Supplies Bought, Trenches Dug, & Chris Preached

Faithful Monday-checking blog-readers, we sincerely apologize again for being a day late. Please still love us. :) So here's what's been going on here.

This week, for the precise skilled work of digging the trench for the foundation of the new temple for Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo, a crew was hired out and the work was finished in a couple of days. A lot of rich dark dirt was excavated in the process, so the dirt will be taken and used to give fresh soil to the gardens that we're working on at Centro Cristiano.

Yesterday, Monday, about $3,400 USD (or RD$117,000) worth of Cinderblocks, Concrete, Gravel, Sand, Rebar, & Wire were bought for the first stage of construction (i.e. pour the foundation & erect the walls of the first floor of the church). With a combination of the grace of God, church fundraising efforts, and donations from those of you who generously supported the cause financially, we've been able to witness and take part in this first step. Next comes building the roof of the first floor (also the floor of the second floor). This is a significantly more expensive process, but we'll cross that financial bridge when we get there. If construction continues at a quick rate, that bridge will probably come quickly. *****BREAKING NEWS! Ochoa, the hardware store, JUST donated 1000 cinderblocks to the cause! God is providing everyday in new ways!

In other news, Chris preached for the Sunday service at Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo on I John 1:5-2:6 (it's toward the back of the Bible). Awesome passage... I dare you to read it.

Also, we're reading a great book right now called "A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + Fundamentalist/Calvinist + Anabaptist/Anglican + Methodist + Catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN" which is really challenging us to rethink and rediscover the path of following Jesus and what that should look like. Even more challenging is trying to rediscover that path and apply it to our current Dominican cultural context in an appropriate way. Pray for mercy. Hope all is well back home… or abroad… or wherever you are.

An Eventful Week

This week was quite a bit more eventful and the pace of everything is definitely picking up. We’re doing our best to be obedient and intentional about taking a day of rest to help us through the week. It’s today. J We’ll give you updates in the wonderfully familiar form of an enumerated list.

1. After our day at Sosua we had an opportunity to spend the night at Dr. Melido Zorrilla’s (Senior Pastor of Centro Cristiano) house on Tuesday night. The church just finished their bylaws and constitution and we went to drop off some pictures and artwork that we did on our computer so that the official church seal can be made. After we made a few phone calls and used the internet it was late so we stayed the night. The change was refreshing.

2. On Wednesday afternoon we cleaned up a small garden in the front of Centro Cristiano, pulled weeds, and cleaned up garbage. The first step of a very extensive cleaning project.

3. God has provided for the churches in some very amazing ways. (a) A woman from New York donated a new keyboard to the churches. (b) The lawyer who handled all of the property title, deed, etc., for the new property decided not to charge for her services. (c) 7 or 8 people have committed to buying 100 cinderblocks for the construction process. (d) The campaign for buying meters for Centro Cristiano is pushing forward strong.

4. The “Primer Picaso” or groundbreaking service was a great time. The church, surrounding community, and other local pastors are all very excited for this new site that is committed to use the blessing of God in order to be a blessing to the community. And now that it will be in the name of the Casa de Dios: Puerta del Cielo and not in the name of another owner, the church will remain open as long as it needs to be open, not only at times that are convenient for the property owner.

5. We also taught our first Sunday School class with the youth. We’re going to be going through the parables and teachings of Jesus in the synoptic gospels (Thanks Baloian). Despite the class location (on top of a mound of ants) and the normal squirrelly nature of our Jr. High aged youth… it was a good time.

Attached are some pictures of the Primer Picaso service.

Preaching, PJs, Property

Hi! Several things of some importance took place this last week:
(It looks like a lot, but I have numbered each thought so that this doesn’t look like a long document of ‘blah, blah, blah’ that no one wants to take the time to read.)

1. We had a pajama party with our little brother and sister. We watched Veggie Tales’: Jonah, in Spanish, ate popcorn, and slept in the same room.
2. Our first step toward accomplishing something in regards to the new church building project is that Chris designed an invitation to send out to the pastors and family of the area to invite them to the ground-breaking of the new property this Saturday, January 19th. Also, the calculations for building supplies have been done and stage one of construction (i.e. Foundation & Completion of First Level) will cost roughly $14,500 USD. The funds that we have brought over will be a great start and the church body is working extra hard selling pork, chicken, and clothing as fundraisers.
3. I cooked my first meal for the family: Chicken breast, broccoli, baked potato, garlic bread, and a salad. My little brother has asked several times, “Is Katie gonna cook today?” That’s kinda nice. J
4. We were able to witness the ‘Church Officials’ meeting about the new property.
-Nati mentioned that he was partnering with us so that we would be able to get things done that he would not be able to, due to his work hours.
-He talked about his vision from 2002 that this building will be a church meeting area, refuge for every family that surrounds the entire area, and an orphanage/school.
-He asked Ursula (one of the officials) to be Associate Pastor. That’s a very good thing. Ursula lives close to the new property and she knows everyone who lives in the area. She will do visitations and she will be around always so that the ‘Temple’ can be open 24/7.
-We will start this week purchasing the needed materials to begin construction after the ground-breaking.
5. Chris preached for the first time for the youth. It was really really good. I, Katie, am very stupid and forgot the camera. He talked about Micah 6:8. We discussed and wrote down the kids’ ideas regarding activities and projects that would give more substance to the youth ministry. (Examples: have a party for the kids in the neighborhood in the name of love, an afternoon of prayer or afternoon of praise and worship, etc.)
6. On Sunday, Nati announced that Chris and I would begin teaching the Sunday school for the youth. We have to come up with something this week as far as curriculum. Any ideas???
7. We witnessed the Music School for our first time. Being taught: guitar, piano, and drums.
8. We are trying to muster up the you-know-what’s to strike up conversations with the people who hang out and play dominoes at the corner bar, the bar next door to the city church building. Every other night we walk by and say hello and we know their faces, but we would like to chat with them, get to know them. Nati says that Christians shouldn’t be seen there…that’s hard.
9. We went to the beach together! And had a good time! Most of you will know why that’s a big deal.

Not So Important Things:
1. Chris is growing his MANstache again.
2. Because of the abundance of mosquitoes here, we are acquiring a great appreciation for spiders.
3. One side of our bed falls through the frame every so often.
4. Our diet now consists of fried eggs, fried meat, fried plantains, fried cheese, fried bread (WHITE bread!), white rice, and beans…and to top that off, everything that is fried is fried in the SAME oil that is used over about the span of a week. Our hearts hurt.

Getting Going!

Hey Friends & Fam!

We´re getting used to the schedule and as of today, Christmas vacation is over so we´ll be settling into a more normal schedule. We´ll still be attending lots of church services but we´re looking for more opportunities to be agents of faith, hope, and love outside of the services held at the two church properties.

Updates!
1. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo is Jan 19th, and the official start of construction is the 21st.
2.We´ve rehearsed some commonly sung songs here and are becoming more actively involved in the music.
3.We learned that the club across the street from Centro Cristiano is a prostitution club.
4.Chris shaved off his not so manly mustache.
5.It rains every day... but in short bursts with no prior warning.
6.Katie is still very pretty.
7.The dog, MoMo, has fleas. P.S. MoMo is a girl...?

We´ve attached more pictures (with short commentary) so you can see the current location of Casa de Dios:Puerta del Cielo, Centro Cristiano, and US!

To see the pictures more clearly...Click!

Happy New Year from the DR!

We're HERE! Well, I suppose from your perspective we should say... We're THERE! There/Here being Santiago, Dominican Republic, in a neighborhood known as "Las Americas." Our bodies are pretty much adjusted to the time, climate, and diet change and there's plenty of work ahead of us. We've attached some pictures below of the new project site.

Here's a brief synopsis of all that's going on.

Casa de Dios Puerta al Cielo & the New Project:Every week there's a Service on Tuesday and Sunday. There's a Bible Study on Thursday and a youth service on Saturday Nights. We will be attending all events and helping in the music worship (i.e. singing, guitar, percussion). Also we will be heavily involved with the youth of this church, preaching, doing devotionals, and coordinating and planning events and activities. The new property for the new facility has been bought and paid for in full. After coming home from their day jobs, members of the church have cooked meat and made clothes to sell in order to raise funds for the property they now have. However this is a small property of 300 square meters and will only fit the first building which will be a 2 story worship center/educational facility. Next to the property is another lot that is for sale by the same owner and measures approximately 1800 square meters. This lot has a price tag of 1.2 million pesos (or 36 thousand US Dollars). The money that many of you donated will be going toward the construction of the first building, and then will go toward the purchase of the next property. In the mean time, the church is and has been growing strong spiritually and numerically.

Centro Cristiano de Adoracion y Restauracion:In the letter we sent out to many of you we called this church Centro de Alabanza y Adoracion, but this church has just recently changed its name to the above heading. The main church service is on Sunday mornings. A bible study is held on Wednesday Night, and Friday nights they have a church fellowship time. At this church we are also participating in the music and attending all services. At Centro Cristiano, the music school has been very productive. They already have over 20 piano graduates, 5 guitar graduates, and 6 drumset graduates. In addition to the music school, Pastor DeLeon has bought a set of high quality professional sewing machines to begin teaching members a valuable vocational skill and also producing goods to raise funds for church activities and for the building project at Casa de Dios.

We miss you guys! Please keep in touch by e-mailing us and/or calling us!

1.809.570.3217 (Dial it just like calling an American number... but they still charge you internationally)
ckseals@yahoo.com