SunCompassion o SolCompasión

Gaining Traction....

2012-02-16T13:32:00.000-06:00

It's so gratifying after months of planning and preparation as you start to move ahead. But before we get into that, how was your Christmas? Did you have lot's of great times with friends and family? Our kids came down and we had a lot of fun together. Everyone except Linda learned to surf, we played lots of games and generally enjoyed spending time together. We had so much fun that Briana is still here! Actually she is down for 3 months spending time with us and getting recharged for going back to university in the fall. Jordan is back at Ambrose in his 3rd year.

Lately in the news here, tragedy struck in Honduras with a jail fire. 272 died and many injured. Please remember to uphold these families in prayer. I am currently putting together an emergency food security program for many families in the Copper Canyon area in Mexico. Due to food availability and medical issues, the statistics are heart wrenching. Less than half of all children live to 10 years of age. In one community of 300 families, 98 people have died in the last 3 years. Pray as we look to build a sustainable, long-term nutritional food response through the work of the local Mexican missionaries. We are planning an initial food response for the last week in March. Giving for this can be directed to the Global Emergency Response Fund through a local C&MA church or the national office in Toronto.

Linda and I so much to be thankful for as God continues to provide through you and Canadian Alliance churches. Last month we were notified that our fund to pay for our work vehicle here is full. FULL!!! Amazing! A huge "gracias" to each of you for following God's prompting in helping us. WOW.

With donated school supplies

Serving the children

Last week, 3 couples from Brooks Alliance came down for 6 days of interacting in our ministries and learning what sustainable ministry looks like with the idea of the church family extending their community outreach internationally to projects here in Costa Rica. We spent 2 days with Cecilia in Patarra with her love of the local, poor children and her daily feeding program. There was an emergency food suppply issue for the children and this group brought down $$ that was donated from the High River Alliance and Brooks Alliance to supply food for this last week. Then a day was spent in Horquetas, Sarapiqui with Pastor Rodrigo and Aydeé and being excited by their drug addiction program and their huge dreams of reaching out into their community for Christ.

One of the highlights of the week, was enabling Cecilia and her leadership with her outreach to a group of Nicaraguan women who meet weekly for a Bible Study. After time in the Bible and praying, they break out the sewing machines where they have been learning to sew and trying to sell a couple of products locally. They have 3 old machines for 18-25 women. This Albertan group saw a need and we spent a day buying five new sewing machines and lots of material. Instead of just giving these machines to them and walking away like many "missionary-minded" teams have done in the past (read When Helping Hurts), we set up a sustainable, ministry approach by establishing a sewing cooperative where this group gain self-respect and gain personal control of a

hopeless destiny. This will lead into a building a local savings and loans initiative that will enable them to take out emergency loans for food and medical issues. Also, this will build into a "livelihood" ministry where they make quality clothing and crafts, sell them in Canada and earn an income that goes back into the cooperative and can assist each member. I can't explain the joy in the faces of the women as this week, I presented the sewing cooperative to them and we unpacked the sewing machines together. We spent 2 hours with them practising and learning! Classes and training in areas such as women in leadership, budgets, working in groups... will occur over the next 4 months. If you have a desire to help out financially with these community development initiatives in Patarra, you can give to "The Patarra Project" at your local C&MA church or here.

If you are interested in partnering with prayer concerns, you can contact Linda to exchange prayer needs.

God is Sooo Good.

2011-12-01T11:59:00.001-06:00

This is just a brief update for some great things that have happened recently. We had to cancel our Mexico trip to the Copper Canyon last week. I was having a knee joint issue that would have been impossible in the mountainous area in Copper Canyon. So after medical tests were done, other medical issues were discovered (one was a severe kidney infection). So this is now be looked after. After testing is done next week, we hope to discover if any long-term kidney damage has occurred due to the severity of the infection. Funny thing is I really haven't felt a thing!

We just completed a 3 very full days of a retreat with the Regional Leadership team. The team consists of leaders representing Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Ecuador and Costa Rica. What a rich time with relationships, inter-changing of ideas and leadership concepts and praying.

In our last blog, we mentioned the great need of raising the last 1/2 of the money required to pay the mission back for our ministry vehicle. We have received new news over the last 2 weeks including today's report. God is amazing! People gave! And gave in extremely large amounts and smaller amounts. Unbelievable. We are so blessed! Thank you. The side issue to this is the trickle down effect as international workers in Venezuela are now able to go ahead in full confidence with the purchase of their ministry vehicle.

As we move into the Christmas season, life gets busier. If we are unable to blog before then, we wish each of you the best during this season of Celebration. We are so thankful for the life that we have in Christ and we pray that for each one of you. Merry Christmas!

Development is Developing!

2011-11-10T12:04:00.007-06:00

As the seasons change in Canada, Linda and I realize we don't miss the snow! We have had to live with our own winter down here of having alot of rain. It's quite amazing how down here they predict the week of the month that it will change from wet (winter) season to dry (summer) season. Nov 19 is supposed to be the date. Already we are seeing more sunshine as the transition happens.

Life continues to be busy as I am sure it is with you too. This last month has been full of translating and working through the details of creating a community needs assessment evaluation. I have had to adapt this to our situations. My short form is only 10 pages which will take a couple of weeks to work through with each community. I am very excited when in 10 days I will be receiving much of the information or building blocks of working towards community transformation in Spanish. This includes hundreds of lessons and all of the orientation information needed to get "a huge machine" moving forward. This is a huge springboard for our work!!!! In the meantime, I have been using a local pastor to help me with correcting my translations.

Last week, I took our puppy (a Great Dane) up to the Patarra community where we are building the personal relationships to complete a community needs assessments. It's a community filled with Nicaraguans that moved to Costa Rica to seek a better life. This is where we work with Cecilia and her soup kitchen for the local children who don't have enough food at home to eat. In minutes, I had 20 children grouping around us. They are not used to seeing a friendly dog. Usually, dogs are either used for security and kept behind a fence or they are unfriendly strays on the streets that you don't want to get near. Max (our big puppy) bridged alot of gaps that day. Please continue to pray as we step into this community and encourage the local church to reach out to this needy people group.

Last weekend, the Alliance people here in Costa Rica had an orientation retreat. It was focused on the International Workers who are studying Spanish as we did here. As a small group, we were able to work through several sessions of the Global Leadership Summit sponsored by the Willow Creek Association. Amazing speakers! I was strongly convicted in the area of humility. Here is a definition that will give you food for thought and maybe the desire for more research. "More simply, you could say the humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service of others". Dickson

From Nov 20-27, Linda and I are traveling to Mexico to the Copper Canyon area working with Pastor Tomás Bencomo as we visit the Tarahumara Indians living there. The canyon area is abut 5 times larger than the Grand Canyon and there are an estimated 70,000 - 100,000 Indians living there who have never heard the Gospel. It is a 12-16 hour drive on a road that was recently built. We are thankful for the road otherwise it would be by burro or donkey. We are desiring to capture the heart of ministry of Pastor Tomás as we work alongside him. This is also as opportunity to do a quick food security assessment to the end of assisting them in their basic food needs.

I have thrown much information into this blog but I want to close with some answers to prayer and other needs.
1. Linda and I are so thankful for an Alberta church that stepped in to fill the gap and paid for Briana to join us for Christmas.
2. This need is great. We are still needing to raise the remaining funds for our ministry vehicle down here. This is a huge prayer request as it effects another missionary couple in nearby country and their ability to purchase a vehicle for their ministry. We are needing almost $6000. We are so grateful for what has been given in the last couple of months. You can specify "Doell Vehicle Fund" to your local Alliance church or designate your gift to the C&MA.
3. A huge answer to prayer to find much of the material that we need already translated!!!
4. As we work in the community of Patarra, doors will be opened to build relationships, ability to clearly communicate in Spanish will happen and the needed details will fall into place. We do have an account open to provide for this ministry where you can donate to the Patarra Project.
5. Pray for the San Francisco church and opportunities for Linda and I to be part of their community vision goals.
6. Over the course of the last year, we have been looking for a ministry name that would encompass all the areas of ministry we are involved in plus identify us to others. Our ministry name is "SunCompassion" and the email address is suncompassionla@gmail.com

Getting Food on the Table

2011-10-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

Are there ever any times during the year when there is absolutely no food for your table? The kids are hungry and Dad and Mom are in despair. Read on!

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind for us. I started of in El Salvador spending 4 days with C&MA pastors from all over Central America. Once they understood that our ministry was in compassion work, we heard many stories of needs, usually centered around the poverty conditions for the kids in their communities. I am planning a driving trip through 3-4 countries to meet with the pastors and assess needs in the New Year. During my time there, I received word that a person from an Alliance church wanting to donate a sum of money for a clean water project so I was scrambling to gather information. It appears that a clean water source will be built for a children's ministry in Honduras with the help of a partnering ministry (eMi). Pray for the details to work out.

After a 12 hour "layover" at home, I joined a Canadian Food Grains Bank delegation in Honduras. We visited with poor Honduran farmers and local development organizations about conservation agriculture. Through conservation/organic techniques, small-plot farmers (less than 2 acres) are able to increase their yields to beyond "subsistence" to actual selling produce at a market. This means that many farmers have been able to go from having no food to eat several times a year to having food to put on the table and actually think about having enough seed for the next crop. All of these farmers live in poor areas with varying soil conditions. After adopting new organic techniques, some farmers were able to afford to send some of their kids to school. It was very gratifying to see that through changing their farming techniques to that of respect for the land around them, the land gave back. Reforestation, erosion prevention, water retention, crop rotations were some of the transferable and organic principles we worked with. These farmers had a history of killing the soil with crop burning and heavy use of insecticides/herbicides. To paint a clearer picture, this all occurred up in the mountains where soil differed from place to place and farming was being done on slopes up to 60 degrees. Very steep! Needless to say, we walked many mountain-sides. I learned many new ways of assessing and enabling communities in their food needs towards poverty reduction.

Linda kept busy and adventurous while I was gone. She drove by herself for the first time with the local traffic conditions. Our regional directors were traveling too so Linda helped keep their household organized and making sure the girls got to school. She continues to develop her prayer ministry. I know that she communicates with several of you.

Continue to pray for the needs of the Alliance workers world-wide. Financial support was very short of the needed goal last month to provide for the basic living needs of the international workers. This has created budget issues. Linda and I remain faithful that our needs of funds to purchase our ministry vehicle will be supplied. As we look to the future, pray that God goes before us as we strive to work compassionately through the local churches to reach out to those in their communities that don't know Jesus.

The Horizon is Huge!

2011-09-16T11:00:00.002-05:00

Coming back from Canada, the focus has been about "getting focused". The title of the blog says it all - "The Horizon is Huge". When we look at where our Relief and Development ministry can go, it is overwhelming when you know the depth of the physical and spiritual needs that are all around us. God has been working in us too. Over the last 2 years, one of my prayers is that God will show us our niche, a ministry direction that we can have direct impact for Him by not doubling up on what others are doing (especially in terms of dollars and time), but being able to increase out effectiveness through relationships and partnerships. We want the local churches in our region to be the "hero". We want to equip the local church to be more effective in being the hands and feet of Jesus in their community.

For those that are interested, here are our Ministry Objectives for 2012. I welcome any thoughts or questions.

My next 2 weeks is filled with travel. I am in El Salvador for the Alianza Congresso. This is a gathering of Alliance pastors from Central America. I am looking forward to this opportunity to network and hear what God is doing in the various churches. Also, this is a great opportunity to help to me know what and where there are areas that we can look at assisting with. It should be easier this year as my Spanish speaking has improved abit.

I have a one day break at home and then I am part of a CFGB delegation (Canadian Food Grains Bank) to Honduras. I am joining 4 others from Canada to visit Honduran farmers and learn about how they are adapting their agriculture practices to farming on mountain-sides and steep slopes. We will also be evaluating how to improve farming practices and how to improve market access. What we learn from here can now be transferred to other parts of the world. This is especially important to our ministry as Central America has the mountain chain running down the middle and we want to focus on improving food security issues for the poor. Honduras has similar statistics to other nearby countries. From a recent report, 49% of Hondurans living in the rural areas live in extreme poverty.

Linda has been working hard at developing a prayer network of individuals and Canadian churches. She has lofty goals of how to make this interactive. We desperately need you to be praying for us but vice versa, you need prayer too. Drop Linda an email with any questions or requests.

With our family, there has been a change. No, Linda is not pregnant! Briana has chosen not to go back to college this year. She is pursuing her dreams of being an EMT/Paramedic. Jordan is back for his 3rd year at Ambrose University College. He has changed programs to International Ministry. We were wondering how we could have a family Christmas together. With using some airmiles, we have Jordan coming down during his Christmas break. We are still unsure of if and how Briana will make it down. That's something to pray about.

Last but not least, I will close with a huge concern for us. Many of you have been following our vehicle saga. Our ministry vehicle was in the shop for 4 months due to transmission issues. Currently, there are still computer codes errors showing. As one person put it, Linda and I have experienced "longsuffering" through this months-long ordeal of not having a vehicle. We pray for completion with this. It has held us back. The major concern for us on-top of this is our ministry vehicle funding. We are stalled at 50% of the amount needed to purchase this. We have $6000 left to repay an account (for other international workers to get their vehicle). If you feel led to assist us with this, we would be grateful. Direct your giving to the Doell Vehicle Fund, through any Alliance church or through the Alliance office in Toronto. Until next time.....bendiciones.

"Mini" Cultural Adjustments

2011-07-25T16:12:00.011-05:00

It's been just over 3 weeks since we arrived back in Costa Rica. It felt like we went through a series of "mini" cultural adjustments as we were back in Canada for 3 months and then again when returning back to the spanish culture that we want to integrate as fully as we can in to. I lost some vocab but as we speak it daily, it is coming back slowly.

Our time back has been full of fun and excitement as we welcomed in a new member to our family. Maxima or Max is a Great Dane pup that we are getting to know. She is about 6 months old and like all Great Danes, seems to grow every day. She is about 50 lbs and should be double that when full-grown. She loves to cuddle and she tries to take up the whole couch when she relaxes with Linda.

As we look back on our 3 months in Canada, we think of all the blessings we received through the building of new friendships and strengthening of old ones. We didn't plan on being part of the Alliance response to the Slave Lake (SP video report) wildfires but it was a highlight as we met amazing people and say God's hand at work amongst the strife and heartache. We touch based with 12 churches and we walked away encouraged by what we saw God doing with His people. I was invited to observe the Canadian Food Grain Bank (CFGB) board meetings as an Alliance attendee. I am excited as I envision the food programming needs we can look towards within our community development focus. I will be joining a CFGB group as we tour food programs in Honduras this fall. As I write, I'm distracted as I think about all that we saw and did and the people we met. It was a rich time for us.

Our kids and our extended family were a highlight too. For the summer, Jordan and Briana are working out at Lake of the Trees Camp in BC. We were able to spend a day with them and see why they thrive out there as they invest in the lives of others. Pray for this fall as they look for guidance in their decision making. Jordan is returning to Ambrose for his 3rd year. Briana has very recently shifted directions and will be pursuing her EMT/Medic qualifications.

I mentioned earlier about "mini' culture shocks. We are experiencing one right now. As many of you know, while we were in Canada, other Alliance personnel had borrowed our vehicle and the transmission gave out on them. Well, after approx. 2 months, it is still in the shop. My plan this week is to sit at the shop every day until it's done and done well. (Another one) As I write, I'm munching on a cookie that some ants had got to. You can't waste a good chocolate chip oatmeal cookie so you throw them in the freezer, kill the ants and voila, just brush the dead ants off. In the last weeks, our time has been filled with more ministry development as I am starting to put together the package for our disaster response teams as well as doing some translation work for a community development program. Linda is exploring how we can initiate an intentional daily prayer program that will provide the basis for a sharing of our prayer needs with you and you sharing your prayer needs with us. Before I forget, Linda and I need to return to Canada (Calgary) for a few days in August to meet with Alliance medical personnel as part of our insurance fulfillment responsibilities. Maybe we might run into each other.

Linda and I are very excited to be back though there are always little apprehensions that occur as you ask yourself if God has the right person here for the job. Pray for us for these little spiritual battles. Pray for other international workers as these spiritual battles are very real for them too. We pray for the churches we met with and the needs that were shared. Pray for our continued stepping forward in faith as the Spirit leads. We have not had a financial update lately but also pray for the financial needs of our vehicle, and the general giving to the GAF fund that supports the work of C&MA international workers world-wide.

Keep updated with our Tweet address @SunJustice

Slave Lake Incineration and More!

2011-06-13T11:25:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought that Linda and I would be asked to go to Slave Lake for the C&MA relief effort? God knew! Linda and I had the privilege of spending 10 days in total in 2 different time frames coming along side the Slave Lake Alliance church. We arrived 3 days before the town people were allowed in. Having never have been there before, we were not quite sure where along highway 2 it was located. But as we drove over the red fire retardant coating the highways and trees dropped from water bombers and smelled that old smoky smell that all firefighters know, we knew were getting close. The devastation as we entered the town left us speechless. That sensation did not leave us while we were there as we listened over and over to the individual stories of the people affected. To hear a story, all we had to do in passing was ask how the person was doing. Without fail, we stood there 20-30 minutes as we heard their story of escape, their feelings of desperation and their sense of hopelessness as they saw their homes and town burning around them.

The local Alliance church building was spared so as we partnered with the Disaster Response unit of Samaritan's purse, this became our base of operations. This included twice daily briefings by the provincial emergency operations crew that included police, fire and town officials as well as some NGO representation. Approx. 30-50 people in a room making decisions on how best to save the town and how to bring life back to normal so that the people could return.

But as we worked with the community members in our response, we quickly realized that it will be many months, maybe even years before "normal" would be the norm. Once the people returned (those with undamaged houses), they began the hard work of cleaning up, removing fridges/freezers that had spoiled and rotted food from 2 weeks without electricity. The grieving process started as they saw the state of their homes and of their town. People feeling guilt and anger as their home stood undamaged in the middle of all the destruction while others felt guilt and anger as they looked and stood in the cinders of their home at the undamaged houses around them.

The Alliance church had been praying for an opening into the community. Pastor Ottenbreit said afterwards, that the door could not get wider than this. Seven homes within the Alliance congregation were destroyed. Everyone in the church, everyone in the town had difficulties with internalizing what had happened and how to respond as individuals and as a community. Coping skills are saturated and worn out. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team responded. These are chaplains trained in trauma counseling and critical incidence debriefing. Seventeen volunteers from Alliance churches across Alberta volunteered their time and emotional energy to come and serve the people of Slave Lake for 2-4 days. They received basic chaplain training and we sent them out to the hurting people. The stories we heard! But the exhilaration people felt as they saw God at work using them as the "hands and feet of Jesus" was indescribable. These volunteers went out to where the people were - in the coffee shops, in the campgrounds, in the donation sorting facility...wherever. The town has a long way to go. I ask that you continue to pray for the people of Slave Lake. Also pray for the Alliance church as they have made significant inroads in the community and town leadership for Christ.

We did not know that this was going to be part of our 3 months in Canada. But we are thankful that we got to be part of it for many reasons. The relationships we formed will be life-lasting. The God-experiences we were part of were incredibly faith-building. We have less than three weeks to go before we head back to Costa Rica. We said goodbye to Jordan and Briana this weekend as they headed off to be camp counselors for the summer. We are hoping to see them once or twice more before we go. I fly off to Winnipeg to be an observer to the Canadian Food Grains Bank board meetings this week. This will give Linda to rest and catch her breath after a whirlwind few weeks of speaking in churches, back and forth from Slave Lake. I have also been able to fit in some cardiologist appointments. It's amazing how God can orchestrate our schedules.

We have 3 more churches to have meetings with or give presentations at. I don't think we have a day free until we go due to family times and "things to do". We have been richly blessed by the new relationships we have formed and by others that have been strengthened.

We ask you to uphold us in prayer for a few things
- safety in traveling
- closure as we leave Canada for another 2 years
- for the raising of $6000 for our ministry vehicle
- for continued learning of Spanish as we reintegrate back in to Spanish culture

- as we move forward in ministry initiatives focusing on transformational community development
- continues giving to the Global Advance Fund which funds International Workers

7 weeks in

2011-05-23T22:13:00.013-05:00

It's been 7 weeks in Canada, specifically in Calgary. Even though we grew up here, both Linda and I had a sense of trepidation stepping back into our passport culture. We have had some hiccups but God has been faithful as we walked through some cultural changes. We had a lengthy 'to-do" list and most of it is getting done. Unbelievable! We were provided a basement suite by a retired Wycliffe missionary and that has been great. Though I was thinking today (while driving), many of the days we have been here have required driving, alot of driving. Maybe not comparable to the typical Calgarian commute but in comparison to driving in a small country like Costa Rica....in CR the difference is mucho time for minimum distance while in Calgary less time in the driver's seat but you see a lot of country. Whether it's been visiting churches or spending time with the kids, it's involved a lot of time. Now with being involved with the CMA response to the Slave Lake fires, I envision seeing alot more of the country. More about that later, probably in the next blog.

One major item on our "to-do" list has been downsizing our "stuff' in storage (including our kid's items) and moving from a pay-for storage area (thank you to the couple who has paid this for 4 years) to my sister's garage where I built a more secure area. We had a lot of fun with our kids going through the memories.

Linda said to me yesterday we have been blessed by being able to spend time with "the cream of the crop". We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting with people and building relationships with the churches in the Southern Alberta cluster though we regret we have not been able to have the level of contact that we wanted with all 18 of them. There is just not enough time; though we did see many leaders at the Western District Conference. We have had many meals with people that have touched us personally. Yesterday over Vietnamese food, we listened to a couple that had escaped from Iran and had arrived in Canada 6 weeks ago. Their story was filled with intrigue and interrogations but more importantly it was a story of God's blessings and sovereignty. We walked away both humbled and blessed.

I was able to complete a DART (Disaster Assistance Response Training) course sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. This was a God appointment. I had not planned on this. In taking this training, I was thinking that there is a large potential within this partnership for our justice and compassion ministry in Latin America. And then...during our course, the fires that devastated the community of Slave Lake where over 7000 people were evacuated and around 400 families were directly effected happened. I was asked by the Western Canadian District leadership to get involved heading a church response. Linda and I head up to Slave Lake this Thursday where we are working with Samaritan's Purse's response team. There is so much to pray for. We ask that you think of us as you lift up your requests.

1. For the people of Slave Lake. The feelings of despair and frustration. For the town and provincial management teams as they try and work out a response that is best for the townspeople. For our response, that we can direct the Alliance church body in such a way that God's love is shown to be real. For Pastor Tracy and his family, the pastor the the SL Alliance church.
2. For continued safety as we continue to meet with churches and their leadership about our ministry of justice and compassion in Latin America. It involves much traveling.
3. For continued support, both prayer and financial. Thank you for giving to GAF which support international worker in ministry all over the world. We have about $6,000 left to pay for our ministry vehicle. Also, we were told our transmission gave out as other CMA missionaries were using it. That's about $1300. We had a couple in one church walk up and give us $500 towards the repairs. God is good! Donations can be given and directed to the Doell Vehicle fund.
4. Praise for much answered prayer.

Feeling abit Disembodied!

2011-05-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

We are back in Canada (Calgary) and have experienced 3 or 4 snowstorms! Unbelievable! And very few days of temps above 10C. But the warmth of family and the people of several Alliance churches and 1 Baptist church we have met have more than made up for it. Well, truthfully, there was driving in one snowstorm where I just did not want to be here. Coming back to Canadian culture has been tougher than I thought it would be. We felt disembodied. Here but not really here. Feeling comfortable but not really...just having to wait for Canadian cultural norms to float to the top and feel more natural. It's amazing how one can adjust to the Spanish culture in such a short time. There have been many times where I wanted to give a "beso and an abrazo" in welcome and saying good-bye but I think it would have thrown many for a loop. I thought for this blog update I would give a general ministry update via a note I sent out to a friend.

Our ministry focus continues to evolve. We have re-focused our name to Caribbean Justice and Compassion Team to better describe the direction of ministry. Over the last several months, we have been doing more program development than anything else. We were in C*b* to check out the micro-enterprise which was totally uplifting. What a revival movement that is developing into! Nicaragua was a great experience. 2 weeks of working with a Alliance Men's work team doing translation work. It was very cool how a small business loan opportunity was put in my lap. Got a guy started with a welder. I am working through the local church on this one hoping to start something bigger and develop with stronger CHE guidelines. It's really a test for the Pastor's leadership to see if he will buy into community leadership and development thinking. If it works well, I would like to start a business cooperative there. When we get back to Costa Rica, the plan is to start some development work in a Nicaraguan community (in CR). There is already a local feeding program and a couple of other small initiatives through a local Alliance church that I want to expand on. Maybe use a CFGB grant in the area. Lot's of work to do. Lot's of money to raise. I want to use this as a bit of a proving ground in basic community development as there are larger things on the horizon in other countries that we need to tackle. Start small. As our ministry is regional, this will build into enabling a system of national level leaders in the Caribbean area to work on local CHE style programs. I want to center on a combination of micro-business and disaster preparedness training at the local church level but use this to teach basic community-level problem solving working towards Kingdom transformation principles.

On the disaster response front, the National Ministry Centre is totally revamping their database structure. I managed to get a request in with our needs. Our plan is to create a interactive, national database of volunteers from Canadian churches that are able to respond to a disaster event. I want to work out the kinks with this response program in my region first. Then as other Alliance compassion track leaders come on line in other world ministry areas, they would be able to use this database for their response needs. Right now, I am working through ideas of how to involve the local Canadian Alliance church at the grassroots level making them feel part of a ministry response even though they never leave the pew. We'll see how that goes.

At times I am feeling intimidated and overwhelmed at the scope of ministry in which I have been placed though it is exciting to see how God moves, opens doors, puts people in our path. I think my biggest struggle at this point is finding that niche in disaster response that enables us to come along side other organizations and not duplicate problems and procedures. Though this morning (by chance), met with the SP Project manager for Latin America and we seem to be on the same page stressing the need for disaster preparedness/reduction programs in smaller communities using the local church as a mitagating force. A great contact for some future work. He enrolled me in the national DART (Disaster & Response Team) training happening in May.

I have written enough. I need to get some work done before watching some hockey. It's really nice to sit and watch the playoffs. I didn't realize that it was something I missed!

ps While we are here in the Calgary area and you feel like sitting down for a coffee... Give us a call 403-617-6377

On the Road

2011-03-08T11:01:00.002-06:00

As of lately, it has felt we have not been home much. But as busy as it has been, we have been extremely blessed to be part of what God is doing in the Caribbean area with the C&MA. We are still feeling the excitement of seeing what was happening in C*ba. That carried over into our two week stay in Nicaragua. We were translators for the C&MA Men's work team led by Art Wiens. As a team, we replaced a rickety set of wooden stairs with a metal structure to service their second floor as well as welding railings on the second floor to prevent children and others from falling 12 feet to the ground. My language abilities took big strides forward. Though it was not without it's mishaps. I had to buy all of the supplies (structural metal, welding supplies, rent tools....). That was a process all in itself as I do not have a construction background in English either. There are lots of stories to tell. Linda chose to work with the team and was in charge of the painting.

One couple from the church brought us juice one day and ended up staying and working with our team for a week. The wife, Diara worked with Linda while Maurico turned out to be an incredible help with the welding and his general construction knowledge. Even with the language differences, we enjoyed each other alot. It was unbelievable to see ministry opportunities open up. I was able to start a pilot project micro-business with Maurico. The possibilities of this type of ministry in the second poorest country in the western hemisphere (after Haiti) is mind-boggling. I wait with great expectations to see how God will direct us through this open door of using community development to transform communities through local churches. It was encouraging after spending much time talking with Rosario, the national church president and see her example of being a servant. Ramón, the pastor asked me to speak one morning in church. With less than 24 hrs notice, I began preparing for an hour of Spanish. In English, that would take me a week! After 20 mins of speaking, I finished and walked away from the pulpit. As I passed the pastor, he whispered "that's all you have?" All I could do was nod my head! He did a great job of scrambling to fill in the time! By the end of each day I was mentally and physically drained.

With our schedule, it has been hard to plan for our time in Canada at the end of this month. I am happy to say that as of today, God has provided a suite for us to stay in. And it is in the south part of Calgary, closer to the churches we need to visit. Also, opportunities are opening up for us to present what we are doing in churches, men's groups, and prayer groups. We would love to sit down for a coffee with you. Let us know.

We were reminded how powerful prayer is by our time in C*ba. There are several things we would appreciate you to remember to pray for.
- finalizing the plans for the 3 months in Canada
- opportunities to share our ministry vision and the building of partners from Canada in working together to accomplish this vision.
- the raising of funds for our vehicle in Costa Rica.
- making great memories with family, friends and churches.
- continued giving to the Global Mission fund that supports international workers

An Eye-Opening Experience

2011-02-08T11:10:00.000-06:00

I am not sure how to start. Having visited a communist country (south of Florida), it is important to guard what is said to protect those we visited, especially writing on the internet. So if you have not

figured out where we were, drop me an email. As our Crisis, Compassion and Community Development ministry moves forward, we have been given another opportunity to see God at work. We went and viewed a micro-enterprise outreach that is working in the local churches in this country. We went and saw things that no tourist will ever see. I fell in love with the believersthere. Living in a restricted system and yet flourishing. Since the C&MA is not a recognized denomination in this country, all of the churches are house churches with pastors and their families living in 1 or 2 rooms sacrificing a bigger room for a permanent place for people to meet and worship together. I saw unrestricted joy as these micro-enterprises were allowing them to honor the Lord through tithing and supporting their families. There is amazing cooperation between denominations as this program is sweeping through communities. Some levels of government are recognizing how much of a positive change has been happening in communities with this program. Average salaries/person, whether you are a doctor or a farmer is $10-$20/month in a country where the local necessities of life ie basic food often is just not available. We heard testimony after testimony of God working in and through people. A common story was of person after person experiencing a new life in Christ. One community has 12 people in this program and 11 made a decision and as the pastor told us, the last one "will be!" There are many opportunities for this type of community development in Latin America. Pray with us as we explore the possibilities.

On Feb 17, Linda and I leave for Nicaragua for 2 weeks to act as translators for a Alliance Men's work team. It will be a real test of our language skills. Pray for the impact the team will have on the local community. Pray for us as 2 weeks in a strange place in the heat away from the comforts of home will have its own unique stress builders. Linda is currently enrolled in the "Perspectives" course that is being offered at a local church. Not only is the course opening up her heart and mind, it is opening up community contacts and language acquisition (in a non-threatening manner). Some of the course is in Spanish!

Other prayer requests include
1. A clear direction for further ministry development. We are exploring 2 opportunities for small community development projects right here in Costa Rica.
2. Our home assignment in Calgary starting in April for 3 months. We are looking for a place to stay, a vehicle to use and opportunities to share our vision in churches and small groups.
3. The raising of our vehicle funds.
4. The completion of a database for disaster response volunteers.

How was your Christmas?

2011-01-06T14:21:00.000-06:00

Christmas 2010 has come and gone but we look back at it with many memories. What are your memories? We celebrated Jesus's birth and the reason for our faith with friends and families. We were able to go to my sister's (Kim) home in Kansas and and spend time with Jordan and Briana, my parents and the Enn's. Being able to do things with our kids was a highlight - shopping, playing games, having communion together on Christmas Eve and just relaxing with family. We had to fly into Dallas so we spent a few days with friends; Dan was our best man in our wedding. By the way, Linda and I just celebrated 23 years of being together! Not only was Dan's family amazing, they made us feel totally at home. Dan (a MK from Venezuela) and Leann have a generosity that knows no boundaries. His family made us feel special as we re-entered back into the North American culture. Linda and I were introduced to a new hobby that is pretty normal for many Texans. We got to shoot guns, lots of guns and I loved it. Linda had her own style when it came to handling a pistol.

With being back in the Alberta area for this April, May and June, our next 3 months in Costa Rica are jam-packed. All of our activities of Jan-Mar are prayer requests for you to uphold us with. Our next three months of ministry development are the most important to-date as we begin to paint in most of the details of the picture that we have been drawing for the last 15 months. We begin with a new home. We get to move from our 3 room house to a 3 bedroom house later on in Jan. That's an answer to prayer. Also sometime this month, we will be spending some time, either in Mexico, Nicaragua or Guatemala (depending on some details) visiting some communities that are in process of being changed and transformed through the efforts of using CHE principles. This will be a major aspect of our ministry as we use disaster reduction and the local Alliance churches to see whole communities experiencing the love of God and changing physically and spiritually. Also in January, we have Joanne Beach, the Director of Alliance, Justice and Compassion (C&MA) coming to visit for meetings. For 3 weeks in Feb and Mar, Linda and I will be in Nicaragua with an Alliance Men's work team serving as translators. In March, not only will we have to close up our house to be gone for 3 months, we will also have Jim Foster visiting Costa Rica. We will also meeting up with an Alliance missionary couple from Cuba to compare notes.
If you hear of any houses that need to be house-sat in the Calgary/High River area during Apr - June let us know. We are also looking for the use of a car for those three months. Let us know if you hear of anything. The last prayer request is for the planning of the 3 months in Alberta as we look for opportunities to share in churches and the building of our database for disaster responders.

Throw in continued language training and growing with a Spanish culture, these next 3 months will fly by. Heavy on our hearts is the fund raising for our ministry vehicle. We need to raise almost $12,000 by June. If you feel led, you can direct giving to the Doell Vehicle Fund through any Alliance church (and receive a charitable tax receipt). General giving to the Global Advance Fund which covers the needs of overseas Alliance ministries all over the world was up in December for which all of us missionaries are very thankful for as this covers our basic requirements.

Thank you for your continued encouragement. The many Christmas cards we received were a huge blessing. Just knowing and hearing of those who encourage us prayerfully is amazing for us.

Can't Wait For Christmas

2010-12-10T11:31:00.002-06:00

As I started to write this, I turned on some Christmas music and the song playing was "I can't wait for Christmas". I thought that would be a great title for this update. Christmas has taken on a new meaning for us. It is so easy to take things for granted. Christmas is special as the celebration is centered on the birth and meaning of Jesus Christ. But this year, we are traveling to Kansas where my sister Kim and her family live. And by the sounds of it, it will be cold. Things that Canadians usually take for granted at this time of year, like the cold (snow) and being closer to family will be a renewed experience for Linda and I. We could not afford to get to Canada but we could get to Dallas. We will spend a weekend with Dan and Leanne Zondag (best man at our wedding) outside of Dallas and then with a borrowed vehicle from Dan, drive up to Kansas where we will meet our kids and other family as they drive down from Calgary. It will be a great 2 weeks with family and friends.

Meanwhile at home (Costa Rica), the transition from rainy to dry season is happening. That means a couple of weeks of cold winds. I know, cold is relative but 16-18 C means putting on a warm jacket! Here's a picture of all the Canadian C&MA'ers here in Costa Rica taken at Canadian Thanksgiving. Let's get you updated on our work here. There is so much to say. Linda and I just got back from a week in Phoenix where we attended CHE training. The principles learned here are the cornerstone of our disaster reduction ministry. Part of our work is educating communities towards basic disaster response as well as how to reduce the effects of the disaster when it occurs. Now with the CHE training, we can approach this with a total community transformational mindset of building into God's Kingdom. Disaster reduction will be the tool to empower the community to transform physically and spiritually using the force of the community to carry the change through. It's an unbelievably powerful evangelistic tool. God has used this in 95 countries of the world to transform over 4500 villages. On the Disaster Response side of things, our focus has been on building a web-based database to handle all of the information of a response effort and the number of volunteers involved. We have had a volunteer, Will Autio, out of Mission Creek Alliance who is helping us out with getting this database operational. Thank you to our volunteers. God does supply our needs as we had a sizable donation given from a person in Prince George, BC. towards ongoing training (including our local CHE community leaders).

As you know, we have been trying to raise financial support for a vehicle that we can use for ministry purposes. We finally were able to find a suitable SUV. It's a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee that has been babied and is in great shape. When all is said and done with the costs of buying here... it will cost us under $12,000. (Yes, vehicles are very expensive here). Our vehicle fund has not received that much in donations so in the meantime, we have been able to borrow from the Alliance field (Caribbean Sun) and we have till June of next year to pay it off. But guess what? We are already 25% of the way there! That is exciting for us. So we are asking you to prayerfully consider giving to the Doell Vehicle Fund through any Alliance church or you can give through the national C&MA office and direct it to the Doell Vehicle Fund and receive a charitable tax reduction.

From our family to yours, Linda and I want to wish you a merry, merry Christmas filled with the joy of celebrating Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Moving Right Along

2010-11-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

Life continues to move right along here in Costa Rica. The whole country was recently deluged with hopefully the last heavy rain of the season. Parts of the country received over 40 inches creating deadly mudslides, floods and taking out bridges and roads. Our house was in danger for a short time of being undercut by a river but thankfully the rains stopped and the banks have been reinforced. This was all due to the widespread affects of Hurricane Tomas. It was also touch and go with having to pull a quick response together for Haiti as a result of the Hurricane. I recently was in North Carolina (Wow, the Smoky Mountains in the fall!!!) for a conference for engineers that I was invited to attend. God really impacted me with the importance of just not having water access for victims of disasters but having clean water, free from the issues of cholera and other similar health problems. Pray for me as we look to options in this area.

As part of our compassion ministry will involve the education of how to make the local church the hero when a disaster hits their community, Linda and I are attending a course at the end of November. The course is sponsored by CHE (Community Health Evangelism). The ideas learned here will form the nucleus of the education component of our disaster reduction ministry. Pray that God will go before us as we open up our hearts and minds to new ways of doing ministry.

Linda and I are really excited for Christmas. Air tickets are too expensive to fly back to Alberta so we have managed to have some of the family meet us at my sister's in Kansas for 2 weeks. On that trip we will get to see some friends (best man at our wedding) that we have not seen in 10+ years. Plans are also being made for April, May and June of next year. We plan to be in the Calgary area for a home assignment time of meeting with churches, friends and family. Which leads to a huge prayer request. The second half of our ministry is having people from Canada help with disaster respond by actually responding. The database surrounding the gather of information is quite daunting. Pray for development and implementation of this endeavor. I envision this growing into a database that C&MA can use all over the world, not just in Latin America. Part of our time in Canada will be building into the database with people who want to help others in a time of disaster.

God has been great. I am including some prayer requests and praise for answered prayer that I recently sent to churches.

Prayer
1. CMA Canada (specifically Jim Foster) has given each overseas worker the book called Power Praying by David Chotka. Pray for Linda and I and our accountability partners as we interact through this book that our prayer lives may be more real and intimate with our Father.
2. Pray for Linda as she has been diagnosed with exhaustion after our year of language school. Pray that she will find the rest she requires and a strengthened desire to continue her language learning.
3. We are in process of buying a ministry vehicle. The Caribbean Sun field has loaned us the money required to make this possible. Pray for our provision for financial support with this vehicle and our ministry, and for prayer support as we continue to search after God's heart in our compassion ministry development. We have until June/July to reimburse this. It's very simple to give and you receive tax help with the charitable donation.
4. Linda and I are in the Arizona for a week of training at the end of November. This training is the cornerstone of our disaster response ministry. We will be learning how to use the local church as a light within their local community when a disaster or crisis affects the people. We will then transpose this training to churches throughout Latin America.

Praise
1. I attended an engineer's conference (eMi) in North Carolina 2 weeks ago for further training in disaster reduction. Not only did I connect with some great people, our compassion ministry response capacity grew!
2. We just received a sizable financial donation promise that will enable further training of ourselves, of Latino coordinators we want to build into and covering some of the travel. That is a great God story as I was directly praying for that only days before.
3. Only God could have orchestrated leading us to the right ministry car. It turns out the seller is a strong believer and God was working through circumstances on her side in order to sell it to us. Pray that all of the financial and legal details will be worked out next week as we meet with the lawyer on Nov 19 to finalize the deal.

Our Second Year Starts

2010-09-12T18:22:00.001-05:00

You would think that after 1 year of in-depth language learning, not only would we begin to look Spanish but speak it fluently. Well, we still look the same except for some extra gray hairs, but now we need to put the grammar we learned to practice and continue to learn how to "think" in a different language. So as part of our job description for this second year of being an International Worker (IW) is to spend 50% of our time in further language learning and 50% in ministry development. Actually, I think we will be spending more time in language now that while we were in school! God has already provided Dr. Ron de Pass as a conversational tutor. We have started on memorizing 100 verses (in Spanish of course) Plus +...there is more than enough to keep us busy. Over the past couple of weeks, our ministry proposal has been taking shape. Here is a little excerpt from our proposal draft giving you an overview of where God is directing us.

"C&MA Canada has chosen to interact in the lives of people in the Central/South America and the Caribbean regions for many years. Thousands of people in this area are effected annually due to a disaster event in their area. In many of these areas, we are fortunate to have Alliance churches, a natural bridge to mitigating a disaster in the local community. Supporting the national church and creating sustainable resources through training locals to be response coordinators is an active method to Kingdom-building. Adding the expertise of (people from churches across Canada) professionals as response teams to a response network will focus our capacity to directly respond to the needs of the person affected by a disaster, great or small. The local church will always be present in the community. The local church will be enabled to reach out, show compassion and be a light in a community that is in need after suffering through a calamity."

God has provided a one bedroom house for us to live in. Here it is called "apartamento" due to its small size but it adequate for us. It is located on what is called a "finca" or farm. It's actually 5 houses on several acres filled with gardens and fruits trees. Our house is located beside a river helping cool things down. We have been able to purchase some needed furniture inexpensively from other missionaries and gringos leaving the country thanks to the monthly giving from an Albertan couple. Another local Albertan provided a substantial financial gift knowing we needed a vehicle for personal use giving us the flexibility to get groceries and make local trips. Our '79 Landcruiser is serving our needs but now as we are getting involved in ministry, changes will need to be made. We are still in process of raising needed funds for a ministry vehicle. We are needing a 7-9 passenger type that can transport response teams.

Slowly but surely, Linda and I are getting into a schedule and adjusting our mindset from attending a school for the last year. There are many things to pray for as we adjust and step into a new role.

Pray for our language learning and that it continues to become part of us.
For continued opportunities to build bridges with people and organizations that have a similiar ministry direction.
For Curtis as he attends a conference of Alliance pastors from Central America in Nicaragua (Sept 19-24). This is a great opportunity to get to know what's happening in the various countries.
For continued financial support of Alliance IW's all over the world. With your support, ministries continue to move forward. For our personal financial help of building our 3 funds -vehicle fund- outfit fund (housing necessities) - and ministry expenses fund. You can mark your donation with the name Doell and whichever fund you are led to give to.

Our kids spent the summer in BC as camp counselors and general help. Sounds like a lot of fun was had but also some life-learning too. It's difficult being a parent from a distance. A couple of blogs ago, I mentioned about a soup kitchen for kids that I am involved with. I will have to update that on the next blog but I will let you know that a church (from North America) helped to build a fence to prevent the kids falling down the cliff. Prayers do get answered.

The Last Time through the School Gates (Aug 2010)

2010-09-12T17:29:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that Linda and I arrived in Costa Rica one year ago to be Spanish students at the Instituto de Lengua Española. As the graduation speaker said, this was the longest introductory grammar course in the world. The title of our main grammar book was "Introduction to Spanish Grammar". I can honestly say I am happy that it is done. The process of learning is not done at all but having to sit in classroom and be tied to the school way of life is done. As the 40 years of students before us can attest to, learning a new language to an in-depth cultural level is one of the hardest experiences one can have in your life. It personally attacks your pride, your sense of cultural entitlement, your understanding of personal discipline......the list goes on.

It is also so enriching when you can (sort of) communicate an idea important to yourself, to know you can actually live within another culture, but most importantly knowing that God has had you in a place for a reason and He has been able to work in you and through you as you experienced many hardships. It is humbling to know that after a year of hard work, we are not perfect Spanish speakers. We still have trouble communicating some ideas and even using correct sentence structure. We know we have lots of tutor time in our future. But it is amazing to hear the stories of the many missionaries sent from the school to all over Latin America and use whatever level of ability they had to God's glory. C&MA Canada is sending 3 other families next week to be students in preparation for their overseas ministry. We will be "Big Brothers" as we help them adjust and get them going in the right direction.

So, the next chapter of our overseas mission story is about to start. Linda and I move out of student housing to our own place this weekend. Our base of operations will remain in San Jose, specifically Salitral de Santa Ana. Our ministry of Crisis Response (CCRT - Caribbean Crisis Response Team) will begin to grow as we now will plan for future ministry options. I liken it to a baby being born and growing. Please pray that God will go before us as we seek to go in the direction that He desires us to. During this time of being full time students, there have been many needs of people desiring help and of people needing the local church to respond because of both disasters big and small. I think of Haiti, Chile, Nicaragua, Honduras....the list goes on. In the news today, Pakistan and China are facing huge needs from flooding. People are being displaced from their homes with no access to clean water, sanitation, adequate housing, food, counseling, feelings of safety/hope.... The images are so troubling. The needs are great. This is where the local church has to step in. We need God's direction. We need your help in whatever manner to be the local church and serve to accomplish what God has asked us to do by way of humanitarian aid and Biblical social responsibility. As our ministry grows, we will keep you informed. Since I last blogged, our kids came down for 2 weeks and then my parents came for a 2 week break. It was a great time of visiting and some sight-seeing while school continued on for us. Lots of memories were made. If you feel you want to stop by Costa Rica for a visit, we would love to have you here. As our ministry continues to form, we will inform you of how you could possibly help. It might be as part of a response team, or being on our prayer team, or even contributing financially directly to our ministry account or supporting Alliance missions generally through the GAF account. We know that we have been prayed for during this year of studies. Thank you all for that you do.