For 18 years, Doulos has been educating and equipping servant leaders through Christian discipleship and expeditionary learning to impact the Dominican Republic. Discover how the great need for education has provided a door for the gospel in the DR.
Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” The goal for all four of us is to live our lives constantly modeling Christ and pursuing opportunities to serve.
11 eighth graders + 2 teachers + over 100 cookies and Rice Krispie treats+ WII, pop and pizza= a fun afternoon. The eighth grade class studies diversity for their expedition, and for their fieldwork in the spring, studies the diversity of coral reef by snorkeling on the north coast. They are selling rice Krispies and cookies for a fundraiser to help offset some of the costs for the trip. It should be an amazing experience for them, as many of them have never been snorkeling and a couple have only been to the beach once or twice (it is 67miles away).
It has been great to have the Lord use our house as a conduit for relationship building for Brennan’s classmates. Many of them are still seeking in regards to their spiritual beliefs, so we are always looking for opportunities to build deep friendships with them with the hope of having solid Gospel conversations sometime in the future.
Being in person has brought many enjoyable moments during this school year. Some of these times have meant that I have had to be willing to be a bit silly at times. This was especially true when I was prompted to bust out the dance moves when someone bought me a Valentine’s serenade last week. Through this song, students were amazed that:
1- I would be willing to dance.
2- I perfectly knew all the words to Justin Bieber’s Baby. (Ummmmm.. I’ve know that song since the beginning. Come on!!)
3- I would allow it to be videoed and post it online.
4- That I would do it during Brennan’s class. As one of my students stated, “You danced in front of your son!!”
Although it means making a fool of myself, it is all a part of building heart relationships that lead to Gospel truths being shared with my students. God has used all four of us to be able to pour into so many people here in the D.R. From soccer games and classroom talks to Cappuccino afternoons and dancing with a Lobo, God is forming bonds to further his kingdom.
Even with Bieber in the background. Happy Valentine’s Day!!
This past Friday, the four of us were able to partner with a fellow ministry to bring Christmas to a group of 80+ Haitian children. During this time, we were able to spend time with the kids making crafts, decorating cookies, and playing dodgeball. Then we served them a pizza dinner and sat around while a fellow missionary shared how God sent His only son, Jesus, as the greatest gift of all and how Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us.
The evening ended with each child receiving their own gift for Christmas. Laughter and squeals of joy filled the air as children revealed their new toy cars, sports balls, art kits, baking sets, and many other items. An amazing time was had by all the children and the people serving them.
Our evening was a small snippet of the many ways that the Lord has blessed us during our time serving in Jarabacoa:
God is providing us the language needed to spread His word.
Language has been one of the harder aspects for us in terms of building relationships in the D.R. All four of us have dealt with the breakthroughs and frustrations of language acquisition over the last 17 months. So for Melissa and I, it was such a blessing to see our family, all with varying levels of conversational Spanish, engaging with the children there. It was nowhere near perfect, but it allowed us to share simple Gospel truths and ask if they had a relationship with Jesus.
Intentionality creates opportunities to model the love of Jesus
Even without perfect language, people can tell when you are genuine with your intentions and your desires to be in community with them. Even when the words were not there, smiles, hugs, high-fives and laughs have carved the initial pathways with many people for us. During the program, Brennan and Ava played soccer and dodgeball, I colored with boys while talking about their siblings and the fact that my name was the same as one of their “ugly horses.” Ha! Melissa spent time hanging out the girls and watching them enjoy their strawberry ice cream and brownies. Our hope was that these kids, with little to nothing, were able to experience a tiny taste of the endless love that Jesus perfectly modeled during His life on earth.
God uses all of us. We just need to listen to the call.
Our family got involved in this program through the invitation of other missionaries. One of the beautiful things that we have gotten to see is how ministries work with each other to benefit the work that the Lord is doing through each one. This particular evening there were missionaries who are affiliated with Doulos Discovery School, Young Life, Students International, Fight Ministries, Love Restored and other independent missionaries. Seeing everyone working together for a common cause is such a beautiful thing when it is bring lives closer to the Lord.
Last week, we were able to attend Doulos’ relaunch of Reading Under the Stars. Twice a year, Doulos Discovery School invites families to gather together in the evening and enjoy time with the school community to foster the love of reading. Families sat together with hot chocolate and read stories, danced a little on the stage, and listened to the read-aloud that was available at the bottom of the amphitheater.
Yes, I intentionally positioned the selfie to give Brennan ears!!
Our family enjoyed a relaxing evening with some of our favorite books. (Ok, I might have been preparing for my 8th grade English class, but it IS one of my favorite novels.) We were also joined by a couple of Ava’s school friends who were attending the event but did not have the rest of their family in the amphitheater. It was lots of fun to get to build stronger relationships with them and have them join our “family” for the evening.
It’s not a Doulos event unless there is dancing…
Last year was an amazing first year for us in the Dominican Republic, but also came with a loss of experiencing what a normal year at Doulos entails. Reading Under the Stars is one of many events that had to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions. The four of us are extremely excited to be able to be a part of all the other events that Doulos normally partakes in: Outdoor Education Week (Melissa and Ava head out next week), Expedition Nights, Revolution, the Independence Day and Christmas programs, as well as Biblical Emphasis Week. These programs are an intentional part of Doulos programming that build strong community and relational ties, which in turn, allow teachers and staff frequent opportunities to be able to present gospel truths to students.
The roosters are still crowing, the Tropical Storms storming (our kids love the “natural” showers), and the Buehlers are back in Jarabacoa. The four of us have all safely arrived and are settled back in the Dominican Republic, ready to start another year serving the Lord.
Over the summer, we were blessed to spend some quality time in the United States. Our primary ministry, Doulos Discovery School, intentionally provides a summer break for its staff in order to mentally recharge and be ready to pour out and into the students for the next school year. This break provides enough time for North American staff to head to their sending communities to spend time reconnecting with their family, friends, and support team, which is exactly what we did.
Our kids still love catching raindrops in the Dominican thunderstorms
It was so encouraging and affirming to be able to share about the Lord’s work in the D.R. with our loved ones and our home church (Creekside Community Church), as well as with Melissa’s parents’ church (Freedom House Dayton). We are so grateful for the outpouring of love and support we received from so many of you, THANK YOU!! Additionally, our weeks stateside provided a platform for us to process the shock of moving to a new culture and the weight of the great need, both physically and spiritually, that is ever present on the island. Having time to process was a need that we did not even recognize until we arrived back in the states, so the time we had stateside was an incredible blessing.
All four of us had the mixed emotions of sadness when saying good-bye combined with great joy and excitement for the upcoming year here. During our first month back in Jarabacoa, we have loved reconnecting with our Dominican neighbors and friends, along with fellow missionaries, through meals and get togethers. We’ve also plugged back into our local church, had the joy of attending a baptismal service for a Dominican friend, and resumed life in our Jarabacoan community.
With school being in-person this year, our Spanish much stronger than it was 13 months ago (don’t worry, we still have a loooooong way), and a strong, foundational community, we are extremely excited for what God has in store for us this next year. Now that we are fully settled, both Melissa and I feel a burning fire for God’s work here and an even deeper passion within our hearts that is richer and more focused than before. We are frequently asking God, “Dame tus ojos…Dame tus manos…Dejame reflejar tu gloria!” Give me Your eyes. Give me your hands. Let me reflect Your glory!
Our Upcoming Time
Michael will be splitting his time between his role as Middle School English (See M.S. team below) and Academic Vice Principal. The dual roles will be a lot to undertake, but Michael’s efforts will aid in many areas across the Doulos campus and allow for greater immersion of the gospel throughout all subject matters. Ava will be in 5th grade and Brennan will be in 8th grade. Both children are excited for in-person learning, Outdoor Education, and spending time with their classmates instead of being with them over a zoom call. All students are starting the year on-campus, five days a week, which we are all truly grateful for.
Melissa was amazing last year, juggling at-home learning with relationship building and evangelism. With the kids being on campus, she looks forward to having more capacity to connect with local Jarabacoans in the marketplace, deepen the relationships she has formed with people here, and follow the discernment of the Lord for other opportunities to serve.
All of the good works that have been done have come completely due to the goodness of God, our Father. It has been so evident to us the blessings that He has provided throughout this entire journey. One of those ways is through the generosity of our support team. All of your prayers, care packages, words of encouragement, financial contributions, and kind notes have meant so much to the four of us. We love all of you and are constantly blessed by your faithfulness to the Lord and the ministry you make possible here in the DR.
This last weekend, Brennan, Ava, and Mike went to the North Coast of the D.R. to partner with some fellow missionaries while Melissa was out of town for a women’s missionary conference. We drove to Sosua to work with our dear friends, Nate and Rachael from love restored, as well make some new friends, Tim and Holly Garland from Raiz Ministry and a team of other local missionaries from GoMAD. Tim and Holly have been working in the Haitian village of Loma Bajita (about 10 minutes outside of Sosua), where they have been engaged in humanitarian work. Their end goal is to always share the love of Christ through relationship and to share the freedom and joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During their time in the village and through their communication with the village leadership, they had discovered that almost every household in Loma Bajita was dealing with a Scabies outbreak. In order for them to effectively treat a village-wide outbreak, all 300 homes and 1,500 individuals must be treated at the same time, which is quite the undertaking.
The kids and I joined the crew on Sunday and were able to walk through the village and meet some of the residents, attend an organizational meeting regarding the distribution of the sanitary kits and the education plan (in order to prevent another Scabies outbreak in the future), shoot some hoops with the kids, and assist that night with the preparation of the Scabies kits by loading up medicine, personal cleaning supplies, and household detergents.
Monday afternoon, we split into four teams combined of American Missionaries and local residents. (My Creole is a little rusty (aka nonexistent), so I would have been no help communicating.) We were able to deliver kits to all the houses in the village that we had access to. The people in the village were extremely appreciative of our efforts and our willingness to assist. The team delivered the remaining kits this morning so the entire village could treat themselves and their homes all on the same day for maximum effectiveness of the treatment. Additional cleaning detergent and other materials were also left behind in the effort to purge Scabies once and for all.
The three of us felt blessed to have this opportunity to serve in a way that is atypical of our usual weekly routine. While we have been able to serve impoverished people during our first nine months, this was the largest block of time, and the most direct contact that the Brennan and Ava have had serving. Both of them were just beaming afterwards and were so excited to be able to be some of the Lord’s hands and feet. The two of them received many compliments from the local missionaries for their positive attitudes and willingness to engage and serve. The three hour ride home was filled with various stories of the last two days, thoughts about how God would use the two of them in the future, and the multiple ways that we felt that God had, and would continue to bless the community of Loma Bajita.
Today was Ava’s first full day on campus with all of her classmates. On Monday, February 22nd, Doulos received notice from the Ministry of Education that our school would be allowed to open our doors to students once we were ready to implement all of the necessary protocols. It was a mad scramble, but we opened our doors to all 1st-5th grade students this morning!
The Dominican Republic has been one of the few countries that has not returned to in-person school since last March due to COVID. As of this week, however, Doulos Discovery School is now one of the handful of schools on the island that is part of a pilot re-opening program. All public schools in the D.R. continue to receive their instruction over television and radio.
Ava was so excited to be in live class with her teacher, see her classmates, and walk to school with Dad. (It doesn’t help that there is ice cream across the street and she knows that I am a sucker for both her and sweets.) Her highlights were English class, where she is making a lap book about floods, P.E. and math. She stated that wearing a mask all day was not as bad as she thought it would be and that she can’t wait to go back again.
Brennan will head to campus on the 12th of March, as Doulos did not want to start all students from prek-12 on the same day. While he continues to do well with his online studies, he is looking forward to being on campus as well.
We have eagerly been anticipating this day since we arrived in July and are so thankful to God for helping us to persevere to this point!
Tomorrow is a day of celebration in the Dominican Republic as February 27th is their day of independence. Dominican flags are flying in abundance all around town and fireworks are already starting to be shot off, even at noon the day before.
Doulos Discovery School has five key values: Christian Discipleship, Expeditionary Learning, College Prep, Mixed Student Body, and Dominican School. One of the ways that they embrace being a Dominican school is through their celebration of Independence Day. Usually, each grade does a presentation at a large event that draws in many members of the community. Due to Covid restrictions, the program was done virtually this year. The program highlighted many aspects of Dominican culture and history with kids from pre-kindergarten to high school.
You can see the video that was created here. Brennan’s class starts at the 1:02:48 and ends at 1:10:00. His part (with a special guest actor) is at 1:05:34. It was neat to be able to showcase one of the ways the school came together to embrace its Dominican culture through modern adaptation that was required due to the pandemic. ¡Feliz Día de la Independencia!
Moving to the Dominican Republic amidst a pandemic has obviously brought many challenges: strict daily curfew, masks, quarantine, and many other factors that limit the freedoms that we have taken for granted. And while we know that they have aided in the safety of the people in the DR, it has made for some tough times. One of the issues that I have had to wrestle with is a major reduction of social interaction for my kids. Both Brennan and Ava are such outgoing individuals who thrive in social settings. While we knew there would be challenges for our kids in the area of friends when we committed to serving the Lord abroad, we had no idea that it would mean online school, minimal trips from the house and weeks of isolation from various quarantines.
Through it all though, they have been so perseverant and have really focused on the positive. The two of them are doing so well and are embracing the adventure of life in the DR. We check in often and they highlight the fun experiences we have had, the silly moments from their peers in their zoom meetings, and the appreciation of the new friendships they have begun to form in the five months we have been here.
They have even begun to build friendships with a couple local boys. Dominicans are very social and usually are open to embrace their neighbors. With COVID, however, that has been the opposite. Our first month we were here was the highest spike in cases for the country, so there were no kids running around the neighborhood and very little interaction with our neighbors. Slowly though, those walls have broken down and we have gotten to know our neighbors more and more, and have had our front street transform to the after school sports-complex. Recently, they had a two-on-two soccer game going on with lots of sweat, giggles and enjoyment.
No matter what the trials are, God is proving that He is faithful to break down all walls and barriers. Nothing is too small to be used in His favor, even a dirt road and a soccer ball.
Recently, we have been attending a Spanish speaking church located on the Students International (SI) campus. In a typical year, dozens of service teams come from North America to serve children in the DR alongside SI. Each team paints a block as a remembrance of their service time.
During the worship service last week, Brennan leaned over and said, “Look Dad, it’s Oregon!” And sure enough, there was the following brick.
The saying, “God is everywhere, but sleeps in Jarabacoa,” is a common phrase heard amongst the residents of Jarabacoa and is a testament to the beautiful surroundings of our town and that fact that it feels so close to heaven being high in the mountains. To me, this block was the perfect reminder of the conflict of a split heart.
Early in our missionary training, and many times since, we have heard that once you enter the mission field, you will always have your heart in two places. Our love for Oregon has never changed, even as our love for the DR has increased.
All four of us have had our turns of missing Oregon and the friends, family, and familiarity that comes from life in the PNW. It can be the thought of a Roth’s Apple Cider doughnut, missing Nana and Papa’s annual pumpkin patch, a worship song we sang with our Creekside church family, funny inside jokes with my YC students, Mimi’s rolls, or countless other random memories that send a sudden pang straight to the heart.
Through all of this, God has been teaching us how we can live in the space of completely conflicting emotions and still be at peace. We can be joyful in the work that God has called us to here and yet be sorrowful at times for what we are missing out on in Oregon. We can be excited for the new doors that are opening yet totally exhausted from all the cultural stresses. We are free to rest in His grace and come as we are, split heart and all. It is here, in that posture, that we find His true, sustaining rest, regardless of our geography.
