June 2025 - The Lord Sustains Us
- Karen Rumple
- Jul 1
- 5 min read
Grace and Peace Newsletter April, May, June 2025 Edition
The Lord's Promise to Sustain Us
In Isaiah 46:4, the Word says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
In 2025, that scripture has proven so true for us personally. Bill had been dealing with what we thought was a possible knee replacement surgery for quite some time. To confirm the replacement, they ordered an MRI in January and what they actually found was that he needed his quad muscle reattached before any knee replacement surgery and the earliest that could happen would be May.
We booked our tickets for the 1st week of February to return to the Dominican with the intention to return for his May surgery. Within 24 hours of us booking our flights, his doctor called and said he needed to operate on Bill asap, the following Wednesday, which is the day we were flying out. We canceled our flights and Bill had his surgery. His surgery itself went well, but his convalescing did not.
By the end of April, I had to tell him if things didn’t improve, we would have to postpone our trip to the Dominican again. We had a large team of 28 people flying in at the end of May to do widow ministry, children’s ministry, construction and evangelism, so all I could do is pray he would get strong enough to make the trip. The Lord proved faithful once again and Bill said, “I can make it.” I’m not going to lie, it was hard. Bill went in the mornings and afternoons with the team and was so determined in his mind to function as close to normal as humanly possible.
By this point, because he wasn’t walking correctly, his hip began to give him more trouble than normal. We flew back so he could go see a different orthopedic surgeon who operates with robotics to see about getting a hip replacement. He had that done 1 week ago and is doing well. He said as soon as he woke up in recovery, he felt so much better. During all this time, our team in the Dominican has shown us that they know what to do with or without us. They could do it without us, but they love our guidance and they like us being involved in the end result because doing their job well for the ministry as a whole is their No. 1 goal.
Bill and I have always said, we will go to be with the Lord serving him in the Dominican Republic and that is our mindset. As we grow older and need to deal with things like this, we both work very hard to continually train our team to do what needs to be done. We are grateful to say they do it all quite well. Now onto the good stuff - Evangelism.
Yackelin Perez
Meet Yackelin Perez. Yackelin is 56 years old and lives in Don Bosco, the area where we evangelized when our large team came down in May. She is pictured with Pastor Jaison, whom we network with whenever we need to connect someone with a church in his area.
Yackelin's friend, Flodian, had been a believer for quite a few years and faithfully witnessed to her. She even invited Yackelin to church several times. Although Yackelin attended a few services, she never accepted Christ during an altar call because she always said she simply wasn't ready.
She told us that every time she heard the Gospel or someone witnessed to her, it always came back to one thing—she just didn't have time to be a Christian.
Understanding the Gospel
We've mentioned over the years that legalism in many churches throughout the Dominican Republic has existed for generations. Because of that, many people believe becoming a Christian means following a long list of rules rather than entering into a relationship with Christ.
Our ministry intentionally connects new believers with churches that understand God's grace and welcome people as they are. We work with churches that don't place unnecessary burdens on new believers but instead help them grow in their walk with the Lord.
My guess is that the church she visited with Flodian was fairly legalistic. Yackelin said every time she heard the Gospel or someone witnessed to her, it always came back to her not being ready.
One More Opportunity
When our team went to her home and began to share, she said she knew the Lord was giving her one more chance to accept Him, so she did.
Pastor Jaison told us recently that she is attending church faithfully and growing in the Lord.
Estervina Feliz
Our next wonderful story is about Widow Estervina Feliz. We found Estervina through our Bible study leader in Cambolla. Estervina is 70 years old and has 5 children in their 40’s and 50’s who have children and grandchildren of their own that they struggle to help. Becausewas renting out a room in her home in order to meet her own
needs. Life was a constant struggle for Estervina as her husband only passed about a year ago.
When Claritza (also a widow) and Keegan to visit with her to get to know her and to share the Gospel with her, Estervina explained that she had walked with the Lord some
10 years ago. There was a terrible incident in the family, so she walked away from the church and from the Lord when that took place. The story she shared was that one of her son’s intervened in a domestic fight between his cousin (male) who was trying to hurt his own wife and accidentally got stabbed.
When that happened Estervina became very bitter towards her nephew and left the church. Again, she couldn’t “perform” the way they expected, so she left. She’s carried that unforgiveness now for 10 years. What a burden to carry. Keila and Claritza spent time with her for a few weeks just walking her through forgiveness and what it’s really like to walk with the Lord. They showed her she didn’t have to perform in order to walk with Him, that only He could help her forgive.
Finally they asked if she wanted to rededicate her life and she said she was ready. She told them she had finally also forgiven her nephew and felt so light in her heart now.
Really, that’s all we can ask for from the Lord and He answered.
Thank You
Stories like Yackelin's and Estervina's are possible because of your prayers and faithful support. Every outreach, every home visit, and every conversation gives someone another opportunity to hear the Gospel.
Thank you for helping us continue sharing the love of Christ throughout the Dominican Republic. Your partnership is making an eternal difference.
Partner With Us
Your partnership with us helps support and bring in more widows to the Grace and Peace widow program.
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