WOW....whatta year....and then some!!

 

August 2021

Hey Y’all,

Wow….whatta year...and then some!!  

Psalm 18:35  You have given me the shield of Your salvation; 

Your right 

hand has held me up.  

(Amen to that!)

The short of it is that the past school year in the Dominican Republic was completely 

online.  The whole year.  (Boo to that!)  We are extremely thankful for Doulos and 

their persistence in not letting a pandemic stand in the way of doing our best to educate 

kids in these tricky times. For our family, this meant that I went to school and taught 

art virtually and Joe stayed home with Sam, Levi and Sarah and they had packets and 

virtual classes throughout the day.  You can imagine the fun that might be in a country 

that doesn’t have the most stable electricity system.  I am proud to say that WE SURVIVED 

the school year, but I am much MORE glad to say that our students will be heading back 

to campus on 17 August, 2021!!!  This is SUCH great news! 

 

 

Galatians 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law 

of Christ. 

(Amen to this, too!)

During this challenging time of virtual learning, we are thankful for so many things.  We 

have a great community that upheld those who were sick with COVID or in quarantine for 

having a COVID contact.  While there were curfews in the Dominican Republic that were 

sometimes quite early, we were able to still be in our little neighborhood, by the river and 

visiting with friends in our apartment complex. 

This photo is from our back balcony!

Friendships in middle school are crucial.  Robert is one of those friends for Sam. 

Friends playing in the river!

Levi not only survived a year of online learning, but earned the highest 

grades in 5th grade and was honored with the Doulos Of The Year Award.  

Given to the elementarystudent who embodies all of the Codes of Character:  

Revolutionary, Wise, Courageous, Servant Leader, Relational, and Perseverant

Our 4th of July plans were foiled by COVID, but we celebrated with

distance with our Canadian neighbors!  Yes, Levi is climbing the

bars on the windows…….(makes ya kind of question that ‘Wise’ part

Of the Doulos of the Year Award, huh?)

1 Samuel 16:7b for the LORD does not see as man sees; for 

man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 

(Good thing!!)

One of the habits that went to the wayside during our COVID months was hair cuts. :)  

There is evidence of this growth in the picture below of Joe and me.  Despite the lack of 

hair and beard cuts, Joe and I celebrated 20 years of marriage in June. :) 

Sarah helped Joe lighten his load a bit.  :)  Thank you, Sarah!  

Proverbs 16:9  A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD 

directs his steps.  

In this COVID year, our summer plans were thwarted a bit by four of us testing positive for 

COVID.  This meant we couldn’t fly when we intended to.  We finally were able to go and 

were able to see some family and had some really fun times with some of our supporters.  

Time, this trip, just didn’t allow for us to see as many people as we hoped.  

Here are a few pictures.  

Psalm 128:1  Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in 

His ways.  

(Here we are, LORD!)

Y’all, God has sustained our family through this crazy year.  We are exceedingly grateful.  

Here is what we have coming up this year:

Laurie will be facing a new role of Master Teacher of Elementary and Specials Teachers.  

This is a group of about 20 people whom I will coach this year as we strive to achieve the 

mission of Doulos--educating and equipping servant leaders through Christian discipleship 

and expeditionary learning to impact the Dominican Republic. 

Joe will step out of his role at school to be available as our three adjust to being back 

at school.  He may embark on a Bible degree in the Spring.  

Sam, who goes by Joseph at school, is 12 years old and entering into 7th grade.  The

transition from 5th grade to 6th grade was a bit of a bumpy road for this middle schooler, 

but it was a learning experience for all of us.  Sam is also now taller than me….

which I find completely obnoxious! :)

Levi will be 11 on Saturday and is entering 7th grade. He received the highest grades in 

his class last year as well as the Doulos of the Year Award.  He is excited about middle 

school and learning from many teachers.  

Sarah is 8 and entering 4th grade (when she was in PreK, we started her early to 

learn Spanish--a decision the Dominican Ministry of Education sticks with once made) 

and she is so excited to be back at school on campus.  Online school was a challenge for 

this social butterfly who gets easily distracted, but we are full speed ahead looking forward 

to face-to-face school.   

We would appreciate prayers for the Dominican Republic as everyone starts back to 

school after being out of traditional class for so long.  We would also appreciate prayer 

for our family as we prepare for all the ‘new’ and faithfully serve God with all our heart.  

May we honor His 

faithfulness with joyful obedience.  

As always, thank you for reading about our fam.  Thank you for praying for our fam.  

Thank you 

for financially supporting our fam.  

 

If you’d like to join the team of givers, please head to  

https://give.doulosministries.us/?donateTo=79032

Grace and much peace, 

Laurie for Joe, Sam, Levi and Sarah

Update on the Majchers serving with Doulos Discovery School in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic--Dec 2020

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y’ALL!!!

The very fabulous Jennie Morel took some incredible pix of our kids.  The most 

true one is at the end of this newsletter.  :)  Levi (10), Sarah (7) and Sam (11)

Want to know what is happening down here in the DR?  Let me tell ya…...

After the Dominican elections in March, everything kind of came to a screeching halt. 

 Very little was open and people were not out and about.  We completed school by 

way of packets for my three and I was teaching on two different platforms for 

Middle School and High School.  It was pretty crazy, but it was the best we could 

do with one day to prepare before schools were to close.  

Then the summer came!  Hallelujah…..except there was still really nothing to do.  

It was hard to know what would be open, but many things like the pool, museums 

and movie theatres were still closed.  A lot of restaurants had delivery only.  We 

have had a curfew since March.  It was extended a bit since the original curfew, 

so right now people can’t be out after 9pm on weekdays and 7am on the weekends. 

 

Our family took one of Levi’s friends to see the home of the Mirabal Sisters.  

The murder of these ladies  played an important role in overthrowing the 

dictator who ruled the DR for 30 years.  

In June, Joe and I celebrated 19 years of wedded bliss.  We elected to celebrate 

by spending 3 days together in Santiago…..in the hospital!  Joe received great 

care and every test was done to eliminate this and that and we walked out with 

a high blood pressure diagnosis and a better plan to tend to his arthritis.  

We are EXCEEDINGLY thankful to our neighbors, Jon and Rachel Sawyer, who 

took our kids in a heartbeat and assured us that our top priority could be Joe and 

his health.  We are also so thankful for our other neighbors, Zech and Lauralee 

Millette, for taking our kids off the Sawyer’s hands for a night. 

It was a clear and beautiful picture of community.

  

We celebrated the 4th with a gathering of the people in our apartment complex.

At the end of July, we started virtual staff training.  Administration wisely prepared 

us for online teaching AND on campus teaching. The Dominican Ministry of 

Education had not yet announced what they were going to allow for either public 

or private schools.  So, Doulos Discovery School was going to be ready either way.  

There was partial tearing down of some physical walls so that no more than 10 kids 

were in a room at a time and the teacher would teach from the middle of those ‘rooms’.  

I was preparing for Art-on-a-Cart since the students were not going to be moving 

from class to class and Joe was not really sure how his role would look as someone 

who works with kids who are struggling.  Would he be able to pull kids from the 

classroom?  All this while learning the ins and outs of Google Classroom.  

Mid-August, Doulos Discovery School started 2020-2021 online with the hope 

the Ministry of Education would say we could return, but did not and have not.  

The public schools planned to return back to school in November.  The goal and 

plan is to have the country’s kids distance learning for virtual learning by next 

month.  Some may be going online, but if you turn on the TV during the day, you 

will likely find a public school class going on. Kids here are taking class by TV and 

getting packets from their local public school.   

What all of this means for our family is that Joe is a homeschooling dad and I 

go to school everyday and teach students on the Google Classroom platform. 

We wear masks when we are anywhere, but our own rooms.  It is a strange place--a 

school with no students, but it has become our new normal.  It meant that we 

had Sam transition to middle school, Levi to 5th grade and Sarah to 3rd all online.  

They all went from playing games and reading on their tablets to opening their class 

page and navigating their live calls on a computer.  Sam has learned how to track all his 

classes, move between them for live class and turn in work.  I have also learned A TON.  

There have been a few mishaps, but the kids have been extremely gracious.  

 We have elected to not travel back as a family for Christmas due to the health 

risk traveling presents to my parents who are both cancer survivors, but Joe will 

head back to visit his family at the end of December.  In a time of limited travel, 

we long for visitors to come see us.  So, feel free to book a flight.  :)

Overall, we are more than hanging in there.  Doulos is doing a great job in keeping 

about the business of educating students in meaningful ways and we are so thankful 

for that.  I believe that more than ever Doulos is carrying out their mission of providing 

a meaningful and excellent education and discipling students.  Doulos still has Chapel 

each week and small groups, we have had several drive throughs for the students, 

and maintained some very ‘Doulos’ aspects.  One is our Reading Under that Stars 

event, which you can see how we did that virtually on our facebook page 

Doulos Ministries (https://www.facebook.com/doulosdiscovery). This is a time 

when the families of Doulos come together under the big mango tree on campus 

and read together.  The boys opted to read in the mango tree outside of our

apartment with the neighborhood boys.  

Stars were sent home to read under!  :)

 

 

Another event is our Christmas program.  It looked very different 

from other years, but the show still went on and Jesus’ significance was announced.  

You can also see that on the school’s FB page.   

Doulos also seems to be--based on the asking around that our principal 

did--the only school in the country of the Dominican Republic who 

started school when we said we would.  This was only one week past 

what we normally do. Our students have had a full semester of education!!  

In these crazy times, this is not a light statement. 

 

Here are just a few more pictures of Sam, Levi and Sarah. :)

  

 

 

 

 

Photo credit:  Jennie Morel for the last four photos.  This last one is the more true 

representation of how my beautiful kids are on most days….dirty feet and scarred 

up from climbing trees.  :)

THANK YOU for reading this far. THANK YOU for your interest in our 

family.  THANK YOU to our SUPER FAITHFUL supporters.  It is so valuable 

to the work that is being done in Jarabacoa through the education that Doulos is 

providing.  If you would like to jump on board, we would welcome you to 

the team.  Our support has changed since moving to Doulos two years ago.  

Before moving to Doulos, people would give a one time gift from time to 

time as they knew the organization and our long association with it.  We 

have really missed those gifts in our transition, so we would welcome one 

time or monthly supporters.  Here is how to give to Doulos in support of 

the Majcher Family.  https://give.doulosministries.us/?donateTo=79032

I’ll leave you with one of my fave verses.  

Grace and peace, 

The Majchers--Joe, Laurie, Sam, Levi and Sarah

 

What the Hector has the Majcher Family been doing??

I FINISHED!!!  I finished my Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. 
This is a  major sigh of relief!!  I started the degree in October of 2018 and a month later parted
ways with an organization I’d been associated with for 15 years.  A month later our family moved
within the DR and joined a whole new ministry--still a school, but a different focus. So, I plugged
away at my classes through all this and now I ended my studies during a pandemic where I found
myself a homeschool mom to 3 elementary kids  and teacher of Doulos Discovery School students.
Needless to say things have been rowdy.

Our sweet neighbors immediately made a cake to celebrate when I turned in my last assignment!! Thank you, Coopers!!

As usual, I am saying something goofy, but our upstairs neighbors also made a cake to celebrate this big achievement!  Thank you, Concepcion Family

Thank yo goes to every single person I  spoke to in the past 16 months.  Almost literally,
everyone has helped me achieve my goal of earning a Master’s degree.  I needed to ask
someone principal-y questions, so I interviewed the gracious guy who replaced me at the other
ministry.  I did a 4 am airport pick up in exchange for an interview on school counseling. I asked
everyone at Doulos for all kinds of information. The Specials Team let me film our meetings. I
frantically contacted one of my Specials Team members because the videos wouldn’t upload for
a Sunday deadline. Then there is the fam.  Joe took the kids hiking so I could work. The incredible
neighbors took the kids places for fun outings MANY times. My kids were so encouraging,
prayerful and supportive. While they are very proud of me, I did get a very solid, ‘NO, NO, NO’
from Levi when I asked if I should pursue a doctorate. :) Maybe I’ll start that when I’m 50!  

COVID-19 and Dominican Elections happened at the same time here in the DR. With both of those events, school has been out of
session since 16 March.  The Ministry of Education has not announced yet if school will go back
in session this semester or not, so that makes our educational future a little uncertain at this point. 
For now, we are living the homeschooling dream. All of us agree that homeschooling is 100x
harder than going to school/teaching. I am thankful for this option though and Doulos teachers
have worked their tails off to make this option a reality.  

This is us living the Homeschool Dream!

Should we stay or should we go?  In this crazy time, expats are confronted with an added layer of decision making--waiting
out ‘Rona in the DR or returning to the States. Our family opted to stay in the DR for two
reasons.  One is that my precious Mama just finished her last round of chemo for the lymphoma
that she has been battling and we are not about to jeopardize her health by traipsing through
international airports.  Her progress is a GINORMOUS praise.  My Mama is a trooper--anyone
who knows her, knows this.  She has kicked cancer’s tail, is recovering from her last treatment
and handled the whole process like a pro.  The other reason is that living in the States indefinitely
does not make financial sense for us. Since staying in the DR for long periods of time is something
we normally do, , we elected to just stay put and hunker down here.  

The grocery stores and small corner stores stay open until for business if you have a mask and
some places require gloves.  They limit how many people can be in the store at one time. There
is a curfew at 5:00pm where all people have to be in their homes.  There are a few delivery options,
but not like in other countries, so people are out on the streets, but not as many and folks generally
wear masks when out. Thankfully, electricity has been pretty good!!

Representing Austin City Limits as I grocery shop. 

We just wanted to let y’all know what we’ve been up to in these crazy times.  We are finding
peace in this storm and praying for those hurting, facing job loss or wages cuts.  Please be praying
for the missionaries around the world, like us, who rely on the gifts and donations of many.  If you
have been looking for a way to help, please consider our family serving with Doulos Discovery
School at Give.  We have experienced loss of support and would highly appreciate having you on
our team.  Please contact me at lauriemajcher@gmail.com if you would like to talk more about
what Doulos Discovery School is all about.  

In this time, we have taken extra time for Family Bible time focussing on His Resurrection
and marvelingin His goodness to us.  We strive to be imitators of God and not promote fear, but
peace. May His goodness and peace reign in your hearts!

Right before the quarantine made it to the DR, the kids and I took a quick trip to our old stomping
grounds. Some friends from Doulos wanted to see where we lived before.
It was a great time for the kids to catch up with their friends. Here are some pix from that
wonderfully refreshing trip.

photo cred:  The fabulous Rachel Sawyer

photo cred:  Grace Daggett

Grace and much peace, 

Los Majcher

Joe, Laurie, Sam (5th grade), Levi (4th grade)  and Sarah (2nd grade).

This is our WOW,-It-Has-Been-A-Crazy-Year Update!

I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart;

wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 27:13-14

This is our WOW,-It-Has-Been-A-Crazy-Year Update!

First, Merry Christmas! It is our hope that this past year found you waiting on the LORD as He brought you courage. This year has been very full of ups and downs. I (Laurie) will try to condense them here for y'all.

A year exactly today, we paid our first Jarabacoa rent. We have completely enjoyed our community of neighbors—most of them are missionaries also. We have gotten familiar with how Jarabacoa and Doulos work. It is really quite a different community than what we have been used to on the north coast of the DR. The Lord has certainly brought us joy, even in difficulties of transition, in many different areas of our new life with Doulos Ministries.

This August brought a new challenge for Joe. He is now working part time at Doulos. This has been an adjustment, but a good change. We are now all spending most of our waking hours at Doulos Discovery School. :)

This November brought the passing of Joe's father and while that was a strained relationship with many years of silence, his passing has had a big impact on Joe. Never underestimate the important role fathers have in their kids' lives. Please keep Joe and his family in your prayers and they pass through their first Christmas without Big Joe.

A few days after returning back to the DR from Joe's dad's funeral, my mom informed me that the pain in her back--which she had checked because they were planning to come visit us at Christmas--turned out to be cancer. She is in the process of getting treatment for lymphoma. We are wildly thankful for the a treatable diagnosis, but our family would sure appreciate your prayers for my mom as she passes through this challenging time and as my dad takes his turn as nurse. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to go back to Indiana after Christmas to help out as she faces treatment that leaves her feeling very, very, very worn out.

Sam is in 5^th grade and goes by Joseph at school here in Jarabacoa. He is doing well in school and has adjusted well. He's growing like a weed and played soccer this year. He enjoys learning, being creative and loves doing things as a family. This sweet pea leaves me notes of encouragement when I am overwhelmed. It is no wonder how he won the Servant Leader Award at school this month. Sam is on the far left in the picture below.  You may recognize the kid on the far right.  :) 

Levi is in 4^th grade and loves school. Levi enjoys learning. He chose to take French class instead of soccer or art in the After School Program. He also won the Servant Leader Award at school and we couldn't be more proud of our servant leaders. Levi also loves to snuggle with his Mama (wow, won't he hate this blog in a few years?) and loves being up trees, panning or gold in the river, playing endless board games and just running around with the neighbor boys (pictured below) whose family is serving with Kids Alive.

Sarah is in 2^nd grade and also loves school. She loves her teachers, her friends and to sing. She and her friend had a duet in the Christmas program this year. Sarah is a girl of decision and recently decided that she would like her ears pierced. She's doing a great job of cleaning her new bling. Sarah loves to play with the neighbor girl--pictured above-- (sister to the neighbor boys mentioned in Levi's summary) and so there is constant activity between the apartments as they are across the hall.

Joe who, as mentioned before, is now working in Intervention at Doulos is learning the ropes of working at a school--a very different situation than working at Dell! He is passionate about the Gospel and making sure the kids know how to have eternal life. He continues to lead our family (pictured below) in Bible lessons that have included an all-family Greek learning through reading Scripture in Greek. It is very basic, but the boys are picking it up.

Laurie is teaching art to middle school, high school and third grade. It has been a looooong time since she has taught art, but she is LOVING it. The students are so wonderfully creative and just need a forum to release their creativity. She has two more classes to complete her Master's degree (C'mon, 1 May!!!!) and, wow, she will be thrilled to be done. She usually threatens to quit at least once a class and there are usually tears involved, but she has prevailed by the literal grace of God. She has even managed to maintain a very good GPA!

The Lord has been so faithful to our little family. He has seen us through an extremely difficult time of transitioning from one ministry to Doulos. He has brought us friends and family here in the chilly mountains. Doulos took in our hurt family and made us feel most welcomed. Most importantly, He has brought us joy as we have waited on Him. We are blessed and thankful for all He has done—especially sending His Son as a baby to create a path for us to have eternal life in Him.

If you are interested in financially partnering with us in this ministry that strives to bring about change in the DR through the education of students equipped to face real problems and solutions within the Dominican community while providing a Christian education, please do so here: https://give.doulosministries.us/?donateTo=79032&donateWith=Check&amount&to . If you would like to contact Laurie to know more about what we do, please write me at lauriemajcher@gmail.com. We'd LOVE to hear from you. If you would love to come down and serve on a missions team, serve as a teacher or be a sponsor for Sam, Levi or Sarah, please email me and I can put you in contact with the right people.

Many, many, many thanks for your prayers and faithfulness to our family. We are honored that you have read this blog on our crazy, but joyful year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Grace and peace, Joe, Laurie, Sam, Levi and Sarah