It is always amazing to see how God is at work all around the world! Over the years, members of our staff team have been able to partner with ministries in the Dominican Republic during short-term trips. Now, however, we have an exciting opportunity to send some of our graduates and their families to the Dominican Republic to serve for a mid-term missions service project for one full year at the Fundacion Red de Misericordia.
Fundacion Red de Misericordia, or Mercy Network Foundation, is a Christian ministry in Santiago, Dominican Republic that is committed to the glory of God and focuses on serving the needs of vulnerable children. They have an orphanage that cares for at-risk children, sometimes on a temporary basis but often permanently. Having housed children in four houses in areas of town for several years, the orphanage built their current compound in 2015 where they house and care for children from birth to age 16 under one roof! They also ensure the children attend Christian school and weekly church services. You can learn more about this amazing ministry here.
Fundacion Red de Misericordia approached Vision of Hope for help. They wanted to become more like Vision of Hope and asked if VOH could mentor them. Jocelyn Wallace initiated the work with this orphanage and now Pastor Shaw has developed a plan to send trained personnel from Faith Church to the D.R. The foundation would like native-English speakers trained in Biblical counseling to serve in their ministry by helping care for the children on a daily basis, teaching English classes to the children, and interacting with the children in encouraging, loving, and Christ-like ways. Additionally, there will be daily opportunities for evangelism and disciple-making the children. Sharing biblical principles with the children and staff is a key component of VOH’s help to the orphanage, too. Interns can learn Spanish while on the field through classes provided by the foundation.
Back in March 2016 when we started this initiative, we had no one identified yet to go and serve. We prayed. A month later, we were thrilled to be able to identify two workers willing to go for Vision of Hope:
Nate Hornbrook along with his wife, Julia, and BreyAnn Eastin are prayerfully identified as the persons to be going to the D.R. on behalf of Vision of Hope. Both families (Hornbrooks and Eastins) are excited to see this happen and if we raise the support necessary, they could go in January of 2017.
They have been living sacrificially in the United States in preparation to go and helping Vision of Hope raise the funds to be able to make the trip, and they are so close! The goal is to send them on their way early in 2017, and collectively, they are less than $8,000 away from their goal to be able to serve overseas. You can donate to each of them separately or to the initiative as a whole. Either way, the money will be utilized to pay their expenses and associated costs of serving there for a year. The orphanage has offered to offset some of the costs, too, by providing room and board.
We ask that you prayerfully consider giving financially toward this missions opportunity. Go to our donation page and be sure to designate your gift to “DR Missions” to help support this amazing opportunity. Or, send a check made out to Vision of Hope by mail to 5652 Mercy Way, Lafayette, IN 47905 and write “DR Missions” in the memo line.
We thank you for all of your support and prayers, as we prepare to send these faithful servants of the Lord to fulfill this great need.
