Update 7 - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Hi again from Sosua, Dominican Republic.
This week again has been a somewhat difficult week. There have been quite a few raw emotions. With Jacolyn coming out of the hospital and recovering at home we were breathing a lot easier as things were starting to get back to normal. Then Monday we got news that Janelle Knutt was killed in a car accident. Janelle was a good friend of Jacolyn's. Janelle's parents Tony and Terry Knutt are good friends of ours and Tony has been Cheryl's boss for 5 years now. This news hit us all quite hard as Janelle was Jacolyn's age and it comes as a reminder of how fragile life really is. Please pray for the Knutt family as they deal with the loss of their daughter, sister, grand daughter.
On Tuesday we heard that Oliver (a 16 year old student in my class) had been in a motorcycle accident on Monday evening. He was passing an SUV and clipped the drivers side enough to bounce him into the oncoming traffic where he hit a big truck and he and his passenger ended up under the truck getting run over. Both boys were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Oliver had to have emergency surgery but started to regain consciousness the next day. Because of the nature of his injuries the doctors decided that putting him into an induced coma would be the best thing that they could do for him. On Friday we heard that he had opened his eyes but we do not know any more than that. Please pray for Oliver and his family as they are waiting for and praying for healing. Also we have not heard anything about the other boy that was his passenger. Please pray that he and his family will feel Gods presence in this time of trial.
On Wednesday we were informed that a 16 year old boy from Yakima Washington drowned during a church event near Yakima. We have quite a few friends that attend the church that he was a part of. In 2012 Cheryl and I went on a Medical/Dental mission with a group from this church. We ask that you please pray for his family and the church family as they deal with this tragedy.
On Wednesday evening we all attended church in Villa Paraiso again. It had been a couple of weeks since Jacolyn had been there and she was met with many smiles and hugs.
On a little different note I was back teaching this week and Cheryl and the girls were back to work in the village on Thursday. My classes are going very well. Due to some personal reasons my interpreter could not be with us for a couple of classes this week and I managed to have classes with out him there. It was not easy but it worked.
I also had the opportunity to share a part of my testimony with my class this week. It was not planned but some of the questions that were asked led us into a discussion about financial matters which led to the topic of saving and giving, which led to the topic of stewardship and ultimately to me giving part of my testimony. Funny how God can lead from teaching about fuel systems on gasoline engines to giving a personal testimony. We need to always be prepared.  1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. ..."(NIV).
Thank you for your support in prayer. God Bless and please continue to pray for us as we serve here in the Dominican Republic.

Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters

Return to God

If you, Israel, will return,

then return to me,”

Declares the LORD

Jeremiah 4:16

How many times in my life have I said “I am going to pray more”, “I am going to read my bible more”, “I am going to do…”?
How many times have these simply been words?  No actions.  None at all.

Stop just talking.  Stop saying “I will seek God, I will change my life, I will return to God.”

Just do it!

His loving eye

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 32:8

It is in love that God disciplines us.

He is not exasperated, exhausted of our constant failure, reluctantly giving us “just one more chance”.

It is with his loving eye on us that he teaches and guides us.

Faith: loyalty

Loyalty is another translation for the Greek word pistis, often translated as faith.  (Citizenship: Paul on Peace and Politics, Gordon Zerbe).

To have faith in Jesus means that we are loyal to him.

Loyalty: willing to sacrifice, defend, obey, be there for, promote, and die for.

Update 6 - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Hi again from the north shore of the Dominican Republic. This week has been very different from the rest of our time here this far. Our daughter Jacolyn kept having a fever and was feeling continually worse over the week end after our last update. On Sunday night her fever was going very high (104 F) and the only way we could keep it in control was to give her Tylenol every 4 hours and we had to force her to take a shower to cool her down at one point. Monday morning I (Chris) went to the village to teach my class. At 10:30 in the morning Cheryl called me and told me that Jacolyn was still having high fevers and was starting to feel really bad. At noon We took Jacolyn to the emergency room at the Hospital in Cabarete where they gave her a quick wipe down to cool her off and put her on IV to rehydrate her. After doing some blood tests and checking her over they diagnosed her with Dengue Fever which is a virus that is spread by mosquito bites. She also still had an ear infection.
Some of the symptoms that accompany Dengue are high fever, severe head aches, severe arthritis type pain in the joints and over all lack of energy. With Dengue there is also usually a drop in white blood cells and platelets in the blood. In severe cases if left untreated the white cell count drops low enough to get to the point where you start bleeding internally. While we were there they had another young child that had come in with dangerously low levels and we found out that they nearly lost him.
Cheryl and I spent our week this week trading off with staying with Jacolyn at the hospital. Cheryl took the day shift and I took the nights. Needless to say the classes that I was going to teach this week were cancelled.
On Tuesday morning the doctor came in and told me that Jacolyn's white cell and Platelet counts were still going down but they thought she was going to start to improve soon. Wednesday morning they took another blood test and found that her white blood cells were starting to go up a bit but her platelet levels were still dropping. Her fever was gone now but she was getting a rash and her hands and feet were starting to get itchy. The doctor told us that the rash and the itching were likely a good sign as this frequently happens close to the end stages of the virus. In the afternoon they took Jacolyn for a chest X-ray to check for fluid in her lungs because she had been on IV and in bed for a couple of days. They also did an ultra sound to check her liver as one of the things that can happen with Dengue Fever is that the patient can develop what is referred to as Reactive Hepatitis which is a liver condition that clears up after a couple of months. Jacolyn's lungs were clear but the ultra sound did indicate that her liver was some what compromised. They also told us though that Jacolyn would have to stay in the hospital until her Platelet level started to go back up again.
On  Thursday morning after doing another blood test the doctor told us that not only had her platelet level started to come back up again, it was back in the normal range. They told Jacolyn that she would be discharged from the hospital but she had to stay at the house to recuperate for the next week. She needs to go in every day for three days to get an antibiotic injection and on the fourth day she needs to go in for a follow up blood test and another ultra sound to check her liver. She was told that she needs to stay away from greasy or deep fried foods for two months now to give her liver a chance to recover properly.
We were also told that we needed to be extra careful now when Jacolyn goes up to the village. She needs to wear long pants and use bug spray to keep the mosquitoes away as another bout of Dengue right now could get very serious very quickly.

Thank you to all who prayed for us as we went through this very difficult week. God is good, Jacolyn is getting better and is out of the hospital. Please continue to pray for complete healing and for protection from any further illness or infection for Jacolyn and the rest of the family.

Thank you and God Bless

Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters  

Faith: trust

Faith in Jesus means that we trust him.

Trust is more than belief.  It is risky.  We trust with our lives.

But to trust we need to believe.

• Believe that Jesus actually cares about me.  If he doesn’t why trust him?
• Believe that Jesus knows what he is doing.  This is my life.  I am not going to trust someone who is nice but clueless.
• Believe that Jesus can actually help me.  I need help.  

I will risk my life and trust Jesus if I truly believe.

Update on Jacolyn

Hello everyone, I just wanted to update you all on Jacolyn's condition. The doctor told us today that not only did her platelet level start to come up, it is actually back in the normal range. She is well enough that she got discharged from the hospital. She needs to go back in every day for the next three days for an antibiotic injection and on Monday she needs to go back to the hospital for a follow up blood test and another ultrasound to check her liver. She was told to stay at the house for the next week to continue to recover. Also she needs to stay away from greasy foods (like french fries or anything deep fried) for the next two months to give her liver a chance to recover fully. The problem with her liver is something that is common with Dengue Fever and is temporary. She just needs to be careful what she eats for a while.
Jacolyn also has to be very careful to wear long pants and use mosquito repellent all the time while we are in the villages as another case of Dengue now could get very serious very quickly.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for healing and for protection against further illness or infection.

Please also pray for the elders in the church in Villa Paraiso as two of them are sick right now and Pastor Jim's wife Debora is also suffering from head aches as well. There are a lot of cases of Dengue here now and severe headaches and over all body and joint pain are symptoms.

Thank you and God Bless
Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters

What kind of reader are you?

I am most strongly a "library lover", "re-reader", "comfort reader" and "cross-under".

Please include attribution to Laura E. Kelly with this graphic. (Click to view at original large size.)

Visit Laura-e-Kelly.com for more about books, reading, and authors.

Faith: believing

Belief is a core of faith.

Faith is impoverished when we fail to think about God and what we believe.

Failing to struggle and wrestle with theology gives us a weak faith.  A faith that we will give verbal ascent to but one that does not shape any part of our lives.

And most likely a faith that will crumble in the first sign of trouble.

Update - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Hello everyone, we have been here for almost 5 weeks now so we are about half way through our planned time here. The classes are still going well. We did manage to get one of the donated engines running in the class. It runs quite well. After hearing the engine run the ministry that donated it asked if we could possibly check over another cement mixer engine for them. This engine also was not running and had not run for some time. I got the guys in my class to take the engine off the mixer and take it into the class. After some short diagnoses using some of the skills we learned in the class they were able to determine what was wrong with the engine, repair the problems (with no parts) and get it running. Two engines running in one week with out having to buy any parts equals many excited students. These engines both looked like they were ready for the scrap pile but now could be put back onto the cement mixers and get back to work. Praise God, He is providing the learning tools and the encouragement as we need it.
On Monday we got to help a team that came out from Texas prepare and serve the first meal in the new community kitchen in Villa Paraiso. After an evening dedication service for the kitchen and praising God for providing the materials and man power for the kitchen. We served approximately 200 people a meal of soup and garlic bread. It was a little hectic but the people got fed and we all had a good time with it.
Cheryl and the girls did not spend as much time in the village this week because Jacolyn is still sick and has been now for nearly a week. She has been having a fever on and off and has been feeling dizzy once in a while. She was having a lot of pain in her one ear for a while but we got her some antibiotics and her ear is a lot better. Please pray for complete healing for her.
We were asked by one of our missionary friends to help paint a new church building in one of the other villages. This building was built over top of their old building and has been a long project. The final part of the roof and the floor were done now and it was time for paint. We went out there this morning (Saturday) and helped with patching some flaws in the cement smooth coat and prime the new concrete. On Wednesday they are planning on finishing the paint. They are currently working on getting donations to pay for the tiles for on the floor to complete this project. It has been a long process but it will be a good building that will be used a lot. Currently they are having a church service nearly every evening and there are several women in the community that come to the church every morning to pray.
Thanks again for your continued prayer support. God Bless.

Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters

Faith: rational

Faith is not blind or irrational.
Sometimes people say “you just have to have faith.”  Often this means stop thinking and just believe.

Ridiculous!

Certainly there are some things that will be mysterious.  Things we cannot explain or fully understand.

But to have faith does not mean that you park your brain and just believe.
In fact we are commanded to love God with all our “mind”.  This implies that we should engage our minds and think deeply about God.

Faith is rational.

Sunday morning: concert or choir?

Is Sunday worship a concert or a massive choir?

In a concert everything is focused on stage.  Does the group sound good?  Are the instruments well blended?
In a choir everything is focused off the stage.  Can the people sing this song?  Is it in a good key for them to sing in?  Are they singing?

Concert and choir are two forms of worship.  Be clear on which one you are doing.  Don’t pretend to do one while doing the other.

On a Sunday morning you can do both.  A special feature – concert.  Congregational singing – choir.

Update 3 - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Hello again from the Dominican Republic.

Thank you all for your prayers for our safety during tropical storm Chantal. Chantal never did make it to hurricane status and went around to the south side of the island. We got quite a bit of rain, some thunder and lightning and some wind but it was very minor here. It was enough of a storm to cancel classes for one day and the weather did cool off to where it was actually quite comfortable for us. The people here thought it was cold but we were enjoying the cooler temperatures. On the south side of the island they did experience some flooding due to the heavy rains. Please pray for the people that were effected by the flooding.

I also want to thank you all for your prayers for God to provide a new translator for our class. Pastor James Tunnicliffe stepped in to translate on Monday and we had a new translator start on Tuesday. If he works out well he will be available to translate until we leave in September. I have had a number of people asking me if I would be teaching this class again after September. So far that is not on the schedule but we would appreciate your prayers in this matter as well. We do not know what Gods plans are for us after this so your prayers for clear direction are needed.

The classes are going very well and the attendance keeps increasing. I was told that usually after the first week some people tend to drop out and stop coming but so far that has not been the case.
God is providing everything that we have needed to do this course as we go along and the people here are really excited about it.

Jacolyn and Jennifer have been having some health issues here like ear infections and some minor stomach problems. Your continued prayer for physical, emotional and spiritual health are both needed and appreciated.

Jacolyn has been working in the village along side Pastor Jim's wife (Debra) with getting some long over due clean up done in the offices and helping her with some shopping for supplies.

Cheryl has been busy with tending to the health needs of Jennifer. This has been her priority for the past week again. She has been in the village giving the custodian in the schools some much needed guidance in proper work procedures and ethics. She has also been working with preparing food portions for the feeding programs.
Now she will also be helping with preparing the children's church and the supplies for a DVBS program.

Mostly we are doing well and are confident that God will give us the strength that we need to do the work that He has called us to do here.

  Thank you again for all your prayers and support.

  Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters

Week 9 - Update from Travis

Travis Harms (a young adult from my church) is doing his internship in northern Manitoba this summer.  He is asking for people to pray for him.  Here is the week 9 update:

I am seeing the prevalence of the Word of Faith movement more in the North the more I am here. I met recently with a man from Cormorant and in a conversation about the Holy Spirit with him and I noticed several tenets of the Word of Faith movement in his theology. A problem with isolated communities is that when there is no solid Bible teaching church to go to, many people look to the television for their Bible teaching, often with disastrous results. They do it because there is no other option. Folks that cannot travel to a larger community for church are left with the feel good but malnourishing spiritual "food" on TV. The Word of Faith movement represents teachers such as Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, John Hagee and Joel Osteen.

 This week I learned that things that bring out the worst in me are not bad. They are good. If circumstances in my life did not challenge  me to strive for Christian living then I would not be growing as a believer. I am speaking about past events at school and not in the Pas, but I am learning more about how God has worked in my life and is working to sanctify me and it is very exciting!

This week a woman that has been struggling with liver failure went home to be with the Lord. Thankfully she went quietly and peacefully and now she is in glory. We can celebrate that she walked with God and with hope many more folks, including her husband, will come to know God through her life.

I am glad to report that I was able to talk deeper with a fellow from Cormorant and pray he will come to the Lord yet this summer. I have found that folks do not mind so much that I am a Christian and so I hope to shine brightly and present the gospel to them at the right time and to continue to speak about spiritual things with them as they ask. Pray for my connections in Cormorant that fruit would grow!!

-Travis Harms

Success of a worship service?

Is it success if a worship team sounds great but the congregation does not sing?

Is it success if a worship team sounds terrible but the congregation sings?

Of course ideally we want both.
But if I have to choose I would choose the congregation singing.

Update 2 - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Well I finished my first week of teaching in the college. I have about 15 students in the two classes combined, (it seems to change daily). They range in age from 15-40 years old with the average at about 25. It has been a challenge to explain things first to my translator and then have him explain it to the class. This week I have been teaching basic engine design and fundamentals as well as some carburettor and fuel injection principles. I have been encouraging the guys to ask lots of questions so I can get an idea where they are at. The intelligence level is quite high but the there is a large variation in their knowledge level. I had one of the students ask me "what is a magnet?" when I started to introduce some ignition system theory. With the help of my translator we were able to explain what a magnet is so that he and the rest of the class had a good understanding.
 We have been starting each class with prayer and I have had no problem getting other guys to take a turn at praying. One of my afternoon classes got of to a bit of a frenzied start with people coming in at various times and we forgot to open with prayer. When I dismissed the class for the day one of my students said that no one was allowed to leave until he prayed for the class as we did not open with prayer. I was very humbled and encouraged by this.
  We have been faced with another challenge at the end of this week in that due to personal reasons our translator quit and we need to find another one to start Monday morning. Your prayers for God to provide a new translator are much needed and appreciated.
 Cheryl has been off to a bit of a rough start. Jennifer had an ear infection in her right ear with a fever and a lot of pain. We think it was caused by getting water into her ear (swimmers ear). We just got over that then her left ear did the same thing. With the pain and the fever she was just not happy at all and said she wanted to go home several times. This has been hard for Cheryl as she is Mom and usually Mom is what the children want when they are ill. Along with Jennifer being sick there is the culture shock and the changes in how we need to do things here. Everything is different from the way we do laundry to the way we wash and prepare food to the way we get drinking water for the house etc.
  We have been very encourage by our many missionary friends here. With out their experience and knowledge to draw from it would be much more difficult.
  The public transportation system here is much different than at home but we did manage to figure it out. I found a GuaGua (van) that picks us up close to our house (a 10 minute walk) and drops us of right in front of the college where I am teaching. It also picks us up there and brings us back in the evening. It is about a 15 minute drive so it takes about 1/2 hr from when we leave the house until we are there (if the bus is on time). It only costs us 100 pesos ($2.50) each way for the four of us.
  Could you please pray for complete healing for Jennifer's ears, continued health for all of us and for contentment and wisdom for us as we deal with the cultural differences and serve here?
Thank you and God Bless
Chris and Cheryl Peters

Singing

I love to sing in church.  Not up front (my voice is not the best).  As part of the congregation I love to sing.

There is something significant, powerful about standing with others and singing praise to God.

On a normal Sunday in the congregation there are some people I know and some are strangers.  But we stand united, singing the same words.

New songs are fantastic.  Just not too many on a Sunday because I want to sing not just listen.

Week 8 - Update from Travis

Travis Harms (a young adult from my church) is doing his internship in northern Manitoba this summer.  He is asking for people to pray for him.  Here is the week 8 update:

My last visit to Cormorant was good in that it opened up opportunities for more visits. I got to know two new people in the community and I hope that I can especially connect with the one guy more in the coming weeks.

An issue in the town of Cormorant that I am seeing more and more is the sheer boredom. People there have next to nothing to do and kids are bored. There is vandalism and lots of break-ins there and the majority of them are because the youth in town are bored. I want to know what I can say or do for people that have nothing to do. Many people work outside of Cormorant in the mines or in the Pas. Boredom for lack of work is a lousy way to live.

Steeprock Bay Bible Camp is under way; the first week of camp started this week and staff training was this weekend. There is a long history there of ministry and because they have been going for 50 some years they are well known. The consistency of Steeprock has been a blessing to them. Keeping them in your prayers would be much appreciated.

While reading a book on Native issues, The Dispossessed, I am learning about some of the stories of people in the local area. I learned part of the Easterville story; about how developments such as hydro dams often ruin trap lines and hunting areas. This is important because one of my contacts from Cormorant is originally from Easterville. I have learned some of the history of the Pas as told from the Native perspective and this information helps me to understand why I see some of the things I do in the community.

Prayer for my visits in Cormorant for the connections I have made and for camp registration would be awesome!!

 -Travis Harms

Update - Chris and Cheryl

Chris and Cheryl (and their family) are serving in the Dominican Republic for the summer.

Hello from the Dominican Republic. We made it here safely without incident, all in all a good experience. When our friend from Toronto area picked us up to stay at her place for the night on Monday she took us to Montana's for supper where we were surprised by several people from the team that we worked with in the DR on our last mission trip in January. It was really nice to connect with them and have supper together. Supper was followed by what seamed to be one of the shortest nights ever. We got to bed at around
11:45 and got up at 4:30 to be at the airport by 6. Our flight took off around 9AM and we got to the DR around 1:30PM. We picked up a few groceries so we could make supper, unpacked a few things and had an early night. We are pretty well settled into our house now.
We were in the village a few times this week to get the small engines class set up and have some orientation.
It looks like I will be teaching 2 classes of 10 men. One in the morning 8:30-12:00 and one in the afternoon 1:30-5:00.
Cheryl has met some of the people that she will be working with and has been given a schedule of what she will be doing. (Out here schedules are often subject to change.) I think we have the public transportation figured out. We will find out on Monday morning as that is when we start using it. Up to this point we have been getting the pastor in the village to pick us up and drive us there. We have been able to work with his schedule up to this point but starting Monday I have to be in the village before 8:00AM for the classes.
Please pray for our health and for wisdom as we minister here.
Thank you and God Bless
Chris and Cheryl Peters

Week 7 - Update from Travis

Travis Harms (a young adult from my church) is doing his internship in northern Manitoba this summer.  He is asking for people to pray for him.  Here is the week 7 update:

During this week I made two visits to Cormorant and I am planning on making another soon. I have gotten to know a young man from Cormorant and I hope to get to know him better. He really likes fishing and I really like fishing so we are good that way. He is also super quiet and not all that open. But I hope that I can hear his story and be a good friend to him. Many in Cormorant are not walking the good path and I believe that he wants to walk the good path but doesn't have many friends into that.

I sometimes wish I was actually living in Cormorant because it would be easier to invite folks over if I actually had a house there. But this is good practice for the future. This maybe the only way to reach out to a village and so I hope to learn well from this experience. Its a frustrating issue but it forces me to be creative.

I was challenged yesterday by the genuine faith of a man Frank Ducharme. He suffers terribly with his back but he loves the Lord. Yesterday while praying he said, "I thank you Lord for who you are". He is just in awe of God. Faith is a simple thing, simply being in awe of God. Frank understands this. Things in life can distract us from God, but it is a beautiful thing to simply be in awe of God.

I have learned a good way to start conversations with random strangers, ask them about fishing or where someone lives. People are will courteously answer your questions.

I also preached last Sunday; I did not feel as though I was very dynamic. Dennis tells me the best way to learn to preach is to preach, so preach I did. He tells me a point I made about not labeling people stuck with him for the day. That is a good encouragement.

I have been doing a lot of work for speaking this summer at camp. Prayer for that would be greatly appreciated. Pray for staff training at Steeprock this weekend and for the summer weeks that are fast approaching!! Pray also for continued open doors in Cormorant to meet new people and connect over spiritual things and that kids from Cormorant would come to camp.

-Travis Harms