On a Sunday Afternoon…

You know you need a break when your 5 year old comes to you and says, “I think I need some time on my own”.  So why not help the little guy out.  Such was the case last saturday for Drew, following a week where both he and Amber battled sinus colds came to his mother and asked for some alone time.  Solution?

The Apartment is aliiiivvve with the sound of muuusssssiiiic!  Amber has been taking this new piano by storm.  She is for certain our focused determination machine.  While her brothers tackle sports, Amber enjoys the arts.  Now hey, she’s a speedy little irl and if there was a cross-country running team here I’m certain she would join.  Playing the piano though now takes centre stage for hobbies.  What we’d like to figure out however is find a way to help her express her emotions more openly.

                                  Mini Mozart!

Language Translator Alert!          Carter vaulted to a whole new level of bi-lingualism this weekend.  This morning as we entered church our good friend Luis Oscar approached and asked if I thought I knew enough Spanish to help him translate the sermon into English for our FM radio trasmission.  Following a blank stare and slightly blushing face I pointed to Carter and told Luis  Carter had become pretty capable linguistically.  Minutes later Carter and Luis were on their way to the pastor’s office where Carter translated the scriptures used in the service from Spanish to English.  Way to go buddy!

Did I mention he also turned 12 years old September 11th?  His buddies provided the necessary “party hat” (which he wore all day), and mom showed up with uber ymmuy, homemade chocolate cupcakes to share with the guys.

                                    Feliz Compleanos!

Ministry Update…        Everyone is finding opportunities to share a little bit of Jesus.  The kids have each reached out to new students in their classes as friends and ‘mini-mentors’.  Tracey continues to find teachable moments while she teaches.  She has also been developing more relationships with middle and high school girls.  One high school senior has grabbed her heart in particular.  Very sweet and receptive to down to earth conversations.  We’re praying for more opportunities to speak the truth of Jesus into her life and love on her 🙂  For myself, basketball season is under way and along my new assistant coach (Johnsa Phares – former Sheriff deputy from Texas), we’re spending three afternoons a week practicing and playing ball while drawing regular connections to scripture for life lessons.

The guys are passionate about basketball and winning.  Being competitive is not a struggle for me either.  For Johnsa and I however, our love for sport is the vehicle God is using to allow us the priviledge of spending uninterrupted time to share what has changed out lives…what motivates us…and what God is, can and will do in their lives when they follow Him as their Lord and saviour.

“Danilo is getting baptized?!”  Following church this morning we had our second baptistm service in 3 weeks.  Walking through the backdoor of our church to the baptism (aka  10 ft above ground pool on the cement pad which is our church backyard :), I looked to my left and saw Danilo, a 10th grade student I had taught bible to all last year.  Very cool to see him at church and then it struck me…he looked like he was going swimming with his bathing suit & dry-fit shirt.  Wait a Santiago minute…

“Danilo…are you getting baptized today?”.  “Sure am Mr.  I became a Christian last Sunday and asked the pastor shouldn’t I get baptized too?”

My heart jumped out of my chest as our family watch this young man who had been asking so many questions all last year now being baptized.  Two young teenagers from the church invited him to youth group and the Lord worked through them over the summer.  Danilo is a new creation in Christ now and his smile is evidence of it.

Please pray for Danilo.  His mother came to church with him this morning was very supportive.  He is learning so much and has a genuine heart for serving.  Pray for Alfredo & Carlos, two young men who have spent a great deal of time building their friendship and sharing Christ with Danilo.  What makes things more exciting is these guys didn’t do this out of “I have to”.  They did this out of “I want to”.

Please pray for Carter, Amber & Drew and for their testimonies to their friends, most of whom are discovering the real Jesus of the bible at a young age.  Also pray for Tracey and I to not only ask God for opportunities to care for students and share the truth of Christ, but to take each opportunity with excitement.

Spiritual condition of our students at Santiago Christian School is slowly becoming more evident…now in our 2nd year students trust us more and have been sharing more about their lives, their dreams and at times their hurts.  The heart of a child and/or teenager is always in a state of flux so what is exciting today may be forgotten tomorrow.

God has placed in front of us over 600 precious lives who represent a much larger mass of people and influence when you consider siblings, parents and extended family.  Daily small groups, chapels with some out-of-the-box creativity and retreats over the last 4 weeks provided so many face-to-face chats.

Pray for more and more doors to open.  Trust is hard to come by from some of the students.  They have seen alot of things that have created cynicism toward church and God in particular.  We’re in no way frustrated by this.  We expected it.  What we desparately want to see are these students catch the reality of what it means to love and follow a living God.  There is so much for them to discover.

Photo scavener hunt roup at the Hih School Retreat

Canadian Thanksgiving 2012!!  How do a bunch of displaced Canadians celebrate the harvest and be thankful?  Why…taking over tables at a local Cabarette beach restaurant, covering the table with Canadian flags, putting Canada stickers all over themselves, and wearing a goofy hat…that’s how 🙂

“Here We Go Again” :)

What felt like deja vu was in fact reality.  Two weeks ago school here in the Dominican Republic kicked off.  Churches are back in season with their activities.  And mission teams have arrived and left providing a large number of blessings to families here.  “630″ plus students have descended on our campus along with numerous teachers, administration, staff.  Even  our small, hairy friends returned from their summer hiatus ready for the day-to-day grind.  Let me introduce you to “Mr. T”.

Amber jumped in to 3rd grade with both feet by handing out roses to mothers as they dropped their children off for the first day of school.   Reuniting with her friends Lucia, Abigail & Yumin, they’ve now added a ‘new recruit’ from Texas to their friendship bond.  Halle is the daughter of a new staff family here.  The two girls have hit it off!  You can probably notice from the photo above how Amber (left) and Halle (right) are similar even in looks.  I’m thinking she may be challenging her older brother for the Houck family social animal! 🙂

Some amazing news came out her class just this week when Amber’s teacher informed us how 11 (eleven) of her classmates responded to their teacher and made decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord & saviour.  This is simply incredible, especially right as the school year begins.  Bibles are being given out, and the children now have an entire school year to ask questions, find answers, and get a handle on their new lives in Christ.

1st Day of school 2012!

Carter (7th grade) is off to a rockin’ start!  Our oldest has entered the world of ‘official teenager’.  The same fun-loving kid is growing up before our eyes.  Early morning risings (6am) are still a struggle but priorities are moving away from food (only in the mornings though), to hygiene and hair gel.

Carter and his good friend Isaiah continue to gather new and old friends around them.  Following an all-day middle school retreat, the two wild men were once again together for Isaiah’s birthday party complete with BBQ, pop, cake, ice cream, swimming and double digit numbers of highly active, pre-adolescent boys.  Ah, the tastes & the smells 🙂

Drew (Kindergarten) is as ready as a 5 year old can be for school.  First day, he was also the first one up, first one dressed, first one trying to get out of the apartment, and the first one to bed that same night.  He has latched on to his teacher Ms. S. and is thriving as the teacher’s helper.  Our backpack carrying, homework toting boy is now just like his big brother and sister.

Tracey (Full day Phys. Ed. teacher) is back where she loves to be…spending her days with close to 400 children, including all three of her own this year, teaching P.E. and taking every opportunity to seize a teachable moment.  Students love her and teachers know her heart.  And as you can see by her picture above at her friend’s Ruthie & Leury’s combined baby shower last week, she has made great friends with global heritage.

Tim (Chaplain, Varsity Basketball Coach) is settling in to his new roles and new office (i.e. wherever an empty flat surface with some form of chair, bench or box can be found).  Being that Chaplain is a new position I am renaming my position as ‘the gatherer’.  It’s a bit like herding cats or ants at the moment but I’m confident the Lord will bring all things together for the purpose of his will.

MOTO OF THE DR Sighting!

I saw this little antique beauty while I was walking downtown Santiago.  It’s remarkable the things you walk up upon and discover when you least expect it.  The decorative explosion of colour from an artists hand on a painted wall in a poverty stricken barrio (burrough).  The creative sounds resounding from a piano, a guitar, a voice that caught you by surprise.  The character of a person, who you barely know but shows you grace and care, you are humbled to receive.  These are those things, of whose value, cannot be calculated with numbers or dollars.  They are calculated in ways that that only God knows.

This 2nd year of serving here in the Dominican is one that allows us the comfort of knowing enough Spanish (i.e. Spanglish) to fumble around for groceries, fuel, and even ministry.  Just knowing even small phrases helps to ask the right questions and dive deeper into understanding the heart, mind and will of people.

One of those ‘people’ or better expressed, families were the Lee’s.  The Lee family immigrated here to the Dominican from Korea a number of years ago and quickly established ministry with Haitian refugee’s.  Our city is filled with many Haitian families looking for work and food.  They live in conditions, that at times, are exactly what your mind imagines them to be.  Mr. Lee and his family committed their lives to reaching the physical and spiritual needs of the beautiful Haitian community.  

For her role, Tracey had their oldest son, Young Sun in her 3rd grade class last school year.  He is very bright, polite and had Tracey on the ropes a few times as they matched humour and whits, all in fun.

Then, one week ago, ironically on the stormy, windy Friday night in Santiago, while Hurricane Isaac was breaching land on the south part of the Dominican, we received word that Mr. Lee, while leaving church he loved, was shot and rushed to the hospital.  By Saturday evening teachers and staff from our school who matched his blood-type were racing to the hospital to donate (there is no formal blood donation service or storage in the DR).  It was a short time later we were told the Mr. Lee’s injuries were too severe and he had passed away.

As a community, families and people from Korea, Dominican, Haiti, Canada, the States, etc., etc., came together just yesterday (Friday) to remember Mr. Lee and continue praying as well as caring for his family.  The boys (4th & 2nd grade) have been at school all week and want to be there.  It gives them something ‘normal’ to be part of and trust me they are surrounded by love and secure arms of friends and staff.

What does this all mean? I wish I had the answers.  I would love to be able to explain why the Lord allowed Mr. Lee to head to heaven yet leave his family here.  I would love to know ‘why him’?  I would like to ask the Lord myself, what is in store for his family, the Haitian church he poured heart & soul into?  Simply answered, I just don’t know.  Nor am I sure we will ever really understand.

We are thankful for the everything God has and is providing.  Students & staff raised near RD$80,000 pesos on Friday through a ‘wear your jeans day’ donations.  The Korean community is incredible.  The family is and will have what they need.  It really is our role to be ready, be available and for certain to not give up praying for what comes next.

Please keep praying for our family as well!  The loopy crew is excited for the next adventure.  We love and miss ya’ll!

And for an update farewell, enjoy a pic from the family day we spent downtown Toronto at the BlueJays game back in July.  One of the Jays players (Edwin Encarnacion) plays for the Santiago Aguila’s in the Dominican winter league.  Every time he came up to bat the stadium played a very popular Latin tune that our kids know well.  You had to be there when the gringo trio stood up and started dancin’ the “Merengue” with each Encarnacion at bat :).

Until next time…blessings from the Houck crew!

At the BlueJay’s game while in Toronto visiting family (July