Monday, December 21, 2015

December 2015 Prayer Letter



Ramos Newsletter – December 2015

 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 KJV

Merry Christmas from the Dominican Republic!

There is a very special feeling to this time of the year.  As we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ we are so thankful to God for sending his Son to the earth to be our Savior.  This truly is a time of great joy for all God’s people.  We are so thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Dominican Republic, in the United States, and all around the world.  Jesus came to earth to save us and that is truly something to be celebrated.
Immigration Process
In our last update, I explained that one of the reasons for our visit this summer was because I needed to complete some paperwork and apply for a visa for my residency process here in the Dominican Republic.  After we came back from the states, we attempted to complete the immigration process, but they rejected my paperwork and I was required to return to the United States again in October in order to apply for additional documents.  This time, Eddy stayed behind in the DR.  After a very long process with many complications, we are so thankful to be able to tell you that after my second trip to the states, the Dominican government did finally accept my paperwork.  We are now just waiting for them to finish processing, while we decide what the next step will be.  We appreciate your prayers in this area and are so happy that they have been answered.

 Ministry Work


Since this summer, we have continued to serve God here in the Dominican Republic.  We received and hosted two more teams.  The first was The Gathering Team from Pennsylvania.  They came down with 10 people for ten days in August.  We then had a small team of college students from Austin come down for ten days as well.  We really enjoyed hosting both of these teams and serving God with them here in the DR. 
 
At the church Eddy and I have been serving as directors of children’s church.  Many of the children in our program come on a bus without their parents to church each week from a neighborhood called Monte Adentro.  On Saturdays, Eddy has continued to evangelize and lead Bible Study in that same neighborhood in an attempt to reach the adults of the area as well, especially the parents of the children that come to our church.   We are currently practicing and preparing for a small Christmas program that the children will participate on December 20.  The children will be inviting their parents and families to church that Sunday.  We hope that this will help open the door to more adults and parents attending our church weekly as well.


Working with Sharing the Vision has also opened the door for us to build relationships with others serving here in the Dominican Republic as well.  In the last newsletter, I spoke about the different ministries that we partner with and how much we enjoy building those relationships.  In addition to that, we have also started building relationships with other missionaries serving nearby as well.  One way we have done that is that we have recently been accepted into a missionary co-op called Agape Flights.  The primary reason for this, is that by being part of this co-op, we now have an address in Florida where we can receive mail and packages. Our mail is then flown from Florida to the Dominican Republic on a missionary plane.  Up until this point, we have only been able to receive things from the states if they were brought down by a team in a suitcase, so this is very exciting for us.  Additionally, being a part of this co-op has allowed us to get to know and form relationships with other missionaries serving here in the country.  In case you would like to add us to your Christmas card list or send us other mail, our address is:
 
Eddy and Carrie Ramos, STI 28509
c/o Agape Flights
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL 34285

Ministry Preparation

Eddy has been attending his theology classes regularly since August.  He goes to school every Friday evening from 6 to 10, which allows him to go to school and work his complete work with the ministry as well.  He has been unable to find an English class that doesn’t conflict with our church responsibilities, but he has continued to work on his English daily and has made a lot of progress in that area.  In November, both of us helped a fellow missionary with their team that was visiting by serving as translators.  Eddy translated their English to Spanish very well and with little difficulty, he was even asked to translate during the church service and did very well.  We are very encouraged to see how God has been working and helping Eddy in his studies and with his English.

Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, for your interest in our mission work, and for your prayers and support.  We are truly grateful for each and every one of you and pray for you and your families as well.  We know that we have an amazing group of supporters in the states interceding for us in prayer and supporting us with words of encouragement and we thank God for you all.  Specifically, we would like to ask for your prayers for wisdom as we continue to discern God’s calling in our lives.  We would also like to ask for your prayers that God may provide for our physical needs as well.  This year we had several unexpected costs including my surgery this summer, the purchase of a vehicle, and my immigration process (with the additional trips to the states.)  We are now attempting to “catch up” with our finances and monthly needs and would appreciate your prayers in that area as well.

Looking Forward

We have a team arriving on Christmas night that will be with us until January 3.  From there we will beginning “team season” so there will be a lot going on here for the next several months.  We plan to continue sending updates and newsletters as often as possible.  Additionally, I will try to update my blog pretty regularly with “Glimpses into our Life”. The website is  www.pathwaytojesus-carrie.blogspot.com.  Please feel free to check it out and comment or ask questions. 

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14 KJV                                                                                                                                               

Blessings,
                                                                                                Eddy and Carrie Ramos

Friday, December 18, 2015

Glimpse into our Life - Dominican Christmas Trees

Celebrating Christmas in the Dominican Republic is quite different than celebrating in the United States.  The traditions are much different.  For example, this morning we were kept awake from about 4 am until about 6 am by a group of "mananitas" walking around our neighborhood playing drums and singing and celebrating the season. 

This will be my fourth Christmas spent in the Dominican Republic and each year I notice new differences in the way we celebrate.  This year I noticed several unique Christmas trees up around the country.  Finally, last week, I started taking pictures when I spotted them.  Here are a few of the pictures.  Can you tell what they are made out of?




All of these Christmas trees are made out of plastic bottles.  They even put lights in them so that at night they are lit up.  I have seen these all over the country in different neighborhoods, and I always think that they look really cool.  Has anyone seen anything like this in the United States?

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Glimpse into our Life - More Children's Church

Hi everyone.  So much has been going on with us over the last several months, but for today, I want to talk to you a little bit more about children's church.  We have spent a lot of time over the last couple of months working on our children's ministry; from organizing our supplies, to moving to our new children's church room, to finding Spanish curriculum and organizing our teacher schedule.

Sometimes being a director of children's ministry looks like sitting with children and talking about Jesus, and sometimes it looks like spending an hour sharpening colored pencils.  Although all of our responsibilites are varied, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve the kids of our church in whatever way that they need.

Over the last month, we have been focused on Christmas with the children.  The children have been invited to participate with the prasie and worship team for our Christmas service this coming Sunday.  They have been practicing their songs and I have been teaching them the signs for a couple of the songs and they are so excited!  Most of the children in the program come to church without their parents, so for the last two weeks they have been coloring and bringing home invitations to give to their parents inviting them to come to church and see them participate in the worship service.  On our weekly visit to their neighborhood on Saturday, Eddy and I will be visiting their homes and inviting their families personally as well.  We appreciate your prayers as we attempt to reach the families of these children that are so dear to us.

The children coloring the invitations to give to their families.

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I plan on taking lots of pictures and some video of the children on Sunday and hope to post of video on here next week for you all to see.  So please check back to see our beautiful children celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Glimpses int our Life - Children's Church

If you had a chance to read our newsletter, you may remember seeing that Eddy and I are now the directors of the children's ministry at our church.  There is a group of children (and a few adults) that come to church each Sunday morning on a van that the church provides from a neighborhood called Monte Adentro.  This past Sunday, the van couldn't pick them up so several of us from the church, who have vehicles, picked up the kids for church and brought them home again after church.  Here is a picture that I took of us in the car bringing a few of the kids home after church.


Here are a couple other pictures of us with the kids from our children's ministry.


Friday, August 28, 2015

July 2015 Newsletter

Earlier this month, we sent out a newsletter to our mailing list.  I decided to post it here for those of you who did not receive it.

(If you did not receive this letter and would like to be added to our mailing list (or if you are on our mailing list, and did not receive it) please email me at carrie.bea1982@yahoo.com and I will update the list.)



Ramos Newsletter - July 2015



Eddy and Carrie Ramos
Missionaries serving in:
Santiago, Dominican Republic

“…Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”  Colossians 4:17





 Greetings from the Dominican Republic!  Blessing to you and your families!  Six months have passed since we made the transition to “Sharing the Vision” so we decided to write you all to update you on what we have been up to over the last six months 

STV Property
First we would like to thank you all for your continued support and prayers as we follow God down this new path in ministry.  Eddy remains confident in his call to one day be a pastor.  Our working with Sharing the Vision is one step in that direction.  We are working side by side with Jim and Teresa White on a daily basis, serving with them and helping with the mission work that they are currently doing in the DR.  We are also receiving invaluable church leadership training from them, which will help us down the road when God calls us to a church.

Sharing the Vision (STV)

Jim and Teresa
We would like to give you a little background information on Sharing the Vision and their ministry.  Sharing the Vision is a ministry founded by a missionary couple named Jim and Teresa White.  Their mission statement is evangelism and making disciples. There are a few different branches to their ministry.  The first is the church.  Jim and Teresa planted a church called International Christian Church (ICC) five years ago. 


Jim is the pastor of the church and Teresa is the worship leader.  The church has many of its own ministries and outreaches as well. 

Mission Team House
Along with their church ministry, Sharing the Vision also has a very large team ministry.  They host several teams from all over the US every year. Additionally, they believe in partnering with and mentoring the leaders of other ministries that are doing good work in the DR, especially nationals that have started their own ministries.  A future goal of Sharing the Vision is to build a discipleship training center, where people who feel called to missions can come and receive discipleship training before being placed on the mission field.  They hope to break ground on the first stage of the school this fall.

Eddy and I have been attending ICC (church) for almost two years.  So we were already very familiar with the church ministry and had been involved in some of the church’s ministries before transitioning to Sharing the Vision.  However, since January we have become much more involved in all areas of the ministry.  What has kept us the busiest, however, is the team ministry.

Team Ministry

Jacobe Team

We hosted four teams between the months of January and April.   The first team was the Jacobe team, they along with two other men spent several days in January working on the construction of the new mission house on the STV property in order to help be prepared for the teams who would arrive later in the month. 
We then hosted two teams, which were more “typical” STV teams.  These team visited and ministered to all of the ministries that we partner with as well as ICC (our church) and its children’s ministry.  In January we hosted the Remnant Team, a small team from Indiana, and then in March, we hosted a large team from New Castle, IN.  Both of these churches have sent teams in the past and we look forward their future teams visiting again.

The Remnant Team
A typical STV team stays for about 10 days.  One difference from the teams we have hosted in the past is that they are not usually focused on construction.  Although each team does spend a couple days helping at the STV property working on projects, they are mostly focused on ministry.  Often teams have pastors as part of their team and they preach in different churches in the community that we have relationships with.  They also spend a day visiting and blessing each of the different ministries that we partner with and mentor.

We also hosted a team called “The Grannies on a Mission”.  This was a team that was very special to me beccause my mom helped oraginze it.  They stayed with us the whole week and attended church with us both Sundays.  They spent a few days helping at Pathway to Jesus School.  They then spent a few days serving Sharing the Vision, our neighbors, and a couple of the ministries that we partner with.

New Castle Team
Ministries We Partner With

Corinthians 3:9 “For we are all fellow workers, laborers together, with and for God…”

Hogar Infantil Visitación de Jesús is an orphanage in Santiago that we have partnered with for a few years.  They have 16 children ages 3 to 16.  Some of the children have special needs.  Our teams bless the orphanage with groceries and pizza for the kids.  They also plan an activity to do with the kids and will sometimes do a project such as building a swing set or any other small project that needs to be done around the house.

Team Meeting
New Hope Academy is a school and home for girls.  Their mission statement is “Dreaming for the girls in the barrio the same dreams we have for our own daughters.”  We bring the women of each team to have a tour of the ministry and pray for the girls.  Some teams choose to bless the ministry by bringing down items that they need or providing money for new uniforms.   Some of our teams have planned activities and lessons to do with the girls as well.  For example, the Granny team did an art project and a baking class with the girls. 

A young Dominican couple in the capital have started a street outreach ministry in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the DR as well as a prison ministry.  We bring our teams down to the capital to participate in an outreach in that neighborhood and the men of the team spend a morning in the prison ministering to the prisoners there.

Grannies on a Mission
A Haitian couple in the capital have planted a church (in Creole) that we partner with as well.  Our teams attend a worship service at their church and lead a VBS for the children of their church and the surrounding neighborhood.

There is a children’s ministry in Haina that we are building a relationship with.  We are very excited about this ministry.  They have a homework club, in which children of the neighborhood come to receive academic help.  They spend half the time doing homework and the other half receiving a Bible class.  Our teams come and lead a fun, VBS type activity for all of the kids.

At ICC, we have a very large children’s ministry.  Every week a bus goes and picks up a bus full of kids bring them to attend our worship service.  They worship with us and then we have children’s church for them during the sermon.  Our teams often plan the lessons for children’s church and also lead a VBS for the kids as well.

ICC Praise Team, Outdoor Service, Monte Adentro
ICC

ICC is a very diverse church.  We have members that are originally from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the United States, and Brazil.  We worship every week in Spanish, English, and Creole (the language spoken in Haiti) and all of the sermons are translated into Spanish or English as needed.  Eddy and I have been very active in the church for a while, but in the last year have gotten even more involved.

ICC kids
Eddy and I both have been involved in the different outreaches and ministries at ICC. The ministry that I am the most involved with at the church is in the leadership of the children’s ministry.  Eddy is a part of the praise team and has led worship on some occasions.  He has also been a children’s church teacher about a year.  This summer he was elected onto the consistory of the church.  He is also starting a community Bible Study in Monte Adentro (a neighborhood in which our church is focused on reaching and where most of the children of our children’s ministry are from).  Eddy and I have also just accepted the church’s request that we take over the Children’s Church ministry completely and have been named Directors of the Children’s Ministry.

Our work with Sharing the Vision

Apart from the work that we do at the church, Eddy and I both help prepare for and host teams.  We love hosting teams and look forward to the times when we have teams here visiting.

ICC kids
Along with helping with teams, on a daily basis, Eddy helps oversee the STV property, the workers and the maintenance.  There is always construction, improvement, and projects going on at the property that Jim needs help with.  In addition to this, Eddy is receiving pastoral training from Jim as well.  He is also starting his theology and English classes within the next couple of weeks.

I (Carrie) have stepped into a few different roles in STV.  I help Teresa plan for and communicate with teams that we will be hosting (creating schedules, planning menus, creating budgets, etc.)  I have also been given the responsibility of communicating with and fostering our relationship with several of the different ministries that we partner with.  Additionally, I have been helping with the administration of the ministry in the area of finances and I am being trained in the accounting of the ministry.  I also help with the management of the mission house. 

Our Visit to the States
Eddy
Early this summer, Eddy and I had to take an unexpected trip to the states.  This trip was necessary for two reasons.  Eddy and I have been working on my residency and nationalization process here in the DR for about a year.  In May, we found out from our lawyer that the immigration laws had changed and that we had to travel to the United States to complete a visa process in the Dominican consulate there, before returning to the DR and continuing the residency process here.  She also told us that this process should be done before July 1.  Since the process takes several weeks, we needed to plan to arrive in the states by the end of May.  Additionally, I had been having some medical issues and around that same time had found out that I needed to surgery to have my gallbladder removed.  So we planned that surgery for while we were in the states as well.

The process for my visa ended up being a lot more work and taking much longer than we originally thought that it would, however, in the end, we successfully completed the process in the states and are now continuing the process here in the DR.  My surgery also went well and had no complications.  We appreciate your prayers as we continue my residency process in the DR and as we do some fundraising as the surgery and immigration process has presented some unplanned costs.


Young Leaders Activity at our house
Since our trip was planned at the last minute and we didn’t know what the surgery and recovery and visa process would look like; we were not able to organize or plan church presentations or meetings.  We apologize if we were not able to see you while we were in town, but we look forward to presenting in your churches as well as updating you all in person on our next trip to the states.

Looking Forward

Please keep us in your prayers over the next few months.  We will be hosting two more mission teams in August and another in December.  Eddy will also be starting his theology and English classes in August as well.  He is looking forward to continuing his education and his efforts to be well prepared and trained for his calling.

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, for your interest in our mission work, and for your prayers and support.  We plan on sending another update at the end of the year, so keep an eye out for that around Christmas.  In the meantime, I do update my blog pretty regularly with “Glimpses into our Life” so if you can’t wait until Christmas for another update, please feel free to check out our blog.  www.pathwaytojesus-carrie.blogspot.com  Dios les bendiga!

“ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

Blessings,
Eddy and Carrie Ramos