New Hope

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)



I recall saying to my husband Chad, "Wouldn't it be great if we could collect $1000 for New Hope?" We sent out emails and made phone calls, and God moved hearts to give. God opened hearts and the gifts surpassed our expectations. Who would have imagined this? I felt awful for belittling our God. He does miracles, miracles so great we can't even fathom them! Many people gave other items that were needed, we are so grateful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Sophia and I left on April 20 to head to Seattle airport, our flight left at 11:00pm but with a three hour drive ahead, we decided to leave on time. We flew a red eye flight, I managed to snooze most of the way there, while Sophia closed an eye here and there. We arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic at 12:00 noon, dropped off our bags and headed over to one of the local swimming pools to meet up with our friends Sherilyn and Anthony Koster. We enjoyed our afternoon lounging around and catching a few rays of sun! We had a great time of conversation and headed to Joy and Vidal's house around 5:00 pm. Joy and Vidal are the people that started New Hope Girls Academy in Dominican Republic.

On Sunday we enjoyed going to one of the local churches where many of the teachers from Santiago Christian School attend. (thankfully you could wear a head set which had the sermon translated into English) After Church we went home with Sherilyn and Anthony and spent the entire day relaxing there.

Monday was a transforming day. Even Joy and Vidal couldn't have predicted what we were about to see. Upon arrival at New Hope Girls school, there was a new child sitting amongst the other students. Her Father had dropped her off with a tiny bag of clothes. Here was this child, small, and alone. Her hope was "New Hope", the name is very suiting. I can honestly say, this little girls story impacted me deeply. I cannot share the details, but it caused me to contemplate all the blessings we have in North America, we live in a dream! I will post a picture of her belongings, I'm sure if we had to pack up everything we owned, it wouldn't fit in a Safeway bag.




I will try and give you a glimpse of what the rest of the week looked like. After spending quite a bit of time at the Girls school, we headed over to Rosa's house. She is the women behind the flip flops and purses. God has given this women many talents, her cooking was amazing, but her sewing abilities are incredible! In November, when my husband and I visited we gave Rosa a pattern for a purse, she took it and ran with it. They are currently sewing purses and designing flip flops with beads that they sell. Between November and now Rosa had saved up enough money to buy a moped. She can now bring her children to school instead of paying for a taxi. The picture below is with Dahlia and I on the moped bringing the Serger away to be repaired. Sophia and I brought a Serger along for them so that their projects would be completed faster, but the timing on the machine needed to be adjusted.





The workshop where the women work has dirt floors, a tin roof (which has so many holes in it, that when it rains the women can't work) and old tree branches holding it up. Someone generously gave money to have this totally rebuilt. When Joy shared this with Rosa, she covered her face with her hands and exclaimed, "Thank you Jesus"! Rosa has several women working along side her, but guards her house carefully from gossip and evil. She's a true example of what we need to be as Christians! We were also able to purchase some Rubber-maid totes for the material. Rosa was so excited she raised them above her head and exclaimed once again, "thank you Jesus"! The progress of the building will be shared on the New Hope Blog located here

We brought along Bibles and coloring books. One box of Bibles was given to a Taxi driver who Chad and I met in November. Many people in his church cannot afford to purchase a Bible and we promised we would bring more Bibles to them. The people there are so hungry for God's Word! The other box of Bibles was given to a Pastor which lives at the bottom of the mountain where the girls school is located (see picture below) When we asked him if he wanted the Bibles, he said in Spanish, "There's a soul for everyone of these Bibles, I'm on my way to a revival meeting right now"! Because we were experiencing torrential rains that day, He placed them in a big garbage bag and off he went on his motorcycle.



The Women's workshop


The Pastor with the Bibles

"God can move the mountains", echoed over the Valley of La Vega as the girls sang for us before we headed off. They sat in front of the window of the girls school singing praises to God. For many of these girls, God has moved mountains! For them, New Hope is a safe place and a place where they find New Hope! They learn about Jesus being their Saviour, life skills, reading, writing, and math.  Many of these these things we take for granted. I will stop writing before this post becomes a book! We ask that you will remember to pray for Joy and Vidal. When you work there, it is evident that Satan isn't happy with what they are doing. He constantly is trying to discourage, but we know our God is Greater! Please pray that they will be encouraged by our Heavenly Father.


The evening we left

I hope to add another post about our trip next week.