Through the mouth of a child...

Last year, in May of 2006, a group from McGregor Baptist Church in Florida was scheduled to come down on a short-term mission trip. The trip was canceled, but 4 ladies from the church decided to still come down. They had already taken the week off from work, and wanted to see the schools as well as the children that they sponsor. On their last day in the DR, the ladies had the opportunity to visit the school where one of them sponsors 2 children. During their visit, one of the other women felt led to sponsor a child too, and picked Gabriela, age 6. The women went to visit Gabriela in her home, where they met her father. They gave a Bible to her father, and spent some time there visiting with them. What happened after that is a miracle that only God could have performed.

The following is the testimony of Gabriela’s family. Gabriela attends Sabana Perdida School, which is one of VisionTrust’s 11 different projects in the Dominican Republic. The children are taught about the Lord in school, and there is also a church that meets in the school on the weekends. Gabriela had learned about God at school, and would tell her parents the Bible stories she learned at school. One morning, her father prayed to God and asked Him to send him a Bible so that he could know more about God. That very same afternoon was the afternoon that the women from McGregor Church came to visit! They brought him a Bible, not knowing that he had prayed that morning to receive one. Later that week he went to the church that meets at the school and gave his life to God. He also brought his oldest son, Ernesto age 14 to church and Ernesto accepted Jesus as his savior too. Both of them were baptized in the church. Ernesto is now part of “King’s Castle”, a ministry which evangelizes to youth in the community. But the story does not end there.

Gabriela’s parents were separated at the time this happened. After coming to know God, Gabriela’s father reconciled with his wife, and she eventually became a Christian about 7 months later. Gabriela, her 3 siblings, and her parents now attend church every week as a family and are involved in various ministries and Bible studies. Gabriela’s mom is now taking a class at the church so that she can be baptized as well.

According to the principal of Sabana Perdida School, Paulina, who told me this testimony, the family is extremely happy and God has truly done a miracle in them. Praise the Lord!

Another child at Sabana Perdida, Luis Daniel, lives with his grandmother. Similar to Gabriela’s story, he would go home every day from school and tell his grandmother what he had learned about God that day. He would tell her at night that they could not go to sleep without praying. Through the mouth of Luis Daniel, his grandmother began to know God’s Word. The more Luis Daniel shared with her, the more she wanted to know, so she started to attend church. She gave her life to the Lord in February of this year, and regularly attends her church with her grandson.

“When the Lord wants to impact someone, he does it!”
-Paulina Henriquez, Sabana Perdida Principal

These testimonies are very encouraging to me, as I have seen many students from our school here in Herrera coming to our church on the weekends. Many of my students have brought their siblings and their parents, and it makes me so excited to think about what God could be doing in their lives and in their families through this ministry. I know that God’s Word is being sewn into the hearts of all the children here at Grace School, and I do see many students who try to live it out. Still, there are others, who know the Bible like a history textbook; repeating what they have read, but not being effected by it in their daily lives.

Please continue to rejoice with us over all the children like Gabriela and Luis Daniel, that are growing in a relationship with God. And please continue to pray with us for all the children all over the world that are growing up in hard conditions, that they would find hope and love in God, their heavenly Father. Amen.