Dear family and friends!
God is so good! The last several months have been amazing! From seeing people come to Jesus, teaching future leaders hungry for God, preaching and seeing the Lord restore, heal and deliver, hosting a great mission team...we have seen the hand of God move in so many different and wonderful ways.

What a refreshing time it has been for us and a wonderful time of ministry we all have had!!!

Our family was even able to go to the beach with the team for half a day and enjoy the fresh air! Praise the Lord!

Concert
Thank you for your prayers. The concert/ crusade we had ;two weeks ago was a great success! Even when our printer did not get out our flyers until the day before the event we still had well over 500 attend our concert in the church. One of the first things we noticed and felt was a spirit of expectancy...Something was going to happen. The rap music was exciting but when some of the mission team came on stage to play and sing with our church band it truly became electrifying!! The presence of the Lord reached out and touched everyone in a special way. Julia one of the team members shared her testimony in front of the largest crowd she had ever been before and did a great job....I got a chance to challenge people right after that and we followed up with an evangelistic movie called "The Crossing"...from there Pastor Manolo presented the Gospel again and challenged the people to come forward for salvation. One married couple came forward and the husband received Christ as his Savior. Through tears she shared that she had bee n praying for him for years! That night 15 people gave their hearts to Jesus...one of the last ones who was shy pulled me to the side and asked to pray to receive Jesus into her heart...I will never forget her face after she said the "Sinners prayer" It was beaming with the love of the Lord!!!

Praise God for His amazing love & salvation!!

Mission team....
We want to thank Pastor Joe and the University Carrillon United Methodist Church for their support of this special ministry team. They were truly a blessing! What true servants of the Lord...one day they came to my house and just loved on my wife Barb! One of the ladies was a hair stylist and she cut and highlighted Barb's hair. The other group helped organize and unpack some of our moving boxes that we were still working on. When I came home it was wonderful! My wife was smiling so big and looking like a million dollars and our house was redecorated and looking great. That day Cheryl cut 15 peoples hair from the church including our Pastor's wife. For Barb it was a great day of fellowship and much needed time to rec uperate from her surgery. The ladies even brought Godiva chocolates!

Our church in Hato Mayor we work with and have one of our Bible Schools in...is a gutted out house that seated about 60-70 adults...God has been moving for quite awhile there and we have over grown the space... People were actually standing outside the church looking through the windows to be involved in the worship and message...For over a year now we have been talking to the owner of the house about expanding it and in God's timing when one of our teams was coming they granted our request. The team knocked down and took apart two sides of the house, removed windows, reinforced the structure with new wood, put up all new siding up, expanded the electrical wiring and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Now its seats more than 100 people and has an expanded altar area for the worship and ministry team. During the whole construction people were stopping by on horses, cars, motorcycles and bicycles to see what was going on...and when the work was finished the church was beautiful! Not only did the building have a new face on the outside, but PRAISE GOD there were many new faces on the inside as well. Curious onlookers who came to visit the church!!!

Orphanage and Garbage Dump

Even after the church was finished we still had lots of work to do. We moved on to Jackie's House...

This is a ministry that is like a children's rescue ministry...it brings kids that are very very young and their parents have put them into prostitution or are unwanted and rejected into their home. I liken it to kids that are livin g in a place like "Hell on earth" being moved to a place like "Heaven on earth"...a place where kids are restored physically, emotionally and spiritually by the love of Christ. When our mission groups come down we try to have them bring the orphanage practical things they use every day and need, we help fix things, replace things and even build things that will help bless their ministry. A year ago they moved from a 3 bedroom house with about 40 kids to a 10 bedroom house. This has been a huge blessing but with the unique needs of the ministry a lot of work was needed to get the house organized to handle the number of kids they have.Last year we had teams build and put together 20 bunk beds, shelves in all the rooms, plumbing fixed, battery backs up purchased, breathing machines bought, and financial assistance given to help in times of need.TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!!! Jackie would be the first to tell you that her hom e is not just full of kids, IT'S FULL OF MIRACLES!

Our mission team spent 2 days putting up well needed bookshelves in the classroom and in the hallway that the kids use a lot...Also many of the team colored, sang, had their hair braided by the kids, and just plan loved on them! We received so much more blessings than we were able to give out! Just holding the kids and seeing their smiling faces made all the sweat and hard work worth it all. From there we drove an hour to the GARBAGE DUMP where the team saw a side of poverty some of them have never experienced... Families living and building their lives on a foundation formed by layer after layer of the city's waste! What a joy it was to bring the love of Jesus, stuffed toys and new toothbrushes to the kids! Praise God we were able to bring encouragement to the Pastor of a small dirt-floor church there in the dump, as well as SO ME MUCH NEEDED BIBLES!!

Again, WE WANT to THANK the CONGREGATION and FRIENDS of UNIVERSITY CARILLON UNITED METHODIST for the GENEROUS DONATIONS and SUPPLIES THE TEAM BROUGHT TO BLESS THE PEOPLE HERE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!! May the Lord richly bless you and surround you with His presence, fill you with His joy, and use you more and more for His purpose and His glory!!!

Please pray as we have a team coming in March that will be clearing the property next to Jackie's house, putting up a fence around the property for safety and building a special door to connect both pieces of the property together. (Up to now, there has been no place for the kids to play as the house takes up all the property and they are cooped up inside all day). They will also be bringing in some special children's materials for the the small church at the garbage dump, teaching the Pastor and the workers there how to use it and leaving behind materials they can use for the future!

Teaching and Preaching
As always this is a passion that both Barb and I have! The Lord has placed within us a fire to proclaim His word, to reach the lost and help teach and disciple them on their journey to become all that God wants them to be. We have seen many come to Christ and for that we are truly grateful! One person I had the blessing of praying with just recently saidGod spoke to him in such a wonderful and powerful way during our prayer...telling him "He was His child,,,that He loved him very much...and He was worthy!! It was truly a great experience! One thing we challenge everyone is that it just doesn't have to happen on a mission trip, in a church or on special occasions. We can experience the Lord's guidance and love...anytime and anywhere. That is the kind of relationship the Lord is looking for with His children...all we have to do is reac h out and He does all the rest! He is so faithfull!

Ministry House
One thing that has become obvious to us since moving to San Pedro...is it that there are a lot of needy people in the body. There is not one day that goes by were someone does not stop by our house for someone to talk to, pray with or seek counsel. Our "new" old house has such a sweet presence of the Lord. Since the day we prayed with a group of about 25 and anointed i t with oil, this has become a place of laughter, love and refreshing for many. Several times a week Barb is baking with some of the young ladies from the church. This provides a wonderful opportunity for her to share from her heart the rich treasures of what God has done in her life, share insights from the His Word, and pray for those who come with a need. We are truly blessed!

Barb and I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Our love for you and the honor we have serving the Lord and being sponsored by many of you is truly humbling!

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support of the ministry here!!!

In Christ's love -
Rick and Barb,
Brent, Brandon, Janae, Julia, and Jessica

Report Mission Team Skip the Middle Man Iglesia LifeSong Missions Service

Where Are You Serving?

The Missions Team is surveying the congregation about our involvement in missions.

Do you regularly volunteer or serve on the board of a missions organization?

Are you on staff with a local or international Christian missions organization?

Does your Sunday school class or small group have an ongoing relationship with a certain missions organization?

Please e-mail Attention: Missions Team at or send your letter to the church office. There are still a few spots open if you want to serve on the Missions Team.