St Louis, December 2024
Dear friends and prayer partners,
As you can see, I am writing to you from St. Louis, Missouri. After two years of struggling with the Dominican Immigration Department, our Lord taught me that His time is not my time, meaning the waiting time was worthy. Yes indeed, I have been in the USA since the end of September. As I am looking back on the year 2024 in Barahona—touching lives for Christ’s Kingdom has been a very interesting and exciting experience which made 2024 a tremendous year to remember.
The ministry of the National Altar with its twenty-hours-a-day, seven days a week, has been a great open door to pray together—as the name says it—with all the Dominican brethren and see the answers to so many requests. One of them was a peaceful Presidential election in the Dominican Republic. GLORY BE TO GOD!
The Ministry of Intercession is a local daily prayer meeting with fifteen intercessors praying for our unsaved ones and for the needs of the local congregations. Also, we have seen so many requests being answered. One of them was the restored health of our Rosemely, a seven-year-old girl that was healed from cancer! GLORY BE TO GOD!!!
The Counseling/Discipleship Ministry is another great blessing. Don’t ask me how this one-on-one ministry could bless so many people. I do not know. Except the Holy Spirit in His goodness and faithfulness did the job. Since teaching is a great part of it, I grow with my leadership students in Altagracia, where I learned with my students the liberation of many kids and adults in the Bateys of Algodon and Altagracia. It was scary ----when done Mariela was liberated from many demons-----but fun, trusting at every step for the Spirit of God to set the captives free, providing the resources and the time for every case. GLORY BE TO GOD!
In my entire life I have never had a birthday celebration. I heard people talking about “sweet fifteen” or “sweet sixteen,” even when I turned fifty I did not even realize it, because I was too busy on the mission field in Leogane, Haiti. However, my Heavenly Father had a tremendous surprise party for me in Barahona on my eightieth birthday! I only mentioned to one person that I was going to be 80 in September. Little did I know that our Lord used that person to mobilize half of Barahona to put on a tremendous and unforgettable Birthday party to celebrate my 80 th birthday. Our Lord did it again. TO HIM GOES THE GLORY!
After a struggle to get the Dominican Visa—I am overdue for a permanent Visa, but only got a temporary Visa which is more lucrative for the Dominican immigration. Here I am, for what I call Sabbatical year, which is only nine months away from the Dominican Republic but nine months of activities here also.
ADD YOUR PRAYERS TO MINE
1- A grateful prayer to our Lord for my time here in the USA as I get involved with my church Metro Christian Worship Center in St. Louis, in the Community Care. I did not know how big the Haitian community is here, I believe our Lord sent me to the right place at the right time to help not only
with translation but also to evangelize the Haitians.
2- A prayer of THANKGIVING to our Lord for having me here in order to participate in the Great Commission Festival at Trail Christian Fellowship in Eagle Point, Oregon.
3- Only God knows what the new year 2025 will bring to our lives. As long as Christ will continue to use us to extend His Kingdom, everything will be well. Trusting you had a blessed Christmas with family and friends. May God add another healthy year to you and your loved ones. Grateful I am to our Lord for your life and your support and your prayers on my behalf. This year will be 33 years in the mission field.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your love and your faithful support during my thirty three years serving our Lord in the mission field.
Love and blessings from
Malou Faublas your missionary friend in Barahona Dominican Rep
(To view my book: go to Amazon.com/books and type in Malou Faublas in the search)
Dancing in the Fire: The true story of Malou Faublas, a single woman missionary in Haiti & Dominican Republic
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08QWSDNHD/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PD9B3ABK0JH4MYXRAFYQ
Published Fri, Sep 03, 21. Written by Kelly Flannery.
When the COVID-19 pandemic threw the world into chaos, many governments tried to provide aid and relief to their citizens. But what if you weren’t a citizen of any country?
Many of the children we serve in the Dominican Republic would have been left to face the pandemic alone. They are stateless.
These individuals were born in the Dominican Republic (DR), but because their parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents are from Haiti, they aren’t recognized as citizens.
In the eyes of many in the Dominican government, they do not exist.
That means more than 133,000 people in the DR don’t have access to any public services like education, medical care, clean water, or government aid. They can’t vote. They have no rights.
This keeps them in a vicious cycle of poverty that is nearly impossible to escape.
Imagine being told you don’t belong in the only home you’ve ever known. That you also don’t belong in the country your ancestors are from. That you aren’t worthy of the care and compassion the other people around you are shown. What would that tell you about your worth? How could you feel any sense of dignity?
In the DR, one of the most dire secondhand effects of the pandemic has been the food and hunger crisis. While Dominican citizens received food from the government, children and families who are stateless have not.
This affects many of the children that Children of the Nations (COTN) serves in the DR. About 50% of them are stateless.
COTN usually receives funding and meals to feed these children through the school system. But this support went away when schools closed during the pandemic.
Francisco, our country director in the DR, says that during the pandemic many of the parents weren’t able to leave their homes to find work—it seemed that there would be no way for them to feed their families. But “Thanks to [Children of the Nations], during the pandemic the children had food on their tables every day.”
Thanks to your generosity, not one child in the communities we serve has gone hungry during the pandemic. You helped feed 1,451 children and their families throughout 2020.
You also provided clean water, hygiene kits, medical distributions, health checkups, and more to keep children and their families safe during the pandemic. Without your help, the children would have no access to these resources.
The problems Haitian-Dominicans face are a big part of why Children of the Nations came to the Dominican Republic. Now, you are changing the lives of thousands of these children—children like Luisa.
Luisa grew up without any basic services. She could not dream of attending school—her community had none. “In the past,” she shares, “it was very difficult to study because we did not have a school and we were discouraged to study.” But that changed when COTN came to her community and built a school. Finally, Luisa could get an education and dream of a better future.
Now, she works as a teacher for COTN and is an inspiration to the children in her community. “Many children say they want to be like me in the future, a teacher,” says Luisa.
COTN also serves Haitian-Dominicans through our medical clinic. Because of this clinic, children and their families who can’t afford medical care are able to receive the life-saving surgeries, medicines, and treatments they need. Hundreds of surgeries are performed there each year through the help of visiting surgical teams.
Because of you, lives and communities have been transformed. But there is still much more work to be done.
The DR has been hard hit by the pandemic, and they had another severe spike of cases in June. During this spike, schools had to return to virtual learning, ICU capacity filled up, food prices skyrocketed, and some of the children and staff were infected. The challenges of this pandemic aren’t over yet.
But with you by their side, these children will have the physical, educational, social, and spiritual care they need to become the next generation of leaders. These children will know they matter, they are worthy of care, and they belong right where they are.
P.S. To help children in the Dominican Republic, donate to the Dominican Republic - Most Urgent Funding Needs fund.
