Hello family and friends!  We pray that you are all doing well.

We wanted to update you all on some changes that are coming to our family.  As most of you know, we initially planned on working with Makarios in the Dominican Republic for 2 years.  God has graciously  allowed our family to continue working here past those first 2 years and we completed our 5th year in December 2017!  We have been blessed to work with many wonderful people during our time with Makarios.  

After much prayer and counsel, our family will be beginning a new adventure in April of this year.  We will be moving back to the United States.  We are so very grateful for your constant support and love for us over the past 5 years.  We would not have been able to serve with Makarios without all of your prayers and support for our family.  We feel so blessed to have been a part of this ministry with you all as a part of our team.  We are sad to be leaving our friends and "family" in the DR, but we are excited to see what God has planned for us.  

We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we make this big transition.  We want to finish strong here and transition out well.  And please pray for our girls as this is a big change for both of them.
We will be moving to Montana and Darren will be working at a rural hospital.  The start date is May 7 so we will need to purchase a vehicle and make our way out the first week of May.

We would love to visit with each of you when we return in April to reconnect and personally thank you.  I hope we can get our schedules to cooperate. We will be making our schedule soon and let you know when and where we will be.

Thank you for all of the prayers and support over the past 5 years.
- Darren, Becky, Jenna, and Audrey

Happy New Year from the Youngs in the DR.  Hope you all had a blessed Christmas and wonderful start to 2018.

We have been doing well here.  Our fall and first semester at school were full of blessings and changes.  Makarios was able to start construction on the land that will be for our new buildings.  We have a new entrance, drainage system, a wall around the property as well as having the land prepared for the new buildings.  This new land will be very beneficial in the coming years at Makarios and allow us to grow!  Getting this stage completed has been a lot of work and planning for Darren and several other Mak staff.  It has been great to see things come together and are excited about the growth of Makarios.  Makarios is continuing to fundraise so we can start the first building.

In October, we had a great week with a team from Faircreek Church (our home church in Ohio).  They brought a medical and work team.  It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them and work alongside of our friends.  About 400 patients were treated during this week!  And numerous work projects were completed.  It was nice to have people that we know be here and hang out with us for the week.

Darren with Wilner

Beginning of school parade.

Merry Christmas from the Youngs

We had a quiet and blessed Christmas as a family here in the DR.  We spent a few days in Santo Domingo, the capital city, with some friends/co-workers.  It was a fun time and got to get a little taste of Christmas from the big city.

We are excited about a new year and a chance to start fresh.  There is a lot of work to be done still and are trusting God for His guidance in our lives.

We definitely want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you for your prayer and financial support!  We appreciate you and the sacrifices you make that provide for and empower us to do what we do here, which is to further HIS kingdom.  Thank you!!!  To God be the glory!

Prayer requests...
1.  God's strength to persevere through the many challenges we face here.
2.  God's continued guidance in our lives and work.
3.  Continued financial support.

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

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