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SALGADO DR MISSION NEWSLETTER

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

Thank you all for your ongoing prayers and support. Without your sacrificial giving and prayers we would not be able to do what we do. To God be the glory.

We have committed to a few other things in this new year. One of which  includes another church plant, Lord willing of course. It is a very new endeavor. We are assisting another couple working in the community where they live, a community we are familiar with.  Right now we are with them two days a week doing evangelism and a bible study on Fridays and a meeting on Sunday evenings. It’s in the community of the school we worked with the last two years. Please pray for this.

 

People praying for us back home play a very important role in this ministry and are very important to our family and the work we do.  Here are some other areas that you can help us with by bringing these petitions before the Lord in prayer.

Some prayer requests for our family:

– Pray for Christen that the nodules on her thyroids would shrink with the meds she is on before her next appointment in a couple of months. She is feeling better, praise God. Hopefully her blood work will get back in normal range soon. She is exercising and eating better now. Actually the whole family is now after the health problems we have had between us. So we all exercise several times a week now and have changed many eating habits. This is important for our health in general, but also for our longevity and effectiveness on the field.

– Pray for Nito. He has been well and active and eating healthy for the most part. But we still worry about him since discovering his condition. The cardiologists say he can lead a normal life and should even exercise and should not limit himself, but he may need a procedure in his fifties or sixties.  The fact that we never knew about this since his birth still kind of shocks us, but we are thankful it isn’t worse. He should see a doctor every few months to keep an eye on it. He has another appointment in a couple of months.

 

 

Prayer requests for the ministry:

– Pray for the hearers of a series in Ezra that I am teaching through in Sunday School at the church in Hato Mayor. I am moving fast and trying to cover several books of the Bible throughout the year looking at the main themes of the chapters of each book. It’s been a blessing for me studying and going through these books I haven’t taught before.

– Pray for me as I hope to get my bachelors in May. I still have a few things to turn in. My final work will be a paper about 40 pages long, but Lord willing, I can finish everything in time. I am hoping to continue my studies after that.

– Pray for a project I am a part of with several others who are working on a Theological Magazine available in Latin America and the U.S., where I am the editor of the missions section of the project. By God’s grace, my first article got published in the new issue. It was on the topic of the church in Latin America having the potential to send the next big wave of missionaries out to the nations in the coming years, but there is still a need for local churches to teach on and focus on the task. I’m pretty sure I am the only guy on the team without a masters degree, most have their doctorates. I don’t even know what I’m doing there really, but they approached me about helping. Apparently the Lord does use the foolish things of this world!

– Pray for the plans this year at the church of Hato Mayor. We have some outreach activities, conferences and medical clinics planned. Pray for the Bible studies in different homes every Wednesday night, and for more neighbors and family members to begin attending these meetings.

– Pray for me as I begin teaching in a Bible institute here based out of a good local church. I will be teaching homiletics and missions on Tuesdays nights over the course of the next two years. It’s a great two-year program and very organized. It’s a privilege to join the team of Dominican  pastors and professors working together in this labor of love.

– Pray for a conference we are having on the 7th and 8th of February on early church practice in the New Testament with a visiting speaker from Atlanta. Stephen Atkerson is a great Bible teacher and brother. This will be his second time coming to teach for us.

– Pray for the students and teachers of the school we teach English at as we have had many opportunities to share the Gospel with them. One teacher is already attending Bible studies with us. Pray for Jailin’s salvation.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and has chosen to continue partnering with us in prayer and giving in this new year. We have a lot more going on than we have in a long time, so we certainly need your help now more than ever. May God bless you for your prayers and sacrificial giving. Pray.

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.’ Philippians 1:3-5

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 (who receives funds for us) 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 for emergencies and priorities. 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.) But please include a note on a separate piece of paper that says Antonio and Christen Salgado / Dominican Republic.

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

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 does 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.

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.

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

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Salgado DR Mission Newsletter

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

Forgive the lengthiness of this month’s update. As we draw to the end of one year and enter another, we reflect on everything that we have experienced, the good and the bad and we feel compelled to take the time to express our gratitude to those who the Lord has used to provide for our family and every ministry need met. We are extremely grateful for each and every person who has taken time out to pray for this ministry, for the church, for our family. Especially those who take the time to personally reach out to us on occasion for much needed encouragement.  For every person who has donated any amount throughout the year. Thank you, we love and appreciate your love for the Lord and the desire to be involved in mission work.

Anyone who has followed us for any length of time has probably read in a newsletter, or a post on social media, or maybe has heard me in person speaking somewhere say that, “Those who pray for and give to missions play a role just as important as the missionary on the field.”  I say it often, especially when doing some speaking back home or talking missions with anyone. I say it a lot because we really believe that. The church or person who gives any amout faithfully over time, or the grandmother who wakes up early every morning to pray for the missionaries that she has pictures of or names of on her fridge. Both play a crucial role in this long term partnership in the Gospel we call mission work.

When it comes to funding a missionary, some would say very simply that if it’s God’s will He will provide, and they take the position of not seeking to share needs or raise money. They firmly believe that in this way they are truly trusting the Lord. That’s fine, if it is their conviction, and I believe that if it’s God’s will then He will provide too. But to leave it so simplistic would really be to miss something important on the other side of the same coin. Something clearly revealed in the Scriptures that should not be avoided. We understand and believe that God has ordained all things, absolutely. But He has also ordained the means by which to reach those ends. One confession puts it well when speaking on the decree of God. It says that: 

“God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree.   

And it wouldn’t take long reading through the epistles before you would start to notice a couple of things:

First, Paul absolutely depended on God and prayed expecting God to answer, and God often did. 

At the same time we see other examples of Paul making his needs known to the churches. He also expected the brethren to help him with his needs and the needs of others. Both are true and they go together.

Yes, at times he worked with his hands out of a conviction and even necessity. In Philippians he writes that at one time “in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.” (Philippians 4:15) This is incredibly astounding. Consider the great Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, the great missionary. Now consider churches that he himself and perhaps others had planted, unwilling to give or help Paul so that the Gospel may go forth in other places?! If we lost all of our support, and only one (fairly young) church supported us, we would have to do the same. We too have had to do a little tent making  as of late until we acquire some new mission partners to help ease the burden of new needs and to prepare for future plans we have. But that hasn´t always been the case.

One realistic downside of bivocational missionaries to consider, is that it is easy to become overloaded and overwhelmed, and hence comes the possibility of becoming less effective and their longevity on the field may then soon be in play. Unless somehow, they had established in the past a business, or a high paying career before they moved to a foreign mission field, and they were able to somehow keep it going and make money for their family and ministry without sacrificing all of their time. But those are exceptions, and often bivocational missionaries usually end up spending less time working for the Lord (of course everything we do is unto the Lord, but I mean specifically mission work and ministry here) and more time working just to survive and make ends meet. 

And as the Lord opens more doors, it also comes with more expenses and needs. In the past we taught English at another school free of charge for almost two years. We still even recently have helped that school. But there are seasons of life and ministry when you just do what you gotta do. So we are teaching at another school now. We are willing to do it and even enjoy it in many ways. Sure it is a blessing and the opportunities to share the Gospel are many. But, add a wife and children in that mix of a very demanding work load, both in ministry and secular work, and you will eventually have a recipe for burnout. Especially on the field where the needs are often much greater when working with the poor, and people aren´t so individualistic and private, but need and desire much more attention and time spent together with them. Often needing more time and resources than you have available, and need more than most Americansdo. It is this way with ministry in many other cultures, it’s just different. And if we are honest, most people culturally as Americans just like thier privacy and in general are better off financially. And that’s ok. I say this to mean that just because something is common and or easily done in the States, it doesn’t mean it will be so in a different setting. And though bivocational ministry is always difficult, it proves to be even moreso where the people are poor, often sick and less educated. In those situations, things usually take much more time, energy and money.

But why do some missionaries seem to always need money? Well, first we would certainly agree that the most loving thing we can do for a person is to share the Gospel with them and point them to Christ. To this we say yes and amen. Yet at the same time, it would very unloving to preach the Gospel and ignore someones obvious urgent, basic needs, especially if we were in any position to help them. Of course we cannot help everyone, and the “poor will always be with us.” But this is no excuse for not being as generous as possible and we must remember that we were saved not just from something, but also for somethings, 

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Time and time again we see in Scripture the duty of the believer to compassionate, merciful and generous as we saw exemplified in the life of our Lord and the Apostles and the early church. When the other Apsotles extended the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas as they were getting ready to go off to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of the gentiles, they reminded Paul of something that was important to them beacuse it was important to God..

“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”  Galatians 2:10 

In the book “Controversies in Missions,” a compilation of essays written on various controversial topics in missions, a chapter on Carl F. H. Henry’s regenerational model puts it this way:

“The particular eloquence of Henry’s position is this: one need not deny the important biblical commands regarding social justice in order to arrive at prioritism (the Gospel proclamation is the priority), and the way one does this is by understanding the full weight of the doctrine of revelation within Christian theology. When this is done, it becomes clear that there is a direct correlation between the doctrine of revelation and the priority of proclamation. However, such a prioritist position by no means renders what the Bible says about social justice as irrelevant or unimportant. In fact, the opposite is true. A high view of the doctrine of revelation, especially concerning Scripture, also gives rise to a robust social concern because the moral imperatives for God’s people are divinely revealed.”

This is in no way a “social gospel” as some understand it. But rather biblical ministry centered on God’s revelation and the ethical demmands put on those who are transformed by the very same Gospel proclamation. The latter (compassionate generosity) actually gives evidence to and establishes that the first and main thing, (Gospel proclamation and salvation) actually took place to begin with. One is a priority, yet both are necessary and biblical. The author offers a very helpful illustration from every day life to help us understand how both are necessary, while rightly keeping the main thing, namely Gospel proclamation, the main thing. 

“I might say that I am going to go to the bank to make a deposit and then to the post office to mail some bills. I furthermore declare that the bank is my top priority because if I do not deposit my paycheck, then the bills cannot be paid. Clearly, one has here a case of priority in which both things remain necessary. I still must deposit my check and I still must pay my bills. Yet one of these takes priority because the second thing depends on the first thing having taken place. It is the same with evangelism and social concern. The gospel must first be preached before converts can be discipled and, indeed, the content of Christian discipleship remains mired in obscurity apart from the proclamational foundations of the apostles and prophets, which is divine revelation. Thus, the logical priority of evangelism does not render compassion as optional. It simply affirms the ultimate place of Scripture and the unequivocal role given to proclamation in the life of the church.”

Consider this text in James:

“If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” James 2:15-17

But now back to my first point on the funding necessary in order to do both of these things:

So we have the Apostle Paul, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write and explain the mysteries of God being revealed, praying to the Sovereign Lord, and at the same time He makes his needs known to the churches and seemingly expected them to meet those needs. We see true dependence on God through prayer, AND communicating to the churches his own needs and the needs of others. Why? Because He understood that the means to reach the goal of the church, IS the church. Specifically, the emphasis in the NT is overwhelmingly on the local churches. 

God´s people have a mission, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptize and to teach all that Christ has commanded. God´s people also have the real responsibility to be intentional in going, sending, praying for and providing for that mission and showing mercy and compassion to others in the process. There are ethical demmands that are put upon the beliver through the commands in the NT. It´s not rocket science, but for some at least, its hard to stay balanced. Many people error and fall off of one side of the horse or the other. It just isn’t as black and white as some would like. We live in a tension in this area. Consider the beautiful mystery of God’s Sovereignty and the will and responsibility that man has. His decrees and His means to reach His intended purpose.

Who´s mission is it?   God´s. 

Who has He commanded to fulfill the mission?   God´s people. 

Who´s doing the calling?   God. 

Who´s Word are we preaching and teaching?   God´s. 

Who did He choose and inspire to write and preserve it? God´s people.

Who is the one preaching and teaching?   God´s pèople. 

Who is forgiving sins and doing the saving?   God. 

Who is being saved and who is He using to proclaim the Gospel?   God´s people.

Who is opening the minds of people, illuminating them to understand the Scriptures? God is. 

Who does He use to do this?   God´s people. 

To Whom belongs the cattle on a thousand hills (and everything else in the universe)?   To God. 

Who is doing the praying and who is doing the providing?   God´s people.

Who has He entrusted precious resources to, to be used for His glory?   God´s people.

At the same time, who is really doing the providing and Sovereignly answering specific individual prayers of provision for His people who are doing His will on His mission? God is.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point by now. His plans will be accomplished and cannot be thwarted, no doubt about that. But He has revealed and commanded how it is to be done as well. And we are very much responsible for being about the will of God in the work of the church. He will do it, and He will do it through His people. Paul knew this. But many who lean too much in either direction fall into error and become unbalanced, inconsistent or worse, unbiblical.

To deny the real responsibility we have before Him would be somewhat foolish and would require the systematic focusing on some particular texts of Scripture, while at the same time ignoring of a lot of other texts. Or putting Scripture against Scripture versus putting the two things together. It would be akin to an error as in saying, God will provide for me but I refuse to work. Or that God will cause me grow in knowledge but I refuse to read or study. For the above mentioned reasons, we have come to the understanding that it is ok to ask for help and make needs known for us and for others. We simply say “these are the needs, pray about helping.” If the Lord puts in someone the desire to help, then praise the Lord! We have examples of it in the Scriptures and we simply accept it and live in the tension between the Sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. There is no need to even try to reconcile the two, we see both in the Bible and they do not oppose eachother in any way.

Why even address this? I feel the need to expalian this mainly because of our critics, who themselves are of an extreme position and choose not to communicate or share needs out of their conviction. Unfortunately, the same often suffer need more frequently and unnecessarily. God has blessed and given the specific gift of helping/giving to some. (1 Cor. 12:28)  People who desire to see the Gospel taken forth and to help the poor and others. There are people and churches somwhere, right now praying about which mission to give to. We could testify time and time again about how the Lord in His providence would bring such people across our path through their own prayers in seeking who to help, while at the same time answering our specific prayers for provision. Many of who we have never even met or had any prior contact or relationship with! The Lord really has provided and answered an innumerable amount of prayers like these. And He always did so through His people, whether a church as a whole or through individual brothers and sisters.

Having said all of that, we are extremely grateful to God and to our mission partners who pray for us and support us. Especially those who have done so faithfully over time. Without your prayers and donations we just wouldn’t be able to do what we do for as long as we have done it. That’s a fact. Thank you and God bless you.

There really is so much more I can say on the topic, but I will leave it there for now. 

But in other news:

Nito seems to be better and is much more active now, but still experiences ocasional headaches and dizziness. The doctor has been unavailable for a few days but the results of the holter are ready and we should have another appointment very soon. We will update soon after we have that apppointment and know more. Pray for Nito.

Since we were unable to have the surgery done for Yeison’s legs over the Christmas break, the surgery has been pushed back to the Summer because of school. He will need casts on both legs for a little while and need more therapy afterwards. The summer is the best time to take care of that. We have already done all the tests that the doctor who will perform the surgery requested. Perhaps one or two may have to be done again due to the time that will pass from now until then, but this should not be a problem. Everything else is in order. Pray for Yeison.

We brought in the new year as we usually do here, with a fellowship meal with the church in Hato Mayor followed by worship and a message. It was a wonderful time.

Pray for me as I have several things on my plate these days. Lord willing, I will be in Haiti again in the next couple of days. I will be meeting with Leonel and others, do some teaching and to take some food and clothes to some of the brethren from the market there on the border. The plans to help teach and prepare men from a few local churches we are partnering with there continue. 

At the end of the month we have a brother coming (Pastor Stephen Atkerson) to teach for a conference on early church practice. He has come in the past and has taught all over the world, literally. and the teaching on early church practice are a tremendous blessing to the church. I have slowly been translating his book on the topic with another brother helping in the editing process. Lord willing the first chapter will be done and printed to distribute during the conference as a small introduction on the topic. 

A few months ago I was approached by a theological magazine that is now available all over Latin America to be the editor of the missions section of the work. This month my first article on the need for Latin American countries to train and send out more missionaries was published in the magazine. I am the only editor that doesn’t have a doctorate on the team and have no idea why they sought me out, but a brother who is a seminary president, a pastor, author and the general editor of the work contacted me himself and well, here we are.  They like my Spanish to English translations as well. To God be the glory.

I was also recently approached by a small Bible institue ran out of a local church that we fellowship with to begin teaching as one of the professors. I like the idea that it is a ministry of the local church and the pastor and I are good friends as well. It looks like I will be teaching hermeneutics beginning in March. Please pray for me. These projects mentioned that we collaborate with others on are completely labors of love. To God be the glory.

Please keep all of these things in prayer. Our family, the needs, the church and for the strength and grace to persevere through the many difficult moments of life and ministry, and above all for God to be glorified in this new year. Thank you and God bless.

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 (who receives funds for us) 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 for emergencies and priorities. 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.) But please include a note on a separate piece of paper that says Antonio and Christen Salgado / Dominican Republic.

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

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 does 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.

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.

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

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Salgado DR Mission

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

Our family:

We are so thankful for the prayers and financial gifts of the many generous people that helped us during Nito’s sickness due to the dengue fever and a bacterial infection he had in his body. The doctor’s think that due to the infection he had,  his immune system was weak and that is why the dengue hit him so hard. There were a couple of very scary moments to be honest. The doctor said that at one pint he was in a delicate and critical state. That is also the reason they kept him in the hospital an extra few days to observe him. Even after the worst part seemed to be over, the fever kept trying to come back.

But praise God he is much better now and still improving. His appetite is better, and he seems to have more energy now though he doesn’t seem to be 100% back to normal yet. He started going back to school today though he did complain about being more tired than usual. But we are thankful he is getting better and his heart rate is getting back to normal. That is definitely a good sign. We were concerned when we heard of a case of dengue in a girl here that affected her heart rate for a whole year before it retuned to normal. Usually it is much quicker than that and only lasts a few weeks when it does happen. That seems to be the case with our son. Praise God for that.  We will be following up with a cardiologist in about another week or so just in case.

Please also continue to pray for Christen who is going to the doctor trying to figure out why her hair is falling out. It’s quite a bit and hasn’t stopped. She has a few appointments set up and a lot of tests to run yet. Pray for my dear wife.

In ministry:

I was recently invited to a biblical institute here that meets at a local church that is presently giving a course on missiology. I was asked to give my testimony as a missionary and share some of what I’ve learned and some of my views on missions with the students. Please pray for me. I will be speaking there next Tuesday night.

At the school I have many opportunities to share the Gospel and Scripture with teachers and students. I was asked to do a project with the high schoolers. They are mostly catholic but a majority believe in God. I decided to do a debate and have them research evolution and creationism. In the process of preparation I had many opportunities to share the Gospel and also speak on the evidences of the glory of God in creation. Because of that the students saw the foolishness of  neo darwinian evolution, an atheistic worldview.

The debate then changed to theistic evolution vs. creationism. Any professing atheists in the class eventually abandoned that position and at least understood that without God, nothing made sense. Praise God for that. Nothing can come from nothing, of course. But, just because they acknowledge that there is a God doesn’t necessarily mean much.

The Bible says,

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools .. – Romans 1:21-22

You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.- James 2:19

Of course, they still need to come to repentance and saving faith in the person and work of Christ. Please pray for them.

But, this stimulated good conversations, challenging questions and even philosophical problems they began to see for themselves. I was impressed at the level of deep thinking of some of them. A couple on the creationism side spoke of Jesus quoting and confirming Genesis as real history. They spoke of morality, absolute truth, and more. But more importantly than the debate itself, they are listening. I have a voice with them, and they are always asking questions now. Questions like what do you mean someone has to pay for our sin? What does a missionary do? How do you know the Bible is true?

For English comprehension exercises I use texts of Scripture and together we ask questions of the text. My class often becomes a Bible study! And often there are other teachers and assistants in the class listening, sometimes intently. It’s kind of crazy how much the Director, who is a liberal catholic, allows and approves of me doing this with the students. Pray for her too. Pray for these students, that the Lord would use these Gospel opportunities and exposure to biblical  truth to save some there. The seeds are being sown. The Lord has Christen and I there for a reason.

The church is doing well and on Wednesday nights we have been meeting for prayer and Bible study in homes instead of the church building. In the past this has brought growth that comes through inviting neighbors and family members of those hosting the meeting. We pray to see this happen again. Pastor Victor is doing a great job and himself has a growing love for missions and missionaries which we now pray for every Wednesday night. That has been beautiful to watch happen. Pray for him, his family and for the church to grow in knowledge, holiness, love and in numbers.

Pray for BCMS too, that we can do more in supporting and equipping the nationals we work with and the necessary resources to do so. We have plans in January for a conference with a visiting expositor. We have many plans for the church of Hato Mayor and for working together with other small churches that we have relationships with. We have plans working with Leonel and a few churches in Haiti. All of this comes with expenses. Pray for our family, for the health issues we’ve had, pray for continued provision for our family’s personal  needs as well. Pray for perseverance in trials and difficulties. Pray.

Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.- Ephesians 6: 19

In service to our Lord and King,

Antonio Salgado Jr.

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Salgado DR Mission Newsletter

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

As I write this I am sitting in a hospital room. Some of you who follow us on Facebook may have seen the updates we have shared about our son Antonio (Nito). Seven days ago he began having a high fever. There are a few viruses going around and the emergency rooms are full around here with many sick. But his fever was very high consistently around 103-104 degrees. We took him a couple of times to a few hospitals which were all full as well. We ended up taking him back home each time and treating him as we usually do. But this fever was relentless and we began to worry. We finally got him into a hospital and they began treating him for dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness.

He has been in the hospital now since Wednesday and the bloodwork showed his platelet levels dropping significantly each day. We have been through this before with Christen getting dengue when we lived in Esperanza pretty bad. She had a fever for eleven days during that bout. Maya had dengue a few months back but was able to bounce back fairly quickly. But there are four different strains of dengue. Two of them that basically cause fever and some mild symptoms, but can easily be treated at home with fluids and electrolytes and Tylenol to keep the fever under control and prevent dehydration. The problem is you don’t know which one you may have and it can get bad quickly you get dehydrated and it can wreak havoc on your organs.

The other two strains are much more aggressive. Nito got hit pretty hard by one of those with symptoms that went beyond what we were used to with the cases of dengue Christen and Maya had. His fever would not let up, his eyes began to swell, he got dehydrated, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and a lot of abdominal pain with a rash similar to what we have experienced with chikungunya. He also got very pale. But we were opimistic and happy to have him receiving fluids and in a decent hospital. The plans were for Christen to spend the night with him and for us to switch in the morning.

We prayed over him as a family and then I headed home with the kids. It was shortly after that I received a call from Christen who clearly sounded worried and upset after asking the doctor several questions.  She put the doctor on the phone who told me that he was actually in the critical stage of dengue and it was considered serious and had the potential to get very bad. Christen was nervous and asked me to come back right away so we both stayed here through the night with him.  What concerned us quite a bit was the bradycardia which is a slower heartbeat than normal. It is still a little slow in the ’40s even when he is awake. The cardiologist said it could last up to two weeks but that it should return to normal after that. But thankfully his blood pressure remained stable which was a very good thing.

We just prayed that he would not get to the point where he would begin to hemorrhage. That is when it kills people. There is a dengue epidemic right now, even here in the city. A little six-year-old girl died just yesterday from dengue.  We are thankful that there were hundreds of people praying for him. A missionary in Indonesia (Trevor Christian Johnson) who is very knowledgeable and experienced with tropical diseases took the time to talk with us and encourage us, and let us know that he was praying for our son,  as did a pastor friend who is a doctor here and an uncle back home who is a nurse. Several brothers and sisters messaged us and people from the church here have visited him all day long. We are blessed and very thankful for how God’s people respond like this in prayer and support.

By God’s grace Tonito seems to be doing a little better. He isn’t completely out of the danger zone yet, but hopefully,  tomorrow his platelets will continue rising, and he will continue improving. Pray that the nausea he is experiencing goes away and that he will start eating soon and drinking fluids to get his strength back. He was dizzy and weak just getting up for a shower this afternoon. We still don’t know when he will get out of the hospital, but hopefully, it will be soon. The doctor also said that we shouldn’t be surprised or worried if he seemed tired and sluggish for a little while until his heart gets back to normal.  A secondary concern we have is that since he is still being treated, we don’t know what the hospital bills will be like yet. So any help towards that would certainly be needed and very helpful.

Thank you to everyone who prayed, reached out to us in a message, phone calls and even those who offered to help us get him home if necessary.  It was very encouraging for our entire family. Those expressions of love and concern bless us in such ways that make it difficult to put our thankfulness into words. Please continue to pray for Nito and for our family. God bless.

In Christ,

Antonio and Christen Salgado and family

 

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SALGADO DR MISSION

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5

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

We are forever grateful for your support through giving and praying. May the Lord bless you for your acts of love and service through supporting this ministry. We have some important prayer requests for our family and ask you to please join us in praying for the following needs. We have no doubt that the Lord has heard your prayers in the past to help us, provide for us and protect us. Those who pray for and give to missions play a role just as important as the missionary on the field. We are thankful for you.

A couple of important prayer requests:

Please pray for the medical outreach this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We will be In Piedra Gorda, the school in Las Minas and the church in Hato Mayor. There will be free medical exams, free meds for the patients by our friends Anthony and Stephanie Willis who came and served here with us last year. We will be sharing the Gospel with as many as possible.

Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2 

Please also pray for provision. We have hit a financial hard spot and are not sure when we can get back to the States to do some fundraising. When donations drop, any emergency or traveling funds we may have gets quickly eaten up in order to keep things going. Our family’s monthly needs, the kid’s schooling and many financial ministry commitments remain. That’s where we are at unfortunately. As of right now we can’t afford to pay the kid’s school for the month and couldn’t make a trip home even if we wanted to.

Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship. And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account. – Philippians 4:14-17

It has always been a struggle raising money from out of country. By God’s grace we have gotten by in the past. And since Yeison’s visa hasn’t been approved, our past trips have been very brief. That doesn’t give a lot of time for travel and needed fundraising for family and ministry. The ideal situation would be to have new churches or individuals come on board as monthly mission partners. Sharing the needs with others who may be able to help, or a one time gift of any amount is also very helpful and very appreciated. But it is the faithful monthly supporters who help get us through the year.  And right now we are in urgent need of several new mission partners to get  where we need to be financially and finally get “out of the red.”  We ask that you share these needs with others if you can.

Please pray about how you can help. Thank you and God bless.

And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19

In service to our Lord and King,

Antonio Salgado Jr. and family

 

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 (who receives funds for us) 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 for emergencies and priorities. 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.) But include a note on a separate piece of paper that says Antonio and Christen Salgado / Dominican Republic.

You can also  give to the ministry here in the DR online through “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”.

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 does 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. 

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.

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

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Salgado DR Mission Newsletter

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.

 

 

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Salgado DR MIssion Newsletter

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:

  1. Praying- Please pray consistently and often  for our family and the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

 

Posted on

Salgado DR Mission Newsletter

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

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5

We have been back in the DR now for about three weeks and settling back in. This month we celebrate exactly seven years on the field. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving and especially your prayers over the years. We are eternally greatful for each of you.

We have an opportunity to teach again and have decided to begin teaching English at another school to help supplement our income until we are able to go home for a longer period of time and do some fundraising. Quite frankly, we just really need the money right now. It is only part time but Christen and I will both be teaching. I will also be helping at the previous school we have served for the last two years, but more in the area of counseling, meeting with the youth (and anyone else willing) for Bible studies after school hours and evangelism in that community. And although we need the money, I cannot commit to full time work either with all the other ministry responsibilities we presently have.

If I seem to have been more silent than usual in communicating in recent months, it is due partly to thew fact that most of my time and energy has been invested in the BCMS (Biblical Christian Missionary Society) project. For this reason I would like to apologize for a gap in time between communication and newsletters. But we have also been dealing with personal issues in the family, both here and back home which urgently needed our attention. We have served on the mission field for seven years now this month with no furlough, and it has it’s way of taking a toll on everyone. Please forgive me for this lack of communication. I will certainly make an effort to be better at communicating.

We still are present and financially supporting the work that was started in Hato Mayor. The church there will always be home and the brothers and sisters there are family near and dear to us. Recently, a Dominican brother named Victor Dominguez was installed as the new pastor. He is a godly man who loves the Lord, is a good teacher and we are very happy with him and his wonderful family and their willingness to serve. We ask that you please pray for him.

There are still challenges as there are in any ministry, and although the work will celebrate five years this December, the church is still very much an infant church and there is still much work to do there. But brother Victor truly has a servant’s heart, and is more than willing and aware of the challenges he will face. He has also expressed his desire for our continued help in the ministry. We remain in a supportive role and continue helping in ministry endeavors there, whether it be evangelism, providing resources, organization, edifying conferences with visiting pastors and teachers and/or helping raise money for projects and needs.

As I mentioned, we are not only working together with the church of Hato Mayor, but also on a national and international level too, investing in men in the DR and Haiti as well, bringing them resources, teaching and much needed encouragement. In fact we not only support and help with the financial needs of the church of Hato Mayor, but also support another pastor in Santiago, a sister teaching English for us at the church, a brother working as an evangelist in Haiti and several other individuals we help in different ways as donations and resources that come in allow.

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, – Philippians 2:25

The website for BCMS is up and running (biblicalchristianms.org). Although we had a few hiccups getting it started in the beginning, and are still experimenting with different themes for the site, we have begun posting updates and profiles about the men we support. The main purpose of the this ministry is to invest in faithful men that can teach others as well, whether they are presently in ministry or preparing for ministry. We certainly believe in the local church and do not want to interfere in other churches and their work in any way. We only wish to invest in, and help the men there to better serve right where the Lord has planted them. There are many faithful men here who lack resources and guidance and much needed encouragement.

Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, – Colossians 4:7-8

We are planning to help the children of Hato Mayor and another church with school supplies this year as we have in the past. In this country, even for public school, if the children do not have the necessary uniforms and school supplies, they cannot attend. Unfortunately, many kids do not receive the education they need due to the family’s lack of resources. Please pray about helping with this important need.

I am also continuing my own studies in seminary now, which has unfortunately been put on the back burner several times when things got too busy with work in the church. I was actually in Santo Domingo last night discussing with one of the directors what I will need to graduate by next year. Please pray for me for wisdom in time management with a consistently busy schedule.

We have never stopped helping the church and many others we serve behind the scenes, but we do not really like announcing everything that we do either. We have received criticism in the past from both sides of either “not sharing enough” or “sharing too much.” There is always the existing tension of serving and helping without receiving the recognition, (“not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing,”) coupled with the fact that we are missionaries and have a very real need of being good at communicating well with supporters, sharing updates and the work concerning the ministry. I have often felt that I find myself on one side of the spectrum or the other. The balance isn’t always so easy to identify and maintain. I have always struggled with exactly how much to share and how much to leave between us and the Lord. Prayers for wisdom in this area are certainly appreciated.

After a difficult year of health problems that Christen and I experienced, and worries of the declining health of our parents back home, and a season of other trials that just come with the territory of being in a foreign context, we are refocused and moving forward with several ministry plans. We are both much better in health and trying to take better care of ourselves now. Since we have been awaiting approval for Yeison to travel, and are at a standstill as far as a furlough for now, we have been working hard on organizing the details to make these plans happen, Lord willing of course.

On the Salgado DR Mission website, I will continue sharing updates and important family/ministry needs and prayer requests. As the ministry grows, the needs do too, but there are still needs we have as a family.

For example:
In past years, we have often done fundraisers specifically for the cost of the kid’s schooling. But for at least two years now, we haven’t had to do a fundraiser due to some generous individuals who helped cover a major percentage of it. And by God’s grace, we were able to cover the left over amount. But this year, we have not had anyone give specifically towards this need yet. They are already enrolled and the school will be expecting money soon. This need is very important to us and our children. PLEASE pray for this and consider helping by giving towards their education. There may be a fundaraiser coming if we do not have anyone help us with this soon.

We are preparing for another visa application for Yeison. But before we do, we will need to have many proofs that they (the US embassy) require that will guarantee his re-entry if he were approved for a visa. This time, with much prayer and guidance, we are doing everything we know to present the strongest case possible showing our ties here and his guaranteed return. We must do this until we can officially start the adoption process which is still a couple of years away. But we will have to begin meeting with the lawyer again to obtain documents of  proof of intention to adopt according to an immigration specialist for a State Senator back home. That is apart from the legal guardianship papers we presently have. Lawyers do not work for free either as we all know. Pleas pray and consider helping towards this as well.

We have not been able to take a furlough mainly for this reason, and we very much desire to be able to travel with him on our visits home. We soon will need an extended stay in the US for rest, time with family, but also for some serious fundraising. We are presently at our financial limit and need new ministry partners in order to meet the new budget. Please pray about this and consider joining us as a ministry partner.

The ministry van has been a huge blessing in many ways. It has been used not only for the ministry of the local church, but we have also been able to serve several other pastors and their churches who do not have resources by making it available to them for transportation for various activities. And of course, for transportation when visiting pastors and teachers come with their church members to teach and serve with us. But at times, it too comes with a hefty price tag of maintenance and repairs. We do everything needed to keep it running like new in order to be able to go to any part of the country at any given time. We may even be taking it to Haiti soon and are presently investigating what forms the government requires in order to cross the border with a vehicle. But it’s maintenance is costly (as most vehicle maintenance and fuel is here), and the terrible road conditions certainly do not help. Any help towards this need is also is very appreciated.

On the BCMS website I will be sharing updates and needs more specific to that ministry’s vision and mission, Being primarily a 2 Timothy 2:2 ministry focusing on coming alongside and equipping the nationals. We have also begun working on writing original articles and resources for supporters and those we are serving, and translating them to make them available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

We have a list of worthy candidates we desire to help and support in different ways, but until we acquire more commitments and/or new ministry partners, we are limited. Presently we only have posted those that we support on the website. But Lord willing, we will also post profiles of the candidates so that others can learn more about each individual and their own personal and ministerial needs too.

In the mean time, we are planning to help by taking the teaching to them through workshops and conferences that a couple of pastors here and I will teach. And though in a sense this is their most important need, their needs do go beyond that. Anyone serious about studying about the Word and ministry will need a computer, books, and other helpful tools like the internet for example, for ease of access to online resources. Internet access will also help for ease of communication between us (video calls and virtual meetings.) This also cuts down on the costs of travel until absolutely necessary. Most of these men also have basic needs for their own ministries like bibles, tracts etc., that we would love to help provide as well when possible. Please pray about helping with any of these needs.

Be on the look out for updates from our family and the brothers of BCMS, and please remember to pray for each of us. Pray for Yeison’s visa. Pray for grace and strength. Pray for wisdom. Pray for God’s provision in the often overwhelming amount of needs. Pray.

In Christ,
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 decisiones 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%).

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.

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”.
*Note – On the list of missionaries there, look for Antonio Salgado.

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 on the home page of this site and you can send support of any amount directly to the ministry. You can choose the option of doing a one-time donation, but this is the fastest option to get funds to us.

Unfortunately through Paypal we are not set up for receiving recurring donations. But the other online giving option above 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.

As stated above, we do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated as other ministries do, so you can be sure that almost your entire gift goes directly to the mission field.

Whatever you decide, thank you for praying for us and helping this ministry take the Gospel to the Dominican people, God Bless.

 

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Salgado DR Mission newsletter

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

As I write this we are still in the States. We have been here about three weeks now spending time with family. This trip has been very different from our trips in the past. Although we don’t come home very often, we do try to stay a bit longer than a month. For Maya and “little” Tony (who is bigger than me now) and myself, it has been almost two years since our last visit. I hoped to speak a little if possible and visit with some supporters and churches, but this trip was not planned for very long and the purpose of this trip was, sadly, to see and spend time with those loved ones who may not be with us for very much longer. I have only had the time to speak at two churches this whole month. One church close to home in Florida, and one in Louisiana. But we want to be close to the family as much as possible.

This trip was put together rather quickly due to the declining health of Christen’s father who has Alzheimer’s and is in a home. Thankfully, we have been able to check him out and bring him to the house we are staying in for days at a time for some much needed time together. But it has really been an emotionally difficult trip for all of us, especially for my wife.

Prayers are very appreciated for her, her father (Edward) and the family. My mother (Clorinda) has been in and out of the hospital with several health issues over the last few months with her health on the decline as well. Our time here has been spent traveling back and forth between Ocala and Tampa trying our best to prioritize who we can visit with and for how long, but it has proven to be very hard. Please pray.

The reality of being here for these reasons, on top of having to be away from Sahira and Yeison for this long has been very hard on us all. Yeison told us yesterday he packed his bag and was ready to get on an airplane to come to us. He doesn’t understand why he can’t come with us and this has been heartbreaking for everybody. Being between two worlds, feeling pulled and stretched in both directions in every way imaginable is not easy, but is just a reality of missionary life. Emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally we are challenged all the time with tough decisions to make. I find myself constantly crying out to God for wisdom with feelings of helplessness and inadequacy. At times we feel like we don’t belong anywhere.

It will be seven years in August, in a different cultural context, and it will take a toll on anyone and certainly change you in many ways. Feeling too American to be Dominican, feeling too different to be comfortable back in an America at times, especially with the rapid pace of change for the worst here. You can probably imagine the confusion and strange emotions we deal with sometimes, especially the children. Praise God that we find our true identity ultimately in Christ and we understand we really are pilgrims and strangers in this or any land for that matter, even the land we were born in.

This helps us not to get too attached to places or things anywhere, but it’s never easy and very few people back home understand. Even well meaning  brothers and sisters who don’t know about life outside of their own context, or don’t have experience overseas or counseling missionaries, can fall short of giving us the counsel and encouragement we often need. Of course, any peace or comfort that we feel comes from Christ and the Spirit, reminding us and confirming God’s promises in the Scriptures. I thank God for His living Word. But humanly speaking, nothing seems simple and things are much easier said than done. It is God Himself who wills this so as to have us depend completely upon Him. This is when the rubber meets the road and we must surrender and simply have an attitude of the heart of “may Your will be done and not ours oh Lord”.

In a great article about the challenges of cross cultural church planting written by Jen Oshem, she describes just a few of the many challenges faced by those in situations similar to ours.

She is right on when she describes the following difficulties for families serving cross-culturally:

1. Traversing two or more cultures can prevent children from having a strong sense of identity and belonging. Also, the endless goodbyes with other expat families or with locals when the church planting family relocates can lead to loneliness and unprocessed grief.

2. Being immersed in a highly secular setting can have a greater influence on a child than their parents’ Christian influence. Kids might be exposed too early—and too often—to the realities of violence, poverty, sex trafficking, corruption, drugs and alcohol, and other dark, worldly trappings.

3. Physical health may suffer, as access to good healthcare may be nonexistent or far away. Everything from a middle-of-the-night fever to scoliosis can morph into a major, life-altering crisis.

4. Kids raised outside of their home countries don’t get to know their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or the neighborhoods their parents grew up in. They face significant gaps in knowing about their home culture’s norms (going “home” sure doesn’t feel like it) and everyone misses out on the support of extended family in the formative years.

5. Education is a constant concern. Learning in two languages is tough, not to mention dealing with special needs, keeping up with home country requirements, and navigating classmates’ and teachers’ expectations in a foreign country.

6. While everyone says, “Kids are so resilient,” the truth is they probably just don’t have the words to express the grief they feel in living through upheaval and uncertainty. Chances are their emotions are stuffed and saved for later. Many cross-cultural kids experience a season of processing trauma as young adults.

Even with the challenges faced, there is nothing else we would rather do. There is no other way we would rather spend our lives than to pour it forth in service for the glory of God. As we look beyond the trials and difficult moments, it is worth it. It is working in us an eternal weight of glory that greatly out measures any light momentary affliction we may face in this lifetime. And in comparison, as we consider eternity, yes it is light.

Although sometimes, it may not feel that way in the moment. Humanly speaking, is it hard? Yes. Are there moments when you want to throw in the towel and retreat? Yes. But, it is still so worth it. And the day we see our Savior face to face we will understand and even be thankful for those trials that formed us, grew us and forced us closer to Christ. We will understand and we will worship as He wipes away all of our tears, and we will finally be free from the presence of sin and suffering. Pray.

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Salgado DR Mission: Yeison’s story

With so much talk about abortion these days I have something I want to share since everyone seems to be putting their two cents forth. This is not a structured argument or anything, but it is part of our story.

Some of you who have supported or follwed thi sministry know about a special little boy named Yeison. Many of you know that, through an incredible series of events, the Lord opened the door for Yeison to come into our home when he was only three months old. Many of you know that he was born to a mother who is mentally handicapped and lives in very poor and difficult circumstances.

But here is something many may not know….

Our son is a product of rape. His mother was left alone and abused by an unknown man, and it was later discovered  that she was pregnant. This was absolutely a tragic and horrific act, and if ever found, that wicked man should be brought to justice. Castrated even!

Yet, I thank God that abortion is not legal here in the Dominican Republic. At least not yet, although sadly it may be just a matter of time. Yeison’s  biological mother is mentally about four or five and can never live by herself and will always need care, but she knows she has a child. She knows his name. She asks about him. She loves him. I am sure she remembers what happened to her, though she may not be able to process everything that happened during that traumatic experience. Even in her condition, you can see that she loves her son.

The question is, how is this Yeison’s fault?!  If so, how?

Another thing that others may not know is that  I had prayed for a few years for another child. Admittedly, at first I did not want to start over. Our children were getting older and I had my plans. And back then, I was dead set on them.  But over time, the Lord changed my heart.

I prayed for a long time, and interestingly enough, during that same time God had me working in a very poor area for a few years when I shared the Gospel, taught Bible studies and preached often.

The Lord orchestrated things in such a way that He not only answered prayers, but He put me in a position to help Yeison, his mother and her caretaker. Yera (his biological mother) is in a much better situation today than the day we found her with baby Yeison, by God’s grace.

But the sad reality is that he probably would have died had not the Lord crossed our paths when He did. He suffered from malnutrition and was dehydrated when we found him. Yera’s mother was dying of cancer at the time and bed ridden, and Yera had no idea no how to care for Yeison. She couldn’t even care for herself.

But this got me thinking and it truly horrifies me to ponder, what would have happened if abortion were legal here?? Especially in a case like this with Yera’s condition and it being a rape?

I am almost certain that we would have one son less than we have today. It breaks my heart just to think about it. Even in cases of rape, like with our son, the child should never be the one to pay the price. It is never ok to murder a child in the womb, period. Every human being, be it inside the womb or out, at any stage of development from conception, has intrinsic value and created in the image of God. We simply have no right commit such atrocities regardless of how some may try to justify it.

Lord willing, Yeison could be the first one in his family to study and perhaps go to college. Or better yet, he may throw himself upon the mercy of Christ and be used mightily by the Lord someday. But this I do know,  he is already bilingual and very bright. We love him SO very much and really could not imagine life without him today.

His siblings love him and always cared for him with such tenderness. He is no different to them at all. He has brought so much joy to our family, and God has taught us so much through him over the years. We are so very thankful that the Lord allowed Yeison to be born in a country where abortion still is not legal or, chances are, he would not be with us today. Just the thought makes my heart extremely heavy. Abortion is murder,  be sure of it, and though we must be gracious when addressing the topic, Christians should work together to end it…. AND minister and give hope to those who may have had an abortion but now are feeling the deep loss and sorrow. There is forgiveness and there is healing for them.

When I see Yeison, I see myself. He really is a constant reminder of the Gospel for us. For when we were not God’s children, Christ came to rescue us and through Him, we can be ADOPTED into the family of God.

For me, apart from marriage, adoption is one of the most beautiful pictures of the Gospel. The Almighty Creator becomes our Abba Father. We go from lost enemies and rebels, to becoming co-heirs,  privileged sons and daughters. This makes my heart rejoice and extremely grateful. And the only proper response to this is to worship passionately and live for Him. Praise God from who all blessings flow!

May we live and act in such a way that people can see the Gospel in all areas of our lives. God forbid, they only hear it in our words alone. Pray.