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THANKS!

Well, the summer has finally kicked off! I arrived here May 27th, and I have had an exciting time of ministry so far. We have had three medical clinics, and every one of them have been so incredible!

June 3rd, was the arrival of my first medical clinic of the summer. We had this clinic at a church in a area of Santiago called Los Guandules (means "the peas") I'd like to tell you why this place is called "the peas" but nobody knows. What I can tell you is this church is a beautiful place. The property where the church is located, use to be a gambling house and disco. The ministry purchased the property and began building a church in 2004. Not only does the church host Dominican and Haitian church services, we have a feeding center and the church is used for Pastor training as well. We had two days of medical clinic there where we treated about 1,000 people! It was awesome! While these clinics are going on, we encourage the team members to talk with their patients, and to also pray with them. We can give them free medicine, but nothing beats the power of prayer! There was a lady that apparently came on the first day of medical clinic. She had a protruding growth in her throat. As the team members gathered around her, they began to pray. The next day of clinic, the lady came back. She said that she went to the hospital and had xrays done (we had told her that was what she needed to do) and when the doctors ran the tests, THEY COULDN'T FIND THE GROWTH!!
On June 10th, I had my second medical clinic. This team had a pretty unique story. The team started out with 10 people(they were a family) who wanted to go on a missions trip. A member of this family, she was the mother, well her husband died. The mom decided to sell some of the property her husband left her, and helped to fund this mission trip which ended up numbering about 50 people. Half of this team worked on construction, while the other half of this team was stuck with me! They were such a big group, we broke them down into two medical teams. One team went to Los Perez, and the other half worked here in my community of Hoya del Ciamito. In all, we saw about 850 people that week. About 150 of those people were treated by two dentists that came. So, in two weeks time we were able to show the love of Christ to 1,850! Although we have not heard of any conversions yet, thats a lot of seeds planted.

There are so many things that impress me about life here. I suppose that the thing that really touches my heart is how that in so much poverty, you see the beauty of God. That He has not forsaken this place. I call these my "beautiful moments." One day last week, we took the medical team down to "the Hole". The Hole is a land fill where about 650 families live. Raw sewage runs through the streets, live animals relieve them selves where ever they want, it smells, and it is a area where drugs, alcohol, and prostitution is a way of life. As I was leading a team down to the church and feeding center that we are building there, I stopped so that the team could go ahead of me. I stopped to talk with this cute very elderly woman. As we were talking, I heard this little, bitty chirping noise. I looked down and I noticed this stream of sewage running down the path, and in the middle of it was this cute, little, fuzzy baby chick. It was trying to walk upstream, and was getting caught in the current. This sweet, little old lady bends over and fishes the little chick out of the nastiness, and with such gentleness, puts the chick into her house. It was so touching...that in the middle of all this poverty, that this little old lady had any compassion left. I can't imagine growing up in a place like that. Had she been there most of her life? Probably. Was she a Christian? I don't really know. But to me in that moment, she represented the face of God. She was the picture of wisdom and tenderness. And I think about all the times my life gets mucked up, and I get myself in a swirling mass, and God plucks me right out again.

I love going to church here. I love that God understands every language, and that every Sunday, He hears millions of people worship in so many different languages. A few Sundays ago, I was sitting in a Haitian church. Haitian people are so beautiful, and I love to watch their expressive worship. Haitians are really mistreated in this country. They flee to this country, because they see it as a chance for a better life. In Haiti, over two thousand people inhabit each square mile of tillable soil, and what farmers manage to grow, is taxed heavily to and from market. Here in the Dominican Republic, they are considered the inferior race, and they do the labor in this country that no Dominican would ever do. They are refugees here. Their history has been a long one of oppression, deprivation, and suffering. Where we live, it's pretty peaceful, but every now and then we hear stories of the horrible treatment of Haitians, and of the injustice that they have to endure. That's the reason I love to visit their churches. The church that I visit here in Santiago, is a cement building with a HOT tin roof, very little breeze, and the building is packed. You have a people that are strangers in a strange land just so that they can survive. As they begin to sing in Creole, you can feel Gods love and His presence.... I am always awed. I ask my self if I could rise above my circumstances if I were in their shoes. Could you?

WOW! Where has the time gone? January and February have flown by so fast and it was just a few days ago that Eric & I celebrated our two month wedding anniversary! Time flies when you are having fun!

We were so excited that most of you all were at our wedding. You guys are like family! So, we wanted to take a few moments, and catch you all up on what we are doing.


Eric & I had a fabulous time on our honeymoon...we went to Chicago. We had a lot of fun shopping (yes, he likes to shop), eating at pizzerias, taking in some Broadway shows( we saw Wicked & Phantom), and just sightseeing. It was really cold, and after living in the Caribbean for two years, I was excited to see some snow, but was it cold! On the last day that we were in the Chicago area, we stopped in Warrenville to see some friends of mine. One of the couples that does medical work in the Batey's with GO, had us over to their house for a D.R. reunion party. It was so much fun. We watched video footage from their trip, ate pizza, they had a cake for us, we reminisced about the people we love there, and played games. What a awesome group of young people!
Here's what we are up to right now. Eric & I are busy working all the contacts we have( if you guys know anyone, pass their names to us!). We are setting up appointments with friends, family, churches, businesses and colleges. Not only do I need to raise more monthly support, I also need to recruit more teams for the ministry. Eric is helping me make new brochures, donor cards, we are both learning more Spanish , and working on polishing personal presentations as well! Eric's job is full time and pretty demanding, so he is helping me out as much as he can, and he will continue to travel to the D.R. to help facilitate sport's teams when his schedule allows. In addition to all the budget and support raising, I am preparing for this years' medical teams. I am helping the team leaders collect their medicines, fill out their paperwork, giving them fund raiser ideas, and just answering all their questions in general. I LOVE it!! Of course nothing compares to being on the field and I just booked my ticket for the summer! I will leave for the D.R. May 27th and I will be there for a little over 9 weeks! Although I will miss my husband greatly, but I am counting down the days until I hear the sweet sounds of meringue music!!


I hope and pray that you all are well! I will be in Louisville April 30th thru May 8th for the Derby/GO fundraiser. I am looking forward to visiting with friends and family.

Please let us know if there is anything specific we can pray for you all. As for me, that God would bless my support endeavors, that I would recruit several more teams for the ministry, for the protection of missionaries every where, and that God would just lead and direct...We are at his bidding!

Friends,
WOWDear Friends,
WOW! The month of January has flown by so fast and it was just a few days ago that Eric & I celebrated our one month wedding anniversary! Time flies when you are having fun!

We were so excited that most of you all were at our wedding. You guys are like family! So, we wanted to take a few moments, and catch you all up on what we are doing.

Eric & I had a fabulous time on our honeymoon...we went to Chicago. We had a lot of fun shopping (yes, he likes to shop), eating at pizzerias, taking in some Broadway shows( we saw Wicked & Phantom), and just sightseeing. It was really cold, and after living in the Caribbean for two years, I was excited to see some snow, but was it cold! On the last day that we were in the Chicago area, we stopped in Warrenville to see some friends of mine. One of the couples that does medical work in the Batey's every year with GO, had us over to their house for a D.R. reunion party. It was so much fun. We watched video footage from their trip, reminisced about the people we love there, and just hung out. It was a awesome time of fellowship.

Here's what we are up to right now. Eric & I are busy working all the contacts we have( if you guys know anyone, pass their names to us!). We are setting up appointments with friends, family, churches, businesses and colleges. Not only do we need to raise more monthly support, we also need to recruit more teams for the ministry. We are making new brochures, donor cards, learning Spanish , and working on polishing personal presentations as well! Eric's job that he has right now obviously has NO idea that he plans to go into full time missions work, so my medical ministry gets alot of the spotlight right now....which is good. In addition to all the budget and support raising, I am preparing for this years' medical teams. I am helping the team leaders collect their meds, fill out their paperwork, giving them fund raiser ideas, and just answering all their questions in general. I LOVE it!! I just booked my ticket for the summer. I will leave for he D.R. May 29th and I will be there for 8 weeks! I am counting down the days until I hear the sweet sounds of meringue music!!

Lets take a few moments to talk about our budget. Eric & I wanted to make sure that you all know that while I am here stateside right now, the monthly support that you are sending in, is being greatly used. Right now I am not taking a paycheck form GO. I am saving my salary so that Eric & I can build a reserve for when we move there the end of this year. We will have the money to buy furniture, housewares, a car...those kinds of things. But the rest of my budget is still active. Through your monthly support, we are still supporting a National Partner, a GO kid, tithe, my health insurance, my expenses for the summer, and any ministry projects that I am working on ( such as buying Spanish books for the kids and medical equipment). I hope that if you guys ever have any questions, you will ask away!

I hope and pray that you all are well! I will be in Louisville April 30th thru May 8th for the Derby/GO fundraiser. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing you all and seeing my family.

Please let us know if there is anything specific we can pray for you all. As for us, that God would bless our support endeavors, that we would recruit several more teams for the ministry, for the protection of missionaries every where, and that God would just lead us and direct...we are at his bidding!


! The month of January has flown by so fast and it was just a few days ago that Eric & I celebrated our one month wedding anniversary! Time flies when you are having fun!

We were so excited that most of you all were at our wedding. You guys are like family! So, we wanted to take a few moments, and catch you all up on what we are doing.

Eric & I had a fabulous time on our honeymoon...we went to Chicago. We had a lot of fun shopping (yes, he likes to shop), eating at pizzerias, taking in some Broadway shows( we saw Wicked & Phantom), and just sightseeing. It was really cold, and after living in the Caribbean for two years, I was excited to see some snow, but was it cold! On the last day that we were in the Chicago area, we stopped in Warrenville to see some friends of mine. One of the couples that does medical work in the Batey's every year with GO, had us over to their house for a D.R. reunion party. It was so much fun. We watched video footage from their trip, reminisced about the people we love there, and just hung out. It was a awesome time of fellowship.

Here's what we are up to right now. Eric & I are busy working all the contacts we have( if you guys know anyone, pass their names to us!). We are setting up appointments with friends, family, churches, businesses and colleges. Not only do we need to raise more monthly support, we also need to recruit more teams for the ministry. We are making new brochures, donor cards, learning Spanish , and working on polishing personal presentations as well! Eric's job that he has right now obviously has NO idea that he plans to go into full time missions work, so my medical ministry gets alot of the spotlight right now....which is good. In addition to all the budget and support raising, I am preparing for this years' medical teams. I am helping the team leaders collect their meds, fill out their paperwork, giving them fund raiser ideas, and just answering all their questions in general. I LOVE it!! I just booked my ticket for the summer. I will leave for he D.R. May 29th and I will be there for 8 weeks! I am counting down the days until I hear the sweet sounds of meringue music!!

Lets take a few moments to talk about our budget. Eric & I wanted to make sure that you all know that while I am here stateside right now, the monthly support that you are sending in, is being greatly used. Right now I am not taking a paycheck form GO. I am saving my salary so that Eric & I can build a reserve for when we move there the end of this year. We will have the money to buy furniture, housewares, a car...those kinds of things. But the rest of my budget is still active. Through your monthly support, we are still supporting a National Partner, a GO kid, tithe, my health insurance, my expenses for the summer, and any ministry projects that I am working on ( such as buying Spanish books for the kids and medical equipment). I hope that if you guys ever have any questions, you will ask away!

I hope and pray that you all are well! I will be in Louisville April 30th thru May 8th for the Derby/GO fundraiser. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing you all and seeing my family.

Please let us know if there is anything specific we can pray for you all. As for us, that God would bless our support endeavors, that we would recruit several more teams for the ministry, for the protection of missionaries every where, and that God would just lead us and direct...we are at his bidding!

Be Thankful!

I trust that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with friends and family, and you all are not wearing yourself out buying gifts for everyone! After spending a year and a half working in a third world country, God has really shown me what's important, and what's not. (He is still telling me) As most of you know, I have been stateside since September finishing up wedding plans. The practice that I worked at before I became a missionary, hired me to work in their lab while I have been home. It's been a great time of catching up with old friends and patients....and keeps my medical skills honed. Right after Thanksgiving, I started to take a poll. Every time a patient came in, I asked them how their Thanksgiving went...and that would just about always open up a conversation on the subject of Christmas...or as one of my patients said..."the curse word." When I hear people say that...it always makes me so sad. And before to long they are telling me about all the money they spend that they don't really have, buying the gifts that family will either take back or end up in a yard sale, and the stress of keeping up with the Jones'. I looked at one patient and said to her, "Well, it's no wonder that the Christmas season still has the highest suicide rate of the year!" A lot of people out there have lost the meaning of what Christmas really is. Society as a whole is so focused on the "Me" attitude. My family stopped buying presents for each other a long time ago. I come from a big family. We never seemed to have enough money. I remember my parents struggling to buy us all Christmas presents. I think that as a parent, it's something you just want to do for your kids. So as a family, we all received something practical..new socks, underwear...and if we had extra, we bought for someone in need. That experience has molded me as an adult. I don't expect presents at Christmas time ( Don't get me wrong , I like them fine, and if you give me one, I'll except it!) and I don't buy gifts for family and friends in general...I buy for those who need. (My youngest sister has twin baby girls 7 weeks old and a 2 year old) It takes a lot of stress off at Christmas time and allows me to concentrate on the real reason we celebrate with family and friends every year. I concentrate on God's love and the salvation that He brought to us by sending his Son here. I think about the Hope that it has brought to my life and to the lives of millions of people. I think about our brothers and sisters in the D.R. and in Haiti. I think about how hard their life is....and how would they make it day to day without the saving grace and hope of Jesus. I pray that your Christmas season this year is a joyful occasion of friends, family, and the giving of yourself!


When I look at this picture, I get so homesick. This is where I love to be. There are times when it is not the most comfortable place. And I am not talking about material comforts either. I am talking about me and the state of my heart. Giving of yourself is not always easy. It is in our nature to be selfish. To allow God control of our lives, to shape and mold us, to let Him shine His ultra bright light into the deepest corners of our hearts, and illuminate the dust and cobwebs hurts. I have asked Him several times, when is He going to be done? God tells me when I have learned my lessons. I continue on. I learn to be flexible, to be shaped and molded....sometimes even kicked in the pants. By God and others....to get me to the place where I conquer my fears and I learn! I lean to be thankful on so many levels. Thankful for arms and hands....that I can love on His children and bandage their hurts, thankful for a tongue so that I can learn the language and can communicate that love to them, thankful for the clothes on my back to protect me from the harsh sun and for the shoes on my feet. Thankful that I am from a nation where I have the freedom to worship, and that on any day of the week, I can exercise that privilege.




Please be in prayer for our brothers and sisters in the Santiago area. They had torrential rains from Hurricane Olga that passed their way. People were stranded on their roof tops to avoid being washed away by the floods. Houses, crops, and lives were lost.

Please continue to pray for G.O. Ministries. For our leadership teams, for safe travels, and that God would continue to bless and grow His ministry for the Kingdom!




I hope that you all have a wonderful time this Christmas season with your loved ones! As you all know, Eric and I have our big day December 29th! We are excited about joining our lives together. I will continue in my role as the Medical Team Facilitator, and Eric will continue to come over to the D.R. to assist the ministry and facilitate when he can. Please pray for an increase in my financial budget. I am going to be raising more support over the next year so that I can do even more medical ministry in the Dominican Republic.

The Lessons of God

This summer was my very first trip to our church and dormitory facility in Quanaminthe, Haiti. I have been wanting to visit there since I started working with G.O. Ministries. We had the youth group from Eastview Christain Church working with us that week. We left Santiago really early that morning to the make the three hour journey to Dajabon. Dajabon is the city where entry into Haiti is possible. On the day that we were there, it was actually market day. Haitians were crossing the border into the Domincan Republic to buy food, water, supplies..anything you can possibly imagine. I was astounded at the masses of people. I had never seen anything like it my life. And if you have ever been to the D.R. you know that the driving it totally disorganized...motorbikes trying to whiz in and out...dogs barking, chickens making a ton of racket...and traffic was pretty much in a grid lock at the border. Once we crossed the border and cleared customs, we made the 2 mile journey to the G.O. facility...which we did by JOGGING! I am not a jogger...I don't like it and I am not a graceful jogger to say the least! But it was very important for us to stay all together, and because we only had a few hours to spend there, we jogged for it! It was hot, sand everywhere, and did I mention that I don't jog? Well, we finally made it to out first stop which is an orphanage that G.O. works with. The day we were there, there were about 30 or so kids. This was my first time ever in an orphanage. And as we were playing with the kids, touring the orphanages, and handing out candy to them right before we left, all I could think of is how I grew up. I had loving parents, a wonderful bedroom to sleep in every night, it was clean, and I just didn't have a care in the world. My eyes constantly filled with tears...to see children so young sleeping on iron cots a thin foam mattress, walls that had holes in it, hardly any toys, it was hot, mosquito are a constant threat(they bring malaria and dengue fever), fighting off the rats.....to be so young and have to grow up at an age where you should be soo carefree! It's heartbreaking in so many ways. Thank God for the work of the Pastors in Haiti and the people of the church there. Thank God for the teams from the U.S. who support our partners there so that the children do have meals to eat everyday, and they get love and attention. Most important of all, the are taught about the Love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.


On July 17th, I returned to a place that has really become my second home in the Dominican Republic, Batey Nueve. It's hard for me to describe in words why I love the Batey's so much. I love the sounds,( the kids calling "Americana, Americana!", the gazillion chickens that crow every morning, the sounds of prayer from the morning bible studies through an open window), and I love the sights, ( the little children running up to me to give me hugs, and to hold my hand, to see the beautiful Haitian women who walk along the dusty, rocky streets selling plantains, avocado, and vegetables, and to see the kids swimming and playing in the water of the irrigation canals.) I have never been to a place where there is so much beauty and so much pain.

This particular week we hosted Warrenville Bible Chapel from Chicago, Illinois. I had the opportunity to work with this team last year and we had a incredible week together. My week with them this year was even better. Warrenville has been coming to work in the Dominican Republic for several years, but this was their first trip to the Batey's. On Thursday morning we headed to Batey Cuchillo (means the Knife in Spanish) to have a medical clinic. Besides being the medical facilitator of the team, I usually treat patients as well. But this week, our pharmacist was ill, so I worked as the resident "pharmacist" for the week. My pharmacy was made up of some of the most awesome young people I know! We had a good day of working hard and having some fun as well! We treated about 350 people that day in clinic. After we were done with the clinic, we went outside and played "pato, pato, ganso" or what we call "duck, duck, goose!" with the kids from the Batey. We had so much fun with them! Below, you can watch the short video with the kids. What a day!
The next day of clinic we went to another area called Batey Cinco. This day of clinic turned out to be a real emotional challenge for me. The word that I would use to describe this day would be DESPERATION which means a recklessness resulting from despair. All the Batey's are poor, but as the morning wore on, I began to sense a real desperation in the people. By that afternoon the people were starting to become really pushy to get into the doors of the pharmacy where all the medicine was being kept. It was like they were afraid all the medicine would be gone before they had an opportunity to get inside. In addition to medicine, we were also handing out soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, tooth paste, and baby formula. As the mother's began to find out we had "leche" (milk), that was when I noticed a sense of agitation to the crowd. They were waiting in long lines to see one of the doctors, it was hot, sun was beating down on their heads, and when they finally get their prescriptions for their medicine, they have to wait in another long line to get their medicine. We saw so about 500 people that day. By mid afternoon, there were some medicines that we had run low on, and we were completely out of toothbrushes and toothpaste. The hardest decision I had to make that day was to decide who received milk and who did not. There simply wasn't enough milk for all the babies. This did not make me a popular person. I will always remember the look on their faces when I had to tell them that we didn't have enough milk for everyone and that the milk we had left was for the really sick babies. Milk makes babies strong, and to have to tell a mother no was one of the hardest things I had to do in a long time. Because babies need the milk to stay healthy...BUT there were so many babies were were mal-nourished and it needed it a lot worse. The milk was the first thing they would ask for. If I had to tell them no about the milk, they would argue with me...like they needed to convince me why thier babies needed it more than the others. It was a real struggle to get them to listen to any other instructions I had to give about the medicines they were recieving for their families. By 4:30 that afternoon, we had run out of vitamins, cold medicines and the milk was gone. As people would leave the pharmacy without certain things that they needed, they would tell other folks on their way out, which made the crowds just barely controllable. We ended up closing the clinic early that day. It was a very emotionally tough day!
July 24, I worked with a construction team from my hometown of Louisville, KY! I spent a fabulous week working construction and VBS with Hikes Point Christian Church. Marisol is like my Dominican mama. She is a awesome lady that cooks all the meals for the teams, for the staff members, heads up our cleaning crew, and raises a family! In the community where we live, G.O. Ministries purchased some property to build her a new house. The house is below street level, so we spent the whole week working on the new foundation. We moved brick,
sand, made cement, knocked down walls, and laid blocks for the new foundation. Later on in the week, we spent a day with the kids in VBS. We sang songs with the kids and the team acted out the story of Peter and Jesus walking on the water. As a surprise for the kids, one of the team members dressed up like a clown and made balloon animals. I am not a huge construction person, but I had a lot of fun playing in the dirt with them that week!

Our busy summer season is over. We hosted 22 teams in 2 and 1/2 months while I was there. It was an awesome experience for me. God continues to teach me many things about myself. I often think to myself..."God, are you done yet?" When am I going to learn all I need to know and when I am going to only have the thoughts and feelings that honor you? When am I going to always do the job right...and be the imitator of You that you want me to be? I want God to continue to mold and shape me...to make me into the duaghter He is proud of. And then here comes the most sobering thought of all ...He will never be done teaching me until I am perfect...and I'll never be perfect til I am in heaven one day!!

I am now in the states. I am preparing for my wedding which is December 29, 2007!! Eric and I are excited as we finish our wedding plans and as he prepares to join the ministy. Please keep us in prayer as we raise more support, and grow the Kingdom for God.

Sunshine's June Update

On June 26Th, We made the 6 hour trip to Batey Nueve. Batey is french for the word "camp". It is a community of about 1,500 people that is surrounded by sugarcane and most of the people who live there are Haitian. There is very little electricity and running water. Some of the houses are made out of concrete blocks while others are made from wood. All the houses have tin roofs on them, and most of the homes have dirt floors. By plane you are only 20 minutes from Haiti, and Batey Nueve looks alot like it. The roads are sandy, and greenery is sparatic. Every time I am there, I wonder how people of the community can survive without the hope and love of Jesus Christ.


When we arrived in Batey Nueve, we began to set up our pharmacy for the next day. This can be tedious work! It's a day spent counting out meds into plastic baggies, writing out perscriptions in spanish, and organizing about $30,000.00 worth of medicines. It is really is a long day! After we set up our pharmacy, we get everything ready to see patients for the next day.


There are so many stories to tell that happened through out the week. We saw alot of open wounds. People came in with wounds that had been simple injuries, like cutting their foot on a stone or a tree branch, but because of mal -nutrtion and poor wound care, they had turned into huge ulcers. Most of these people were under the age of 30. Now, when I worked in the states, I spent some time working in dermatology out patient surgery, so I love wound care! And these wounds needed some serious attention....so I was right in my element. Even better than, we had 15 second year med students would loved it as well. It gives you an awesome opportunity to love on the people and to pray with them. The wounds that we cleaned for the patients were really infected, and looked really painful. We spent alot of time cleaning dirt and infection , bandaging them, and praying with the patients. One little boy in particular had cut two of his fingers with a machette. The tips of his fingers had to be sewn back on. We he came to us, he had pulled alot of his stitches out( it had been closed with the wrong kind of suture), and his hand was caked with dirt and blood. We couldn't make out whether he had taken antibiotics or not. The whole time we cleaned it, he sat there very stoically and never said a word. They would have had to knock me out!! In two days of clinic, we saw about 850 people. We spent one day evangelizing in the community, and 4 people accepted Christ and 6 people rededicated their lives to Christ! It was a great week!!

There's another aspect of medical ministry that I would like to share with you all as well. We are also ministers to team members. Not everybody that comes on these trips are Christian's. From the beginning, I always assumed that. We are christian based missions group. When the teams arrive here for their mission experience, it is usually a life changing event. You are here in this third world country and most people have never seen this kind of poverty before. I have been asked the question several times, "What makes the poverty here worse than the poverty in the states.?..because there are some pretty poor places in the states." I have worked missions projects in the states, and to me what makes the poverty here almost hopeless is the fact that they don't have a welfare system like we do. There isn't a food stamp line, wick programs to provide formula and nutritious foods for the pregnant moms, no emergency grants. If I lived in this country ( and it could be any of us), I can't imagine living here and not knowing Christ. I would probably blame Him for my lot in life! For the team members who come here without the hope and comfort of Christ, they usually have a really hard week. You ask your self over and over "Why? If there is a God, why do people suffer as they do, especially the innocent little children?" That is such a tough question, even for me and I have been a christian since I was 8 years old. We know it originally begins with sin, and sin causes horrible things to happen in this world. And even bigger than that, we know that God could stop the suffering. When we except Christ, it's not always easy, but we know that He is omnipotent and faithful to complete His work. We are not going to have the answers to all the questions.....we just have to trust in Him. 1Thessalonians 1:3 says "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sunshine's April Update

Hello everybody! Well, here is the moment you have been waiting for! A blog update! I have been keeping really busy here at G.O. Ministries. I returned from the D.R. March 22ND from our bi-annual "Celebration of Partnership." It was a awesome time of fellowship and sharing. The biggest accomplishment this past week was that we survived DERBY!! It was crazy, but well worth it. The ministry was able to raise $23,000 which went to help provide the funds needed to build churches and feeding centers.


Here we go...The beginning of April has been pretty steady. I have been spending time working here at the G.O. office. My main focus has been raising support and learning a lot more about how the missions ministry operates. It's been a great experience for me. As I learn how the ministry operates, it teaches me the importance of being a good steward of all that God has blessed me with! We also have two new missionaries that started with G.O. this month. Jackie Douglas from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Dianne Miller from Rockford, Illinois. Both of these women have been to the D.R. several times on short term mission trips. Jackie is learning to become a team facilitator, and Dianne is going to working with our G.O. Kids program. We are so happy to have them here with us! Our family is growing!

This was the first year that I was a part of the "Celebration of Partnership" conference. What a blessing it was. I arrived in the D.R. March 16Th, and spent a few days visiting with my friends from Hoya del Caimito, the community where I live. I had a great time seeing everybody and getting caught up on what is happening in their lives. Plus I got the chance to practice my Spanish, which had gotten a little rusty being here in the states ( I still needs lots of work). On Wednesday, the staff and our partners from China and Belize went on a retreat for two days. This was the first time we had the opportunity to meet our partners from these two countries. We spent the two days fellow shipping with each other, and had some play time as well! We also had some awesome devotions and sharing. John Kohlor, who is our partner from Mongolia, China, led our devotionals for the two days we were there( he is the 3RD pic below). John spends his time ministering to the prostitutes and alcoholics on the streets of Mongolia. John shared his walk with Christ with us, shared his ministry with us, and really challenged us to take a deep look at our hearts. The scripture for the devotions was in Isaiah 43:18 & 19. It reads "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, Be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." He asked us the question "Are we real to ourselves and most importantly to the people that we serve?" John also challenged us to be "refreshed." As missionaries on the field, we have to fight for our quite time, especially in the middle of the busy summer season. We need to always remember that it is being a minister to the Dominicans and to the teams that come down that make our ministry so successful. We are extensions of Jesus' love, and if we allow ourselves to be thirsty, then we are not being filled with Gods Holy Spirit. If we are not be filled with His spirit, then I can guarantee you that we are not doing the job that God would want us to do. It was a great week!


The second part of our conference was at a campground on the outskirts of Santiago called La Vega. This conference was a time for us to love on our Partners. Our partners from the Dominican Republic, China, Belize and Columbia were all there. Unfortunately our pastors from Haiti could not get across the border. We had a great time in worship, workshops , playing baseball, and swimming! We also had the pleasure of meeting our partners from Belize. Ernest & Barbara Tate have been ministering in Belize for 30 years. They manage Belize Faith Mission which is a orphanage for children who have been abused and neglected. It was awesome to get to know them and to hear about what God is doing in their nation. We are going to start sending teams to Belize next year(they are the 1st pic from the left below). We also had Jhon Dario and Pastor Ramirez at the conference. They are our partners from Columbia. Jhon led us in some amazing worship and Pastor Ramirez spoke to us about being effective in ministry and the key to that was rekindling Gods spirit within our hearts and with prayer!! Very good stuff! The pic to the below right is all our missions and Dominican staff and our partners with their wives.



Praise Reports!

~God has continued to meet my every need while I have been home!
~I still have a lot of support to raise, but I am making some progress.
~Thank you Father for all your blessings!

Prayer Requests

~Our missions family is really growing, please pray for G.O. Ministries and our board as they make decisions on our behalf.
~Please pray for Brook and his family. He is traveling a lot right now, pray that God would keep them safe.
~Please pray that as I continue to raise support, that I would always listen for the Holy Spirit to guide me.

Once gain, thank you to you all for your prayers and financial support. You all are a huge part of G.O. Ministries and make my ministry possible!

Dios le Bendiga!

Sunshine