By Jesse and Rebecca Hales
Dominican Republic
Oh, the fun of getting ready for furlough. That seems to be the main theme for this month. We will be flying to the US on September 23rd to visit supporters and renew our visas. We won’t get back home to the Dominican until December 30th. We are looking forward to spending the holidays with family, but (contrary to popular belief) it is going to be far from a long vacation. Right now we have 53 meetings lined up in 9 states plus more to schedule. Add to that chasing down paperwork for visas and living out of suitcases with 2 little balls of energy and a tired pregnant wife. I say that not to complain or get pity. We are really looking forward to this trip and all the people we will get to see and connect with. I say it so you understand better how to pray for us. That’s the future, though. This month has been getting ready for that, preparing ministry stuff and the house for our long absence, paying all our bills for 4 months (this month + the 3 we will be gone), trying to figure out what we need to pack (everything) and so on. It’s been a different kind of month, but don’t get me wrong, it’s been a good one. As we have faced different challenges and hurdles in preparation, we have seen God’s amazing provision and answers to prayer along the way. Surrounded by abject poverty, it is humbling to be able to save up enough money to pay 4 months of bills at one time. We finally got our first electric bill since we moved to Santo Domingo and ended up paying 17 months on it in 2 different payments. We are also trying to prepare for having a new baby just 5 weeks after we get back here. That includes needing to turn the SUV into a minivan, and one of the cribs into a bunkbed among other things. All this adds up very fast, but not more than what God can handle. See, it may SEEM like the theme for this month has been preparation, but really it has been God’s provision. God is an amazing provider! THANK YOU for being a part of that!
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