s new home – not really “new” but a different one from last year, where his little church meets. Several people were already there and more came as the evening went on. It is VERY small so several of us stayed outside … until it started raining. We got very close very quickly! There was some very energetic singing and then the offering started … and then the electricity went off. I thought it was just a really nice mood setting time for the offering until I realized the lights weren’t coming on again.
Then it was time for me to share with the church group how Christ works through the obedient Christian to reach the world. I introduced the 4 spokes of the Navigator ministry wheel – prayer, God’s word, fellowship, and witnessing about how to know God personally. I told them that starting that night and going on for the next few days, we would talk about each of these. So, last night we went over a simple way to share how a person could know God personally. Osiris translated and explained it so much better than I could. Then we called it a night and, I think, we were all so tired that we slept very well.
This morning we ate breakfast together at 8:00 and then our team split into the baseball group (Bubba, Craig, Jake, KJ, and B-Lo) and the neighborhood group (Kimberly, Tori, Rhonda and I). Actually, there were 3 groups – Bubba first went shopping with Sharon Coleman for some of the necessities of life. Then he joined the rest of the guys at the ball field.
First the ball field. I asked Jake to give me a report – here’s his report – “We played baseball.” So, armed with this report, I went to some of the others to fill in the blanks. Craig and Jake worked with the pitchers (you must forgive me if I say some strange baseball things…I know nothing about baseball). They went over fielding, off-speed pitching, pitching mechanics, first base and double plays. KJ and B-Lo had another group doing quickness drills, fielding and throwing, and base running basics. After doing the speed drills, KJ stopped his group and shared his personal testimony with them.
Once all the drills were finished, Craig was able to speak with all the players for a bit and then B-Lo shared his personal testimony of how he had come to know God personally. Craig asked if there were any questions and one player asked Craig how he had come to know Christ (what a great question!) and Craig was able to share his personal testimony of God’s work in his life also.
Pastor Robert then spoke for a few minutes and invited the players with questions or with an interest in knowing more to come to church or talk with him. He also gave them an opportunity to invite Christ into their hearts if they wanted to. Four players made decisions for Christ and 3 want more information!
During the baseball time this morning, Bubba introduced himself and got some strange looks from the players. One of our translators told him that “Bubba” in Spanish sounds like the word for “drool”. He can call himself “Booba” and be okay. He decided to go by the Spanish equivalent of James (his middle name) and that’s Santiago. So, now we are calling him Santiago Ellis!
The neighborhood group met over at Pastor Robert’s house and we had several church members, mostly youth, join us to go walking through the neighborhood around the church. There were so many of us that we divided up into 4 groups to take different streets. Kimberly and a translator (Johnny) with some of the youth were able to talk with a mother who was a Christian but wanted them to come back this afternoon to meet her son and talk with him about the Lord! Another family is planning to come to church tonight.
Tori was in a group with Sharon and some Dominican church members. The lady in charge of the park near our hotel who we shared Christ with last year was one of the families they visited. Her 16-year old daughter received Christ with Pastor Robert this past year and wanted to be followed up. Sharon and Kimberly will go back to do a Bible study with her this afternoon. The park lady is not a Christian so please pray for her.
They visited with two other families as they went down the street as well. One was a man who has 3 sons that he is raising alone since his wife is currently living in Spain. They prayed for him and his family. He is probably not a believer either so please pray for him.
Rhonda reports that her group saw one person pray with them to receive Christ. Another lady who was a Christian along with her daughter told them that they had been looking for a church that taught the truth about God. They were sure that God had sent Rhonda and the rest of the group to her door to talk with them. They may be able to come to church tonight.
So, that’s what’s been happening so far. For this afternoon, the guys are going back to the baseball field while the gals will be back in the same neighborhood praying with people and telling them about God. After dinner this evening, the baseball guys will go back to the field. Some of the players asked Craig and KJ to come watch a softball game at 7:00 and see how they play. So, they are going to hang out at the field and talk with the players for a bit. The rest of us will go to Robert’s house and I will teach the second segment of the “wheel” on the word of God. Afterwards, we are having a youth event of some kind. Not sure yet what but at 3:00 this afternoon, we will talk about that – last minute planning is normal around here! The baseball guys are going to invite some of the players that are youth to join us for that part.
PLEASE PRAY:
- The salvation of the man taking care of his 3 sons.
- The followup of the 4 baseball players who received Christ and the 3 who are interested.
- The baseball teams we will work with tomorrow & neighborhood people we will meet – pray that hearts will be soft and hungry for God.
- Pray for the salvation of the park lady from last year.
- Pray for the hearts of all the baseball players who heard about God this morning, that the truth of God’s word would find a place in their hearts and that they will be burdened to come to know Him.
- Please pray for me as I teach the Ocoan Church members about God’s word, prayer, and fellowship tonight and over the next few days. Pray that God will use this in their lives to make a difference in Ocoa.
There may be other things God lays on your heart to pray from what you have read today. Thank you from all of us here. We know how important and powerful your prayers are. Thank you.
Prayer Update #3 Tuesday
Like yesterday, it is around 1:20 when I have a break that I am getting to write this. Lunch was the special San Cocho stew we always have over rice with watermelon for dessert. We only found a few chicken feet in there J and Craig ate a chicken heart or two – he says it is good to eat chicken hearts because it gives you good luck. Oh well, consider the source.
Well, let me tell you about yesterday afternoon and evening before I get to today. On the baseball field, Bubba gave his talk on the similarities between baseball and life and shared the plan of salvation with the players. B-Lo gave his personal testimony. After this 2 of the players made decisions for the Lord.
Then KJ was asked to give an unplanned talk to the baseball players. He told me that he just asked God to tell him what to say and started talking. Coach Albert, who is in charge of that team of players, is a Christian also and told KJ that he begins all his practices with scripture and prayer. But what he wanted KJ to know was that he had used the same scriptures that morning before practice that KJ used that afternoon! Albert told his players that there are no accidents or coincidences with God. God wanted the players to hear the same thing twice!
One word about Albert – he makes his living from coaching these young Dominican players. He only charges them10 pesos a week to be on his team – that’s around 30 cents. Sometimes the players are so poor that they can’t even pay that. Albert said that his players and the other coaches are so happy that we are willing to help them in spite of their economic condition. Some of the players remembered Craig and ran to hug him when he left for the day.
Meanwhile in the neighborhood around Pastor Robert’s church … Johnny (translator) and Kimberly went back to visit with the woman who asked them to talk with her son, Carlitos. Carlitos was there and so was another family member, a young woman (I don’t remember the name). After Kim shared her testimony and they shared the way that a person can come to know God, both Carlitos and the girl prayed to ask Jesus into their hearts!
In my group, we went to several homes and shared Christ with several. One girl, Alexandria, was visiting from New York (so her English was good). None of the others around her seemed all that interested in talking but she was so I explained the way to know God. When I asked her if she knew God personally, she said “No”. But she wanted to. She said she would like to do that alone when she went to bed that night. I am hoping I see her again this afternoon if we get to go back to that street.
An 84 year old man and his wife also talked with us. He knows the Lord and was excited to hear that Pastor Robert’s church was just on the other street. He said he would visit because he likes to hear people talk about the Bible. His name is Marcos Mateo and his wife is Otelia.
At around 6:00 the whole team went down to the town square for chicken sandwiches and pizza slices before the evening events. The baseball guys had been invited to come watch a softball game with some of the coaches and older players. I saw a few minutes of it and it was a fast-paced game. But, what do I know?!
The rest of us went to Pastor Robert’s home for the evening teaching I was going to do on fellowship. There was no one there but, this is Dominican time! Soon more and more came so that there were about 20 people when I finally started. I talked about the unity of the church and how important it is, about how it is sometimes broken, and about how it can grow.
Then some younger folks started showing up for the youth event. We planned that pretty last minute but our translators are so good at those kinds of things that it was great fun for all involved. After several games, one involving a “duck”, it was time at around 9:15 pm for KJ to talk to them. He shared the parable about the house built on a rock and one on the sand and how the rock is Christ. If the house is built on Christ, it will stand against the storms of life. All the young people listened very carefully. There were about 20 of them. Then Pastor Robert talked with them about accepting Christ as savior. At least 4 raised their hands that they had prayed when he led them in prayer!
Our day was finally over and we were back at the hotel by around 10:00, very very tired but also very happy at all that we had seen God do yesterday. As KJ told me, “this was an AMAZING day!”
This morning we ate breakfast downstairs again – mangu (kind of like mashed potatoes), eggs with red peppers, and cheese sandwiches. Plus wonderful Dominican milk with coffee, hot chocolate, and passion fruit drink. Then we shared the highlights of yesterday. It was during this time that Bubba shared with me his new names. One of the Dominican coaches said he looks a lot like Tommy LaSorda so that is one of his new names. Sounds better than “drool”. And he said that KJ and B-Lo call him “Uncle Bubba”, so there’s another one. A third name is the “roving red go-fer” since his new shorts are VERY bright red and his main job on the field is to move around and go get things.
Afterward breakfast, the baseball guys went over to the field and Kimberly and Tori headed over to Pastor Robert’s house while Rhonda and I joined Sharon Coleman to make a quick trip over to Blanca’s house to pray for her. We weren’t sure how she would be when we got there since she has colon cancer now and a blood disease as well, something like sickle cell anemia. But when we got there she met us in her living room. We had a wonderful time talking with and praying for her. Sharon asked me to ask you all to pray for Blanca. She is very very ill.
After we got back to the church, Rhonda and Tori went prayer walking with some church members and met lots of Christians. They also met a man who said he had lots of sin in his life. They explained the gospel and he said he will come to church tonight.
Kimberly was in a different group. She said, “I gave my testimony like a million times! Then she said that almost everyone they talked with prayed to receive Christ. Johnny, their translator, told me that 5 accepted Christ and 3 want more information. Those 3 will be visited by Pastor Robert.
In my group, we went to 2 homes. In the second one, a lady named Estenia said she wants to know God but wants to study the Bible first. She was excited as we showed her Bible verses in her own Bible and wants to meet with Selenia, one of the church members, for Bible study. It was a pleasure to talk with her.
In another home, Lette asked us to pray for her husband Junior’s salvation. She is a Christian and wants to go to church but feels that it is hard with him not being a Christian.
At noon during lunch, I made sure to ask Jake how the morning had gone at the baseball field. He told me, “We played baseball”. Once we got that out of the way, I found out the details from B-Lo! There were a lot of 11-18 year olds there. Once they had done special training with our guys, drills, and batting practice, the coach called them all to the stands where Craig talked to them about how important baseball is to them but God is more important. The coach agreed and said he tells his players that all the time. KJ shared his personal testimony and one of the baseball players prayed for the team. The coach said that he felt we were a real blessing to his team. Robert invited them to join us at the church tonight so maybe we will see them there at 7:30.
So, what’s next on our agenda for today? Another afternoon sharing Christ door to door in the neighborhood and on the baseball field. And, after dinner tonight, another few hours at the church where I will go over the 3rd spoke of the Navigator wheel – the Word of God. Normally I would have done this spoke first but we felt like witnessing should be first to we could equip the church to go out with us this week. We choose for me to do fellowship second because we didn’t have as much time last night and that was the shortest. Sharon is excited about having the Word done tonight because we may have several non-Christians.
So far our days have been extremely full and we are all tired right now. Excited at what God is doing, but tired. Pray we finish well. The time is so short that we want to make the most of it.
- Please pray for Albert. He is working almost for free and his family is very poor. He is trying to do a good thing for these players and wants them to know God. He is recently married and his wife just had a miscarriage so it has been a hard time for him.
- Pray for Alexandria’s salvation.
- Please pray for Blanca’s health. She has colon cancer and anemia. She is one of the 3 people who originally started Robert’s church.
- Pray for the salvation of Estenia and Junior.
- Pray for our teaching time on the Word of God tonight…that I will speak what God wants me to speak and that any non-believers will be under conviction of God’s righteousness and their need for a savior.
Thank you for praying! We have never seen as much openness to the Gospel here in Ocoa. It is SO exciting. I believe it is because you are being so faithful to pray and God is answering. Thank you.
Prayer Update #4 Wednesday
It’s 2:30 in the afternoon today before I could sit down to write you because right after lunch today Sharon, Bryant and I had the pleasure of taking a couple of the shoeshine boys to buy shoes – they were much needed. We will have stories to tell about them when we get back but, for now, I will just say that the couple we have been talking with are a couple of good boys.
When I left off yesterday, we were about to hit the bb field and neighborhood again. There were 2 baseball teams that our guys worked with yesterday afternoon. Craig did an intro talk and then B-Lo and Jake gave their personal testimonies. Pastor Robert then invited all of them to church that night. Again our team was thanked by both of the coaches for caring enough to help them. KJ gave coach Albert some Bible study materials that should help him as well and some of the other coaches some equipment.
In the neighborhood I went with Tori and a couple of others. We talked with one lady with 4 children. She was in tears as she told us that something in her heart was not all together. She invited Christ into her heart with us. Then we went into another home kind of down in a hollow, a very poor home. One 12 year old girl was there – Erideni, and she eagerly talked with us. She knew that she did not know God and she also prayed with us to invite Christ into her heart.
Meanwhile Kimberly in her group talked with 4 ladies in a beauty shop, one of which was very interested. This lady, Franchesca, may have made a decision to receive Christ. Outside the shop, Kimberly talked to some girls and shared her testimony with them. She had some good sharing times.
Rhonda said for her report that she went up and down a HUGE hill four times and got her exercise for the year. Her group talked to many people during all those trips. Two of the older ladies talked to were very open and even came to the discipleship lesson last night. More about them in a minute.
Then dinner (chimies = Dominican hamburgers) where B-Lo spent a lot of time talking with the shoeshine boys and racing with them and off again to Robert’s house for our 3rd talk on God’s Word. We had a very good crowd for that and, for the most part, attentive. The shoeshine boys were a little noisy, but how often do they get to go to something like this? They did really well. Anyway, after my talk on the word of God, Pastor Robert used my talk to speak to them about repentance and how important it was to obey God’s word and repent. Those two older ladies that Rhonda met that afternoon answered several of the questions I asked during the study and I thought they were probably Christians. They weren’t then but when Robert described repentance, they decided to invite Christ into their hearts!
Around 9:15 we had another youth event with games and one of our translators sharing Christ with the group. Most of the youth were church kids but they were having a lot of fun!
I really thought everyone would be tired enough when we got to the hotel a bit after 10:15 to just go hit the sack. But no. Now it was time to play Mafia. Some of our previous team members can explain it – I watched but haven’t quite figured it out yet. I heard it all though since they were playing right outside my open hotel window!
This morning another great breakfast of cheese sandwiches, eggs, watermelon, and sweet, soupy oatmeal that is DELICIOUS! KJ was pretty sure he didn’t want any of the oatmeal but I felt led to put some in front of him. I didn’t watch to see if he ate it though. Jake even ate his.
I went to the baseball field with the guys this morning to take pictures to share with you all. It is HOT out there. Our guys have to be exhausted being out in that sun so long every day. Craig, Jake, B-Lo and Bubba worked with some of the players on drills for a while and then Craig and Jake took the older pitchers to work with them and B-Lo and Bubba took a slightly younger group to work with. I’m not sure what KJ was doing with his guys – looked like dancing to me… and he had them up against the wall for a while.
In the neighborhood, Rhonda’s team got to share Christ with a man whose wife is an evangelical. He wanted to ask Christ into his heart and did so. Rhonda said they also invited several to church tonight. Tori and Kimberly were prayer walking as well but I haven’t gotten a report from them yet on who they got to talk with. I’m sure it was good though.
Speaking of Tori and Kimberly … one of our Ocoan translators, Johnny, has been very impressed with Kimberly’s testimony and with how well Tori can share the gospel using the bridge illustration. He has asked them to visit his church tonight and share with that little congregation both of those things!
While they are in Johnny’s church, our plans have changed yet again – the rest of us will be doing an outreach in Las Flores where we prayer walked last year. I will give the talk on God’s Word again with an evangelistic twist and we may or may not do a youth thing.
Tomorrow, the baseball guys are getting up early for breakfast and will hit the road for Bani, which is the town where Pastor Emmanuel’s church is. They will do baseball clinics like they have done here and share Christ with the baseball teams Emmanuel has set up. The 4 of us “girls” will stay here in Ocoa one more day and do neighborhood door to door visits plus a final discipleship talk on prayer and faith in the evening.
PRAYER: There are several things to pray for above and I am being rushed to finish this so I can go prayer walking, I will just add one more request, or maybe two.
- Pray for our Bani guys tomorrow that God will open lots of baseball player hearts in Bani.
- Pray for Yoan and Fernando, the shoeshine boys we bought shoes for. They are extremely poor but very well mannered. Pray for their salvation. B-Lo and Sharon gave them some evangelistic children’s tracts and talked with them some. We will probably see them again tonight at supper.
Thank you again for all the prayer. We are seeing great openness to the gospel.
Prayer Update #5, Thursday
This is the last update you will get from us since tomorrow at this time we will be on the road back to Santo Domingo around mid-day and then on a plane the next morning at 6:20 am.
So, yesterday I left you with our plans for the rest of the day. The bb guys took a trip farther up the mountain to a small village called Savannah Largo where some bb teams were waiting for them. KJ said there were LOTS of players there, probably over 100. Maybe every player in the town! Craig worked with some of the older players while Jake, Bubba, KJ, and B-Lo took large groups separately to work with. Later KJ gave his testimony to a very attentive bunch of players.
(Currently as I am typing this I’m also listening to Pastor Robert share the plan of salvation with all of our shoeshine boys just outside my window. I hear their voices repeating what he is saying. There are 5 boys out there.)
Yesterday, Tori went with Osiris, one of our translators, and talked with a Mormon lady for a while. Tori shared the bridge illustration with her which tells how a person can know God. Tori isn’t sure what she decided to do, but she has heard the gospel.
Rhonda and her group met a man named Mistrides Martinez, a widower who was formerly married to a Mormon lady. His son was also Mormon but was kicked out of the Mormon church here when he married a non-Mormon. Mistrides is an important man in the Las Flores community (a part of Ocoa) and Pastor Robert was excited to hear that he accepted Christ as Savior yesterday. We are hoping that this man may be a key person for Christ in that part of Ocoa.
I was with Johnny and Kimberly on the other side of the street from Rhonda’s group. We had two people accept the Lord with us, one a youth girl named Jennifer and another lady who lived in a very poor house behind some other houses. She was 87 years old – Doralissa. As we spoke to her about how to have a relationship with God, a beautiful smile lit up her face and she said yes, she wanted that kind of relationship.
Another lady that I think Rhonda’s group talked with said that last year when we came her heart was hard. Then she said, “Now it is not”.
We stayed in Las Flores going door to door until around 5:15 and then headed to the town square for chimies again. It was good to be able to rest for a bit because we had a full evening ahead of us. Kimberly and Tori went to Johnny’s church to be a part of the service. Johnny said to me over lunch today that they were very confident. He was surprised because the young people in his church that are their age are very timid. Our girls did good! Kimberly shared her testimony and Tori shared some scripture verses.
Rhonda and I went back to Las Flores to a home of a Christian family. The whole neighborhood was invited and we ended up with around 15 or so adults and 4 rambunctious toddlers. (The toddlers really didn’t kick in to overdrive though until my talk was over!) I gave the talk I’d already given at Pastor Robert’s church on God’s word and then Robert followed up with an invitation to anyone who needed to accept Christ. Julio, the man who accepted the Lord last year with Matt Cannon, was there. During the prayer time, he said that another man sitting near him needed to say something and be prayed for. That man was afraid to say much but Robert prayed for him. What is so exciting though is to see how much Julio has changed in a year. God has made such a difference in his life.
The third thing going on last night was another youth event at the church. Osiris led that and the rest of our guys were there to help out and interact with the people who came.
We got back to the hotel at about 10:00, weary but happy again at how the day had gone. And again, like last night, the game of Mafia was in full swing with our younger crowd. I think I actually heard Jake say more words than I have ever heard from him at one time. He is quite persuasive when making his point about who has to be the real mafia person in that game. Kimberly was the quiet one … but you have to watch the quiet ones!
Before the game started, we were talking about being a little tired. Someone said it felt like Friday – like we’d been here a week already. Jake said, “It feels like NEXT week to me.”J
This morning the bb guys left for Bani at around 8:15. I got up to see them off and we sat around listening to a couple of good jokes from Bubba from the night before. What was funny was watching B-Lo try to figure them out! Ask him about the farm and donkey jokeJ (I can laugh because it is usually ME trying to figure out the jokes.)
Apparently the van had a hard evening last night as well. The door got stuck half open. Craig forced it to close and now it only opens about a third of the way. As Bubba was trying to squeeze out the door last night, Craig started laughing and said it looked like some kind of birth experienceJ
This morning after the guys left, the rest of us met at Pastor Robert’s house to revisit some of the homes where someone had accepted the Lord. The idea was for us to go with one or more church people and have them do a followup Bible study and get to know that person for more followup later. Kimberly and Johnny had 7 new believers to go see and were able to do the first Bible study with most of them. Tori and I were in a group with Selenia and Antonio. We went back to see the 12 year old girl Erideni. Selenia did the Bible study with her and did a great job.
Rhonda’s group went back down the hill. She said over lunch that even though the hill hadn’t gotten any easier, it was a trip of joy. Every home they visited was filled with joy. The two older ladies that accepted Christ after the talk on God’s word two nights ago were thrilled to see Rhonda and Sharon come to do Bible study with them. One of them said, “I was waiting for you to come see us yesterday!” These ladies’ names are Mirella and Chorro. Mirella said that she had just lost her job today. Sharon said that God promises He will provide and that Mirella should watch for His provision and wake up every day expecting it.
(Rhonda has been trying to phone the guys in Bani to get an update for you but the calls won’t go through.)
We got back to the hotel for lunch a little after noon and now most of us are resting. This afternoon we will go back to visit with new believers in Las Flores and tonight is my last talk on prayer and faith. We will leave tomorrow morning to go down the mountain to Bani to join the guys and then on toSanto Domingo. We should be getting to the Don Juan hotel in time for a late lunch and be able to rest or shop or swim in the ocean for the rest of the evening before our early morning flight home.
PLEASE PRAY:
- For fruit to come from the baseball clinics in Bani today and tomorrow. Our guys should be working with at least 4 different Bani teams.
- For successful followup of all the new believers we have led to the Lord here in Ocoa.
- For the talk on prayer and faith tonight – that God will speak to their hearts.
- For Mirella and her job situation.
- For a safe trip back.
And, I must tell you …. all 5 of the shoeshine boys prayed to receive Christ in the hotel lobby just a few minutes ago! Pastor Robert said that he would try to find them a closer place than his home to meet with Christians for church. The head shoeshine boy, Yoan, said “no, we will come to your house – it isn’t too far for us”.
So, thanks be to God for all we have seen Him do this week! It has been a wonderful time so far and we are looking forward to showing you what we’ve only been able to write about up till now. Thank you once again for praying. You have made a difference in many lives this week.
The Shoebox Ministry of FBC Troy will be delivering more than 700 shoeboxes to Waco on Friday, November 18th. What a blessing to be able to send this many boxes! Please continue to pray for this ministry, and for the many people who’s lives will be touched. 
