THE STORY OF LOS NINOS DEL REINO

Los Niños del Reino (Kids of the Kingdom) is the school created in partnership between Sowers of the Kingdom and Iglesia de Profecia de Dios (the Church of God) in the town of Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic in the year 2018. At the time of opening, the primary goal of the school was to provide a Christian education to local, underprivileged children in the town of Las Terrenas. These children were not able to attend public schools due to lack of proper paperwork for registration and overcrowding in the schools. Pastora Mary of Profecia de Dios, who has many years of experience in school administration in the Dominican Republic, asked Sowers of the Kingdom to partner with the church. She wanted us to help the children by bringing them into both the school and the church.  We joyfully agreed to the partnership with the church.

By setting up a school sponsorship program and other fund-raising efforts, we were able to help provide a safe school environment for about 60 children during the first two years at LNDR. The school has been operating out of the second floor of the Iglesia de Profecia in a large room separated into 4 areas by curtains. Our mission trips to the DR over the last two years always bring us to the school to help in some way. We have provided school supplies to our students, food baskets to their families, brought them art classes, installed fans in the classrooms and most recently, we opened a library within the school.

The idea of the library was put on the hearts of two of our missionaries, Denise Spanos and Barbara Lamos. In November of 2020, due to their hard work and generous contributors, we opened the library with over 175 books and a big celebration! The Regional Head of the Education Department attended the event and was moved by our desire to help educate these children. He is now an advocate and very supportive of our school. As usual, God had a plan!

With the tireless efforts of Pastora Mary and the newfound support of the Regional Education Department, Los Niños del Reino will soon be an “official” school recognized by the Dominican government. We will be assigned a codigo, or license to operate the school. Although Los Niños will remain a private, Christian school, we will be eligible for benefits from the government including food for our students every day.

Now it’s time to grow! With the full support of the Dominican Department of Education and the God-given desire to “Bless the Rest”, we are looking at the next phase for Los Niños del Reino. Our current goals include finding a new home for the school that will allow for a more traditional learning environment and room for growth. We plan to be in a new facility by the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.