christmas is awesome

Dear Everybody -

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

This will be my second Christmas in the Caribbean and I am soo excited for it! Dominicans celebrate on the 24th with what they call the "noche buena." Basically their whole family gets together and its a massive potluck. I've already been invited to a couple different gatherings and I don't think my stomach is going to make it till Christmas without exploding. This is a good thing. haha. I'll also be performing for a holiday party in Cabarete next saturday, assisting with a holiday outreach in the community of Charimicos on the 23rd, and assisting with an English Christmas Eve service at our English speaking congregation. Fun Fun Fun.

I was blessed to be able to go back to Punta Cana this past weekend for a surf contest. We held a service on the beach before the finals on Sunday and the majority of the participants joined us for some worship and the word. Our local CS contact, Rafael also announced that they will be beginning weekly services at the beach from here on out. What a blessing to have two locations of surfers worshiping God every Sunday in the DR.

I've attached a picture of a competition here at Playa Encuentro where CS met the last day of heats. This is Jesus Perdomo leading us in a closing prayer.

PAYPAL!!!

Hey all. Being back home in San Diego this past month was such a blessing. It was great to see everyone and partake in my friends' Bryce and Wes' weddings. I'm back in the DR now though and back to work. We've been busy organizing our first national surf competition for February and bringing down a team from the states. We're also running our national facebook page with weekly devotionals that are sent to our friends nation-wide. Needless to say, I've been loving being back home.

As many of you know, I am only able to be down here because of the financial support from friends and family. If you've given and have committed to giving - THANK YOU!!! If not, don't worry you can now give online via PAYPAL. You will not receive a tax write off by giving through PAYPAL, but your gift will be heart felt. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Paypal site - LINK
website donate page - LINK

Back in SD for a bit

I've currently been back in San Diego, California for 11 days and it is sooo good seeing old friends. While it is evident that we have all changed in the past year, it is still such an encouragement to know that there have been people praying for me while I was in the DR. I will only be here another 2 weeks, but I hope on continuing seeing friends, attempting to fundraise, and getting some cold-water surfing in.
Being in SD has really opened my eyes to the fact that I truly feel home when I am in the Dominican Republic. The relationships and ministries that I have in the DR have become more familiar and comfortable than here in the US. I consider it a blessing.
God has really been opening my eyes recently to what it means to pursue significance more than success. Romans 12:3 states that and because of God's gracious gift to me I say to everyone of you; Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the faith that God has given you. We're only doing what God has called us to do and we can only do it by HIS grace by acting in LOVE within the community that he has placed us. It would help us all to live and work with the idea that God doesn't call the qualified, but rather qualifies the called.

1st national leaders meeting

On September 17th, 2010 we held our first national leaders meeting for Christian Surfers Dominican Republic in the capital city of Santo Domingo. It was a huge blessing seeing everybody come together from different parts of the island. Representatives from Cabarete, Bavarro, and Nagua were present. We all arrived around lunch time and after an amazing meal, we got down to business. Our current initiatives for 2011 are as follows:
1- Feb 4-6 CSDR's first national surf competition. A weekend of activities including a concert, a movie premiere, and a morning beach service. We're hoping to have a bus from Punta Cana provide transportation from Punta Cana, through Santo Domingo, and up the North Coast to Cabarete and back.
2- National Camp-Out Iniative. In order to continue with the spiritual growth of our local surfers we will be hosting 3 local camp-outs in Cabarete, Nagua, and Bavarro. In lieu of these activities, we will be hosting a national camp-out next fall in Bavarro.
3- National Facebook Page. To post weekly bible studies structured for surfers by surfers, promote the prayer and support of all surf events nationally, and connect surfers nationally.

School of Music Starts up again

Last Tuesday, our little group of musicians were proud to start up the school of music for this school year. Most of all the kids have come back and are trying to shake off the rust from the couple months free of playing. There is one kid named Junior in specific who at the age of 12 has begun playing with our Spanish youth band behind the drumset. It’s been very exciting to see him from the start and even more exciting seeing him help teach some of the new guys some of the basics (even though they may be 6-7 years older than him).
We’ve also been able to hire a new guitar teacher this year named Lardwin who plays guitar with me at our English Service. He attends one of the bigger churches in the area and is a regionally renown guitarist. We’ve been very excited to have him with us and it’s allowed us to expand our amount of students. It’s amazing how God has been blessing us down here.
My current plans are to take a one month break from the Dominican Republic from September 21st thru October 18th. I will spend a couple days in Costa Rica learning from the Christian Surfers ministry over there and then head back to California for a couple weddings, seeing old friends, and fundraising opportunities. Please let me know if you would like me to come speak about what God is doing in the DR at your church or small group. I am currently trying to plan a couple more fundraising opportunities.

Santo Domingo Trip with Papito

On Monday, August 2nd a local Christian Surfer named Papito and myself took a trip to Santo Domingo to meet up with a mission team from California doing ministry within the surf community down there. Papito was able to share at a local youth group what God has been doing in the DR among the surfers and how God has impacted his life personally. Papito is one of our most faithful members of Christian Surfers at Playa Encuentro and is currently ranked #1 in the national rankings. This trip also allowed us to make contacts with many pastors in California whose hearts are moved by the surfing community in the Dominican Republic.

Nagua, RD Competition

This past weekend the Surf Community in the Dominican Republic united for the fourth national contest to make the national team. It was a weekend of poor waves, but bringing everyone together held enough joy that sustained the positive atmoshpere. We were blessed to host a bible study Sunday morning before the finals right on the beach with a large majority of those competing. Isaac, a local surfer to Nagua shared his testimony. It was a huge blessing hearing from him and connecting with him in order to impact our national surf community. We were able to make a lot of other connections as well in uniting Christian Surfers around the entire country. Its a true blessing to see God moving nationally through a ministry that started on one simple beach.

Noah's Arc Surf Flick PC

About 3 weekends ago, myself and 3 other local surfers from the north coast went to the far corner of the country (Punta Cana) in a rental car to assist our brothers in putting on a christian surf flick for their local surf community. It was a full weekend of activities. About 40-50 local surfers got together friday night to watch the movie and yours truly performed an acoustic set after the movie. It was great to see nearly the whole community of surfers together in a Christian setting. Then the next day everyone got together at Macao beach for a BBQ and a local Pastor formally blessed the Surf School/Shack. Our friends at Macao beach are our first contacts in creating a national network of Christian Surfers here in the Dominican Republic. Please be praying for Rafaelito, Gustavo, Jesse, and Armando as they continue to influence their local community of Surfers for Jesus.

Change in support

As of July, 2010 my support will be run through Christian Surfers North America. I am still working under New Missions, however Christian Surfers NA will be processing my funds for me. Thank you all soo much for your support and continued assistance as I’m here in the Dominican Republic. Please see my donate page on my website for more info. www.dmmissions.com

wow its been awhile

I am so sorry i haven't been in touch better the last couple months, but it has been busy.

In order to give ya guys a better idea of what i do down here, i created a quick flick that you can view if you go here.

School of music - Has been growing and I'm currently paying one and sometimes two student teachers to help with the lessons. There is a section about our school of music coming out in a New Missions newsletter soon. I'll definitely keep you posted on that.

Christian Surfers - we're currently working on our official affiliation with Christian Surfers International. Cal Fisher of CSI just visited us and slowly, but surely we're forming a network around the whole country of Christian Surfers. We're currently seeing anywhere from 10-30 surfers meet weekly for a bible study. We had a BBQ last week and had over 50 in attendance. There is a lot of excitement amongst us to grow our ministry here as well.

Upcoming travel plans - I will be in Cleveland, OH for Jesse and Ashley's wedding from May 17 - 24. I will remain in the DR for most of the summer as growth and other people's travel plans are increasingly making my presence here a necessity. I hope to return to California in August.

Walking on Water movie premiere

On Thursday, February 11th our community of Christian Surfers held a movie premiere at Colegio Nueva Vida in Sosua, Dominican Republic. The movie premiered was Walking on Water which is a newly released christian surf flick. My friend Michele Raymundo came down from Christian Surfers Encinitas to assist us with the event. We created flyers, handouts, and provided transportation to and from the event from three different communities. The event was sponsored by five different local surf/kite surf schools and apparel companies. The event showcased all 5 sponsors, surf photography by a local artist, two local surfboard shapers, and a local rock band. Food was provided at the event for a low cost and the movie was shown through a HD projector and killer sound system. A local christian surfer within our community named Jesus was able to share the good news of Christ after the movie.

All in all, over 100 individuals from the local surf community were able to make it out to the event. However, the triumph in which we are more grateful is that one local surfer gave his heart to Christ. His name is Gabbie and when Jesus invited people to accept Christ, Gabbie came running forward. Gabbie is a surfer we have been loving on intentionally in the past 6 months or so. Gabbie came to a place in life where he was ready to just throw all his pain and loneliness to the ground. He came to the movie premiere all dressed up with the goal of accepting Christ as his Savior that evening. I was almost in tears at the beauty of the moment. In front of all his peers and the surf community he accepted Christ and is currently becoming involved in the local church.

The success of this event has lead to showing the movie in two local schools and plans are being made to premiere the flick on the east coast of the island as well in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. God is doing great things in the surf community here and our group of christian surfers is becoming more and more internationally renown through different organizations and visiting surfers.

As Many of you have already heard, the Earthquake in Haiti has effected New Missions in Haiti as well. Here is a link to Help.

Here is a letter from our site in Haiti -

We had communication from our team in Haiti this morning, and everyone is doing well.

Currently, we are working on two evacuation plans. The first plan is through the government and consists of using either a boat or helicopters for the evacuation. The second plan would be a private evacuation using our resources from the Dominican Republic.

Despite this tragedy, the team is fulfilling the mission that God has called them to. We believe God has each and every one of them there for a purpose.

We have major damage to buildings in Haiti. The destruction is beyond repair. Numerous buildings will need to be torn down and re-built. Temporary structures will need to be erected in the meantime. We are still reviewing the overall damage to our 22 elementary schools and High School.

Here is the latest update on deaths:
* a kindergarten teacher died
* three of our school children died, one from Birey and two from Amber Pere
* numerous people died in Leogane when buildings collapsed

Here is the latest update on building damage:
* two elementary school buildings were damaged beyond repair
* our medical clinic building is damaged beyond repair
* our Bordmer office is damaged beyond repair
* two churches are damaged beyond repair
* we have Haitian men traveling to each location reviewing damage
and we will have another updated list of building damage.
Please donate to our Earthquake Reconstruction Fund.

We will need to re-build. As of now, our top priority is hiring nurses for each of our 22 elementary school locations and High School to provide medical care in the aftermath of this historic earthquake. As there will be an increased need for medical care, we will be right in their area available to meet the need.
Please donate to our Medical Clinic ministry to make this possible.

The amazing sound in the middle of all the tragedy came from villagers singing songs of praise along the road Tuesday night. The power of the Gospel prevails.

Today, we distributed food to two villages and all our schools already have food on hand to cook and prepare as children return to school very soon. Immediately, we will purchase more rice and bulgur (wheat) to meet the needs in the surrounding villages.
Please donate to Rice for Haiti to help in this effort.

The mission team is safe here at New Missions. We have adequate supplies to care for our team members. Concentrated efforts from Central Florida are being organized to help provide transportation for the team here to leave as soon as possible. We thank God for His protection.

Please continue to remember our New Missions team and the entire country of Haiti in your prayers.

Visiting the family before heading back south

There were snow flurries in Sarasota, Florida this weekend!! I was so not a fan. I had a layover in Kansas City, MO on the way back home and there was snow everywhere. The wind was super strong as well so it was blowing the snow all over the place. There was a moment when I was getting off the plane where I thought someone had shot me in the face it was so cold! I have so much respect for those of you who live up there. For realz.
Anyways, it’s been great visiting the family despite the weather so far. It’s a huge blessing having a loving and supporting family and it’s been great to relax and hang with them this week. I’m currently working on updating the website to include a supporters page and more organized photos page so please stay tuned in the next week or so for these updates to take place!