Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings from Ohio, not the Dominican Republic! Suzanne and I are settling in here in southern Ohio. We got back in the States on August 3 and have been on the go ever since. We have settled here for our furlough because we have very comfortable living arrangements and it is closer to Emily and Laurie, who are both in Nyack College near New York City. We are also within fairly easy driving distance of most of our supporting churches, so we're in very good shape.
We want to catch you up on all what has been going on in our work and lives the past few months and what our furlough plans are. Thank you all for your continued prayers for our work and us.
For the past 3 years one of our main points of focus has been the preparation of our national leadership to assume complete control of the established works in the Dominican Republic. We began back in 1997 by setting a date, June of 2000, to be the date where that transition would take place. We all were a little nervous as we began to seriously plan for the change. We were nervous because it's kind of like sending your kids off to college or taking them down the aisle -- they are leaving your constant watch care and will be making decisions on their own! The Dominican leadership was also nervous at first because they were so used to having missionaries in charge and very comfortable with the setup.
Our 2nd step was to redo the by-laws of the mission. They had been written in 1978 and were outdated and, by law, needed to be redone. That process took a year, during which we met with the church leadership from around the island about 10 times. We finally got the final revision done in April of 2000 and they were unanimously approved by the general assembly, which is made up of the preachers form each of the churches.
The 3rd step was to elect a new Board of Directors from among the general assembly and that was done in May of 2000. For the first time in history of the mission work in the Dominican Republic, a North American missionary is NOT the President of the Board! Dr. Jesus Pena Dume was elected President; Ramon Gabriel, Vice President; Benito Martinez, Secretary; and Michel Marte, Treasurer. We were just thrilled with the elections and the spirit of unity and cooperation among the leaders. I was very proud of them! They have really taken ownership in the direction of the work and I know that God will use them in a powerful way in the years to come.
One of the biggest steps of faith, on both sides, has been the decision to turn over financial control to the national leadership also. For the past several years we have used about 75% of our monthly income for partial subsidies for some of the national leaders. These subsidies only make up about 95% of their income and they all have secular jobs also. I have had control of these funds but now that control has been turned over to the Board of Directors there. Funds still come through our mission setup and we're still accountable to the churches for them, but the local leadership also has say in their use, and that is a BIG step for the Dominican leadership.
The goal for financial independence is that by the year 2005 all income needed for the established works in the DR will be supplied by the camp and the school in Arroyo Hondo and US church dollars will no longer be needed for any established work. Those funds will then be used for establishing new congregations in different parts of the country or sending our Dominican leaders out as Dominican missionaries into the rest of the world!
Suzanne and I have designated 75% of our mission income to the established works and so we need to raise additional funds while we are back in the States. We'll be here until the end of May, 2001 and we are praying that the Lord will raise up churches and individuals to help with our plans to start new churches and new outreach programs in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, basing ourselves in the city of la Romana and then reaching out to the entire eastern part of the country, where the Christian churches / church of Christ have no work at all. This is a brand new challenge for us and we're convinced that the Lord will open doors and provide the funds, through His people, that we will need.
We're estimating that we will need to raise about $4,000 US per month.
The Lord has been faithful to us over the past 28 years on the field and I know that He will provide the needed funds. He always has! I could relate to you a number of times when it looked like a project was impossible or that there was no way we'd have the money to do something and God simply and quietly provided the right church or the right individual to help make our dreams come true.
We do need your help in raising these funds. We're estimating that we will need to raise about $4,000 US per month.
Please bring this need before your mission committee or church board or Sunday school class. Several churches and individuals have expressed a desire to help in this new work and we're already planning teams to come help us evangelize and reach out to the Dominican and Haitians in La Romana. Please contact us via phone or E:Mail or by mail if you or your church needs more information.
We have been planning and saving for college for the girls for a long time, but I never thought the day would really come! We packed up Emily's car and our car with whole bunch of stuff and set off for Nyack College in New York, arriving on Thursday, August 24. Laurie would be rooming with two of her classmates and best friends from Santiago Christian School in the DR and Emily would be rooming in a house for transfer students. We were able to get Laurie moved in on Thursday evening and Emily moved in on Friday morning. We paid their first semester bill and then Suzanne and I had to leave to get back to the Cincinnati area for a missions weekend at the Plum Creek Christian Church in Butler, KY. Let me tell you, it was a long and quiet ride back! I knew that leaving our youngest, and last, child at college would be hard, but I had no idea how hard it would be! I mentioned leaving the girls at school when I preached on that Sunday morning and several parents had just done the very same thing and they were feeling the same way we were!
Nyack College is a wonderful Christian College and has a beautiful campus right on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River, just north of New York City. About 40% of the students are from Hispanic, Asian, and Blacks, so the atmosphere is something that rally attracted Emily and Laurie. They are doing very well and really enjoyed themselves. We'll see them the first weekend in October. Before we left Santiago Christian School the teachers gave us a gift for a few days at a Bed and Breakfast in Maine, so we're going up the first week of October and then will drive down to see the girls.
We're doing fine now and we've found that eating out is a lot cheaper! :)
I'll be traveling down to the DR during the first part of December with a team from Old Union Church of Christ in Danville, IL. Old Union has been our Living Link supporter for many years and we're looking forward to working with them for many more years, Lord willing. My cousin, Kyle Finley, is one of the leaders of the trip and we'll be working at the camp project and probably one of the church construction projects nearby. Please remember us in your prayers as we travel.
Our schedule for visiting churches is nearly full! We'll be somewhere almost every weekend until may. If your church has not contacted us, please do so immediately. We're available during the week, so perhaps we could arrange to meet the church or the Missions Committee during the week rather than the weekend.
We'll be traveling to Knoxville, TN for the Missionary Convention in November and will be spending 3-4 weeks in Florida during January at the First Christian Church in Tarpon Springs. January sounds like a great time to visit Florida and we're thankful for the invitation! We'll also be able to visit some other churches in Florida while we are there.
ryork13@hotmail.com
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