New Work

"Send me, send me". The Holy Spirit has touched many hearts with this desire to serve and witness about their Savior. This desire yields a zeal to teach others about the Savior, to share with them the good news that someone else shared with you.

Rona is an example of such zeal. Recently he began church services among his neighbors in the apartment building where he lives. The majority of the people are fellow Haitians that are here in the DR for health care, studying in universities, or trying to find work here to be able to send money home to their families.

Rona has a love for his Savior and a love for his people. More and more Haitians cross the boarder every day. He talks about the wide variety of churches and teachings the people are exposed to in Haiti but their is a scarcity of true doctrine. Out of thankfulness for the gift of faith that he has been given, he wants to do as much as he can to spread this saving message to others. He is beginning with his neighbors. This service is held in the evening in addition to the normal Haitian service that is held in the morning in a different part of the city.

"We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard". "Send me, send me".

Translation into French

As has been mentioned in previous posts, our mission in the DR has the blessing of being a stepping stone into Haiti -- even though Haiti is not currently an official mission field of the WELS. One challenge, however, is that none of our missionaries speaks French. That means we entrust the work into the capable hands of our Haitian brothers who are studying with us (in Spanish).

As our Haitian students look to the future, they want to take the Gospel with them back into Haiti and start a national church there. One step in the process is translating our current materials from Spanish into French. What a blessing the Lord has provided in Rona Abraham! (To see other posts about Rona, click on "Rona" in the list of labels below.) He is a LATTE graduate now working on his engineering degree here in Santiago so that he can return to Haiti and support himself with a job as a professional while also sharing the freedom he knows in Christ with his fellow Haitians.

In the meantime, he is working faithfully at translating resources into French. He has completed the majority of courses for the Bible Institute (pre-seminary), various Evangelism resources and Bible studies, and will soon start on seminary level courses.

Join us in asking the Lord to bless his efforts, to give him wisdom and insight as he wrestles to force our Spanish books to speak French, and for continued funding for his translation projects. We trust that these resources will be blessings for the Haitian church for years and years to come.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

Where shall I serve, O Lord?

Rona Abraham is our first seminary graduate in the Dominican Republic. (Read other posts about Rona by clicking here.) He graduated in July and was so excited about returning to his home country of Haiti to share the life-saving Gospel with so many who are still lost in sin and unbelief. But...

...Rona may not be able to carry out his plans. He intended to return to Haiti and start a "tent ministry" -- sharing the Gospel while supporting himself with a secular job. With his seminary diploma giving him the title of "licenciado" (equivalent to a bachelor's degree), he planned to get a job as a teacher. But...

...He recently found out that since our seminary is not yet registered as an "institution of higher education" with the Dominican government, his degree is not recognized. Without a degree, he cannot get a job. Without a job, he cannot support himself in Haiti. So...

...In the DR, we are looking into the requirements to register our seminary so that we can confer degrees that will be recognized and accepted. In the meantime, we ask for your prayers:

• that the Lord would bless our efforts to register the seminary
  
• that the Lord would guide Rona to know where and how He wants him to serve
• that the Lord would direct us as we consider other alternatives

James reminds us to say, "If it is the Lord's will" when we make our plans for the future (James 4:15). We know that all things are in His hands -- His good and gracious hands! We, therefore, trust Him to bless Rona's ministry wherever that may be.

(The above was first posted at our sister blog "LATTE on the Road". For more information about our LATTE travels in other countries, click here.)

The Lord bless you with His peace,
NW

Prayer suggestions

What a marvelous blessing prayer is! Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, invites us to pray with the same confidence and persistence as dear children talk to, ask and thank their loving father. Jesus teaches to call on God as "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give hims a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11)

Occasionally brothers and sisters in Christ ask us what they should pray for on behalf of our mission. Following are some suggestions, but is by no means exhaustive:

• Pray for the Latin American national churches that are striving to grow and become self-supporting sister churches of WELS: the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mexico, the Evangelical Lutheran Confessional Church in Puerto Rico, and those in Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Brazil.
• Ask God’s blessings on the LATTE team as they help spread the gospel in Latin America: Missionaries Schlomer, Martens, Retberg, Strackbein, and Wagenknecht.
• Thank the Great Shepherd of the sheep for the seminarians and national pastors serving him in the Dominican Republic: Rona Abraham, Obed Bazin, Julio Corporan, Alexander Torres, Freddy Aquino, Robert Helve, and Elise Abraham.
• Call on our God of grace to bless Missionary Monday's ministry, to watch over the Monday family and to grant them joy.
  
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen and keep the members of our congregations -- most of whom are first generation Christians, or at least first generation confessional Lutherans -- in the true Christian faith until they receive the crown of life in heaven.
• Ask our loving, perfect Father to help Christian parents raise their children in the "training and admonition of the Lord".
• Seek the Lord's favor on Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) congregation in Moca as they look for their own permanent building to dedicate to the Lord's service.
  

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

First seminary graduation, part II

This past Sunday, July 22, we celebrated the first seminary graduation for the DR field. Join us in thanking the Lord for providing for and protecting Rona Abraham during his years of seminary training. I encourage you to click on the label "Rona" at the end of this post to see other posts about him (or simply click here).

In contrast to many seminaries that exist today simply as "schools of religion", our seminary exists for the sole purpose of training men to serve in the public ministry of the church -- just as the Apostle Paul wrote to his coworker Timothy, "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2).

We celebrate the Lord's goodness in supplying his church with these "reliable men who are also qualified to teach others." Please join us in praying for:

• … God’s blessings on Rona’s future ministry in Haiti.
• … our five other seminarians – Obed, Julio, Freddy, Helve, Alex -- who will be returning to class on Aug 6.
• … more workers in the Lord’s harvest field (Matthew 9:37,38).

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

First Seminary Graduate

Thanks be to God for being with Rona Abraham, our soon-to-be first seminary graduate here in the DR. We ask the Lord to bless him as he plans to return to Haiti this summer to share the Gospel with his fellow Haitians. His planned departure, however, leaves a vacancy in the Haitian congregation here in Santiago where he was serving as a student-pastor.

To fill the vacancy, the Haitian congregation met and called Helve Robert, another Haitian seminary student, to serve as their shepherd. We praise God for providing this gift to the church, another humble servant who will lead God's people to see Jesus their Savior. Please join us in praying for the Lord's blessings on Student-Pastor Helve's ministry.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

PS -- My apologies for not updating last week :-( I'll spare you my list of excuses :-)))

He came for engineering; he leaves with much more...

Rona Abraham came to Santiago to study engineering; he wound up finding peace and joy in the truths of the gospel.

Rona grew up in Haiti where voodoo and spiritism are prevalent. Watching out for the "evil eye," evil spirits and curses is part of daily life for most Haitians – even in Rona’s family. They live afraid.

But when Rona moved to Santiago, his life was changed. Through a series of personal contacts that God was leading the entire way, Rona heard the gospel. He learned that he need not be afraid because there is One who cares for him. One so powerful that evil spirits must flee before him. One whose love is so great, he willingly gave up his life as the ransom price for the sins of the entire world. One so powerful that neither death nor hell could hold him in its grasp. Rona learned about Jesus.

Now knowing the peace and joy of the gospel, Rona decided that he wants to be a pastor – to share his peace with others. He gave up his engineering studies and dedicated himself to full time studies in our Dominican seminary. Lord willing, Rona should graduate from the seminary this spring. He then plans to return to Haiti to show others that they need not be afraid. To show them the all-powerful, all-loving One who is their Savior.

Rona Abraham came to Santiago to study engineering. He will leave having found peace and joy in the gospel, to share that peace with others in Jesus.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW