Annual Conference - Monday, July 1, 2002

MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE – IN SPANISH

Ten youth representing the three regions of the Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic have formed a special worship team that is traveling in the US this summer.

The Dominican Republic youth worship team entertains
the Global Ministries dinner.

Through interpretation by mission coordinator Becky Baile Crouse, the youth answered questions from the audience during one of Monday's insight sessions. Questions dealt with the issues such as ethnicity in the Dominican churches, the differences between the United States and the Dominican Republic, and what kind of activities they are participating in.

In the Dominican Republic, the worship team holds open-air worship services and visits hospitals and prisons to spread the word of God. The team hopes to show their commitment to Christ through their lively worship during their stay in the US, which is being sponsored by Southern Pennsylvania District. The team will also travel to National Youth Conference.

"The greatest blessing for me is seeing their commitment and their faith," Crouse said at the session.

Eric Christiansen provides English to Spanish translation for Latin American Brethren.

The insight session concluded with the singing of "Sanctuary" in English and Spanish. With the help of hymn books the audience was able to join the worship team in the singing in both languages.

The worship team also performed at Monday evening's Global Ministries dinner. They sang "I Will Sing of the Lord Forever" and "Seek Ye First" in Spanish and then invited the audience to join in as they sang "Seek Ye First" in English.

Youth on the team are: Benito Encarnación, Minerva Vargas, Rodolfo Agramonte, Aurelis Reyes, Ariel Rosario, Jairon Rodriquez, Derlin Garcia, Miladys Figuereo, Julian Cabral, and Wichi Lamu.

P.S. A thank-you to translators: General Board Congregational Life Team member Carol Yeazell is in charge of coordinating the work of volunteer translators during Annual Conference. Numerous translators participate in the insight sessions, dinners, worship services, and business sessions. They are responsible for translating the general comments of sessions from English into Spanish, so that international participants understand the proceedings. Latin American specialist Nadine Monn also translated many of the written business items and sermons into Spanish.