Philippines Team Back Home!!!

After a week in the Philippines without internet access the Philippines team has returned. The trip was great and more details will be posted soon!

Wednesday evening in the Dominican Republic

Buenos Noches,
On Tuesday we had the 2nd and final day of the Dominican conference. The women of the team were able to talk about discipleship and give the vision for the women of the church. It was a great time of fellowship and learning. We were also able to go to the beach in the morning before the conference. Something happened while we were there, while on the beach we saw a women and her 2 dogs. They were swimming in the ocean and one bit onto something that looked like a plastic bottle. It turned out to be a bouy. The dog kept paddling to shore not knowing that he would never get there if he did not let go of the bouy. The women swam out to get him but could not let him go. Luckily we were able to intervene and help her. Larry pointed out the illustration of this incident. Just like sin, we hold on so tightly. Thinking we can make it to shore we keep paddling, thinking we can hold onto our sin and move towards God. Not realizing that we will never move forward and eventually drown if we do not let go of what keeps us from him.


Then on Wednesday, we began teaching the Haitian brothers and sisters. They are a joyous group and eager to learn. God's presence was extraordinary and the sessions appeared to be Spirit filled. Notably, Pastor Franklin invited us to join him with their annual crusade. We joined about 200 other saints and followed the pastors as they carried a torch throughout the Dominican slums. We stopped seeral times to change leaders or pray. We are asking God for a great harvest. One of the more memorable moments was when we were running about 25 feet behind pastor Franklin. He was surrounded by young men on all sides and boldly leading the way carrying this gigantic flaming torch that they called "la luz de Dios". Consider the symbolism.


God is active here, and, beyond our understanding, capabilities, or faculties is orchestrating a discipleship movement beyond our imagination. "Gloia a Dios!"

Monday evening in the Dominican Republic

Hello all,

We are loving our time here in the Dominican Republic. We started our first conference today where Steve, Michael, and Chip were able to teach. They all did a wonderful job sharing about Christ and casting the vision of discipleship.

We also had a Downline student, Chris Snapp, who lives in the Dominican Republic and is going through the classes via online come by and share a meal with us. It is exciting to see how Downline is impacting globally! At the end of the conference we held another clinic where we got to meet with people and give them medicine but most importantly we shared the good news of Jesus Christ.
Pray for the people of the Dominican Republic! We love you and cannot wait to tell you more! Shoutout to all my EL peeps, EL 40 deep.
-Tawni

Sunday Afternoon at the Clinic

This afternoon, we visited the home of the mother of our friend Roosevelt. She was very kind to welcome us.

Later, we spent a few hours hosting a medical clinic in the Village of Chichigua.

Sunday in the Dominican Republic

The team at the Haitian church this morning.

Steve spoke about Jesus healing the leper in Matthew 8.

It was a great time being with the Haitians as they worshipped the Lord. Here you see Michael Farmer praying with our pastor friend Joseph!

Mexico Trip Day 7

Praise the Lord for today! We finished our conference around 3:00 p.m and had over 100 people!! We feel extremely blessed to have a small part of the Lord's work here in Merida, Mexcio. The people here are amazing...this trip has blown us away! Seriously! Words can't express the experience here... we just owe it all to the Lord. He has answered so many prayers. Tonight we went to our host, Pastor Victor's, church to teach. Liz and Katy spoke and did a skit to the children in Awana(age 4-9) about Phillip and the Ethiopian. Brooks and Katy each gave their testimony to the youth group. One of the boys heard Brooks' testimony and the Lord broke him down and opened his eyes to see that something in his life was missing. He accepted Christ in Pastor Victor's office tonight. PRAISE THE LORD! Tomorrow we are going to explore Chichen Itza... and then heading back to Cancun to fly out Monday morning. We will see you back in the States soon. There are so many things we would love to share, and hopefully we can in person!
The women at the conference

Awana tonight with the children!!

Team Mexico in our Mexican gear

DL Team in the Dominican Republic

The DL team just arrived in the Dominican Republic. Five folks came from Memphis and three from Northwest Arkansas DL. Steve will preach a Haitian church we will attend tomorrow and we will conduct a medical clinic in the morning. We will be conducting a conference for the Dominican pastors on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we will have a conference for the Haitian pastors.

Please pray for our team consisting of Steve Winstead, Michael Farmer, Chip Barger, Natalie Alessi, and Tawni Gray from Memphis DL and Larry Watkins, Sherri Degihero, and Wendy Martin from DL NWA. Pray also for our host Bill Stephenson and his family.

We will keep you updated of the happenings here this week so check back!

Mexico Day 5 and 6

We have had an amazing day!! We had the conference in Merida today and there were many men and women ready to learn and fellowship. They are eager to learn more and we can't wait for tomorrow to finish off strong! The Lord has given us so much strength and so many opportunities for His glory!

-From Mexico with mucho love-

Mexico Day 4

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

-Praise the Lord for the faithful men and women of Cancun, Mexico-

The whole group after the conference in Cancun.
The twinkies with the famous GLOBE!!

Liz speaking to the women on the Thessalonian Legacy

Brooks speaking to the men on the "10 How To's of Disciple Making"

Katy speaking to the women on the "10 How To's of Disciple Making"
We took a four hour bus ride today to head to Merida, Mexico. Pastor Victor picked us up from the bus stop and we are just now settling in to our hotel. There will be a prayer meeting tonight at 8:00 and we will begin another conference Friday and Saturday. Thank you for reading our updates and joining us in prayer for the Lord to work in the lives of the people of Mexico.

Mexico Day 3

Hola! Buenos dias!
It's our fourth day in Mexico, and the teaching last night went very well. Pepper taught the Great Commission and Vocabualry of a Disciple Maker. Then the men and women split, and Brooks and Liz taught Thessalonian Legacy and 9 Qualifications of a Disciple Maker. We LOVE the women!! They are really catching on and want to know how to live out disciple making. Pepper and Brooks have also really enjoyed their time with the hombres. Tonight is Part two... with Pepper on the front line, coming on strong, and Brooks and Katy bringing up the rear. We LOVE MEXICO...and might stay permanently...just kidding!! Thank you for all of your prayers! Stay tuned for updates about Merida--our next location.

Mexcio Day 2

We are up and ready to spread the good news in Mexico! We will start our teaching in Cancun today from 3:30-9:00. Yesterday we went to the church where we will hold the conference and met many of the men and women that will be attending. They were extremely joyful and loving people. There were six people that were baptized yesterday in the church of Antioch Baptist Church--Praise the Lord! Here is a video of one of the men that was baptized and a picture of us outside the church where we will hold the conference.

Amor de Mexico!!

Mexico Day One!

Hola de Mexico! We arrived around 9 last night, and thankfully no luggage was lost! Dr. Roberto and two of our other hosts met us at the airport. They took us to our hotel, then we headed straight out to get some good ole' Mexican food! We'll go to church this morning then spend the rest of the day preparing for the conference. The next two days we will begin speaking to the men and women of Cancun!
Please pray that they will catch the vision and have open ears and hearts to learn. Also, please pray that we would be open to the Spirit as we teach and that we would have endurance and strength from the Lord.
-TM (Team Mexico!)