January Newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

Last time I wrote a newsletter I was in the States for Christmas break. January was a month of getting back into life here in the DR and settling back into routine. I got to start the new year at home in the States with my family. On January 7th I flew back to the DR. I had a safe trip back and even got to meet a kind gentleman on the plane who was a Christian. I got to share about the ministries that I am involved in here in the DR and we discussed biblical truths together. It was encouraging to me to be able to share with him how I've seen God move in the ministries here over the last few months.

When I arrived back in the DR my roommate and another friend from Las Palmas picked me up at the airport. It was nice to be able to reunite with them and I felt right at home coming back. My first week back in the country we had a week of trainings and workshops at the school. We had one workshop about biblical integration and another meeting about how we can be more intentional about reaching our students with the gospel. I took time during this week to set goals for how I would like to see my students grow spiritually during the school year. I prayed in my classroom and asked God to be present in my classroom and prepare the hearts and minds of my students to receive spiritual truths.

On the 16th students returned to school. I was excited but a little nervous to welcome students back. That first week I was surprised with how well my students did. I thought a lot about how much growth my students have made since the first week of school when I first met them. I also reflected on how much I have grown both spiritually and professionally over this school year. Praise God for His faithfulness and the ways He has worked in my life and the lives of my students this year! The new first grade teacher (Stacy), who some of you may have been praying for, has already become a good friend. She has done well with adjusting to the new culture and joining our school community. Another thing that has been encouraging is since returning to the country, I have become more confident with my Spanish. Within the first few weeks I had multiple Dominicans compliment my Spanish. Learning a language takes a lot of time and patience but it's always encouraging to see growth.

I have also resumed my commitments at the church in the last few weeks. I have started practicing with the praise team for the Easter service that our church will have coming up. We also started meeting with our church small group again and I loved seeing everyone again and hearing how God has been working in each person's hearts over the last few weeks. This week, my church had their annual administrative meeting in which the pastor shared what God did in and through our church over the last year as well as some things the church is hoping to accomplish in 2023. This was a good time for us to rejoice as a church body over what God has done and to look forward to how God will use our church to reach more communities and people in the DR in the coming year.

Prayer Requests

• Pray with me that God would give me wisdom and guidance in how to help my students understand scripture and grow spiritually as we start this new semester at school. Pray for the hearts and minds of my students. Pray that they would understand who God is in a personal way and not see the Bible as just another class in school.

• Pray for my church (IBEM) as we start the new year. Our church is considering changing the leadership structure to have a group of elders to work alongside the head pastor. Please pray that if this happens, God will raise up leaders for His church from our congregation. IBEM is also hoping to expand our ministry to other parts of San Pedro and reach more areas that do not have strong Gospel-preaching churches. Pray for wisdom in where to focus our ministry and how to go about reaching these areas that are currently in darkness.

• Pray for safety for my roommate and I. There have been a few incidents with men around where we live that has led to the police increasing security in our area.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Blessings,

Natasha