Back to the states tomorrow to get our girls!!!!
February 28, 2010
Tomorrow morning, we fly back to the states to get our girls. We are so excited to see them. We are not going back to visit with churches and groups to share about Haiti. We will be doing that in the Fall when we come back for about a month to share with our many churches and individuals who are part of our support team. But this trip tomorrow will just be a time to visit with our family, spend a few days with just our own family, and then fly back home to Haiti. We have been without our girls for a month and a half!! For those of you that don’t know, we flew them back to the states a few days after the earthquake just to make sure that they were safe since we did not know what was going to happen. They have been staying with my Mom and my Dad. We can’t wait to see them!!!
It is great to know that the ministry will continue in full force in our absence because of the great people that the Lord has brought on board. My right hand man Fenel will rock the house!! I am looking forward to hearing about all the good things that the Lord does while we are away.
Please please please pray that our flight is not cancelled or delayed. We fly out of Port au Prince at 9:40 AM to Miami on American Airlines. Then we fly US Airways from Miami to Hartford, CT leaving at 4PM and arriving at about 10PM.
Na we pita…
Mission recap Day 5 and 6
February 27, 2010
one team member providing some medical care to a neighbor in pain
great progress on the house
A great team of hard workers who have such soft hearts
not all rewards are just eternal
a well deserved fun day at Basin Bleau
refreshing waters after so many long hot days
one of the most beautiful places in Haiti...and it just happens to be about 30 minutes from where I live
inside the refugee camp...not a good situation
this needs to change...especially before the rain season comes
final goodbyes to a great team...they rocked!!!!
aside from my daughters...one of the sweetest little girls in my life...my dear Wuchao
she's a sweetheart and a comedian...she reminds me of my Isabela
Mission recap Day 5 and 6. Well, just about all, but 3 of the team left this morning to return back to the states. The remaining 3 will fly out on Monday morning.
Overall, the week was awesome!! 15 guys that represented about 5 different churches all working together for the glory of God. 4 houses are almost complete (they will be completed by the Calvary Chapel Patmos group that has been helping us out all week). The families of these homes have been ministered to in such a beautiful way. Two of the guys from the team were working with an afterschool program that we have been working with. They ministered to the children all week long, but in actuality the children were the ones ministering to them. In all that was done throughout the week, one thing I know is certain…God has been glorified!!
We took the team out for a fun day yesterday to celebrate all that God has done and to get refreshed after all their hard work. We went to a beautiful waterfall called Basin Bleau. This is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Haiti. We had a great time. It reminded me of some of the beautiful waterfalls we would go to in western North Carolina when we lived there.
We were supposed to do an outreach tonight at the kids program, but I decided to cancel it because the weather was not looking promising at all. Now, it is pouring out. Please pray for all those people sleeping under makeshift tarps and tents.
On a less exciting note, we learned that the baby that we have been trying to get proper care for is HIV Positive. We had the baby and Mom brought to the hospital a few days ago because the baby was so malnourished. They were supposed to put the baby on a special malnourishment program which would keep the baby at the hospital for at least a week. But today as we were on the work site checking on the progress of the homes, we saw the mom and baby there!! We were appalled and asked her why she was not at the hospital. She said that she left with her baby even though the baby was not discharged because the people there were telling her that she smelled and that she was causing problems. We pleaded with the mom to take the baby back to the hospital immediately. We told her that if she does not get the baby back to the hospital, that the baby will die. Anyway, we ended up taking the baby back to our house for about an hour because the mom said that she is not sure if she wants the baby. We finally convinced the mom to go to the doctor with Maria and another missionary named Michelle. The doctor tried to convince mom to go back to the hospital immediately, but mom did not want to go. Mom agreed to come back to the doctor on Tuesday. So, really, there is nothing we can do if the mom is unwilling to get her baby the help that he needs. Please pray for this baby. His name is Makenson.
Wow…this week has been awesome…but I am tired now!!!
We can’t wait to be reunited with our precious little girls on Monday. Please pray that our flights are not delayed. We are actually trying to hop a plane tomorrow to Ft Lauderdale directly from Jacmel since I hear that many flights out of Port au Prince are being cancelled.
Mission recap Day 4
February 25, 2010
The houses are progressing nicely. We hope and pray that they will be finished by the end of the week. The team is working like crazy every day just so that they can keep up with the Haitian workers who are like machines. It is a blessing to see the families and other members of the community pitch in and help. Even children as young as 3 years old are helping carry materials to the building site. I always thought that sippy cups were just used to hold juicy juice, not mortar. And I thought that sippy cups are meant to be held in a child’s hand, not balanced on their head.
As the teams work on the 4 houses, we run around like crazy doing a bunch of other stuff that continues to enable us to minister to the people in the community. We brought 2 of the guys from our team to the kids program again. They had a blast and were just so excited to share about how the Lord has been using them to show the love of Jesus to the kids and just build relationships. We also have 4 students from the Calvary Chapel Patmos program helping there as well. When I got there this morning, they were helping the kids make paper bag puppets. I’m sure that they all had a good day.
We then went to the hospital to check up on Makenson, the malnourished baby that we brought there yesterday. He was not looking too good. The very sad thing is that the Mom just seems to be indifferent about it. Some of us think that perhaps the mom is a former child slave as she just shows no emotion about anything and hardly ever talks. She also doesn’t seem to be treated as well as the others in the family. So, the baby received a blood transfusion today and hopefully he will get better. He is over 6 weeks old and he only weighs 4 pounds. He needs prayer more than anything.
After going to the hospital, we drove to the school in Marigot that we are partnering with. We also have a Calvary Chapel Patmos group of about 7 working up there this week doing a VBS type program. I met with the principal, Josye, and he said that things are going really well. The children were all doing well and looked like they were having a great time.
After that, I got a call from GO Ministries in the Dominican Republic telling me that they were sending us a plane full of food and that it would arrive in an hour. So, we went to the airport and received a bunch of rice, beans, spaghetti, etc. This was great to receive since we were just about all out of food as of yesterday. There are many groups that we are trying to provide food for on a weekly basis. God is faithful and will provide all that is needed, this I am sure of.
While I was waiting for the plane to arrive at the airport, I also got another chance to speak with Petersen, a Haitian guy who we have been ministering to and helping provide food for. I have been speaking to him about the need to marry the woman that he is living with and has a child with. I have shared the word of God with him and talked about what the bible says about this matter. He agrees and our conversations have had an impact on him. He told me today that he is going to start saving up for the rings and the wedding dress so that he can get married. He promised that I will be invited to the wedding. I was at Petersen’s house yesterday and his “wife” was there. I talked to her also about the importance of following God’s ways if we desire to be blessed by Him. She seemed convicted by what I was saying and she said that she knew that it was true. The people who were around us during the conversation all agreed that it was wrong for them to be living together without being married. So, the fact that today Petersen started talking to me about saving up money to buy rings shows that they have been talking about it and God is convicting their hearts. That is really cool.
Since much of this team is heading back on Saturday, we decided to have them only work half a day tomorrow so that we could take them up to Basin Ble (a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole) for a fun day. They are very excited about this. We will also take them around some different parts of Jacmel so that they get a chance to see more of Haiti since most of them have not traveled more than 50 yards from my house the whole week they have been here.
The common response that I hear from everybody on the team during our sharing time is not so much about how much progress is being made on the house, but rather how much they have loved sharing the love of Christ with those around them. Even with the language barrier, God has enabled them to communicate the love of Christ to the children, the familes of the homes that we are building, and the Haitian workers. God is being glorified every day in our midst. It has been a pleasure having this team serve with us.
Here are a few pictures of the progress of the homes as well as some happy faces…
one of the homes we are building is for this sweet old woman and her son
another one is for this woman and her baby
happy faces!!
Mission team recap
February 24, 2010
Day 3 of our 15 guy mission team. So far, it has been awesome to see what the Lord is accomplishing. 4 homes are in the process of being built. The people are so happy. This of course helps us continue to build relationships with the people in our neighborhood. In building relationships, we are able to be a testimony of the goodness and love of God. We have been able to open up the word of God among them and share biblical truth. We have been able to pray for them, care for them, and love them. Nothing but good can come out of this.
We had most guys working on these homes all day. Then we also put 2 guys down at the kids program that we are helping out. These 2 guys told me that they had an absolute blast just loving on the children all day long. I took 2 other guys with me to go up to Kap Wouj and deliver food to the school that we are partnering with up there. We had a great time just spending some time with the kids up there as well as some of the adults in the community. The 2 guys that were with me are pastors from a church in Atlanta and are interested in coming back down to Haiti often with several mission teams. We talked about the possibility of bringing a college team up to Kap Wouj for a week to help do some construction and repair on the school. They are very excited about this. They are some hi-tech dudes. They were shooting video on their iphones and then sending it back to their home church from the mountains in small clips so that they would be able to have a live service tonight from Haiti with their youth and college group. It was pretty cool to see.
After coming down from Kap Wouj, we went to the airport to pick up some supplies that our friends had flown down for us. What a blessing it was to get some things from these wonderful people.
Later in the afternoon, Mark Stuart (the lead singer from Audio Adrenaline who has an orphanage here in Jacmel), and John Martinez from GO Ministries came down to our work sites where we are building homes so that they could get some video footage of what we are doing. The filming got cut short as we soon encountered a baby that looked seriously malnourished. We made the decision to bring her to the hospital immediately. Her skin was hanging off her bones. The mother simply has not been doing an effective job in caring for her. Maria went with Mark and John to bring the baby to the hospital. It turns out that the baby will need to remain in the hospital for at least a week and that the baby will probably need a blood transfusion. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom to know how to proceed. It is so hard to see a child neglected, get them help, and then return the child right back to their mother knowing that there is a possibility that the child will just continue to get neglected.
In the evening, the whole group was invited to the Calvary Chapel house for a time of worship and devotions. It was a great way to end the day. God is at work in Jacmel and we are just very humbled and honored to be a part of that work. May He be glorified in all of this.
Awesome work requires an awesome team!
February 24, 2010
The teams from IsleGo Missions and Calvary Chapel are doing an incredible work this week rebuilding homes in our community. But they are not only rebuilding homes, they are touching lives and in the process God is touching them. Take a look at these pictures.
On the first day, the team heads out to check out the area they will be working at. They bring with them two tents that will serve as temporary homes for the people whose homes will be rebuilt.
The next day they get to work right away. There is no wasting time over here.
The team from Patmos, a discipleship school in the Bahamas led by Pastor Chet Lowe from Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale is working one of the houses.
We hired local workers to assist with the work. In fact, the locals are the ones heading the work. The teams are only assisting in whatever they can.
It is great to see both short team missionaries and local residents work side by side.
We know that in the process, God is getting all the glory.
The tents that GO Ministries provided serve as temporary shelter until their homes are built.
The IsleGo Missions team is led by Dusty Cooper, an awesome man of God whom the Lord has brought to our lives. Everyone from the team is working very hard.
They are rebuilding homes that were damaged by the earthquake from the ground up.
These guys look clean now. No, they are not being lazy. They are just ready to go back to work on day three.
They are taking the time to share and pray before they head out into the community.
And this is why we do it–so that these little ones can have a home.
We truly love the children in our neighborhood and their families.
In investing in children and their families, we are investing in the future of Haiti.
Everyone in Haiti is lovely, including this precious grandma.
Each day, the families and the workers receive food.
They are working hard…
…but they are also building relationships with people in the community.
It takes an Awesome God with an awesome team to bring awesome smiles to the faces of people.
Sa fou (This is crazy!)
February 22, 2010
Sa fou. My new favorite expression in Creole. “This is crazy”. I am in amazement as I see what the Lord is doing in our midst. I could not script a better story. I don’t know how we are getting put in touch with so many people and resources. Sa fou…
So, today our mission team arrived. It is a group of 15 guys, mostly pastors and leaders in various churches. I think there are about 4 or 5 churches that are represented. Sa fou because several of these pastors and leaders are talking to us about ways that they can partner with us and bring further teams down in the near future. Sa fou because as a result of many donations that came in since the quake and the many people that we have here, we are planning on building 4 homes this week. I’m talking about building homes from start to finish…4 of them in one week. 3 will be built with the mission team that we are hosting in our home (15 guys…sa fou) and the other home will be built by a group of about 25 Calvary Chapel people who are here for 2 weeks and want to partner with us in various ministry outreaches that we are doing. This is the group that is made up of Calvary Chapel Ft Lauderdale and Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, two of the most prominent Calvary Chapel Churches in America…I know…SA FOU!!!
In addition to building 4 homes, we will also be working with a kids program that focuses on teaching the kids about Jesus. We will be putting some of the Calvary Chapel group there in addition to maybe a few guys from our mission group. We also have some other outreaches planned in some of the rural areas that God has given us a love and passion for. We will be serving them food, worshiping with them, and showing the Jesus movie in Creole. It is going to be an awesome week!
Fenel and I picked up the team in Port au Prince at about 9AM. We had to leave our house here in Jacmel at 5AM…(sa fou) and it took us over 4 hours to get there because of some major traffic that is going on these days in Port au Prince.
Anyway, later in the afternoon, we went out to the neighborhood where we will be building the homes. We brought some great tents with us as well to give to this family that we have been reaching out to. The team put up 2 huge tents and the people were so happy. Then we shared with them the surprise that we are all coming back tomorrow to build them homes. They were so excited. And once again, we used that as an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with them and tell them that it is not us who is doing this for them, but rather it is the God who loves them who is doing this. We prayed together with them and gave thanks to God. It was so cool to see the team engage with these people who I have come to know and love.
Tonight during our worship and devotion time, the team shared about their first experience out in this neighborhood among the poor and they were just so amazed at what they saw the Lord do in just that one time. They are very excited for the week, as I am too, but also very tired, as I am too.
Tomorrow, I am also meeting with Mark Stuart (the lead singer of the band, “Audio Adrenaline” who started an orphanage called “Hands and Feet” just down the road) and the president of GO Ministries. GO Ministries wants to talk about ways in which they can partner with us and Hands and Feet on a long term basis.
I’m telling you, we couldn’t have ever scripted what God is orchestrating among us. What’s that you say? I know…sa fou.
Reaching up into the mountains with the love of Jesus…
February 21, 2010
way way way up in the mountains of Kap Wouj
the one lane road given to our 4runner to get there
younger generation with the older
carrying the food back home
yon bel ti fi nan Kap Wouj
harvesting the cabbage...lots of cabbage in Kap Wouj
breathtaking view from Kap Wouj
Fenel in awe of the glory of God
Reaching out with the love of Jesus…
February 21, 2010
giving food to a children's program
with the Director
learning a new song about
Singing songs to Jesus!!they love the camera
happy faces
in need of love, food, education, health, etc...
cute kids...and hungry kids too
beautiful girls!
I love Haiti!!!
our life in pictures…part 1
February 16, 2010
a grateful mom and baby after having been given food
A special one legged woman who loves Jesus
all loaded up and ready for delivery
big food delivery to Kap Wouj in the mountains
Giving thanks to God for His provision
Back down the mountain from Kap Wouj...happy to have my 4runner for roads like these.
4runner getting a much needed wash
assessing the needs of a local family
God provides the food...the VERY heavy food!
assessing the shelter needs of a family
God provides the shelter!!
bringing in a medical team from Delaware
back at the airport waiting on supplies
Supplies have arrived!!! Glory to God!!!
buying an inverter to bless another missionary
Casey checking her email
Busy, but not just for the sake of being busy…
February 16, 2010
We are preparing for our first “official” mission team coming on Monday. I say “official” because we had an “unofficial” team come just days after the quake. It was a group of about 9 Calvary Chapel people from different Calvary Chapel churches in the U.S. They showed up on our door step and kinda just asked if they could stay with us for the week. It was cool. They turned out to be a great group of people, and we were thankful to be able to host them. Some of them are planning on coming back soon. Some have already leased a property here in Jacmel and will be arriving Friday. Some…well…one…just can’t seem to leave. But we love him. That’s our dear friend Paul.
We have been planning and strategizing for this upcoming team of 15 guys that are coming on Monday. In addition to this, we will be working with a huge Calvary Chapel church from Ft Lauderdale that just leased a house and will be bringing 46 people here on Friday and are asking if we have some things for them to do. So, the resources certainly are not lacking. We have been working with this Calvary Chapel church for several weeks now helping them get established here in Jacmel. We are thankful for the resources that they have brought our way, especially the sermons on DVD so that we can get some good teaching. Church for us is not the place where we are being spiritually fed simply because it is in Creole and we don’t yet understand the language. So, we will watch one of the teaching DVD’s tonight.
Next week, we are going to be super busy. We are planning on clearing some rubble from many homes as well as build some houses for some people that we have been building relationships with. It costs about $3,000 total to build a basic 2 room concrete house with a tin roof. So, hopefully we will be able to build several of these homes. We will also be ministering to children in various areas and doing other outreach. It will be a great week. I am very excited to see what the Lord is going to do.
Our ministry is beginning to take some form. God is giving us some specific direction as we continue to simply pray for wisdom to know how best to bring glory to His name through what we are doing. The needs here in Haiti are endless, so it is very important for us to be led by the Lord rather than just led by mere need. The Lord is opening up doors for us and is showing us what to do and what not to do. It is good to see that we are starting to get some form and direction since for so many weeks after the earthquake we have been running around like crazy just like everybody else simply trying to “put out fires”. But now we are starting to focus on long term vision and direction. With each staff meeting that we have, I feel like we are getting more and more clarity.
We continue with our language training several hours each morning. Fenel has been an awesome teacher. In some ways, creole is an easy language to learn. For instance, the verbs are not conjugated based on the different tenses. The verb stays the same. But in other ways, I feel like I am hitting a brick wall. So much of the language is abbreviated so it is really really hard to understand when someone is speaking because they are not even saying the complete word. For example, “Mwen kapab fe sa pou ou” is shortened to “M’ ka fe sa pou’w.” When this is spoken, it is almost impossible to break it down. By the way, that sentence means, “I can do this for you”. Anyway, we are only on week one of an eight week course, so hopefully it will all come together.
Fenel and I went around our neighborhood tonight to survey some of the needs regarding shelters. There are several homes that are destroyed. We have identified about 4 that we think we can rebuild. One of them belongs to this very old woman who we learned has been sick for several months. I can understand why she is still sick since she is living in a home that has cracked walls and wide open spaces in the roof. I laid hands on her and prayed that the Lord will heal her sickness. I also prayed that if she doesn’t know Christ as Savior that we would have an opportunity to share with her and that she will see her need for Jesus. We plan on coming back next week and building this woman a house! We also plan on talking with her about Jesus. She is too old to pass by. She will be entering eternity soon and we want her to enter into the gates that lead to eternal life.
We just got word that our dear friend Paul was able to catch a plane back to Ft Lauderdale. He was sad to say goodbye as we were sad to see him go. Paul is an awesome guy. His love for Jesus is very evident to all. He has been such a blessing to our ministry. We look forward to him coming back in March. Paul was used by God in a tremendous way while he was here. He really connected with the patients and staff at the hospital clinic in Cayes-Jacmel. He was able to get them hooked up with us so that we could start giving the hospital food each week so that they can feed their patients daily. He spent a lot of time up there getting to know the staff and just sharing God’s love with them and the patients. He handed out more tracts than I have ever seen anybody hand out. This guy has been consumed with the love of Jesus and just wants everybody else to know that same love. We love our Apostle Paul.
That’s all for now…
Paul with our other houseguest Wouchawou
Paul sharing the salvation message of Jesus with the children in the mountains of Kap Wouj
Paul with our neighbor after putting up the tent that we gave them