Trying to Catch Up

Recently, I received a request for updates, and it made me realize how much time has passed since I last posted on our blog. Boy am I behind! :)

I'll try to give the short version of the last couple months from both the ministry view & ours.

The Ministry

• Since the 1st of January, we have a Dominican family living out on the land. The father works for us as a guard. He's an extremely hard worker & does such a great job. His oldest daughter is in our 4-year-old class. Her name is Beba.
• We've started to break ground! Freedom is in the process of building a large garage to store the bus. In addition, we have mapped out the first building & sizes of the 4 classrooms we hope to build by the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
• Tomorrow, February 12th, is our official ground breaking ceremony. There are several government officials, educational leaders, and more coming to celebrate the beginning of Freedom here in the Dominican Republic. Only by God's grace were we able to set this up.
• Tax free! Within the last week, Freedom was given a letter stating that we do not need to pay city taxes to build. It's obvious that God is in control!

Our Lives

•  We made the much awaited decision on what the coming years hold for us. As of January 1st, Kurt & I became full-time missionaries with Freedom International Ministries, Inc. 
• Now, we are trying to raise the support needed to live here in the Dominican Republic. Although the decision to stay was tough, we realized that we are most fulfilled when we glorify God with our lives. Living here & working with Freedom gives us that fulfillment :) 
• Visitors in January. Kurt's parents came to see us again the beginning of January. We had a blast spending time together! They encouraged us throughout the week & were able to share our vision here with Freedom.

Overall, the last couple of months have brought many new things. I'm continually amazed at the way God works in our lives in the lives of the people we work with. For us, there is so much that needs to be done if we want to continue impacting lives here. You'd think that after making that one tough decision, that the rest would be easy. However, there are still a lot of small things to figure out, so we appreciate your prayers & support for the coming months. Thanks so much for investing in us!

Love, Katie

Happy New Year!

We rang in another New Year here in the Dominican Republic. It wasn't quite as crazy as last year out in the bateyes, but it was still spent with amazing friends. We enjoyed the evening at the Mitchener's with the Freedom team playing Nertz, Euchre, Quelf, Hearts, & much more. The night was filled with lots of laughs & great memories. We definitely brought in the New Year with our very own style :)

Celebration

Merry Christmas to all of our friends & family. As always, it is hard to spend Christmas so far away from those we love. However, we did enjoy the holiday with lots of great people. We celebrated with the Freedom team on Christmas Eve Day by having a huge carry-in, playing games, & spending time together. On Christmas Day, Kurt & I went out to the bateyes with the Mitchener's. One of our Dominican families made rice, beans, & chicken for us. We spent time hanging out with them, playing dominoes & walking around the batey. It turned out to be a fantastic day filled with lots of laughs & smiles.

Thanksgiving!

It was a full house for Thanksgiving at the Simos'. We enjoyed a delicious meal with all the fixings! I'm not sure when the last time was that I ate so much. Oh wait, last Thanksgiving :) Not only did we stuff ourselves, but we played cards all day. It was definitely a day for giving thanks! We are so blessed to be here in the Dominican Republic with our "family" doing what we can to glorify God with our lives.

Trade & Barter Day

I teach History to the missionary kids every Tuesday & Thursday morning. As part of the curriculum, we had a Trade & Barter Day a couple of weeks ago. The kids got in groups of 2 & had to set up a "shop." We had a butcher, baker, & barber shop. Each group brought items that they would be selling at their shop & items they would be bartering with. Also, they enjoyed dressing up according to what shop they worked at. We had a blast learning! They all agreed that it was a lot more fun than reading the lessons & taking quizzes :)

Freedom Intern

At the beginning of November, Freedom hosted an intern for 2 weeks. Her name was Amanda Vore, & she was at the Cline household for the duration of her stay. Kurt & I had a great time getting to know her. It was definitely a change to our routine, but she quickly fit in. I know Kurt was excited to have her there because that meant I had to cook every night :) We enjoyed talking to Amanda about Freedom & having her participate in Preschool & a one-week VBS. She also helped prepare crafts & other activities for the preschool teachers. I think she had a great time & so did we. The two weeks passed quickly, but we were glad she was able to come! Thanks Amanda for visiting the DR & learning more about Freedom to share with others :) 

Land Ho!

Praise the Lord, Freedom has land! Freedom purchased a total of 15 acres right outside a small town called Ramon Santana. The land sits back away from the road & is relatively flat. Right now, there's not much to see but lots of trees & cows. However, we are ready to start building.

It's a step-by-step process, but to give you an idea of our goal, check out the Building Page on our website - "Brick by Brick, we will build." 

Join us as we continue to strive towards our ultimate goal of "equipping people to engage culture according to their design." Our plan is to use the tool of a school to "develop life-changing relationships" with the children we come into contact with so that they might become "catalysts for change in the Dominican Republic."