Salgado DR Mission Newsletter

Dear mission partners, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,

We thank you for your ongoing prayers and support. May God bless you for your faithful and sacrificial giving so that we may continue to labor for the Lord here, reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our daughter Maya just turned 18 years old last weekend. We have been trying to send her and Nito to Florida for at least part of the Summer. But with all the travel restrictions, it’s not looking promising for their trip as of now.  Tickets have proven very hard to find and are more expensive than the regular cost if you can get them. They go quick. We are still hoping to find something, so they can at least see the family, even if it is just for a short time. Our daughter Trinity in Tampa is also turning 20 years old tomorrow! So that has us feeling a little old, haha. The years continue to just fly by. When we first arrived here we had three young children, now we have two adult children and Nito will be 17 and passed me in height some time ago. May the Lord give us wisdom and teach us to number our days and redeem the time we have left. It is fleeting.

We finished out the month of doing lots of food distribution and evangelism. Throughout April and May we spent over $7,000 for relief funds that was used to buy food for 500 families in the DR and in Haiti. At least $1,500 more was spent for some extra things we did for a few heartbreaking special cases, and the love offerings for some beloved pastors who really needed help.  We are thankful for God’s provision in all of this since the quarantine has left many people unable to work and in great desperation.

We love serving people and getting out there preaching the Gospel, but we did have to take periodic breaks. We were still in the school year and had commitments teaching and planning during those months. It was not easy balancing those two things plus making sure our kids were where they needed to be with their school work too. Each distribution alone was about three days worth of work including purchasing, packaging, preaching and driving time while distributing. It did put us behind on some other things. But seeing the needs, it quickly became a priority for to us to help as much as we could. But by God’s grace, we got it done.

Pastor Victor was active in helping us often. He was very helpful and it was an incredible experience overall and Christ was glorified through the expressions of love for the suffering and the preaching of the Gospel. In a lot of cases we were able to preach to entire families, their neighbors and other groups near where we were working. If the people were very receptive, we spent a lot of extra time with them.

When we didn’t work in our area near the church in Hato Mayor, we were intentional about working through another local church helping them help the communities they are in. Praise God for everyone who donated to make this possible. We could not have done any of that without your help through financial support and prayers. Thank you

We have a little break from teaching English now that it’s Summer. We may need tocontinue to do it next school year though. The extra money helps, especially during the tight months and when unexpected expenses pop up.  We have other plans that need funding too, including possible ministry in another part of the island. But for right now we must focus on Yeison for a little while.

He just had a tendon extension surgery to fix his extreme toe walking condition. If not corrected, it can affect not only his gait, but also his hips, spine and the bone structure of his feet (it already has a little). Those who have followed us over the years may remember when we started this process when he was much smaller. The braces on his legs, special boots, a second pair of braces, LOTS of therapy, all in hopes of not having to operate. In the end the doctors said there was little improvement and the surgery was definitely needed anyway. We are hoping that by doing it now, he will be in good shape when the new school year starts, Lord willing.

The surgery itself was postponed twice. Once because we finally got insurance (after not having it for about seven years), but they said we had to wait a six-month period before they would cover any surgeries. Then, the pandemic put it on hold the second time. Then, as we were getting the ball rolling the third time, and having almost every single test done again, the insurance company informed us that they would not cover it. First they said due to us being foreigners we didn’t have all the coverage a Dominican could have. Then they said because it is a preexisting condition and wasn’t covered. I admit this left us very frustrated after being so close time and time again and not having some of this information sooner. We were led to believe earlier in the process that it would be covered, but oh well. We understood it would be done eventually in God’s timing. And that time finally came, shortly after we received bad news the last time.

Thankfully, some generous supporters are now covering the cost of his surgery and in the healing and therapy process. I was able to make the payment for the surgery yesterday, and he was operated this morning. God has been so gracious once again.

Most of our time on the mission field has been like this, depending on God and seeing His faithfulness and provision time and time again. Ever since the beginning. We were sent out of a tiny country church, no sending agency, with very little support,  just hoping that the Lord would confirm that this was His will for us. By God’s grace, that was almost 8 years ago now. I pray that our children never forget how much the Lord has done for us over the years, and I hope to set apart time some day to write down some of the stories, so that we can remember, give thanks to God anew and perhaps encourage others in some way by sharing them.

We still aren’t sure exactly when the church here can meet again. But it’s supposed to be very soon, and we are very much looking forward to it. In the meanwhile, we have still been communicating through messages, sharing and  watching the  sermons online as well. It will be interesting to see how this quarantine has effected people. For sure, some are eager to meet again. Others may be afraid to meet yet, probably for good reasons if they have serious health issues already. I fear that sadly, some have grown used to being at home and may have no desire to return. Time will tell and this may very well reveal more about the spiritual state of many “churchgoers” from all over.

Please pray for the church,  pray for our family, our marriage and our needs as a family. Pray for Yeison’s recovery and that the Lord would have everything turn out even better than expected.

Pray for the many people who have recently heard the Gospel and that Pastor Victor and/or I can follow up with them.

Pray also for the many people who are still in great need, having been home for so long without work or any income. We hope to be able to help more people soon. We are still humbled by the fact that God uses us at all. It is a great privilege to serve the Lord in this way, He is definitely worthy. To God be the glory!

Thank you for your love, prayers and support and God bless.

In Service to our Lord and King,

Antonio and Christen Salgado and family

 

If the Lord so lays on your heart to support this ministry in any way,  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

The ministry of (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, which gives room to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading and the liberty in making needed adjustments. This is one of the reasons why we went with CMC. There are also three trusted pastors which sit as our mission board.

You may begin sending your support to the Salgado DR Mission at any time at the address above. (Checks should be made payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse or C.M.C.)

You can also now give to the ministry here in the DR online through the new giving solution called “click and give” at the CMC website.

To get started you just need to click on the link below and register the first time. Just a simple click on the donate button on their page (see link below), and then click the “click and give icon/button”. Look for Antonio Salgado on the list of missionaries there.

https://www.cmcmissions.org/donate

You will then have a private giving solution that comes with many benefits to you the donor. If you have any questions please call the office (tel:1-800-262-7729 or 281-599-7411), and they very kindly will walk you through what you need to do.

You can also donate to this ministry online with Paypal. Click the donate button below and you can send support of any amount directly to the ministry. You can choose the option of doing a one-time donation and this is the fastest option to get funds to us.

Unfortunately through Paypal we are not set up for receiving recurring donations at this time. But the other online giving option above (CMC) does have the recurring monthly donation option. Simply register one time and that’s it.

For tax exemption, you must send your donation through Central Missionary Clearinghouse (CMC) at the address above or online. 

We do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated. Apart from the 2% that CMC charges for processing fees, you can be sure that almost your entire gift goes directly to the mission field.

Whatever you decide, thank you so much for praying for us and helping this ministry. God Bless You!

 

 

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