In The Starting Blocks

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. -Acts 20:24

We are so excited that this past Thursday we were given the “green light” to make arrangements to join World Impact.  It has been quite a journey the last two months, an emotional roll coaster that we weren't expecting.   The thrill of a new ministry, frustration of not having enough support, excitement of new people joining our ministry team to exhaustion of moving from place to place can be so draining.  As always, there are the many lessons that God has been teaching us and new relationships started that will be huge assets for His kingdom.   We are ready and willing to continue the race that God has set out for us in this next chapter and…did we mention that we are pretty excited as well?  Here is the latest update on where we are at financially and the time line for our ministry.

We have been blessed to have spent the last several months meeting old friends and making new ones on the fundraising trail.  We are currently at 82% of our needed monthly support to be fully funded.   What does the other 18% represent?  It is $740 per month.  We have a reserve of “one time donations” that we have received that we can draw monies from to make up our monthly short fall. We don’t want to continue to draw from that reserve fund as we have those monies set aside for ministry projects. These are funds that Sunshine & I can use to improve camp activities, men’s & women’s ministry, outreach and so much more.  We are continuing to meet and share what God has laid on our hearts.  If you want to or know anyone who is interested in missions please send them our way.  We also started the 81=Impact project has gotten some traction over the last several weeks and we are expecting a long term results from that.  Will YOU sacrifice $10 a month to help us reach our financial goal so that we can continue to do ministry next year?

On the fundraising side of things you can help us out three ways.

1.       Become a financial partner of our ministry.  Push the “Click Here” button on the right hand side to sign up today.

2.       Be willing to introduce us to your Church or small group.  We have found that without a personal introduction it is extremely difficult to open some doors.  Will you be our opener?

3.       Kroger, Bakers, Dillons, King Supers, Loaf N Jug, City Market & Quick Shop cards!  By putting your gas, grocery & pharmacy purchases on the gift card you can help us earn 4% of everything you purchase.  We have had 9 faithful users so far and it produces $200 every other month.  Could you impact 50 faithful users?  You already shop, why not use it?

This week will be a busy one for us as we are getting everything out of storage from 4 different locations.  On October 12^th we will be picking up the rental truck and trailer.  The game plan is to load the truck and get to Morning Star Ranch in Florence, KS on Monday October 15^th.  Both Sunshine and I are eager to start with training and learning.  We will be at Morning Star Ranch until August of next year at which point we will be moving to Deer Creek Christian Camp in Bailey, CO.    While in Kansas we will also be spending time at the Wichita ministry hub of World Impact for training and building relationships with the staff and families there.  We have a lot to learn from Church planting to computer systems so it will keep us busy.   We will be jumping in with both feet as one of the largest retreats of the year at the Ranch is the last weekend of October.  This will give us a great opportunity to experience camp life first hand and to learn from the Wichita camp staff who are already there.

As always we covet your prayers for our family and ministry.  For the next month here are some specific prayer requests.   Thank you again for all your love and support!

1.       For the move to Kansas. Patience, safety and ease of travel.

2.       The men’s retreat at the end of October.  That God prepares their hearts for an incredible weekend and that we listen and serve.

3.       That Colton will once again adjust well and that we find a toddlers group for him to continue to interaction with other children. 

4.       Sunshine finding the balance in setting up our home, learning new ministry tasks, and being a good wife and mother.

5.       For Me as I learn new ministry tasks, conferences, and for me to be a good husband and dad in  balance with everything else going on around me. 

81=Impact Project

We were making the 12 hour drive from Omaha, NE back to Louisville, KY as a flood of ideas rushed into my head about World Impact and Deer Creek Christian Camp.  At the next diaper change stop I quick jotted down some notes and it hit me, I can’t wait to get started!  Every time that I start talking about it makes me even more excited about what lies ahead.  We were set to move next week and start with World Impact on October 1st, but that has been placed into a holding pattern and hopefully a short one.

We are in a holding pattern because we need to raise an additional $810 per month in support so that we can help reach the urban poor for Christ.  In the transition from the Dominican to State side missions we have naturally lost some support and had others decrease their ability to give leaving us with a shortfall. That is where the 81=Impact Project comes in.  We are looking for 81 of our friends, or anyone willing to help, to support us at $10 per month so we can start our work with World Impact.

Sunshine and I feel that we are getting close to exhausting our “list” of people that we know and Churches in trying to raise the last amount that we need.  Between Sunshine and I we have over 1,200 friends on facebook, so that is why we are turning to social media.  Just think if 6.8% of our friends respond we will be able unload our storage unit into a truck and be on our way! If you are already a supporter of ours would you consider sharing this with a family member, small group or friends who are interested in missions?   Together we truly can Impact the World! If you would like more information about World Impact visit www.worldimpact.org or about what we will be doing visit www.impactthenation.blogspot.com.

You can start today by:

1.  Clicking here: Donate Now!  Just select change destination and select staff by name, then select Leach, Eric & Sunshine.  You can set up your monthly donation right there.  
2. Simply facebook Sunshine/Eric or email us at ericleach@juno.com / sunshine.leach@gmail.com and we will send you the printable form to fill out and mail in.

When Plans Change..

I have learned many things over the last 4 years of living and working in the Dominican, one of the big things is that plans change.  You almost always have to have a plan A, B & C and often times plan C gets scrapped for something else.  For me personally I love order and structure in everyday activities, but also love to problem solve with multiple options in my head.  It is fun for me to run through possible solutions and come up with options.  Here in the Dominican that skill has proved useful every single week.  Many times we have become so used to it that the teams that we work with don’t even know that we have had changes.   

Now when it comes to my personal life I have enjoyed moving around the country and world experiencing different places.   I have moved a lot the last 15 years, but it has been fun to learn regional and international cultures, customs and styles.  The one thing about all those moves is that I have always had control of them.  I chose to move, I could make plans A, B & C and if I didn’t like it I could always leave!  So what happens when plans change and we have little or no impact on the results?  Ugh! 

I find myself in a place of usual frustration, agitation and tension. 

Life was rolling along for us and looking good for our family.  As far as transitions go, it couldn’t be smoother.  We were finishing up the last two months with G.O., getting ready to start with World Impact on October 1^st.  We needed to raise almost the exact same amount of money to be missionaries with World Impact and most of our supporters had given us the thumbs up that they were on board.  We were excited about Sunshine being pregnant with our second child and everything was lining up perfectly.   That is when the plan changed and the question for me became how to not just survive but grow. 

Within days we found out that the baby was having problems and Sunshine needed to go back to the States.  As most of you know by now we lost the baby.  Sunshine had surgery and returned to the Dominican.  Between the airline ticket and medical expenses we racked up a healthy $3,000+ expense.  Right before that we got word that some of our missionary support had changed and now we needed to raise $600+ per month.  Between all of these things I quickly felt that my perfect little plan had completely spun out of control.  There was no plan that I could execute to resolve losing the baby, no strategy to implement; there was nothing I could do.   I became very tense and frustration set in.

God has been clearly trying to get my attention about turning to Him in my times of trial.  It is one of those things that I have always known, but seldom do.  As a problem solver, my normal reaction is to dive right in and not take the time to turn to God in prayer.  This time however, with the baby, there was nothing that I could do except to turn it over to Him.  As a result it lead to many times of prayer and not asking for the baby to live but that we would be able to give Him the glory in all that we do.  I Peter 1:3-9 brought me great comfort.  It just reminded me that as Christians we will suffer grief in all kinds of trials, but that our inheritance can never perish.  How comforting that is!  Pain, sadness and grief are all things that we experience and I have shed plenty of tears, but those are short lived in that eternity with him will be such a delight. It is in that knowledge that I find my comfort and joy.  Now the challenge is to remember the lessons from God and continue to apply them each and every day.

   Sunshine and I would love your prayers for three specific things right now.

1.       We have two weeks to sell our car here in the Dominican and right now we have no viable prospects.  

2.       For the transition back to the States.

3.       That God will provide us with new supporters to help us cover our $600 per month short-fall. 

From the Caribbean to Colorado

Sunshine, Colton and I would like to thank you for your prayers and support of our family as we have been, and continue, to serve others in God’s name.  We want to update you on the latest journey that God has us on for the next season of our lives.

It is hard to imagine that it has been seven years for Sunshine and almost four for me that we have been with G.O. Ministries serving in the Dominican Republic.   It has been a tremendous time of working alongside Dominicans, Haitians and Americans.  With G.O. Ministries we have seen tremendous growth, opportunities and relationships established.  We have witnessed  the school increasing in size, additional Church’s being planted, nutrition centers expanded , countless lives restored by committing lives to Christ, more medical outreach and relief being brought to Haiti. Gods hand has been present in moving all of us to Him. 

This past fall Sunshine and I both felt God speaking to us about a new chapter of ministry, but we weren’t sure what that was.  We both spent months in prayer and really felt He was calling us back to the U.S.  We continued to pray about what that would look like and felt so convicted that this is what was in store for us, that in March we let G.O. Ministries know what was on our hearts.  We felt very strongly that we were to step out in faith, but we also did not want to leave G.O. in a difficult position with the busy summer months.  We let them know that we would be happy to continue serving through the busy summer season, but that in August we would be leaving the ministry.

 While we were praying about what was next for us, we sat down and wrote a list of what we were passionate about in ministry and what we have been blessed with for skill sets.   We felt a strong calling to continue to work with the poor, to find a connecting point for the Americans that we have been working with to get involved in their own backyard, mentorship and leadership development.  With that in mind, we started to pursue ministry opportunities.

God began to lead us on a new journey. In March, we connected with an organization called World Impact.  After I initially saw the ministry opportunity with them, we spent about two weeks in prayer before contacting them.  Over the last three months we have had several phone conversations, filled out a 30+ page application, visited their regional hub for personal interviews, visited the potential job site and have completed the candidate  assessment program.   We will official be joining World Impact on October 1, 2012.  

World Impact works in 10 cities across the United States with their headquarters located in Los Angeles, CA.  Their goal is to impact urban communities for Christ and have been doing that for the last 40 plus years.  After the Rodney King riots in 1992, which happened all around their headquarters, World Impact charted a new course for the ministry to plant Church’s with indigenous people.  What better way to reach those around them than the people who know them best.  Missionaries work side by side living in the same neighborhoods in which they serve.  They train, equip and empower the locals so that they can be a light in some pretty dark places.

World Impact also has four camps around the country for urban youth to have a unique experience that they normally would never be afforded the opportunity to do.  Sunshine and I will be working at one of the camps in Bailey, Colorado called Deer Creek Christian Camp.  There are several things we love about this camp.  First, we love working with teams of people as we have done for the past several years.  Even though we are only with them for a week, it is amazing how much God can use that short time to impact someone.  Secondly, we both felt God leading us to do more mentorship and leadership development with young adults.  World Impact has a program called Leadership in Training that will not only provide us the opportunity to mentor, but expand the program as well.  It is a great program that identifies youth from the area Churches who have a desire to grow as a Christian leader.  They are able to spend three months at the camp to work, serve and have leadership training classes.  Another key element is called The Urban Ministry Institute or TUMI for short.  It is a seminary level education that has been developed by Dr. Don Davis to raise up future pastors and church leaders.  It is an incredible course that is affordable for all and it already has 112 satellite locations in 11 countries.  We will be looking to start a TUMI location in the Denver area and possibly at the camp. 

We are so excited about this new opportunity that God has laid out for us.  Please pray for us in this process that He provides us with the resources connect us with volunteers willing to help and that we will truly impact those coming to the camp.  The task at hand is enormous, but not too big for Him.  Our position with World Impact is similar to G.O. in that we have to raise our funds for ministry.  We would love for all of you to continue or become a new partner of ours in this new venture.  You can click on the give tab above for more details.

Our immediate schedule is that August 28^th we will be moving back to the States.  We are going to take a much need break to process all of the ministry we have been a part of the last 4 years, meet with supporters, friends , family and take a week vacation.  From there we will spend be spending nine months training and working at the Morning Star Ranch, northeast of Wichita and at the regional hub in Wichita, Kansas and then move out to Colorado.  It provides us a great opportunity to learn all aspects of the ministry while working at a camp.  We are eager to share more with each of you and will as we head out on this journey.  Thank you all so much for your love and support.

The last bit of big news is that we just found out that in the middle to end of February our family will be growing by one!  Sunshine and I are so excited for Colton to be a big brother.  Please also keep this in your prayers as we will be having a lot of transition this next season of life.

Eric, Sunshine & Colton Leach

Well we returned to the island after the holidays to some cool weather here. It had been a while since we had been here during a rainy season.The rain would start mid morning and rain till mid afternoon, for two weeks non stop it seemed like everything was just soggy. Then the sun would come out for a few hours, and it was just beautiful! It's the time of the year when you wear layers. At night I wanted to sleep with extra blankets on the bed because I was freezing and of course Eric thought I was over doing it a little.

We had a wonderful time in the states visiting with family and friends. We took some time to just relax, and to do some things together as a family.  We enjoyed showing off how big Colton has gotten. Ever the proud parents, it was fun for our family to see his "tricks." He is such a happy, busy little boy. We spent the majority of our time in Louisville, traveled to Kansas City, and then off to Omaha to spend Christmas with Eric's family. It was a relaxing time, and we had a lot of fun watching Colton run around with all his cousins. If we missed getting to see you, we will be state side shortly to work for G.O.'s biggest fund raiser of the year the "Kentucky Derby."

It's not always fun and can sometimes be painful, but I know that during these seasons I am growing. Learning to be a mom and a wife on the mission field has been challenging in ways that I never expected. I realize that the only way that I can be successful and keep my sanity is to abide in Him. That sounds like a simple concept really. But when the house hold chores pile up, your little guy needs attention, you haven't worked out, haven't had your me time or time with your spouse, it gets easy to sacrifice your time alone with the ONE who makes it all make sense.  I want to abide in him daily so that when crisis strikes, I am comforted and strong because I feel His presence all around me.

Medically speaking, last year we had 7 medical clinics and 4 dental clinics visit the island.  We treated about 5,000 people with medical/dental needs and shared the gospel with them as well. It really is a great week of ministering to the communities physically and spiritually.

Our community medical clinic located here in the community where I live is going strong as well. The clinic is open 5 days a week. Dr. Vladimir is our Dominican doctor here and he treat's about 50 patients a day. We charge 50 pesos ($1.30) to see the doctor and the medicine is free, but we never turn anyone away who can't pay. We have people who drive as far as 2 hours away to be seen in our clinic. They know we have "American" medicine. Not only is the medicine better quality than what you can buy here, alot of the pharmacies have been know to sell placebo's. We are known as a place of integrity.

Our biggest project of this year outside of medical clinics, will be the assessing of our Nutrition centers. We have 11 in total. With these nutrition centers, we are able to give 1,000 children across the island one hot meal 6 days a week. For most of these kids, it's the only meal they will receive. The centers are apart of our churches so that the pastors are also able to meet their spiritual needs. Last month, we began assessing the kids to see how nourished they were and what changes we need to make to get them to the best health possible. One of our visiting doctors from the U.S. came, Dr. Corrine Kohler, and we traveled to 4 of our nutrition centers. We took height, arm, ad weight measurements. We also recorded their names and ages. We are having the data analyzed so that we can see if the kids are getting enough to eat, and if they aren't, what we can do to supplement. We know the kids needs vitamins, and also are there extra things we can do to add to their food to build their muscles and immune systems up. Not only did it feel good to go out there and participate in the clinic, they kids loved the attention. It was a good feeling to talk with the Pastors and to let them know that we are working to get their kids in their communities healthy. After all the nutrition centers are assessed and all the information analysed, we will take our findings to the local health department here and see what THEY can do for their people. It is our hope that the Dominican health department here will provide additional boosters for the kids, and find out some other useful ideas to get these kids healthy.

We also gave each of the kids parasite treatment. They can have all manner of parasites and amoebas  in their stomachs. We often wonder if the medicine is strong enough to kill them all. A few days after we had treated one of the communities kids, one of our Pastors stopped us in the street. He said that he had a trophy for us. He pulled up a photo of a felt worm on his cell phone. Deloris and I were immediately grossed out! The Pastor started laughing at our reactions. He said "The day one of the kids you all treated for parasites walked by the door of the church, and as he walked by me, this worm fell out of his pant leg. I wanted to show you all this picture so that you can see with your eyes that you all make a difference.

We will be traveling to Louisville, KY Tuesday March 27th. We will be state side for about 8 weeks. We look forward to visiting with you all.  Eric will be preparing for Derby, and I will be assisting him when I can, chasing Colton around and keeping up with my own work. We will be traveling on to Omaha after Derby to visit Eric's family,and to see our supporter's there as well.