Lent, Hair Cuts, and a Confession

Well hello there! Thanks for stopping by our blog. Yes, this post is about the Lent season approaching, my new hair cut and a confession! Stay with me!

I got my hair done a few days ago, and I had asked my hairdresser to give me a really good cut! She asked if she could give me a "box cut" and I said yes. As she was cutting, she said something to me that has really stuck with me… "Cortemos el que no tenga ninguna vida," translated means "let's cut off that which has no life." I know she meant it for my hair, but the larger implications have sat with me for several days.

Lent is approaching (Wednesday March 5) and I have been praying today over what needs to be cut off that has no life left so I may be closer to the One who gives life. How can I be emptied so He can fill me? What steals, robs, kills my time with the Lord, family, and kids? It didn't take long for the Lord to convict me of what it is that must go! 

TV.

I know this will surprise some of you. I am a wife, mom, missionary and I work full-time. My kids are in ballet a couple days a week, I go to the gym several times, do all of the grocery shopping, most of the cooking and  the list just goes on and on and it would appear as if the "free time" would be non-existent, and sometimes I even try to convince myself of exactly that!

But, it's true. And it's a confession I hate to admit. At night, I sit in front of the TV, not every night, but many, for 2-3 hours. 2-3 hours I could be spending:

• With my husband
• Soaking up truths from the Word 
• Delving into my Bible Study (that I swear I never have time to do)
• Vision cast/dream with the Lord about the direction of the ministry he has chosen me to work within
• Pray for the thousands of Dominicans and Haitians our ministry is reaching yearly
• Pray for my own children's hearts to love the Lord and seek him first
• Working out and regarding my body as a Living Temple of the Holy Spirit

But I do none of this, because TV has sucked away my time every evening, convincing me that the way I need to "recharge" is to unplug from the very thing that gives life and instead fill my head with garbage, and when it's not the normal lineup of shows, it's anything- even Australia's next design star (seriously). Somehow "relaxing" and "recharging" in the evenings have left me exhausted, snappy, unfulfilled.

So, for 40 days, I am giving up night time TV (because it's the only time it's on!) and will be replace it with things that will draw me closer to the Lord and my family and not distract or take away from those things, by focusing first on the list above- things that bring new life to us!

What about you? What do you need to cut off that gives no life? What do you need to turn your face from so that you may fully face the One who will breathe life into our souls and fill us with Holy power?

Let's pray for one another!

Holding this sweet "new life," and you can check out my new hair cut! :)

Teaching and Learning...

In the last 2 weeks I’ve been reviewing the goals that I set for the discipleship classes in the beginning of this year. The theology of redemption classes that we taught during this year were a fundamental base to present who God is and what he is doing though his redemptive plan, to a group of young men and women. Most of the students could not tell me the name of 3 books in the Bible when we started.

The question that I kept asking myself during these 2 trimesters of 22 classes in 26 weeks, was what can I do better? And how can I present God and Jesus to these guys and their needs to have a personal relationship with them?

After every week of class was over, I took time after to analyze if I presented through that week of teaching “God  and his desire to established a relationship thought Jesus Christ” to each one of the guys and girls that were part of that class, for both, the basketball and baseball programs ages 13 and up.

But I think that somehow I forgot about the work that God was doing “in me”. As I look back to this year, I can say that my goals were met in many different ways. After many hours of “praying, reading, writing about God and presenting him though the Bible, most of our guys had improve their knowledge about God and what he is doing. For me I have come to know God and experience him in ways that I never did before.

Have I been very busy teaching about God this year?

Yes I have.

But more important he has taught me during this process, who he is and how he is inviting me and you to help him every day in his plan.

I have definitely been learning too!

Miracles.

Yesterday was such a special day. We had the privilege of bringing Yasmin to see Doctor Wendy who is here with a mission team. Wendy saw Yasmin last year at the medical clinic and provided us with a lot of insight into what the future may hold for sweet Yasmin.

When we first met her (you can read about that here) we weren't sure how much longer she would live, being told a surgery to repair the hole in the roof of her mouth was absolutely necessary. Months later, after being evaluated for the surgery, it was determined she was a good candidate, however her body would not survive the surgery at the malnourished weight she was at. We began purchasing cases of Ensure and praying for her weight to go up. Ensure, here in the Dominican is $70 for a case of 24 and she is now up to drinking one and a half a day. Yasmin saw Wendy last year and her grandmother was concerned about how uneven her back was. Upon examination, we learned she also has Scoliosis and a swirling skin color pattern indicated some neurological defects as well. We were told she may never walk, or be able to take care of herself. We were heart broken. (you can read that post here)

We prayed and prayed and with faith believed he could do the impossible. I was stunned the day I learned she was walking. (read about that post here) This sweet spirited girl was WALKING! Her weight was greatly improving. The cloudiness in her eyes was disappearing. God was answering prayers.

A couple of weeks ago Yasmin was hospitalized for Pneumonia. Her immune system doesn't fight off sickness very well and often times a simple cold will turn into something worse and she needs to stay at the hospital while her body heals. 

When we learned Wendy was coming back to the DR on a trip with GO, we knew we had to get Yasmin in to see her. Wendy thrilled with seeing her walk and her weight! We were in for another surprise though, there happened to be an Oral Surgeon on the team (THANK YOU GOD!). He was able to look into her mouth and determine that the way her mouth was growing, the gums and the bones where her cleft pallet was located are butting up against each other, naturally shutting off the hole. Yasmin's mom confirmed this by saying that very little liquid comes out of her nose anymore! 

Dr. Anderson explained that it would be best at this stage, to not pursue the surgery since it is not impeding her ability to eat. In the future if it presents a problem we should move forward in having her evaluated. They are also researching the other medical issues they believe Yasmin may have so we can know how to best proceed with helping with her medical needs. 

We are praising God for the way he answers prayers and performs miracles every day. We count Yasmin as a gift in our lives that we have been able to see God's handprint in who she is and how he is healing her miraculously each and every day and teaching us to have faith in the midst of it.

We are grateful for everyone who has continued to pray for Yasmin and given so generously to her medical needs!

Much peace,

Alan and Jackie

Here's a picture of when we met Yasmin when she was 16 months old:

August 2011

and yesterday with Doctor Anderson and Doctor Wendy!

September 2013

GO Sports Outreach School of Discipleship- 2nd Trimester

As many of you know my role with GO changed during this year, and now I’m the coordinator of education for the sports outreach ministry. What does this mean? I’m responsible for developing the curriculums for the discipleship school and all the educational material (bible studies, devotional) for our basketball and baseball academies and also our bible study with our coaches.

This week we stared our second trimester of class with 300 kids and young adults. This is a very exciting a challenging time in my life. I ask for your prayers, so we can influent though the scripture the life of all this kids and young adults in a way that will help them to develop a deep relationship with our savior.

One of the things that make me most excited about this new journey is the challenge that God is giving me, to speak into the lives of 10 men (our coaches)… one of my closest spheres of influence.   

Would you please pray that God will help me to speak true into their life in a bold way. With the hopes that they will do the same with their sphere of influence the kids that they work with every day. Also will you pray that he (God) will transform me in the process, to be more like Jesus.

I promise to keep you guys update though our blog about these exciting times.

Alan          

For Such a Time as This...

Exodus 17:10-13

"So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword."

This passage has quickly grown to become one of my favorite pieces of scripture. I can still remember the first time I read it many years ago sitting in a coffee shop after an early morning hike at Red Rock Canyon amongst friends. It had a huge impact on my life early on, and even more so once I joined GO Ministries and again seeing this passage lived out spanning across cultures to advance the Kingdom of Christ on the Island!

A tremendous blessing was given to us to host our home church from Las Vegas, South Hills Church Community in June. From the beginning this team has been about partnership. They desired to be a blessing and serve alongside of a community to bring about redemption, renewal, and restoration... things we at GO are incredibly passionate about. 

They loved.
They cried.
They prayed.
They sweated. a lot.
They left a piece of their hearts here in the DR working alongside of Pastor Elvis Batista and his beautiful wife Raysa and family.

Elvis, (btw, isn't it fitting that the LV Church would be working with a pastor named Elvis :) is a part of our Seminary of the Americas and pastors a large church in a community called Los Salados. An area overrun with drugs, prostitution and gambling. The church is a bright light in this community. Just weeks before we arrived, a man formerly involved with selling drugs was baptized in the name of Jesus! 

The church is called to minister to the hurting, the sick, the lost and the poor, and that is exactly what this church does. In scripture we are reminded time and time again that we are called to look out for the orphans, widows, and the hurting and South Hills spent their week doing just this, repairing a single mom's house. 

Juana receiving a scripture quilt created by the quilting ministry at South Hills Church

This is Jauna and she she is a single mom. She is a pillar in the church community. She lives in a very small house with no windows or doors installed, except for one. The walls are made of brick that have been laid but not finished and the flooring is dirt. She had one room with a poured floor and that was the only room in her house with a door. She slept and ate and kept all of her belongings in this room. She cooked in her backyard on an old fashioned can with some coals inside. The alleyway between her house and her neighbor's was infested with beehives. It had taken Juana almost 4 years to save enough money to purchase the land that her house stood on. The land had cost the equivalent of $400 US dollars and brick by brick, she built her house.

She didn't do this all by herself though. The men of the church had come and put a roof on her house one time and they had helped with the floor in her bedroom. She felt blessed by what she had and what she had worked hard for. 

Elvis had a dream to bless this woman and change her life forever. South Hills had a dream of working alongside of a pastor in a community to give and do and bless just as God's word commands us. And GO? We are the leaders who bring these two cultures colliding together. We are the Aaron's and the Hur's, setting up rocks underneath the local leaders. We invite the North American Church to join us in lifting up the arms of the Dominican and Haitian men and women God has called to be salt and light amongst their cultures. God had brought South Hills and Elvis together through GO Ministries for such a time as this. To bring his child comfort, help in her time of need, and to restore dignity to her. For 2 days South Hills worked in tandem with the GO construction crew to pour a floor, rid her alley of the bees, smooth the walls of her home and be the hands and feet of Christ walking through the community and sharing his love and laughter to many. 

Never has the verses in Exodus reminded me more of partnership in the Gospel and working together as a team with a common purpose than this past week!

(Church leaders, Brandon and Amy Gallup with Elvis and his family)

Redemption.
Renewal.
Restoration.

All for His glory!

Thank you South Hills for loving us, Elvis and Raysa, and the community in Los Salados so well! 

Walk On Warrior!

We walked on down the narrow alley for just a short time.  We were almost there.

I hadn’t seen her in months.

I heard she was walking. I heard she was defying what the doctors said she would never be able to do. I couldn’t wait to see this miracle child with my own eyes.

We turned the corner and ducked under shanty balconies and we continued our way to Yasmin’s home. In was quiet in this neighborhood, not the way you would typically describe where they live, but it was early in the morning and most were sleeping after partying until all hours of the night.

We winded up a spiral staircase and when I got to the top, there she was! Walking! Talking!  She even had a little belly on her! Her bone thin ankles and legs had a little more meat on them than they had before. She was getting stronger.

Yasmin

I also met the newest addition to their family. Yasmin has a baby sister, just a few months old at the time of my visit as well as a seven yr. old sister. The oldest took care of Yasmin, while Yasmin, now three and a half tried to carry her baby sister in her thin arms. I smile and think to my self how the bond of sisterly love truly transcends all cultures as I think sweetly of my own daughters who care for each other dearly.

Carina with her new baby

I snap a few pictures for Carina, holding her precious baby girl. We chat about life, Yasmin, being a mom and then they have something to show me. We head down stairs and out the door to the main street in the barrio and they give Yasmin 20 pesos and she begins her journey to the Colmado (corner store) to by her galleticas (little crackers). She walked quite a way as if she knew exactly where she was headed! Stopping all along the way to play with older kids and say hello to many as they begin to emerge from their houses as the morning wears on. I am told this is her game, and it builds strength in her legs as she walks this distance daily.

This little girl can walk!

This little girl is fierce warrior, fighting for her life and for a chance to live each and every day. Thanks to the many who have stood alongside of us and partnered with us to get Yasmin the help she needs, she will have that chance.

Yasmin and her grandma

Pediatric Doctors, coming on a mission trip with G.O. Ministries this summer, will evaluate Yasmin. She continues her regiment of 1.5 bottles of ensure a day to gain weight and muscle mass.  Ensure in the D.R. is expensive. It costs $65 for a case of 24 and in one month, Yasmin needs 45 cans of Ensure, not to mention her medicine needs. Providing she is at an acceptable weight at the end of the summer, we will have her re-evaluated by Operation Smile in hopes that she will be able to have the surgery she needs to fix her cleft pallet. Once that is taken care of, we will begin the harder work of having her observed to determine what neurological condition she suffers from and how to get her necessary treatment.

I am thankful for sweet gifts like Yasmin who show me what it really means to fight for something worthwhile. I love this little girl and I find myself thankful for this tiny little girl who has already begun changing lives and showing God’s Sovereign power to heal and overcome adversity.

Carina with her three sweet daughters!

We need your help! Please join us in prayer for Yasmin and her family. If you would like to make a donation to help with her ongoing medical needs please make checks payable to G.O. Ministries, Inc. and send them to 11501 Plantside Dr. Suite 14, Louisville, KY 40299. In the memo line, be sure to write “Perez/Yasmin.”  

Much peace!

Alan and Jackie