Greetings,

Hello again from the Dominican Republic!  We have been busy the last couple of months here at Makarios.  Here's what's been happening.

Since our last post we had our annual staff retreat.  This was a time to get away as a staff to be refreshed and energized.  We had a great speaker from the US and we had a wonderful time of praise and worship together.  This is something we, as a staff, always look forward to every year.

Darren is still seeing a lot of patients in the clinic.  From the kids at the school and their parents, to people in the community, there is always a medical need here.  He has been able to do some minor surgical procedures to help some of the staff and parents out.  It is a real blessing to be able to help them and be there when they need medical assistance.

Darren checking out our friends knee after he had surgery on it.

In addition to his normal "doctor duties",  Darren has been doing several other things.  He started doing a medical workshop for the teachers on Friday mornings after Bible study.  During this time, he has been educating the staff on topics like:  healthy diet, good sleep habits, exercise, and Zika virus, to name a few.  The staff has been very receptive and are grateful to be able to discuss and get answers to their questions about specific topics.  Makarios has also been doing outreach meetings with the parents of our students.  Darren has had the opportunity to discuss medical topics with them as well.  This has been well received by the parents in the communities that we serve and they are well attended.  In addition to these other things mentioned above, he has been invited to preach on occasion at our local church, Templo Biblico.  He also continues to do financial talks and financial counseling.  He also stays busy as a member of the leadership team of Makarios.

Becky has also been busy with her role as Sponsorship Coordinator.  A few weeks ago, she helped lead a group of sponsors that came to Makarios with the sole purpose of developing relationships with their sponsor student.  This is a special time for both the sponsor and the student.  It was a lot of fun to see our Mak students playing one on one with their sponsor.  It is a special relationship that we hope will last a lifetime.

Our Dominican family!  We love this special family so much.

In addition to being the Sponsorship Coordinator, Becky enjoys being at the school spending time with the staff and students.  She often helps Darren in the clinic in various ways.  When she is not at the school, she is busy homeschooling Jenna and Audrey and taking care of normal household chores.

Jenna getting some love during recess!

Jenna is finishing up with the 7th grade.  She is not attending Makarios this year, but loves to go to the school to play with the younger kids during their recess.  She has some very special relationships with a few of the students.  But all of the kids love her and are always asking her to play with them.  She has been taking horse riding lessons and for those of you that know her, this is her passion!  She is in a group lesson with about 5 other girls her age and is learning a lot.  Her riding lessons are the highlight of her week.  She has also been learning Haitian Creole (the language that the Haitians speak).  This is a valuable tool to communicate with the Haitians that we serve.  She enjoys learning new languages and hopes to continue and maybe move to another language next year.

Jenna riding with her friends.

Hanging out at the beach!

Audrey is finishing another year at Makarios.  She has had a great year with two amazing teachers.  Her Spanish is now almost as good as her English!  It's really fun to hear her talking in class or even leading her class in prayer...in Spanish.  She has started taking Bujutsu class, which is a form of marital arts.  She loves it and enjoys practicing what she has learned with Daddy at home.  She likes to show people what she has learned and they are often surprised how strong she punches and kicks.

Audrey raising the Dominican Flag during the morning  National Anthem.

We have decided to stay serving at Makarios for another school year (2016-2017) and then we will need to decide again what we are going to do.  Our family really likes it here and we definitely know this is where God wants us right now.  We appreciate the continued support and prayer.

Prayer requests
1.  We are in need of one time donors right now (any amount).  We are still currently short about $400 per month and any one time financial gifts can help us meet our monthly living needs.  If you would like to give monthly that would help out too.
2.  For continued guidance and strength in serving the people here at Makarios and show God's love and forgiveness to all.
3.  For our family to consistently grow closer to each other and serve in a way that is glorifying to God.

Greetings Family and Friends,
Hello everyone!  We pray that you are all doing well.  Since our last post we have been busy here in the DR.  Our Makarios family has grown here on the island by adding one teacher and two families for a grand total of 31 American missionaries (including kids). Wow!  It has been great getting to know them and getting them acquainted with Makarios.

Our cafeteria transformed into a dental suite.

Most recently we had the annual dental team visit.  This is a busy time for Darren as he works with Doug Beck (part of Makarios host couple) to get everything ready as far as equipment and schedule for this team.  With the growth of Makarios it can be very challenging to get 150 students and 60 staff members seen by a dentist.  The team consisted of 3 dentists and 3 assistants, 1 hygienist and 3 other support staff.

Dr. Bud working on one of the students.

Angel Joel and Dr. Josh with a freshly extracted tooth.

Teeth brushing after lunch.

They did a wonderful job of seeing all of the kids and staff.  Cindy, the hygienist, was able to clean all of the Dominican staff's teeth, many for the first time!  This team is always a huge blessing to all of us at Makarios.  We have been vigilante about teaching the kids the importance of good oral hygiene.  It is challenging because this is not a priority for our kids and their families, most do not go to the dentist at all.  They are struggling to put food on the table and don't have extra funds for dental care.  The kids brush their teeth at school once a day and they have been given a toothbrush and toothpaste to use at their home.  The dental team, Darren, and the teachers have emphasized the importance of taking care of their teeth and the impact on their overall health.  The dentist told us this year that they are definitely seeing an improvement in the students teeth and oral care.  This was a great team and we hope to see them all again next year.
  

Dr. Bud being A LOT crazy.

Darren and Dr. Bud being a little crazy.

Prayer requests:
1.  Staff retreat next week.  A time of rest, rejuvenation, and fun.  We will have a speaker and have worship together as a staff (Dominican and the staff from Austin, Texas as well).  Pray that this time is well spent and God-honoring.

2.  Our continued positive influence in the lives of the students and their families.  As our church would say, "Leading people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ."

3.  Our financial support.  We are currently underfunded on our monthly income.  We have had a fair amount of one time gifts in the past that have helped us get through until now.  Please pray for more monthly partners and one time donors to help sustain us.

Thank you to all that support us financially and prayerfully we really appreciate you!
Until next time…

The Youngs

New Update!

Greetings Family and Friends

Time sure does fly these days.  I feel like we just post something and then we blink and it's 6 months later:)  Anyway, we just want to update you with what has been going on in our lives for the past several months.

We left for the states right after school was out at the end of May.  We were able to see family and friends in Wisconsin, Chicago, Michigan, and Indiana which was a great blessing.  Our kids got to reconnect with their cousins and some of their friends.  We then went to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding.  A wonderful time to spend some time with my cousins and aunt.  I wish we could see each other more frequently.   During the summer I (Darren) was able to work in Montana doing short term assignments covering the clinic and ER in small rural hospitals.  I did a 2 week stint in Northeastern Montana and then a 4 week stint in Northern Montana.  This was a great opportunity to work in the US medical system again and keep my skills up to date.  I met some great people and overall it was a very worthwhile adventure and we were able to earn some money to go towards language school.
Becky and the girls were able to spend 2 of the weeks with me in Montana.  During that time, we were able to visit Glacier National Park and Calgary, Canada.  It was a great opportunity for our girls to see a different natural beauty not seen in the DR.  They were also able to learn a little about the area, environment, and the animals (including seeing a Grizzly Bear).  They even became Junior Park Rangers.  We are very thankful we had this time.  After our time there we had a few days in Michigan before we left for Costa Rica for language school.

If you've never been to Glacier it's worth a visit.

Chicago- Hancock Observatory.

Little fisher girl!  

Hiking in Glacier.

Costa Rica was an awesome experience.  We had class 5 days a week 4 hours a day and in the afternoons we had practice time with various activities, tours, classes, homework, etc.  Costa Rica is a great place to study spanish.  Audrey loved learning songs, playing, and getting her face painted while working on her spanish.  Jenna did great as well.  She has been in the Mak school in spanish but it was good to fill in a lot of the gaps and to learn the "why" behind a lot of what she is saying and hearing and to improve on her overall speech.  We got so many compliments from the professors at the school about how the girls were so well behaved, humble, smart, eager to learn and just their overall maturity (Pause, smile, proud parents moment).  Becky and I improved our language as well.  Our goal is to be able to connect on a deeper level with the kids, the families, the community, and everyone we come into contact with through Makarios.  Our doing language school has definitely helped us get closer to our goal.  We also did a week of medical spanish that will help both of us in the Makarios clinic.  We will always need to study and improve our language but we are much better now.

Volcano Arenal - Costa Rica

CPI Spanish School

Cooking class in Monte Verde, Costa Rica.

We arrived back in the DR on the 20th of October and have been working hard at preparing for a group that is coming on November 7.  That group is from our church in Ohio, Faircreek Church.  It is part medical and part work team.  We will be hosting them as well since our normal Makarios host couple are in language school now.  We are especially excited to have our pastor here to see what we do and to have him learn about Makarios.

So, we have had a much needed time of visiting friends and family in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia.  We had a little time to rest and rejuvenate and be able to refocus our minds on our mission here with Makarios.  Right now we are planning on staying another year and will evaluate as the time comes.  As always we appreciate so much the thoughts and prayers as well as the much needed financial support to be able to accomplish our mission of leading people to a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.  Please continue to support us with your prayers.

Serving Him,

The Youngs

  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.-  Isaiah 41:10

Our Next Step

Hello from the Youngs serving in the Dominican Republic.  Apologies for the length of time between updates.  Thank you so much for thinking of us, praying for us, and wanting to be involved with our lives!

Many people have asked what we are going to do in June when our time is up.  So…we will try to address that question.

We have been very busy with Makarios.  Becky has been working as the Sponsorship Coordinator and has been doing a great job.  The first annual Makarios Sponsor Trip is scheduled in April.  This trip allows any sponsor of one of the Makarios students to come and visit their student and their families.  It should be a great time and a wonderful start to an annual tradition at Makarios.  Becky has also been busy with keeping our home in line as well as homeschooling Jenna after she gets home from the Mak school.

Jenna and Audrey are doing well also.  They are both attending the Mak school and continue to work on their Spanish language skills.  Jenna is still into horses.  Audrey is into acting like a Dominican:)

We have had a lot of visitors since the first of the year.  One of our friends/supporters came for a visit the first of the year and then some of Becky's family was here.  Shortly after that we had the annual Makarios retreat which was very fun and enriching.  Then after that we had another friend come for a couple of weeks.  The day after she left we had other friends/supporters come for a visit with their family.  So, as you can see it has been a little crazy here.  We love hosting our friends/family/supporters so we can show them what it's like here and how God is working in our lives as well as in Makarios.

Darren have been busy with preaching at different churches, giving financial talks at schools, and doing health talks for the students at Makarios,  as well as seeing medical patients in the clinic (or wherever he is for that matter).  He was able to spend some time with the 3 and 4 year olds to talk to them about the importance of hand washing.  He used glitter on his hand as an example of germs and how easy it is to pass them on to others.  He showed them a spanish song about washing their hands too.  Seems like such a small thing but it can have a huge impact on their lives, especially with the environment that they live in.  Darren is in the clinic every day and sees anywhere from 4-5 patients to 20+ patients depending on the day.  He has some regulars from the community that he sees often as well.  He also continues to serve at the Monkey Jungle Medical Clinic on select Saturdays.

In the fall there was a death of the father of some our students.  He was a good man.  Darren met him on our first trip here in 2007.  Darren connected with this man because he could speak some English.  His daughter came into the medical office sobbing, saying that he had just died.  Several of the Makarios staff and Darren quickly went to the village where he was.  He was lying on his back on the cold concrete floor of his house/shack in their Haitian batey (village).  Darren checked him out and confirmed that he was dead.  His wife was crying and screaming along with the children.  He had a Bible opened near his head.  The wind was blowing the pages as we hugged the mom and children.  As Darren looked down to see what passage the Bible was opened to after the wind had stopped blowing the pages... this is what he found:

Psalm 39:4-7

4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end

and the number of my days;x

let me know how fleetingy my life is.z

5 You have made my daysa a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Everyone is but a breath,b

even those who seem secure.b

6 “Surely everyone goes aroundc like a mere phantom;d

in vain they rush about,e heaping up wealthf

without knowing whose it will finally be.g

7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?

My hope is in you.h

Darren hasn't forgotten that day and the life change that death brought to that family and those kids.  One thing is for sure we are all going to die someday.  What are we going to do in our short amount of time on this earth?  We pray that our family will not be working in vain.  Our prayer and our hope is in the Lord, our Creator, our Savior.

So, with this in mind we have decided to stay another year from this June and then see where the Lord leads us. We have peace about this decision and are excited about the upcoming year.  We will be taking a little break this summer for seeing family/friends/church and also maybe a little work for me to keep my medical skills up (still to be determined).  We also feel very strongly about being able to communicate very well in the spanish language so, we are going to take at least a month to go to language school (most likely Costa Rica) to focus on and improve our spanish.

We are so blessed by all of you who have supported us over the past 2 1/2 years.  We are asking for continued prayer please about our continued time here and our time in the US this summer.  We would also like prayer/support for our continued time here and language school, specifically financially.  If you are someone you know would like to help us out with either a one time gift or monthly support that would be an answer to prayer.
If you would like to give here is the link. https://makarios.webconnex.com/missionary

Until next time!

Our hope is in the Lord,

The YOUNGS

Happy Fall…Ahh the smell of burning…what is that??

Greetings from the DR.  We hope this finds you well and are enjoying all of the normal fall festivities.  This is Darren's favorite time of year so he misses the cool weather, the smell of burning leaves, pumpkins, football, sweatshirts, candy corn and peanuts…Mmmmm.  Here, it's just hot.  No leaves changing colors.  There is burning stuff, but that happens year round.  Usually it's sugar cane or some other unknown substance which isn't the same smell as burning fall leaves.  Anyway, enjoy the fall-ness for Darren.  We Just wanted to give you an update as to what's been going on with us and with Makarios the past few months.

We had a very busy summer between groups coming down and summer school.  Teams from the states come at least every other week if not more frequently all summer.  They do all sorts of things at the school and at the Mak house.  It's great to see people coming to serve and experience Makarios first hand.  Having groups does increases Darren's patient load with many different illnesses and injuries.  Fortunately nothing too major this summer.  Gracias a Dios!  We also had 5 interns here this summer as well.  Darren had one intern with him.  She hopes to do medical missions someday so it was great that they got to spend a lot of time together.  And who knows maybe sometime in the future she will be back at Makarios. During our down time we got to spend some time with the Makarios staff.  It's always fun to hang out with the people you work with and do community with.  They truly are a blessing to our family.

It has been great to see Makarios growing as well.  We started this new school year with 141 kids!  We now go from PreK-3 through the 6th grade (Jenna's class).  The teachers are all doing a great job of dealing with some of the newer kids (especially the pre-k 3s!).  Most of these kids don't have a lot of structure in their homes so to be in a class, sitting down, not moving can be very difficult for them. It is great to see the positive impact of Makarios on the kids and the community as well.  Not just their physical health but their spiritual health too. The kids are receiving a Christ-centered education and some of them are coming to know Him in a personal relationship.  I've even seen this in my office.  A community kid coming to know Christ because of our presence and meeting his physical needs first.  The spiritual needs are the most important though and we strive to meet those needs as often as we can.
Our girls are doing well.  As I mentioned Jenna is in 6th grade now and Audrey passed PreK-3 in spanish so she is in PreK-4 now (way to go Audrey!).  When they aren't in school they like spending time with their friends and family.

Becky is busy as the sponsorship coordinator, since we have a lot of new students that needed sponsored.  As of now only a few more need to be sponsored.  Each full sponsorship for one child is $100 per month and that provides their education, uniforms, 2 meals a day, medical care, and various other costs at the school.  It is challenging to try and reach sponsors in the US from the DR so you probably have seen many Facebook posts or emails.  Warning:  Sponsorship plug:)  If you'd like information on this please contact Becky:)

Darren has been busy in the clinic with a lot of the normal illness and injury.  On top of that we have had an outbreak of Chikungunya (not a specialty dish at your local Mexican restaurant).  This is a viral mosquito-borne illness similar to Dengue Fever but it is not quite as bad.  People with Chikungunya have a high fever, bad headache, and severe joint pain and swelling.  Some get a rash with it as well.  There's no specific vaccine or treatment only symptomatic care (fluids, acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, rest).  Darren has seen ALOT of kids and adults with this over the past few months.  I'm glad we don't have any Ebola here.

Darren has also been doing some preaching in a couple of the local churches including our local church, Templo Biblico.  He has also had a chance to lead men's Bible study a few times.  He is doing a lot of teaching about finances and the Bible which is another passion of his.  Part of his mission in life is to bring others to financial health so it's been great to see God open doors in this area.

We can't believe that it's been almost 2 years since we arrived here in the DR.  Which means that our 2 year commitment is almost up.  However, we have decided to extend our time here at least through the end of the school year (June 2015) and then see what God has for us.  We didn't want to leave in the middle of the school year and without a replacement for Darren.  If you have been supporting us either financially or prayerfully…Thank you SO much!  You have been a true blessing and have made a difference in the lives of these kids here at Makarios.  We would love for you to continue supporting us through our time here.  Again, thank you so very much.  We are grateful for this opportunity that our family has here in the DR.  We truly are living on the Edge of the DReam.  Until next time.  Hasta luego.  Dios te bendiga.

A "Normal" Day

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."  Colosians 3:17

Hello to all!  We are so thankful by those of you who are supporting us in words and deeds!  We give thanks to God for each one of you!  We are consistently humbled by the ways you have blessed us.

After serving here in the Dominican Republic for a year and a half (yes, we have been here that long!), our normal day here looks much different than our normal day in the US looked like.  Here is a glimpse of what a "normal" day might look like for Darren.

 Darren in his office.

Get up at 6:20am to exercise and get ready for work.  Head to work at 7:30 on his motorcycle (which is an adventure in defensive driving every day!).  Staff devotions at 7:45 and school starts at 8am.  During the school day, Darren will see and treat students, staff and people from the local community.  The patients' complaints vary with anything from head aches and stomach aches to broken bones, abscesses, cuts needing sutures, removal of foreign bodies, high blood pressure, high blood sugars and much more.  Although the majority of his patients are students from the school, he sees patients ranging from newborn to 90 years old.  His daily patient load can be anywhere from 10 patients to 30 patients .  He has many over-the-counter medications that have been donated to the clinic on hand that he can give as needed.  Any medication that he needs but does not have in the clinic, he can go to the local pharmacy and buy (such as antibiotics).  He can also send his patients to the local hospital/clinic to get lab tests or xrays done.  Any time one of our students or staff is in the hospital, Darren will visit them at the hospital and help in anyway he can to facilitate their medical care.  He is also still involved with other ministries in the area that provide medical care here in the DR as well as in Haiti.  He also oversees several of our students that have chronic medical conditions and will coordinate doctors visits and medications as needed.  The students are done with school at 1:15, but that is not when Darren is done.  He is also responsible for training and educating the staff on medical care and emergency preparedness.  In addition he has been doing financial training for the staff.  Around 3pm, he leaves the school and heads to Spanish class (again on his motorcycle).  He has 2 hours of Spanish class 3 days a week.  He arrives home around 6pm for dinner and time with the family.  His evening hours vary from more Spanish classes, bible study with other local missionaries, family time, and time to rest.

Getting lots of hugs from some of our students!

Here is a post from his facebook, just sharing how somedays feel crazy, but God is good…all the time!

Recap of my day yesterday: spent over 3 hours trying to buy a filing cabinet for the clinic office for charts, at our village visit we saw a previous MAK student and found out he was working from 5pm to 10pm every night at a Colmado (small local store) and he's 10 years old, a guy right behind me wrecked on his moto (I think we was ok), got rained on going to Bible Study, and 4 MAK students decided to accept Christ. Another day in the DR. Thank You Jesus.

(The 4 students that accepted Christ are friends of Jenna's in the fifth grade class.  This life changing decision is why we are here, serving with Makarios!  We praise God for these girls and pray over them as they walk in the light.)

What we are describing above, is a normal day.  But we all know that most days do not seem "normal".  Many times it takes much longer to get things accomplished and can be very frustrating.  Other days things seem to go very smoothly and not as complicated.  Darren works daily to serve people by meeting their physical needs and showing God's love by doing that.  Darren is serving in the capacity that God placed him in by doing "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Watching the Kentucky Derby DR style!

Blessings and hugs being sent to all of our friends and family!!  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

New Year…New Changes

Happy New Year…Ground Hog Day….and Valentine's Day  from the sunny, WARM Dominican Republic!  We hope you have had a wonderful beginning to 2014.  We have been very busy and very blessed so far this year.  Here's a look at what has been going on in our lives so far this year.

We were blessed to be able to visit the frigid USA over the Christmas holiday.  We were so excited to see and visit with so many friends and family.  We were able to visit friends and family in 5 different states (sorry if we missed you). Thank you to all who served us in countless ways.  After being encouraged, blessed and loved on for almost three weeks we made our way back home to the DR (after a 2 day delay because of the "polar vortex"…thanks global warming:)  We went from one extreme in weather to another.  It was a 75 degree temperature change from Ohio to Puerto Plata!  Needless to say we were glad to be home so we could unthaw!  It's been great watching the winter weather in the Midwest from here in the DR:)

Less than a week after returning home, we had our first visitors of the 2014 year.  Becky's sister Heidi and her husband Chad and their three kids, Eric, Emme, and Ellen stayed with us, worked along side with us and played with us!  It was so much fun to share our daily lives with them as well as some of the "perks" of living in the DR.  We all spent several days working at the Mak house and the school, as well as Chad and Eric working very hard on our vehicles.  We also took time to enjoy the beach, the mountains, and many other fun adventures together as a family.  We were sad to see them go, but so very encouraged from their visit.

Audrey adores her big cousin Eric!!

Sister time!

Cousin time is the best!

Hello is so much easier than Goodbye!

A few days after the Kreiders left, we had our annual dental team visit to the Makarios School.  As the Director of Health for the school, Darren was responsible for the set up, organization, and scheduling of this team.  He worked along side of them, scheduling students and staff, and helping with the flow of patients.  They worked very hard and were able to see and treat so many of our students and staff.  It was great to hear Dr. Bud say that the Mak school kid's teeth look better than the kids he sees in the states!  We also enjoyed visiting with them at dinner several times during the week.  The entire team was so fun to be around and a huge blessing to our school and staff!!

After the dental team left, we thought things would start to settle down for us and we could get back into our "normal routine".  But God had other plans.  Just this past week Audrey started as a pre-K 3 student at the Makarios School.  She has been wanting to go to school like a big girl for quite some time now.  The first day she was very excited…unfortunately, that excitement did not last long.  Her desire to be with mommy and play at home has been a difficult thing to try and overcome.  The first week was a little rough, as to be expected, but each day has gotten easier for her.  It will be exciting to watch her grow, develop, and learn Spanish under our wonderful teaching staff at the school.

With Audrey in school, Becky now has time to work directly with the school.  She will be working as the Sponsorship Coordinator for the Makarios School.  All of our students are sponsored by someone in the US in order to provide food, education, uniforms, and medical care through the Godly, loving staff at the Makarios School. The transition into the is role will begin over the next few weeks.  God has blessed her with a job that allows her flexibility to work at home as well as at the school.  She will be able to continue to homeschool Jenna in the afternoons and keep up with the daily needs of running a home.  It is an exciting time for all of us!

We are looking forward to our annual staff retreat this weekend in Jarabacoa.  It is a beautiful town up in the mountains here in the DR.  Our co-workers are so much fun and we enjoy spending time away from school with them.  This will be a time of worship, bonding, and focusing on the vision of Makarios.

After we return home for Jarabacoa, Becky's parents are coming for their first visit to the DR! Hooray.

We are so very thankful for each and every one of you.  Your prayers, emotional and financial support and encouragement to us is what makes it possible for us to be serving our great God here in the Dominican Republic.  Please continue to pray that we will continue to serve Him to the best of our abilities. Pray that Audrey will continue to make a good transition during this difficult time of starting school (all in spanish).  And finally, pray that Becky will transition into this new position very well. May God continue to bless you as he has blessed us.