Growing Churches & Leaders That Impact the
Growing Churches & Leaders That Impact the Dominican Republic “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Timothy 2:2 April, 2018 Dear Praying Partners, I have some great news to share with you in this month’s update. Allow me introduce to you a few new members of God’s family.
This is Tañia (Tanya)
Say “hello” to Gerard
Tañia has been visiting our church for the last few weeks. She is a neighbor of one of our faithful members and witnesses for Christ, Genarina. Tañia asked Tami and I to come by her home, because she had some questions about parenting. We explained to her that just because we have 7 kids, that doesn’t mean we are experts. It just means we have made almost all of the mistakes parents make. :) Anyway, after giving her some Biblical principles on discipline and talking about God’s design for the home, we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with Tañia. I think it’s called “picking fruit that’s ripe.” She was so ready to embrace the Gospel and to put her faith in Christ alone for Salvation. Please pray for Tañia as she is a mom trying to raise 2 “strong willed” children by herself. As I have shared in the past, in the Dominican Republic it’s quite common for a man to have a wife and 2 or 3 other women, and children with all of them. It creates many broken lives. Much like Tañia, Gerard has a broken heart. His father has left his mother, brother, and Gerard to start another family. But praise the Lord, Gary had the privilege to lead him to Christ on Thursday. Honestly, we had never seen him smile before, although he had been attending our church with his mother for a few months, and had been part of the children’s ministry. Jeynie, his mother, just became a member of our church last week. Gerard along with his brother Jonathan have some deep scars from the total abandonment of their father. The entire family is struggling. We are hopeful that God is breaking a cycle of pain, sin, and failure in this home, in order to begin a fresh cycle of love, faithfulness, and hope. Please pray with us. Jonathan is not yet a believer. More great news: Tami has accepted a position as a 3rd grade teacher for next year at Santiago Christian School. This will allow our 3 girls to attend school and little if any cost. As you may know, Tami is a very gifted and passionate teacher. 90% of the student body at SCS are lost. We are very excited about this opportunity for Tami and the girls to touch more lives for Christ. Thank in advance for your prayers in these areas. We thank Jesus for you all. Prayer Request: May 16th we begin our believer equipping classes in our church. The next step in preparing our church to plant churches
Living the Dream, Gary and Tami Byrd Cody, Ben, Heidi, Darby, and Haley
This is Tañia (Tanya)
Say “hello” to Gerard
Tañia has been visiting our church for the last few weeks. She is a neighbor of one of our faithful members and witnesses for Christ, Genarina. Tañia asked Tami and I to come by her home, because she had some questions about parenting. We explained to her that just because we have 7 kids, that doesn’t mean we are experts. It just means we have made almost all of the mistakes parents make. :) Anyway, after giving her some Biblical principles on discipline and talking about God’s design for the home, we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with Tañia. I think it’s called “picking fruit that’s ripe.” She was so ready to embrace the Gospel and to put her faith in Christ alone for Salvation. Please pray for Tañia as she is a mom trying to raise 2 “strong willed” children by herself. As I have shared in the past, in the Dominican Republic it’s quite common for a man to have a wife and 2 or 3 other women, and children with all of them. It creates many broken lives. Much like Tañia, Gerard has a broken heart. His father has left his mother, brother, and Gerard to start another family. But praise the Lord, Gary had the privilege to lead him to Christ on Thursday. Honestly, we had never seen him smile before, although he had been attending our church with his mother for a few months, and had been part of the children’s ministry. Jeynie, his mother, just became a member of our church last week. Gerard along with his brother Jonathan have some deep scars from the total abandonment of their father. The entire family is struggling. We are hopeful that God is breaking a cycle of pain, sin, and failure in this home, in order to begin a fresh cycle of love, faithfulness, and hope. Please pray with us. Jonathan is not yet a believer. More great news: Tami has accepted a position as a 3rd grade teacher for next year at Santiago Christian School. This will allow our 3 girls to attend school and little if any cost. As you may know, Tami is a very gifted and passionate teacher. 90% of the student body at SCS are lost. We are very excited about this opportunity for Tami and the girls to touch more lives for Christ. Thank in advance for your prayers in these areas. We thank Jesus for you all. Prayer Request: May 16th we begin our believer equipping classes in our church. The next step in preparing our church to plant churches
Living the Dream, Gary and Tami Byrd Cody, Ben, Heidi, Darby, and Haley
