As we have entered the second quarter of 2025 and are headed into Easter, Holy Week, and Resurrection Sunday, these Smiths have traveled from the far west coast to the east coast to begin their spring speaking events.  We are feeling the longing from being Stateside eight months with no return to the island—we had expected to visit twice by now—and we are starting to feel the pressure build as time ticks down toward our summer 2025 return.

Each of these initiatives is unique to the community, ministry, and leader.  No two are alike, therefore a program, step-by-step guide, or map doesn’t exist. … We can’t claim it, because it doesn’t depend on or belong to us.

Many times and in many instances of our lives we find ourselves automatically shifting.
But what if God is asking us, training us, and has designed us to do things more intentionally, manually?

“The building could fall down, hopefully everyone is safe, but we can worship God in the driveway.  Our faith and desire to worship God is NOT dependent on this building.”
… I explained that Lynette and I would share their story … to tell them of this small church in the northern mountains of the Dominican Republic that serves as a beacon of hope to their community as A church and as THE Church.
…it was clear to me that [he] was prepared to complete this project, but he simply lacked the funding to make put the plan into action.

We have experienced and been shown that life here is very little like our life was in Haiti, and therefore the same is true of our ministry definition.  We clearly sense that our call here is to a season of walking alongside and of capacity building. It’s facilitating a space and the time to process for leaders to realize their truer and larger capacity of themselves, their ministries, and their communities.