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

Sagemont Visits Makarios over Spring Break!

Sagemont Church in Houston and Makarios have formed a beautiful partnership for which we are grateful.  Over Spring Break, they returned to the DR to serve alongside us with an amazing team of 35- consisting mainly of youth (and a few adults, too!) I can honestly say, this group brought some ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM to the North Coast!  Even our Dominican staff, who have no shortage of energy, commented on the “animo” of this group.  It was a lively group to say the least.  They definitely kept us entertained!...and we had a blast.

We had many things that they participated in, but perhaps the one project that we were happy to complete was the parking lot!  This project was special for many reasons…but for one, this team worked incredibly hard to clear the land that their own church bought.  Sagemont was instrumental in helping us purchase land that we desperately needed in order to continue to grow and give the students in this area a quality education. 

Right now, this area will be a parking lot so we will have a place to turn around.  The parking lot will add much convenience, but even more importantly, it will provide a safer area for the kids.  Often, we are having to reverse down a narrow alley, full of kids, and the parking lot will give us space to turn around and leave the school facing forward.  In the future, this land will be the area where we will build the next addition to our school..so stay tuned!

They also helped us do all the things we usually do, and they came ready and willing to do a Vacation Bible School that included parachutes, games, songs, and a study about Zacchaeus.  They also took time to teach the neighborhood kids English, which they LOVED!...and I can't go without mentioning that there was a lot of dancing going on this week!

Learning Ballet

A hug after the dance lesson.
 Look at that smile!

This group showed tenderness and compassion towards everyone they came in contact with during their week.  One story that stands out in our minds is the intentionality they had towards a family we know.  One of our friends in the villages has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.  She often only interacts with a group member or two in her own home or on her porch, but this team made an extra effort to include her in the activities.  They wheeled her chair up the rocky path to the soccer field where others were cheering on the game.  They visited with her, laughed with her, and prayed with her.  It was a meaningful time for all.

These friends are carrying the wheelchair
up to the soccer field

Sagemont served heartily up until the bitter end.  They were even getting the Mak House in great shape and worked steadily at the house until we physically made them stop so they could load onto the guagua (bus) that was headed to the airport.  Remember about their energy and enthusiasm?  They even used this to their advantage when we had an adventurous time getting to the airport.  It’s never boring serving the King of Kings.

 
Thank You Sagemont…We can’t wait to see you again!

As Always...thank you for joining us on this journey.

We are Blessed,

The Becks

Photo Credits:  Rachel Sawyer

Dentists Creating (Ever)Lasting Smiles!

What a pleasure it was to host Dr. Bud (Barton Oaks Dental) and Dr. Josh Tomasik (Tomasik Family Dental) and dental team from Austin, Texas for the 3rd time.  This team has been coming to serve our school for several years long before we arrived and it was an honor to welcome our dear friends again.  It was incredible!  They saw over 250 kids/staff in their time with us.  We are always amazed at their tireless efforts to serve and this trip was no exception.  They worked long days in "less than ideal" settings to provide quality dental care to our MAK family.

Dr. Bud and Dr. Josh saw patients with their assistants Kim and Katherine, while Cindy cleaned teeth.  Karen kept the various dental instruments cleaned and ready while Richard did everything from construction projects at the house to handing our prizes to kids who were brave dental patients.  It was a great team who had fun serving together.

This time we joined efforts with local Dominican dentists in order to connect our kids to good dental care here in the DR.  This will enable better care in between dental team visits.  Our dentist friend Dr. Jhonny was gracious enough to create this relationship for which we are grateful.

Their week ended with a bang...or at least a fire.  On the final afternoon as the dentists were on their last patients, an electrical fire broke out at the school.  The fire extinguisher didn't work, so Doug and several other teachers and people in the community started picking up handfuls of dirt to throw on the fire until the fire department

arrived.  Actually, the fire truck never arrived- it ran out of gas en route, so a few firemen hopped on a moto and arrived at the school.  It was impressive to see how quickly the Makarios staff started problem solving.  Within a short period of time our friend and co-worker Benjamin rounded up a generator and the team was able to finish their final patients.  In case you are wondering, it is never boring in the DR.

And that was just the beginning of their crazy exit!  The team had an even more hair raising adventure on the way back to the States.  As the team was on a flight from JFK to AUS that had a near miss with another plane on the runway at JFK.  You may have read about this because it made the national news.  Thankfully, they made it safely home, but not before a very long delay.

So, until next year, we say "see you later" to our friends.  Bud, Karen, Josh, Cindy, Richard, Kim, and Katherine- we were so blessed by you personally and can't wait to see you next year!

Thanks for joining us on the journey!  What a privilege!

Love,
The Beck's

What a FUN Way to Start the Year 2015...with 42 College Students!

While college students all over the US spent their Christmas break sleeping in, watching Neflix for hours, staying in their PJ’s all day, hanging out with friends into the wee hours of the morning…42 college students from Austin, Tx landed in the Dominican Republic and no one could have predicted the impact they would have on this place over the next 7 days.

We were blessed with 42 energetic college students from 2 different churches- Round Rock Fellowship and the Austin Stone.  This year, we decided to try something that we have wanted to do for a long time- a Bible Camp- knowing that if anyone could pull this off, it would be college students!      With the help of a new staff member, Richie, who is involved with community outreach, we spent 3 consecutive mornings in each of the villages that Makarios serves:  Pancho Mateo, Chichigua, and Tamarindo.  During this time, the college students led a camp that consisted of a craft, games, and a Bible lesson.  The students were so creative in teaching the Bible Story and incorporating a craft and game.  These mornings were a huge success.  In fact, we had over 200 children come out to participate in this Bible Camp.  It was so fun to spread out each morning into the different villages and then to come back to the Mak House at the end of a long day and hear about all the different stories from the different camps.  We will never fully know the impact these students had on the lives of the children, but one thing we know for sure- they were loved by others and were encouraged to know God more by teaching them truths from the Bible.

At the end of the week, we even heard that a few kids in the villages placed their faith in Christ!  

One of these kids, who expressed an interest in knowing God more, walked over an hour the next day from Chichigua to the Mak House just to spend one last day with the college students!  I would say that their time in the village was a success!

Not only did they work hard in the villages, but they also diligently worked at the school preparing it for the kids to return after the Christmas break.  They cleaned desks & window blinds, painted, and used their brute strength to help us dig a trench so we can build a wall around our new property!  This team worked endlessly- literally.  On several days, we had to INSIST that they stop working/serving so they could rest.

 

We can't thank this team enough.  They were a joy to have in our home and selflessly served, even at the Mak House, after a long day of being in the villages.  They did so much around the house that it was hard to believe that we had 42 people living here.  There was always someone in the kitchen doing the dishes, filling up the water jug, or taking out the trash.  So, if you happen to see any of these students on the street, give them a hug and tell them "Thank You" for setting an example in their speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.  (1 Timothy 4:12)

As Always, THANK YOU for joining us on the journey...

We even took some time out to celebrate 2 special birthdays!

Love,

The Becks