A STROLL THROUGH HISTORY

Wandering through the streets of the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo is like taking a step back 500 years in history. It contains the oldest church, monastery, and ruins of the first hospital, and the first paved street in the New World. A monument to Christopher Columbus stands centrally located in Parque Colon, is the meeting place for residents, tourists, hawkers, guides and taxi drivers, shoeshine boys and tourist police all day long. For visiting family members Pat & Renee who are history buffs, this was the perfect outlet visiting museums, the ruins and the Atarazana, the original customs depot and warehouse. Even the “El Beaterio”, our small but quaint, renovated hotel dated back to this era.
Entrance gate from the El Conde to Independence Park which contains a mausoleum with the remains of the national heroes of the Independence of the Dominican Republic; Duarte, Sanchez & Mella. Aside from the souvenir vendors and hawkers, this city was a great place to visit.

THE EARTH TREMBLES

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:53 p.m.
A violent earthquake measuring 7.0 destroys a large portion of Port au Prince, Haiti. The tremors could be felt as far away as Cuba and across the island in the Dominican Republic as well. Here on the north coast in Sosua, we felt tremors for about 30 seconds and the furniture shook, but no damage was received. Some of our neighbours who were shopping at local stores at the time and others who were driving also felt them. We are thankful to God for his mercies and pray for relief to the affected area in Port au Prince.
You probably have heard and seen much more on this catastrophe than us because our internet has been not working and we do not have cable TV. We do know however, that the families of many of the Haitian people who live in villages built by the Samaritan Foundation have been affected. Please pray for them at this time that the Lord will uphold them during their time of distress.
The Lord is my Rock in whom I take refuge; He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2.
One of our local doctors, Dr. Lambert is leaving Friday morning to assist in medical support in the affected areas in Haiti.
Locally, the rainy season has arrived with a vengeance. With the exception of last weekend, in the past 10 days there have been constant downpours, day and night. The rivers are rising and making it impossible to drive across to enter the villages for work. Tuesday morning, our first team of the New Year was determined to have their house dedication in villa Esperanza despite the rain. After finding the river too high to cross, we took a long detour and went up the back way only to find that the road was washed out in sections. This meant trekking in by foot the rest of the way…did I mention the pouring rain? But their goal was accomplished. The team from Clearview Community Church was able to first visit their sponsored family in their old shack, hold a dedication service in the church and then present the family with their new home which is truly a gift from God.

A NEW YEAR BEGINS

As we begin another year serving the Lord with the Samaritan Foundation, we covet your prayers of support and encouragement that the Lord may be blessed in our words and actions. God created each person uniquely and granted us gifts and talents to be used for His honour and glory. May we do this to the best of our ability know that we are “wonderfully made in Him”.
The first team for 2010 has arrived and so has the rain…. 4 days and counting now. Crossing the rivers and wading through the mud in the villages has become quite a challenge, so we pray for sunshine to dry out the roads and work sites. Our shoes are becoming lead weights from the clay that sticks to them. On our recent trip to Santiago, we encountered some enterprising shoe salespersons.Are these shoes for sale or is this Dominican fruit?