Thanks for taking the time to read about where I am traveling next and about how you can continue to support this ministry.  Below you will find a letter from a current supporter and hear how she feels about this new and exciting ministry.

 

I have had the privilege of a visit with Kristy while she was on her New England swing visiting supporting churches and universities this month.  It is exciting to hear how she is following God's call on her life and how her ministry in LaRomana was a training ground for what is coming.  

A word that comes to mind is one that I learned the importance of from Kristy.  For those of us who have known Kristy and worked with her side by side, I hope you smile when I say the word.  That word is relationship. It is the reason that we keep going back to LaRomana.  We have built relationships with people we consider our friends and family. Kristy's gifts facilitated that relationship building. She also enabled many of us to build relationships with each other as we planned our trips. That same set of gifts, hewn and sharpened by her years in the DR and Haiti,  are exactly what God is using on a much larger scale in her new position as Health Resource coordinator for International Ministries.

God continues to use Kristy in amazing ways - but it is still about relationship. She is putting people together across the world to help in situations that only God could have orchestrated.  

In our Sunday School class this morning, the question was asked regarding Kristy's financial support. It has decreased significantly since her departure from full-time ministry in LaRomana and so the question was "Why?" There was considerable confusion so I wondered whether others had the same questions. I asked Kristy if I might share some answers.

First of all, Kristy is not "staff". Though this is a new position for IM,  she must still raise her own support. However, she no longer will have the built-in audience that she had in LaRomana.  She will be going, at the invitation of other ministries, to evaluate health care needs and helping them to develop the answers to the needs in that community.  She must travel more in this position, so she is going to need more support, not less. Already she is slated to go to Bolivia, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia - all this before February. In the past six months, she has been to Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti. Requesting missions represent some of the poorest areas of the world and therefore are not able to financially support Kristy's work.  This has been a leap of faith, first by Kristy and second by International Ministries!  But again, who is in control???? God would not have called Kristy if HE didn't think it would work!!!!! 

When we support Kristy, it is not because we like what she helped US accomplish while we are in the Dominican Republic, it is because we are honoring God's call in her life and her obedience in following that call. We write that check because the Holy Spirit has moved in OUR life to honor the relationship He has fostered.  I urge all of us as we speak with our Missions' Boards and consider budgets that are being cut, to remember that Kristy still needs all of our support.  This position is brand new but the possibilities that God has in mind are infinitely more than we can imagine.  (Ephesians 3:20)  To God be the glory as we continue to partner with our sister in Christ.  Pray for Kristy as she heads back to Bolivia this month. Read her newsletters and know that she is serving our Lord in a mighty way.
Shirley Shuster

For information about supporting Kristy or if you'd like to make a donation right now, please click on the following link:  Support Kristy NOW!

On October 31, 2013, Kristy will lead a team of 7 volunteers to Cochabamba, Bolivia to help local medical leaders in their ministry to the Kechua and Iyamar indians that have moved to city neighborhoods.  They will partner with Bolivian doctors, nurses, dentists and physical therapists to help in mobile medical clinics in poor neighborhoods.  There will also be two physical therapists traveling with the team that will connect with a ministry to handicapped children.  Their goal will be to train and teach parents and ministry leaders about ways to make the lives of ministry children easier.  New relationships will be born and past friendships renewed and grown.  Please pray for Kristy and her team (Mark, Becky W., Becky C., Ashley, Corinne, Lois and Rochelle) as they explore the partnership with missionaries Mario Morales and JD and Rhonda Reed in Bolivia.  Pictures will be coming throughout the trip so please follow us on Facebook (kristynurse) and look for a new newsletter next month.  If you are interested in learning more about the House of Hope and the mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia, please click on the following link:  http://www.bolhope.org

Feel free to contact International Ministries with any questions regarding the ministry of Kristy Engel. International Ministries can be reached at 1-800-222-3872 or you can visit their website at:http://www.internationalministries.org.

Sincerely,