Stage 4

The story of the Microfinance Site has gone in stages.

Stage 1: I passed my days walking around the community I hoped to work with one day, mostly just observing, or better said: absorbing. I also spent time 'absorbing' how Esperanza International does MF here in the DR.

Stage 2: I went for it. My Spanish was weak, and the site only existed in my mind and on my computer, but it was time to just go for it.

Stage 3: It actually worked. People borrowed, they paid back, they heard the Gospel and responded to it.

Stage 4: Miriam came along, and the site takes a great leap forward. I started focusing on long-term needs.

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I don't think I've shared exactly how important my Dominican co-worker is to the site. She is the site. When the women are in the hospital, she's their first phone call...literally. When they need an ear to vent to, she goes and she listens.

She wears many hats: pastor, mentor, confidant, teacher, nurse, (oh, and loan officer). She wears each one well, and her investment is paying off. At least one woman has accepted Christ in every group we've started.

I realized just how powerful her ministry was last Sunday at Church. Next to me sat the coordinator of our first group, her husband, her daughter, her grand-daughter, and her grand-daugther's friend. Ramona accepted Christ at a bank meeting about 2 years ago, and now her entire family is following in her footsteps.

This has given me the opportunity to look down the road. I'm less involved in the day-to-day activity of the site. I don't go to all our bank meetings. Instead, I'm focused on the structure and order of the site. Creating an accounting system, writing policy statements, writing down how to do everything, developing a curriculum, raising loan capital, searching for supporters for Miriam. It's a blessing really, because Miriam and I both fit nicely into our 'stage 4 roles'.

Stage 5: Pass the site along. This will be a sad stage, but it's coming. The good news is that I'll be leaving it all in very good hands. More to come on this soon.

Policy Book

This past fall we had a semester student, Margie Ewald, work with us at the Social Work site. She had several responsibilities including leading Bible studies and activities with several of the groups at the site. But her biggest contribution was a site policy book that she completed almost entirely by herself. We came up with a list of 79 issues that we are confronted with in the community (such as adultry, parenting, financial issues, etc) and looked up Bible verses that relate to each of the issues. Then Margie wrote 1-2 paragraphs summarizing where the Bible stands on each of the issues. The idea is that the book will be kept at the site as a reference when these issues come up. Many times Daisy and I are confronted with issues and though we can often share our own opinions and paraphrase what the Bible says, with this book at our fingertips, we can now share with the person exactly what the Bible says and share specific verses with them. We also hope that this book will continue to be a resource for new site leaders that come in this future, so they can know what types of issues they will be dealing with and how the Bible says to confront them. I have been using some of my time at home (between cleaning/cooking/caring for James) to translate it into Spanish (which has been quite the task...79 pages!)

I really like what Margie wrote as the purpose statement of the book:

The purpose and the heart behind this book is that it would be used as a resource to minister to and build relationships with the women, teenagers, and girls of El Callejon. This book was not created to be a policy book on life, a piece of literature to give to someone who is struggling, or a rigid rulebook on how to deal with problems. On the contrary, it was created to be a foundation for heartfelt and personal conversations where Christ can work through us, with words and loving embraces to walk alongside women who are struggling. Because there is no reasonable way to write comprehensive summaries of each of the topics within, this book promotes conversation, thought, and further study. This is simply a resource to do God’s work of building relationships and coming alongside other people who are in need of a friend or someone to talk to. Other uses for this book might include ideas for the formation of Bible studies or personal study.

Margie with Rosa- a girl that comes the activities at the site

Mt. Mogote

Every so often I like to do something special with the boys from El Callejon. Sometimes we'll go to the river for a day. One day I invited them all over to my house for dominos and dessert. It's always a lot of fun and a good bonding experience.

A couple weeks ago I took them all on a hike to the peak of Mt. Mogote at an altitude of 5450 ft. It's a grueling hike. The total climb is about 2000 feet and it's really steep, one of the most difficult short hikes I've ever done.

I pumped the boys up for weeks, using the trip as a way to keep them behaving well. We met in El Callejon on Saturday morning and piled 13 kids into 2 CRVs. The hike takes about 2 hours to climb and I honestly questioned if some of the boys would even be able to make it.

I even told Micael he couldn't come, but then after some whining I let him go on 1 condition: his older brother had to agree to stop and turn back with him if he gave up.

To my surprise, every boy climbed all 2000 ft without a complaint. The peak is breathtaking and you can see the entire city of Jarabacoa and even all the way to Santiago. It was cool to see the exhilaration and sense of accomplishment in their eyes when they made it to the top.

They made me proud.


Francis posing for a picture about half way up. He's one of my leaders and has grown a lot spiritually since the club began 2 years ago.


He hasn't just grown spiritually...He's grown a foot taller this past year. He's old nickname of 'Gordo' no longer applies. He wanted a before and after picture of his gut because he was convinced he was going to lose 10 lbs for the day.


I love this picture. 9 days out of 10 Luis Miguel wears the same torn shirt, pants, and flip flops. This is what he wore for the hike...he thought he was the coolest guy around. In fact, at one point he helped a teenage girl that we passed get down a rock and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. I've never seen someone strut the way he did after that.


The whole crew made it to the top.


"ok, now let's do a crazy one"

1 month!

Our little boy just turned 1 month on Monday. Everyone says this, but time is flying so fast!! He's already gained about 2 pounds and is noticeably bigger (and chubbier). He's starting to look (and eat!) more and more like his daddy every day. He has a lot more control over his movements. He's made a couple beautiful smiles. He can push himself to standing on my lap (with a little help of course). He's had a few poopie diaper overflows on me and others. His sleep intervals at night at getting longer (yay!). He loves to stare at windows. It's true what everyone says that having a baby changes your life completely. It takes 5 times as long to complete a simple task...but it's so worth it! He bring us so much joy. Enjoy some pictures....