Difficult Decisions

MannaDR is under a new organization structure which is now called Manna Global Ministries. These organizational changes mean that many things in our work have changed. After many conversations with Manna and our supporting church we have decided that now is a good time to transition out of the program. This decision has been made with much prayer, thought, counsel, study and tears. To say that the decision has been difficult and complicated is an understatement.

Most of you understand how many things don’t turn out as planned. We have faith that God is in control and we continue to pray for His guidance. We are thankful for the peace and clarity He has given us while suffering through this decision. Though the past year and a half has been a roller-coaster ride ending sooner than we anticipated, we are thankful for every moment. We truly believe that God will bless Manna, the Dominican people and us in this decision.

We don’t have many plans yet. We will return to the USA on December 15. We plan to be in Little Rock, Arkansas with our supporting congregation for about a month to rest, recuperate and debrief. After that, only God knows for sure.

We ask for your prayers of peace, comfort and wisdom for us as we transition back into American culture. We also ask prayers for Manna as they continue to seek God’s face and direction in the work to preach the Good News to the lost in the Dominican Republic and all over the world.

We are so thankful for the time we’ve spent here in the DR, the Good Works the Lord allowed us to accomplish and the things that we learned. We’re grateful that God gave us water in two wells that we drilled. We’ll forever treasure the close bonds we’ve made with the community where we lived and our teammates. We are appreciative for the involvement that we had with summer groups and interns. And we hope that we have blessed this place as much as it has blessed us.

To the Dominican people: thank you for your acceptance, patience, love and friendship. It will be hard to say goodbye. To our Manna teammates: thank you for your understanding, compassion and companionship. We love you and we will miss you. To our wonderful support system from back home: thank you for sharing this journey with us, giving Godly counsel and reassurance all the way. We love all of you dearly!

Updates....

We are finished drilling in Bobita. The well isn't recovering water as fast as we had hoped but, we are in the dry season so hopefully it will only get better with time. We are waiting on a part for the rig and then we'll be able to drop the pump. Everyone in Bobita is very excited to have clean water!

We have our plane tickets for Christmas! Only 33 days until we leave, we can't wait to see all of you! Our tentative plan is to fly into Minneapolis, MN December 15, drive to Little Rock, AR and stay in the area December 20-29, then back to Minnesota until January 12. We want to see as many of you as we can so please let us know if you are available.

Rich and I are off to Haiti tomorrow. We plan to be in Haiti November 13-17. We are going to meet Brian Wallace over there and look at Manna's camp while getting to know the people of Haiti. Rich has been before and is looking forward to another adventure. This will be my first time to Haiti and I must admit that I'm a bundle of mixed emotions, excited and nervous. Please pray for our safety as we travel. Also that we would be protected spiritually, voodoo is the national religion there so, you can imagine how dark a place Haiti can be. I'm going to journal while we are there so we can share some of our experiences with you. We won't be able to be contacted in those five days so, assume no news is good news. Thanks everyone!