Living Sacrifices

Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your act of spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 Paul describes this as involving your heart, your mind and your will in obedient service to Him. God demands our actions as well as our thinking and believing.

Where has the month of February gone? The past 4 weeks have just flown by for John & me. Seven mission teams arrived this month with literally a ton of donations to give out to the poor during their ministry opportunities. Co-coordinating & managing the teams’ overlapping schedules has been a huge challenge that was managed by John ensuring that no two groups were at the same work site or ministry outreach at the same time. Wow…thank you John for a job well done.

Many thanks also to the 2 teams of Journey 2010 from the Kitchener/ Cambridge area, La Vechia from Belgium, Green Valley Enterprises from Manitoba, Runnymede Community Church from Toronto, St Thomas’ Anglican Church from St. Catherine’s, and Dominican Service Project team consisting of Rotarians from the Cambridge / Kitchener, Ontario area for their huge contribution of manpower and their donations that were received by the poor in the Dominican Republic. We could not have accomplished so much without your assistance.

Julie Kinder and Cathy Willkie, team 1 & 2 leaders from Journey 2010 display their organizational skills on their 5th annual mission trip and who have since become good friends with us.
3000 lbs of food was packed into 160 bags and distributed to families in villa Emmanuel giving assistance to the elderly by bringing the bags to their home, while others wait patiently in line to receive their food. After the children’s program in villa Esperanza, members from the La Vechia team distributed bag lunches and gifts. During this week, one of our biggest challenges was communication because most of the team members only spoke Italian. Yikes!
After two weeks of working in the hot sun and reaching out to the needs of the poor, team members from Green Valley smile with satisfaction for a job well done, knowing that the next day it was time to return to frigid Winnipeg.
With an average age of 70, these members of St Thomas’ Anglican Church present their donation for sponsorship of two homes to John after attending a Haitian worship service.
O Canada…..what a privilege it was to sing our national anthem with the Dominican Service Project team at a children's program in Poncho Mateo on their first day. In our ministry outreaches, the teams visit and pray with the sick at the local hospital, visit an orphanage, feed hungry children, distribute bags of food to an entire village, sing songs and participate in Biblical dramas at a children’s program in addition to the daily construction work and painting.

Many lives have been impacted and blessed this month, not just local people but also those of the team members during their visits. In all things, we strive to be a follower of Christ, being bold enough to proclaim the word of God and putting our faith into action cheerfully.