Our Thanksgiving consisted of the traditional turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, etc but we celebrated with a mixture of Dominican and North American missionary friends eating outside on our gazebo!! Most of our Dominican friends had never celebrated this holiday so it was especially fun to share the day with them...
Little 3 year old Grayson dazzled us all with his Spanish---it helps that he has grown up here!!!
The following weekend we hosted new friends of ours, Mark and Naomi Widmer, who came to the island last August to work with Santiago Christian School--they wanted a little get away to spend time together, pray about their future ministry and get to know our family a bit better--we so enjoyed their visit and felt God's blessing on both our families...
We had fun decorating the guesthouse for Christmas before their arrival...
The first weekend in December we hosted a "pasadia" or day trip for Cherry's women's small group from our church, Vida Nueva--it was a great day of fellowship and focusing on what we have been learning in our study, Sanidad de Corazon, or Heart Healing...
And we attended a beautiful Cena Navidena or Christmas dinner at our church, Vida Nueva...
Dave with Omar who he is training to lead the men's group class at Vida Nueva--over 25 men attend their weekly small group--they are halfway through their study...
Cherry with some of the young women in her women's group--Dominican beauties!!!--almost 20 women attend this weekly small group--lots of possibilities to impact their families and community with the gospel...
The following weekend we hosted another "pasadia" for the drama group of fellow missionaries, Amaury and Catherine Gracesqui--their group of about 20 Domincan young adults spent the day relaxing, fellowshiping, and reviewing their last performance---Dave gave a little message challenging them to live out the faith they are portraying in these dramas...
Our family was very blessed by spending the day with this group so full of potential...
The week before Christmas our son Shane came for a visit which was one of the highlights of our Christmas this year!! We so enjoyed showing him around and just being able to relax and hang out together as a family...
And, of course, we took him to the beach--warm and sunny in December!!!...
Shane even got to attend a graduation ceremony of the second men's prison class to graduate this year...(check the right-hand side panel for our continuing summary of this course's contents)
And for our Christmas day here, we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Dominican friends and some fellow missionaries on the island...
Our girls had two and a half weeks off from school which we thoroughly enjoyed spending time together as a family on our property---We also had one more guest house visit from the family of Rachael's good school friend, Raquel---Dave and I are becoming friends with Raquel's parents, Carlos and Bielka--Carlos has been attending Dave and Omar's men's group at Vida Nueva --so it was a great time to celebrate the New Year as families...
The women had fun cooking...
Sancocho---a traditional Dominican dish like our stew...
While the guys played dominos...
Then we enjoyed a great meal in our outdoor kitchen...
And they spent the night in our casita---the last guests of 2010--please pray for the Abreu family--as they live out their faith as a family
We spent a quiet New Year's Eve and New Years Day at home as a family---as part of our tradition, we reviewed our year--the highs and lows--and shared our hopes and dreams for 2011---Rachael chose the theme "Love and Be Obvious" and we all want to adopt that as our family/ministry theme for 2011!!! Check out the right-hand side panel for a poem she shared with our family.
Thanks again for all the Christmas cards---they already are on our "refrigerator gallery"---Rachael, Beka and Cherry had great fun putting up the new pictures and sharing fond memories we have of each family.
We are grateful for your love and support---please check out the right-hand panel for prayer requests and some words to encourage you along your way.
By God's grace and for His glory,
La familia Schwulst