Dominican Republic Update from Brad & Parker

Downline alumni Brad Chester and Parker Watkins are working in the Dominican Republic for the next year.  You can read about their adventure on there blog at http://bradandparker.blogspot.com

DR: Day 6 and 7 coming soon!

Hi everyone!  With the busy-ness of the last 2 days we haven't had a lot of time to update the blog (plus the internet has been a bit touch and go).  Don't worry!!!  We will update and we have some REALLY AWESOME things to share....but it most likely won't get put up until we are back in the states.  We will talk soon!

DR Day 5: Conference and Downline Class

Today was the last day of our 3 day conference and we just had more and more people show up each and every day.  It seemed like the people were so eager to learn and that was such a huge blessing.

I love when we arrive to the church every morning and see all the mopeds lined up.  The people here come via moped, walking, or a car similar to a taxi.  It takes a lot of money for them to get to class so we love seeing them when we arrive.  We even have a few brothers that we pick up on the way.  One day, we literally had 17 people in Bill and Debbie's 12 passenger van.  No photo :( because I literally was too squished to get it!

We've all been humming Haitian gospel songs this week (we sing at the beginning of class each day).  But today, we got a huge surprise.  The group began to sing and we all instantly knew the song by hearing the melody.  They were singing Blessed Assurance in Creole.  I got the camera out quickly because it was just beautiful and before you knew it, we were all belting it out in English.  God has found all kinds of ways to unite us this week!

The women are so eagerly taking notes.

Michelle teaches the Thessolinican Legacy to the women.

Michelle listens intently as some of the women asked questions.  Ricky did a great job of translating for us ladies.

After class, we went over to Parker and Brad's home (they are moving here in August to do ministry work).  There was lots of cleaning to be done so we got with it.

The men pulled all the furniture out of the room (we are pretty sure that something had nested in it), so we could clean the floors really well.

Mamie spent lots of time with Brad and Parker this past year as an EL. She was so eager to go help prepare their home!

Michelle got our plan together to make sure we kept on task.

We found all kinds of little critters in the house!

The windows get a good scrub by me (Kristi).

The boys moved the stove and cleaned really good in the kitchen.

Scrub that floor, Mamie!

Steve cleans out the fridge.  He provided our background music (see video below).

Walt cleans the light fixtures.

Nathaniel D. putting the final touches on the stove.

Nathaniel P. mops the floors.

Almost done!  Be glad this blog is not a "scratch and sniff!"  We were pretty hot and smelly by the time it was over!

In case some of you do not know Brad and Parker, they are crazy, fun loving guys.  They created a video (click here to view) and our video above will make sense.  We can't wait to see all the work they do for the Lord.

We held class again tonight for the DL students.  Some of the same lessons that we did earlier in the week for the conference were taught again.

Nathaniel P. demonstrates the Francis Chan rope illustration to talk about eternal perspective.

Kristi uses the same illustration in her talk as well.

Again, we are loving on the children!

One of the women reads verses for us.  They really enjoyed when we called on them to help us with reading God's word.

Michelle gave these 2 girls her iPhone to play games to keep them busy so their mom could listen.  I love how the one on the right looks like she's amazed by this little electronic gadget.

As you can see, we had a really packed day today!  More to come tomorrow!

DR Day 4: Conference and Downline Class

Again, we got up this morning and started with much prayer before heading over to the church to start Day 2 of the conference.

Today, several more of the team members got the opportunity to teach.  We divided up with women in one side of the church and men in the other.  The women on our team spoke to the women and the men spoke to the men.  We spoke on the 9 Qualifications of Disciple Making (Kristi and Nathaniel P.) and the 10 How-To's of Disciple Making (Mamie and Nathaniel D.).

Nathaniel P. teaches the men.

Mamie teaches the women (we made a circle and got comfy in the back of the room).

Nathaniel D. teaches the men next.

The men really listening.

Bill loves on one of the babies so his Mom could have a break and listen as Mamie teaches.

Mamie and our other translator, Ricky, teaching.

As we left from class, Roosevelt and his family (5 of them all together) hopped on their motor bike to head home.

Tonight we had class for the Downline institute students.  We picked up in 2 Timothy and went over the 7 Profiles of a Disciple Maker (taught by Walt) and then Steve continued on in 2 Timothy.  We had a special treat with translation by Pastor Caleb (he is a pastor from Haiti).  You could definitely hear God speaking through these men tonight.

DR Day 3: Conference and Downline Class

Today we started off with some prayer time at the house and then headed to the church to start day 1 of our conference with the local Haitians.  The pastor of the church there (also named Roosevelt) challenged his members to come and to bring someone with them.  When we first arrived, there were just a few people there to attend, but we soon remembered we are on "island time" and we had lots of people come in after a short time (even though we would have been happy with just one person attending, it was great to see lots of faces).  We had some singing and also the teachings.

Roosevelt (translator) opens us up with prayer.

Steve taught first on the Great Commission.  He broke it down into very simple explanations of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How....even including some hand motions to help the people remember.

Here we all are doing the hand motions:  Who is to make disciples?  ME!

The students and our team listen intently.

Later Steve gave an illustration about how to "pour into" a disciple.  He used a bucket and asked what would be the most effective way to pour water into the smaller water bottles.  He started out by asking if it would work well to just throw the water?  The group caught on quickly that the best way to pour into a disciple is to get up close and really concentrate and develop a relationship with the disciple.

Walt also teaches on Jesus' plan for vision and strategy to reach the whole world and tell them the gospel.

 We had a board to use to help get the points across.

Pastor Roosevelt gave a heartfelt speech at the end of the talks about how excited and grateful he is that Downline will be being taught in the church next year.  He really seems to understand the gospel.  The whole ministry has been greatly blessed by meeting him.

One of the local church members came to the conference.  She slept off and on during the teachings due to some pain that she's had chronically in her neck, head, and back.  The team prayed over her for healing and relief.

This is the outside of the church we are utilizing for the conference.  This is also where Downline will be held next year.

This is one of the Downline women students.  Before class and any time there is a break, she is working on her crochet projects.  This is how she makes money.  She's made a few beautiful things for some of our team members.  Don't worry, she pays attention during class time.  She is a great note taker!

Bill and Roosevelt introduce the start of this week's Downline class.  We will be having class Monday through Friday and the graduation for this year's students will be held on Friday.

Steve teaches the Downline students from 2 Timothy 2.

DR Day 2: Church and Villagers

Hello again!  Today we went to church at a local Haitian church.  This is the church that is hosting our conferences this week and this is most likely where the DR Downline will be meeting next year.

We also got a chance to go and visit Roosevelt's (our translator) home, as well as some of the villagers and this year's Downline students homes.  The children were so happy to see us and led us through the village as we went along.

We went to visit a Dominican church tonight.  The atmosphere is quite a bit different from the Haitian church we visited this morning.  Lots of singing and praise!

 The children were amazing and loved all over us....and we loved back!

 The church service this morning was great!  It was very different than a service in the states.  The people are so passionate as they sing.  Bill got up and spoke briefly about what we will be doing this week at the conference. Then Steve preached a message about Jesus making fishers of men.  Finally, the local pastor spoke about 2 Samuel.

 Roosevelt's sister-in-law lives with he and his wife.  She makes these baskets out of wrappers and she's working on one here.

 Roosevelt's wife (Nelly) and his 2 children in the kitchen.

 This is the outside of Roosevelt's home.

Another shot of the local children laughing and high-fiving with Mamie.  The home in the middle was so colorful I just had to include it.  On the bottom right, Bill visits with one of this year's Downline students.  We will be seeing her this week at class.