Dengue, Construction, and Heat

We flew through Friday night and arrived Saturday at 10:30 am. The temperature is at least 10 to 15 degrees cooler than our home in Rancho Cucamonga, but because of the humidity, nonstop sweat pours from our skin. But, it is great to be back with our close friends and church family.

Before we made this journey, we were alerted of a large Dengue fever outbreak (transmitable by blood only... i.e. mosquitoes), the largest in 10 years. After a few minutes of conversation with Pastor Natividad, we learned how severe the outbreak is, as fairly large numbers of church members and friends are in the hospital, bedridden, or just feeling under the weather. In addition to the Dengue outbreak there are a number of other sicknesses going around, so we will be extra cautious with mosquitoes and germ transmission. As Nati said, getting sick "está de moda ahora" or "is in style right now."

It has been a year and a half since we last visited, and the advancements on the church construction projects have been incredible. Once we get an opportunity to take some pictures, we will upload them as soon as possible so you can see how far the construction has advanced.

Keep us and the people here in the Dominican Republic in prayer as we battle the mosquito onslaught.

Peace and love.

Hace mucho tiempo...

So, it's been a while since we've posted to this blog so we thought a quick update would be in order.
Last two years in a nutshell:
We've been back to Santiago only once, in December of 2008, to visit friends and our spiritual family and see how the the new church facility was progressing. We planned a trip in December of 2009, but due to some emergency surgeries that had to take place, the trip was postponed to this coming Friday, July 23.
Meanwhile, Katie has been working as a Spanish teacher at Upland Christian Academy, in Rancho Cucamonga, and Chris has been doing irrigation work for Central School District. Jointly through Katie's school and APU, we, along with 12 high-school students, began to cultivate a relationship with the church community of Siete Olivos in Mexicali, Mexico, in April of 2010 where we shared the experience of a 7.2 earthquake! The two of us went back for a visit in May and are planning to reconnect with the Mexicali community in August with some of the youth that we originally embarked with.
We are excited to reconnect with our spiritual family in the Dominican Republic this week, and to get some Mile Deep International work done as well. We'll do our best to update this during or shortly after our 9 day whirlwind trip.
For those of you who don't know, Mile Deep International now has an official website where you can find out more about what MDI has planned.
Visit www.miledeepinternational.org.

More Pictures from Nicaragua

The Dream Team:

Steve, Chris, Katie, P. Tony, Papa Seals, Yuri, Daniel, Tim

Dominicanos Go Nicaraguense

It’s been a while since we’ve posted. Since we’re back in the United States, the flow of exciting news is a bit slower. However, in the last 2 months much has transpired and we are excited to share it with you.

First of all, Mile Deep International, the non-profit that we founded has received approval for both Federal and California State TAX-EXEMPTION! Praise Jesus! We went through this process for two primary reasons. First, we sought out tax exemption so that our supporters could have peace of mind regarding their physical/emotional/spiritual investment knowing that we have a greater amount of accountability. Second, for our financial supporters, it provides the benefit of all donations being tax-deductible. So if any of you were considering sending a support check, DO NOT make a check out to Chris and/or Katie Seals. DO make checks out to Mile Deep International.
Second of all, one of the members of the board of directors, Michelle Stamper is finishing up a 2 week visit to the Dominican Republic. She spent her first week attending a Spanish teaching seminar in Punta Cana, and spent this past week working with the Dominican church and staying with the De Leon family. We’ll touch base with her after her return and post another blog entry with updates and pictures about her trip.

Finally, we (Chris and Katie) spent 10 days (June 20-30) in Nicaragua working with BBF missionaries Brian and Rachel Weed through Victory Baptist Church. It was a great experience that we’re glad we had. In addition to taking in the incredible beauty of the Nicaraguan countryside of Pueblo Nuevo, we got to observe and learn from the ministries that Brian and Rachel have started up in Leon, Pueblo Nuevo, Los Hatillos, and Managua. This definitely inspired us not only to continue our work in the Dominican Republic, but to also continue seeking out opportunities to learn from other experienced ministers and missionaries. Rachel’s sister and brother-in-law have a church plant in the works in Santiago, Dominican Republic, so the next time we head out to Santiago, we will attempt to touch base with them and consider our options for partnering with them to change the communities in and around the city through the local churches. We’ve posted some pictures of our Nicaragua trip. We hope you enjoy!