M&M... Back in the DR

M&M... back in the DR

It is good to be back in the DR and M&M is up to the usual...

Learning to teach

creativity is messy

Love that table

serious painters

and all ages

Ministry Location: Dominican Republic, Latin America & the Caribbean     

Ministry Focus: David is the Sponsorship Coordinator at Servant’s Heart Ministries (SHM) for the “Hugs for Kids” program.

Update: Sandy's First Month:

Hotter than Toronto's Summer 2016, and humid. So wet--I might as well be swimming! Which I was, 3 times a day for the first two weeks. That was nice. Finally begun to cool off, sometimes below 28C, wow.  Trying to make a house into a home (after 3 years as a one-man hovel) lol. Of course, the best part is being with the one man--every day! Love my Davey!! My part-time job with Servant's Heart Ministries is slowly being defined, starting with "Special Projects" two days a week, which I will provide info on shortly. Spanish lessons needed badly. Prayers needed desperately. 

As well as his duties as Sponsorship Coordinator, Dave continues to make use of his background in art and graphics to help create mission visuals and promotional material and assists wherever help is needed. Dave is also using his love for art to engage “Hugs Kids” with art classes and special projects.

In the village of Esperanza:

Because of assistance from a group at Runnymede Community Church, Dave and Sandy are able to help Joseph Ivoidieu with his Christian School for Adults. Joseph is teaching first and second grade classes in Spanish for adults three evenings a week to about 30 mature students. They are now doing grade two...and yes math is one of the subjects (according to Sandy I should be taking that class)


Prayer Needs


For Servant's Heart DR

 Recently a number of other mission schools have closed in our area. This year our own enrollment is so high we were forced to turn some kids away. We need prayer that God will allow us to meet the needs of the community.

 Please pray that God will be our focus and direct our steps especially in the community of Loma de Los Chivos. That His Spirit would move in the Women’s bible study and new children’s programs.

 That God will give us a good rapport with local brothers and sisters in Christ.

For Sandy and Dave:

 As we begin a new chapter in the DR as Global Workers with the PAOC we want to make sure that God will be our focus and strength. That we will keep our eyes on Him.

 As Sandy and I work closer (in proximity) that God would guide the relationship transition.

For Esperanza:

 Remember the village of Esperanza and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ living out their faith in a really tough environment in all ways -Spiritually, physically, economically….

 For Claire Hodgson: strength, energy, health and encouragement.

 For Joseph Ivoidieu and his family: encouragement, that God would bless his work in the village and good health for Joseph’s daughter Yuberki.


We are in the final process of becoming Global Workers with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. We do need your continued support both spiritually and financially. Visit Dave’s bio page https://paoc.org/donate/DavidChapman

If you currently support Dave automatically on a monthly basis through the PAOC nothing will change.

The Sponsor Visit

Hugs for Kids, the Dominican Republic. 

We walk past a dog,

who, seemingly, with enormous effort, lifts itself from a pothole in the middle of the road giving way grudgingly to a slowly approaching pickup. The old truck, low riding and piled high with fruit, blasts a continuously repeated, distorted, recording from a megaphone attached to it's crumpled hood. In front of us, blocking the way, a brave tourist sits in a clear spot on the curb while his sandals are expertly “detailed” by a young boy.

 Crossing the road

we step over a variety of suspicious looking discarded objects in the street while searching for a safe place to put our feet and negotiate our way to the dry side. We squeeze past vendors and swing around a leaning hydro pole. Before us, curtained doors of narrow rooms face a crooked alleyway where food is being prepared and children play. We pass a group of men, sitting on well used plastic chairs smacking down dominoes on a small wooden bench. Just ahead we approach a communal wash area with bathrooms and washtubs. Laundry, hangs from the low electrical wires crisscrossing just above our heads. A few small colmadas sell basic necessities, water, rice, beans…

Just around the corner we are visiting a home

It has all been arranged in advance. We call out at the door and wait. A curtain swings back and a young man blinks his eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight. “Como estas” The translator introduces the sponsor and explains that we are from the Hugs for Kids School and we would like to say hello to his sponsored child. We hear the child’s name called out repeatedly, then there are the sounds of a scuffle as a very young child is thrust out through the doorway.

We all paste smiles on our faces

as a very small young boy with back and hands pressed to the wall behind him stares with huge eyes that dart from side to side.  He is petrified.  Before we can say or do anything the child darts into the alley and runs.  I turn to the sponsor, smile, and say;

"Not all sponsor visits go this well"

This is Cangrejo, and the home of our “Hugs for Kids School”.

By Dave Chapman

Sponsorship Coordinator
Servant's Heart Ministries
Dominican Republic

A Little Story

a drawing from the DR 

I have a little story that says more about the reliability of my own intuition and perceptions than it says about the Dominican Republic.

We were assisting a team doing development work in a little village “in country” on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. It was nearing the end of a very hot uncomfortable day. I was very tired. We still had to clean our equipment and we were down by the river, the only place we could find water. The local village kids were helping but mostly playing in the river. The same river we had been warned not to go in because the water was so full of “who knows what”. I was half way up a high bank trying to stay out of the sticky mud that lined the sides of the river. As I looked up I could make out in the distance, a path on the other side of the river, and two small figures coming along towards us. As they got closer I could see they were young Haitian school children by their uniforms, white blouse, blue skirts, little white ankle socks, black shoes and little back packs. I remember how striking their uniforms looked against their black skin. My heart was lifted just to see them, and then I had a premonition. The children in the river were Dominican, there was going to be a confrontation. My heart sank. My fears confirmed. As I watched, two of the older kids in the river turned and exchanged words with the Haitians that were carried away by the sound of the water. The larger kids approached the little ones standing on the bank. The image of what happened next will stay with me forever. The two older kids lifted the little ones bodily and carried them to the other side of the river where they put them down safely out side of the mud. I was shocked. I looked up the bank to where one of the team members was standing and said, “did you see that?” “Yup.” They replied.

The whole scene happened so simply and is probably repeated many times a day in as many different places. It is so common. Two kids did a good deed for two other kids. Yet for me that moment was as if the blackness of night had lifted and the angels began to sing. Did I have a reason based on experience that I thought something bad might happen? Perhaps. But I made an assumption and that led to emotions that had nothing to do with the reality I was witnessing. And yet, it also shows the impact that just one small good deed may have.

Villa Esperanza .... or ...What I did on my day off.

Yesterday (Saturday), I had a day off,   I spent the day visiting the village of Esperanza.  I can no longer go there by car because the road has become so bad.  As I walked down the road from my house a moto concho stopped and asked if I needed a ride.  I was going to go by Gwa Gwa because moto conchos usually only service a small local area and when I have asked in the past to go further they have refused.  But this one agreed (for a price) to go all the way to Grand Parada, which is just at the start of the road to Espereanza.   I was carrying a small bag, about 40 pounds of food to contribute to the birthday celebration of the church that was to take place on Sunday.  Got to the road up to Esperanza with no problem.  I was met by "Caco"  an old friend from the village who drives a moto up and down the hill to Esperanza.  On the way up the hill carrying that bag I gained new respect for Claire (a missionary from England) who has been doing this several times a week for years.

At the village I visited with Algentina, (my friend Luckny's wife)  and terrorized thier new son Carlos by threatening to pick him up.  Algentina say's he cries the whole time she is away at night school and no one can console him.  I pacticed my Spanish langauge skills with thier older sons Lucknito and Luigison.  Met with Algentina's  younger brother Almondo who has been working as a moto driver on the hill to Esperanza but he had an accident a few days ago leaving him with a bad knee injury that looked like it had the potential to become infected.  It was an angry looking swollen gash on his knee that someone had stiched up by hand.  I gave him some money for antibiotics.  He had not been to see a doctor and I tried to explain that he should at least go to a pharmacy and get some antibiotics.

Visited with Yuberky and her rather large family and was swarmed by little kids.  It seems every friend and relative gathers at thier modest little house.  I had plenty of opportunity to practice my Spanish language skills.  Listened to them practicing singing the songs for church on Sunday and Yuberky's mother, Marilaine, cooked me a lunch of chicken and rice.  This was not the first time that I have been fed in that house and I was rather amazed at how Marilaine managed to cook a very good meal with no stove, refrigerator, microwave, or for that matter, power.  All done on a small charcoal stove.  After lunch I just sat and absorbed the atmosphere of family and friends.

Yuberky has finished English school and I have hired her to teach me Spanish.  We meet once a week at the Hugs for Kids school in Cangrejo where she loves to rakes me over the coals if I hav'nt learned my homework.

Sandy's visit went by so fast it seemed I just picked her up and then she was going through security to go home again. (Minus the oversized umbrella she tried to take on the plane)  Sandy was a big help here and spent 2 days of her holiday waiting at our apartment for a man to come and set up an internet connection.  (I love my wife) oh (and she obviously loves me)

Looking forward to a visit from Dave Fujs from Runnymede Community Church.  (We have some paintin to do Dave)

When I got home from Esperanza last night I was exhausted but very very happy.   What a great day off.

Thank you God.

and thanks to all of you.

PS- Spell check is not working please bear with me.

Yuberky and her father Joseph at the school in Cangrejo

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Re-entry to the Dominican Republic was a bit of a shock this time.  I found it hard to find my step, to go forward, to wait.  I heard no voice, saw no vision.  It seemed I flailed about for an eternity... and then I imagined a very small voice that said "trust God even in the void".   Like learning to walk all over again, first steps are pretty shaky but off in the distance I can see God's peace and joy.

With Servant's Heart Ministries I have had the privilege to work along side a wonderful and varied group of committed, talented and compassionate people.  I would say God has given Phil and Donna Williams a "Gift" of hospitality, encouragement, wisdom and practical help.  With years of mission experience on the north coast, they are dedicated to bringing together trained mission volunteers and key people from the local communities to develop and run practical programs.  The emphasis is on meeting real needs and bringing lasting change.   Locals and visiting interns and teams work together providing opportunities to gain acceptance and understanding of differences,  learn from each other and develop the possibility of on going relationships with both individuals and communities.

It was such a thrill to welcome back to the DR my good friend Luckny who had been away working on a cruise ship for almost ten months.  While it was hard work he praises God for the opportunity to work and see the world.  While he was away we welcomed into the world a beautiful baby boy named Carlos Manuel, the youngest of Luckny's three sons. Luckny is looking forward to the next contract which begins at the end of January.  Please pray for him as it is very hard work and he will be away from his family for a long time. (I know a little of what that is like)

December 1st Sandy and I became the owners of a small, 2 apartment casa in Sosua.  It was owned by a former medical mission worker and I had been renting one of the apartments up until the time it was sold in the summer.  That sale fell through and the owner asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested... We are hoping to rent out one of the apartments and I will live in the other. The original owner walked around the complex when she first purchased and dedicated it to God.  Sandy and I would like to continue in the same way.  We already have a mission couple booked from mid January to early March.

Sandy and I ran into Jason's mom in Sosua.  Jason was a young boy from Los Algodonas (where we lived in 2008) with cerebral palsy that required an operation to straighten his leg.  He had never walked and we spent months after his operation improving his mobility with therapy (bribes of pizza) and providing nutrition.
Before we left at the end of the year he was walking.  Now, according to his mother, he needs another operation.  There is quite a complicated and colourful story behind their relocation to Sosua.  We went and visited him at his home (which is not an improvement from Algodonas)  He appeared in very poor condition.  I would appreciate your prayers for Jason and his family.

A new addition is being added to the Hugs for Kids school in Cangrejo and 2015 looks like it is going to be a busy year at Servant's Heart Ministries.

Yuberky, a young lady from Esperanza will be graduating from English school in the beginning of the new year.  Some of the people at Runnymede Community Church helped her with the cost. She applied herself and worked hard.  I am impressed with her ability to understand and speak English.  I am hoping that she can get some work translating for mission groups.  I would like to hire her but I don't have anything full time.  I would appreciate your prayers for Yuberky, that God would provide work for her and that she would not become impatient and discouraged.

There has been an encouraging answer to prayer in the DR.  The Dominican government has taken a stand against the sex trade with tough new laws directed towards men who take advantage of impoverished women and it seems to be having a positive effect on Sosua.  Mayor Ilana Neumann has been busy putting a new "Family Friendly" face on Sosua.  Please pray for her as there is strong opposition to the reforms she is making.

I am hopping to return to Canada for a few months in mid June and return to the DR in the beginning of September to help with school enrollment.  I am asking if anyone can give me some employment when I return so that I can continue to finance my work in the DR.  I love doing drywall and painting and general handyman type stuff.  If you know of anyone who needs that type of work done I will be available for two and a half months.  God willing.

I am grateful for the Runnymede news emails, facebook, and my itunes link to the weekly Runnymede Sermons. Also Skype lets Sandy and I connect almost daily.

With thanks and praise to God for His wonderful blessings in 2014,

Sincerely

Dave Chapman
and Sandy, MLRHG (My little red haired girl)

"...Peter ...walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid..."  Mathew 14:29-30

Here is something from "My Utmost for His Highest"  by Oswald Chambers.

http://utmost.org/keep-recognizing-jesus/

"If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all."

I don't believe in being reckless so this is a stretch for me.  But I want to follow Jesus completely.

Dave C