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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
BEAUTIFUL FEET
Joanna Berry – STCHM Vice President-Family Counseling and International Ministry
“How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Romans 10:15
STCHM mission trips for summer of 2010 are coming to a close with the last dental clinic this week. After months of planning, organizing, budgeting, anticipating, moments of worry and steps of faith, the first mission volunteers arrived June 24. The Rosa Elena kitchen project expanded to include refurbishing buildings, painting, a new playground, fencing, eating area, bathroom, plantings of palms and flowers, and concluded this week with a donation of food and supplies to furnish the kitchen. So many participated – with donations, contributions for travel expenses, sweat equity, and talents dedicated for God’s glory. God even sent a home designer to direct the painting of humble buildings at the Rosa Elena School – nothing but the best for His glory.
On Sunday, we visited the Rosa Elena School again, and Rebeca gave animated instruction on dental care to children and their mothers. “You’re eating HOW much sugar?” As we left, the group assembled in front of the kitchen, their thumbs pointing heavenward to indicate To God be the glory!
Beautiful feet, yes, and also beautiful smiles as over 200 children and adults were treated in six days of dental clinics!
    
The team was literally “jumping for joy” as the week came to a close. Thank you for your prayers, your gifts, and your support of STCHM that has allowed us to be a blessing to so many who have so few resources. Each team member has expressed that they have received many more blessings in return while serving God this summer in the DR.
~ Joanna
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Dental Clinics Going Strong!
Joanna Berry – STCHM Vice President-Family Counseling and International Ministry
“The Lord is my shepherd.” We are sharing a few moments of meditation before our busy day of dental ministry begins. Sitting under mango trees on Pastor Rudy’s back porch, Dr. Bill Shuttlesworth explains what God has taught him through ministering in the Dominican Republic. It is the fifth trip over the past three years for Bill and Liane and the dental staff from their Victoria office. ”I have known people with great wealth who are poor in spirit,” Dr. Bill said. “And although poor in material resources, I have witnessed the riches of love and joy in the hearts of these Dominican Christians.”
We are blessed to have Dr. Wayne Ley, and his wife Becky, to join Dr. Bill and Liane Shuttlesworth and several DR veterans on their staff – Cindy Bush, Melinda Rodriguez, Gwen Kucera and Haley Ueckert. We are assisted by wonderful translators, and other helpers that God has supplied, like Lori and Haley Graham all the way from Illinois!
The love and joy are contagious – from American dental professionals and volunteers to Dominican children and their mothers; then from grateful Dominicans back to the Americans. Their smiles, high-fives and hugs tell the story. From the pain and discomfort of beautiful girls who avoid smiling because of embarrassment over decayed front teeth, to shy smiles of gratitude. And all of the children and their parents or caregivers spend several minutes on dental hygiene instruction before leaving the clinic, armed with toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss.
There are gratifying moments as well. The young man with a new filling who had been told he needed to have his tooth pulled by a previous dentist. Children who come back eagerly for the second or third year and are told, “No cavities!” You can only imagine the happy smiles and joy that bubbles up inside of the dental team as they see these kinds of results from their ministry. And for the little boy, embarrassed as all little boys become, a big kiss from his Mom!
And there are moments of relaxation, wonderful food, the all-important coffee break with incomparable Dominican coffee, and even a special dessert – mango pie provided by Rebeca’s aunt, Sara, and served up by the dentists themselves!
 
Yet still there is an ache in our hearts for those we cannot help. The number of people needing help vastly outnumbers the hours and resources available. Lack of resources to make a bridge often makes the decision to remove a tooth which is so very painful for both patient and doctor alike. Will you pray with us for more dental professionals – hygienists, assistants, oral surgeons as well as dentists – to be able to come to minister to these precious Dominican children and their parents? Our dream is to be able to have the dental clinic open once a month, and here in the Dominican Republic, surrounded by the Dominicans’ great faith in our great God, it is easy to believe that God can make this happen for them.
~ Joanna
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
DR #7 – Second Summer Team
Arrives!
Joanna Berry, Vice President-Family Counseling and International Ministry
As the Kerrville/Kenedy team departed at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, the next mission team began boarding planes bound for the Dominican Republic and the good works that God had prepared in advance for them to do.
All arrivals in the Dominican Republic are joyful, and none more so than the arrival of long-time (I didn’t say old!) friends who have come to share in ministry this week. Dottie Kratz, Jeanne Keith and I have shared the ups-and-downs of raising our children over the years and are looking forward to sharing in what God has for us this week in the DR! We are joined by Ed Jump, Director of missions for the Corpus Christi Baptist Association, his wife Elaine, and Bob and Janie Smith from First Baptist Church-Aransas Pass.
Elaine is a teacher and is conducting a teacher’s seminar all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until noon. There are approximately 20 to 25 teachers enrolled who represent six schools across the Santo Domingo area.
Janie is leading a day camp for the English Institute kids, with games, worksheets, Bible Stories, and videos that require them to listen and interact in English.
 Bob is busy helping build a chapel. He recounted how God had blessed him with the thought that his contribution would help others to worship for many years.
 Ed Jump taught at the Bible Institute on Sunday and is involved in a ministry of encouragement as he goes out with our wonderful translator, Russell Jerez, to visit area pastors. Ed will teach an IBQ leadership class tonight and will have an all-day session with pastors on Thursday, among other things.
 EBDV classes continue this week. Jeanne and Dottie are preparing the crafts and materials for the afternoon classes, and of course Dorretta Brown, my mom, always finds 100 ways to be helpful. Yesterday was our first day of VBS this week, and children sat on makeshift benches – a log, a cement fence – and colored handwork wherever they could find a spot. One creative young man colored his little drawings on the top of his tennis shoe!
But you should realize that it’s not all work and no fun. There IS joy in serving Jesus, and the Dominican experience provides many opportunities for laughter therapy! After supper last night, with our trusted Rebeca Dinzey as a guide, we all piled into a public car, a sedan that usually runs with a variety of popping and jerking sounds, four in the back, two in the bucket seat in the front, in addition to the driver. With only a part of our posteriors positioned on the seat, we made it to the metro station before the car gave up the ghost. Then, after riding on the sleek and very modern metro down to the center of the city in a matter of minutes, we enjoyed the Yogenfruz treat – yogurt blended with your choice of three fruits. Great experience! And we all slept very well.
~ Joanna
Friday, July 2, 2010
DR #6 – God’s Provision
Joanna Berry, Vice President-Family Counseling and International Ministry
We are all excited to spend a day with the orphanage children at Monte Plata. Driving north from Villa Mella we see lush fields of pineapple and corn; “living” fences made from saplings intertwined with barbed wired; and many humble homes made from palm boards, zinc and scraps. Ramon Prensa meets us and gives his amazing testimony of how faith in God and a love for children led him to take in homeless and abused children. ”We learned to trust in God,” he said. “And though at times we ate donated ravioli for a month, the children learned to be grateful for what God provided.
Today God provided clothes, school supplies, financial help and an outing for all the Monte Plata children and staff to go to Santo Domingo. First a pizza feast, then a trip to a fantastic children’s museum.
With visual, technical and audio displays, plus individual guides, the children explored biology, ecology, social studies, Dominican Republic history, and more. We thank Trinity Baptist Church from Kerrville, First Baptist Church-Kenedy, and all the friends of South Texas Children’s Home Ministries for their generous hearts and efforts to give these children a hope and a future.
South Texas Children’s Home Ministries would like to continue to assist this very worthy orphanage in Monte Plata. The total cost to sponsor one home of 12 children and their houseparents is $2,500.00 per month. Would you pray with us about this opportunity to provide these children with a hope and a future?
~ Joanna
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
DR #5 – Scaling the Mountain
Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry
Back on the bus by 6:30 a.m. We’re almost getting used to the drill!
Today we hoisted the playground equipment from the bottom level of the canyon to the top. It is so heavy that some of us just shook our heads and thought, “impossible,” (but we didn’t say it!). With eight or more pulling on a rope to keep the equipment from falling backwards, six at the top of the hill pulling and another six pushing from behind …. on the count of 3, each pulled or pushed over and over again, and a foot or two at a time, up the cliff we went! Finally, we reached the top! Our joy was comparable to scaling the heights of Mt Everest, I’m sure.
EBDV classes in the afternoon, and it finally rained. Imagine sitting under a tin roof while a tropical downpour thunders overhead. Add in 60+ children between the ages of 6 to 15 in four classes in the same area! And Dominican teachers gesturing, making eye contact, talking as loudly as possible as they teach the lesson with only hand-colored pictures as visual aids. Now, try to imagine the class of 11-15 year old boys sitting on the edge of their seat, their eyes riveted on the teacher as she tells the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Did I forget to mention the heat and humidity?
Now they are learning their memory verse. Today it’s Daniel 6:27. They rehearse together, then stand on one foot and say it again, then pull on one ear, then clapping. Now they each say it individually. Their reward? Un aplauso (applause!)
Now it’s our turn. The Kenedy/Kerrville team has prepared handwork – a lion puppet made of a brown paper sack, a lion head on top and a big mouth to glue under the flap of the folded bag. The kids have a lot of fun pasting, coloring and then roaring at each other. (And I had thought it was impossible to get any louder!)
Time to say goodbye to our Dominican VBS leaders and the children. How quickly they have become our friends!
Most of the group will go to the Monte Plata orphanage tomorrow, while others will finish the last projects at Rosa Elena’s. Our medical clinics have met many needs this week as well. So much to share! Will send more news and pics after Friday of the finished project!
~ Joanna
 
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
DR #4 – Many Members, One Body
Joanna Berry, Vice President-Family Counseling and International Ministry
Another day of sunshine for the Hatillo project and the EBDV (VBS). God’s timing is always perfect but we are especially blessed that He included sunshine in His plans for us this week. Our plans called for a new playground with a safety fence on the first level of the school, so a 24-foot square of packed caliche was picked and shoveled by hand into 100’s of wheelbarrows and then dumped into a nearby area! Towards the end of the day, a truck delivered sand on top of the cleared area. Tomorrow they will hoist the play equipment from the canyon floor, and then install a chain link fence which will provide a safer play area for the children.
Meanwhile, over 12 people painted – with brushes, rollers, ladders, buckets, and plastic cups – on classrooms, fences, windows, and the kitchen. Another crew scraped down old wood and cement, replaced rotten wood and broken fences, dug dozens of holes with a post-hole digger, and cemented in the metal poles for the chain link fences in three different areas. The tile floor on the kitchen is being installed, the electrical and plumbing work is in process, and the wrought iron openings in the kitchen and for the closure are being constructed.
The entire neighborhood is agog to watch the transformation of the facilities! We also are amazed to see what was a distant vision become a reality, so quickly, with over 30 people all working together – like different parts of one body.
Yet the highlight for all of us was not the new playground, or fences, or kitchen or painted buildings. It was a young university student named Kaci who stopped by the school grounds. Kaci was five years old when she came as one of Rosa Elena’s first students 13 years ago. Today, she is a lovely Christian who teaches part-time in Rosa Elena’s school while attending university. Rosa Elena introduced her as one example of what God has done through the Rosa Elena School and the miracle of change that Christ can make in a life.
There were many children who hung around as we worked and in each of their eyes there shines the possibility of hope and a future that they would never have the opportunity to receive without Rosa Elena, her school, and your prayers and gifts through South Texas Children’s Home Ministries.
~ Joanna
Monday, June 28, 2010
DR #3 – Worship and Work
Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry
There is no way NOT to worship when you are standing in the middle of hundreds of Dominicans singing praises! A special treat this Sunday was the debut of the children’s choir–50 children singing, accompanied on the keyboard by none other than one of our Samuel’s Fund children, Lisbet Castillo. Her brother Alex, also sponsored, was one of several young guitarists who played in the background.
Shortly after the service the deluge of rain began. Prayers and preparations for Monday continued that afternoon, along with worries (I have to admit) about the next day. The Rosa Elena project included painting, roofing a shelter for the eating area behind the kitchen, digging up with pick and shovel 100-200 wheelbarrows full of caliche to make a new play area, building fences and more. What would we do if it rained?
This morning we got up in the dark at 5:45, everyone in high spirits, grabbed a quick bite prepared by the excellent cooks, and loaded 30 people along with Dominican and American missionary intern helpers into a bus, a pickup, and Rebeca’s car. The skies were cloudy. What would the day bring? Amazing sunshine after 10 days of rain, and more predicted for the DR!
Can’t wait to show pictures of the finished project when we leave, but here are some pics of the work in process. Gracias, gracias, gracias for all of your prayers. God is good…all the time, even when it IS raining. But all here are so joyful for the gift He has granted us of good weather on this day.
~ Joanna
 
 
  
Saturday, June 26, 2010
DR #2 – First Summer Team Lands Safely
Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry
The group has landed! The flight was on time and the rain stopped minutes before we loaded 80-90 pieces of luggage onto a truck and a small trailer. The STCHM mission team, with drivers and interns, stood in a circle while Noe voiced a prayer of thanksgiving with great expectations for what God would do in us and through us this week. Then hand sanitizer for all as we boarded the bus and headed north through flooded streets across the city, while familiar sounds of horns honking welcomed us to a week of ministry in the Dominican Republic.
We (Rebeca and I) have made our lists, and checked them twice! VBS assignments, rooming arrangements, menus, shopping for needed supplies while Will Reid and Robert Harder spent two days at the Hatillo site getting tasks underway and assignments planned for our Monday liftoff at 6:30 a.m. The team will be building an open-air shelter with a zinc roof, a playground, several safety fences, and painting and painting and painting.
Tomorrow will be a day of worship and celebration with the Quisqueyana Baptist Church, where the music will be the closest to heaven until we actually arrive! Your prayers are so important–for enough pauses in the rain to allow the outdoor construction to be accomplished, for the VBS classes, for health and safety, and above all for God’s Spirit to move freely in us and through every activity.
~ Joanna
April 30, 2010
DOES GOD SPEAK MY LANGUAGE?
Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry
Almost-seven-year-old George lives in Texas and is learning to speak Spanish. “Mommy, are there only two languages, Spanish and English?” he asked on his way home from school. “Oh, no,” she answered. “There are hundreds of languages, sometimes two or three languages in one country.” George paused thoughtfully, “Does God speak my language?”
Around the world children pray in many languages. How beautiful the thought that God does speak their language. Sometimes, when contemplating a mission trip, we wonder if language will be a barrier. It never is. This month in the Dominican Republic, God spoke in the universal language of love through the mission team from First Baptist Church – Seminole in Oklahoma:
- William never knew his father, and his mother feels he is a burden. Griselda, his grandmother, is caring for him in a shack with a rusted zinc roof and a leaking septic system. Through his Samuel’s Fund sponsor’s donations, the gifts of several mission trip participants, and the helping hands of the Oklahoma team, Griselda has a new roof, floor, front door and window. And the septic system has been repaired. Can God use wheelbarrows, hammers and cement to communicate His love through volunteers who can’t speak Spanish?Griselda and William know God speaks their language and has heard their prayers.
- The Payano family is very poor. Now, Samuel’s Fund sponsors are helping two of the children. Ludy Payano seldom smiles. To be honest, she never has had very much to smile about. This week the Oklahoma team spent the day in her village of San Felipe. Carefully, lovingly, she had a beautiful butterfly painted on her cheek. And she smiled. Ludy heard and felt God’s love in her language, too.
- Many of you have heard about the Concepcion orphans. Father died, mother abandoned them, and then, after re-entering their lives, the mother suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away. This week, Guillermo, Miguel Angel and Jose Rafael Concepcion came to the IBQ church. How sharp they looked in their dress shirts! We took a picture.“Wait a minute, how do you want your sponsors to see you?” Another picture, with big smiles for their American sponsors. Guillermo attends tutoring classes now. This week the pastor’s wife, Patria, encouraged his progress. Then she gave him a walking lesson. He has always shuffled along with his head down. Heel, toe, heel, toe, head up, hands swinging confidently at your side, she demonstrated. We watched him from the window as he practiced walking across the church grounds.
- The Betesda Home in La Romana. Ten little boys – abused, abandoned on the streets, and now living under the care of Pastor Ramon and his wife. Samuel’s Fund sponsorships have helped to buy groceries and provide new mattresses, laundry hampers and school uniforms. Medical and dental services have been provided through previous mission teams. New hope, bright eyes and smiles, and loud chattering fills the air as the Oklahoma team loaded excited boys into the bus for a pizza outing. “How many pieces can we have?” the boys ask, being used to sharing limited food and resources. As much as you want. How can little bodies hold so much pizza, we wondered. And still there was more. More pizza left over to take home. God spoke about inexhaustible love and grace to these boys in their language through the love of a mission team and a pizza feast. And perhaps best of all, two more boys were chosen for sponsorship. Now every child in this home has a Samuel’s Fund sponsor!
Can God speak my language? Yes, absolutely yes! And the best part is that God can use you and me to communicate, “Si, Cristo te ama,” even if we don’t know a word in their language!
By week’s end:
* Over 275 patients were seen and thousands of vitamins were distributed
* 1,100 attended evangelistic services
* 520 children heard Bible stories, had their faces painted and were loved!
* Many reported decisions to follow Christ as the Oklahoma team shared God’s love in
another language.
Sometimes the team was hot, sometimes exhausted, but with prayer, good food and lots of smiles, they experienced a blessed week of ministry. As each team member returned to their homes, they knew that the love they shared would be nurtured through faithful Christians in the DR who DO speak the Spanish language.
~ Joanna
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April 15-22 Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic – Report #1
Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry
“Thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,” Hebrews 12 describes the heavenly Kingdom. Perhaps we have peeked into that heavenly kingdom as we end our second day of ministry here in the DR.
On Thursday, the group from First Baptist Church in Seminole, Oklahoma, joined by Ben and Susie Argil from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries, arrived late at the Las Americas airport. Customs, loading the luggage, last minute bathroom stops, a trip through dark and unfamiliar streets, luggage unloaded and separated and hauled up the stairs and then a light snack–it was after 1 A.M. when we bowed in prayer before bedtime. “Lord, I confess I’m already in culture shock,” one of the team members prayed, “but we give ourselves to you in service this week for whatever You have for us.” We were off to a great start already.
Friday – Orientation, sorting through supplies, organizing meds and crafts, and last minute adjustments to the schedule kept most of us busy, while two of the men set off with our wonderful translator, Russell, to begin work on Griselda’s house. With donations from sponsors and mission team participants, this grandmother who cares for Samuel’s Fund children has a new roof and will soon have a new septic system, floor, window and front steps. Her face radiates the miracle of God’s provisions.
Our first afternoon included a medical clinic and children’s Bible classes in 2 locations—IBQ and El Almendro. Face painting and crafts were a big hit and the children soon warmed up with their new best friends. That evening the evangelistic service kicked off with a celebration of music, followed by a message by Ben Argil with one person indicating a desire to accept Christ.
Saturday began with devotions at 6:30, breakfast, and then the construction team returned to work on Griselda’s home, while children’s ministry and medical team workers piled into a bus. Cocoa trees, chicken farms, a baseball training facility for teenage Seattle Mariner wannabees, palm board houses painted bright green and pink, and open air meat and vegetable markets lined the roads as we traveled about 50 kilometers north to Yamasa. We parked the bus and the team, with the help from friendly neighborhood boys, carried tables, crafts, chairs, and meds down muddy lanes to the wooden chapels where in 4 hours we would minister to over 70 patients, hand out countless vitamins, and share Christ’s love with over 100 children through crafts, songs, and more face painting.
A faithful Christian man, bedridden from a stroke 2 weeks ago, required a home visit from Dr. Kemp and the team as we returned for a late 20 minute lunch, then separated in groups again, this time for a medical clinic held in a chicken coop, an AWANA club at IBQ, and another children’s Bible club at Jerusalen. The rain held off until the end and we rushed back through the showers, counting the blessings of serving in His name.
 
As Ben Argil preached again Saturday night, he told the audience, “When I get to that heavenly kingdom and people from every tongue and nation are praising God together, I plan to stand next to the Dominican chorus!” Many indicated a desire to follow Christ in salvation and in renewed commitments as the service concluded.
Sunday The day of rest that God designated for Sunday has been a blessing today. Rebeca will make time for Samuel’s Fund visits later, and Ben Argil will teach at the Bible Institute this afternoon. Rain, accompanied by cool breezes have been a blessing this week. If the rain pauses, the team will be able to do personal evangelism in the surrounding neighborhood with the Institute students later this afternoon.
~ Joanna
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