This is a picture of our home taken from the meditation bench on our property behind our home----One of the guiding principles of our ministry is "Dwell with the Lord, gaze upon His beauty, savor the sweetness of the Lord and seek Him in His temple" (Psalm 27:4) We continue to praise our God for giving us such a beautiful place to seek Him, dwell with Him and savor His sweetness--a huge blessing for us and all those who enjoy time here with us.
DAY RETREATS AND SEMINARS--"PASADIAS"
Our second ministry guiding principle is 2 Timothy 2:2 --Teach what you have learned to reliable people(who later will do the same)--understanding that in the process we are all really "taught" by the Lord. This year we have hosted many who come here to draw closer to the Lord and learn more of Him and His ways---Here is an one example-- a small group that Cherry is a part of in Santiago.
Their day retreat started with a table of fresh foods from the island...
Followed by teaching and fellowship...
Then personal time in prayer and study...
Enjoying all of our property--outside by the pool...
or inside our home ...
MEN'S STUDY GRADUATION...
This month we want to feature another graduation--but one that represents our hopes and prayers for our men's ministry---in 2010, we offered the men's study to a church in a small community, Moca, outside of Santiago--the pastor attended the study, was very impacted by the teaching, and his young adult son who had been far from the Lord was brought back "home" through the study. Needless to say, both are very enthusiastic about this study so this year they offered the study to two other churches in Moca resulting in two groups of men meeting weekly. We just celebrated a joint graduation with these two groups. They now plan to offer the study at the men's prison in Moca. Please keep this work in your prayers. A beautiful example of God's "multiplication"--all now led by trained Dominicans.
JOSE MIGUEL GIVING HIS TESTIMONY, THE "LAJAS GANG" SITTING IN FRONT AND PROUD DAVE RECORDING IT ALL...
Our third ministry guiding principle is based on Revelations 7:9-10)--Witness the results/rewards--a great multitude from every nation standing before the throne. This month we got to witness our first "disciple" here in our community of Lajas stand before our church family and share what the love of Christ means in his life now--almost two years later. It was beautiful to share this with our church family---a body of believers from many "nations"--Dominican Republic, Haiti, United States, Honduras, Canada...and our little community sat in the front row!!!
Here is the group from our community of Lajas that we brought down the mountain to church last Sunday--- We continue to see more interest from our community in the things of God and growing their faith--pray that we stay in tune with God's plans here.
TRIP TO HAITI...
Since we have lived here, along with seeing the spiritual and physical needs, we have also hoped and prayed that the Dominicans who have the means to help those less fortunate would be drawn to do so. One of the goals of Santiago Christian School, where our girls attend high school, is the spiritual growth of their students, the majority of whom are from the most wealthy families on the island. We would love to see these young people and their families live for Christ and minister to those in need on the island. Dave and Rachael were part of a group from the school who went to Haiti to minister to school children there.
CELEBRATING OUR FALL BIRTHDAYS...
We will close with some fun pictures of our family and our neighbors celebrating birthdays here---Dave, Rebekah and Cherry all have fall birthdays---the guys from the neighborhood planned a surprise party for Dave---they were thrilled to pull off this surprise...
Our family really enjoyed this special evening...
Rachael and Beka wrote a new song in honor of their father and sang it to him---you can imagine what a blessing that was!!!...
The guys from the neighborhood did a little "singing" too...
The guys bought a special birthday cake and sparkling grapefruit juice (they know we like that!!) to celebrate...
Everyone enjoyed some snacks along with the birthday cake...
We ended the evening playing pool--a favorite Dominican past time...
We thank you for sharing in this journey with us and for keeping us in your prayers. Please check out the right-hand side panel for new prayer requests and words to encourage you.
Please remember that our ministry, Kingdom Seeker Ministry, has a new P.O. Box number you are to use for sending us support. And...we would love to receive Christmas cards at the Florida address below.
BY GOD'S GRACE AND FOR HIS GLORY,
THE DAVE SCHWULST FAMILY