hello everyone! well, sorry this entry's been so long in coming, i wrote on on sunday, believe it or not, and then it got erased with a loss of internet, so i didn't have time to re-do it. anyways............well, this weekend was a lovely time, we had monday off, and also the women's retreat, which was basically for any woman in the dominican republic who loves God and speaks english. : ) most of us kids alive women went, and it was such a blessed time, really great to grow together with eachother, and personally get refreshed in time with God. so here's a picture of us all at the end.

other than that, things continue on as usual, it's been a good week in school, and we're getting fired up for the next huge sponsorship project - Easter!! my mom will be coming down here with my cousin audrey for a visit in a couple of weeks, which is very exciting, and will be a great timely help in bringing down supplies and helping me for this upcoming project. alright speaking of sponsorship: there is a really exciting opportunity that you all have to join in with me on this unending goal of reaching all the children here in the dominican, and that is sponsoring a child. i don't mean for this to be a commercial or soemthing, but we just had an all-island sponsorship meeting, and it was so wonderful adn encouraging to hear about he great good being done here, in lives like edward's, and joel's, and all the children you have heard about first-hand from me.........but at the same time, we were all made very aware of the lack of funding, and the fact that more funding means more children are helped. ANIJA right now is constantly running in the red, but it of course continues to serve the community with what God has given us. i do want to ask, however, that those of you who have shared all the different experiences of these children's lives with me would think and pray about sponsoring a child. you can email me if you're interested; (spanglishgirl87@gmail.com) more than that, i would really appreciate taht you all pray that more people would be moved to support what's being done here. jonathan, my co-worker here, has this philosophy about life here: 1 John 3:16-18 "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. " Once we as Christians have seen the need of others, of our brothers and sisters in these other countries, we are bound to do our part, to show them the love of Christ, just as we have all be shown it. so my challenge is this: what will you do for the need which you now know? your prayers and action are vital to the ministry here, and i thank you so much to those of you who are involved in helping, anywhere. thanks also for listening to my little sermon, hahaha...........

one more prayer request, our ministry is under a little bit of an attack right now, as the principal Miriam is sick in the hospital, and the director Sonia's grandmother just died this morning. so the hard things do indeed come, but we would appreciate your prayers as to the Lord's peace in it all. thanks again for reading this week, may God bless you in your lives and hearts!!

~allison