Well the day has finally arrived and I must say with mixed feelings, Laura and I leave Canada today for the return to the D.R. This trip although unexpected has brought us closer to many of our family and friends. We have thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of family and close friends in each city where we stayed. A big shout out of love to my family in B.C. who endured the hardship of family loss with us, God bless you all! I know that you rest in the comfort of the Lord and He has our backs as we leave you again for a time. Our extended family in Alberta is also huge in our hearts as we again are reminded of how strong is the bond that ties us together with John and Denise McNeil, may the Lord keep you and your household strong blessing you with good times and a calming presence. (I know you need that because of those little angels who bless you daily!) Thank you for putting up with us as we moved in and out of your house several times over the past three weeks! We extend another prayer for our good friends who put us up in Lethbridge, feeding us and praying with us while we reconnected with supporters in L.A. Be blessed James and Sylvia for the Lord knows your hearts and He is pleased. We pray for a blessing over them as they support us from Lethbridge, they are our anchors while we are away and we ask that they be held up in prayer while they walk out the mission with us. Pray for protection over them and God's provision, we love you guys! Laura and I were blessed to be able to meet with so many supporters while we were in Lethbridge for the week. I apologize if we could not meet with many others who support us as we simply ran out of time. It has been an amazing time of rediscovery with many of you about the mission God has given us and what has been happening with us so far. Many times I felt my voice straining to keep up with my mind as we shared our experiences with you. I know my wife says I talk too much but I can't help it, I have to tell of the work He is doing with us in the D.R. It is a glorious opportunity for us to be able to share with you all that we have seen and done so far. Thank you all for your time, your hospitality and your love towards us. Laura and I look forward to the day when we can return the blessing to each of you when you visit us on the mission field in the D.R. We will soon begin to build our Mission House and then all of you are invited to journey with us more closely, sharing in the experience of seeing God at work with us in the D.R...with His people.
Finally we wish to thank our parents, each of them in turn have been absolutely inspirational to us, my B.C. mother Debbie, who now stands on the rock of the Lord, bless you as you continue on without my father, I know you will miss him as will I, but I know we are stronger today for how he enriched our lives...no more suffering. To my mother and step-father in Huxley Ab. keep the faith, for I look to that faith in you as inspiration for myself. The light of the Lord shines bright in Huxley, thank you for all you are in my life. Lastly but certainly not least, our parents in Windsor, Laura's father and step-mother, from whom I can say I received good Godly counsel, amazing blessings and profound love. The Spirit of the Lord is the center of Dearl and Annette's life, this we know. Bless you all our
earthly parents, bless you all our families extended, bless you all our friends and supporters and a heartfelt thank you for all you do for us!
Dios los bendigal!
Mike and Laura Boisclair
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Remember
Today I visited with an old friend from high school. I called Chris after I arrived back in my home town of Oliver B.C. to see if he could meet up with me for breakfast. Chris immediately said yes and then gave me his condolences for the loss of my Dad Charlie Boisclair who passed away suddenly on September 6. While we had gone to school at SOSS Chris had not always been in Oliver, he arrived at the school at the beginning of the Grade 10 year for me. Chris was big and tall and full of personality, played basketball and was labelled "a jock". Certainly not the crowd I hung around with. I guess you could say I was a "wanna be jock" but was too small and slight to play that serious paced game. Neither did we have a football team, like it mattered. We ended up in several classes together and became friends as we often studied together. What an unlikely pairing, but we became stronger friends and he offered me a summer job through his father. I accepted because money was right up my alley as a teenager, I mean food was pricey! What followed was several years of friendship that continued even as I moved away and began my adult life. My father and Chris always had a great relationship and Dad even helped Chris start his first business when he was in grade 12. It was great and I know Chris always had a great respect for my Dad throughout the following 30 years. Even as I returned to my hometown for visits from time to time, Chris was always a welcome part of our family. So solid was that bond. When the news of my Dad's passing came to the family of course shock and sadness ran its course. Each of us facing the news with different but similar circumstances. When I had received the news about his passing I sat and stared at the email and read it again. Slowly I began to realize that I would never again be able to talk to him, hug him or just sit with him. Never again would I be able to jump in the truck and race up McKinney to see how quickly we could get to the power line and settle down for an afternoon hunt. Oh how he loved that part of his life. It seemed that throughout the years of growing up that was all he ever did. All his brothers ever did, even some of my aunts embraced the overwhelming desire to provide for their families in this way. It seemed that even when hunting season was not on we were always up the hill cutting firewood to ready ourselves for the winter. Dad even turned firewood into a small business as he hauled truckload after truckload of wood down the mountain for us kids to split and chop for resale customers. As I sat at the computer reading the news the flood of emotion came over me like a wave, welling up from inside and filling my depths first and then moving quickly into my head. My thoughts raced to how everyone was reacting to this shocking news and the floodgates opened onto the desk. I gasped and sobbed uncontrollably for a few minutes and then suddenly, as if a tornado had suddenly ceased, calm washed over my body. Peace came into my mind as I knew suddenly that God had taken him now for a reason. His suffering was over, time to go home. His family must stay behind and continue on without him but surely not in pain. Some of us might continue to grieve that he is gone but the peace I felt of God's will was overwhelming. God took him to ease all of our suffering. Dad had endured over 10 years of progressive illness through Alzheimer/Dementia. An extremely debilitating disease that traps people in their minds and traps the families that have to watch their loved ones suffer. Enough God said. Enough. Chris said to me confirming words of what I knew God was doing. "It is truly a blessing for Charlie and the family that God has released everyone from the burden of this time" he said to me this morning. Chris Jentsch is not a Christian. But God uses people all instruments of His will, even when they don't even know Him! Chris continued to comment about my Dad as we sat there and listened to his reminisce about all the times he had spent with my Dad. "That man had the biggest brain in any man I know!" he said, "I mean he was so quick with a comeback or a joke and he always had a smile on his face!" "I wish I could come up with the quick retorts or have the witty little jokes that made people laugh! Chris spoke for quite a while about the way my Dad was around people. He was absolutely right, confirming for me that my Father raised me up to appreciate and respect those around me. That he in turn respected my relationship with y friend so much that now my friend could edify all that my Dad was to all of us. Charlie Boisclair was loved by all, not a fighter, not mean. Level, strong and always sure of what he did and who he was. I knew that, so did my brothers and sisters, all of his brothers and sisters, all of his friends, anyone who met Charlie knew he was alright. Chris knew it and still does. Thank you Lord for the gift of friendship in a man who I have known for more than 30 years and can still call me brother at the same table. Your confirming presence is gratifying to me that I am still to continue working for you the rest of my days. Thank you Lord for your continuing presence in my family, for your peace and love to them as they seek solace in each other and in you. "Blessed are those who mourn" Jesus said "for they shall be comforted" Matt 3:4. Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit who comforts all of us when we rest in you as we mourn. Charlie Boisclair lived his life and now he is gone, but his legacy lives in all of us who were touched by his spirit. Pray Lord that we never forget him and help us celebrate his life. Amen
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Mission House!
Hello everybody and bless you this day the Lord has Made! Laura and I are doing well even though it is hard to get through the hot afternoons this time of year...now I know why they have siestas! (kidding) We are continuing to move forward on development of the Guest House. Recently I spoke to a fellow Missionary who had a team at a local resort. He asked me pointedly..."When are you going to have the Guest House ready to receive teams?"
"Why? I asked. He sighed and told me the story which caused the question. While they were in the hotel having dinner with the team, along with his young children and wife, a tourist staying at the hotel walked out around the pool area and walked towards the beach, wearing nothing but his sunglasses. Everyone on the team was shocked to say the least, but the hotel people did nothing to discourage the man's behaviour as he strutted toward the beach. When someone finally reacted to the complaints he had donned his shorts and gone into the sea for a swim...he must have been afraid of little fish, certainly not of the people he had offended.
I tell you this story not to get you to shake your head but rather to show you that this is the state that the world has gotten too. This is just another example of how bad things are. The world sells on sex, the display of it, the outward desensitization of it, and the blatant "in your face" attitude of some people.
This is one of the primary reasons why we are here to build this Mission House. The protection of teams and children from the hedonistic attitude of the world is most important right now.
The necessity for God's people to remove themselves from the world and renew themselves in one mind is so obvious to me that the Mission House needs to go forward sooner than later.
I am sure you will all agree with me that this type activity while disgusting will most likely continue to occur again. This is what sells to some people...so they tolerate it.
We do not have to accept this lack of personal discipline in any situation. Paul warns us when he says to us Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." 2Cor 6:17
It is the same here within this cultural mandate that has now gripped the tourist industry here in the D.R. We can no longer afford to submit ourselves to the uncleanness the world enjoys so much.
Please join me as we push forward in God's will to establish a protected Mission House where the Lord's people do not have to be subjected to the distractions of the world.
Please view our brochure at the following link
http://www.bridgesofhope.ca/
Bless you all
Mike
"Why? I asked. He sighed and told me the story which caused the question. While they were in the hotel having dinner with the team, along with his young children and wife, a tourist staying at the hotel walked out around the pool area and walked towards the beach, wearing nothing but his sunglasses. Everyone on the team was shocked to say the least, but the hotel people did nothing to discourage the man's behaviour as he strutted toward the beach. When someone finally reacted to the complaints he had donned his shorts and gone into the sea for a swim...he must have been afraid of little fish, certainly not of the people he had offended.
I tell you this story not to get you to shake your head but rather to show you that this is the state that the world has gotten too. This is just another example of how bad things are. The world sells on sex, the display of it, the outward desensitization of it, and the blatant "in your face" attitude of some people.
This is one of the primary reasons why we are here to build this Mission House. The protection of teams and children from the hedonistic attitude of the world is most important right now.
The necessity for God's people to remove themselves from the world and renew themselves in one mind is so obvious to me that the Mission House needs to go forward sooner than later.
I am sure you will all agree with me that this type activity while disgusting will most likely continue to occur again. This is what sells to some people...so they tolerate it.
We do not have to accept this lack of personal discipline in any situation. Paul warns us when he says to us Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." 2Cor 6:17
It is the same here within this cultural mandate that has now gripped the tourist industry here in the D.R. We can no longer afford to submit ourselves to the uncleanness the world enjoys so much.
Please join me as we push forward in God's will to establish a protected Mission House where the Lord's people do not have to be subjected to the distractions of the world.
Please view our brochure at the following link
http://www.bridgesofhope.ca/
Bless you all
Mike
Monday, August 22, 2011
Hurricane!
Well here we are in our little apartment looking out the window while I type this blog, the rain is coming down harder now after raining most of the day. Some areas on the North Coast have reported localized flooding already. Waves have been reported at over 12 feet in some coastal ports to our east. The storm is intensifying but it has begun to move more to the north west now and projections are that it will skirt the coastal area of the D.R. and Haiti. They are projecting major rainfall in the area of up to 10 inches of rain over the next 24 to 36 hours. This storm will likely gain strength as it moves north and west on track to make landfall in Florida or somewhere up the Eastern seaboard. Pray with us as we endure our first major storm in this Mission Field. Laura and I are fine and will likely be very safe as we are on high ground and well protected in this new building. Many of the people we help daily with suffer great hardship during this storm. Please pray for their protection and quick end to this ordeal. We have continued to pray for God's protective hand over us and all tha we reach with our Ministry.
We still continued the work today as we went up to the Village Ascension today to help in the feeding program. We assisted Bill and Donna Reimer as they served soup today which was donated from Campbells Canada. Campbells has provided thousands of cans of ready to eat soup designed specifically for Humanitarian needs. What a blessing! Just two months ago this Ministry was in dire straits as they needed funding and product in order to continue feeding children in this Village. God has answered many prayers for Dominican Ministry, Feed The Kids Program. He has brought funding and free soup to the island!
I had a chance to sit down with a man from the Village this morning and through an interpreter I got most of his story. Daniel "Pappo" Armontes was born in the D.R. in 1979, half a mile from where he still lives. He is 34 now and suffered a stroke 10 years ago so now he drags his left foot and has a wing for a left arm. Because of the stroke he speaks now with a stutter. I am writing about Pappo so I can bring to light more of the inhumanity of humanity which is so prevalent here. Pappo is a Haitian but he was born in the D.R. and therefore has no rights in either country. He is not recognized by any authority here even though he was born here because it is assumed that his parents are also illegal in the country. Before he had his stroke at 24 years of age he also worked in the cane fields and also did construction when he found work, but now he is considered "useless" by the construction companies even though I believe he could bench press me! I visited his home last week and I was not shocked by the conditions I saw, tattered mattress on bricks, dirty blankets, a simple table and two chairs, a broken cookstove standing by the door. They use the cookstove to make rice and soup on, a simply built tool which holds the cooking carbon and can be moved outside to allow for the smoke. I asked Pappo how much a new one cost, 150 pesos he says, $4.00 Can. I gave him the money. The stench inside the house was unbearable as I stood there and I had to step outside for a few seconds to catch my breath before I continued back into the house to check out the backyard. We exited the rear of the house and I stood in the garden, a 5 foot by 10 foot area of mostly rock and puddles. Several pails filled the area, in them were plants I did not recognize...what are these I asked Him? Yucca and peppers he said, but he had no peppers yet. My heart leaped into my throat when he told me he lived there with his sister and young 2 year old son. My interview continued with Pappa and I discovered he had gone to school up until grade 8, he could read and write a little but owned no books as he could not remember how to read Spanish. He spoke Creole to the translator as his Spanish was okay but not as good as his Creole. Last week Laura and I also bought him a new pair of shoes, Converse High Tops! $5.00...made in China, lol. Today Pappa told me that things would be much better if the Government began to harvest the sugar cane again, that then he would have enough money each month to buy more food and clothes for his son. Then he would have enough money to fix up his house, maybe even enough money so his daughter could come and live with him again. His little girl Daniela, 6 years old, lives with his mother and father in another house. They have more food and a bed for her because Pappo's father makes a little more money.
Pappo is only one man in this village out of 2000...there are dozens of villages like this one in the area. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Sugar Cane Harvest will not begin again for along time. Pray for him, pray for his children, hope abounds.
Bless you all
Mike
We still continued the work today as we went up to the Village Ascension today to help in the feeding program. We assisted Bill and Donna Reimer as they served soup today which was donated from Campbells Canada. Campbells has provided thousands of cans of ready to eat soup designed specifically for Humanitarian needs. What a blessing! Just two months ago this Ministry was in dire straits as they needed funding and product in order to continue feeding children in this Village. God has answered many prayers for Dominican Ministry, Feed The Kids Program. He has brought funding and free soup to the island!
I had a chance to sit down with a man from the Village this morning and through an interpreter I got most of his story. Daniel "Pappo" Armontes was born in the D.R. in 1979, half a mile from where he still lives. He is 34 now and suffered a stroke 10 years ago so now he drags his left foot and has a wing for a left arm. Because of the stroke he speaks now with a stutter. I am writing about Pappo so I can bring to light more of the inhumanity of humanity which is so prevalent here. Pappo is a Haitian but he was born in the D.R. and therefore has no rights in either country. He is not recognized by any authority here even though he was born here because it is assumed that his parents are also illegal in the country. Before he had his stroke at 24 years of age he also worked in the cane fields and also did construction when he found work, but now he is considered "useless" by the construction companies even though I believe he could bench press me! I visited his home last week and I was not shocked by the conditions I saw, tattered mattress on bricks, dirty blankets, a simple table and two chairs, a broken cookstove standing by the door. They use the cookstove to make rice and soup on, a simply built tool which holds the cooking carbon and can be moved outside to allow for the smoke. I asked Pappo how much a new one cost, 150 pesos he says, $4.00 Can. I gave him the money. The stench inside the house was unbearable as I stood there and I had to step outside for a few seconds to catch my breath before I continued back into the house to check out the backyard. We exited the rear of the house and I stood in the garden, a 5 foot by 10 foot area of mostly rock and puddles. Several pails filled the area, in them were plants I did not recognize...what are these I asked Him? Yucca and peppers he said, but he had no peppers yet. My heart leaped into my throat when he told me he lived there with his sister and young 2 year old son. My interview continued with Pappa and I discovered he had gone to school up until grade 8, he could read and write a little but owned no books as he could not remember how to read Spanish. He spoke Creole to the translator as his Spanish was okay but not as good as his Creole. Last week Laura and I also bought him a new pair of shoes, Converse High Tops! $5.00...made in China, lol. Today Pappa told me that things would be much better if the Government began to harvest the sugar cane again, that then he would have enough money each month to buy more food and clothes for his son. Then he would have enough money to fix up his house, maybe even enough money so his daughter could come and live with him again. His little girl Daniela, 6 years old, lives with his mother and father in another house. They have more food and a bed for her because Pappo's father makes a little more money.
Pappo is only one man in this village out of 2000...there are dozens of villages like this one in the area. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Sugar Cane Harvest will not begin again for along time. Pray for him, pray for his children, hope abounds.
Bless you all
Mike
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
In The Village
Good Morning everyone! Dios los bendigal!
Well for the past few weeks Laura and I have been working alongside another Ministry in a small Haitian village located near Puerto Plata, the main city on the North Coast of the D.R. I call it a Haitian village as most of the inhabitants are migrant Haitian workers who came to the D.R. years ago to work in the cane fields of the D.R. Many of these people are here in the D.R. illegally but choose to stay here because even as poor as they are here things are much worse back in Haiti. Many of you have heard the term, "Stuck between a rock and a hard place?" This is the situation here...I will explain. These migrant workers have been coming to this country to work in the cane fields as the land owners needed the cheap labour. Economics: The average Dominican earns about 8000 pesos per month minimum wage...about $200 Canadian Dollars. There is no base rate for Haitians in the D.R. unless they have a working VISA to be here, then they qualify for the minimum wage. The illegal Haitians can earn about 100 pesos per day of hard work or about $2.50 per day...more than double what they could earn if they had a job in Haiti. See the problem yet? About 20 years ago the world began to cultivate and produce another product that has virtually decimated the cane sugar production in most of the third world...anyone know? Sugar beets. In 2001 the Dominican Republic produced over 100,000 tons of sugar for use and export, which created thousands of dollars of revenue for the country and thousands of jobs. Enter sugar beets...today there is virtually no production of cane, only one area in the country still harvests cane sugar...and they use it to produce a private label of Rum. No sugar is exported today, no jobs are available for thousands of illegal migrant workers that have lived in this country at the will of the Dominican Landlords that cannot sell their crops. Not our problem? I beg to differ...the inhumanity of humanity is so prevalent on this island that it leaves a feeling of utter despair when you walk around one of these villages located within an overgrown and unproductive cane field...there are hundreds of these villages all over the island. These people have little to no idea what has happened to their jobs and are left to fend for themselves, trying to scrape out a living doing anything. Which ends up being less than what they deserve. So who is to blame for all of this mess that now consumes the lives of thousands of people? Including the already overburdened economy of the D.R. Oh maybe there is no one to blame, maybe these people did this to themselves...maybe they should have stayed put in Haiti, even after generation after generation of people continued to suffer under gross persecution by their own government? Maybe we should blame the Dominican Landlords, who brought many of these hopeful migrant workers to the country and offered them a better way of life through jobs harvesting cane for suger...who ultimately could not foresee the end of their own commodity because the world developed a better, cheaper product? Maybe we should then blame our own country and other countries who produce massive stockpiles of sugar beets that drive the price of sugar so low that cane production becomes worthless...even with labour at less than $3.00 per day per person? No I don't think you can blame any market economy that demands competition on a global scale, I do believe that this market product...namely sugar cane...can be valuable to a world economic climate. This will likely involve a restructure of the production environment here and in many cane producing countries to evolve an industry into biofuel production. A product in high demand and one that creates many jobs and huge revenue streams for the producing countries. But these changes take time, time in research, time in investment, time in construction and then time in building a new commodity which the world must migrate to...over time. In the meantime, thousands of hopeful people who have committed lives to one industry are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Make sense now? There is an end in sight, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How long must they continue to endure and require the assistance of Mission Groups like us and others to keep these people alive! As long as it takes! There is no choice for these people so while they wait we will continue to provide as much as they need to live, medical aid, clothing, food programs, life skills training, evangelizing and many other programs beneficial to survival.
This short "rant" that I have released upon you is designed to make you aware of what we are seeing; this is the face of humanity right here in the Dominican Republic, in a small village, in the middle of a dead sugar cane field with nowhere to turn to and nowhere to go. What most of you see is the face of InHumanity in your world, far away from humanity, the real humanity of this world. God does not want us to hide from all of the other problems we might be aware of, rather He wants us to be involved in whatever capacity we can. If you can then you must help. Last week we counselled with another Missionary who assisted in the protecting of two brand new orphans whose young mother had just passed away from some illness. They are 7 and 8 years old and the older is mentally handicapped...the 7 year old had been caring for mother and sister for many days alone while she watched her mother dying and never knew what was happening. The family has been on a food bag sponsor program for some time now and the other villagers brought the death of the mother to the attention of the Missionaries. Since then the girls were removed from the village for safety, as they might become victimized, and an uncle was located nearby. Please pray for these two and others in this family as this tragedy is far from over, these children have yet to be raised.
Last month we also learned of another woman who was pregnant with quadruplets. She gave birth on Saturday to two boys and two girls...at 7 months of term; all of the babies lived for a few hours...long enough to pray over them...none of the babies survived. A challenge even in the first world...in the third world, almost impossible.
Again, I tell you these things not to express the tragedy of a cruel world, but rather to show you the inhumanity we all live in within the world man has created. For it is undoubtedly tragic that humanity should watch or ignore the inhumanity of human suffering. These tragedies will undoubtedly continue...Jesus told us that
"For you have the poor with you always..." Matt 26:11 and Paul encouraged us later "they desired only that we should remember the poor..." Gal 2:10
Give where you can, give where you find yourself, for there is where your ministry lies. If you feel compelled to help in any way please contact us by email. A fundraising newsletter is forthcoming.
I am the voice of a people who weep in the night. Hear our prayers.
Bless you all
Thank you for your continued prayers
Mike
Well for the past few weeks Laura and I have been working alongside another Ministry in a small Haitian village located near Puerto Plata, the main city on the North Coast of the D.R. I call it a Haitian village as most of the inhabitants are migrant Haitian workers who came to the D.R. years ago to work in the cane fields of the D.R. Many of these people are here in the D.R. illegally but choose to stay here because even as poor as they are here things are much worse back in Haiti. Many of you have heard the term, "Stuck between a rock and a hard place?" This is the situation here...I will explain. These migrant workers have been coming to this country to work in the cane fields as the land owners needed the cheap labour. Economics: The average Dominican earns about 8000 pesos per month minimum wage...about $200 Canadian Dollars. There is no base rate for Haitians in the D.R. unless they have a working VISA to be here, then they qualify for the minimum wage. The illegal Haitians can earn about 100 pesos per day of hard work or about $2.50 per day...more than double what they could earn if they had a job in Haiti. See the problem yet? About 20 years ago the world began to cultivate and produce another product that has virtually decimated the cane sugar production in most of the third world...anyone know? Sugar beets. In 2001 the Dominican Republic produced over 100,000 tons of sugar for use and export, which created thousands of dollars of revenue for the country and thousands of jobs. Enter sugar beets...today there is virtually no production of cane, only one area in the country still harvests cane sugar...and they use it to produce a private label of Rum. No sugar is exported today, no jobs are available for thousands of illegal migrant workers that have lived in this country at the will of the Dominican Landlords that cannot sell their crops. Not our problem? I beg to differ...the inhumanity of humanity is so prevalent on this island that it leaves a feeling of utter despair when you walk around one of these villages located within an overgrown and unproductive cane field...there are hundreds of these villages all over the island. These people have little to no idea what has happened to their jobs and are left to fend for themselves, trying to scrape out a living doing anything. Which ends up being less than what they deserve. So who is to blame for all of this mess that now consumes the lives of thousands of people? Including the already overburdened economy of the D.R. Oh maybe there is no one to blame, maybe these people did this to themselves...maybe they should have stayed put in Haiti, even after generation after generation of people continued to suffer under gross persecution by their own government? Maybe we should blame the Dominican Landlords, who brought many of these hopeful migrant workers to the country and offered them a better way of life through jobs harvesting cane for suger...who ultimately could not foresee the end of their own commodity because the world developed a better, cheaper product? Maybe we should then blame our own country and other countries who produce massive stockpiles of sugar beets that drive the price of sugar so low that cane production becomes worthless...even with labour at less than $3.00 per day per person? No I don't think you can blame any market economy that demands competition on a global scale, I do believe that this market product...namely sugar cane...can be valuable to a world economic climate. This will likely involve a restructure of the production environment here and in many cane producing countries to evolve an industry into biofuel production. A product in high demand and one that creates many jobs and huge revenue streams for the producing countries. But these changes take time, time in research, time in investment, time in construction and then time in building a new commodity which the world must migrate to...over time. In the meantime, thousands of hopeful people who have committed lives to one industry are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Make sense now? There is an end in sight, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How long must they continue to endure and require the assistance of Mission Groups like us and others to keep these people alive! As long as it takes! There is no choice for these people so while they wait we will continue to provide as much as they need to live, medical aid, clothing, food programs, life skills training, evangelizing and many other programs beneficial to survival.
This short "rant" that I have released upon you is designed to make you aware of what we are seeing; this is the face of humanity right here in the Dominican Republic, in a small village, in the middle of a dead sugar cane field with nowhere to turn to and nowhere to go. What most of you see is the face of InHumanity in your world, far away from humanity, the real humanity of this world. God does not want us to hide from all of the other problems we might be aware of, rather He wants us to be involved in whatever capacity we can. If you can then you must help. Last week we counselled with another Missionary who assisted in the protecting of two brand new orphans whose young mother had just passed away from some illness. They are 7 and 8 years old and the older is mentally handicapped...the 7 year old had been caring for mother and sister for many days alone while she watched her mother dying and never knew what was happening. The family has been on a food bag sponsor program for some time now and the other villagers brought the death of the mother to the attention of the Missionaries. Since then the girls were removed from the village for safety, as they might become victimized, and an uncle was located nearby. Please pray for these two and others in this family as this tragedy is far from over, these children have yet to be raised.
Last month we also learned of another woman who was pregnant with quadruplets. She gave birth on Saturday to two boys and two girls...at 7 months of term; all of the babies lived for a few hours...long enough to pray over them...none of the babies survived. A challenge even in the first world...in the third world, almost impossible.
Again, I tell you these things not to express the tragedy of a cruel world, but rather to show you the inhumanity we all live in within the world man has created. For it is undoubtedly tragic that humanity should watch or ignore the inhumanity of human suffering. These tragedies will undoubtedly continue...Jesus told us that
"For you have the poor with you always..." Matt 26:11 and Paul encouraged us later "they desired only that we should remember the poor..." Gal 2:10
Give where you can, give where you find yourself, for there is where your ministry lies. If you feel compelled to help in any way please contact us by email. A fundraising newsletter is forthcoming.
I am the voice of a people who weep in the night. Hear our prayers.
Bless you all
Thank you for your continued prayers
Mike
Friday, July 1, 2011
Although we believe that God has sent us here to operate a mission guest house, this is not the only task. The call is there and we are waiting patiently for His lead. It’s like a pie graph to me. 75% of the pie is all one color. The guest house is first, foremost, and what God has trained us to do. As easy as pie…so to speak. The talent has been given and waits to flourish. Mike and I are so ready to “get on with it”. But for some reason God has emphatically, in many words, over in abundance, LOUDLY and demanding almost said "REST".
"But we're not tired" we pray in protest.
"Rest and wait" are the orders. OK. Fine.
Month One: Many miles walking on the beach in prayer and worship. Some guilt arises for we feel the waste of time. The Proverbial Scriptures come to mind about laziness, non-prosper, sleeping, slumber, not eating, start plaguing us from the enemy. But our God knows us better than that. But still, "Be still."
Month Two: Lets try to move ahead on a purchase of "something" at least. Sure we found "something", of course, but is it His will? Not quite. "ARGH! What are we doing here when we are doing nothing?"
What we didn't see was the relationships we were building with the mission groups. Didn't see that the communion with His body was with love, grace. A shoulder here, an ear there, words of encouragment and advise...just "hangin" with them.
"OK, Lord you have a point. We need to get to know them as brother's and sister's in Christ and they need to know we will be there for them. How could we possibly think we are a "Missionary Service" if we didn't know what "service" to perform?"
Month Three: Spanish Lessons...getting to know our surroundings, couple of road trips exploring.
"See the People. Who are they? What makes them tick?" comes to us.
Our prayers changed from, "God show us what to do with getting this plan on the ground" to "What can we do to help others?" So we tagged along with some mission groups. A feeding program here, painting schools and clinics there...painting, painting. And you guessed it, more painting. Then the phone started to ring. "We could use your help." We consulted our filled up day timer...yeah right!
We're involved with church planting (Spanish and English). We've helped run 2 medical clinics in two villages for a few weeks while the Mission couple went back to the US to rest and take care of elderly family. We will be keeping a feeding program afloat while that other couple go home to Canada on furlough. We've been building a relationship with one young man who graduated from High School and we are currently helping him to qualify for a scholarship to go to University. The scholarships are available through another Mission group in the area. I guess just doing what God drops on your doorstep is all you really have to do to make a missions life matter. I'm reminded of some lyrics from an older Amy Grant song: "All I ever have to be is what You made me, any more or less would be a step out of Your Plan. As you daily recreate me help me always keep in mind, that I only have to do what I can find."
Do you remember the pie graph? We have 75% taken care of with His provision and the talent He gave us. But what about the extra 25% of the pie? What is this allotted too? How about learning the mission field itself. What the missionaries go through everyday. Who they pour out God's love to without restriction. Learning how to service these same missionaries according to what battlefield they were on as they eat their dinner and share their testamonies of the day. To know exactly what they went through and how to respond to them with dessert, love and actual true empathy after their hard day.
We could've never began to learn this being on a building site all day watching the guest house evolve. We would've never gotten to know the heart of these devoted people or the ones whom they serve. We would've been caught up with a house, finances and business related issues to ever give a second thought to the actual humanity of it all. Utterly useless as we serve their coffee after dinner to really understand what they've just been through.
Yes, 75% is taken care of. But right now, God is more concerned with the 25%. In our seeing, learning and understanding completely the people we are here to serve. God knows we will have success when He releases the guest house. Understanding, empathy, compassion, love. This is not business, its humanity. Learning the new talents God is teaching us.
Be blessed and thanks for listening. Laura
"But we're not tired" we pray in protest.
"Rest and wait" are the orders. OK. Fine.
Month One: Many miles walking on the beach in prayer and worship. Some guilt arises for we feel the waste of time. The Proverbial Scriptures come to mind about laziness, non-prosper, sleeping, slumber, not eating, start plaguing us from the enemy. But our God knows us better than that. But still, "Be still."
Month Two: Lets try to move ahead on a purchase of "something" at least. Sure we found "something", of course, but is it His will? Not quite. "ARGH! What are we doing here when we are doing nothing?"
What we didn't see was the relationships we were building with the mission groups. Didn't see that the communion with His body was with love, grace. A shoulder here, an ear there, words of encouragment and advise...just "hangin" with them.
"OK, Lord you have a point. We need to get to know them as brother's and sister's in Christ and they need to know we will be there for them. How could we possibly think we are a "Missionary Service" if we didn't know what "service" to perform?"
Month Three: Spanish Lessons...getting to know our surroundings, couple of road trips exploring.
"See the People. Who are they? What makes them tick?" comes to us.
Our prayers changed from, "God show us what to do with getting this plan on the ground" to "What can we do to help others?" So we tagged along with some mission groups. A feeding program here, painting schools and clinics there...painting, painting. And you guessed it, more painting. Then the phone started to ring. "We could use your help." We consulted our filled up day timer...yeah right!
We're involved with church planting (Spanish and English). We've helped run 2 medical clinics in two villages for a few weeks while the Mission couple went back to the US to rest and take care of elderly family. We will be keeping a feeding program afloat while that other couple go home to Canada on furlough. We've been building a relationship with one young man who graduated from High School and we are currently helping him to qualify for a scholarship to go to University. The scholarships are available through another Mission group in the area. I guess just doing what God drops on your doorstep is all you really have to do to make a missions life matter. I'm reminded of some lyrics from an older Amy Grant song: "All I ever have to be is what You made me, any more or less would be a step out of Your Plan. As you daily recreate me help me always keep in mind, that I only have to do what I can find."
Do you remember the pie graph? We have 75% taken care of with His provision and the talent He gave us. But what about the extra 25% of the pie? What is this allotted too? How about learning the mission field itself. What the missionaries go through everyday. Who they pour out God's love to without restriction. Learning how to service these same missionaries according to what battlefield they were on as they eat their dinner and share their testamonies of the day. To know exactly what they went through and how to respond to them with dessert, love and actual true empathy after their hard day.
We could've never began to learn this being on a building site all day watching the guest house evolve. We would've never gotten to know the heart of these devoted people or the ones whom they serve. We would've been caught up with a house, finances and business related issues to ever give a second thought to the actual humanity of it all. Utterly useless as we serve their coffee after dinner to really understand what they've just been through.
Yes, 75% is taken care of. But right now, God is more concerned with the 25%. In our seeing, learning and understanding completely the people we are here to serve. God knows we will have success when He releases the guest house. Understanding, empathy, compassion, love. This is not business, its humanity. Learning the new talents God is teaching us.
Be blessed and thanks for listening. Laura
Friday, June 10, 2011
Patience!
From the time I entered into the the process of establishing the Ministry of North Coast Missionary Services here in the D.R. I knew that patience would be the word of the time! Right after I was baptized on Feb 4 2007, God placed within me the word..."patience". I knew then that somehow I must come to embrace this strange but important concept. Many of us have no time for this...what? Patience? Reminds me of a joke I heard when I was young...two buzzards sitting in a tree...one looks at the other and says, "Patience? Patience my tailfeathers...I'm gonna kill something!"
We understood before we left Canada that the journey was not over, rather, it was just beginning! Along the way He has allowed us to venture forward, gingerly stepping onto new ground, into new culture, and into new areas of Faith that we have never seen before. He has allowed us to see with brand new eyes, a world full of danger and pitfalls unlike the ones we were so aware of in Canada. The comfortable traps of things like shopping in beautiful department stores, you know, like driving on beautifully paved roads with traffic lights, and signs warning of work crews, or even trusting that one gas station works the same as the other...not so in this country! I get it...all the things we trusted to make us comfortable and "lull us into a false sense of security" are all thrown out the window here...so far I have found the only things that work the same, (or relatively close) as they did in Canada, are the pens and pencils I brought with me! I know this sounds like complaining to some of you but please understand...Laura and I see all of this as God's will, understanding this culture will give us tremendous insight on how we are to impact the people here. We are seeing great progress with all the mission groups we associate with. We have made ourselves available to all of them to be helpful hands, or minds, or talents as they see fit. Through this we are making progress in establishing our place within the culture. This time has given us the room to learn the language...lets go here for a minute...Spanish in the D.R. is like trying to understand a highland Scottie speaking English! Or for that matter Newfoundlanders speaking to Albertans! That is how "different" the Spanish is here from true Spanish! It is no wonder we need patience! We are taking language classes weekly now and are trying to communicate with the people everyday. We are both seeing progress here! Estamos estudiando Espanol todo el tiempo...esto es muy importante! God has surely allowed patience to bear fruit with us and the language! Dios quiere!
The rest of our days are spent working back and forth between different Mission Groups...either working on a food program with Dominican Ministry, or painting a school with Dominican Advance, to counselling with Servants Heart on business! We are using our time most effectively and allowing our efforts to be a blessing to these people. Through our involvement we are seeing God unfold His will for us here...as we adapt to the culture, to the people, to the environment, we will see the culmination of North Coast Missionary Services...in due time...according to His will.
Patience...
Praise God for Patience...and the ability to step forward with growing patience and a mountain of Canadian frustration at the pace of the world around us. The gringos...(other white folks) call it "the Manana Syndrome" or in other words...why do it today when you can do it tomorrow! Gringos call it this because most of North America and Europe are "task oriented Cultures" we have to get things done, our pace is frenzied, often in too much of a hurry, bringing stress and worry to our lives. Most Latin countries are opposite...they are "relationship cultures"...not so much interested in the job or the project but rather the people they are with. Who they are is much more important than what they do. Everybody knows everybody and everyone cares...genuinely...about others. It is not uncommon to be driving along the road and the car infront of you stops right in the road...because he saw someone he knows and has to stop to say hi...right in front of you. So you can imagine this happening 100 times over...again and again...day in...day out...every day...rain or shine. Patience...
I hope this little bit of levity has given you pause to smile with us as we continue to plod along this beautiful trail God has laid our before us. I say plod because to run along this path would be terribly wrong, and we would definitely miss all of the wonderful things He has planned for us on the trail! I believe in the journey of patience and that God Himself has ordained the time and the order for this ministry to which we have been called. I ask from each of you as you read this that you continue to enjoy the journey with us as it unfolds...I promise I will try to bring you all up to speed as often as I can.
I pray that all of you can be encouraged by our journey and look to your own lives with a little bit more patience...for truly we could all take a note from the Dominicans and install into our own lives a little less tasking and more relationship.
Dios los Bendiga a todos
Michael and Laura....Patience
"my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4
We understood before we left Canada that the journey was not over, rather, it was just beginning! Along the way He has allowed us to venture forward, gingerly stepping onto new ground, into new culture, and into new areas of Faith that we have never seen before. He has allowed us to see with brand new eyes, a world full of danger and pitfalls unlike the ones we were so aware of in Canada. The comfortable traps of things like shopping in beautiful department stores, you know, like driving on beautifully paved roads with traffic lights, and signs warning of work crews, or even trusting that one gas station works the same as the other...not so in this country! I get it...all the things we trusted to make us comfortable and "lull us into a false sense of security" are all thrown out the window here...so far I have found the only things that work the same, (or relatively close) as they did in Canada, are the pens and pencils I brought with me! I know this sounds like complaining to some of you but please understand...Laura and I see all of this as God's will, understanding this culture will give us tremendous insight on how we are to impact the people here. We are seeing great progress with all the mission groups we associate with. We have made ourselves available to all of them to be helpful hands, or minds, or talents as they see fit. Through this we are making progress in establishing our place within the culture. This time has given us the room to learn the language...lets go here for a minute...Spanish in the D.R. is like trying to understand a highland Scottie speaking English! Or for that matter Newfoundlanders speaking to Albertans! That is how "different" the Spanish is here from true Spanish! It is no wonder we need patience! We are taking language classes weekly now and are trying to communicate with the people everyday. We are both seeing progress here! Estamos estudiando Espanol todo el tiempo...esto es muy importante! God has surely allowed patience to bear fruit with us and the language! Dios quiere!
The rest of our days are spent working back and forth between different Mission Groups...either working on a food program with Dominican Ministry, or painting a school with Dominican Advance, to counselling with Servants Heart on business! We are using our time most effectively and allowing our efforts to be a blessing to these people. Through our involvement we are seeing God unfold His will for us here...as we adapt to the culture, to the people, to the environment, we will see the culmination of North Coast Missionary Services...in due time...according to His will.
Patience...
Praise God for Patience...and the ability to step forward with growing patience and a mountain of Canadian frustration at the pace of the world around us. The gringos...(other white folks) call it "the Manana Syndrome" or in other words...why do it today when you can do it tomorrow! Gringos call it this because most of North America and Europe are "task oriented Cultures" we have to get things done, our pace is frenzied, often in too much of a hurry, bringing stress and worry to our lives. Most Latin countries are opposite...they are "relationship cultures"...not so much interested in the job or the project but rather the people they are with. Who they are is much more important than what they do. Everybody knows everybody and everyone cares...genuinely...about others. It is not uncommon to be driving along the road and the car infront of you stops right in the road...because he saw someone he knows and has to stop to say hi...right in front of you. So you can imagine this happening 100 times over...again and again...day in...day out...every day...rain or shine. Patience...
I hope this little bit of levity has given you pause to smile with us as we continue to plod along this beautiful trail God has laid our before us. I say plod because to run along this path would be terribly wrong, and we would definitely miss all of the wonderful things He has planned for us on the trail! I believe in the journey of patience and that God Himself has ordained the time and the order for this ministry to which we have been called. I ask from each of you as you read this that you continue to enjoy the journey with us as it unfolds...I promise I will try to bring you all up to speed as often as I can.
I pray that all of you can be encouraged by our journey and look to your own lives with a little bit more patience...for truly we could all take a note from the Dominicans and install into our own lives a little less tasking and more relationship.
Dios los Bendiga a todos
Michael and Laura....Patience
"my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4
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