GLOBAL VOICES
No Backseat Ministry Jeff and Ann VanDerMolen College Church missionaries Jeff and Ann VanDerMolen haven’t let ministry take a backseat during the pandemic. We count it a privilege to be supported by you through your prayers, encouragement and finances as we serve in ministry in the Dominican Republic. This has been a challenging year for us in many ways, yet we have found God to be faithful in these challenges. DOMINICAN SCHOOLING Ann’s first year as director of the ANIJA (a Spanish acronym for “helping the children of Jarabacoa”) school was impacted by COVID. Teaching went virtual in March as the Dominican government took action with curfews and shutdowns to mitigate COVID. None of the ANIJA students have computers so our socalled online schooling was a mixture of homework packets sent home and connections with students on the parents’ phones. We were able to help over 100 families with food during this time and maintained good contact with most of our students. This new school year is starting off virtually as well, and Ann has been working with her teachers in training to teach virtually. While the DR public schools have yet to open, the ANIJA school has begun classes. Teachers are becoming proficient with technology and are doing a good job in connecting with their kids. We are unsure if the full school year will be virtual or if we will be able to have students on campus at some point next spring. Ann is doing an amazing job at the school in these challenging times!
CONSTRUCTION MINISTRY
Fall 2019, Gymnasium roof
Jeff’s life has changed dramatically since he left Kids Alive last fall. God has provided a lot of different and interesting ministry focuses for him. Jeff has helped oversee two major construction projects at the local Young Life camp. He has also worked as a volunteer consultant to complete the new dining hall and kitchen
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May 2019, Construction on the first floor
at the ANIJA and serves on two different ministry boards here in the DR. One of the most interesting opportunities has been serving as a board member for a new Christian university to be opened in the DR, most likely in 2021. All these opportunities have brought Jeff into contact with a new group of Dominicans which he has enjoyed. PROJECT COMPLETED I ( Jeff) recently completed the construction of the final major project at the Kids Alive ANIJA School. We opened this new dining hall and kitchen a few weeks ago. While we don’t have kids back on campus yet due to COVID restrictions, we look forward to when we can use this new space with our kids (soon, we hope). Right now, we are feeding our teachers, who are on campus each day teaching virtually. As part of this project, the former dining hall and kitchen were converted into three classrooms so we gained a lot in capacity for cooking and feeding our kids as well as having better classroom capacity for the nearly 400 kids who attend the school. College Church recently approved funds to put a well at this school. In Jarabacoa, it is common for the city water supply, which comes from local rivers, to be shut off after heavy rains due to the city water becoming muddy from rain runoff. When this happens, the water remains off for several days during which time the school’s water reserves (approximately 7,000 gallons) is used up and school needs to be cancelled until the city water is turned back on. Drilling a well on property will provide uninterrupted water supply and uninterrupted education to our students. This gift is a great encouragement to us and will better equip the school to minister to kids in more effective ways. Ann and I are so thankful for your ongoing support for us in our ministry. Thank you for being part of our journey here in the Dominican Republic!
