Summer Update!
Greetings friends and family.  Well, it has been busy this year at Makarios.  We now are in the midst of having our summer groups here every week this summer.  There is a new group every week.  The groups have been doing some work at the school as well as doing a VBS (Vacation Bible School) in the churches of the communities we serve.  It has been great to see these people help Makarios in such an awesome way.

 Morning ceremony before school 

School is out for the summer and will resume in August.  It ended well and we had a great program with the kids and parents to celebrate the year.  We are really looking forward to next year.

Becky has been busy with sponsorship and the communication between the sponsors and the kids.  It is a lot of work but it is neat to see the relationships grow between the two.

Darren has been busy with Director things as well as doing Doctor stuff.  It can be challenging to do both at times but it is worth it.  We had a large outbreak of bad conjunctivitis on the island so there were a ton of drops given out.  We are glad that is over now.  Darren was able to do another medical trip to Haiti over spring break which is always a beneficial experience.

Jenna and Audrey are doing well.  Jenna is still into horses and reading and reading about horses and reading while riding horses...well, you get it.

Darren with one of our Makarios co-worker's new baby

Audrey is loving school and getting to spend time with her friends as well as continuing her classes in Bujutsu.

We have made the decision to sell our house in Ohio.  It has been a challenge to rent it from overseas.  It was a tough decision as we built this house and moved in when Jenna was a few months old but we feel this is the best move for us at this time.  We are going to be back in the states for part of July and August.  We hope to be able to sell and sign papers during this time.

While we are in the states, we want to be able to visit with as many people as possible!  We will be in Cedarville, Ohio July 31st to August 7.  So, Ohio people, please let us know if you would like to get together.  We will be in Indiana and Michigan after that, so if anyone is available there we would love to see you and tell you more about what is going on with us and Makarios.

Doing heights and weights at the end of the year

We thank each and everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and financial support.  We do continue to be in a deficit of our monthly goal so, if you or anyone you know would be willing to partner with us we would be very grateful!

Working on the court in Pancho Mateo

Mak students are the cutest

Taking his medicine for worms and parasites

Let's play some hoops!

Jesus is the reason.

We hope to see you soon!!

The Youngs

Please pray for us...
1.  That our house would sell fast and for a fair amount.
2.  That we could sign the house papers when we are in the states.
3.  That God would continue to guide us and give us his wisdom and strength in our work here in the DR with Makarios.
4.  That we would be able to meet our monthly financial goals (we are about $500 short each month).

Greetings from the DR,
Hello again.  Just wanted to give you an update as to what's been going on with us here in the DR.
Makarios is doing well and growing.  We have been planning how to grow our current campus and have purchased some land, which is exciting!  We built a covered basketball court that should be completed soon.  We have added an office for our Family Empowerment Program.  This program is aimed at helping the parents.  We currently have four people working in this area and it has been a huge blessing to our students and their families.  We are really excited about what this ministry can do in the future.

As we said, Makarios is growing!  Within Makarios we really have 3 separate areas now:  School, Family Empowerment, and Groups Ministry.  It is exciting to see the growth of these areas as we further our mission which is to Love, Educate and Empower.

Darren is now the interim Director in the DR as well as the Director of Health.  Becky is still working as the Sponsorship Coordinator.  Jenna is in 8th grade and is homeschooling.  Audrey is in first grade at the Mak school and does some homeschooling things also.  Jenna enjoys her equestrian class and helps out with the younger riders class on Saturdays which she loves.  She also enjoys going to youth group at our church and she has taught herself how to play the guitar.  Audrey is still in Bujutsu which is mixed martial arts which she really enjoys.  On days off, our family enjoys spending time with our friends from Makarios and exploring the island when we get the chance.

Overall, things are going well and we feel God is doing great things here at Makarios.  We ask for prayers for our family with our work here.  We still are not sure how long we will be here but we know this is where we are supposed to be right now.  Please pray for wisdom in our decisions with Makarios.  Also, please pray for our funding.  We are going to need to raise $750 more a month because of increased costs with insurance and other things that Makarios no longer paying for.  So, if you know of anyone who may be interested in partnering with us please pass our info along. We are hoping to be able to come to the US this summer to raise the additional support and visit with as many of you as we can.

We really appreciate all of you; our family, friends, financial supporters.  We need you!  Please feel free to drop us an email or Facebook message anytime to see what's going on or just to say, "hi."  God bless you all.

Blessings from the Youngs