Summer Team #4- Austin Stone Youth

Our 4th team of the summer was a group of 33 high school students and 4 leaders from the Austin Stone. Their youth pastors, Scott and Stan, have come on previous trips and have become like family to us. They brought several returning students, so it's always fun to have familiar faces return!

We did a lot of the same activities that we have been doing throughout the summer: VBS, Soccer Camp, and Projects. However, we wanted to highlight 2 of our favorite activities that happened this week: a basketball game and baptisms.

Basketball Game

Makarios hosted a basketball game in one of the communities where we serve- Pancho Mateo. Cakito, who is our chaplain, lives in Pancho and coaches a local team. It was so fun to see the community come out to cheer their hearts out! It was an amazing night and definitely one of our highlights! The night was full of energy, enthusiasm, joy and competitiveness! It was a highly competitive game and Pancho Mateo edged the American team 47-45.  Needless to say, it was exciting.  At halftime, Nathan (a high school student) shared about his life and some of his struggles, which were similar to the struggles that are faced here. Many of those who heard his story could relate to his situation. Nathan didn't just share about his struggles, but he also shared about the hope he found through putting his faith in Christ.  

Nathan Sharing his Testimony at Half Time

Baptisms

Margaret Baptizing Chloe

We had a meaningful end to the week. Three students who came on the trip asked to be baptized! One student placed his faith in a Christ for the first time, and the other 2 had never been baptized as a believer and while in the DR, through their devotional time with the Lord, decided that they wanted to make that public declaration. On Friday, we had a special time of worship on the beach led by the students, followed by 3 baptisms. It was a powerful moment. Stan, the youth pastor, summed it up beautifully by saying, "Our time of worship and baptism on the beach was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced in student ministry. To see this group worship Christ for the new life He brings to us, as well rally around Hanan and celebrate for him was unbelievable."

Chloe after she was baptized

One of our personal prayers when we moved to the DR was that we would create an environment in the MAK House where those who came would experience God in new and powerful ways. It's been encouraging to see God answer those prayers throughout our time here, and this week was no exception. To God be the Glory!  

Thank You, Austin Stone Youth for an unbelievable week!  See you next year!

Love,

The Beck's

Look at our new FUN playground for the little kids!
This team helped us paint and position the tires!

Crazy Crew Cheering at the Soccer Game!

Summer Team #3- Austin Stone

Jenny at VBS with some Mak Students

We were blessed by our 3rd team of the summer! Austin Stone brought a group of young adults who were passionate about serving! They blessed us tremendously and their desire to serve was CONTAGIOUS! They worked mightily around the Mak House, school, church, and soccer field! They never stopped! We were so encouraged by how they blessed this community and the US missionaries who are on staff with Makarios. This week, we asked Jenny Hinojosa to write about her week with us. May you be blessed as you read!


Austin Stone Team #3, Thank You for your love, encouragement, and friendship. We will see you soon!

Love,
The Becks

  Austin Stone's visit to the DR was a life changing one, to say the least.  From the moment we arrived at the airport, we were cared for, loved on, and watched over. Our host family, Margaret and Doug, showered us with kindness and love during our entire stay in the Mak house. Jesus' love shines so brightly through their loving actions, warm conversations, and daily smiles and laughs that they so freely give.

Our team participated in VBS with the Makarios students and taught them about Jesus through lessons, songs and crafts. First of all, these children are oh-so-stinkin'-cute. It brought my heart so much joy to see how God has blessed these children with a rich knowledge, love, and desire to know more about Him at such a young age. One of my favorite moments from VBS was watching a sweet 3rd grader boldly lead his class in prayer. I thank Jesus for the work He has done in the hearts of these children, and I pray that he continues to draw them closer to Him everyday.

Our team also visited three communities where many of the Mak students live- Pancho Mateo, Chichigua, and Tamarindo. We quickly realized that the children LOVE "caballito" rides! The strong sense of community as well as the love and joy the people have towards one another was such an encouragement to see. The way they share, love, and care for one another with abandon is a beautiful representation of Christ's sacrificial love towards His children. Jesus teaches us to love others above all else. It was evident that the people living in these communities love, and they do it VERY well.

The Makarios organization is bringing such glory to God through their service in the DR. Their devotion to bringing God's kingdom to this earth has served as a catalyst for change in my heart. They have learned the secret that joy is not found in the things of this world, joy is found in our one and only true savior-Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Lord, may you continue to use Makarios to glorify your son Jesus Christ. To you be all glory.   - Jenny

  

If you'd like to be a part of what God is doing in the DR, we are always looking for others who want to partner with us.  If interested,  you can donate here.  THANKS!

Summer Team #2- The Fellowship, Round Rock

We were blessed once again by The Fellowship in Round Rock, Texas!  This is their 4th trip and it's fun to welcome back friends who feel like family.  They brought down a team of 25 high school students and leaders who came ready and prepared to serve in our communities.  They were hard at work hosting a Vacation Bible School, participating in soccer camp, completing several much needed projects at the school, and loving on kids in our communities.  This was the 3rd trip for Spencer Engelke, and for

this week's blog, he's sharing his story. One of the things we often share with groups is that while they are here, we want them to focus more on the relationships instead of the projects...and especially their relationship with Christ.  It's our desire that we create an environment where group members can encounter Christ in new and fresh ways!  I have a feeling that you will be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you read about Spencer's experience last week.

 Love,
The Becks

A great big "Thank You" to Spencer for sharing what God's been doing...Enjoy!

Spencer and one of his buddies!

Hello my name is Spencer Engelke and really want to share my experience of Christ in the DR! I am a member of The Fellowship Round Rock and have been blessed to go to the DR three times. The Dominican Republic is an amazing country, the people in it are such an encouragement to me personally, and God has his hands on and in the midst of the Makarios ministry. The Lord has used their loving with reckless abandonment to further my relationship with Christ and the church. What I mean, in saying loving with reckless abandonment, is loving expecting nothing in return, without the fear of rejection, and just loving because they were first loved by Christ. This is so evident when you go to the DR, every single person on staff at Makarios is excited to meet you and invest in you. Even if you will only be there for a week the staff pours into you, whether that be with words or just a smile and a hug. As well as the children there, the kids just want to play and love you because you’re you, not because you earned there love or even built a relationship. They just love and it was so amazing to witness love like that. After seeing and experiencing that love three times The Lord has really changed my heart on the way I see people in the states. He has touched me deeply to love with reckless abandonment and understanding that amazing love can’t come from me, but only through Christ’s love. This experience of Christ has affected many aspects of my life such as, the way I view a bus ride with a random stranger, investing in people that most likely will reject me, and how I

Vacation Bible School!

long for acceptance. Especially with the view of acceptance, The Lord revealed to me that if you’re loving people for acceptance than heartbreak and envy will come sooner or later. Understanding that The Lord sent his perfect son to die for our sins and give us Christ’s righteous as an acceptance that exceeds everything else on this earth. Knowing that

the Creator of the universe loves and accepts me because what Christ did is so freeing. I am free to love because when judgment comes on this earth I know that I have a Father in Heaven that sees me as one of his children.(John 1:12) All this was revealed to me because God used other broken people to show his love. “ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) The Lord changed my heart in a big way in the Dominican Republic and all I can do in response is praise His Name and make it famous.

  

Volleyball Game in Pancho Mateo!

If you are interested in helping out financially with our ministry with Makarios, you can give here!  THANK YOU! 

***THANK YOU to Will Nickle who took most of these pics!

Summer Team #1- Grace Bible Student Ministry, Dallas

Our summer is off to a great start! The student ministry from Grace Bible Church of Dallas was our first team of the summer and they came ready to serve! They kicked off our VBS, soccer camp, and summer construction projects- and even managed to get in a soccer game at Chichigua which ended in a tie! (For those of you who know anything about Chichigua and soccer…the locals ALWAYS win, but not this week!) Grace Bible Student Ministry- the students and their leaders- were a blessing to host! Here’s what they had to say about the week in their own words…

Benjamin in his element at VBS

“Benjamin, a staff member at Makarios has a special way of connecting with the children (at VBS.) Throughout the last few days he has shown us through his dramatic gestures and grand stories how much he cares for the kids and their spirituality. We were informed by our host couple that Benjamin was telling them that after VBS, 3 of the Makarios children came to know Christ.”

“Thank you for your incredible hospitality…Extraordinary things are going on at Makarios in the DR and it would be foolish to look at your ministry and see anything less than the supernatural. Above all, let all the glory and honor be given to our one Lord, our Heavenly Father.”

”Honestly, it feels impossible to capture in words what this week has meant to me…I cannot say enough about

Makarios as an organization. The work they are doing for the kingdom of Christ is inspiring. They are feeding, educating, mentoring, and discipling some of the poorest children in the area. Taking kids who have very little chance for a positive future and changing their lives. They partner closely with the local churches, invest in training Dominican leaders, and have a remarkable staff from the States. We have been blessed to partner alongside them this week for the sake of Jesus Christ.”

Soccer Game in Chichigua!

“Thank you so much for giving us such a great opportunity to serve and learn more about our God.”

As always, it’s our desire that group members encounter God in fresh and new ways and it was encouraging to host this team for a 2nd year in a row and see such growth. We are looking forward to next year…

If you are interested in helping out financially with our ministry with Makarios, you can give a special or monthly donation by clicking here.

Thanks for joining us on the journey…we are so blessed by many.

Love, 

The Becks

Hard at Work Staining New Benches for the Scho

Welcome the DR Interns 2015

Cole, Jonnah, Jacob, Kelly and Win

We are so excited to have 5 new interns this summer!  We spent 5 days with them before our first team arrived and we could not be more thrilled with this family that the Lord has assembled together.  We are SOOOO blessed!  I'm looking forward to ministering along side them this summer.  Please be praying for their time with Makarios in the DR.  Here's a little bit about each one...

My name is Cole Bland. I was born and raised in Austin, TX. After 18 years spent in Austin I decided to venture out for once and I chose to attend Texas A&M University. I will be entering my senior year in the Fall majoring in Construction Science. I wanted to be a Makarios intern this summer because I have seen how God uses this country and the people here to change lives and I'm honored to be apart of that.
Fun fact about me: I went to the same school from Pre-K through 12 grade 

My name is Jonnah Baker and I am a recent college graduate from Cedarville University.  I will start work full-time this fall as a mechanical engineer at Cummins.  I enjoy zumba, soccer, music, art, and taking care of my pet turtle, Joe.  I'm excited to serve this summer with Makarios and hopefully long term in international missions in the future.  To God be the Glory.

Fun fact about me: I really want to get dreadlocks.

Jacob is on the left!

My name is Jacob Jordan. I am a senior Chemistry major at The University of Texas at Austin and currently serving as a DR Makarios Intern for the summer of 2015. I first heard about Makarios when I attended a short term mission trip to the DR with my church, The Austin Stone. While here, I felt moved by the way in which Makarios loved, served, and worked with the local communities as well as their devotion to remaining Gospel centered. I enjoyed my time with them so much that I began praying over possibly interning with them during the summer. One thing led to another and I ended up packing my bags, and coming back for another 2 months!
Fun fact about me: I love running and applesauce

My name is Kelly Brown and I'm from Spring Texas and currently attend the University of Texas in Austin. I'm studying bilingual early education and will graduate in two years. This is my first time with Makarios and am so grateful for this opportunity. I enjoy playing games, hiking, dancing, and exploring. I am excited to see what God has planned for this summer!

Fun Fact about me:  I was on Project Runway

My name is Win Porras and I am the soccer camp intern for the summer. I'm from Plano, Texas  and have been living in Austin for the past 5 years while attending The University of Texas. I recently graduated with my Masters in accounting and will be moving to Houston in the fall to start work with Deloitte in their Tax Practice. I wanted to be involved with Makarios this summer after working with the soccer camp last year on a short-term trip. I am excited to be part of such an awesome ministry and see how the Lord uses this time to do some awesome things!
Fun fact about me:  I have a secret love for, and consider myself an expert in identifying various plants, flowers, trees, and shrubberies.

Here's to a GREAT summer!  Thanks for joining us in the journey!
Love,
The Becks

Gracias Logos Prep!

We had a tremendous "End of the Year" and Logos Prep in Sugarland, Tx played a significant role in our week long festivities. Our partnership started with them when we first moved to the DR to work with Makarios.  My sister, Elizabeth, is a kindergarten teacher at Logos and for the past few years her classes have done chores to raise money for a water well, library books, and uniform shoes as well as written personal letters to the students in the kindergarten class at Makarios.  However, over this past year we have been encouraged as our partnership has grown.  

Mak Students with Letters from Students from
Logos Prep Kindergarten Classes

This past week, Greg Anderson, the director of Student Life at Logos Prep, led a team of 24 students and 5 adults to serve alongside us in the DR.  They were a huge blessing to us before they even stepped off the plane.  Logos Prep generously collected supplies for the Makarios School as well as the Mak House.  They loaded up10 supply bags and 4 storage trunks all weighing close to 50lbs!  We were blessed by their generosity!  In addition, Greg has been in communication with Laurie, our principal at Makarios, on ways their school can help train our teachers to make Makarios an excellent educational facility.  A beautiful partnership has formed between the 2 schools and Makarios, DR is grateful.

Making bags of rice and beans for our students
to take home over the 2 week break

This team hit the ground running!  We had a host of activities planned for them including teaching in the classrooms, manual labor, Vacation Bible School at the Mak House, village visits, bagging rice and beans for 150 students,  a Water Day for the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th graders and Logos Prep came prepared with 2 water slides, super soakers and water games galore.  Their trip culminated with the end of school year production at the school!  They set up chairs, decorated, made and served 400 hotdogs+15 cakes, and cleaned up afterwards.  This was a blessing to our teachers and staff who are usually the ones who are doing prepping and cleaning.  This year, the teachers were able to attend the performance and focus on celebrating with their students on the last day of class while Logos Prep did all the "behind the scenes" work.

It was so fun to have Logos Prep here and an additional blessing was to serve alongside Stewart and Hallie, our niece and nephew.  They served with us in 2012 and have been back to visit us on several occasions, but it was fun to have them here on a team, serving alongside their classmates and friends.

All in all, this team was a JOY to host!  There is a deep sense of contentment when you serve alongside others who share the same vision for education and ministry, as well as their love for the Lord.  The students and leaders where a huge source of encouragement to us.  I am excited about this partnership and look forward to how God is going to use Makarios and Logos Prep to further His Kingdom.  “Not to us, but to God be the glory for the things He has done.”  Logos Prep…we can't thank you enough!  See you next year!

Here is the video we made for Logos Prep 2 years ago after the kindergarten classes donated money for a water well.

If you are interested in helping out financially with our ministry with Makarios, you can give a special or monthly donation by clicking here.

As always, thank you for joining us on this journey.  We are blessed!

Love from the DR,
The Becks

The Andrews and their Sponsorship Story

Mike, Nancy, Lizzy and Dominic Andrews with the 3 students they sponsor at Makarios

Meet Mike and Nancy Andrews.  They visited Makarios during Sponsorship Weekend in April with their 2 children, Lizzy and Dominic.  We had such a great time with them and appreciated their heart and all the ways they have loved, supported and encouraged Makarios.  We LOVED having them here and can't wait for them to return.  The weekend impacted their whole family and we wanted to share with you their experience.  Thank you to everyone who is a part of this journey...I hope you'll be encouraged by what God is doing as you read how God is working among us.

Love from the DR,

The Becks

"My grandmother gave me the nickname.  It means 'Little Head'," says Cakito responding to our question as to the origin of his name.  Whether or not he has a little head is debatable, but not the size of his heart. Cakito is a big part of the Makarios school, serving as chaplain and primary disciplinarian.  It wasn't that long ago he was one of its first students too.  He guides us through the streets of a Batey called Pancho Mateo, his place of residence and site of where Makarios originally first offered classes.  He shows us exactly where it once stood over a decade ago.    Nothing about the original building remains, but its influence is felt all around us.  On a nearby basketball court on one of the walls surrounding it is a painting of the Makarios logo.    Kids pass us by on the street as we walk and call out to Cakito. 

Tour of Pancho Mateo with Cakito
on the way to Son’s house

He answers back something encouraging, drawing a laugh or a smile from them. He is some of the first fruits of the original Makarios school, having been invested in for years, he is now returning that by pouring into others in the school and in his own community.  A fact that deeply impacted us and was echoed by Doug and Margaret Beck -- our host couple -- during our time there.  When you see and walk through the surrounding towns that are poverty stricken it's human nature to want to solve it.  Fix it.  Have some sort of plan for it.  Doug and Margaret emphasized that there are no easy answers.  It takes years and years of investing and pouring into the lives of young men and women until you eventually see young men and women like Cakito rise up.    It's what we needed to see and hear, but it was also something we didn't expect to see so close up and personal.  Then again, we didn't know what to expect on our first sponsor's trip.    

Our family had been talking about taking a trip to Makarios for some time. We felt that our youngest of 8 years, was finally at an age that a trip like this would be impactful – so when I saw the email announcing the Sponsor Trip, we signed up right away. We had no ideas or expectations about what this trip would be like, except that we would get to meet and hang out with the kids we sponsor. That after years of praying, writing letters, reading updates, we would finally get to MEET them, hug them, experience them. Our kids, ages 12 and 8, were very excited. After much prayer and planning the day finally arrived. With passports in hand, together as a family we left the USA and started a journey that would draw us closer to each other and closer to God.

Lizzy with beautiful Pancho Mateo girl
who walked up and just wanted to hold Lizzy’s hand

We met our hosts, Doug and Margaret Beck upon arriving at the Mak House. They were warm and friendly, genuinely delighted to have us there. Sometime that first evening they gave us an overview of what our trip would look like. It was obvious that each item on the schedule was carefully thought out with the purpose of getting to know and learning more about our sponsor kids as well as emphasizing through the testimony of others how much of an effect sponsorship means to the children. From time at Makarios, sharing lunch with the children, playing, ice cream, walking through and learning about the villages in which Makarios ministers, ending with a day of fun at the Mak House with the children and their families – it could not have been planned more perfectly. The greatest honor was the privilege of being invited into the homes of the kids we sponsor, meeting their parents, hanging out, talking, and praying for them.

 Lunch with the sponsor kids

And then there was the 4pm hour, the unexpected pleasure of the neighborhood kids knocking on the gate of the Mak House, wanting to come in and play. We came to truly look forward to this time of day and found joy in being able to laugh and play with the village kids and communicate with them in the universal language of “play.” This time of day at the Mak House was so impactful as it made us realize the far reaching ministry that Doug and Margaret have around them, making the Mak House much more than a place to stay. It really has become very much like a light on a hill in the local neighborhood.

Dominic leading prayer with the families before they left.

We haven't stopped thinking about our trip since we returned. The smiles and laughs of those children we met are still etched in our minds. The passion that Doug and Margaret have for their ministry was inspiring and contagious. The opening of our children's eyes and hearts to the reality of the world that exists outside the U.S. is a precious thing and a catalyst for deep and meaningful conversations and urgent prayers for those that are in great need. We have great memories from our trip, memories we believe will last a lifetime. 

We hope to all be back again to make more ...