Unity In Love

It's hard to believe that there are only two days left of our trip here in the Dominican Republic. We fly out Wednesday morning, and I am sure it will be bittersweet for all of us as we say goodbye to dear friends here and say hello to friends and family back home.

Yesterday we took a trip to San Pedro in the morning to attend Pastor Sabino's church along with some of our La Vid Friends. Pastor Sabino gave a powerful sermon from Numbers 13 on having the "right perspective." In this passage the Israelites have been brought to the point just outside of the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and Moses commissions a team to scout out the land. After 40 days, the men return to give a report about their findings to Moses. These men find that the land is exactly as God had promised; "Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit."(v. 27) Unfortunately, most of these men can't see past the obstacles that lie between them and the Promised Land. Although they are within grasp of this great promise, they become discouraged because their focus is on what they can't do, rather than on what God CAN do. It can be so easy to have this kind of wrong mindset, right? I know it can be for me. Even during this trip, I was challenged with the question, "Why am I here?" I am only here about 9 days a year, so what kind of impact could I truly have? 

This morning we met up for worship and group discussion. I was very encouraged to hear about the relationships that had begun, or were growing, between our members and those of La Vid. Our intent this year is a little different than it has been in years past in that we have focused more of our attention on developing, serving, and just loving on those core members of La Vid. Given certain obstacles like distance, lack of time together, and even the day-to-day busyness of life, I found the news about how the Lord had really blessed these relationships to be very encouraging!

This all became even more clear as the day unfolded. We hung out with a couple of our friends from La Vid, Gabriele and Ezequiel, then went to the campus at 4 o'clock to sow seeds of the Gospel along side our brothers and sisters here. After that, we came back to the hostel to have dinner and spend more time engaging in fellowship. Seeing the Lord's work in the hearts of all the people we are surrounded by, and the unity that has come from the love we have for one another, is an incredible thing to witness. Even with what little it seems like we can do, or are doing, God can do even more with it than we could have ever imagined. 

"I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and know th Messiah's love that supasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us - to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:16-21

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support!

Tyler Hochstetler