Happiest of holidays to you!
What a joy to be able to celebrate the
birth of our Lord and Savior. What humility was demonstrated as He
got demoted to BABY!! Why? So that He could find the lost, know us,
sacrifice Himself for us and demonstrate His unfailing love. May
this Christmas be awe-filled at what the Lord has done for us!
Speaking of being awe-filled by what
the Lord has done........let me TRY to catch you up with Makarios and
our family.
Let me start with July which took me
back to the States to help my Mom as she tended to my Dad who was
battling cancer. It has been a bewildering road for my Mom and she's
been nothing short of a champ. The treatment was very rough on my
Dad, but the report back has been excellent. He is cancer-free and
we are praising our Awesome God for such healing.
In August our family celebrated our
fourth year anniversary serving with Makarios. I NEVER excepted to
ever say those words. As we think about our commitment through
Summer 2019 we are prayerfully considering what the Lord may have
next for us. Some of you may be skeptical of our leaving date, but
this just may be real this time. (But, we'll see! :) ) In August
also my replacement arrived with his family. Ryan is in language
training now and is progressing nicely.
In August the Makarios School started
its first school year of having the recognition by the Dominican
Ministry of Education to have our students at our school registered
in our official name. This is a huge step and was no small task.
In August Sam started 3rd
grade; Levi started 2nd grade; and Sarah started
Kindergarten. All three kids very much enjoy school, their teachers
and their friends. Joe teaches the kids Bible—they have
verse-by-verse gone through much of the Old Testament. Joe has
taught the boys to read in English and is working with Sarah. He
leads a Bible Study on Saturdays through our church. I am still
doing my best to run the Makarios School which is so close to my
heart.
September marked the 10th
anniversary of giving class at the school's location—as opposed to
in the individual communities. This is such a great milestone.
Sharla Megilligan, the founder, was present for the celebration which
was planned, moved, planned, and moved due to two hurricanes the DR
faced this hurricane season. Makarios had much to celebrate this
September—minimal damage in our area from those hurricanes and 10
years of class!
September also marked the start of
construction that, once completed, will be the rooms needed to
complete our whole school-- preschool through graduating seniors.
This is big and super exciting. This is an amazing endeavor and
God's carried us through the plans, the purchasing of land, the first
phase of the drainage and wall. It makes for a noisy classroom
environment, but once it is completed it will be truly incredible.
October and November were filled with
teacher trainings, the medical team that comes every year, making a
promotional video for Makarios, visits from the Austin office and
just all the 'normal' (HA HA) days of class at the Mak School, The
school where I taught for 9 years comes at Thanksgiving and throws
the American staff an amazing spread of all the smells and tastes of
Thanksgiving, It is an amazing labor of love.
The blur of this fall has transitioned
to winter which brought a trip to Santo Domingo so Joe could take
Sarah to Disney on Ice. Sarah, obviously, LOVED it. The boys and I
stayed back at the hotel and swam in the pool, which we LOVED as
well. All the craziness of December has quieted now. The exams are
completed, turned in, graded, put into extremely detailed grade
books. The Christmas presentation has been presented, all the
classroom parties are completed and now we are on Christmas break.
Ahhhhhh.
Christmas break for the Majcher Family
will consist of traveling to Indiana where we will spend time with
family while freezing our hindquarters off. :) It really will be a
wonderful time. The kids and Joe haven't left the Dominican Republic
in almost three years. Sarah turned two the last time she was there!
I anticipate a lot of questions from the kids. I've tried to prep
them on the fact that everyone speaks English so everyone will
understand what they are saying, so, please, don't say anything
weird!! :)
God's sweetness and goodness are ever
present. They've been most apparent in this past year. As I hear my
boys speak so conversationally about the Bible it brings me such joy
they have such deep knowledge of the Word. They are memorizing The
Romans Road so they can share the Gospel with Scripture easily. Such
richness in those Scriptures about God's amazing gift to us in His
Son. I am memorizing Psalm 40 with good friend, Robin Inks. I'm so
thankful for His listening, lifting us up from where we are and the
fact that His blessings to us are without number. What an amazing
God we serve.
Grace and much peace this holiday
season,
Joe, Laurie, Sam, Levi and Sarah
PS If you are interested in supporting Makarios by supporting our family, please visit https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/Makarios/missionaries. We would love to have you join our team! :)
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