What's New...
In The Dominican Rep.

 
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2005 YEAR END Newsletter available in .pdf

June through October, 2005

Click here to download a printable PDF version

What a great summer we had in California! I can’t say it was very restful…but we did get a lot done and we had a great time with many of you! We were able to accomplish so many things over the summer. We were able to finish up the NDLL web page (if you haven’t seen the “new look”, check it out!). We also spent many hours designing and writing a booklet about Niños de la Luz that explains the entire ministry. Thanks to Jesse Snipes and his computer savvy, my wife and her artistic ability, some editors who healed the suffering text, and a very generous donation of printing, it turned out excellent! We were also able to pull off our second Surf-a-Thon that helped to raise some much needed funds. The day was a huge success full of fun and waves, and of course, lots of food and prizes.

On the administration side we did some housekeeping as well. We are happy to have brought on Greg Burch, our former Venezuelan director, to be our new U.S. Director. He will oversee and give some much needed help to the operations here in the U.S. Christina, Greg’s wife, will run our child sponsorship operations. Greg has his first book out called, “Community Children”; drop us a line and we’ll tell you where you can pick up a copy.

As for the Haslett’s, we are back in the Dominican Republic and have hit the ground running. We were happy to come home to a roof and dry belongings! After last year’s hurricane, it is amazing what you are thankful for. The expression, “At least we have a roof over our heads”, took on a whole new meaning. We have had a different sort of trial to deal with this year. There has been a string of robberies in our neighborhood. Well, they came by and paid us a visit. We had not yet arrived from California, but Paul (the guy who works with us) was here. The two robbers tied up two of Paul’s friends while Paul managed to sneak away and go to a neighbor’s house for help. They let off a couple rounds of a shotgun in the air and the guys took off running. We are very thankful that no one was hurt and that nothing was taken except for a set of keys. The locks have been changed and we are taking some new precautions, but we sleep well at night knowing that it is God, and He alone, that we depend on. “Some trust in horses and chariots, but we trust in the Lord.”

There are some exciting new developments here in the DR. The Lord has enabled us to acquire a small house right next to our current property. We already have some plans and are going to start remodeling it to make four small apartments for the boys that will be attending the next “Life Navigation School”. We hope to have the next school at the beginning of the year. We have several work teams from various churches planning on coming down to help with the construction. If you are interested in participating in one of these teams, you can get in touch with our work team coordinator, Chris Dyer, at (714) 612-6088.

We are also looking for people interested in sponsoring boys who want to attend the school. It would be a short-term sponsorship for three months – the duration of the school. If you would be interested or would like more information on what sponsorship involves please email us at sponsorship@ndll.org. We also need people who would be able to donate air-miles to help get the boys to and from the school. They will be coming from all over Latin America. Please let us know if this is something you would like to do.

Our Prayer Needs:
-Please pray for the school and all the preparations that need to take place before the end of the year.
-Pray that we find qualified staff and or missionaries to help us with this school.
-Pray for the finances to cover the needs of all the boys that we hope to have in the school.
-Pray for Venezuela, the boys there, and the staff.
-Pray that God would continue to give us wisdom to do His will

 

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January to April, 2005

Niños de la Luz officially presents its new ministry, “La Baliza” (The Light Beacon). We just finished our second “Life Navigation School” here in the Dominican Republic. Though these were small practice runs until we have bigger facilities to handle more boys, it was an incredible time of learning and growing (both for the boys and for ourselves!). It was exciting to see the boys involved in activities that were preparing them for their futures once they set out on their own, a very scary thought for these guys! By the time they left, they were better equipped and actually looking forward to what lies ahead for them as adults. We covered things from cooking, goal setting, budgeting and finances, filling out applications for employment, conducting successful interviews, parenting/marriage classes, discipleship topics and many others! One of our students, Victor, told me that it was the first time he had had the responsibility to make sure that his food lasts for the whole week (not an easy task for a boy who is used to eating everything in sight!).

To be ready for our next school, we will need three things: to expand our housing facilities for the boys, to hire personnel and/or take on missionaries to help run the school and finally to raise the finances to run it. We also still have an outstanding debt of $60,000 for our property here in the Dominican Republic. Please pray with us that God will provide for these needs as we continue to trust Him for everything.

Helping Hands:
We have been very fortunate to have had the help of two short-term missionaries over the past few months. Jesse Snipes has helped in so many ways that it’s hard to list them all! He’s helped with everything from redesigning our web page, building the roof, teaching the boys English, building furniture and general construction on the property. Suzanne Carr has helped us get organized on the administrative end and been a blessing to our family by helping out with home schooling. We can’t begin to thank them enough and we will definitely miss them when they’re gone!

A letter from Summer – 9 years old:


I made a friend in the Dominican Republic whose name is Lulu. She is a Haitian. She’s eight years old. I met her when she came to our house with her Dad. At that time, she didn’t know any Spanish. She only spoke Creole, which is the Haitian language. The next time I saw her, she spoke some Spanish. I was really surprised that she could learn it that quick. One day we went to her house to visit her sick mother. Her house was made of pieces of wood that were just thrown together. The whole house was smaller than my bedroom. The inside was one room divided by a curtain. On one side they had an old table and on the other side was a bed that they all slept on. The only toy I saw was a doll. They sang a song for us on the guitar and they were very excited for us to be there. If I had enough money I would build them a house. It makes me want to share a lot with them. Seeing Lulu’s house makes me thankful for what I have and it helps me remember not to complain when I don’t have something. I pray that someday she’ll get a better house and that her mom will get better. What makes Lulu’s family special is that they are always happy even though they’re poor.

Plans For Venezuela

I just returned from an awesome time in Venezuela. What a great feeling it is to see God at work in the new national director, Marisela. I was happy to see the ranch thriving with life and excitement! With each visit I see more and more growth. During my time, I met with the director and staff. We had some very fruitful discussions about future plans. We are looking at a few ways to make Venezuela more financially self-sufficient. One of these ways is by a large production of eggs. Currently we have 100 egg-laying chickens as a prototype that has worked very well so far. They have produced eggs for the ranch and brought in some income with the extras that we sell. Now we are looking at the possible construction of two large coops that will house 3000 chickens and provide almost half of the current financial needs to run the ministry in Venezuela. Please pray that if God is in these plans that He will bless it by providing the funds to build it, and that He will bless us with very productive chickens!

Venezuela highlights:
- Received two more boys at the Lighthouse ranch
- Started new location in Valencia
- Greg and Cristina are moving back to the U.S. in May
- New national ranch director Marisela, doing great job!

Dominican Republic highlights:
- Completion of 2nd Life Navigation school
- Construction continues for the next school
- Two short-term missionaries came to help out
- Niños de la Luz receives its official corporate status in DR

US highlights:
- Planning starts for our 2nd annual Surf-a-Thon
- U.S. board has new member - Casey Hale
- Updated web page – check it out!

 

-Jon Haslett (International Director)

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