Doing What We Love! It is very hard to sum up in words what we do here in the Dom Rep sometimes. We host groups, we serve local churches, we disciple those that come along, we share the gospel, we share love to others.... those are things we say but I think the biggest thing that we love doing is seeing others serve. Sometimes when we serve others it really doesn't look like much. Holding a baby while a mom colors a picture. Giving someone cold water. Praying with someone. Playing with kids with sidewalk chalk. All of these things and so many more are just simple ways of serving. When we serve, we ourselves are almost always the real recipient of the service...the real recipient of love. When we give, we truly receive. Then we are blessed.
You see Jesus came to serve not to be served (Matt 20:28) and we are to have attitudes like Jesus (Phil 2:5) and to walk like Jesus (1John 2:6). We are to be like Jesus. So if Jesus came to serve than we should also do our best to serve. So when groups and teams come and we can help them serve others, it is doing what we really love to do. Helping others to be like Jesus... because then we often see how much God not only loves those around us...but God loves us. We begin to see our value and our purpose and that God does have something for us to give others. Even if whatever that is seems small or non-important. Through serving others, we often see how much value God has placed in us.
What a privilege it is do be able to do what we love!
| |  | | Congratulations Hannah! Class of 2016! Hannah and two others at the base graduated this year so we held a fun graduation party at the base. Thanks Grandma Reta and Aunt Trish for sending decorations and a cap and gown! We all had a good time and quite a few of the neighbor ladies came to join us in the celebration. Hannah is getting ready to do her first school in YWAM in September. | | Prayers and Bibles
What a blessing for the Converse Church of Christ to purchase and bring Bibles to the locals in Spanish!! Thank you to so many of the people there and the Sunday School classes who collected money! We gave out about 160 Bibles for children and about 20 adult Bibles. We have been asked for more since the team left. What great long lasting gifts. A Bible to read the word of God and knowing how to talk to God in prayer!
The kids above had so much fun learning about Jesus and about how to be a missionary from the team.
We are holding special summer Kidz Club with the local children twice a week for the summer. We love pouring into the future of our world! | | | We have a couple of prayer requests/needs:
1. Ned, Debbie and Jesse are praying about attending a 3 week conference in Kansas City from Sept 30 to Oct 21. We will need about $2500 for this including airfare. It is a conference about reaching youth with large events featuring extreme sports, music, dance and dramas along with follow-up and discipleship in the local church. Please pray with us and please consider giving to this trip.
2. Regular monthly support is always down in the summer. Please pray as we still have the same amount of bills and have some other extra needs....including repaying our inverter/generator fund that the car breakdown cost took.
3. Hannah leaving to do DTS in September. She still needs funds. Plus we would like for Ned or Debbie to be able to go to Florida with her to get her bank account and drivers license taken care of before going to California.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Without you, we could not do what we do! | | | | |
Why Cuba?
Is it safe? These are just a couple of the questions that we got when we said that Jesse and I were going to Cuba. Why Cuba? Because we live and work in the Dominican Republic with both Dominicans and Haitians. Some of these want to become missionaries to other countries and one of our tasks is to help train them for this. Cuba is one of the few countries that both Dominicans and Haitians can visit easily. Plus Cuba is changing and evolving and what better foundation to be laid now than that of true Christianity....based on a relationship with Jesus not a religion of expectations.
So Jesse and I had the opportunity to lead a small scouting team with two students to see what kind of ministry can be done in the future.
It was amazing to see the followers of Jesus ALIVE and working hard to spread His Love in this country where oppression and communism is very much alive and working. What a privilege to share and pray with so many brothers and sisters in the faith and to encourage them to keep standing and keep pressing on.
How can you help the Christians in Cuba? One way is through the amazing ministry of a magazine directed at university students and artists. Check it out on facebook... supervivo.cuba or email them at super.vivo@hotmail.com | | | | Jesse greatly enjoyed taking pictures on our trip! It was fun to see his love of photography awaken! | | | | | May started with us going to a YWAM Caribbean conference with over 200 others on the north coast of the DR. It was a great time of refreshing and refueling. We were able to share and pray with some mentors and leadership which was great. Hannah and Jesse were able to catch up on old friendships with other YWAM youth and to make some new friendships which is such a blessing on the field.
On the way home, however, we broke down and were stranded in Santiago for a couple of days while the car was worked on. Thanks to YWAM Santiago for hosting us! This definitely was NOT in the budget so please pray for the costs of tires and struts and the towing of the car, extra time away, etc...
We were home for two days and Jesse and Debbie went to Cuba for a future teams scouting trip. It was amazing to see the church working and using the cell group model that we are accustomed to through Central Assembly in Vero Beach! A return trip is in the future so look for details.
In June, we have already had Hannah finish up her high school and also sent the whole DTS team to the mountains outside of Santiago for the last leg of their outreach. DTS Graduation and a Graduation celebration for Hannah and two other seniors at the base are coming at the end of the month.
Please be in prayer for us as we are in need of finances this summer. The car breaking down which also resulted in 2 tires being damaged and those costs plus the trip to Cuba really have hit us hard. Summer is a fun time for so many others as school is out and vacations are taken. However, here it seems to just be hot!
We are also praying about what kind of activities we can have for the young people in our community as school is out and they are very unsupervised.
Blessings and thank you to all who faithfully or one time support us! Without your support we can not do what we do! | | |  | YWAM Youth at the Caribbean conference in May. What a great group of friends!
It was fun to see them meet together different times to discuss what they were learning at the conference. | | |  | Class of 2016
Hannah is done with school. She will be doing a Discipleship Training School with YWAM in Mendocino CA in Sept.
We are so proud of her hard work and determination! Be on the lookout for her support and news letter coming soon! | | | | |
Hope you enjoy this March and April update! Thanks for being a part of our ministry! It has been a crazy busy time here in the DR with the end of DTS lecture phase that Ned and Debbie are both staffing, Hannah and Jesse staffing NIKO camp in Santiago, Debbie going to Haiti and being sick, and Ned attending his high school football reunion. We are also having major electricity and internet issues. Internet is very intermittent when we do have electricity and we have had major changes to our electricity supply in the past 3 weeks with 4 to 6 hour blackouts a day for most days. These things have led to a delay in getting out our monthly newsletter! Sorry for the delay but thanks for being a part of this adventure! | | | | Bible reading and journaling are two of the things that the staff and the campers do during NIKO camp. I love this picture of Hannah and Caleb (a friend and YWAM staff kid from St. Marc, Haiti) sitting together during quiet time with Jesse in the background.
During this NIKO camp God spoke to Hannah through 1 Peter 4:10, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others; as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." She came home and told us that she wanted to do her Discipleship Training School and then get some medical training because, "I feel like God gives us the knowledge and ability to do things so that we can help others." Hannah will graduate in June and is looking at attending the DTS in Mendocino, California in September. Please pray for her as she needs to raise about $6000 for this. | | |  | Jesse enjoying a team building activity during NIKO camp in Santiago.
Not just the campers but also the staff learn more about themselves and how to lead as they go to this week of camp. We love seeing the positive changes that come each time the kids participate in NIKO. | | | CUBA!
Jesse and Debbie have the opportunity to lead a scouting trip for future teams to go to Cuba. They will be going with some of the current DTS students when they arrive back from Haiti. This trip will be May 21st to the 29th. Would you please pray and consider giving towards the $2000 they need in order to make this a reality.
Please pray as they travel to a once closed communist country that is just beginning to open up to the outside world after many years. | | | | | |
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!
