Goodbye, Santiago

During the past few months we have made several trips to the capital city of Santo Domingo. The purpose of our trips has been to acquire the necessary official papers that we will need to enter and live in the country of Bolivia. The decision has been taken that we will move there in March of 2011.

We have been in Santiago for the past five years and the blessings have been numerous and abundant. God has blessed his work among the people of Santiago, creating faith and removing barriers to the common faith that we have in Jesus as our Savior who continually forgives us all our sins. We have watched the people grow in their faith and love of the Savior.

One special memory we will carry with us is the faith worked in the heart of Juan. Having been a pastor of a Pentecostal church, he continually expressed his great joy in hearing the truth of the Scriptures and his profound appreciation of being convinced of these truths. One of Juan's favorite hymns is: "How Great the Joy of the Forgiven" (Cuanta Dicha La del Hombre). This hymn became a normal part of the liturgy that would be sung after the confession of sins. In spite of being a pastor teaching his members false doctrine, God had mercy on Him and sent a messenger to share with him the truth of His Word.

We also rejoice that the Lord has worked in the members a zeal for evangelism and spreading the good news of salvation in Jesus to their neighbors and friends. Through His work in their hearts and with His blessing, the people have taken up this responsibility as the work of all the congregation, not only the leaders.

We thank God for the opportunity He has given us to serve Him here in Santiago. The blessings have been His, given in abundance in spite of our weaknesses, and all the glory is also His only.

Thank you to all our faithful readers many who have written personally to give us their support and assurance of their prayers. Now, with the Lord's help we will continue serving in His kingdom in our new location, La Paz, Bolivia. We will continue to inform you of the Lord's continued blessings at our new location:

www.welsinbolivia.blogspot.com

Island Wealth

During the past few weeks we have made several trips to the capital city of Santo Domingo. There are several bus lines that provide service for the two hour bus ride between the cities. Every time we make the trip we are amazed at the beauty and the variety of crops that we see just on this stretch of road.

My favorite is the rice fields. They have a special hue of green when growing that looks just wonderful. There are many miles of rice fields and their harvest helps to provide for the feeding the the nation.

We also see many orange orchards, plantain and banana fields and some tobacco fields. The DR produces cigarettes and cigars and many people have come to prefer the flavor of the Dominican cigar over that of the Cuban.

We also drive past the area where there are gold and nickel mines, but these cannot be seen from the road.

In just two hours, we see how richly God has blessed this small island with a variety of wealth. His mercy knows no bounds.

Service

Hearts that desire to serve, people willing to participate in the work of the church, time dedicated to telling others of their Savior. With these objectives in mind, the women of the congregation Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) decided to initiate a Ladies Group.

The group has already met several times and has elected evangelism as their primary goal. Some of the activities that will move the group forward are: to motivate and help parents to be faithful in daily devotions with their children, to make evangelism visits to neighbors and family members and to invite people to worship services and others activities in the church.

What a wonderful blessing to see the love the Holy Spirit has poured out in these hearts. The meetings have been well attended and the women are motivated to serve. May God continue to bless their work and grant them continued wisdom and zeal to serve and to bring the gospel to their Dominican neighbors.