February Newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

February was full of sweet times of celebrations and fellowship. My heart has been encouraged in the last few weeks as I've seen ways God is working in our school, church, and in my own heart. I'm so thankful to be a small part of the ministries that are making an impact here in San Pedro.

Updates

We had many class celebrations in the last few weeks. We celebrated the 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, and Independence Day. On the 100th day of school we spent time in class discussing how much the students have grown and learned since the start of the school year and talking about what they are excited to learn before the end of the year. On Independence Day students got to wear traditional Dominican attire and we celebrated the freedom we have here in the DR that allows us to freely worship and learn about God in our school. I enjoyed celebrating these special days with my students.

We had baptisms at IBEM on February 12th. Three ladies followed the Lord in Baptism on that day. Each of these ladies were originally reached with the Gospel through different ministries that are part of DR Vision. One of them is a current high school student at Las Palmas and has accepted Christ and been encouraged in her faith through attending Las Palmas. It was a joy to be able to celebrate with these women and be reminded that God is working through each of the ministries here in the DR to call people to himself and produce a harvest.

On February 28th, our school participated in the ACSI day of prayer. On this day our school joined Christian schools around the world in intentionally focusing on praying for our students, staff, parents, and worldwide Christian education. We started the morning by meeting with the school staff members before school to worship and pray over our school. We also had a break in the day to have a school-wide time of prayer. I am grateful to be part of a ministry that intentionally seeks the Lord and thankful for the opportunity this day provided to commit our work to the Lord and teach our students the importance of prayer.

I have been participating in a 6-week Bible study on Habakkuk with other teachers from the school over the last few weeks. I have also been continuing to meet with my church small group weekly and was able to host our small group in my apartment this last week. Both of these groups have been such a blessing to me. The Lord has been making himself known to us in new ways and drawing us deeper into who He is.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for health. There has been a virus going around the school making many staff members and students sick. I have had minor symptoms for the last few weeks and am hoping to fully recover soon.

• I am hoping to start meeting with one or two high school girls from the school to start one-on-one discipleship. I have reached out to our school campus pastor to see if he has any high school students who would be interested in meeting with me. Please pray that God would pair me with someone I can encourage and help grow in their faith and that I will have wisdom in how to share Truth with them.

• Continue to pray for me as I teach each day. Pray that I would have endurance and patience on hard days and that my students would continue to grow in their understanding of who God is through our day-to-day ministry at the school.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Blessings,

Natasha