Dear mission partners, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,
First of all, we want to say thank you to all of our supporters: To those who pray and give faithfully so that we may continue our work here. It is through you that God provides for our needs which allows us to pay the bills and keep the ministry going. We know it is all from Him, but we also know that He uses His church as the means to provide for us. Thank you for your help.
We are getting ready for a medical clinic on Oct. 31- Nov 2. Please pray for that activity. Anthony and Stephanie Willis are coming again this year to serve the people in three communities. We will be in Piedra Gorda, San Lucas School, and the church of Hato Mayor. There are always plenty opportunities to share the gospel with people and obtain follow up contact information.
Pray that Anthony and Stephanie who are funding and working the operation arrive safely, that we will have all the supplies, doctors, nurses and translators we will need and that above all, God will be glorified. We appreciate their way of serving, generously bringing in almost everything needed to get the job done themselves, yet humbly serving alongside the nationals in a supportive role. A wonderful and sacrificial example to follow. It’s just them coming and the rest of the team will be made up of local workers.
In the family we have had less health issues as of late, praise God. But Yeison did have to go to the hospital about two weeks ago for a high fever. There was something going around, but he got over it pretty quick. We all had a cold and some sore throats, but nothing serious. Maya did hurt her ankle a few weeks ago and it turned purple and got swollen, but she is much better now and not limping anymore.
We are teaching English at a school and that is going well. They are mostly Catholic and a few who don’t know what they are. But we have been well received and pretty much have an open door there to share. I am praying with students, have shared the gospel several times already and working on getting a Bible study started with some of the other teachers. Please pray for that. One of my English projects for the high school students is about God and evolution. This is provoking tons of good questions and conversation from the students. Pray that the Lord would use us as an instrument to save some there through our Gospel proclamation.
Since my trip to Haiti, I have spoken often with brother Leonel and he has been quite busy. He has been evangelizing, giving Bibles to new converts and discipling those who are making professions of faith. Pray for him and his ministry in Ounaminthe. He was asked to preach this coming Sunday at his church. The Lord is using him and opening doors, praise God. Please remember to pray for him.
I was recently asked to join a team of editors for a project called Theo Magazine. It is a very good and theologically solid resource for the spanish speaking world. It addresses all kinds of modern day issues the church faces and gives answers to questions about things that pertain to LGBTQI agenda, evolution, Christians and the arts, theology, apologetics, church history, missions and more. It is a quality project with several doctors and theologians from Latin America doing much of the writing and on the team of editors. I was very humbled to even be considered apt to help in even a small role in this. The general editor who is also the president of a seminary (Southern Baptist School) approached me about joining the team and doing some writing, networking with missionaries in other parts of the world, reporting and sharing practical ways for others in Latin America to get involved in missions, among other things relating to missions in general. There is even talk of a possible English version of the work. I was already asked to translate some of the articles to English and they approved of the quality of the translations, praise God. There is a lot of work going into this with launches in NY, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico and Colombia. Please pray for me and others working on the project. It is truly a privilege and an honor to be involved. May God be glorified and many edified through the work.
A special prayer request for our family, especially for Yeison.
We have noticed some minor behavior issues with Yeison for a while. But he seemed to have been improving. He listens when he is corrected, pretty good about sitting through church, but he’s also just a five years old kid with a lot of energy and a short attention span. But he is different from many kids in some ways. We recognize this and that he may possibly may have some special needs that weren’t as noticeable or as easy to diagnose before, but that are now being noticed because of the stage of development and learning he is in.
The school he is at (now attending with Maya and Nito) has contacted us several times in the past two weeks. We have gone in for meetings three times already about this and have a fourth meeting tomorrow. The claims of his unruly and reported extreme behavior are hard to believe, but many there have supposedly witnessed it.
Counselors and others are involved now but he is ONLY behaving this way at the school. And he has never done the things they are now telling us about before. It has been somewhat alarming. There are behavioral conditions that don’t show symptoms or can even be diagnosed until around 5-7 years of age.
He admits to his behavior later and knows it is wrong. To be honest, this has kind of rocked us as a family and we are trying to figure out what is the next step in helping him. Why is he suddenly acting out like this, and what triggered it when he did not do this before? We are still processing this whole thing.
One counselor at the school said it may be that he feels unsafe there without us. It is a new and intimidating environment. We taught at the school he attended last year and he did see us on a daily basis there. They say the tendency of kids who feel that way is to fight or flee.
Another said it could be subconscious and something he doesn’t understand, but may be a reaction directly connected to the first three months of his life. We don’t know at this point. He is fine at home but many who follow us through the newsletters or facebook know about his mother’s condition. Yeison also had a very rough start in life. But we are not sure what to even think about that right now.
We had a hard time even believing some of the things they said at first, but we are just concerned now and want to help him, praying that this is just a phase or something that will pass, or something that with a little help, he can grow out of. But we really don’t know at this point. We are receiving lots of advice from people back home with experience and even some books to read from those who know more than us about these kinds of things. For that we are very grateful. We just know we need lots of prayer for us and him.
Please pray for him and for wisdom for us as we work through this and seek help for our little man. Pray.
We have also been a little strapped financially for a few months now. Thank God for a couple of unexpected love offerings from a couple of churches, we have gotten by due to that. But we are struggling paying the kid’s schooling and do have a lot of other commitments besides our own bills and family’s needs here, so we are still in need of new monthly mission partners to keep up with all the needs and have more stability month to month. There are things we had planned but were unable to follow through with due to a shortage of funds. Some other things just have priority when things get tight, but there is so much more we could do if we were a little more stable financially.
10 people or churches at just $200 a month, 20 people or churches at $100, or 40 people or churches at $50 a month, would definitely free us up and give us the needed ministry money to work with. There are some churches able to do this on their own or with little help. Others can take this on as a project and help raise the needed funds for this mission. Please share the needs and pray about helping.
There are others we would like to help on this side but cannot at this point. There are things needed for the church building we would like to purchase, and resources for some of the men we work with but are not able to just yet. We have no emergency, furlough or reserve fund at this point. We are also hoping to get some life insurance one of these days. Please consider helping, by sharing these needs and prayer requests, or giving if you are presently not a monthly mission partner.
Please continue to pray regularly for our marriage, our children, the church. Pray for the Dominican republic and especially Haiti, that right now is in political turmoil. Pray for the Lord to grant us wisdom, patience and to guard our hearts during difficult times. There has been no shortage of those either. God has been kind to us, our own sin and shortcomings have kept us humble, suffering has molded us, His grace has sustained us, we are thankful for His love and faithfulness in spite of us. Pray that God will continue to be glorified in and through us. Pray.
In service to our King,
Antonio Salgado Jr.
We do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated, so you can be sure that your gift goes directly to the mission field to meet real needs.
If the Lord so lays on your heart to give back to Him by supporting this ministry, you can send your tax deductible gift to:
CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE
P.O. Box 219228
Houston, Texas 77218-9228
1-800-CMC-PRAY (1-800-262-7729)
Office: 281-599-7411
Fax: 281-599-7511
CMC serves hundreds of missionaries, but they ONLY receive the funds for us and in no way have control over how the funds are to be spent, or what we are to do as a ministry. This gives us liberty to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading and make decisions about present and urgent needs. This is one of the reasons why we went with CMC to receive and get donations to us. They also only charge a tiny fee for administrative purposes (about 2%). This is the best way to get the most out of every donation straight to the field.
You may begin sending your support at any time at the address above. Simply include a note on a separate piece of paper that says “Antonio Salgado or Salgado DR Mission”(Checks should be made payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse or C.M.C.)
You can also now give to the ministry online through the new giving solution called “click and give” at the CMC website. Just a simple click on the donate button on their page (see link below), and then click the “click and give icon/button”.*Note – On the list of missionaries there, click on Antonio Salgado / Dominican Republic.
https://www.cmcmissions.org/donate
Thank you for taking the time to read this update, and whatever you choose, thank you and God bless.