Back in Santiago

I pray all of you are doing well!  Today Bro. Darren and I had to go into the capital to get some paperwork done for his daughter, who will be leaving the country in two days.  We had to go by the Immigration office and get some paperwork authorized to allow her to fly out with her brother.  Sarah Truel was born in the Dominican Republic and has to have a letter showing that her parents are allowing her to fly back to the states.  The government down here considers her a Dominican as well as an American.  Thank the Lord we were able to get all of the needful paperwork done. 

I was also able to get my Tourist Visa extended for 3 more months.  We found out the other day that when your tourist visa runs out (you get only 30 days from the time of your arrival) you are not allowed to drive.  So for the past 2 weeks I have no been driving illegally (Praise to the Lord for his protection and guidance).  Thank the Lord that we were also able to take care of this issue.  It used to be no problem to drive here in the D.R., but the government has changed some of the laws lately.  We also found out that the price for staying over your tourist visa will not be that bad.  We have to pay for the amount of time that we stay over our tourist visa, when we go to fly back to the states.  There is a bracket that shows you how much you have to pay on how many months/years that you stay over your initial 30 days. Over the next year I may try and start to work on getting my residency, but it still may be cheaper to just pay for the amount of time that we stay over.  When we fly back to the states (Lord willing) and then come back down here it starts all over.  This probably is confusing you all, so I'll stop writing about that all now.  There are so many things here that are confusing and it is hard to explain them on a blog.  Plus, I'm no Journalist nor English major! The Lord knows all that is going on and I'm glad that He is in control of everything! Amen!

Timothy Truel is also doing better!  His knee is still has some swelling, but he is able to get around now.  I took him down to the "hospital" in Barahona and they took one x-ray of his knee.  It didn't appear to have any fractures.  Timothy flies back to the states with his sister on Thursday and may see a doctor in the states if it still is not all the way back to normal.

The last 2 weeks have been very busy.  Last week we had two medical personal in from the states.  We were able to go to two towns and hold a clinic.  One (La Lanza) was further up in the mountains and the other (El Higuero) was on the other side of the mountain down near the coast.  They were able to see around 100 patients in the three days that they had the clinics.  Thank the Lord for the work and the help that they were able to bring to the Dominicans and Haitians.  The truck that our church helped us purchase down here came in handy these three days.  The roads down here are very bad and it helps to have a 4-wheeled drive vehicle.  We were able to transport these two medical personal, plus others who were also helping.  I just want to say a personal thank you to all who have given and helped us so far.  May the Lord bless you greatly.  The need down here is great, just as it is in most of the world.  There is a lot of work to be done and not much time left.  Please pray that we will always do what the Lord wants in our lives and I'll pray the same for you!

Love and miss you all dearly!

In Christ Jesus Our Lord and Saviour!
Bro. Chris and Family