Meet a Sponsor Family: The Kanzeg's and Merili

Here's another snapshot of our sponsorship weekend.  I want to introduce a wonderful family who is making a difference in the life of a Mak student.  Meet the Kanzeg Family. Here's what Laura had to say in her own words about her time in the DR.

 "I met Sharla Megilligan, the founding director of Makarios, 20 years ago on the first day I moved into the dorms at Cedarville University.  Sharla was always a smart, godly and hard working person, but it is still kind of crazy to see someone you knew as a college kid, go on to be used by God to build such an amazing ministry!  He has certainly blessed her endeavors to bring health, education and the gospel to children in the Dominican Republic.

                 

We had witnessed, admired and supported the growth of Makarios from a distance in our home in Columbus, Ohio.  So when we heard about a special week for families to visit the school and spend a week with their sponsored child we decided to go and take our daughters and see Makarios for ourselves. 

Benjamin with 10 years of letters from his sponsors.
He saved them from the time he was 8 years old.

Our week started with a testimony from Benjamin.  He had been a sponsor child himself through Compassion International as a child and now he works for Makarios.  He saved all the letters his sponsor family wrote to him and shared them with us as he spoke about how meaningful that relationship was even though he had never met his sponsor family in person.  It was a great example of sponsorship changing a life!

Our favorite part was playing with all the kids at the schools.

Trip to eat ice cream!

The Makarios Team went out of their way to facilitate special events where our families could spend time with our sponsor children, like a trip in the guagua (bus-like taxi) to get ice cream and eating at a restaurant. 

We had a tour of three local villages.  The day we toured Pancho Mateo, we met the cutest little girl.  She looked 3, but she was 5.  She walked with us the whole time and she was carrying her baby sister.  I wondered what her story was and I felt a little worried about her.  Later that night, I was looking at the pictures of all the sponsored kids on the wall at the Mak House and I saw her picture!  I was so glad she was a little kindergartener at Makarios!

The week was capped off with a big water party for the kids!  It was so much fun to watch them play and for us to get to know their families better. I think it was less fun for Doug who was up late the night before trying to get the swimming pools to stay inflated long enough to fill with water. :-)   What a privilege to get to meet our precious sponsored child Merili.

It was such a blessing to see God’s people doing His work with excellence at Makarios.  The teachers were so loving and committed, Doug and Margaret were tireless as they walked our team through all our activities and made us feel at home in a different country, and we left with a bigger view of God and His work."

Their investment in Merili's life is priceless.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to the Kanzeg's who ministered to us in so many ways.  Thank you for your heart in reaching out not only to Merili, but also to her family, all the Mak children, and our staff.  Your visit was such a blessing.  We hope to see you back again soon!

If you are interested in sponsoring a Mak student, please contact Becky at sponsorship.makarios@gmail.com

And...thank you for joining us on the journey.

Love from the DR,

The Becks

Sponsor Weekend- Allie & Alexia

We just finished our Sponsorship Weekend and had an amazing time with the Makarios Sponsors and their students.  We wanted to highlight some of the sponsors and give you a glimpse into sponsorship.

Meet Allie Turner.  Allie is in high school and has been coming to the DR for the past 2 years with her youth ministry.  This time, she had the privilege of returning with her mom.  Allie has been sponsoring Alexia who is in the PK3 class.  Here's what she wrote about the weekend.

Getting Ice Cream
Allie, Alexia & Deborah

"Sponsor Weekend was different than what I was used to because the goal was spending time with our sponsor kids, not on "doing" anything,  When going on mission trips, a common question that others ask is "What did you do while you were there?" Much like Martha, I can easily get caught up in that mindset- What am I doing? How am I being productive? What am I accomplishing? This trip was such a sweet reminder that the focus of my heart should be sitting at the feet of Jesus, not on just getting things done. The joy found at His feet is that our work is not what He wants from us, but rather He chases after our hearts. That empowers us to have the same focus with others, chasing after relationships instead of our to-do list!  Spending time with Alexia and her family, the Makarios staff, the other families on the trip, and with my sweet mom, I was reminded that Makarios is about relationships. Our serving and doing should be rooted in the fact that we love God and we value our relationships with others. Just getting to be with precious Alexia was such a blessing that pointed me to the Gospel!"

Visiting With Alexia & her Mom

It was also great to hear from Allie's mom, Deborah.  Here's what she had to say, "The stories of Allie's previous trips came alive for me during Sponsor's week. Alexia became more than a girl smiling in a photograph. She's a spunky little girl with a big personality. She has a family that understands the need for an education and experiences the love of Jesus through Makarios. All of this adds up to a greater understanding why Allie's heart explodes with love for the DR."

Allie, Deborah, and Alexia's Family

We had such a great time with these two and are thankful that they were able to come and spend some time with the child Allie sponsors.  We hope you are encouraged by these wonderful stories that are unfolding at Makarios! ...Stay Tuned.  There's more to come. 



Thanks for joining us in the journey!
Love,
The Becks

If you are interested in sponsoring a Makarios student, you can contact Becky, our sponsorship coordinator at sponsorship.makarios@gmail.com

Allie catching up with another Makarios Student
who she met on one of her trips