Many of you have already heard of our decision to pursue service with Restoration Ranch. The Ranch is a new work in the Dominican Republic that will be a residential children's home. Gwyn and I have had a heart for orphans for years and this is the opportunity of a life time for us.
The founders of the ministry, Danny and Denise Stone, have a powerful vision to reach the DR for Jesus. Who better to tell of Jesus’ love for the Dominicans then a person who was helpless until a loving Christian picked them up, cared for their needs and loved them in Jesus name! We are honored that the Stones are considering us for this position. Before we can get to the work of the ranch our family has to make many preparations.
We know that in our service to the orphans of Restoration Ranch it will be absolutely necessary for us to be able to speak their heart language. The Stones and Pastor Tony have asked us to prepare ourselves for service by attending the Spanish Language Institute in San José, Costa Rica. This will be an important time of transition for our family as we learn Spanish and become familiar with the Hispanic culture.
The Spanish Language Institute was started in the 1940’s to train Presbyterian missionaries and has a great program for our family. While Gwyn and I are learning Spanish our children will be taught in another part of the same campus. The children will have English speaking teachers to teach them Reading, Writing & Arithmetic as well as Spanish.
We have several missionary friends who have shared with us that if they were able to go back & change one thing about their ministry they would have dedicated more time to learning the language of their people group before entering their field of ministry. We are blessed to have leadership that loves us enough to require us to prepare ourselves before taking the step into ministry.
We will be leaving the last week in August ‘07 to attend the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica.
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