The Sovereignty of God

Dear Friends and Family,

            It would be hard for me to describe in words how blessed I have felt over the last year by your love and support.  There were times of real loneliness and frustration and knowing that you were praying for me and supporting my work meant the world to me.  Over the last few months it became evident to me that my time in the Dominican Republic was coming to an end.  When I took on this ministry, my objective was to take over the café ministry and bring order, establish vision, and achieve financial stability.  By God’s grace, your support and a wonderful staff of people I have sought that through to the end. The café is now being placed in the hands of Dominican woman, providing a livelihood and jobs for people in Hato Mayor.  My goal was to work myself out of the job and I’m thankful to God to report that’s what I did.  So what’s next?

In March of this year, while I was seeking God’s will, I met a man on a mission trip named Paul Harbison.  Paul works for an organization called Coalition for Christian Outreach. Check out their website http://www.ccojubilee.org/. The CCO is a ministry seeking to win college students to Christ and to disciple them as His followers.  He asked me to consider coming and working with him in that organization.  In May the CCO flew me to the US for an interview and by the end of May they had offered me a position.  My responsibility to the CCO will be three fold.

Firstly, I will be a campus minister at the Community College of Beaver County.  This will be a new position on this campus for the CCO.  I will be seeking to win unbelievers to Christ, establishing first time Bible studies and developing discipleship relationships and influences on the campus. I am excited to do this because I have attended a community campus for part of my own college career and I have a heart for such places. 

Secondly, I will be working with Aliquippa Impact.  It is an inner city ministry seeking to impact the community with the gospel.  In all of Pennsylvania, Aliquippa is ranked second in economic depression and educational distress.  I will be working with teenagers and seeking to disciple them.  Many of these young people come from a variety of broken backgrounds.  As AI seeks to bring community development to this town they use college interns throughout the summer, I will also be responsible to oversee this ministry (this will be very similar to my work with the Boston project in 2011). Please check out their website! http://www.aliquippaimpact.org/

Finally, I will be working with a specialized CCO department called Experimental Design (XD).  XD is a worldwide cross-cultural ministry that designs cultural immersion experiences for college students.  With the intent of giving these students a vision as global Christians, I will be working with the XD team designing and leading trips around the world. This is XD's website http://www.ccojubilee.org/cco-xd/

I am very excited about the new calling God has placed upon my life.  Once again I feel inadequate, scared, and can ask with the apostle Paul “who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16).  Once again I so value your prayerful support for me.  One of the biggest challenges I’m going to face in this new job is that I have to raise $2000 per month (which is twice what I raised for my work in the DR).  Please pray with me about this and consider financially supporting me as I follow God in this new ministry.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime.  Let me just say in closing, thank you once again for all of your support of my work in the DR. If God leads you to continue to support me I look forward to us “partnering together once again for the Gospel” (Philipians1:5). 

Blessings in Christ,

The Power of Pray

Dear Loved Ones,

I believe in the power of pray and now that I found out that people all over the world were praying for this child, I need to tell you guys the rest of the story.

We began with sitting down with Calvin and asking him what does he really want. He is a street boy and learned how to lie on the streets so its hard to get the truth out of him. He finally told us honestly that he doesn't want us to find his mom. He said if he goes back with his mom, she will make him go back to work for money. He told us she use to tell him "If you come back today without any food or money you will be sleeping outside". He said what he really wants from us is to send him to a orphanage. He said he wanted to get his mind erased from all of the terrible experiences and things that he has seen in his life and he wants to study and go to school to be a pilot.
We began the search to look for any family that he had, two americans, one Haitian, a dominican, and Ricky. On two scooters. We searched all the way in the middle of no where, we would find someone and they said "ask the house three houses down they might know something". We got this answer for four hours. Only to find out his grandma died and he has no uncles or aunts. We came back frustrated and Calvin was there again that night, hungry, and with no place to sleep. I kept paying for him to sleep in a hotel because we knew not a single soul that would allow him in their house.
The next day we found him in the park hanging out with the baddest group of boys we knew, Ricky told us that he has in a gang of young boys that moved drugs and this gang even got accused that day of raping a little girl.
He came with us immediately, he is very smart and he knows doesn't want to live this life anymore.
We took him to the cafe and began to think, asking around the whole town for a place to sleep because I was running out of money fast for hotels. Our last resort was my employee Luciano, I thought he was going to say no. He told us that its a coincidence that we asked him that night, his wife and baby girl were in the capital and Calvin could sleep there that night! Another night he was safe and off the streets! I slept good that night.

Only to wake up the next day with a child who got a fever higher than 103. Luciano could not keep him there because Luciano's dad is very sick and old and couldn't afford getting fever. Again I was out of luck on where to keep this child. We took him to the clinic hoping maybe he could spend a few nights there. But the whole town is getting this disease "La Chiqungunya" from the mosquitos and the clinic was full. I start crying because I have so much focus on the cafe I don't have much time for anything else especially a sick child. I went to a orphanage later that day just to find out that there are barely any orphanage that will take street kids. My hope was failing.

I went to Arturo, the director of MGM to see if he knew any resources, this was Saturday. He said we can get him into the children service system called CONANI and they will place him in a orphanage. But they won't be open until monday. All is well and good but what was I suppose to do with him that day, that hour, with a fever so high. Thank God my best friend here is a nurse and was able to provide the medicine for him. And people at MGM pitched in to pay for hotels for two nights. We nursed him back to health for two days. Monday I went to the police station to talk to CONANI. They said we can meet later that day and figure out what to do. In the mean time they had no where to put a sick child so we took a mattress and they laid him in the shade to rest.....by the prisoners. Perfect.

The fiscal who took our case showed grace on us and really helped us. But still no place in Hato Mayor where they take kids until CONANI can come and investigate the case. She planned to take him to the fire hall because the firemen spend the night there and can watch over him. The one place in town he got kicked out of for sleeping in their old fire truck. Perfect! As we took him there we knew they didn't want him and very upset about the situation. We told them we would take care of him and please show kindness on him and explain his situation. That was last night.

Today as we went to look for Calvin, they told us he went to go find food, but there was this man there, an optometrist who sells glasses and gives eye exams. The day he was giving them out of the fire situation to the people in that neighborhood. He began to explain to us how he knows Calvin and just last night heard his entire story. He told us that he wanted to adopt Calvin! He already talked to his wife and they agreed that they want to give this boy an opportunity to study and a good home to live! He also wants teach him optometry and allow him to learn the skill. CONANI will defiantly be involved in placing him there and making sure everything is safe for him.
I cried for an hour in  disbelief. A dominican showing compassion on another dominican. It was so beautiful. I kept apologizing for the tears and telling him they were tears of joy. As I hugged him he began to cry too realizing what he was doing.

I just wanted to share this miracle with you guys! Calvin is going to be safe and with people who love him. God truly answers pray, and in his timing to! God answered this pray in the last hour but His timing is perfect. Thank you Thank you Thank you for your prayers!

We serve a Faithful God!

Seeing God through hard situations.

Dear Family and loved ones,

I am in need of lots of prayer over the next week. One of my oldest friends here is in need. His name is Calvin, he is 13 years old and he is a shoe cleaner. He had six siblings, one died when it was a baby from head trauma and the other died from an unknown disease one day very suddenly at age 19. He has two younger sisters, one is 5 and the other 11 and an older brother age 18. He hasn’t seen his dad in five years and is not sure of his where about. His mother use to live in Hato Mayor (our city) and cleaned houses for a living.

In November my brother donated money to buy Calvin school clothes so that he could attend school here in the city. He went everyday through out November and December. When I came back here in January, Calvin fell off the radar. No one heard from him or seen him. Around February we found him working in a little street food place by the public park. I asked him what he was doing, he told me he moved in with this one lady to work in the city because his mom lives to far out of the town. I didn’t like the situation, but there was nothing I could do. Jessica told him if he finished the school year with good grades she would send him to school with the little boy my mom sponsors – Ricki. Calvin was so excited and ready to go to school.  I saw Calvin working all day and night at this little store, knowing he wasn’t going to school.  The next time I saw him he was sitting on a scooter outside one of the local disco techs. He told me he left the lady’s house and was now getting paid to watch people’s scooters. He said he moved back in with his mom. He still was visiting at the café, not regularly but I still saw him.

Today I saw him for the first time in a week. I gave him a bag of clothes donated by one of my brothers last week and he was carrying it around today. We sat and talked for two hours. He told me his mom told him to go work and clean shoes one day, when he came back his family was gone. They moved to a different city without him. He has no family here, no aunts or uncles, no one.  The house was actually given to Calvin by his grandpa and his mom pawned it for a little over one hundred dollars.

I asked him what is he going to do now? He said he is staying in hotels when he makes enough money and when he doesn’t the lady who used to use him as free work in the store will sometimes let him sleep on her floor. But in reality I know he is sleeping on the streets. He is cleaning shoes and he just kept saying all he wants to do is go to school. He told me he isn’t drinking or doing drugs, although lots of men in the streets have asked him to be a drug mule, moving drugs from one place to another. He tells me he refuses to do it. When I asked him what hotel he stays in, he told me a different one every night and he rotates between them. I was with one of my Dominican friends and they said that it sounds like he is selling out his body in prostitution.  Very common among children his age here.

I asked him if he wanted us to look for his mom but he didn’t seem like he wants us to. I told him I know of some orphanages around the area; him and I are going to check them out. But I have also heard terrible stories about the orphanages here and how they sexually abuse the children.

I am asking for PRAYER! I believe in the power of pray! Please pray for this situation. This boy is a theft and a liar, but that is not by choice. His life has caused him to act this way, he has seen to much in his 13 years of age. I can’t allow him to stay at anyone’s house that I know. But I need to help fix this situation. I need prayer for wisdom on what to do. As you get into your comfortable bed tonight, with a lock on your door, and your children who you love safe in their rooms. Please pray for my friend! I love him very much. He is not in a good, safe, or comfortable situation. He is in a survival situation.  

Please pray for Calvin and than pass this on!

Semana Santa

Hello Friends and Family,

As I reflect back on the first Easter I am reminded of God’s mercy and grace He has given to each of us. I am so thankful for a great God that has defeated the ultimate sin of death and is now reigning above on the heavenly throne!

Here Easter is celebrated a little bit differently, Semana Santa (Holy Week) we celebrate all week by doing nothing, taking off school and work and heading to the nearest beach. The only really thing that happens for the people who don’t head out to the ocean is to sit around and eat sweet beans. Blended up beans with loads of sugar, because we don’t eat enough beans already!! Although it is difficult to not have egg hunts with my nephews or eating huge dinners with loved ones all around. When you are by yourself you begin to reflect on the true meaning of why we celebrate this holiday. I began to be more thankful for the real reason of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter.

The coffee shop has been doing great lately. Although there was lots of disputes through out the staff in March. We are all realizing how hard relationships are, but how God has called us to love each other even if we aren’t feeling loved in return. I am proud of the employees for their humbleness and ability to put others above themselves. Sometimes I feel like I am being blessed more than being a blessing. We are refocusing again on talking to the people coming in to the café instead of  talking about the people who work there.

I have found a great church down here that really preaches the gospel. The people are warm and welcoming and I am getting fed every week! Thank God!

I have also begun to teach English class alongside Justin. He teaches the older kids and I have the younger. Age ranging from 6-11, three nights a week. This has been a lot of fun and I know this will improve their future. If someone knows English, they can go work at the resorts and hotels here and earn very good money. It is a really good job down here.

Other than that, in my free time I am normally spending time with Barb. A missionary down here whom I live with. We spend our time praying together, for everything and everyone. We have both met a Dominican lady name Miguelina who used to live in Canada. She is one of the pray warriors we often visit here as well. She is very educated in gardening and organic growing. We are starting to clear out a piece of donated land to plant a garden by the MGM compound. There is an intern from Slippery Rock University coming down all summer to help with this project as well.

Please keep praying for us here, God has been merciful to us.

In Christ,

Beka Jaussen

Relationships makes it hard.

The little one is my Godson, my friend asked me to be his God mother, Shamil

In all the studying about missions and in all that I believe in about the work of missions I have found that the hardest thing is relationships. But that relationships is the most important part about missions.

Someone can be the richest person in the world but if relationships are broken they can feel like the poorest person in the world. There are four types of relationships that all need to be addressed. First and foremost your relationship with God, your Creator, the Beloved. The most important relationship in your life, if you have this relationship on solid ground, I truly believe the other relationships fall into place.
Second - your relationship with other people, people in your community, your family, your friends, the people you care about, and the people you don't really care about. Having relationships with other people is biblical and God has created us to be relational people (He saw that Adam was alone so He created Eve)
Third- your relationship with yourself, if you hate yourself, or think that you are the greatest person in the world, your relationship with self has broken down. Maintaining a good relationship with self is one of the hardest battles between pride and depression. But this relationship is very important to feel whole.
Fourth- relationship with nature, with your world, with your environment, and with the place you live. Taking ownership of this Earth is part of why God created humans to "Look after the Earth". Having pride and taking care of where you live is a relationship and is in need of your time just like all the others.

Relationships though as humans makes things messy and they are the hard part of not just mission work but living daily lives.
My relationship with God has been a rollercoaster ever since I have became a christian. Like most people I have my mountain tops and my valleys, my sanctification process is not a steady climb up its more like walking the Appalachian Trail. With all its crevice and steady peaks. It has been beautiful and it has been messy. Thanks to God for being the faithful one!

Teaching the espresso machine

My relationship with people has been messy, most of all my days I don't normally see Americans. I am mostly surrounded by Dominicans which puts for interesting days. Most of my days are spent in the market, super market, or different other stores, looking for vendors and buying for the coffeeshop. I know a lot of people in my town and making professional relationships is important and messy. Sticking with my employees when some days I want to fire them. Living life with them, struggling with that as they tell me they have no money. Praying with them that their mother gets out of the hospital, or comforting them as their brother passes away. Eating meals with them, laughing with them, and sometimes (I never claimed to be a saint) yelling at them. We have had frustrating moments, moments of discipline and structure, and moments of forgiveness, and laugher.

This was happening in my paper product vendor's store. I got to play a little to!

Right now me and Luciano are spending a week praying for one of the riches men in Hato Mayor, a huge ladies man and everyone knows him for his fancy cars he drives around. But you can tell he is lonely, he is sad. He comes in the our coffee shop alone. Why does he come into Cafe Del Rey when there is 50 other cafeterias just like ours? He has allowed us to open up conversation not just with him but also I have gotten to have lots of great talks with Luciano. Luciano was scared to talk to him because like Moii (His name) Luciano use to live that life style. I began to explain thats a perfect story of how Christ works, and I being an American and having everything at my fingertips like Moii have a story as to why I left all my material possession for the sake of the gospel. We are on our knees praying for this man and this relationship we are building. The next time he comes in we are sharing the gospel with us. Please join us in prayer as we do this. He is a business owner and involved with lots of politics in town.

The school boy Ricki

My mother is raising money to send a little boy to school. So having relationships with teachers and him and hours of studying and doing homework. And having meetings and shopping for book bags. He was picking on the little kids, and actually was throwing rocks one day. So more meetings and more talking and once again explaining how great an opportunity this is for him. And more homework and more studying.
                                                         
Relationships with people make things messy, take way more hours, but allows you into people life and allows you to trust and be trust, they are hard but rewarding.

Relationship with myself is a struggle while you are a missionary. While being an ocean away from home you can get lonely. Barb and Jessica, two american women I live with will find me crying or complaining and wanting to go home, you fall into depression if you aren't careful. But you can also be very proud, "Look what I have done" type of proud. Satan will use any tactic, how terrible.

Magdelena

Meeting Magdalena a dominican women who I feel in love with as once again given me a love for the Earth and its belongings. She is passionate about organic growing, teaches me how to cook organically here and has begun to start clearing land by MGM compound for an organic garden. She takes pride in the place where she lives, the one MGM American trip we took to her village for a day and cleaned up trash, picked up over 20 bags of garbage. She really loves the Lord and believes He has called us to take care of this land. I love visiting her house and just sitting and talking to such an amazing women. Great things are happening with her!

Please pray for us down here and our relationships, as we are in this for the long hull. The saddest thing is making relationships and just leaving, although its easier, it is more hurtful and sad. These people don't need money these people need a faithful friend. Pray God makes me into this type of person.

An Organization of micro loans and savings accounts - Esperanza

Bank of Esperanza

Head full of Doubts

I realize that through myself nothing is possible but through The One that has created it all, all things are possible.

It is crazy the different types of temptations you have toward sin in the different chapters of life you have. Sin that you feel like you have mortified springs up again and sin that you never struggled with becomes a struggle.

The devil is so smart in these ways.

“The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.” 

― John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

I have found myself mortifying more sin down here than how my life use to be.

Please cry out in prayer for me.

Doubts fill my head daily, overworking can sometimes be the death of your spiritual life. Pleasing others is exhausting and sometimes not beneficial. Learning a new language in a new culture. I am realizing that Rome was not built in a day. Development is not the same as relief work. Development takes time, development means building relationships with people. Development means entering into the culture, finding a local church, planting seeds, getting to know the community. And being in it for the long hull. Which is difficult and hard because we are humans, we all are battling with the flesh daily. We all will disappoint, we all will hurt each other. 

I was telling my employees one day, "I don't want people to walk in here and say "wow look at those perfect christians working here", no I want people to see wow these are imperfect people who love their Lord and want to serve Him."

We aren't called to be perfect, we are called to strive for it. It's a daily uphill battle. But we are called to put on our armor and fight the good fight. 

It's hard to work together in any environment. But development everywhere is getting to know people, sharing their joys, their hurts, their disappointments. 

I have a lot of temptations and doubts that arise all the time but that is when I trust in Him the most. He has me here for a purpose and I am willing to be used.

"Be not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Above all He is faithful and I give up on Him way faster than He ever gives up on me.

The Cafe is doing well, American groups are down here this month so we are all exhausted, but we are cheerful in our work. I am networking with some other organizations down here and I have even met a Dominican lady who wants to start an organic community garden with me. The americans are building a house for one of our supported missionaries Ana and she is beyond excited. You should see her out there in her skirt and shoes with a pick digging right along side of them. Talk about a servant heart! 

Keep Hato Mayor in your prayers this month. There is still so many that are lost. The gospel is needed here so desperately.