Earning the Word

As we have been discipling adults in rural communities, we have talked about parents' responsibility to pass their faith on to their children through instruction and actions. Several parents asked for help finding Bible passages to read to their children. Wanting to encourage and reward this desire, we purchased several copies of "The One Year for Children's Bible" in Spanish (published by Anno Domini Publishing). Including shipment to the Dominican Republic, it cost about $20, so we were only able to buy a few copies.

We offered the book to believers in two of our study groups for free, IF they memorized a set of 16 Scripture passages. This seemed like a daunting task, but everyone was excited by the prospect of such a beautiful book full of Bible stories to share with their children.

Pictured above is Julio, a leader at a church in Los Higos, who attends Rick's seminary class. Below Ana Maria, of Montaña, joyfully displays her copy of "La Biblia en Un Año para Niños." After these two had earned their books, the others redoubled their efforts to memorize and asked how many copies were left! We were very thankful when the team from Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Rochester, Minnesota arrived with more copies that had been donated. Now we can offer this great ¨deal¨ to more believers.

How big is your God?

Just how big is your God? Is He bigger than the stockmarket? Is He bigger than your company? Is He bigger than your illness? Is He bigger than your church? Is He bigger than Osama? bigger than Obama? Someimes our problems, enemies and even our heroes loom so large we lose perspective.

As Northamerican missionaries working in a developing country, we daily encounter problems that seem insurmountable. Often the people we are working with feel the same way.

One community where we work often only gets running water a few times a week and the people living there have learned to adapt to a situation that would cause most North Americans to tear their hair out. Not long ago, the water plant that supplies the community broke down and was off line for weeks, supposedly waiting for parts. As some wealthy people in this area have wells, they made their hoses available to the community. Our church members and others spent their time and energy hauling buckets of water up to half a mile back to their homes to meet their daily needs. The also collect rain water from their roofs. Needless to say that this took all their time and energy. The situation became desperate and we prayed with the believers that water would be restored. One day, we came to hold Bible study and found no one had shown up. We visited the nearest house and found two women out back washing clothes. After greeting us, they said, "Please forgive us, we don't want to have Bible study today. We just got water back AND the electricity is on for the first time in three days. We have to take advantage of it and do laundry and clean our houses!" We praised God with them and then visited from house to house and spent time with them while they were washing and hanging mountains of clothes.

In December we wrote about a disabled boy named Jordan who lived up on a mountain outside Jarabacoa. He has since died. We didn't hear about it immediately because the community is so isolated. There are thousands more children just like him being cradled by parents who live in isolated areas without the resources to adequately care for their physical needs.

Rick recently met with a leader in another of the 5 daughter churches. He sat in their tiny 12X14 home and heard their passion for reaching the lost in their community. He was there to invite the man to a seminary class Rick is teaching. He has a hunger to learn more of the Bible so he can teach others. Rick then asked about their needs and how we could support them and pray for them. The man shared that they are praying for a home that is more adequate to raise their children and hold Bible studies. Most evenings after 8 the youth show up and hang out with them until about midnight, all crammed into their tiny house. They also shared that they were praying for another pair of shoes. This man only has one pair that serve for work, going to town, church, everything.

Just today I spoke with a woman from church who has a heart condition that we have been praying for. After catching up a bit by way of greeting, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Becky please pray with me. The cardiologist just prescribed a medicine for me. I haven't been feeling well, always short of breath. I went to the pharmacy to buy the medicine and came away in tears because it is so expensive." She wasn't asking me to buy the medicine for her, just to pray with her that God would heal her or provide the means to take the medicine. The medicine would cost about $50 a month. This seems like little to us, but with an average annual income of $250 per month in this country, that medicine might as well be made of diamonds.

As North Americans we are "can do" people. "Where there's a will there's a way." We innovate. We problem solve. When one solution doesn't work, we go back to the drawing board. And when all else fails, we throw money at the problem. Because surely with enough money anything can be fixed. But fixing the problems at hand is not always the best solution.

However, God always has the best solution. We see this time and again in the Bible. God is concerned about us and our planet at the very deepest level. He not only wants to provide for our physical needs, He has a plan to save us for all eternity.

I have learned that as soon as a problem comes my way, I need to go on my knees to Him with it. Before I try to solve it, before I react to it, sometim9es before I even let myself feel the pain of it, I take it to God. As I process it with Him, I begin to see it from His view. I have learned to ask myself, "How big is my God?" And my answer is always, "Bigger than that!"

"Can there be any God but this God that I love? He surrounds me with His strength and clothes me with His grace. He puts into my hands gifts to relay to others. He entrusts me with tasks far beyond my human capabilities and enables me to carry them out. He me as daughter and servant destined to accomplish His purposes amongst the peoples of the world."
Psalm 18 (paraphrase from Psalms Now)

Blessed Feet

<sup>Romans 10:14-15 says:

14</sup>How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

We want to show you some blessed feet!





Please pray for the people! They represent many who travel through the mud and in the heat to proclaim Jesus Christ! They are real people that we have come to know and love. They are partners. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Will you bless them with your prayers?

Rick and Ben Climb Pico Duarte!

On March 8, 2009 Rick and Ben Mackey, David Henry, Paul Pederson, Roy and Glenna Makosky and Lane Bellar climbed to 10,164 ft, the highest point in the Carribean -- Pico Duarte! It was an awesome experience. Tougher than we had imagined, but we made it! Paul Pederson shares the trip on his blog...

http://wideopenspaces4.blogspot.com/search/label/Pico%20Duarte

Ben's Climbs over 10k...

• Pico Duarte, 10164 ft - March 8, 2009, located in the mountains not far from Jarabacoa, DR
• Volcano Acatenango, 13,041 ft - December 10, 2006, located in Guatemala, just outside of the city of Antigua.

Not bad for a 10 year old!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

We are all different. In our family, we have found that we have different reactions to the same thing. Enjoy the following. It sheds a little more about our life here and how it is different.

Driving Rules

If there is a spot, take it.

Rick...AWESOME!!!!
Becky...God please HELP!!!

Bigger gets the right of way.

Rick...I need a bigger car and a bigger motercycle!!!
Becky.... [was unable to comment since she is still at an intersection waiting to make a turn]

Drive Offensively, but in a Defensive kind-of way

Rick...Ok
Becky...That makes no sense.

Living

No power, no water, no shower

Rick...A little more deodorant should do the trick
Becky...I have learned how to take a bath with only a bucket of water...a well developed skill!
Ben...no importa, I took a bath last week.
Elena...Just heat the water over the stove and I will be waiting.

If you can get away with it, do it.

All of us...NO!

Turn up the music in your house so you can hear it while you visit at your neighbors house a few blocks away.

Rick...what kind of music?
Becky...GRRRRRR!!! Glad I have a supply of earplugs!
Ben and Elena...refused to comment because they were too busy dancing merengue.

Having a housekeeper

Rick....another woman around the house to tell me to take my shoes off before I come in?

Becky....haven't cleaned a toilet in two years....WOOOHOOOO!

Ben and Elena....hot chocolate every morning and someone else makes my bed....couldn't be better. Oh, except we have to obey her just like Mom and Dad, shoot.

Water the dirt road in front of your house in order to lower the dust from cars and motos.

Rick...Precious water, what a waste, I need a shower!
Becky...Thank you.
Ben and Elena...Fun puddles to try to jump with my Bike
Becky...More laundry...UGH!!!

Pointing with your lips

Rick...How can I ever find something when people "point with their lips" GRRRRRR!!!
Ben and Elena...A mastered skill.

Cross Cultural living is not always fun but it is never boring!

Future Plans

We came to the Dominican Republic in the middle of May, 2007 and we made a commitment to Iglesia Nueva Vida until the fall of 2009. This past September, we started praying and asked you to join us in praying for clear direction regarding whether we should return to the US or continue in ministry here. Our desire is to be in the place God would have us, doing what He desires.

Today we share with you that we feel God is leading us to stay and continue in ministry here. While we have not had the easiest transition here, we have survived! And we see that God is using us to equip men and women. There has been a lot of growth but there is much to be done.

If you have followed our blogs, you have read about our highs and our lows. We continue to have these but we also know that we will have those anywhere. It is just life. Going from a 2 year/short term mindset to one that is "open ended" was challenging. In some ways, we roughed it for 2 years and now we are talking more about what is necessary to make a home. But we feel confident that God has lead this way.

We don't know how long we will be here but we believe that God will let us know when we are to move onto something else. In September 2009, it will be 3 years since we left for language school in Guatemala. It is our plan to come home in the fall of 2009 and stay until just after New Years. During this time we want to visit with family, friends, people who have supported us. Becky will also see doctors in the States regarding her health problems.  We also hope to get some training that we believe will help us in ministry. This training focuses in two areas:

1. Teaching Oral Learners using a Story Telling Format. We have investigated this a lot and feel that this format would be excellent for teaching Dominicans.

2. Dealing with Poverty. We struggle with the poverty that we see around us. How do we internally deal with this and not feel guilty for the wealth that we have? The poverty here is not always obvious. It is more of a mindset of helplessness. How do we really help?

For the first training area, there are conferences and books available to help us. One conference is in Minneapolis in mid-September. The second training area is a little more challenging. We feel it may be the most helpful to us if we can spend time with someone who has spent years working with people of poverty.

During our time in the US, we plan to home school our children. Ben and Elena's school, Doulos Discovery School, will be giving us textbooks so that our kids can keep pace with their class and easily join the class when we return to the Dominican Republic. This is a huge blessing.

Of course, many of the details are not nailed down. But we wanted to share with you this decision. You have walked with us and we are thankful for you.

It's worth it all!

This past Wednesday, I had no idea what was going to happen. A week before, Damaso and I were about to go to our weekly Bible study in El Montaña and Damaso asked if we could first stop at a church in Jarabacoa. We did...Damaso was up to something and I was curious to see what. Arriving at the church, we found two men. It was obvious that Damaso was meeting them for the first time and after the typical greetings (which consists of trying to find out if we know the same people), he said them, "I want to have a time of praise in El Montaña and wonder if your worship leaders could come and help us with the music?"

Finally I knew what this was about. This past year we had seen a lot of growth among the believers in El Montaña. And Damaso wanted to have a time of celebration. A time of praise to God for what God has and was doing. A great idea! But to be honest, I was curious to see how this would happened. I know how things are planned in the United States but things work different here...I was ready to watch and learn.

In this first meeting, they decided that the praise service would be in one week and Damoso and I were on our way. I quietly noticed that there wasn't any talk about the time, length of service, or what would be needed to make this happen. I honestly wondered if it would really happen...or would just get forgotten like some other things that I have tried to plan.

On Sunday Damaso told me that he needed the sound system that we recently purchased with funds raised by the believers in El Montaña. The system hadn´t been installed yet because they needed to raise money for 2 speakers. This is another story for another time. I asked if he now had speakers for it. It seemed he did and he would like to pick them up on Monday.

Many times, this and that can cause that and this to not happen. It is life here and it drives us crazy at times...and other times it can be awfully convenient. Monday turned to Tuesday and Tuesday to Wednesday morning. Finally Damaso and I went to pick up some speakers that someone lent to us for the evening. All through this I had my doubts about what was going to happen but found myself chuckling as things just seemed to fall into place.

Damaso suggested we stop by the church again and talk with the worship leader. We did and within a few minutes I found myself loading equipment into the car. A drum set, a guitar amp, a speaker. I didn't expect this. I expected one or two singers with an acoustic guitar and well, now I was even more curious about what would happen. Leaving the church I mentioned this to Damaso and he shared that he was a little surprised too. I asked him if he knew what was going to happen tonight and he laughed and said that we would find out.

I agreed to be back at the church at 6 pm. Once again, I wasn't sure what to expect. We spent about 45 minutes load more equipment and waiting for praise team members. On the way, I was asked what time the event was planned for and having learned a little bit, I replied ¨It will start when we get there and are ready to start.¨

We arrived to the El Montaña church and people were there waiting for us. We weren´t late. Some members were decorating the front of the church. Others were sweeping and many were just there trying to see what was going on.

We setup, everyone arrived and Damaso begin the celebration. I had no idea of the joyful experience I was about to experience.

There were some obvious reasons to praise God. For the first time I can remember, you could stand anywhere in the church (it isn't big) and you can hear who is speaking from the front. The difference was amazing. And this small church had worked hard to make it happen. Months earlier they had started praying about their sound need and God had provided. I looked out and saw the people who had worked so hard to raise the money to buy a sound system and the smiles were HUGE. Even though they knew they still needed to borrow speakers...God had helped them greatly and now they were able to enjoy the blessings of their work.

As a result, this celebration drew people who didn't regularly come to church. For the first time, they could really hear that there is something going on at the church. From their houses they knew something new was going on and many came to see exactly what.

During the service Damaso asked for some testimonies of God's work this past year. Josefina shared how God is worthy of our trust. She talked about her struggles and how God really does meet needs. She was standing before her neighbors. These people knew her and knew her well. And as she proclaimed the greatness of God, I was brought to my knees. 7 adults and teens led the church in worship. Testimonies were given of God´s faithfulness. It was a special time. Sometimes in ministry, you find yourself questioning whether it is worth it or not. This was a time where I was able to say "Thank you God, it is worth it! You are working. Thank you!"

I had no idea how this would be pulled off. But it sure did. And what a blessing it was to me!