Dear mission partners, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,
Seven years ago we were getting on a flight to move to the DR. It sure doesn’t feel like it’s been that long and man has it gone by fast! Looking back we can see God´s grace and mercy countless times in our marriage, family and ministry. To Him alone be all the glory of any and all good that may have been accomplished in us and through us.
The kids started school here on Tuesday. Sahira is now a senior and Lord willing she will graduate at the end of the school year. Maya is a junior and Tonito is a sophomore. That means we will be having a child graduating each year for the next three years (Lord willing, of course)! It seems like just yesterday Trinity was graduating. This season of life has not been without it´s challenges, and we are still adjusting to the many changes the kids have gone through in the last couple of years. Continued prayers for them are appreciated as they become young adults. Yeison is the only little one left now. And although this is his third year in school, the two previous years were pre-k levels. So this is his first actual year of kindergarten. May the Lord grant them all wisdom and protect them from bad influences and temptations. Please pray for our children, including Trinity who is in Florida.
I just got back from a three day ministry trip to Haiti last Sunday. It was a short but fruitful trip. Maya came along to keep her old dad company and was very helpful. I was not able to make an extra trip to the capital in time to get the needed documents to cross the border with the mission van. So Maya and I carried what we had and jumped on a bus to the border town of Dajabon. When we arrived we simply jumped on a motorcycle taxi to the bridge that connects Haiti and DR. Leonel met us there with his motorcycle. We spent those three days getting back and forth with him as our transportation.
We were able to purchase twenty one whole Bibles and ten New Testaments to take with us. Leonel has been needing Bibles for several months now. And although they weren’t as many as we wished to have taken, he was very thankful when they finally arrived.
Most of the time was spent with Leonel discussing the best possible ways to glorify God on future trips through teaching. We did a great deal of running around as he introduced me to several brothers, mostly pastors and other leaders from nearby churches. While we spoke about studying and teaching in general, most of the men I spoke with actually expressed their own desire to learn more about Scripture in order to teach better. And all of them were happy to hear of our desire to partner with them in this area and bring in teachers to help. This was an answer to prayer since some of them knew about my visit but we had never met before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But two of the men specifically said that they have desired this very thing for a long time. It was encouraging to hear and perhaps a confirmation of sorts. So that´s three locations we will be teaching at on our next visit in and around Juana Mendez, Lord willing. We are thankful to God for opening this door to work with these brothers and churches. Pray for the humility of the teachers and the hearers, so that Christ´s name would be glorified and that His church would be edified.
In other news, there has been a drop in giving in recent months and unfortunately it´s at least in part to our inability to get back for longer lengths of time to report and fundraise. Sadly, it can be “out of sight, out of mind” for many churches back home. Some donors commit for a specific amount of time, whether it be six months or a year. We are thankful for them all and how God has provided our needs through each one, but we are always in need of new donors and supporting churches in order to continue meeting all of our monthly ministry commitments. With growing ministry needs here and few visits back home, we are praying for new ministry partners. We find ourselves today with more needs than ever. Although we are short of our projected budget, we had a financially stable season where we paid the bills and were able to do quite a bit of ministry and still help people above and beyond the usual. But as every year donations rise and they fall. Some stop giving, new ones start giving. God has been faithful to provide, but it has always been through His church, faithful , mission minded brothers and sisters back home. And we know that is how He will continue to provide for us.
The difficulty in fundraising now is that we are unsure when we will be able to get back to the states again. We ask that you please consider helping by praying often, giving generously and sharing the needs of this ministry with others. Your donations not only go to meet our family´s needs, but also the nationals we support, the church that was planted and all the expenses of ministry that come with those. Though we believe in keeping the main thing the main thing, we also believe in our responsibility to love, pray for and help, bearing the burdens of others, especially those in the family of faith. Everything costs money and we could use your help during this low point in giving. Please consider helping us by:
- Praying- Please pray consistently and often for our family and the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us.
- Giving- It would certainly help the financial strain we are experiencing if are willing and able to give an extra gift this month above and beyond your present commitment.
- And by sharing – Sharing the needs and prayer requests with others who can possibly help by becoming a ministry partners with us in praying giving and possibly even coming and serving.
It is important that you know who you give to and what your donations are going towards. For this reason we ask anyone who is willing, to come and visit us to see what we do here. We do wish more were willing to visit and see for themselves what the Lord has done and is doing. For pastors and teachers we need some to be willing to join us in our encouraging and teaching the nationals laboring faithfully with very little. But it is also an opportunity for those interested in serving the Lord in missions to come and get their “feet wet” a little. We are willing to open our home for those who wish to come for either reason. You can contact us through this website or at salgado@bcmissionarysociety.org.
In a praise report, we do finally have health insurance. Christen is also feeling much better since her latest experience with parasites and several symptoms such as rashes, hair loss and stomach issues . We have been “deworming” everyone in the house over the last few weeks just in case anyone else may be carrying uninvited visitors.
The church in Hato Mayor is doing well and meeting regularly Sundays and Wednesdays. We also have a teacher giving English classes on Saturdays to many children in the community which is helpful in meeting new families nearby. Pray that this would open doors to share the Gospel with the children’s families.
Here are some of the needs and prayer requests we ask you to prayerfully consider:
Pray for one dear sister of the church named Arelis who recently discovered she has breast cancer. This is the same sister who cares for her husband who had a bad stroke over a year ago. Please pray for her during this trying season.
Please pray about helping with our children’s schooling. This is one of our biggest financial needs we have as a family right now.
Please pray for our new ministry endeavors working together with nationals teaching both in the DR and in Haiti. For wisdom in the planning and for the funds necessary to carry them out. If you are interested in coming and joining us in reaching and teaching others, or are able to financially support this effort, contact us at salgado@bcmissionary society.org.
We are thankful and in awe at what the Lord has done over the last seven years. We pray that there is still much more in store for us for God’s glory, and that we may also be a means of blessing to those in need, especially those faithful but struggling men laboring in difficult places for the glory of Christ.
Pray.
In service to our King,
Antonio Salgado and family
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 a separate piece of paper with “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.