September Newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

September brought the start of a new school year and was packed with so many blessings and sweet memories. This is my fourth year of teaching here in the DR and each year I feel a little more comfortable teaching, a little more at home in this country, and a little closer to my brothers and sisters in Christ that surround me here. What a blessing it is to live and serve here.

Updates

• We had our first day of school on September 1st! It was a joy to welcome my 36 new second graders into my classroom this year. I love meeting them on the first day of school and anticipating the relationship I'll get to build with them and all the ways I'll get to watch them grow throughout the year. We've had a great first month! The students have had fun practicing their letter sounds, learning addition strategies, and doing science experiments but more importantly we've already been able to have sweet times of morning devotionals, memorize new Bible verses, and worship the Lord together in our first chapel. I am so thankful for Las Palmas and the blessing it is that I get to teach these students both academics and spiritual truth daily.

  

  

  

  

• On September 13th we had a special kickoff event for a new ministry called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. This ministry is led by one of my sweet friends who has a heart for uplifting and equipping women serving in ministry. To launch the ministry officially she welcomed a group of women who serve in various ministries in the DR to gather and have a day of worship and rest. It was such a joy to be able to meet some other ladies that are serving in other ministries and encourage one another. We had a devotional time, sang together, had lunch together, and enjoyed manicures, pedicures, and massages provided by a visiting group from the States. I am always so thankful for people that have a heart to encourage and pour into others who are serving. It is definitely a gift from God.

  

  

  

  

• We had a baptism service at IBEM on September 14th. On that day we celebrated 4 baptisms. It is always so exciting to see more believers take that next step of faith and follow the Lord in baptism.

  

  

  

  

• On September 19th we had a DR Vision women's event to celebrate the start of Fall and to meet a woman who has partnered with my mission agency to support and encourage our missionaries. It was a blessing to get to gather with friends and have a night to catch up and spend time together. We closed out the night by worshipping together and praying over our ministries.

  

  

  

  

• September 27th is the "Day of the Bible" in the Dominican Republic. We celebrated this day at school on September 29th by encouraging students to wear shirts with Bible verses on them. We also had special devotional times and Bible classes focused on the importance of the Bible that day. I used this as a chance to start our new devotional book that we will be working through as a class this year. It walks through many of the major stories from Genesis to Revelation and it has already been a great tool to have Gospel conversations with my students. I am excited to read through it with my classes this year.

Prayer Requests

• We are in our rainy season right now and have had a lot of storms recently. Last week we had a tropical storm come through. On Thursday many students and even teachers were unable to make it to school because of the rain and flooding. We ended up excusing all absences and dismissing all students at noon that day. On Friday the government cancelled school for the storm. Although the storms have been pretty mild so far, they can cause flooding, power outages, and make transportation difficult since there is not good drainage in the streets. At school it can mean trying to teach over the sound of lightning (and students screaming), difficult dismissals with parents unable to make it to the school, flooding in classrooms, indoor recess, and damage to our technology because of frequent power outages. Please pray for safety throughout this storm season and for good weather during the school days.

• All of my paperwork for renewing my residency was approved online! They set me an appointment date in the capital on November 24th. Please continue praying that I am able to renew it without any issues.

• One of my friends that is on praise team with me at church and works with me at the school has asked me to teach her English. We have agreed to meet weekly so I can help her learn English. I am excited about this opportunity because it will give me a chance to use what I learned about teaching English to adults in my TEFL classes. I am hoping gaining experience in this area may lead to more open doors in the future to use teaching English to adults in ministry. Please pray that our time together is productive and that I have wisdom in how to apply what I learned about teaching English to these lessons.

Thank you again for taking the time to read these updates and lift me and my ministries up in prayer. I appreciate all your support.

Blessings,

Natasha