To See The Glory

The last couple of days Jessica and I have been talking a lot about a specific need for this area. This is something others have been seeing as well. The need for an orphanage.

We are not sure if this is something God has planned for us, but it has been weighing on our hearts. There are children getting help medically and some of those children are simply in need of basic nutrition. They are starving to death or have diseases related to malnutrition and once they are well enough, they go home to the same. Some of those mother’s will abandon the child especially if they believe the child will be helped. The Transformation House near here has been left with 9 children from these types of situations, yet they are not set up to house children, they are more of a hospital.

What is need is prayer. Pray for an answer, for the place, the people, the funding, etc… It is needed. These children need to be raised up right, fed properly, parented, taught, and most of all they need the Lord!

Seeing a 10 month old in the arms of a family willing to take him on even when he barely weighs 12 pounds can really open your eyes to the need. Pray for the Luther family who has taken in little Franklin.

We all know and have heard that our freedom is found in Christ. What seems to have happened is the enemy has infiltrated and confused where that freedom is found. We do not want to be living in ignorance as many who do not know the truth are, but we want to understand what Jesus Christ has really done for us.

The enemy will use the word of God to confuse, just as he did in the Garden of Eden were he took what God said and twisted it just a little to bring confusion and doubt. This is the same enemy we face today. He still uses the same tricks and techniques he has used for many years. One of goals the enemy has is to take those who are free and bind them. Whether it be sins or by taking what was by faith and making it to be by the law.

Oh, brothers and sisters, what have we done to earn our salvation? What is it we do that can add to the cross? Let us not continue to be bound! Jesus paid our debts and set us free! Let go of the chains that bind you! As a believer in Christ, as one saved and set free by grace, those chains are no longer clasped on, but it is by our own doing that we hold on to them.

In the letter Paul writes to the churches in Galatians, he confronts even Peter who, being a disciple of Christ, one who walked WITH Jesus. Peter had allowed others to put the law back on him. He had separated from the uncircumcised and was practicing the law of Moses and not the law of love. As Paul explains that by putting oneself under one part of the law you will need to obey all aspects of the law. I love what Paul asks the people in Galatians 3:5 – “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?” He asks if they received the Spirit because they obeyed the law or because of their faith in Jesus. We know the answer is “by faith.”

There are still to this day those who are trying to bind those who are set free. They want to bind us to the law from which Paul says “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse” (Gal 3:10). The example used was circumcision, but is not limited to only that part of the law. He also talks about observing certain days, months, seasons and years from which we are also set free from (Gal 4:10). If we are feeling obligated to observe one part of the law then we are breaking the law if we do not follow the whole law. The law is not a “pick and choose” deal for by which we obey only what we want, it is a complete package. Paul, one who studied the law in its entirety and one whom claimed to have observed the law, knew that he failed and was not able to complete all the law had.  Is not the law of love greater? Did we forget what Jesus commanded?

Let us walk in freedom. Love is our freedom. By love we can fulfill the law, by love we do not harm each other and by love we worship God our Father.  Don’t let others burden you with that which you were set free from. It seems that those who are saved by grace find freedom from sin and then are bound by the law later by those who don’t understand the completeness of what Jesus did on the cross.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, be careful of the enemy. He works in ways to bind us. Prayerfully consider things you are taught or when you feel obligated to observe an aspect of the law. Don’t ever be persuaded that you will have to do something to earn your salvation!  There is nothing we can do to add to what Jesus Christ has already done. How can we think that we can add to His work? How can we believe that what Jesus did was not good enough, that somehow He couldn’t save us 100 percent? I know I have fought this battle a number of times, believing that somehow a sin has undone what Christ already paid for. No longer will the enemy enjoy a triumph in the area! May Christ have full reign in our lives and may we not be ignorant to the skills of the enemy.

Our son Jeremy has spent the last year recording, touring and ministering with the music the Lord has given him. He has a huge testimony of God’s grace in his life as well as the desire to reach the youth with Christ’s message of love. What God has done through the struggles, not only for Jeremy, but in my walk as well is priceless.

It took the struggle Jeremy went through to bring me to my knees in prayer and knowing that only God can pull him out of the darkness.

We are excited what God has been doing with Jeremy and the music. Currently he even has a song that is climbing a Christian music chart – Hear the Fire.

Take a listen here: http://www.indieheaven.com/top20

For those of you who have prayed for Jeremy over the years, let it be known, that God is working and will continue to do miracles in our lives. Those of you with children who have gone astray, know that God is the one who can save. Our job as believers, as brothers and sister in Christ, as parents; is to pray. Our weapon against the enemy is prayer.

Lyrics: “Hear The Fire”

Written by Jeremy Oliveria & Michael Robert

Hear the fire in the silence of your voice
In your desire in your mercy I rejoice
In your compassion yes I find my relief
In your holy presence, in your spirit I find peace
Hear the fire, you inspire
All of my fears will melt before you grace
Hear the fire, you inspire,
All of creation will dance before your glorious name
Peace that gets me like
the kiss of a river when my throat is dry
your love’s like a waterfall
I’m drowning at the bottom and it’s beautiful

I’m lost in you, lost in love…

We have been very busy, everything from moving twice, running with a team and finishing up a website for a client. Not much sleep, but oh so blessed. We had such a great time working with the MBC medical team! The kids got to help out and had a blast doing so.

Heather checking vision

Samuel and Josiah helped 2 days with filling prescriptions of reading and sun glasses.

Jeremy was able to help raise funds for the Christian Surfers Surf Competition by “worshiping” in a bar!  They actually paid him to worship! See his music at www.JeremyOliveria.com

Worship in a bar?

We also sent Josh away. Back to Oregon to work with Michael Robert Smith to earn money to return to the country to attend a DTS with YWAM in Jarabacoa. We sure miss him and we know God will guide him.

Keep praying for us, we know the enemy wants to keep us from reaching God’s children.

Well, it is a new year and many things are in the works. At the end of the month we will be working with our first team that is headed by Island Light Ministries. This team consists of an optometrist, dentists, RN’s and a few others to work in two different locations for 4 days with those specialties. Our family is excited to work with this group.

Also, coming soon to our house is our son Jeremy Oliveria and Sam Smith, they will be here in the country for about 6 weeks! This also coincides with us moving to a 2-bedroom house for about 9 days (Thanks to New Missions.) We should be moving into a house on the 1st at a lower rent rate – PRAISE GOD!

Last night we had the Cooper family over for dinner, Josh and Heather can actually speak Spanish better than I thought, I wish they would help me more than just laugh at my obvious error?!?!? I am constantly using the wrong verb form, usually I catch myself, but it makes for messy sentences.

Continue to pray for us as we learn more Spanish, we are going to try a friend in the village tonight to help Jessica and I with the language, he is fluent in English and has been helping Jim by interpreting the services.

An update about Josh – Later. Ha!

God Bless!

P.S. I need to repair my blog, it isn’t posting the photos I tried.

We just returned home from an evening with the Cooper family. In the Dominican Republic Christmas eve dinner is like an American Christmas meal and we were invited by the Cooper’s to have this meal with them. It was such a nice and peaceful (with exception of Silas) evening in Paraiso. It seemed many were just having a nice calm evening.

Our family has somewhat connected with theirs and I say “somewhat”  due to the language barrier as we are still learning the language and we don’t always understand all that is said. One of the interesting things is for our family to fit into the dinning area of one of the houses with another large family.

Jessica and Samuel

Joshua, Samuel and some of the Coopers

Josiah and Mr. Cooper

We also had some of the typical Dominican food:

Christmas Dinner Dominican style

And Desserts made by Jessica and the kids

The kids said they had a great time and I heard them all (sans Silas) speaking in Spanish. We hope that the Cooper’s enjoyed our family as we did theirs. We also want to say to all our family and friends back in the USA - Merry Christmas! And we love and miss you all!

Many of you know that we are working in a village called Villa Paraiso. It was built by the Samaritan Foundation here in Sosua. The homes are given to some of the poorest in the area and for us Americans this would be beyond poor in the USA. Villa Paraiso is a village built for Dominicans while some of the previous projects were geared for Haitians in the area.

Los Algadones is a village named after the cottons, there is a large piece of machinery still rusting in its place that was once used for the cotton industry.

Original houses in Los Algadones

Inside of house

Basic living

Shacks not worthy of living in

As you can see the living conditions can be worse than what we would allow a lawnmower to park in. Dirt floors rusty and holey roofs. Rotting wood for structures with plenty of insects throughout.

Here is the new section of that village:

New houses in Los Algadones

These houses are still very basic compared to the standard North American living. These houses have 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with toilet and area for showering, but no running water. It has a room for living and kitchen area and most bring in water via buckets from water taps on the sidewalk. A nice smooth cement floor and a roof to keep out the rain, these houses are a huge upgrade and because they do not pay any rent, they are able to spend that money on food or other necessities.  One way to look at the type of living is that of tent camping in the U.S., cooking over open fire or propane stoves, dirt or mud everywhere, mosquitoes, flies and roosters (well, I guess maybe not the roosters

We have had the blessing of eating with a couple of families in their humble homes and are welcomed with open arms. Very few have luxuries or even a vehicle, but I find that there are many who are at peace and are praising God for everything they have. So the next time you find yourself complaining about a scratch on your car or the size of your house, take a moment and thank God for what you do have. I know that I have been humbled by what people will live with or without here.

Find yourself at the mercies of a loving Father who has given you much or little, yet use all that He has given you for His glory!

Yes, Samuel has broken an arm, not serious – gracias a Dios.

Here are copies of the bills:

Bill for Hospital and X-rays

Doctor's Bill

Two more dents into our already dented wallet. $2,527 for the hospital and d$1,500 for the doctor! Boy am I glad this wasn’t in US Dollars, which would probably what you would spend for the emergency room, doctor and x-rays in the states. Overall this was about $110 USD, which is way cheaper than any part of a visit in the U.S.

The crack is in the upper portion of the humerus, yet he didn’t find it very funny. It isn’t all the way across the bone, so it should heal quickly.

Here is the happy boy now:

Samuel broke his arm

Thank you for the continued prayers for our family!

God bless – Dios te bendiga!

Well, this isn’t our normal post, but one that is sort of commercial in nature. We have owned www.NorthwestGifts.com for around 12 years now, but no longer is it a direct source of income. However, our friend Daniel Szczesniak is now running that and our other website www.UrnsNW.com

So, if you are looking for Christmas gifts, Golf gifts, floral wreaths or a number of gift ideas please check out what is offered at Northwest Gifts. Sales will benefit our family as well as Daniel’s.

Making the move to a 3rd world country and not having health insurance (even beforehand) and not even sure how skilled or what kind of care you can get is interesting to say the least. We have already had to go to the pharmacy a couple of times, first for Heather’s eyes which had something like pink eye and then Silas scratched mosquito bites with dirty fingers and it got infected and now Jessica to the hospital.

First off we believe things are fine (to put you at ease, especially Bonnie) But for Jessica to find a lump at the age of 38 which was the age her grandmother passed away from breast cancer, was a bit nerve racking. The thought of fighting that kind of battle here was not something high on my list.  We have already heard enough about cancer deaths here, but I know that we have a great God that can heal and restore all things.

The costs so far for this: $1050 for doctor, $1100 for mamogram, $858 for ultrasound. (Oh, did I forget to mention this is $RD – pesos to dollar is about 37 to 1.)

Doctor appointment in a foreign country: $30
Mamogram in a new facility: $30
Ultrasound in a 3rd world country: $23
Knowing you serve a great and awesome God and having family and friends praying: Priceless.

Beat that MasterCard!

After writing the above we returned to the doctor to get more information. They don’t believe it looks like cancer and they recommend it to be removed and studied. We are praying about this, but for now we are able to relax and praise God for mercies.