Matthew 28:19-20

… See you all soon!

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

                                                          Morning Devotions Mark 12
We are so very mistaken about so much when we don’t know the Scriptures and His power! We complicate our life, putting heavy burdens on ourselves and all with no eternal value. He simply wants us to love Him with all that we are and then give His great love to others.  And in His love we can simply rest.  Yesterday we were reminded of the simplicity of a child’s whole hearted love and today we see the demonstration of the sacrificial love of a simple poor widow woman.  This great but simple plan has always been and will always be His heart. He laid down His life that we might have His amazing love! Thank you Jesus!

                                                    Divine Presence & Divine Appointment
We hiked up to the top of the mountain for our morning prayer and devotions. Oh, how we gloried in His handiwork. As we sought to enter into the presence of the Lord, He drew a man named Lewis into our time, to hear and see Jesus. When we came to the end of our worship and the word, Lewis surrendered his life to the Lord. 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20.

 We began our day in Mark 11. These verses have moved us all into a deeper awareness of
GOD’S AUTHORITY over all things!  He has been so faithful in demonstrating His authority to us this week. Such as: His authority over leaders on our behalf, His authority over His creation, His authority over people and His authority over time.  With a greater awareness of the fact that we are His disciples, we went out today with an even stronger conviction that JESUS sent us out with His authority and is with us by His authority. Therefore we have been trusting Him more than ever in the work!

Below are some magnificent pictures of the village. Enjoy!

 
Welcome to Calvary Chapel Mid Week Bible Study!
Pastor Bill is teaching while Lewis translates.
Angie and Vicente are leading worship together.

Today : We continued to distribute the food to the families.  We took turns ministering to the families when they came to the center. We sat with each family for at least ten minutes at a time to share the gospel, to encourage them in the faith, and to pray. Others went out to the homes to evangelize .  We also experienced Dominican ice cream when we went to town for supplies.  It was very warm today and full of the joy of the LORD!

Here are but a few of these precious children found in the montanas of Barahona DR.
Thank you for your continued prayer for them.

This morning’s devotional was Mark 10:13-16
Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.   Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

This passage surely depicts the ministry of Calvary Chapel Barahona.  The Lord has drawn so many children to this place. There are at least 250 children coming and this band of disciples welcomes them all with open arms and very loving hearts. Truly the ministry of Jesus is being imparted in this place and parents are being drawn in along with them. If Jesus tarries, this mountain will be a different place because of the work of the Lord in this next generation!

The Calvary Chapel in this Montana is:

• Drawing the children into a personal relationship by teaching of His grace rather than the religious legalism of their culture!
• Teaching by example His great love for them!
• Worshiping in Spirit and Truth!
• Experiencing the blessings of Jesus!

Today we saw a breakthrough on this mountain. A vision unfolded for Calvary Chapel Barahona as we watched the church working together and influencing their community.

We are all glorying in the greatness of our God. Just as He has said, “He does all things well.”

• A job, assessed to be a week long, was completed two-thirds into our day! The miraculous!
• The village people experienced loving one another. Men, women, and children worked alongside one another, beginning a pattern to pass on to the next generation.
• And, our God does exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think! Remember yesterday when Jesus told us that even if we are few, small, empty and faint, if we will but join Him with what little we do have, He will multiply and we will experience the miraculous? WELL GUESS WHAT!? THE MIRACULOUS! We had a dilemma- where do we get the materials to fill the roads? Prompted by the Scripture we had just read, Bill and Lewis decided we would use what we already do have. So, Lewis told the men with the machines to take the dirt needed for the road from the future church site. In the process, they removed an enormous boulder and completely leveled mounds of dirt and brush, grating the property. To us this was amazing. It was evidence that our Father has gone before us to finance the first phase of the church building affirming that the good hand of the LORD is upon Calvary Chapel Barahona.
  

The women preparing a celebration lunch for the workers.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”  Ephesians 3:20-21

Mark 8:1-10
Our morning devotion set the tone for the day. We are learning more about the heart of JESUS. He is full of compassion, He knows our needs before we do and He will meet our every need. We found our faith strengthened this morning in these verses. Being reminded that even if we are few, small, empty and faint, if we will but join Jesus with what little we do have, He will multiply and we will experience the miraculous. So we are thanking the Lord for His provision!

We separated into three teams today.
   1.  Lewis and Pastor Bill went to seek favor from the Government regarding the ravished roads.

   2.  Our interpreter, Johan took Don, Carlos, Hillary and Sarah to share the love of Jesus and to invite the people to join us in the good work of restoring the roads.

  3. Vicki and Candice helped Vicente pack supplies to distribute to the sponsored families for “In Calvary’s Care.”  http://www.ccdeltapa.com/in-calvarys-care 

 
Team on the streets sharing Jesus and stirring up people to be a part of the good work on the road.

Vicente, Vicki, and a few boys that are discipled here at the church

Praise Reports Already!
*The Government gave us two workers and two big machines to use Tuesday
*People are already bringing their picks, shovels and other things for the road work
*People in the village received Jesus as their Savior
*There were many other opportunities to pray for people as well

All of us on this team thank you again for your continued prayers.                     

Not unto us, Oh Lord, Not unto us,
 But to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, and because of Your truth.
Why should the heathen say where is your God?
Psalm 115:1-2

Calvary Chapel Barahona Sunday Morning Service

 
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

Sunday Morning Children’s Church

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14

 This is where we took our rest, Playa Quemaito.

 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders;
The Lord is over many waters.  The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. Psalm 29: 3-4

This morning’s devotion was Mark 7. As we thoughtfully considered this passage, we were reminded of the dangers of vain traditions. In other words we didn’t want to come here with the idea of doing the same thing we did last time the same way. So we began to come close to the heart of God to seek a fresh vision for this trip, and vision He gave!  Remember yesterday we were burdened by the ravished roads that Hurricane Irene left behind? Well He showed us “our burden His call”, restore the roads. Some of the most damaged roads are in front of the new church property and in front of the Mission House where church services are held. So Bill and Lewis took on the heart of Nehemiah. They lead us to the people who live on these roads to encourage them to be a part of His great work and to meet with us at the church tonight for prayer and the plan.  We trust that while we restore the roads the Lord will restore the people, as we make Him the center of everything we do. The vision is for this project to reach the lost and to make disciples. We have a great sense that the good hand of the Lord is upon us!

Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalm 133:1

Our Nehemiahs stirring up the people much like Nehemiah 2:17-18

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in waste and it’s gates are burned with fire. Come let us build that we may no longer be a re-proach.’ And I told them of the hand of our God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said,
 ’Let us rise up and build’ Then they set their hands to do this good work.”

The Villiage Meeting at Calvary Chapel Barahona

We were so encouraged to see the turn out for the meeting. Many signed up to bring their shovels, wheelbarrows, picks and other tools needed for this work.

We are so grateful for your prayers and for taking the time to strengthen us in the faith with your many comments.
We ask that you will continue to lift up the McClean family during their time of grieving.

The LORD sent us out with a Scripture to encourage the team,

 “…all the people among whom you are shall see the works of the LORD.
For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.” Exodus 34:10b

 After rising early, He took us into the heavenlies and then on the road to the mountains of Barahona. Our trip start to finish was twelve hours. We are so very thankful because He graced us with a peaceful journey. We experienced a mixture of emotions upon our return. When we entered into the village, we saw that hurricane Irene had left a trail of ravished roads. As we continued to make our way to the mission house we became even more aware of the poverty, darkness, and great need for Jesus. And yet we witness the heart of God for this forgotten place. We are praising the LORD for the great things He is doing. The church is established and is now meeting on Sunday mornings and Thursday nights. They had their first baby dedication and are excited for the marriage of Vicente and Angie in December. The ministry team and church family are bearing much fruit!

Celebrating an answer to prayer. God provided a ministry van!

 The beginning of our village reunion. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for this divine appointment.
We also ask that you would join us in prayer for the God of all comfort to pour out His grace on the McClean family. Pastor Doug McClean of Calvary Chapel Delta is the founding pastor of this ministry in Barahona and his father went to be with the LORD this morning.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
2 Corinthians 1:3

Now the LORD had said “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. … I will bless you…; and you shall be a blessing.”  Genesis 12:1-2

Thank you for following us on our short term mission trip to Barahona in the Dominican Republic.

We will be leaving October 21^st and returning October 29^th

 It is our vision -“TO BE A BLESSNG”

The Lord is sending us out of our comfort zone to the land of Domican Republic. 
He is a blessing God and with all that He has blessed us with we desire to pour out on those in the Dominican Republic. 

It is our conviction that the real work is accomplished on our knees in prayer. We are very grateful for all of you who are interceding on our behalf.  We also know that there are as many blessings for those that stay by the stuff as for those that have been sent. So be blessed! I Samuel 30:24

This is a picture of our team. In order to pray specifically for each one we have listed their names from left to right.

Back Row: Don Rockafellow, Carlos Warren. Middle Row: Hillary Littenberg, Vicki Combs, Candice Beckelman. Front Row: Sarah Keeley, Pastor Bill Beckelman

It is our prayer to post a daily blog to update you all.  

May the Lord be blessed and may we bless others as we serve Him,
Pastor Bill