Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings again from the warm and sunny Dominican Republic. I got an e-mail from a friend of mine last week and he reminded me that he hadn't heard from us in a while via e-mail and he's right! Sorry for the long delay in writing and I'm glad to know some of you are reading the news from here. We've just been swamped with work and visitors and projects and we're finally at a time when we have some breathing room. The Lord continues to give us strength and energy to continue His work here.We used to think that the pace was hectic but the last couple of years have been exceptionally busy but productive.
CIY
We had a wonderful CIY youth conference the first weekend in January with over 465 in attendance-220 had beds and the rest of us slept on the mattresses in the dining hall at the camp in Salcedo. Just before the conference we had a team here from my hometown, Old Union Church of Christ, and they installed more light poles and our ""new" used generator. It's a 35KW Detroit Diesel with a John Deere motor so it works well and runs the whole camp with no problem. I was especially pleased with the leadership team that organized the camp and really ran the whole program without much input from me. We met on the last day and analyzed what worked well and what needed to be improved-the young leaders are such a blessing to the work here.
Right after camp we had a team here from Cogan Station, PA-Bud Yoder and his team of 28 from there - they really worked hard on the church in Los Robles - they laid about 2500 blocks in 3 days and then went on and roofed another church in their spare time! They were a real blessing for the work and the churches they have helped.The Christian Church there in Cogan Station has raised up buildings in 5 different areas of the country with us and we're so thankful for their humble attitude of sacrificial work and prayer!
Leadership Conference
Overlapping the visit from Cogan Station was a leadership conference on Small Group Ministry in the Church with Doug Maris from Champaign, IL. He came with Ken Rutledge, our forwarding agent and we really enjoyed having them and getting to know Doug. He's an excellent teacher and a great preacher!
We just finished up a weekend with the CIY team and their School of International Youth Ministry - we had a weekend with youth leaders and four different classes-we had over 150 in attendance-not all of them were youth leaders but most were-we really enjoyed the time together with old friends and making new acquaintances. David and Cathy Wheeler from Johnson Bible College, classmates of mine, we were part of the team and they were able to spend a couple of extra days with us - what a blast we had with them! Isn't it a blessing the way the Lord has provided life - long friendships with such great people!
Upcoming Summer
We're getting ready for another busy summer with several teams working at the camp project and on a couple of church projects. Suzanne and I celebrate our 25th anniversary on May 25th and we're planning a vacation in June to celebrate - seems like yesterday! Emily continues to do well at LCC-she's planning to stay there one more year and then transfer to Illinois State. Laurie is doing well in school and is on the soccer team and enjoying that-they won their last game 5-1 so they were pumped! She's applied for a summer job at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo - she's hoping to get it. We'll see what the Lord provides. Emily will probably be staying in the US to work this summer - so it will be a while before we see her :(
Thanks for your continued prayers and good wishes for our work - we're enjoying it still and look forward to more adventures!
In Christ,
Rick and Suzanne York
r.york@codetel.net.do
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