Our expression of GRATITUDE to GOD for being cancer free

Psalm 103: 1-5 

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 

Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

    and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

This year we have experienced so much GRATITUDE to GOD!  Thank you so much for your constant prayer and support on our behalf during this year. God’s faithfulness and goodness have been surprising!

Since we are in the USA on US/Puerto Rico Assignment, we are so grateful for our personal contact with the many churches who support us through online platforms.  We’ve been able to preach, lead Sunday School and Bible studies, speak with women’s groups and mission groups and connect with different churches in person in Massachusetts.  Thanks to all of you for this opportunity; and for those churches we haven’t been able to visit yet via ZOOM, we still have openings in April, May, and June of 2022.  (Because of my continuing immunotherapy treatments, we are not able to travel from state to state at this time.) We also received in person visits from friends from the US and the DR. What a blessing to be in fellowship with one another!

Even though we are Stateside, our ministry continues in the D.R. at the Community Center.  Vital spends hours every day communicating with Haitian immigrants in La Romana via WhatsApp, giving encouragement and guidance as they go through these difficult times in the D.R.   And Ketly continues to use online platforms to disciple women, and she is seeing fruit in their lives.  

In October, we traveled to the D.R. to check in with our ministries and to begin looking for leaders for an exciting new venture, Talita Cumi, which will begin in the Dominican Republic in January 2022.  To learn more about the Talita Cumi program, please see https://internationalministries.org/girls-clubs-to-7-new-countries-and-rainwater-project-video/.

There will be numerous Talita Cumi locations in the D.R. including several bateyes (sugar cane plantations), the Community Center, and two schools in La Romana.  One of the main emphasis of Talita Cumi is to prevent teenage pregnancy through service initiatives, and this is a much needed ministry in La Romana because many teenage girls have given birth during the pandemic.  Please lift up this new ministry in your prayers.

Also, while in the D.R. we were privileged to celebrate with the first graduates of the MTS (Master of Theological Studies) of Palmer Seminary.  Ketly preached at the ceremony, and it was such an honor to see the joy of the twelve graduates.

In January, we will make another quick trip to the D.R. to lead a Haitian Pastors’ Retreat  for Baptist leaders from Haiti that belong to the World Baptist Alliance, to pause, to build rapport, to offer pastoral care, conflict management and strategic planning for the relief work from the last earthquake in Haiti. We would appreciate your prayers for this special time.  Also, we will be starting the Talita Cumi program while we are there.

We have so much GRATITUDE to GOD!

G –  The GOODNESS of GOD throughout 2021

R –  The life of Jesus REVEALED in Ketly´s body  (II Corinthians 4:10) 

A –  ALWAYS carrying around in our body the death of Jesus  (II Corinthians 4:10)

T –  TRANSITION to new ministries

I  –  I (Ketly) experienced healing in my spirit, soul, and body

T  – THANKS to God for all of his provision through the His children, the body of Christ

U – To UNDERSTAND and to experience God’s mercy and grace in Jesus Christ

D  – The power of the resurrected Christ through DYING to self (emotions, will, and thoughts)

E  – ENLIGHTENMENT through the spirit of God: a new vision and a new song

GRATITUDE to the Lord after 30 radiation treatments!!!

In closing, we would like to share these verses with you.  Although we celebrate Christ’s birth at this time, it is only through his dying and resurrection that we experience new life.  Thanks be to God for His wonderful gift to us of Jesus, the Christ, who brings us new life even in the midst of hard conditions and times.  Jesus said in John 12:26-28 — 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Let us glorify God, through Jesus Christ, as we celebrate this Christmas season, no matter what we have experienced during this year+ of COVID-19. We say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, “We are hard pressed, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 

This is the life of the resurrected Jesus that gives each of us an abundant life right now through His Spirit so others around us may see Jesus in us – his broken vessels. “For God, who said, ´Let light shine out of darkness´, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).  

As a broken vessel, may God’s light, through the life of Jesus Christ, shine through our lives.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW  YEAR!!!