Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

   Our family is blessed and privileged to be serving God together! We are enjoying traveling the states and sharing our burden for the Dominican Republic, but we so look forward to getting to the field and ministering there. I wanted to write a little bit about the country that God has called us to, and what we plan to do when we get there.

  The Caribbean Islands are in the Caribbean Sea. There are 25 independent countries and other territories. The specific country God is leading us to is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with the country of Haiti. We will be moving to the capitol city, Santo Domingo, in spring/summer 2019 as the Lord leads and allows. The country is 95% professed Catholic, with the other 5% being Mormon, Jehovah's Witnesses, charismatic, all kinds of other beliefs and then there are Christians. We've just recently learned about the significant Jewish population in the Dominican Republic as well! 

  Here is a great resource that I got some of my facts from, in case you are interested in more information about the country. 
                       
            https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html

        Population of the Dominican Republic         10,734,247

            Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic            3,603,210                 

 

  Our goal, with the Lord's guidance and help, is to spend our first year in the country learning the language and the culture. The people who live here speak Spanish and we will need to learn this so that we can be effective in sharing the gospel and build relationships with the people around us. We plan to enroll in language school and also have tutors to help us learn as quickly as we can.
  We are planning to jump in and help, wherever we can, while we are learning the language. We have been blessed to have advice and help and fellowship with both missionary and national brothers and sisters in Christ. And we desire to learn from them as well as encourage and be a blessing to them. 
  Our goal is to do the Lord's work in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting! Our desire is to see the people of the Dominican Republic saved, baptized, discipled, and serving the Lord! 
  

                  What a beautiful country the Lord created! 

(Left) This is the coast line in Santo Domingo. The water splashes up on the rocks as the waves come in.

(Below) This is at Los Tres Ojos (The Three Eyes), natural limestone caves with lakes fed by an underground river.

March-April 2018 Newsletter

January-February 2018 Newsletter and Extra from Joshua

A) Bless the LORD for Marcus in Georgia--praise God he not only received a tract, but he asked for 3 more as he turned around behind the restaurant counter to give to them to his co-workers! Pray for Cameron, a Walmart supervisor in North Carolina, who knows the Lord, but isn't attending church because he is discouraged and needs God to deliver him from sin.  

       

B) God did keep us safe on the roads. During our time in North Carolina we missed a Weds service because the roads were near impassable. Also, in Pennsylvania, we couldn't pull out of a church parking lot because we were going uphill in a van with summer tires! God blessed and we were able to put some rocks on the incline and get out before it snowed some more the following morning. Hallelujah.

C) Bless the LORD for allowing us to attend our 100th church on 25 January 2018! 

D) Praise God for the opportunity to buy a newer vehicle at a reduced cost. God introduced me to a pastor in Alabama that has been doing this kind of thing for missionaries and churches for years. He explained that we can buy a wrecked vehicle from an insurance agency and get it rebuilt at a significant discount. He personally knows the key players in this process and all of them are willing to help. We’ll see how the Lord leads in this area. Thank the Lord for this door of opportunity.

E) Well it happened..both vans were in repair at the same time. God is good. One had a radiator that needed replacing and the other needed a new tire and condenser. God worked it out. Parts came in on time and the repairs were done before we had to drive to the next state—so we didn’t miss any meetings. God also gave us a great deal on the radiator! Hallelujah, we had the van towed to a church we were staying at and God provided a Christian expert mechanic (now retired) who did the work for us the very next day and didn’t charge us anything for labor (and we got a discount on the parts). God is good. 

Thanks,
  Joshua

A Week of Deputation

  Hello to my friends and family! I know it has been a long while since I (Hannah) have written. Part of it is because I really don't know what to write sometimes. I do share little tidbits of where we are on our travels on our Facebook page, and ya'll are welcome to friend us (me) Joshua-Hannah Corner. For the most part, we do a lot of the same things all the time that really is not interesting to read about. So when I finally have time to sit down to post something...I get stuck. Over the last several months, I had an idea for a post. But as you'll see in minute, I haven't had a free minute to think it out, much less write about it.

  I want to share a bit about what goes on in the Corner family's life on deputation. I know that every missionary family does things differently. We travel, school, and minister differently. So what I write about is how it is for US. I also want to say, that as I share this with you, I am in no way complaining! We are so thrilled to be on this journey and in God's will for our lives. We have met some absolutely amazing people, had awesome adventures and experiences, and are learning so much. So if you are interested in what actually happens on deputation and how we spend our time, keep reading! I am going to keep it real. :)

  Every day is different. Every week is different. We change our schedule, and then it changes the next day. The word that God has given me for deputation is flexibility. Our goal on deputation, is to share the gospel with people along the way...at the store, restaurant, park, or wherever. Our goal is to minister and be a blessing to each church, that we either stay with in their mission home or have a scheduled meeting with. Our goal is to spend time getting to know the people in those churches...that's my very favorite part. I keep saying this, but I am so grateful for the people that God has put in our lives!

  While we do all of these things, we still have daily things that need to be done. I won't go into a whole lot of detail on what my husband does, since this is coming from me, and I know I will forget some things. First, the boys and I can find him spending time in prayer and the Scriptures every morning. He also studies for the teaching, preaching, and presenting that he does at churches. He has phone calls to make, emails to write, records to keep, and vehicle and other maintenance. He teaches our 2 high schoolers Math as well.

  Homeschool is something that HAS to be done. With 4 boys, grades 6,7,9, and 10, it is quite challenging to get regular, consistent time in our books. Their education is important to us for sure, but so is allowing our boys to learn many other things they have the opportunity to learn on deputation. The Lord is helping us with this and the boys are doing well!

  A typical, busier week would go something like this:
    Joshua is usually up before the rest of us. He has his quiet time with the Lord while the rest of us start to get up and start our day. This day is a travel day. We are going to leave one area and mission home and head for another. We get our breakfast, me starting with coffee while I try and read my Bible before the craziness starts. We pack our things, which have now spread ALL over the place since we are living out of our suitcases and vans. We don't like to leave a mission home a mess so we strip beds, put dirty linens in piles, if can't wash them and put them away, wipe down kitchens and bathrooms, and put things back in order. While the boys and I try to clean up, my husband tries to make phone calls and gets our info ready for our upcoming travels. Gps, contact info, time we need to get there, etc.  Joshua packs our vans up and it's time to drive away.

    We drive 4-6 hours depending (our family tries to break up the trips for many different reasons), and usually take a couple more hours than that with stops for meals and bathroom breaks. As well as taking advantage of stores and time to shop for necessities along the way. We have to get that in when we can. Joshua drives one van, with Seth sometimes driving so that Joshua can do some work. And I drive the other with 2 or 3 of the other boys. We use walkie talkies to communicate stops and whatnot. Some days we are able to do school, but some we are not. A book got packed up and we can't get to it. Or they need to be taught something new and we are both driving. So we do what we can.

  We arrive at our new place for the night or few nights depending on how long we are scheduled to be there. It's time to unload the vans. We get everything inside, figure out who's sleeping where, and then it's time to think about food. I pull up a grocery store on gps and usually the boys and I will head out to get groceries. We do travel with a small cooler that we keep a few condiments in, so we don't have to rebuy them each time, but not much else. We get our shopping done and head back. Cooking does not happen on a travel day, so we either pick up something or we eat something easy like sandwiches or a tv dinner. In the evenings, we are doing as many things that need to be done as we can. I do laundry, write thank you notes, add contacts to our data base, and practice piano and singing with the boys. Joshua works on a lot of things that I mentioned earlier. Then we sleep and repeat.

  Maybe it's a travel day with a meeting. I prepare the church clothes the night before, and we either try not to get wrinkled or messed up on travel day, or bring the clothes with us and try to change right before church starts. We try to limit our stops to get to our destination on time. Sometimes a church will have dinner for us before services, but mostly not. So we'll go straight in and set up our table and meet people. We LOVE this part! We've been with most of you in meetings, so you know what we do at church. Joshua sometimes teaches and preaches. He also shows our video and gives a presentation. I sometimes teach or speak, and our family sometimes sings. After church, we stick around until we are usually the last people to leave so that we can talk with people and get to know them. Sometimes, the church will take us out for dinner and sometimes not. Either way, we usually are eating dinner on those nights at 9pm...or much later. We so enjoy our time with new friends!

  If we are able to stay in one area long enough, we try to be a help to each church in whatever way we can. Whether it's visitation or whatever. We also get to spend more time with families when we are stationary for a bit. The boys and I especially have enjoyed outings and fellowship with friends along the way, when my Honey is working. We do try to do regular school in the mornings on those longer stays as well.

  I covered pretty much what happens all of the time, but there are also many other things that makes our family us...devotion times, learning some Spanish, researching our future mission field, play times, reading times, and such. BUT, things are always switched around. Different circumstances, lodging, and times. It's never the same from one place to the next.

  So that's what we do! God has been good! He is faithful and provides for our needs as well as gives us the strength we need to keep going. I just thought it might be fun to read about what happens behind the scenes of the family you see at mission meetings. And I have the memory of these days written down for later, when we are serving the Lord in the Dominican Republic!

  Thank you friends and family for praying for us! We have an extra special prayer request. We are in need of a vehicle that we can finish out deputation with as well as bring over to the DR when we go. Our 2 minivans that we caravan in right now are on their last leg, and we are spending more trying to keep them running than what we want to. And neither of them qualify for us to keep and bring into the DR. We would be so grateful if you would help us pray about this! We appreciate your encouragement...every message, phone call, and email.

2017 Deputation Report and Extra from Joshua

Here are the blessings that God has granted to the Corner family and our deputation status as an end-of-year report. Lord willing, the next newsletter will report on January-February 2018.

a) Praise God in upstate NY! The Lord used one meeting we had on a Sunday evening to speak to the heart of a young girl. One of our friends reported how she listened very intently at the end of the message; and, then looked up said that she NEEDED to get saved. At home that very evening, this child got saved. Glory to God in the highest—whosoever believeth has eternal life! 

b) Praise God in Snowshoe, WV. God blessed the Corner family with a family Christmas celebration together in the snow-covered mountains of West Virginia. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time—praise the Lord. God gave me a vision during this week for a great American evangelistic opportunity—a “white as snow” ministry! As I traveled up and down the lifts on the mountain-side I had many, many witnessing opportunities—in the midst of the glory of God’s creation—and right in the middle of the Christmas season! God could not have set this up any better! Often I would be sitting next to 2 or 3 individuals for 3-5 minutes each time and there was no way to walk away. There weren’t any cellphone interruptions, dogs to discourage, TVs to distract, “no soliciting signs”, or any other worldly influence. Praise God for opening the door for me to speak with Alex, Kyler, Carson, Jeff, Lisa, Max, and many more! Please pray for Alex who is a catholic and he received a gospel witness and tract. Pray that Kyler receives God’s Son as well—he received a gospel witness and tract (he is trusting in his baptism not Christ). Pray for Carson who believes in good works and needs Jesus—praise God, he too received a gospel witness. Jeff and Lisa gave testimony of their own salvation—what a blessing. Rejoice with me—both this husband and wife received Jesus in their 40s and have been living for Jesus ever since (10+ yrs ago) and aren’t ashamed. Glory to God. Pray for Max—another Catholic. He also received a gospel tract. Yes, there were some who didn’t want to hear the good news, but I give glory to God for the amazing open door he gave me to sow the Seed this December! What a great way to share the gospel.    

Thanks,
Joshua

October-November 2017 Newsletter and Extra from Joshua

a) Praise God in Glennallen, Alaska. One dad wanted to bring his son to church to hear the missionary because he isn't following the Lord. Glory to God I was able to witness to this young man and ask if he wanted to pray to receive the Lord. He said not now--continue praying for this young man that he does answer God's call in his life to salvation. Thank God for dads who desire to bring their children to the Lord. 

b) Praise God for the Mini-Missionary services we had at a recent conference in Palmer, Alaska. Every evening the children heard from a missionary. They learned about the countries, God’s heart for missions, and the truth of God’s word. What a blessing to show these young kids what God is doing in missions and in our lives. The kids, the parents, and the missionaries alike all enjoyed this unique aspect of missions conference. Glory to God many kids' hearts were tender to the Lord as they humbled themselves before the mighty throne of God each night.

c) God led me to speak with Warren outside Alyeska tire (wouldn't have happened if the power steering fluid wasn't leaking, and the appointment wasn't rescheduled so that I would be there on the 19th of Oct. in the morning to meet Warren). It wouldn't have happened were it not for the Spirit's nudging. Praise God for His Holy Ghost to lead, guide and direct us. Glory to God. So, Warren was beholding the beauty of the Alaska mountains that clear crisp (20 deg F) morning. He and I were waiting on our vehicle maintenance. Warren heard the gospel presentation. He knew that he broke God's commands (wasn't quite sure if he was guilty though). And hoped he wouldn't be in purgatory too long. Warren didn't want to pray with me that morning—he said he kept those things more private. He did admit to being a Catholic and knowing about Jesus. But that day he heard the truth. Praise God Warren received a gospel witness and then he took home a gospel tract. Please pray for Warren. 

d) Our children have been blessed, blessed, blessed! Praise God. Since we’ve started deputation they have all received and enjoyed the following: many sermons on missions, the gospel, and testimonies from older saints in the faith encouraging them, friends from all over the east coast and from all over Alaska, tickets to multiple theme parks (Kings Island, Dollywood, Sea Life Center in Seward, Alaska, etc.), bundles of monies showered upon them multiple times, shooting guns (all kinds), riding/driving 6 wheelers and 4 wheelers, cutting, splitting, and stacking wood, playing all-day paintball in the West Virginia mountains, snowboarding on Snowshoe’s 40 trails down the mountain, playing an 8 player, 3 day rugged outdoor air-soft game, watching moose on the side of the road, hiking up Mount Flattop in Anchorage, Alaska, mountain biking down Mount Flattop, and experiencing 2 Christmas’—once in September and another in December. God is good to us. Our boys have been living through these many blessings and we are especially thankful for God thinking about our children during this exciting time of deputation. Hallelujah!   

Thanks,
  Joshua

Alaska and Praises

                                                 🍂 Happy Fall Ya'll!🍂 
  This is my absolute favorite time of year! The smells, the colored leaves🍁, the baked yummies, the coffee...I love it all. I sure can't believe it's already the end of November though! We've now been on the road for 7 months. It sure has flown!

                                                    View from our airplane just before arriving in Anchorage,AK!
                                                           
     I posted the following on my Facebook page in summary of our time in Alaska: "We had an absolutely amazing time at our 9 meetings, all the outdoor activities, fellowship, sweet friendships, and viewing God's amazing creation! We are so thankful and so blessed!" There really isn't any way I could put into words just how much we will treasure our time spent in Alaska. Here are just a few highlights from our trip!

    

   We arrived back in the states November 7th, and it's been a whirlwind of meetings, traveling, and the dreaded stomach bug. I have to thank the Lord...He's been with us through it all. Taking care of us and guiding us every step of the way. So far in November, we've traveled to Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and we are now in central NY for the next couple of weeks. 

  🍁 Thanksgiving was very different for us. We weren't able to be with any of mine or Joshua's family, but we still had a great time eating, baking and decorating cookies, listening to Christmas music, and taking walks in the beautiful Virginia mountains. I pray that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! 🍁

   There is a blessing I want to share with you. I blogged last month that my laptop had been stolen, well praise the Lord, we were fully reimbursed by the airline! And I have a new PINK laptop.😁 God is SO good to me!
   Look for our newsletter update by the end of this week...God is blessing our deputation and I can't wait to share what God is doing!