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| |  | | | Merry Christmas from the Walkers.... we can't express how much you all mean to us!
We pray that you all have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks so much for your support and prayers! We covet them especially in the time of holidays and missing family and home. We hold true to KNOWING that this is where God has our family and working hard to do what He wants us to do.
Much Love and Blessings~
Ned, Debbie, Sammi, Hannah and Jesse
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| | | | HAPPY THANKSGIVING Hand in Hand...that is how this year has been for our family. Your hand extended to ours. Thanksgiving is one of our favorite times of the year. We work hard at being thankful. We are thankful to God for allowing us to be a part of His Plan. We are Thankful to you for being a part of our story! Words alone can not describe or express our gratitude to God and to you! Thank you!
SPECIAL NEED!! We need your mailing address! We will be sending out a snail mail prayer card this December! Please email us your address so that we don't miss sending you one.
Life of a missionary can be tough and one of the hardest things is being away from family for important events and holidays. Would you help this Christmas be not so lonely for us? Please consider adding us to your Christmas card or photo list this year. This will not only help us not be quite so lonely but it will also help us remember to pray for you in December and throughout the year.
our mailing address is: Ned Walker Family AGAPE flights STI 27519 100 Airport Ave Venice, FL 34285
Enjoy your family and friends this Thanksgiving season!
| | |  |  | Debbie & Hannah at the last chapel build site.
| |  | Jesse & Ned Jesse loves being up on the scaffold and putting the tin on the roof. | |  | Burning of demonic materials and shrine. The home got a new paint job also. | |  | | Sammi and Lisi enjoying the All-Access tour. Sammi went as a nanny but is now learning sound and has been in some shows. | | | | | |
| | | | Who is watching you? We have been blessed to be involved in 7 Chapel Project builds. As full time missionaries here in Santiago, we also are privileged to visit and preach at many of these chapels during the year and see many of the people that are impacted. Above you see some pictures from the latest chapel project build that we were a part of. It was #7 for us and what a privilege to get to work alongside the crew from Chapel Project and also the pastors here in Santiago. This week we start our 8th Chapel Project build. Please pray for safety for the crew.
A little perk of being here in Santiago full time is that we can go and visit these churches after they are built. Many times as I preach there are many new faces in the crowds. When groups come and want to work with kids, we can easily set up a VBS in most any of these areas and use the church. What a blessing it has been to work with these churches. We are making lots of friends and we run into friends around the city that often recognize us (the gringos) before we recognize them. They will tell us which church they live by so that we know who they are.
Hannah and Jesse got in a concho (a public taxi on a fixed route) the other day and the driver just kept smiling at them. Hannah was not sure who the creepy smiling man was until they got out at their stop and he showed them his son's picture told them that their mom liked his son and that he was my friend. Then Hannah realized that he was the man who lived across the street from the last chapel that we helped with. The man was quite excited that they had ridden in his concho. Even a city of over 1 million people is small sometimes. Funny thing is the church is a good 30 mins from our end of the city. But what a reminder that we are small but God is huge and has a plan for us.
We are reminded often that we are making an impact for God and that we are being remembered where we go. We are also reminded that we are watched and need to make sure that we are living a good example to others at all times. We never know who is watching us and seeing how a "Christian" handles things. A very serious revelation that we don't take lightly!
Who is watching you? Who is watching your life and seeing how you will handle the next thing that comes your way? | | El Misterio De Las Misiones The Mystery of Missions! Our New Opportunity! Our new opportunity involves the youth at our church, Oasis. We have attended this church since we arrived and have been more involved lately. Our small group and the youth meet every other Wednesday, however, this week we will start a new program for the youth on our "off" week. We have named it The Mystery of Missions because to so many here missions is a mystery. We will "debunk" some of this mystery over the next 8 weeks. The youth really want to reach out in their own communities but don't know how. We will teach on the topics of they have what it takes, some tools to use when evangelizing, how to make a plan for an outreach and execute it and how to make missions a lifestyle!
Please join us in prayer for this new opportunity!
| | | | | | Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming! Please be in prayer for our family during this holiday season. Last year didn't seem too hard as it was our first and "new" in many ways but this coming season is already seeming a bit tougher. We are well but miss family and friends a lot. Christmas is already here in the DR. There is no Thanksgiving holiday so they start about October 1st decorating. As for Thanksgiving it is really weird to celebrate a holiday that isn't even a holiday here. We had dinner with friends last year. We will see what God asks us to do this holiday season. But we do ask for prayers as it is much different away from home.
We are looking forward to Sammi's return on December 16th! It is strange without her!
| | | | | Current Need:
We are in need of purchasing our own vehicle. We have been blessed to be able to use the YWAM Santiago truck and just pay for the mileage that we use, however, we are at the point where we need to purchase our own car. We have the opportunity to purchase a car for $6300 US that is a diesel and may serve our family well. Please pray for wisdom for us and also please pray if you are to contribute and help with the purchase of a vehicle for us.
| | | | | Thank you!! These words are so small in comparison to the gratitude that we feel towards you! Without you, we could not be serving here in Santiago! We do not take lightly this opportunity to represent Jesus to so many others. And we also represent you our supporters and our churches and YWAM. We work hard to make sure that we commit to only what God has told us to commit to and to make our plans and stick with them.
So thank you! Thank you for your support! Thank you for your prayers! Thank you for being on this journey with us!
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| | | | One Year in the Dominican Republic!! Important milestones.... I have been thinking a lot about important dates and milestones in our lives. It is funny how we remember things or sometimes what we remember. Some happy memories, some sad; some hard and some enjoyable...but all needed to help us be who we are. God uses all of these things we remember and lots of things we don't remember to shape us. To hopefully draw us closer to a daily walk, a relationship with Him. Our family works hard to draw closer to God and to help others do the same. Sometimes is by a prayer or words but a lot of times just by our example of living. We are all on this journey called life together and we are thankful that you are a part of our journey. Thank you for helping us as we work at intentionally helping others.
We arrived in Santiago to live last year on August 27th. In many ways, it seems like just the other day and in many ways, it seems like a lifetime. We have missed friends, family, births, celebrations, deaths, tears...all the normal things that happen in life. AND we have experienced those same things here. We have seen people surrender their lives to God, we have seen people be healed, we have seen people hear that God loves them for the first time ever, and we have seen people die and cry and loose things that are important to them. But the important thing is that we have seen God's faithfulness. He has provided for us. He has done this through many of you and we are very grateful!
| | | | | The Crossings Family Team, YWAM Santiago staff and students, the Rio Iglesia,
Casa Grande crew, and local Dominican youth all ministering together!
Ministry times like this make my heart happy! Working together to bring God's love to others! | | |  | | The Discipleship Training School that was being run here at YWAM Santiago has finished. Our students are back to college or work and we are adjusting once again to a new season here. We are now a team of 10 from 4 nations...Antigua, Canada, Dominican Republic and United States. What a diverse group we have. Please help by praying as we all adjust to others' cultures and lifestyles and as we continue to seek God in what He wants us all to do as YWAM Santiago. There is so much need and we are looking to do what God wants and what will best serve His Purposes and Goals for the Dominican Republic and the people here. | | | Please join us in prayer for - Sammi's next step
- A vehicle for our family...we need between $10,000 and $15,000
- Spanish classes options & funds
- Wisdom to know what ministries to become more involved in
| | | | |  | | Faithful Jane.com....
Aka...Samantha Jane Walker
Sammi committed to being with the family for one year on our initial move to the DR. She is a little undecided as to what her future will be...weren't we all that way a bit when we were 19? Sammi loves the Lord and is truly striving to serve Him in how He sees fit. She is a real blessing to us as a family. We would love for her to always be right here beside us serving but we also know that this is not what God has for her. College, Missions, Music, Work? what does God have? We aren't for sure...but Sammi does have a NEXT STEP!
Sammi will be joining the "crew" of All Access Productions Speak Life Tour. She will be serving in the main role as a "kid helper/nanny" to two families who will be in the production but also will have the opportunity to help and learn in other ways. We are really praying that during this time she will be able to clearly see what God has for her.
Sammi will be in the states from Sept 13 to Dec 16th. This will be our longest time separated in this way as a family. Please be praying for this adjustment.
If you interested in supporting Sammi on this next step, please let me know or send extra along with your donation marked for her. She needs to raise $1600 as quickly as possible.
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What are the Walkers doing right now?
We are moving!!
The last week of August, our family will be moving long-term to Santiago, Dominican Republic. We will be working with YWAM Santiago and the Martin Family! We are super excited about this transition. But also praying for wisdom as we figure out visa's, residency, what to do with our things, etc...
As always, we are praying that the Lord will use us wherever we are!
Lord, help us not to miss the things you have prepared for us to do!
