quick updates and thoughts

September 7, 2010

Happy Anniversary to my beautiful bride!!!! – Maria and I celebrated our 8th year anniversary by sneaking away for a day and night at a beautiful cabin near the Great Smokey Mountains. We had a wonderful time together. The cabin was great, beautiful view, quiet, great outdoor hot tub, and all things good. We sat in the hot tub last night staring at the stars and marveling at the vastness of God. To think that those stars were all put there by Him and are held there by Him is overwhelming. We shared in the words of David that “such knowledge is too wonderful for me and too lofty for me to attain.” Yes, the Lord is BIG! He is MIGHTY. And He is LOVE. He is all we need in this life and eternity. So, we had a great time sharing our lives together and reflecting on what the Lord is doing in our lives. We have had some incredibly challenging years in our marriage, but by His grace we have remained committed to walking through those times together. And now the Lord is doing some deep work and healing in our lives and we rejoice in what He is doing and what He will continue to do. I am blessed to have such a beautiful and God loving wife.

We began our morning in prayer on our knees together, yielded to our great and mighty God, surrendered to His will for our lives. We talked about how frail and fragile is our human soul. We are so delicate. We break so easily. We get distracted too quickly. We forget too often. We remember too much. Yes, we are a delicate people. Thank the Lord for His grace and mercy. In Him we press on and seek more and more to become like Him, while our frailty and fragility simply remind us that we are not yet home in our permanent place, therefore we continue to long and yearn for our complete redemption when He comes to take us home.

We are so thankful to our friends, the Prevost’s and the Brown’s, for taking care of Isabela and Susana while we were away. The body of Christ is such a blessing!

Back to Haiti next week – I will be heading back to Haiti next Wednesday to Sunday. I am looking forward to getting back and spending time with many people that I have come to know and love. I will be bringing a bunch of school supplies to give to the orphaned children. I will be visiting with the children in the homes where they are currently staying in order to determine what needs remain. Our sponsorship program should be up and running very soon. I will also be meeting with another young guy I know that just started up an orphanage in Titanyen, an area outside of Port au Prince. I will be assessing his orphanage and will be praying about whether or not the Lord will have us work with him and the children. Since Global Outreach has a mission base right there in Titanyen, I will spend the night there visiting with the other missionaries, and then I will fly home Sunday morning.

I am also very excited about the progress that we are making with regards to getting large amounts of meals shipped over so that we can expand our feeding programs. we have a contact in Florida who we are currently working with. They are currently filling a 20 foot container with Kids Against Hunger meals that will be shipped to us in Jacmel. They plan to start doing this a few times per year so that we have a consistent food supply coming in for the feeding programs and orphanages that we are wanting to help. Please pray for the logistics to be worked out with regards to shipping and receiving.

We have a team coming in December and another possibly in November. The December team is a college group that is coming down to hand out Christmas shoeboxes to several hundred children, including of course the orphans that we are working with. They will be shipping the boxes over within the next few weeks to insure that they arrive by December. Please pray for the details to be worked out and that the boxes arrive in time.

I am happy that our 4 wheel drive pickup truck is now in our possession. Thanks to our Ministry Director Fenel, who traveled to St Mark for 3 days to work on getting it out of customs and then to Port au Prince for a day to get it registered and insured. So, now we have a pickup truck to be able to haul supplies and food.

Pray that the Lord continues to give us vision and direction for what we are to do in Haiti. There are so many needs and so many possibilities to minister, but we just want to be in step with the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Update on Susana – Susana had surgery a few weeks ago to have the tumor removed after getting back tests that showed that it had shrunk by more than half its size and that all the other tumors were gone. The surgery was very successful as they were able to remove 90% of the tumor and they cauderized (seared) the remaining 10%. She is healing great and is feeling great. Tomorrow, we go back to the hospital for her last round of chemo here before we head off to Duke for 3 months for her stem cell transplant. So, we are getting ready for a long stretch of time where we will be away from home and in the hospital every day. Please pray for God’s strength over us.

We are so thankful for how she has responded to treatment thus far. She could not have responded better. So, we pray that she continues to respond so well that these tumors never return…ever. My prayer is that Susana lives to be a very old woman, seeing both her own children and grandchildren grow up. And I’ll make sure that her house is next door from us so that Maria and I get to witness as much as possible. Anyway…that’s our prayer. And I will continue to pray everyday for that to happen.

I don’t know all there is to know about prayer. Its a mystery that I will never understand on this side of heaven. I mean, prayer doesn’t change God’s mind and direction. He already knows the beginning from the end. But what I do know is that Jesus gave us models and examples for prayer, and the 2 examples that keep me on my knees for my daughter every day is the story Jesus told about the man that asked his neighbor for bread late at night because he had a guest. The man kept banging on the door because it was late at night and his neighbor did not feel like getting out of bed to answer the door, but Jesus said that the neighbor will finally get up and give his bread away simply because of the other man’s persistence. So, this teaches me to keep being persistent in praying for Susana’s healing. The other story that Jesus told was about the woman who was wronged and went to a judge day after day demanding that she get justice. Jesus said that even though the judge does not fear God or care about this woman’s case, that He will grant her justice simply because she is persistent. Again, I am encouraged by these verses to continue praying for my little Susana. Jesus states, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks is given, and everyone who seeks, finds, and all who knock, the door is opened.” And I am reminded also of the story of David and Bathsheba when they had their first child who died as a result of God’s judgment on David for his adultery. But, even though he was told that the child was going to die, he fasted and prayed like never before. He sought the Lord. He pleaded for mercy. He did not stop. And it wasn’t until he received word that the child died that he finally got off the floor and ate. So too I will remain on the floor pleading for God’s mercy until the Lord answers in one way or another. and I hope you will all do the same.

Personally – God continues to draw me closer to Him than I have ever been. I am still brought to my knees every morning and sometimes even throughout my day. I stand in thankfulness for what He has done in my heart. My soul longs to know Him more. I long for Him to continue to radically change my heart and bring it to life. I long for Him to radically change my marriage and make whole all that has been broken, and restore all the lost years that the locust swarms of sin and selfishness have devoured. I long for Him to use me to lead my family into greater truth and righteousness. I long to see Him heal my daughter. I long for Him to use my family to reach the lost and minister His love and truth to the poor. I just want Him to be the absolute center, to borrow the words of John Piper, that Jesus would be the sun in my universe in which all the planets of my being would orbit around in harmony and order. That is my prayer.

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, Susana, Uncategorized, christianity, missionary | 1 Comment

In Haiti

July 17, 2010

Back in Haiti again. Why does Port au Prince look like nothing has changed since the earthquake, yet Jacmel looks like a lot has changed? I am very impressed with how well Jacmel is being cleaned up after the quake.

So, we just had a team leave this morning that was here all last week. I only got to spend one day with them, but it was good to get to know them, and Fenel told me that they were awesome. We were supposed to take the team to Basin Bleau for a fun day, but as we were heading out, it began to downpour, so we had to quickly abort mission. I am so excited that this team, along with our master carpenter Fenel, built bunk beds for our mission house! Sweet!!! No more sleeping on air mattresses, although the truth is that the air mattresses are super comfortable. The team also did a lot of outreach in some of the communities where we are ministering. They showed the Jesus Film a few times, Fenel preached a salvation message, and 4 people committed their lives to the Lord. God is moving in our midst. They also spent the week ministering to the orphaned children that we are working with.

The team left this morning and another team (team of 4 from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville, CT) arrived a few hours later, therefore I spent the whole day in Port au Prince, leaving at 4AM to drop off the team that was leaving and then getting back to Jacmel this evening after picking up the arriving team. Needless to say, I am beat. The team is great. They are very excited for the upcoming week as this is the first mission trip that any of them have been on. 2 guys will be building a house this week for a family that is helping the orphaned kids, and the 2 women will just do some serious loving on many children throughout the week. I am very excited to see what the Lord is going to do.

I miss my wife and kids, but it was good to see them today via video chat…

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, christianity, missionary | Leave a Comment

Answered prayers in so many ways!!!!

June 30, 2010

Regarding Susana – Every prayer we prayed (and every one you have prayed) has been answered! The line put in her chest was successful without any problems. Thank you Jesus! The stem cells were all harvested in one day! Thank you Jesus! She is doing great and we will be going home tomorrow morning after a quick check up and quick platelets. Thank you Jesus! Lord willing, she will begin her next round of chemo sooner than scheduled since her counts are so good.

Regarding our mission work in Haiti – We prayed that we could start getting food on a regular basis so that we can both feed the orphaned children that we are trying to sponsor as well as start up several feeding programs in the rural communities where we are ministering. Well, we have already had one mission agree to give us food enough to provide for the orphaned children daily as well as enough food for one of the schools that we are ministering to. And now, I have just been put in touch with Kids Against Hunger in Orlando and they are wanting to send us a 20 foot container every 3 months!!! Thank you Jesus! With that much food, we will be able to further develop several feeding programs, especially way deep in the mountains where there is so much poverty. Please pray that we are able to work out some of the shipping logistics so that we can start receiving this food as soon as possible.

One of the things we now need is for churches or individuals to help financially sponsor some of these feeding programs. We will certainly have the food, but now we will need additional money for each program so that they (or we) can purchase oil, charcoal, and bouillon so that they can cook the food for the children every day. And I know that the Lord will provide…

I will be going back to Haiti from July 15th – 22nd. We have 3 teams coming in July (Islego Missions Team from July 10th-17th, Calvary Chapel Uncasville Connecticut from July 17th – 24th, and Calvary Chapel Castlerock Colorado from July 24th – 31st) and I am very happy that I will be there to be part of some of those teams. The Lord is really growing this ministry. We just stand amazed!

Thank you all for praying for our family and for the ministry that God has entrusted to us. He is faithful

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, Susana, missionary | 3 Comments

Just a personal note to YOU!

June 26, 2010

We wanted to take the time to write you a note and say, “thank you”. June has been an incredibly busy month in our home. Taking care of Susana and Isabela at the same that we are dealing with our new life routines has been quite a challenge. We could not have done without you. So we wanted to take some time to let you know that we truly appreciate you.

Thank you for all the gifts you sent from the Target.com registry list and even outside the list.

Thank you for putting together a birthday party for our sweet Isabela. And thank you for all of her wonderful birthday gifts.

Thank you for all the furniture and housewares that you provided.

Thank you for your financial contributions to help us get back on our feet and take care of Susana’s expenses.

Thank you for all the cards and the notes and the simple little things that brought much joy to our hearts.

Thank you for putting an auction together on Susana’s behalf and for participating in it.

Thank you for creating and joining a prayer group on Susana’s behalf through Facebook.

Thank you for coming to visit.

Thank you for providing a meal.

Thank you for watching Susana in the hospital while I ran home to let the dog out.

Thank you for watching the dog while I traveled four hours to Duke for a doctor’s appointment.

Thank you for calling and checking on us.

Thank you for driving out of your way (or flying) to come and see us.

Thank you for the clothes for the girls.

Thank you for the movies.

Thank you for the prayer bracelets.

Thank you for the food and snacks in our pantry.

Thank you for the gift cards.

Thank you for the toys for the girls.

Thank you for flying our dog, Casey, back to the States.

Thank you for bringing some of our belongings back to us.

Thank you for Susana’s iPod. I’ve never seen the girls so quiet.

Thank you for providing phones for us.

Thank you for the girls homeschooling curriculum.

Thank you for understanding when we felt stressed and weren’t on our best behavior.

Thank you for being a shoulder to cry on.

Thank you for listening to us.

Thank you for sharing our pain and our joys so graciously.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for volunteering to help.

Thank you for giving Cody and I a date night.

Thank you for your continue support towards our ministry in Haiti. We love knowing that our love for the children of Haiti is mutual and that it doesn’t stop with our circumstances.

Thank you for coming to Haiti with us.

Thank you for being a true friend.

And above all, THANK YOU for praying for our family. We truly appreciate all that you have done and continue to do for our family. In many ways the burden is lighter when we know we have you. We could not do it without you. And we thank the Lord for you.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. –Acts 2:44-47

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, Susana, christianity, missionary | 2 Comments

Biltmore Baptist Brings the Love of Jesus to Haiti!!!

June 19, 2010

What an AWESOME week it has been to have the team from Biltmore Baptist with us in Haiti to reach out to the people with the love of Jesus. The team consisted of 14 people, all of which have showed such love and care to the people of Haiti. The group was divided into 3 different teams: The construction team which has been helping repair the home of the pastor that we are working with in the community, the outreach/orphan team which has been doing various outreaches in the morning and then ministering to the group of orphans that we are currently supporting, and the soccer team which has been joining the outreach and construction team in the morning and then have conducted soccer clinics/games in the afternoon with a large group of kids from a school in Marigot that we are partnering with.

Day 1

The team arrived on Monday afternoon. After having to file claims for 8 lost bags, we left the airport and began our 3 hour drive down to Jacmel. I absolutely love having new teams that have never been to Haiti before. Their comments and observations remind me of what my very first visit was like. I too would marvel over seeing pigs in the streets of Port au Prince eating the garbage, or the sight of a person bathing in dirty brown water. But, now after having lived in Haiti, its like I don’t even notice those things anymore because they are just so common.

Anyway, after getting to the mission house in the evening, the team was greeted by our awesome house staff with a meal that knocked their socks off. I had told the team that they would not suffer with regards to lack of good food. I think they finally believed me after eating dinner. They all ranted and raved over the food!

It was so late by that point and the team was so exhausted that I decided to postpone our orientation/devotion time for the morning. After dinner, everybody crashed hard. Well…not exactly. First, the girls got all wigged out because there was a huge cockroach in their room. So, after disposing of that, they found another one. So, after taking care of that one, I heard one of the girls say, “um…Cody…there’s a crab in our room…”. I didn’t believe them at first, but they insisted that they were telling the truth, so I went downstairs to investigate, and sure enough there was a crab about 5 inches long crawling in the corner. So…being a man as well as a missionary as well as a great host, I um….well I uh…kinda…got wigged out and asked one of the ladies to capture it so that we could get it out of the house. hahaha. Francie stepped up to the task and captured the little bugger and then I threw him over the fence. After sweating off a few pounds in the intense heat, the team finally fell asleep with the sound of fans blasting throughout the house.

Day 2

The day began very early for both Fenel and I, as well as our house staff, which consisted of a woman from the states named Sharon, who is kind of like Fenel’s adopted Mom as he spent 3 years living with her family in Ohio many years ago. Anyway, Sharon came down to help specifically with the team and she did an incredible job. So, Fenel was at the house early trying to fix our water pump which just happened to break just before the team was arriving. As he was working on that, I was on the phone with American Airlines trying to track down the lost luggage from yesterday. They told us that the bags had arrived and that we could pick them up at the airport in Port au Prince. So, my schedule for the day was instantly changed as I now had to spend the day driving to Port au Prince…again. Sadly, I had to take a team member with me so that the bags could be claimed. I felt bad having to take a team member since the whole group was so excited to start their week of outreach and ministry.

So, as I headed out to Port au Prince, the team broke up into their groups and headed out. The construction team headed down the street to work on Pastor Jean Franko’s house which sustained lots of damage from the earthquake. He was so happy to have a team come down and spend the week repairing his home. The outreach team headed over to the Sister’s of Charity orphanage to minister to the children. They had an awesome time holding babies and playing with children. They also saw baby Mackenson and prayed over him. They said that he looked very good. Praise the Lord. The report from the soccer team was great as well. Levi gathered the entire group together before starting and shared the gospel of Jesus with them, letting them know that this was most important. Many of the kids said they wanted to pray to receive Christ. Then they did the clinic and it went great. I think he said there were about 75 kids that showed up.

After making the long drive to Port, picking up the bags, and driving straight back, I felt like I wanted to take Robin (the team member that had to go with me and miss all the other outreach) to the places that the team went to earlier and even to some other places so that she could still get to reach out to children that day. So, we first went to the hospital infant room and prayed over a newborn baby who was very sick. Then, we went over to Sister’s of Charity orphanage and she got to see all the babies and little children. We also saw baby Mackenson. He looks great!!! He looks so healthy. I was so happy to see how well he is doing. I held him, kissed him, and prayed over him. I also got him to smile and giggle which made me so happy. It was hard to imagine that this was the same baby that was nothing but skin and bones when we first brought him in. Many thanks also to Hands and Feet orphanage who have helped care for him and visit him often. This is definitely a team effort and we are so blessed to be part of it.

After leaving the orphanage, I brought Robin to see Peterson and his wife. Peterson is the guy we helped get married by providing the funds, rings, clothes, etc. Unfortunately, Peterson was not home, but we did sit with his wife and other family members for a bit and spent some time with them. It was really good.

Lastly, we headed over to Hands and Feet orphanage to say hello to the staff and children there. It was great to see them. They are such cute kids. They call me Ti Kabrit, which means little goat. They are a lot of fun.

We then went back to the mission house for dinner with the team and then followed that with a recap of the day and a time of prayer and devotions. It turned out to be a fantastic day for everybody.

Day 3

This day was definitely the highlight of my time spent in Haiti. First, after the construction team departed, we headed up into the mountains to Kap Wouj, which is my favorite place to go in the mountains. The team was in shock with the steepness of the drive to get there and the level of poverty that they saw along the way. We did an outreach at the school where we are partnering with. There were about 100 or so kids, and they were very happy to see our group. The BBC team taught them a song in english, then told them a bible story. After that, we all went outside and just played like crazy! We played soccer, jump rope, did the limbo, threw a football, etc. Then, we gathered all the kids together and I shared a short message about sharing God’s love with others. We then gave them each a little stuffed animal on our way out.

When we got back to the Mission House, the team started preparing their craft activity for the orphaned children that would be arriving shortly while I took some time to work on my message since I would be preaching later that night.

Having the orphaned children come to our mission house was really a milestone for our ministry. Remember that our original vision for coming to Haiti was to develop a ministry for orphaned children. And now, the Lord has brought us a group of 23 orphaned children that we are starting a ministry to help care for them. This brings great joy to our heart as we are able to bring great joy to their hearts.

The kids all arrived and the team was so excited to see them. It was the first time for us to have children from the community into our home, and it was such a beautiful sight to see these 23 kids come in with anticipation of having a good time. We sang songs about Jesus. We shared the word of God with them. We did a craft activity. We did face painting. We measured their feet so that we can give them shoes the next day. We took a profile of each child so that we can begin getting these kids sponsored. It was an amazing time we had. The kids were so happy and thankful. They all gave us kisses and hugs before they left. It was definitely the highlight for me because I believe that it was the first fruits of many great things that the Lord is going to do now that we have a mission house to bring kids from the community into for discipleship, love, and encouragement. Many thanks go out to the awesome Calvary Chapel Castlerock Colorado team that came down a few months ago to paint the inside of the mission house in anticipation of what we are now experiencing. Again, a great partnership effort in order to grow the Kingdom of God.

After the kids left, we had just a few minutes to shovel down some good food and get ready for church and the fun night that we had planned for the church after service.

So, church was awesome. I love preaching the Word of God, especially in Haiti. I shared from Psalm 62. I talked about the victory that we have in Jesus, that the victorious life is not at all one that is pain and problem free, but rather one that can rejoice in the deepest pains and struggles of life because of our hope in Jesus and the power and love that He has. Just like David said in Psalm 62, “He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress. I will never be shaken”, we too can say the same thing because of our hope in Jesus. It was a good message that the people could relate to, and of course, I can relate to also. It is in the ability of us to be able to rejoice in the midst of such pain that will be a testimony to the world around us that Christ is indeed real and powerful and loving, and this testimony will bring glory and honor to God.

After service, we set up shop to make peanut butter sandwiches to give to everybody as well as juice. Then, we set up the projector and showed some Tom and Jerry cartoons. Everybody had such an amazing time. I am so thankful that the Lord is using us to be able to minister to this church. I really love Jean Franko and the people. They are very special to me.

Day 4

Well, this was my last day in Haiti and I had to get up at 4:00 AM to get to the airport by 7. I flew back to Ft Lauderdale at noon, jumped in my car, and headed north as far as possible to try to get as close to Asheville as I could before having to crash at a hotel. I made it to Savannah, GA.

The rest of the team is staying until Sunday. So, their plan for this day was to go to the school in Marigot where we are partnering with and deliver them food for our feeding program that we have started. Then, the team would have the orphaned children come to the mission house again for some fun and outreach. The team would also give clothes and shoes to each child. It would be a great day again for the team. The following day, they would go around our neighborhood in the morning to spend time with the kids in the area and just get to know them. Then in the afternoon they would go to an after school program in Jacmel and do an outreach with the kids.

Today (Saturday), the team is having a fun day. They will have a short tour of Jacmel in the morning, then in the afternoon they will go to Basin Bleau and swim at the waterfall, and then they will go out to eat at Cap Lanmandou Restaurant for dinner. Then, they will fly home early Sunday morning.

It has been a great blessing to have the Biltmore Baptist team come and serve with our ministry in Haiti. I know they had an awesome time, and it was so great to have them share in the work that we are doing in Haiti. I only hope that they will come back again.

I was very pleased with my trip back to Haiti. While there, Fenel and I spent some time planning and strategizing for the future of the ministry. I will say that I am VERY excited to see how the Lord is blessing the ministry and I am VERY excited for the things that we have planned for the future. I will be sharing more about this soon.

I also will post many pics on the next post, once I figure out how to upload them from my new Mac.

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, christianity, missionary | Leave a Comment

First few days in Haiti

June 12, 2010

Aside from leaving my laptop at the airport check point never to see it again, and leaving the power cord of a new computer that a friend asked me to purchase for him and bring down, things have been good.

The whole reason I left my computer and threw away the power cord of the other computer is because Spirit Airlines deceived me into thinking that I am allowed to check in 2 bags, both of which I paid for on-line prior to my trip, only to be told at the airport terminal that I can only check one bag and that I was going to have to condense my 2 bags into one before they could issue me my ticket. So, I had to rush and take all my stuff out of one bag and jam stuff it into the other one, while still keeping it under 50 lbs because they also stated that they will not take any bags over the weight limit.

Anyway, in my haste, I took my friend’s brand new computer out of the box to conserve space, but I forgot to take the power cord out as well and so I ended up throwing it away at the airport. Then, I had to take all my clothes and jam stuff them into my carry on backpack. At the security check point, I pulled out my laptop and sent it through separately, rushed through the rest because I was late due to having to repack my suitcases, and I left for the gate without remembering to pick up my laptop. Bummer!!!

I called them a few times since then and they said that nobody has returned a laptop to them…of course they didn’t. So, I leave it in the Lord’s hands and I pray for the person who stole my laptop. I pray that perhaps they will start it up and see some of my documents or recent websites that speak of the Lord and His goodness. I pray that the person will be convicted of what they did and they will return it. But I must remember that vengeance belongs to the Lord. So, I leave it in His hands and I move on.

It was great to see Fenel outside the airport waiting for me. The drive through Port au Prince was an immediate reminder of what I left behind, but have not forgotten. The damage in Port au Prince is exactly the same as it was since I left. It is so sad to know that billions of dollars have been sunk into Haiti and it still has not yet really reached the places where it is most needed.

Hey, here is something that I learned: Port au Prince has ATM machines! And guess what? Of the 4 that we went to, one of them actually worked! Haha. So, after about 2 hours of trying to get cash, we finally scored and I was able to withdraw the maximum amount allowed at that ATM…about $100 Woo Hoo!!! So, because this amount was ridiculously low, we still had to find a bank since our chances of finding another working ATM were no better than seeing a fat cow in Haiti.

After waiting about an hour and a half at the bank, we finally got some cash and we were able to purchase 10 chairs for the mission house. Then, we headed down to Jacmel.

It was great to get back to Jacmel and see everything that has become so familiar to me. What was even better was that I was able to see my good friend Terry who was there for the week with a small team of 4. We went out to dinner at Cap Lanmandou and had a good time.

The next day, him and another guy, Mike Fig…, came by the mission house and I took them around our neighborhood and showed him the different places where we have been ministering to families in our community. They brought some soccer balls and volley balls as well as some candy and gave these out to the kids. we had a great time. I showed them the houses that we have built. Every person who we built a house for insisted that we all come inside their house and have a picture taken with them. they are still just so happy about having a new home. Praise God for the impact that it has made.

After spending some time there, I took them down the street to Jean Franko’s church where we were able to spend some time with some of the orphaned children there. it was so good to see Jean Franko. We were both very happy to see each other. This is where we will have the upcoming Biltmore Baptist Team focus a lot of their efforts. We are going to be doing home repair to Jean Franko’s house since it sustained a lot of damage from the earthquake. We will also be doing a VBS type outreach for the orphaned children during the week. We also have a bunch of clothes and shoes that we will give the children. On Wednesday night, I will be preaching there, and then after the service we will have a very fun night with the kids and the church members. I am really excited about the Biltmore Team coming. We are going to have a great time.

Terry and his group left on Friday afternoon. It was great to be able to spend some time with them, show them what we are doing, and share with them some more about our vision for ministry. Lord willing, he will be back with a group from the church some time later this year. I am so glad that he had a great time while he was here in Haiti.

Last night, it was so stinkin’ hot that I had to sleep with 3 fans on me, and even then I was dripping with sweat! It was pure misery!!! It is certainly getting hot down here. I hope the Biltmore Team can handle it cuz it’s nothin’ at all like the summers in Asheville, NC.

Today, I did not leave the Mission House. I spent the entire day cleaning, organizing, and getting the house ready for the upcoming team. So, things are looking good and we are ready to rock and roll.

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti | 2 Comments

Colorado Represents!!!

April 17, 2010

The Colorado team that has been here this week has been awesome! The only problem is that none of them have up to date SD cards, therefore I don’t have many pictures to share at this point. So, they have really connected with the kids around our mission house and this has enabled us to get to know them more. This morning, they led a bible study outside the gate and several kids and adults came to hear the word of God. One kid gave his heart to the Lord!! These guys are serious when it comes to sharing the word of God.

On Wednesday night, we went to the church down the street that is caring for many orphaned children. We went to the evening service and then afterwards we had an outreach for the kids and adults there. We gave them peanut butter sandwiches and showed Tom and Jerry Cartoons on our projector. It was awesome!!! The kids loved it!!! I never had so much fun and laughter watching Tom and Jerry. This gave us a great time to get to know the kids. We are trying to develop a program that will help care for these orphaned children as well as orphaned children in other areas. We also are praying about helping rebuild this church since it suffered a lot of damage in the earthquake. The pastor’s name is Jean Franko. He is a very humble man who loves God so much and really loves the people who God has put under his care. We are going there tomorrow for Sunday services. The pastor asked me to preach there some time. I will take him up on that in the near future.

Today, we took the team up to the mountains in Kap Wouj. We didn’t have anything planned, but it turned out to be a great time. We walked around the village just spending time with families and many children. Then we gave some frisbees, bubbles, candy, and other things away to the children. We played with them for a while and the kids had a great time. I also learned from the school director up there that there are about 25 orphaned children who are attending the school. We also were at the school in Marigot yesterday and learned that there are about 15 orphaned children that attend that school. So, as we are preparing to start a ministry to help orphaned children, it seems that we have quite a few orphaned children to get started with. Please keep these things in prayer as the need is so great.

We had the team over here for dinner tonight. We fed them chocolate cake for desert and they all felt guilty for suffering for the sake of the gospel:) We ae about to kick them out so that Maria and I can watch the newest episode of LOST.

The team has had a great week. They have been a real blessing to us. They painted the mission/discipleship house, so soon we will open the doors to begin discipleship among the youth in the community. I just spoke with a handful of kids who have been hanging outside the gate of the mission house all week I asked them who would be interested in starting a bible study that would meet in the discipleship house. Every kid there raised their hand with eagerness. I told them that this would not be a time to mess around or make jokes or whatever, but this would really be a time to learn the bible and worship Jesus. They all said that they would definitely want to do that and they asked me when this will begin. So, it looks like we already have our first discipleship group ready and waiting to go.

I look forward to seeing what the Lord does as we begin to get more intentional on sharing and teaching the word of God to the kids in the community. We still need to furnish the house with chairs, couches, benches, etc, so please pray that the Lord will provide all that is needed so that we can get things started.

We thank the Lord for all of His provision, mainly His grace that has saved us from our sins and bought us a place in heaven for us who trust in Him. He is good!!!!

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, christianity, missionary | Leave a Comment

From Mississippi to Colorado

April 13, 2010

So, our Lifebridge team left last Saturday. They did an absolutely amazing job building a house from virtually start to finish within a week. The family was so happy. I drive by them every day and they are still all smiles and waves every time I pass by.

Now, there is a team from Calvary Chapel Colorado that is here visiting the area and doing ministry. They have connected well with the kids in our neighborhood and are really enjoying getting to know the haitian people. They have also been helping us get our new team house in order. Tomorrow, they will begin to paint it and hopefully they will complete it before the end of the week. There is a Calvary Chapel house up the steet from us, therefore we see a lot of the teams that come through there. We work well together and we help each other out often. It is good kingdom building work that is going on between us.

So, we really enjoy these Calvary Chapel Colorado guys that are here for the week. This is their first mission trip, and they are loving it! Tomorrow, after painting, we will bring them down the street to a church that we have been helping. We will do an outreach for the children there, 20 of them which are orphans who we are wanting to begin a ministry to support them. So, we will bring them some sandwiches and snacks and we will show a kids movie for them. We should have a great time.

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, christianity, missionary | 1 Comment

Lifebridge Team Day 3 and 4…

April 8, 2010

T,he team continued working fast and furious on the house yesterday and today. They are doing an awesome job! What a blessing it will be for this family to have had a house completed in one week. They are so happy.

Yesterday, in addition to them working on the house, we brought them down to the afterschool program that we are partnering with. We bought some food since the program has been out of food since Saturday. We all had a great time there singing praise songs with the kids and just sowing God’s love into their hearts.

Today, , after working on the house for the day, we brought the team down the street to a church that we have been supporting since the earthquake. This pastor is a very humble guy who I can see loves Jesus and really cares about his flock. We have been giving him food and supplies since he has nothing. Today, we went there so that we could meet the children, of which many are orphaned as a result of the earthquake. We had a great time with them. When we came in, they were singing a song that was basically saying “welcome friends”. They had also made a sign saying, “Welcome Cody”. It was so sweet to see the thought that they put into our visit.

We sang some songs with them, gave out some cookies and sweets to each child as well as some bubbles and soccer balls. Then, Theresa, one of the team members, led the children in a craft activity in which they designed a cross. Then, Greg, the pastor on the team, shared a short message with the children about how we can be thankful to Jesus for giving us light and life. We had a great time. I look forward to getting to know those children better and seeking ways in which we can minister to them.

Posted by Cody | Filed Under Haiti, christianity, missionary | Leave a Comment

Lifebridge Church works hard on day 1

April 5, 2010

We welcomed the team from Lifebridge Church yesterday. The team came ready to build a home for a local neighbor whose home was totally crashed to the ground. Up to this day, the family are sleeping in tents. But now, thanks to Lifebridge they will have a home before the rainy season begins. The family is really excited about it. Here are some pictures of what day one looked like for the team.—Maria