End of Year Newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

Happy New Year! I hope you've been able to enjoy this holiday season. We had a busy end to the year here in the DR full of celebrations and activities. I'm on Christmas break right now and I am enjoying some time to slow down and rest before returning to school next week.

Updates

• The first week of December we celebrated Semana de la Chispa at the school. This is our spirit week and spiritual emphasis week. This year the theme was The Family. Students got to dress up and participate in fun activities. We had extra chapels and devotionals for the students focused around God's design for the family. We finished the week off with a Family Fun Day at the school on Saturday. It was a fun week to celebrate with the students and families of our school.

  
  
  

  

  

  
  
  

• Throughout the month of December, I had the opportunity to participate in many Christmas parties. We had some visiting groups from the United States help arrange some Christmas parties for the missionaries here which was a great opportunity to spend time with the other missionaries and celebrate Christmas together.

  
  
  

  

  

  
  
  

• Our last day of school was December 13th. On that day I was able to do a special devotional with my students where we discussed the gift of Jesus coming to the world to save us and why we celebrate that at Christmas. We then had a class Christmas party followed by a Christmas party for the school staff. I had the opportunity to participate in the praise team to sing at this staff Christmas party again this year.

  
  
  

  

  

  
  
  

• On December 15th we had our special Christmas program at church. I had been practicing with the praise team for a few months to prepare the songs for the program. We had a full auditorium, and the program went very well. There were many visitors that attended and had the opportunity to hear the Gospel presented that night. It's always a joy to be able to participate in the Christmas program each year.

• My parents were able to come visit me here in the DR for Christmas this year! They flew in on Christmas Eve and I had the opportunity to show them some of my favorite places to visit and the ministries that I get to serve in. It was special for me to get to share those things with them and I'm very thankful I had the chance to celebrate Christmas with my family here.

• I am continuing to serve leading worship at the INVI chapel on Sunday nights. Right now the missionary who usually leads the chapel is in the United States. The leaders of the chapel decided to use this time as an opportunity to give some young men the opportunity to gain experience preaching and leading the chapel. A few graduates of Las Palmas and one of the missionary kids are taking turns leading the chapel services. These are young men who have been participating in discipleship for a few years now and it is great to see them maturing in their faith and having the opportunity to share the Word with others. One of the goals we have for the chapel is that it will be a place where we can help equip more people to serve in ministry by giving them opportunities to preach and lead in the chapel.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for the teachers and students as we prepare to return to school next week. The students will return to school on the 8th. Please pray that we are able to settle back into routine quickly and continue to have a successful school year.

• Pray for my health. I had a stomach infection that I treated this summer, but it seems to have had some lasting effects. I have had a lot of pain and stomach issues the last few weeks making it difficult to live my day to day life. I did go to see a doctor and I'm on a few medications that are supposed to help relieve my symptoms. I'm also trying an elimination diet to see if that will help. Please pray that I am able to get some answers and heal quickly so I will have the energy and strength I need to teach and participate in other ministry commitments.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Blessings,

Natasha