| We are in Cabarete since two months and we have not seen the time go by. We are extremely busy with the school, which, by the way, functions very well, in spite of numerous road blocks that we had to face and overcome. We realize that with God nothing is impossible. But we have to admit that it was not easy. Even now, almost every day there are irritants to contend with. We can't explain all the difficulties that one has to meet daily in a Third World country. But the weather is nice and that helps endure a lot of things. So we just jump in the pool and try to relax and forget the hardships for awhile. Here are the latest news and a few pictures. The good news is that we finally got our patent letters for Académie Opération Compassion Canada . It's now official. We now move in second gear, and file for our charitable status. Louise and the rest of the team work very hard to reach this final goal. Cheers to the team! Thank you Lord, for their support and encouragement. God is Great! The school is open since August. At the end of September, we were able to register the children with the DR Ministry of Education in Sosúa. It hasn't been an easy, because while registering the kids electronically in the program, the power went out. Fortunately, the Director allowed me to borrow his employee to go to a local restaurant with WI-FI to finish the task; otherwise we would still be there!!! We have 40 children registered from Kindergarten to Grade 3. We have heard several very positive comments already from the neighborhood saying that the children are learning more and better at our school compared to the public school. How encouraging! We are proud. The day starts at 8a.m. with prayer in French and in Spanish, followed by the raising of the Dominican flag while singing the national anthem. The children, by the way, know their national anthem by heart. Gaétan and I also sing O Canada. On Monday mornings, we honor the students who have earned the title of 'student of the week' in their respective class. The teachers have all signed their contract for the year. They are all Christians and manifest an exemplary good conduct. The Church has not yet moved from the old building. But we are using the space reserved for it for chapel. On Thursday, we all meet there with the children and the teachers for the Bible study. An American couple is schedules to present a puppet show to present the Gospel to the children in Spanish. We can't wait to see the reaction of the kids, because I know that they will like it. School ends at noon. Since we are out of electricity most of the day, it would be too hot to teach in the afternoon. To be without electricity means no fans, no computers nor CD players; so you can understand that we have an urgent need for a generator. This is a subject of prayer for the school. My friend Jackie is teaching English classes to children and adults. With her, the children have learned to sing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". They love to sing this song!! Gaétan does the necessary upkeep in the school and some work on the property with the help of Haitian men from the church. Sometimes, Haitian and Dominican women come to school to do the cleaning. This is really appreciated, since we cannot do everything. We are still waiting for our material from Canada (81 boxes of supplies). The shipping company is asking for $6,000 to ship to the DR. This is too much. We can't afford that. Lidia is working very hard to find a solution to this situation. Here's a good idea: if you happen to travel this way, maybe you could bring a few boxes with you as humanitarian aid. Usually the airlines won't charge supplement for it, but arrangements have to be made ahead of time. Here are some pictures from school. The uniforms are almost completed and will be distributed shortly. As soon as the children have their uniforms on, we'll send you a picture of your sponsored child along with a brief biography. I'm going to try to send a picture of the whole family also, but I can't promise it will be feasible. Monday, we held our first medical clinic. Dr. Moreno came to examine all the children. He found most of them in good health, although at least 3 or 4 need urgent dental care. Pray that I might find a dentist willing to do the fillings free of charge. We have not yet started to offer breakfast to the children, because all our kitchen ware material is still in Canada . I would like to start offering at least one breakfast a week come November. I have made arrangements with the local bakery. I'm expecting to make arrangement shortly with the local milkman, if he can take time to come off his donkey to talk to me. Don't laugh, because the farm is up the mountain and the milk is transported in milk cans, one on each side of the donkey, down the mountain path. This is quite an adventure, you can't imagine..! On this note I have to go, and please keep praying for us, like Paul instructs us to do in the Scripture. Suzanne
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This is the newsletter Suzanne sent out so thought I'd use it as it gives a very good report.
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