Blessed to be Doctors to Our Doctors: Part II

We're grateful to be able to share with you Wave 3's coverage of Eliezar's recieving of his Baha at the Hueser Hearing Institute.




Vicki also took footage and captured the moment Eliezar heard for the first time. You can see that here.

Blessed to Be Doctors to Our Doctors

Dr. Vladimir and Dr. Auris Canela serve as doctors with G.O. Ministries. They could certainly have chosen to start their own practice, but instead, they chose to serve the poor through a daily medical clinic in Hoya del Caimito, Santiago, Dominican Republic. Their medical knowledge, compassion, and care heal the hurts and pains of many people who would not be able to afford medical care on the island. They work in conjunction with local churches traveling with medical teams to remote sugarcane villages, landfills where multiple families are trying to survive, and remote communities far from medical facilities found in the city throughout the year to treat patients as well. In an average three day clinic, they see and treat up to 1,200 people.

On January 3, 2011 they welcomed a son, Eliezer Rosario Canela. In the midst of their excitement, they noticed something strange about his underdeveloped ears. After a visit to an audiologist, it was confirmed that he had a hearing loss due to bilateral microtia with the ear canal. As doctors, they desperately want to help their son, but his issue is out of their realm of expertise. The audiologist told them Eliezer is a great candidate for a Baha, an external bone conduction device that would enable him to hear, but there is not a Cochlear Clinic that provides such services and technology on the island. They know that time is of the essence and greatly desire for their son to hear their voices.

This is a scenario that Vicki and I are all too familiar with and we have intimate connections in terms of the sort of resources that Vladi and Auris need for their son. We have been able to secure pro bono services on behalf of Eliezer Rosario from Heuser Hearing Institute where our daughters attended school for 3 years and receive audiological services; we have received at the very last minute word that Cochlear is donating the necessary equipment amounting to close to $4000, and in collaboration with some of our partners we have raised just over $7000 to help cover all of this families expenses related to the Baha, additional services, travel and hosting.

The final piece of this whole process came together during our service in the Dominican last week. We were able to get letters from the American doctors in Kentucky confirming the dates/appointments and details of the services being provided on behalf of Eliezer. This was the evidence needed in order for a visa to be awarded to Auris and Eliezer for travel to the US. They got it!!

Today we will be picking up Auris and Eliezer at the Louisville International Airport and hosting them during their brief 10 day stay. We are blessed to be a part of this ministry to this family and grateful to report to you that your support of us through your use of the Kroger gift card frees us to do this kind work on behalf of others in Jesus’ name!

Please be in prayer for Vladimir, Auris and Eliezer. Specifically pray that all of the treatment goes well and that Auris and Eliezer are blessed by their time with us here in Louisville. They arrive on the 11th of August, have appointments throughout the week and return on the 19th to the Dominican where Dr. Vladi will be waiting to speak to his son and be heard for the first time!

Our daughters Sophi and Raena have Cochlear Implants. Eliezer will be receiving a Baha seen here.

Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel! It extends through us to others who are serving his Kingdom through the gift of medicine.

Hope for Daadli: Part II

We first wrote about Daadli several weeks ago. We’re excited to report that her severe cleft palette has been corrected as of this past Thursday, June 28th. Here she is today!


Much thanks and gratitude to Cross Point Community Church, Operation Smile, Moise and the G.O. Team for helping to make this happen!

The Rogers family will be meeting Daadli fact-to-face in just a few weeks. Looking forward to introducing our daughters to this little lady at the nutrition center in Brisas!

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Pray for Our Drilling in Phaeton, Day II (Drill Trouble)

This is the rig we are using in Phaeton, Haiti. As of 4:12pm EST the rig is down. Our drilling team is currently trying to repair it. Yesterday, June 2nd, they were able to drill 60 feet into the ground. Today has been slow going and we think we've only gained another 10 feet. The capacity of this unit is 150 feet. Pray the rig gets repaired and that they can stay at it until water is struck. Pray that there is water to strike!

View Larger Map

This is Phaeton in the map above.

Pray this prayer with us based on Isaiah 35:5:

"Lord, we beg of you, let the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Cause the lame to leap like deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Make water gush forth in the wilderness and create streams in the desert. By your will cause the burning sand to become a pool, the thirsty ground to become bubbling springs. We pray that your grace embrace the people of Phaeton and that by your mercy you would renew their land. We ask all of this for your glory. Amen."

Pray for our Drilling in Phaeton

I spoke to my dear friend and colleague (pictured with me above in Phaeton), Tim Krauss, today, June 1st while he was at the Dominican/Haitian border waiting to enter Haiti. After completing the temporary church/dormitory facility in Phaeton, Haiti, we’re ready to move forward with phase I of the water project i.e. finding some.

Over the next 3 days we will be drilling in an effort to hit deep, fresh water in Phaeton. The current wells in this coastal town are salty and unusable for drinking. The nearest fresh water is 2 kilometers away.

PLEASE PRAY that we hit fresh water. A fresh water well in this community would be a tremendous accomplishment and benefit to the 2500 plus people that live here!
We’ve introduced you to Phaeton, before. Take another look.

G.O.'s Partnership wit the Church in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Thanks!

Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Paid in Full-Part III

On a Sunday this past March we celebrated Ella’s 1st birthday. Family, friends and friends from the neighborhood gathered to celebrate her birth. We were blessed by the diversity of this group, people from so many walks of life, one of them, a former drug dealer and pimp. That’s right, at Ella’s first birthday party you’d be hard pressed to find a clown but you could find a former pimp/drug dealer. And he was only there because of the power of the Gospel! We introduced you to Jonesy back in September of 2010 (if you’re catching up read about that here) who changed his name to Al as a means of turning over a new leaf and signifying the beginning of turning away from the path of destruction (read about that here).
We reported in “Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Part II” that a friend and supporter of ours asked, “Would that expense and effort really amount to anything?” And we confessed that we didn’t know but we hoped so.

We had asked you to pray the following:
“Please pray for “Al” and his recovery, for his friendships in the shelter, for those from the community group that will be going to visit him on a regular basis. Pray that “Al” finds a job and sticks with it. Pray that through all of the efforts to serve him and love him that he encounters Jesus and falls in love with him.”

Today we are pleased, blessed and excited to report that Al's debts are paid in full! Expense and effort expressed in Jesus’ name amounts to everything! Please take a moment to hear Al’s testimony read by Brooks Ritter (the man who hosted us in his home the night Al’s dog got shot) and witness his baptism at Sojourn (done by Jeremiah Taylor).






Thank you for your prayers and your partnership in the Gospel!






Please continue to pray for Al’s journey of faith!

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Batey 9 Update

Jeff recently led an exploratory trip to in the Dominican and took the leaders he was working with to visit Pastor William Decena, a local leader G.O. has worked in partnership with for years. William was born a sugar cane cutter in the Southwestern part of the Dominican Republic and grew up practicing Vodou, his culture’s typical religious expression. A visiting pastor convinced William of his need of the Gospel. Becoming a Christian led William’s immediate family to disown him. William became a leader in the church and later planted a church in Batey 9. As the church has grown he has raised up and sent out two Timothys, each having planted new churches in two more Bateys.

A Batey (sugar cane community) is an arm pit. It’s very existence is the bitter fruit of racism, nationalism and classism working in tandem to oppress a people and impoverish them on purpose. 15 years ago most children that you saw were naked and malnourished and the houses they lived in were made of sticks and mud. Today malnutrition persists but less so thanks to William’s nutrition center where he feeds 80 to 100 children daily. The kids mostly have clothes. Most of the homes are block. There is a school (pre-k to 4th grade) a public park, a basketball court, a baseball field (doubles as a soccer field), a latrine to every two to four houses, curbs and sidewalks, access to well water throughout the community, a water tower to serve as a water back-up, a library with a computer lab (brand new) and a water purification system that has recently been installed. All of this has been accomplished through William’s advocacy on behalf of his community in Jesus’ name. It is a powerful picture of renewal and what a combined Christian effort can do to bring about redemption, renewal and restoration.

Check out Jeff’s brief video tour of the library in Batey 9.



Your prayer support and financial partnership with us aids us in empowering and advocating on behalf of local leaders like William. Thank you!