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A Huge Thank You! | 2023 Mid-Year Update

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A Very Special Thank You to Our Donors and Visitors in 2023!

The Summer ushered in funds from teams and donors that propelled our needy projects forward. We are excited about the progress of the Barranca parsonage for Pastor Frantz (shown in the photo below). The foundation has been laid for the parsonage for Pastor Danis in Cutupu. By the time you read this newsletter, the roof should be in place for the El Pino church and school. All this in spite of increased construction costs. Thank you for responding to the nudge of the Spirit of God and lending us a hand. As you can see from the list at the left there are still some needs. Debbie had a great Summer with our U.S. teams as they provided awesome VBS (Vacation Bible School) programs for many local churches. This was an effective outreach to neighborhood families. Many decisions were made for Christ!

The teams also blessed and helped train our teachers in the Haitian programs, and also at our Dominican school, La Vega Christian School. Attendance at LVCS is at 350, and in the 14 Haitian school programs, the enrollment is 800+. Classes started up this week. We still need many sponsors at only $25.00 monthly for the children. (Click here to learn more about sponsoring a child with our program called: Teach Feed Love) Providing an education and feeding these children is a burden that Debbie carries on a daily basis. Thanks for your help and prayers as these programs move forward.

  • Progress at El Pino!
  • Summer teams helping with various projects.They came from Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, and Georgia. What a blessing they were!
  • Barranca Parsonage for Pastor Frantz Progress
  • Pastor Alex needs a home for his family in Sabaneta
  • Ranchito students ministering in their church!

Ongoing Church/School Projects Happening Now

We are excited as funds begin to come in to help with some of our ongoing church and school projects. We believe this to be in direct response to the prayers of pastors, churches, and school directors. Join with us in praying for the following needs:

  • EL PINO CHURCH/SCHOOL $11,000.00 for completion
  • BARRANCA PARSONAGE $7000.00 for completion
  • CUTUPU PARSONAGE $11,000.00 for completion
  • RANCHITO PROPERTY $26,000 to purchase the land for the church/school project.
  • SABANETA PARSONAGE $25,000.00
For Info on how you can give, CLICK HERE TO GIVE
call us at 863-248-1119. Your gifts are tax-deductible.

 

Teach Feed Love | Spring 2023 Update

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Note from Mitch & Debbie: Contrary to popular belief, we are not slowing down while the Lord gives us strength and good health. God is so good to provide through the generosity of His children for all the financial needs of the Haitian children. May God bless you richly!

Mitch & Debbie Martinez, Missionaries to the Dominican Republic

Teach Feed Love

At every one of our 14 schools for Haitian children living in the Dominican Republic, we teach them the Word of God and the academic subjects, we feed them a hot meal every day, and most importantly, we love them. They love to come to school with the pastor and teachers and their friends. Most of the children have made decisions to serve Jesus. This is only possible with the help of generous donors.

The Haitian School/Feeding Program is now called “Teach Feed Love”!

You can sponsor a child for only $25.00 a month. Please contact Debbie at her email lavegaschool@gmail.com to get started. Donations can be made on our teachfeedlove.org page also. Help us to teach, feed and love these 800 plus children, who otherwise would not have a school to attend

  • Coloring Time for the little ones
  • Chapel at Rose of Sharon
  • Lunch at Las Lagunas!

Ongoing Church/School Projects Happening Now

We are excited as funds begin to come in to help with some of our ongoing church and school projects. We believe this to be in direct response to the prayers of pastors, churches, and school directors. Join with us in praying for the following needs:

  • We still have a great need to help Pastor Etienne Altes in Sabaneta with his home!
  • The Cutupu Parsonage will launch in June with most of the funds on hand for this. PTL!
  • The Barranca parsonage is just $5000.00 shy of completion. Pastor Frantz is excited.
  • Ranchito: Still a great need for funds ($25,000) for a property for the church/school.
  • El Pino church/school: The walls are rising! PTL!
Pouring the foundation in February for the El Pino Haitian Education Center. Currently the walls are rising.
For Info on how you can give, CLICK HERE TO GIVE
call us at 863-248-1119. Your gifts are tax-deductible.

Making Headway on Projects! Fall 2022 Update

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We appreciate each and every one of our partners, whether you are praying for us or are part of the financial lifeline. We are so thankful for you and for God, for what he is doing here in the Dominican Republic. Wishing you a special Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends! 

Mitch & Debbie Martinez, Missionaries to the Dominican Republic

Project Updates

By the time you read this note, the Limoncito Sanctuary Project will be completed. Downstairs, the Haitian Education Center will finally have its own space for classrooms. A team from Evangel Assembly, MA will be with us to help partition the classrooms, and will minister to children and adults plus provide healthcare.

The El Hatico Sanctuary Project is moving forward and our goal is to have the sanctuary complete before the end of November. We are grateful for the funds we have received for this project. Hopefully within a week or two the floor, electrical, windows and doors should all be in place. This congregation will celebrate Christmas in a new sanctuary!

We are receiving funds for small homes for three pastors. Pastor Frantz of the Barranca project, Pastor Alex of the Sabaneta Project, and Pastor Danes of the Cutupu Project. These ministers work sacrificially and have tough living situations. What a blessing for them if we can help them. We are estimating a need for $11,000.00 each. Material costs are affecting us strongly. We have received $9000.00 thus far. PTL!! 

  • El Hatico Project Progress
    El Hatico Project Progress
  • El Hatico Project Progress
    El Hatico Project Progress
  • El Limoncito Project Finalizing!
    Limoncito Project Finalizing!

El Pino Needs a Building!

Our Haitian Education Center in El Pino has been under some pressure to move from the church where they have been meeting. Thanks to our donors, we were able to purchase a property and have the funds to start with the foundation. We will need $25,000 to complete this project; this will ensure 4-6 classrooms for up to 100 children. This Thanksgiving will you consider sending funds to help with the El Pino Education Center and Church Project? Your gifts are tax deductible. Pastor Wilner is committed to helping these children.

Without the school many children would not receive any education. Public schools are over-crowded and the Haitian children are last to be offered placement in a classroom. They don’t speak the language, and they may not have proper legal documentation They are part of the immigrant population fleeing the dangerous living conditions in Haiti. Debbie has been raising funds to support 15 schools with over 1000 Haitian children on a monthly basis. She believes it is a crime for a child not to be able to receive an education. Will you consider providing help? For $25.00 a month you can sponsor a child. If you would like to help with this project, or provide on-going support for the children’s programs, please email Debbie at lavegaschool@gmail.com or call her at 1-809-696-9928 or 863-248-1119. You can donate online at https://www.tfaforms.com/4840424 (under Donation Designation select “DR Schools – LaVega and Haitian”

Debbie at El Pino Shared Classroom
For Info on how you can give, CLICK HERE TO GIVE
call us at 863-248-1119. Your gifts are tax-deductible.

Fall 2019 – News from Your Missionaries Mitch & Debbie Martinez

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As the Holidays approach, we want to give thanks to the many who so faithfully have prayed and given towards the work that is being carried out here in the Dominican Republic. We cannot fully express the joy we feel in knowing that your hearts are with us. After 27 years we still count it a very special privilege to have you as friends and partners in this ministry. It is God working through you that has helped us to touch so many lives here. May the Lord richly bless you!

Debbie translating for a medical volunteer with Caring Partners
Debbie translating for a medical volunteer with Caring Partners

It was exciting to have a visit this November from Caring Partners, an international ministry focusing on people’s medical needs and sharing the Gospel. Working with Pastor Gemuel Delgado in the Rieles area, and Pastor Roberto Hernandez at La Vega Christian School, they examined 930 patients at the respective church locations in four days. The pastors and volunteers also prayed with over 70 people to receive Christ into their hearts. What a blessing to partner with them that week.

 

 

It was so nice to have a visit from our good friends from South Carolina here last month. Calvin and Barbara Fortner came with Sharon Gossett and Grace M. Bell. It is always a blessing to show first hand the progress being made in the ministry. They have been supporting this work for many years

Pastor Leomar Sirit and his daughter Daniela

Rose of Sharon – Sunday October 27th we had 30 attending, our best turnout yet for the morning service. This is a struggling new church plant in a poor community where we had filled in as pastors the past year and we still attend. It needs prayer. We been blessed with a new Pastor Leomar Sirit who is committed to this congregation. He is an answer to prayers!

PROJECT UPDATES:

Cutupu – Church and school: Walls are up to bondbeam height (Top of windows) and columns have been poured. The next step is to lay three lines of block above the bondbeam and start on the roof. We have funds on hand for the roof and are looking for help with the floor, windows, and doors. Later comes plumbing. electrical, and kitchen. 130 children are truly needing this new building. $8000.00 still needed.

Sabaneta (Pastor Alex) – The school wing is almost complete. We are finishing up the kitchen and the electrical work still needs to be done. The new bathrooms and kitchen are functioning. The cook gave me the biggest smile for her new kitchen. Previously the director’s office had been the kitchen for the 70+ children. $ 1200.00 for electrical.

 Limoncito – This school is functioning great with 45 children. Pastor Pettit Techner has moved into the parsonage and is leading the congregation. The next stage for this project is to move the sanctuary to the 2d floor, and leave the school on the first floor. The slab is already in place for the new sancturay, we anticipate $15,000.00 needed to complete this 2d phase. This is a great project for a missions minded church (hint).

Ranchito – Sunday School Addition This church has a great sanctuary but no classroom facilities for Sunday School. They have been using the Sanctuary for four makeshift classrooms every week for the past six years but conditions are tough as only blackboards divide the classroom spaces. We need $5000.00 to start this project. This is for the foundation of the new wing.

For Info on how you can give, call us at 863-248-1119. Your gifts are tax-deductible.

 

Summer 2019 – News from Your Missionaries Mitch & Debbie Martinez

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Summer short term missions teams continue to have a great impact in local churches with outreaches and construction help.  Special thanks to Living Water Fellowship, Kissimmee, FL, Greenville First, SC, and to New LIfe AG, Grand Ledge, MI.  Also in May, a team from the Univ. of Maine (Augusta Campus) kicked off our summer.

Health Awareness Talks.  The University team from Augusta, Maine, did an outstanding job helping children in various schools understand the importance of dental hygiene and other health issues.  They were well received by the parents and school staff attending. It was their first visit to the Dominican Republic, we hope they will visit again.

 

New Life A/G worked in Villa Altagracia where they dedicated their time to the construction needs of the House of Prayer Church.  They were responsible for adding the 2d story to the administrative wing of this church. They did some heavy work under very hot conditions.

Crew hard at work

They also teamed up with a  Dominican construction crew to put in all the divisions in cement block for the office and bathroom areas of the church on the 2nd story.  We so appreciated New Life’s positive attitude and strong work ethic.  It was great to see the results after a hard week of work.  And they also ministered in area churches while in the country.

 

The Living Water Fellowship Team was on here for the end of the year party for the 14 Haitian education programs.  There were 700 children at this event.   Debbie was so happy to have this team with their servant attitude assist her. They also ministered in area churches, and put on work gloves and helped with the foundation work of the Cutupu church mentioned on our header above. It was hot grueling work and they never complained.  Thank you Living Water!

 

Greenville First conducted Vacation Bible School at various local churches and also helped with construction needs.   There are many churches in this country that cannot afford a special summer program for the children.It is a great blessing to help the kids learn the Bible lessons that they can apply in their own lives.  We encourage churches to come and host the VBS programs here in the Dominican Republic. The team also poured the floor for the Good News Haitian Church in Sabaneta, and helped with the foundation work of the Cutupu church.

Volunteers will be missed!
The Palmer family returned to the United States after serving the Haitian Schools and the International Church for two years.  They will be greatly missed.

We will also miss Sallie Wham who faithfully worked with the English program at La Vega Christian School, and also worked with the Children’s program at Rose of Sharon Church in Barrio Inco.  Debbie will surely miss her help in that program.

La Vega Christian School (LVCS) is always on the look out for volunteers willing to give a year or more of their life teaching English in a Christian environment. At  LVCS they have freedom to impart spiritual truth as they teach.  Our volunteers don’t have to speak Spanish to teach here.  If you are interested in applying for a short term mission at LVCS contact us today.

Short term missions teams are encouraged to network with us to impact local churches, schools, and communities! We cannot overemphasize the impact that church teams have had on our ministry here in La Vega.  There are more than 40 building projects over the years that could not have been accomplished without the help of these gracious US teams.  The Cutupu project above needs help today.  If you or your church would like to help, visit our Dominican Republic short-term missions trip webpage  for practical guidelines to prepare for your visit.

 

Congrats to Pastor Aaron Rios
Aaron Rios was installed as Lead Pastor at Garden City Church in Beverly, Mass.  He is our daughter Sarah’s husband. It was great to be on hand for this event during our summer visit to the U.S.  Previously he was an associate pastor for 4 years at New Life Church in Leominster, Mass.

 

 

 

1,800 Missionaries Attending  
We found ourselves attending a world missions event in Orlando with 1,800 other missionaries.  The Assemblies of God World Missions organization said history was made as missionaries from 160 nations gathered for encouragement and edification.  Outstanding speakers such as Dick Eastman from Every Home for Christ challenged us to prayer.

Meet Mitch & Debbie in this short video…

Will You Sponsor A Child?

Will you sponsor a child?
Click here to learn more about Teach Feed Love.