Going to the Dominican Republic

This coming Monday Tim and I leave for the Dominican Republic. While there I will be working with our partner that runs a school for undocumented children. These are children that are excluded from getting a public education because they do not have papers showing they were born in the Dominican Republic. We also have a team coming in August that will help continue the construction on the school building. I will also be meeting with a new partner that is using the strategy for wholistic community development called CHE that IGN is now using. The process for building healthy communities takes time and they have spent many years in some of the communities in the DR. I am looking forward to this time to learn from them and see how things progressed for them over time. We (Tim & I) also hope to expand our partnership to taking teams to some of their locations. Pray for doors to open and relationships to deepen.

Thank you for ALL your support! Look for me on the blog and please pray for me and those I will interact with. ( say a special prayer for my language skills, or lack there of… my Spanish still needs a LOT of work! ) MANY BLESSINGS TO YOU!

Also note that IGN has a new address. It is:
IGN
5045 34th St. South Unit 621
ST. Petersburg, FL 33711

In Christ,
Cindie

Sharing Stories from Around the World

Yesterday I (Cindie) had the opportunity to share the ministry of IGN with the Congregation of Mayfair Presbyterian church in Chicago. Everyone welcomed me and made me feel at home and it was a joy to be among them.

During one of the services I was singing praise songs with the congregation and it occurred to me how calm I was despite having to talk in front of everyone in a few moments. Not only was I calm but I felt secure, at home, like everything was right and that I was exactly where I should be, with the people I should be with, doing what I should be doing. Now I am also a behind the scenes kind of person. I love to work the lights, video, anything NOT in the spotlight. So the realization that here at Mayfair Presbyterian church , as well as at other places I have spoken about the ministry, I was not nervous sent a very powerful message to me. It said that I was indeed right where God wanted me, doing what he made me to do, and that I did not need to worry about anything… he’d take care of everything and I just needed to do my part. As I sang I felt as I often do when at churches around the world; welcome, at home and united with other Christ followers in a common goal to love and serve God and love and serve people. The world felt small in a good way; like we are all in this together and together we can make a difference. Each of us finding the purpose for which we were created and acting on it. Finding the sweet spot where you feel you are exactly where you should be, with the people you should be with, doing exactly what you should be doing.

Thank you to all my friends at Mayfair Presbyterian church for your ongoing support, generosity, and encouragement. You are also in my prayers.

Community Health Education Training

What an amazing time Faye, Cindie and I had last week at the Equip International CHE training. We met some wonderful individuals and couples. Connecting with people who are like-minded is such a rare treat for us. We've have more than one moment of frustration trying to explain to friends and family our goals, dreams, vision and mission. We really hope to be able to stay connected with these folks. We laughed, cried and learned a lot together in just one week's time.
Both Cindie and I are eagerly seeking out speaking engagements and have been pretty successful thus far. We only have a couple weeks before we head out to the Dominican Republic so we've got a lot to do in just a short time. If you know any group that might be interested in what we are doing please don't hesitate to have them contact us. The adventure continues on.