On top of Magote, the highest peak in the area,after a long hike with some boys.

The life of Jon

I can't think of anything significant to say, but I feel like I should post something...so...I'll give a shameless plug.
Uncle Jon wants YOU to sponsor a child. The infastructure Kids Alive has set up here in the DR for helping children is top notch. We are ready and willing to expand our programs more and more. There are so many children that need help, and we're ready to help them. But...we need to have the funding. The infastructure is there but the funding is not. That's where sponsorship comes in. Most of our funding comes from faithful Americans paying $30 a month to help support a child. If we can find more sponsors, we can expand our programs and help more kids. These are children that are starving, have little chance for a decent education (which means they have very little chance of altering their current poverty stricken existance), and most importantly, need to learn of the love of Christ. We can offer them these things.

I apologize for the shameless plea, it's not something I'm especially fond of doing, but I'm getting better at it. If you have questions, email me at JColeman@alumni.cedarville.edu.

Until next time...

my last email update-for those who didn't get it

Hello everyone,

What's been going on in my life? Here's the list. I'm still learning Spanish. I'm working on developing a more efficient system for handling the sponsorship of the kids here. I'm learning how to teach PE in Spanish. I'm hoping to find a roommate. I'm going to start teaching English to a friend who doesn't know Christ. Hopefully I can be a good influence on him. I'm the new co-coach for the high school basketball team. I'm attempting to live my life focused on loving God and loving others. (Living life and truly not worrying about pleasing myself is proving to be a difficult task; I'm pretty awful at it.) Finally, I'm working my way through the lowest point of the cultural shock model. It's the part where your supposed to hate the new culture. For me, I didn't hate it, I just suddenly realized that I was so tired, tired of life in general. Anyway, I'm through the low point and on my way to feeling better.

I need your prayers. I am more convinced about that now than ever before. Thank you so much for talking to our Father on my behalf, and please continue to do so.

Prayer requests:
-That I will continue to find roles within the team here that best mesh my skills and abilities with the needs within the ministry.
-For continued perseverance in learning Spanish.
-That God will lead another single guy (that is at least halfway normal) to work here so I can have a roommate.
-We need more sponsors so our programs can expand, please pray that they will come.
-That I will learn how to live my life focusing on things other than myself.
-For my friend Alberto, that our English classes will lead to him gaining true faith in Christ.

For more regular updates, check out my blog-- http://dominicanjon.blogspot.com/

I love you all,
Jonathan Coleman

Some pictures