The Witch in the Bathroom

My last week in the Dominican Republic was probably one of the most special weeks of my life. For the past couple of years I have been working with a wonderful woman Ketty Figueroa. Ketty is an educator, pastor’s wife, and minister who began a small school in a barrio slum of the capital city of Santo Domingo many years ago. Since 2004, Ketty has been a part of the outreach we have been doing to reach girls involved in prostitution. It was through this outreach that Ketty felt the need to begin a children’s home to receive children of prostitutes and abandoned kids that we were finding through our contacts in the red light districts. Ketty had no funding except from her local church where she and her husband were pastors. The church found a home to rent they relied on donations of clothing and food for the children.

The home that she was renting was really falling apart and not an adequate place for the children. The bathrooms had plumbing problems and they always smelled like urine. Yet at least in this home the children were loved, fed, educated and taken to church. I began to dream with Ketty about a new home for the kids. It was my sincere desire to help her purchase a home so that the church’s money could provide for the needs of the girls. In response to our prayers God sent the Women’s Ministries of Colorado and Utah to help us. The women raised enough money to pay for one year’s rent on a better and bigger home. They also came to paint and fix it up.

After one week of renovation work on the new house, we would bring the kids in to see their new home and celebrate with a party for all the children of the home. The women had brought new clothes and shoes for all the children. They also brought a brown baby doll for each one of the 17 girls and trucks for the 2 boys. Needless to say the children were elated and thrilled with all the blessings. Each girl found their bed full of gifts and began to play with the baby dolls and try on their new cloths.

For me it was one of the BEST days of my life. It was as though the combined joy of each one of the children was heaped inside my heart. I laughed and played with the girls as they looked over their gifts. One of the girls, Daysi, caught my eye as she admired the beautiful new purple butterfly dress that was given to her.

Daysi is eleven years old and the oldest of three sisters that came to Ketty through contacts in the brothels of Boca Chica. She is one of the quieter girls in our home. She LOVES to get attention and longs for it, but she would never demand it. It is as though she feels unworthy of any special attention. So I wanted to make sure that I shared with her this special moment.

“Daysi, would you like to try on your new dress?” I asked.

She smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go change in the bathroom.” I responded.

A worried look replaced the excitement in her face. “Will you come with me?” she asked.

“Of course.” I found it somewhat strange that she wanted my help to change in the bathroom but I was delighted to share with her this special moment. As we entered the bathroom she almost froze with fear and explained with a quivering voice, “I’m scared to go into the bathroom alone.”

“Why Daysi? What’s wrong?”

She then began to explain that before Sister Ketty had taken her in she lived in a horrible place that had a witch in the bathroom. All of the sudden our giddy happiness was replaced with the haunting past. I had so many questions about this “witch in the bathroom”. Yet I sensed that these answers and explanations could never erase the fear that I saw in those beautiful chocolate brown eyes---only the powerful work of Jesus could erase that fear.

“Daysi,” I responded, “I want you know that this place is nothing like the place where you used to live. The place where you used to live may have been filled with many awful things and awful experiences but this new home if filled with love. There is love in the kitchen and love in the bedrooms and even the bathrooms are filled with love. I want to pray right now and ask Jesus to erase your memory of the witch in the bathroom.

“Jesus,” I began, “by the power and authority of your mighty name I ask you to remove every awful memory in the mind of my precious Daysi. Come in this moment Holy Spirit and may your presence erase the haunting image of the witch so that it could never enter her thoughts again. I come against the enemy and his wickedness and I remind him that this home is dedicated to the glory of God alone and that these children are precious treasures that belong to Almighty Father God. I pray that every day Daysiwill grow in the knowledge of her Heavenly Father’s love and may that perfect love take away every fear. In the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.”

Tears were glistening on both of our cheeks when I finished praying. The fear in Daysi’s face was replaced with a big smile. “How about trying on your dress?” I asked. She nodded with excitement and quickly changed her clothes.

Looking at her with that pretty butterfly dress, I reminded Daysi that the butterfly was once an ugly caterpillar. His past was ugly but his new life is beautiful. I told her that she is very much like that butterfly. The past may have been ugly but now everything is new. She has new home and a new life and her future is certain to be beautiful.

The Empowerment Event - Three days of prayer and fasting

The above photo is one of our Castle teams posing in this year's T-shirt. Our theme for the year has been "Make your best play!" We are challenging our evangelism teams to do give their best for Jesus. As you can see we drew inspiration from the national sport of Dominican Republic; that is baseball.The leader of this team sent us the following is an e-mail to our Castle offices after we had concluded our three day prayer and fasting event. We call it “Empoderamiento”. (empowerment) This year’s theme was “Get in shape--No Pain, no gain!”

HI SUGEILY! (Our administrative director)

GOD BLESS YOU A WHOLE BUNCH!

I have to tell you that I always enjoy the empowerment fast and I just have to share with you a testimony that happened the day we left the event. My team and I went to pick up a bus to return home to Santiago and on the way to the bus station there was a motorcycle accident and we saw a woman passenger fly of the motorcycle. It was horrible and none of us will ever forget it. When we got on our bus there was a group of people drinking, speaking vulgarities and making a lot of noise. We just ignored them and since the bus wasn’t playing any music on the radio, we started to sing and worship

About halfway through our trip we saw that another accident had just occurred, also a motorcycle accident. The man was dead and his body was in bad condition. It was really impacting to see that. I was filled with so much sadness, because the Lord had directed me to think about the conditions of their souls and that most likely they did not know Him.

So, a few of my youth felt the same and we decided to share with the people in the van. Especially those who were so vulgar and drinking. It was amazing that when I got up to speak there was this great silence and everyone paid attention. One of the other girls on my team picked up her Bible and started to talk about the love of God and the rest of us began to intercede. To make a long story short, seven adults accepted Christ on the bus. Some of them were from the vulgar group. We also shared with the children individually and many of them accepted Jesus.

Sometimes we think that the place for preaching is only in an outreach, or in a pulpit but the truth is that God can be glorified anyplace or anytime.

Take Care and love you lots,

Maria Virginia “Getting in shape”

The Accident

It was a breezy Caribbean afternoon as we arrived in Santo Domingo and left the airport baggage claim with our four boys, 11 suitcases, 1 guitar, 1 saxophone, two laptop computers, 1 ipod, and 3 Nintendo Gameboys. (It takes a lot of gadgets for the modern family to travel successfully.) Little did we know that it would be a day of miracles; both the mundane and the extraordinary. After all our years of travel we give God the glory for safe and timely arrivals at the airport and we feel especially blessed when ALL of our luggage arrives with us.

Jose Climaco, our Master’s Commision director and beloved colleague was waiting to take us to our home sweet home in the Dominican Republic. The boys were really glad to be getting home, but I must admit that I was dreading all the work that was waiting for us. We would be getting ready for a big move in the next six months as we are preparing for our year of itineration beginning in July 2007. The transition was overwhelming to me. I secretly wished that it would be possible to skip the next six months.

Jose, Nelson and the big boys packed the van as I got the little boys settled in a seat. This is where we experienced what would be the first miracle. Marcus, our wiggly five year old decided out of the blue that he wanted to sit up front in between Daddy and Jose. It seemed strange to me that he would choose to be up front in a seatbelt rather than in the back seats free from restraint, so I asked him if he was sure that he wanted to do this. He said that he was sure and so we put him up front in the seatbelt. The rest of the boys joined me in the back. Jose hopped in the driver’s seat with Nelson up front and we were on our way home.

We were merrily rolling along when about 10 minutes into the trip we heard the squealing wheels behind us. It had just begun to sprinkle rain when this car traveling at a very high speed lost control and was spinning behind us. I saw Jose look in the rearview mirror with great concern and then immediately tried accelerate and move our van and avoid what would be an inevitable accident. The impact of the car sent us toward a cement barrier along the median of the road. Jose turned hard to miss a head on collision and then a tire blew and we lost control. Our van spun around a couple of times and then hit the barrier on the side which caused us to tip and then we slid down the road with the van on the right side for about 20 meters before finally coming to a complete stop.

As the van began to tip, almost in unison we all cried out “Jesus” and “Cristo”. I can still hear my boys little voices calling on our Savior. In that moment, Nicolas fell toward the window and I knew that I needed to prevent my boys from falling onto that window that was sliding on the highway. So as we tipped I put one hand on the window and another in the back of the front seat to brace my body and use as a shield to keep the boys heads or anything from hitting that window. As a result my hand was chopped up and friction burned by the broken window and asphalt sliding underneath my hand.

Finally the van came to a stop and the presence of God filled the vehicle as we discovered that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US WAS ALIVE AND WELL. I looked back at Troy (15 years old) covered in the luggage but with bright wide eyes he yelled “I’m ok mommy are you ok?” There was an amazing sense that we were in the middle of a miracle.

Instantly our car was surrounded with people banging on the front windows. They were trying to break out the windows to get us out. It wasn’t necessary because the driver’s side door opened easily and we all were able to climb up through it and walk away from the vehicle. My hand was filling with blood, but I felt no pain, just immense gratefulness as I saw each of my dearest treasures on this earth get out of the van and walk to my side. But at the same time I was feeling relief, people were approaching Nelson and I about the danger of people looting our car. This was a blessing because it was hard for us to even give a thought to worry about passports, laptop computers or anything else with blood, tears, chaos, and anxiety all around us. Nelson and Jose were able to secure our stuff, since neither was hurt, and as a result we did not lose anything. It was just another one of the miracles.

At this point I began to feel like I was going to faint. I have no idea who was holding me on the side of the road at that moment, but God bless him for being there at that moment. He held me steady as my hand spewed blood and Nicolas cried in desperation at my side. Alexander also held me steady. Alex has always been a calm and loving force in our family. God used his beautiful, peaceful temperament to get us through until we could get to a clinic.

Ambulance service is not always easy to get here in the Dominican Republic. Even as we were crashing, I wondered what we would do to get to a clinic. I knew we may need an ambulance. It turned out that God has his own sort of Ambulance service, he sent us two angels named China and Cesar to take us to the clinic. They pulled up in their clean, modest car and told me that they would take me to a clinic. I remember getting into the backseat with my dripping, bloody, hand and seeing that the interior of their car was cream colored. I was humbled by this amazing gesture, yet not really surprised because I knew this was a part of the goodness in the Dominican culture.

Nicolas and Alexander came with me in the car, they also were bleeding and were scraped up, especially Nicolas. We were about fifteen minutes from the nearest clinic and as we drove Nicolas began to panic desperately. He kept screaming, “Mommy, I’m bleeding!!! I NEED TO WIPE IT OFF!!! I NEED A WIPE MOMMY!!!!” It seemed that in his little mind that just by cleaning off the blood everything would be ok. He was really upset, I couldn’t seem to get him to calm down. At the same time, my hand was swelling and I had a ring (a mother’s ring) on one of my fingers. China, my God-sent angel, advised me to get the ring off quickly. It was excruciating, but I managed to get it off. As I was dealing with all this Alexander was helping Nicolas to calm down. I remember his words, “Nicolas it’s ok, we’re all ok. Jesus was with us. Jesus loves us so much. See, he took care of us Nicky. Nicky sing, sing with me Nicky…

Jesus loves me this I KNOW

For the bible tells me so

Little ones to him belong

They are weak, but HE IS STONG

Yes Jesus loves me!

Yes Jesus loves me!

Yes Jesus loves me!

The bible tells me so.

Alexander has a beautiful voice and he sang with all his heart. Later China told me that it in the midst of this ugly tragedy, she experienced amazing beauty in these moments. This simple song, maybe the first song that I learned to sing, filled our hearts with peace and strength. Nicolas finally calmed down as he sang.

It seemed like it took forever to get there and the pain was horrific for me. I felt pain but mostly I felt gratitude. I just had to praise the Lord. I kept saying, “Thank you Jesus, Gracias Señor” But even these two languages were not enough. I began to speak in tongues. The Spirit language just seemed to roll out of my gut. I remember hearing Cesar say to China “They must be Pentecostals.” (this made me smile) Later as I reflected on these moments a couple of things came to mind.

First was a phrase from one of my favorite hymns, the phrase says; “What language shall I borrow to thank thee dearest friend?” Truly, even with the benefit of being bilingual, no regular earthly language was enough. Second, was a passage in Corinthians where Paul writes about speaking in tongues. In 1 Cor. 14:17 he says that when we speak in tongues we “give thanks well enough”. This just proves to be another great benefit of spirit filled living.

We arrived at the clinic and it seemed to be a busy day. I remember lots of people in the emergency room. But they took us in right away. I had a terrible pain in my shoulder and I was scared that it was dislocated or fractured. They took Nicolas and Alex to different beds and started to work on them. I laid in a bed across from Nicolas and I watched as China’s 8 year-old son Cesar Augusto stroked his arm and comforted him. By this time I was in so much pain that I couldn’t think straight. They began to work on my hand and they gave me some pain medication. Just when it all seemed like too much to bear alone, my precious husband walked in and he came to me and held me so that my shoulder was not hurt while they cut all the damaged skin off of my hand. Meanwhile, China and little Cesar stayed with Nicolas and Alex, while they took them to get x-rays. The clinic did not have all the medication we needed; so we soon realized that Nelson would have to get to a pharmacy to buy medication. (not uncommon here) Cesar once again kindly offered to take him in his car. Troy was able to stay near Nicolas and my little Marcus (five year’s old) came to my side and prayed for me. After he prayed he resumed to using his hands as imaginary airplanes and making airplane noises. Marcus was totally fine, not a scratch. I knew that I was watching a miracle make airplane noises.

They also did x-rays on my shoulder and we were elated to find out that NONE OF OUR BONES WERE FRACTURED. It was the same for Nicolas and Alexander--no broken bones! Another miracle!

While we were at the clinic the police came by and assured us that they had secured our stuff. A high ranking officer, the General in charge of the prisons here, happened to be passing by at the time of the accident and controlled the mob that had built up around our van. He came by the clinic and gave us his card and told us to call him if we needed anything. This was just another one of the miracles. Our mechanic, who is also in the reserve military police, came right away to be with José to take care of the van and get it towed off the highway.

By this time Jaimie and Berly Bello, our missionary colleagues came by to get us to take us home. We hadn’t eaten all day, so Jaimie took the boys to get something to eat. Nelson, Nicolas and I went with Berly. Since the clinic was a small clinic with limited resources, we decided to go to another clinic, (one that we have used in the past) with emergency room doctors to get a second opinion. It proved to be a good idea because they could see that my wounds were serious and they called a hand surgeon to examine my wounds. The doctor told me that I had third degree friction burns on my fingers and that I was lucky to even have fingers. He was concerned that one of my fingers would need plastic surgery, but he said that it was too early to tell. We also learned that Nicolas and I would have to the ER everyday to have our bandages changed because of the risk of infection.

When we arrived home we were greeted by Pastor Bello and Milagros, Jose Climaco and his family and the Anonbys, our other missionary colleagues. Elena Anonby had dinner ready for us. This was such a blessing. We hugged and gave thanks to the Lord together. It felt so good to get those hugs!

The next day was Sunday and we had visitors all day! It was so good to share the amazing testimony and embrace the people we love so much. We prayed and sang together and the theme song turned out to be “His eye is on the sparrow”

Feliz cantando algres-- I sing because I’m happy

Yo vivo siempre as--i I sing because I’m free

Si aún la aves cuidan--For his eye is on the sparrow

Cuidarán támbien de mí--And I know he watches me

Today my bandages are off and my fingers are covered with skin. I have yet to regain mobility in my fingers but they tell me that with therapy I will be able get back full movement in my fingers. Nicolas still has a couple of patches of skin that we have to bandage but everyday he looks better. So many people have been praying for us and praising with us as well. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful support of so many family and friends.

Experiences like this help us to remember that every moment is valuable, even times of transition. We have a renewed passion for reaching the lost. I often think how horrible it would be to have gone through this experience with out the assurance that God would hear us when we called. We were completely sure that he was with us because we knew Him, because we all were friends of God. I want every Dominican to have that assurance. I have been so grateful for these scars on my hand because the bandages have opened up doors to witness and share about God’s amazing grace.

Just before we left the US we spent sometime with Rhonda and Gary Gray, our close friends who pastor in Venice, Fl. Gary has a recording studio and just for the fun of making a memory together; we recorded our families singing the chorus “I am a friend of God”. Nicolas probably sang the loudest and with the most heart! He loves that song. The first day that we went back to the ER was pretty difficult. It was a very painful process. Nicolas was not too happy about it, so I suggested that we sing a song. He chose to sing, “I am a friend of God.” As we sang we came to the part about Jesus hearing us when we call. Nicolas commented, “You know mommy that is really true Jesus heard us when we called out to him in the van.” Of course I whole heartedly agreed. It really is true.

Dick Nicolson's World Summit Testimony

This testimony was written by our Latin America Regional Director Dick Nicholson.


Communiqué—August 2006

There is no doubt about it—last night’s King’s Castle Leadership Summit in La Vega, Dominican Republic, was pretty special!

The event, planned (excellently) by Nelson and Rennae DeFreitas, was attended by over 300 young people from eight or nine countries around the region. It was something to behold!

First, the fact that these many young “warriors” paid $100 to get into the campground at La Vega, and raised that amount plus airfare ($700 or more in some cases), was impressive. Talk about being motivated!

Then, the energy released in every part of the gathering was amazing. It’s always impressive to see hundreds of young people, all wearing special T-shirts with Scriptures on them, jumping up and down and shouting praises to Jesus—though I’ll surely never be able to keep up! The chapel rocked. I felt that same energy in the World Missions (Chi Alpha) Summit in Louisville over New Year’s and a year before that in Buenos Aires at the Global Student Encounter.

They were excited about winning the world for Jesus! It was missions-emphasis night, and the platform was draped with the huge posters we see in the U.S. churches during missions convention time. The thing is, it is fresh in Latin America, still a novelty. I had to tiptoe around five young people with digital cameras who were taking shots of the posters!

About 200 of the 300-plus young people responded to the call to missions. An hour later, as we left, they were still weeping and letting the Harvestmaster know that they were ready to go—“Here am I; send me!” Today on the flight back to Miami I was reflecting on last night’s happenings and recognized a deep-down ache in my gut as this thought gripped me: it’s been a long time since I have seen anything similar to that in any American church, at least with the young people!

I had seen about 75 people respond to a similar call in Managua, several hundred in Buenos Aires a while back, scores in San Salvador, but very little of that kind of missions passion do I see released among our youth here. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not pounding on the American church. I just sometimes wish this awesome missions passion we are seeing throughout the region were more common at home. It is contagious, however, and many groups are coming back from AIM trips to the nations and pumped by what they’ve experienced, so maybe something good is happening after all . . . .

They had special prayer for Haiti, Indonesia, India, and Israel. We heard challenges from several missionaries from LAC to other nations, and it had its effect. The passion to reach the lost is undeniable.

I loved watching the youngest DeFreitas boys jumping up and down, singing the songs, praising Jesus, and pumping their fists in the air as they joined the excitement. Several of the MK teens were fervently praying with a Latin or Caribbean colleague or joining in the skits. I just know the future is bright if our MKs are helping by leading the way in reaching the nations for Jesus! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.

I’m not sure how big this missions thing is going to get in our region. It might be greater than anyone has imagined until now, but I’m grateful for your involvement in King’s Castle, Masters Commission, and a host of youth and children’s ministries. Their passion for loving God and answering His call are a means through which the Spirit is preparing a generation of youth, some of them our own kids, to shake the nations.

This is going to be amazing to see!

Blessings, Dick

Kings Castle World Summit

If you’ve ever been to a championship game, whether it is little league or major leagues, then you know the excitement about the BIG game. There is energy, there is cheering and there is expectation. And that is exactly what it was like in La Vega, Dominican Republic.

In August, we spent five days in La Vega with over three hundred young people from eight countries in Latin America and we experienced the energy, heard the cheering and felt the atmosphere of expectation. The energy, cheering and expectation had nothing to do with a sports event; rather it was a spiritual event.

The Kings Castle World Summit takes place every other year and it was our privilege to host this year’s event. The purpose of the event is to share evangelism material, vision, methods for reaching the lost as well as experiencing a life-transforming encounter with the Holy Spirit. For many of the Kings Castle warriors the event was a place of miracles. That is true for Rosemary, Miguel and Oriali.

When Rosemary got off the plane from Peru she couldn’t even believe that is was real. She was only able to raise $650 for her plane ticket; and the lowest price that she could find was over $1000. The day that she purchased her airline tickets to come to the Summit was a day where her only hope was a miracle. She prayed as approached the ticket counter. Nervously she explained her situation to the agent. It turns out that the agent was a Christian. The agent searched and searched, it took so long that Rosemary was sure that it was not going to work out and finally the agent looked up from the computer. She said “It’s a miracle! I found a ticket for $630!!!” That was just the beginning of Rosemary’s miracle. During the World Summit Rosemary was called to missions. She will definitely be purchasing airline tickets in the future. Now her faith can take her to other continents.

Miguel is called to Haiti. Miguel’s heart is broken for the children of Haiti. Miguel is a warrior. And to be perfectly honest, it takes a warrior to live in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest nation in Latin America. Most Haitians would do anything for an opportunity to live in Dominican Republic. Miguel will do anything to live in Haiti. He came to the Summit to share his vision with warriors from all over Latin America. We planned to take up an offering for Miguel on missions night. So many were praying that God would provide in a BIG way. Yet the reality is that we were taking up an offering in a chapel full of students from third world developing nations. Honestly, I was just hoping for more than $100. Yet it is amazing what God did with a group of students whose hearts are broken for the nations. The offering was counted and we could scarcely believe the result; $800!!! I’ll never forget the smile on Miguel’s face that night when he came to know personally that the God who calls is also the one who provides.

Oriali studied Television production and broadcasting in college. She had a degree and a good paying job in the television industry here in Dominican Republic. Yet she told us, “I was miserable because I knew that God had called me to be a missionary”. Yet Oriali, like many other Dominican students, don’t know have a clear path to missions, there are VERY FEW Dominican missionaries that serve as a model to follow. Oriali knew she was called, she just didn’t know how to follow that call. During the World Summit, God put into motion direction for her life and finally the “path” that she was praying for. Kings Castle will begin filming children’s television this year. Oriali will be going to El Salvador to help begin this new area of ministry. She is excited for the opportunity to use the talent and education to reach the children of Latin America with the gospel. Her path is clear now and the impact is immeasurable.

Oriali, Miguel, and Rosemary are just three examples but there are so many more stories that have come out of the Summit. Basically, we just kept hearing the same thing over and over again, “God has called me to missions” , “I am going to Bible school because I want to preach the Gospel”. Yet my favorite testimony was expressed is just a few lines but I believe it is a true reflection of what God is about to do as a result of the World Summit.


“Every day of the Summit, I felt more and more love for the children that live in the forgotten, unreached countries of the world and now I believe that we will be able to accomplish our goal of reaching one million children very quickly.”

Rescuing Angela and Yolanda

Angela

Her name is Angela. She is fifteen years old. Her face still displays the innocence of childhood. Yet her swollen abdomen will tell you that this is a girl who never really had the opportunity to be a child or know true innocence, because Angela is a child prostitute.

At a young age, Angela’s mother sent her to the streets into prostitution to earn money. She took every penny that she made and often would beat her. She was abandoned by her father. She was beaten so much that finally a “client” helped her runaway from home. He kept her in a small room and brought other men there to have sex with her. He told her that he would be her husband. This man was 45 years old and the supposed father of her baby. Once he found out that she was pregnant, he kicked her out of the house.

Angela was alone, pregnant and living on the streets when a beautiful Christian woman found her. Nieves works at a clinic for adolescents in Boca Chica. It is a government funded clinic and a place where the young prostitutes know they can get free medical care. When Nieves met Angela and saw her terrible situation, she knew that she had to something to rescue her. Nieves took her to a children’s foundation in Boca Chica.

Caminante is a children’s program in Boca Chica that is working hard to get kids off the streets. They are mostly involved in prevention programs but they are a point of contact for kids like Angela who need help. They are very well respected in the community. The Alliance against Trafficking has been involved with the institution since we began. When Nieves took Angela to Caminante, they immediately called us. (The Alliance against Trafficking)

When we were called about Angela’s situation we had actually been planning a visit to Boca Chica that day. It was as though God had it all planned for us. We met her and took her to the Alliance home. Angela is eight months pregnant and infected with venereal disease. As I write this she is being taken for more medical tests and we are working on a plan for the birth of the baby. She will have to a C-section because of the STD.

We are all so excited about this opportunity that the Lord has given us to participate in the transformation process in Angela’s life. I believe that the curse of sin and poverty will be broken and will change the course of generations because Angela was rescued.

Pray for Angela and her unborn child. Pray for her health and for her heart. Pray that she will come to know a real, personal friendship and faith in Jesus.

Yolanda

When Yolanda was six years old, her mother died of AIDS. Her mother was a prostitute who was regularly trafficked in to Haiti. As a result of her mother’s very unstable lifestyle and eventual death, Yolanda has been raised in the home of her paternal grandparents in Boca Chica. Ever since the horrible death of her young mother, Yolanda’s grandfather has told her that she would die of AIDS like her mother. She is sixteen years old now and is living her days in this involuntary pursuit of the fulfillment of that prophecy. She spends the nights in the brothels making money in prostitution to support her drug habits. She sleeps most of the day. She is in and out of her grandparents’ home because her grandfather beats her and verbally abuses her. Her grandfather tells her regularly that she is a piece of trash.

We have been visiting Yolanda for over a year now, because she has shown such an interest in getting help. During my last visit, her grandfather yelled, “I hope that you will get that piece of trash out of my home!” We are now in the process of formalizing our long term shelter at the home and we trying to rescue Yolanda out of her situation. In her heart, I know that she is screaming, “Somebody please rescue me!!!!!” but reality is that her addictions are very STRONG. She is scared.

We told Yolanda that we will give her one week to make a decision to leave, so I want to ask you to pray for her this week. Pray that she will make the right decision. In the name of Jesus SHE WILL NOT DIE LIKE HER MOTHER!!! She will live for Jesus.

Finally please pray for my work with the Alliance against Trafficking. I am so excited as God is finally opening the doors for us to offer a long term shelter and life recovery program for adolescent girls. This has been a dream of mine for two years now. The program is in its birthing stages and we are learning along the way. We have a great financial need but we are trusting that God will supply every need. We are estimating that it cost us at least $200/ month for each girl that we take in. Pray for wisdom for me and the other members of the Alliance board as we begin this totally new area of ministry.

Praise and More Praise

Praise!

We just came back from a short trip to Dallas, Texas for a convention with the men and women who work with Construction, Planning and Development for overseas projects in the Assemblies of God(formerly MAPS department). We were so thrilled that this year our project was chosen as the focus project for CP&D. At this convention, they were raising funds for our CIMA del Rey ministry training center project and also recruiting teams to be help us build on the property.

The result of this amazing weekend is nothing short of a miracle. The final total came to $220,000 in cash offerings and pledges!!! Most of this will go towards the construction and development of buildings on CIMA del Rey, but also $42,000 was raised in pledges to help pay off the purchase of the property. We are so excited!!! This is a HUGE blessing and relief. If this all comes in, we are basically finished with raising the purchase funds.

Now we are working on raising the development funds. We are already working on the plans for the dorms and dining hall. At the convention, 13 teams made plans to help us with construction, but we are hoping to find 37 more teams in order to complete all the buildings.

It is impossible for us to doubt for even a moment that God has His hand on this project. We are praising the Lord for his amazing provision. It is so wonderful to be a part of what God is doing and to be where He is working. In this faith journey to purchase this property, we are so grateful to all of you who have prayed and given offerings to make this miracle possible.

More Praise!

So Nelson jumped off an airplane and less than 24 hours later Nelson is on a bus headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He spoke to the national conference of Assemblies of God Pastors about the importance of reaching the youth and children. Nelson was accompanied by Miguel and Maireny Ovalle. This young Dominican couple have a call on their lives to the children of Haiti. They are presently missionary candidates raising funds in our churches here in the DR to live in Haiti as missionaries. They were among some of our first King's Castle warriors.

It was exciting for Nelson to work with Miguel as they were asked to minister to a group of youth leaders that came to the conference. For the first time the Haitian church is organizing youth and children’s ministries within their churches. Nelson was thrilled to cast vision for these ministries among the youth leaders.This was an amazing opportunity.

It would bore you to elaborate on all the details that have demonstrated that the kingdoms of darkness were opposed to this trip. We believe that this was a momentous time for the Assemblies of God in Haiti and Dominican Republic. We know that as we see the racial, social and cultural barriers broken down between these countries there will be no obstacle to the MAJOR SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION in BOTH countries. The final night the Haitian church presented our young Dominican missionary, Miguel with a beautiful Haitian painting. The Superintendent shared that the painting should serve to symbolize a pact unity and service and between the two countries.

My Father's Miracle

Have you ever had a testimony that you just wanted to SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS? That is how I (Rennae) feel today. I want the world to know about my miracle working God. We had a miracle in my family and I just want to give God glory because it is only by his grace that my father was saved from a fatal fall. (the photo to the left is Rennae's parents Larry & Donna Sjostrom.)

On Tuesday my daddy was at the Fire Station up 24 feet on a latter doing some electrical work. When he finished the work he began to come down and as he came down, the ladder gave way and my 59 year old father cam crashing down 18 feet. He was rushed to the emergency room. I could try to go into detail about x-rays, cat scans and orthopedic doctor’s assessments but in the end; MY FATHER DOES NOT HAVE A BROKEN BONE IN HIS BODY! It is a miracle. Daddy walked away from this fall with a severely sore arm.

God is so good. He protected my daddy and I am so grateful. I told daddy that God must have some big plans for his life. Daddy is pretty excited about those plans to say the least.

I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me wonderful Christian parents and an amazing Pentecostal heritage. They have always supported God's call on my life. God used them to form my destiny as they always directed me to follow Jesus. It sounds cliche but if it weren't for them... I sure wouldn't be here today. What a blessing to know (especially being so far away) that they are protected by the Lord's loving hand.

Rennae

Testimony from ministry at Pastor Pedro's church

Sunday night my husband was ministering in a little church in Villa Altagracia just outside of the capital here in Santo Domingo. It was a busy Sunday and I knew that we would get home late so I was packing PJ’s for the kids and stuff as we prepared to go (one hour trip). Anyway as I was busy packing I thought to myself that I should grab my CD with my soundtracks so that I would be prepared to sing if the Pastor asked. But in all my busyness I forgot and we ran out the door to church.

When we arrived, sure enough, Pastor Pedro (who is on our ministry staff and a very close friend) sat next to me and asked if I came prepared to sing special music. I looked at him with a nice smile and I just simply said, “NO.” He said, “No?” and I again replied, “NO.” Well the service started and I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, “That was kinda ugly, Rennae.” (that is just how He talks to me sometimes!) I responded, "well I am not prepared, I don’t know what to sing." Then the Spirit reminded me of the morning service. In that service someone spoke about the problem of divorce in Dominican society and as they talked about it, I felt such a burden because I have seen how the enemy is tearing up the family of this society. I left that morning with just a new determination to intercede for the families in our churches and society in general.

So I felt as though the Lord would have me to share this burden and then the Spirit put a song in my heart. “Yo tengo un Nuevo amor”. So at the time my husband is about to minister, he calls me forward to give a greeting and I just shared my burden with the congregation. I told them that the Lord had given me this song, “I Have A New Love” but when I finished the song I wanted to intercede for unity in marriages and families. The Holy Spirit came and people were weeping tears of intercession and one woman in particular just wept and wept.

After the message we had a time of ministry in the altars and this same woman who was weeping came forward with her husband and two girls and the Holy Spirit moved powerfully and the whole family fell under the power of the Spirit. After they got up, the father looked at me with tears in his eyes and just smiled and went to his seat. I just thought, "how wonderful to see the whole family in the altar receiving such a blessing." That was it. So I thought.

After service I was speaking with Pastor Pedro (apologizing!) and he told me “the rest of the story”. Pedro was so excited after service. Evidently, that was the first time that that man had been in the church! His little girls were faithful to go to church and the mother had just started coming here and there. A few weeks back, one of the girls had asked the Pastor to pray for her daddy because he was an alcoholic and he would fly into rages and beat her, the sister and her mother. She also told Pedro that God gave her an idea that whenever her daddy would get really angry, she should get her Bible. She would tell him, “Come here daddy let me read to you from my Bible.” And you know, she said it worked every time! He would always calm down. Well this was softening this man’s heart and Sunday night he finally gave in and came to church. with his family! Sunday night he gave his life to Jesus!

Alexander's word from the Lord

This was written on November 12th.
Last night we said good-bye to the Ormond Beach team. Our wonderful youth pastor friends Al and Ginny Force brought a team of 43 adults to do construction on CIMA del Rey, medical ministry at the LACC school in Villa Altagracia, and evangelism in Bonao. Our farewell debrief was especially sweet. The boys and I were not able to be with the team throughout their week of victories so it was especially nice for us to listen to the testimonies and impact of their ministry with us this past week.
While we were listening to these testimonies Alexander went to Nelson telling him to that he wanted to stay something to the team. This is totally against Alexander’s character. He usually hates to speak in a microphone and he has even choked in the past when he was asked to speak. It is not easy for him to speak in front of a crowd. Nelson was concerned about the time so he put him off. Alexander was persistant he would not take no for an answer and finally he told me that he had a word from Jesus to share with the team.
It was late but we decided that we needed to let him share the word that the Lord had laid on his heart. He said that Jesus told him that he should get up and speak. Alex explained that he told the Lord that he was scared and he said he felt that Jesus was telling him that he should not be a coward. He referred to a time when he had a chance to speak and he chickened out because he was so scared of looking stupid. He said he did not what to do that again. The Lord assured him that he would give him the words to say. He told the team that the Lord wanted them to go back to the USA and share Christ where they live, just like they did here. He said that they did not have to be a missionary to share the love of Jesus and he said that a person does not have to be poor to need Jesus. Everyone everywhere needs Jesus. He asked the team to go back and continue to reach out to people.
We were amazed. It was certainly a God moment. We knew that he had a special impact on the team. I was so glad to see the Holy Spirit operating in Alexander.

Sometimes you pray for us, but today you should PRAISE with us!

I decided that today is a day for Praise Reports. This past month we felt like we have walked through a dark valley and even though I am not sure that the sun is shining and the sky is clear, there are some significant reasons to praise the Lord. All day long I have been reminded of God’s goodness in the midst of our difficult circumstances. And the Spirit of God has taken me back to his Word.

“Be joyful always, Pray continually, Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I praise God today for;

1. My speedy recovery from this surgery. I feel great today! No longer am I fighting with abdominal cramps! My body is well once again. The doctors did a wonderful job. So many times I said that I would never have surgery in the D.R. if I had a choice. Well I certainly didn’t have a choice and in the end I see that the same God that guides the doctors in the USA is at work here as well. I thank God that he led us to some GREAT doctors. The doctor who found my problem was a Christian and he didn’t even charge us for the visit. The day of my surgery he called several times making sure that I was well taken care of by the clinics that did testing and the surgeons. These are details that I never really expressed and I feel like today is a good day to thank the Lord for Dr. Pimentel.
2. Marcus arm is perfectly normal. It has taken awhile but now he is fully extending his arm and except for two small scars on his arm, you cannot tell that he even had such severe accident. We had to put in his “back to normal” picture!
3. His protection. On Monday there was a strange odor that permeated the air in the west part of Santo Domingo. The boys went to school but after only a couple of hours they sent the kids home because of the odor. That odor ended up being a toxic gas that sent hundreds of people, mostly children to the hospital. It was a scary thing. Evidently the tropical storm winds blew the odor into the city while tanks were being cleaned. Normally the winds take the gas out to sea. My boys felt a little light headed but the Lord had his hand on them and they seem as wild and crazy as ever! Thank you Jesus for wild and crazy boys!
4. Speaking of the storm… with all the storms that have passed this season we have been blessed to not be in the middle of any of them. The alpha storm did leave 20,000 people homeless and we would certainly appreciate your prayers on their behalf. Yet with all the storms so far none of our family in central Florida or the Panhandle have been affected. PRAISE GOD!!!

The list could go on forever, but these are just a few that stand out to me today. For those of you who pray for us, well today I want to ask you to PRAISE with us!

¡Gracias Señor! ¡Eres siempre fiel! Thank you Lord! You are always faithful!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!

We are so grateful to you who stand with us in prayer as needs arise. We are coming to you today with some major pressings needs. We would really appreciate your prayers as we clearly discern an attack of the enemy.

1. Please pray for Rennae’s health as she is in recovery after emergency
surgery this past Monday evening. She had a large cyst and fallopian
tube removed. We are grateful to the Lord that we were finally able
to find the problem that had been causing severe abdominal pains for
a week.
2. Pray for our staff as just yesterday upon returning from the
hospital, we received a letter of resignation from one of our key
staff members. Some of you pastors understand the difficulty of this.
It is hard blow, but we are confident that God is in all of this and
He will provide new leadership for such a time as this.
3. Pray for our finances. We are sinking rapidly due to the economic
crisis (60% inflation and devaluation of dollar resulting in 40%
increase in cost of living) in this country that began over a year
ago. We are in desperate need for God to provide $30,000 over the
next 10 months to make it until our time of deputation next summer to
raise a new budget. This economic situation is unrelated to our
current CIMA project for which we are also raising the remaining
funds to pay it off.

It is hard to write this letter as it sounds so discouraging. There are so many wonderful testimonies in the midst of this. We are so grateful to you for being a part of expanding the Kingdom of God with us in the Dominican Republic. That is why we refuse to let the kingdom of darkness take any ground. Please battle in prayer with us. We are perfectly aware that our enemy is roaming about with strategies of discouragement and defeat but together we know that we stand victorious over Satan in the mighty name of Jesus.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Praise report from Haiti Trip!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR HAITI!!!

It is such a blessing to share with you this incredible praise report from our missions team that just returned from Haiti. Because of your prayers they crossed the border into Haiti and stayed in Cape Haitian, one of the principle cities in the interior of the country. This was a twelve hour rigorous trip that included crossing the so-called dangerous border zone and traveling the un-paved, difficult dirt roads through Haiti’s country side.

We fought so much opposition to make this trip happen. The main opposition was the fear of violence in Haiti. Because of the tension between the DR and Haiti, Haiti is a pretty dangerous place for Dominicans. The newspapers are always reporting of Dominicans killed in Haiti. We prayed and the Holy Spirit gave us clear direction that we were to make this trip and that we would be under His covering and protection. Our team named their trip “Vida por Vida” (A life for a life) and signed a pact that stated they would give their life for the gospel. They understood the cost.

Well the newspapers may report the bad news between Haiti and DR, but we have some good news to report!! (I have goose bumps even as I write this blog) Hear are the headlines!

1. Dominican Kings Castle Warriors Reach 2,638 Haitians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The outreaches took place in Cape Haitian, a city known as the Voo-Doo capital of the World.
2. 149 Haitians made the decision to follow Christ!
3. Dominican Warriors experience SUPERNATURAL security! Amidst the volatile atmosphere of political elections season, our team was NEVER in any threatening situation!
4. Venezuelan missionary family catches the Kings Castle vision! The Sirit family is an Assembly of God missionary family sent by the Venezuelan A/G churches. They have been ministering in Haiti for four years. Their teenage children translated for our team and also were mightily used by God. Brother Sirit told us, “Just the fact that the team crossed the border to come visit us was a blessing enough. We never could imagine that we would receive so much from this small group of young people!”
5. Warriors make plans to birth Kings Castle evangelism teams in Haiti.
6. Speed-the Light Van makes it ALL THE WAY to Cape Haitian and back with out a problem. Miraculously NO FLAT TIRES!! Our Van was filled with bags of food sent in by Convoy of Hope, clothing donated by warriors and their families, and school supplies donated by local Castle teams.

“But I tell you, look around you,
and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.”
John 4:35
When Jesus spoke these words, he was standing in Samaria. The usual Jewish view of Samaria at that time was that it were no more than a vacant lot, filled with rubble. Jesus removed the blinders of prejudice from their eyes, to help them see a flourishing harvest field. Haiti is our Samaria. Jesus is adjusting our vision too, and the five warriors that came back from the Voo-Doo capital of the world have white fields shining in their eyes.

Thanks for being a part through your prayers and faithful support. This all started on the mountain of CIMA del Rey (our Caribbean Institute for Missions Advancement) where we prayed and caught of vision of these Haitian fields ripe for harvest. Some of you have sacrificially given offerings to help us pay for CIMA. Others of you have been standing with us all these years with faith promises, and intercessory prayers. And still others that are reading this have stood on Dominican fields (a lot of them baseball fields), put their hand in a puppet and joined us in preaching the Gospel. There are a few of you the have white fields in your eyes because our missionary vision here is so contagious. I know whatever your role in this great big missionary endeavor, all of you are rejoicing with us as we celebrate the work of the Lord of the harvest!

Marcus breaks his arm

Well we have been through a few really difficult days. Marcus fell from playing on the Monkey bars. It was a very safe playground but Marcus just fell wrong and ended up snapping apart his humerus (upper left arm bone). It was a MAJOR break and he ended up needing surgery. In the midst of it all he went into shock and we are were worried that he might of suffered a head injury. (No one really saw how he fell). He had CT scans and x-rays and has suffered excruciating pain. (That was really hard on mommy as well) The surgery went well and now he has two pins in his bone and a cast. We thank God that it wasn’t any worse than a broken arm.

With four boys in our house, we knew that a broken arm or leg was bound to happen. And Marcus is certainly our little monkey! I was telling this to the doctor yesterday as Marcus lay in the bed doped up and in A LOT of pain. Marcus overheard and spoke up ever so weakly, “NO mommy I not a little monkey, I a BIG monkey” I have to agree. He certainly had a Big Monkey bone fracture.

We are so grateful for your love and prayers.

FYI

Just FYI:

The previous posts need to be read in order.

1. Birthing the Butterfly MInisty
2. The Vision
3. Meeting Lily
4. Jesus comes to Lily

Jesus Comes to Lily

Jeannie and I started to ask Lily about her life. She was really open. She told us that she was 15 years old living on her own in Boca Chica. I got the impression that her mother was also a prostitute and live in Puerto Plata. Lily had been living on her own for five months. She hated her life there but it seemed to be her only solution. Jeannie asked Lily if she had ever asked Jesus to be the Lord of her life. Lily answered, “No.” Then she put her head on my shoulder and whispered, “I feel so weird.” It was then that she began to cry. We asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. Lily looked back at our five smiling butterfly girls in the back seat. She asked the girls, “Did you all ask Jesus into your heart?” All five of them responded enthusiastically “Yes! Yes we did!” Lily then said confidently “Then I want Jesus in my life too.” She prayed the sinners prayer right there in my Speed-the-Light van.

I held Lily in my arms as she prayed and then I prayed for her and we all cried together because the presence of Jesus was so real and so close. As I held this 15 year old prostitute in my arms, I remembered once again the prophetic vision of my youth. There I was rescuing prostitutes in my speed-the-light van.

Just remembering the Presence in the van brings tears to my eyes. And what a privilege I had! I was able to be the arms of Jesus wrapped around that little girl. He was so real through our words and ministry because HE was seeking that little lost prostitute. HE was coming to Lily and in the end Lily came to Jesus. My heart just explodes to think that Jesus allowed me such and amazing opportunity to be a part of HIS work in the Dominican Republic.

Meeting Lily

Nelson & Rennae de Freitas
Meeting Lily

It was an incredible week as Jeannie brought the message “ Free as a
Butterfly” to minister to the girls. We had gifts with all sorts of butterfly themes. The idea of the butterfly really was a God given plan. Many of our girls are searching for true freedom that from the slavery that comes with a life of prostitution. It also has cultural roots as well. I will have to make that story for another day and another blog!!!

So here we were taking butterfly gifts to prostitutes in brothels and on the streets as well. We went all over the city and ended up our time in the town of Boca Chica. The entire city of Boca Chica is basically a brothel. This is where we were able to rescue 9 girls, all minors, through a police raid. We were able to keep them at our shelter for 10 days and then they were released to their families. This is the difficult part. We have been keeping tabs on them, doing follow-up care and Jeannie came to do a whole program with them for the day. We taught the girls worship dance and we ministered to them. They all got a butterfly T-shirt. It was really a special time. That evening we asked the girls to go with help us find the brothels and give gifts in the streets.

We met the girls at 10 pm. They all had on their butterfly shirt and big smiles on their faces. They were excited about helping us. We started driving around. We found quite a few places and girls. We gave the gifts and told them that Jesus loved them. Just ministering the love of Jesus made an amazing impact. I was surprised at the impact.

As we drove the girls recognized a friend (and fellow prostitute) on the street. We stopped and the girls called her to our window. “Lily!” they yelled. She came over and was impressed with their T-shirts. She asked “What are you chicas doing?” They explained and Lily said, “Hey that’s cool, can I come?” We said, “Sure hop on in!” She got in this van totally unaware of the incredible presence of Jesus that was about to invade her world.

The Vision

At the age of sixteen, I had the opportunity to visit Buenos Aires, Argentina on a short term missions trip with the West Florida District. It was a special time in my life and God used that trip to soften my heart to his calling to missions. I guess you could say that at that time, I truly felt "called to the missionfield" but I began to ask God what it was exactly that he wanted me to do.

One day as I was at the altar of my church praying I had a vision. I remember seeing a van driving up and down the streets of Buenos Aires, picking up prostitutes. I went home that day to tell my parents that I had figured out what I was going to do with my life. I was going to go to Argentina to rescue prostitutes in a Speed-the-Light mini-van. My mother and father smiled with that supportive, yeah-that’s-a-teenage-wild-idea expression.

Time passed and the Lord led me down what I thought to be and entirely different missionary journey. I forgot about the vision over the years. Instead of Argentina, God sent me to the Dominican Republic. We had been serving Jesus there eleven years the day that the vision was resurrected from my memory banks.

I was asked to participate in a meeting with former Congresswomen Linda Smith. She had come to the DR to see how her organization, Shared Hope International, could get involved in the Dominican Republic. It had come to her attention that the DR was the third worst country for human trafficking. She explained to us that the most severe case that had come to her attention was the problem of trafficking between the DR and Argentina. She wanted to see how she could form and alliance of people of faith in the DR that could help rescue Dominican women in trapped in prostitution in Argentina. That was when it all came back to me.

I literally had chill bumps all over my body. I could see that vision in my minds eye all over again. God always had it in his plan for me to rescue prostitutes from the streets of Argentina. He just had me doing it across the international borders and in his perfect timing.

It was from that meeting that I began to work with Shared Hope to form the Alliance against the Traffic of Women, Children and Adolescents. We set up offices and a home for temporary shelter. We had been working for just a little over a year with women who called our hotline or were referred to our offices when Jeannie Turner and her ministry team came to work with us on the streets of Santo Domingo and Boca Chica.

Birthing the Butterfly Ministry

Nelson & Rennae de Freitas

I have had it in my heart to take some time to "blog away" ever since an amazing week of mininstry that I spent with Jeannie Turner and three women from Ft. Myers Florida. Together, along with the team of Dominicans that I work, with we visited six brothels and many prostitutes in both Santo Domingo and Boca Chica.

Jeannie has a ministry to Strippers and women who work in the adult entertainment industry. Five years ago, I was privileged to be in a service at Ft. Myers First Assembly of God when five women who left the clubs were baptized in water. It was an exciting night, I will never forget it. I now know that it wasn't a coincidence that I happened to be attending that service. God had us there with divine purpose.

I remembered Jeannie when God began to open the doors for me to work with women who are involved in prostitution and human trafficking. As we began to form this Non Government Organization, (NGO) I knew that I wanted to put together an outreach ministry to these women. I just wasn't quite sure how to go about it . That is when I remembered Jeannie Turner. We began to dialogue back and forth. I asked her to come visit us here in the DR. Well she did come and there is so much to say about it.

But this story really starts aroung quite a few years ago. This story begins with an experience that I had when I was 16 years old...

King's Castle Directors Camp at CIMA del Rey