Quita Sueño
After 20 years in Nazaret and 17 years in Cielo, we feel it is time to establish another beachhead for the Gospel in the Dominican Republic. When we first started in Cielo, it was an “unreached” people group. We were dedicated to going deep within the community and have stayed committed to that calling. It is what we have done, are doing, and will continue to do.
God has blessed our efforts with abundance, beyond any of our hopes and expectations. The Cielo Strategy is simple, but effective: Go an inch wide and a mile deep. We responded to needs in these ways:
- Education: We built 2 schools that now have almost 500 students most of whom are sponsored by American partners. Our child sponsorship program extends to another 50 students in a local Christian high school.
- Drinkable water: People were getting sick from drinking polluted water. We built a water purification factory that provides pure water for over 10,000 people and has decreased water related diseases by 70%.
- Medical care: We provide care to roughly 70 children each week in the clinic (3 days of care), many of whom are Haitians who cannot receive care at other facilities in the region, as well as dental care for the students in our school (and hopefully expanding!). We also provide antibiotics and other necessary medications for our patients at a price that they can afford.
- Housing: People lived in dangerous squalor in shacks not fit for chickens. Our teams have built sturdy block homes for 60 grateful families.
- House of Worship: There was not a gospel preaching church in the area. We helped to build a church building that is thriving.
- Empowerment: Many mother-led families went hungry. We started the Women’s Cooperative where they gather twice a week for Bible study, singing, prayer, and making sellable crafts that help provide food for their families.
- Outreach: A local Haitian church met under a street lamp. Now the group numbers over 200 and has a beautiful place to worship safely.
- Youth: Teens roamed the streets aimlessly. Now a very active Young Life club meets in our youth center.
- Mobility for the handicapped: Special needs kids and their families led difficult lives with little hope of ever being able to get a therapeutic wheelchair. We built an assembly factory that makes dreams come true and prayers answered.
- Recreation: Children and teenagers were left to roam the streets with little activity other than school. We responded by building a baseball stadium, a basketball court, and 5 children’s playgrounds.
Above all, thousands of Americans and Dominicans have been profoundly challenged to live out the gospel with there newfound brothers and sisters in the faith.
Yes, it’s time to start a new beachhead or “campa blanca,” a white harvest field, and answer the prayers of the people of Quita Sueño. The people there have all the same symptoms of poverty that Cielo had. Quita Sueño literally means, “the place dreams go to die.” Together, we can change that last word: “The place where dreams go to live!”
Our vision in Cielo has given us a new dream in a neighborhood around the corner. With your help we will see a community come to life … as well as their dreams. Please pray for this new venture. And as the Lord leads, please come and lead children’s Bible clubs, listen to their stories and join together in seeing a community deeply changed.
