Mother's Day

Bonswa tout moun!! Hello everyone!
Happy Mother's Day to all!


John 19:25-27
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the diciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27 and to the disciple, "here is your mother." From that time on, the disciple took her into his home.


Today is the day we all try to take care of our mothers, no matter what age we are. Our mother's take care us from the time we are made in the womb until they no longer can. Through our whole lives here, they tend to our needs as a child, start to let us have independence as teenagers, and then let us go as adults to start our own families. All the while, maybe secretly or not, wondering if they've done enough to send us out into the world. No matter our age, our moms always think about us and if we are "OK". No matter what our relationship is with our mom, she still wonders "how things are going". No matter her age, she still trys to "take care of" us. No matter where we are, she will "contact us". No matter what her needs are, she will put "ours before hers". A mother's love is unconditional!


Mary's love for Jesus was exemptlatory! She trusted God from the time she was told she was going to birth him until (and after) the day he died. We do not know much about his childhood, but from our own experiences (whether your a mother or not), we can safely assume that she put him before herself in all facets of his childhood. We know that when he was lost, that she along with Joseph, frantically looked for him in the temple. As Jesus walked this earth, she was following him and "keeping an eye out for him". Always knowing what he was into and doing, probably trying to make sure he was safe, all the while knowing his destiny. It is hard to know, feel, or even comprehend how she felt on that day. Was it bittersweet for her? Her son had to die, be the ultimate sacrifice, to save others even herself. But, even on the cross, bleeding, in pain, thirsting, wanting it to end, Jesus was thinking of her! He knew she was grieving for him, wanting to help him, to "take care of" him, as any mother does when seeing her child in pain. So, in the midst of it all, he told her, "here is your son" standing next to you. And, to him, "here is your mother", take care of her. Before Jesus died he had made sure that his mother was taken care of AND that she had someone to care for too. Not to take his place in her life but someone to help her along the way of life. Life without her son, the chosen one, the one who saved us all by dieing for us. The one whom loves us all and all we have to do is say "YES Jesus I believe"!


Today is Mother's Day, may we all bless our mothers today and everyday. There will come a time when the tides turn and we will have to take care of our mothers in some way. May we look at Jesus's example, and try to do the same for ours as he took care of Mary.


Blessings to all,
Andy, Theresa, Miranda, Ariel, & Zacchaeus

Time

Does your days, weeks, & months go as fast as ours? It is so hard to believe it is the end of January. I look back at our two and a half months in Haiti and just stand in awe of everything that has been completed. We now have power on the whole campus. The town of Borel has clean drinking water from the solar powered well pump that God provided, and we are on our fifth work team of the 2012 year. (It would take a long time to list all the jobs that was done by the teams.) This has been a great two months of getting things done. So much time spent work on things. Then I asked myself how much time has been given to God? When I ask this question I mean quality time with God. Like a father and child taking time to grow closer together. I'm so ashamed to admit that I haven't spent anytime with God it the past two months. People have a misconception that missionaries are these so holy people that have it all together when it comes to time with God. Not true. I just spent two months working for God, but not taking time out of my day for God. It is so easy for us to work for God and think we are going to grow closer to Him. I'm reminded of the two sisters in Luke chapter 10:38-42, one sister is working so hard to prepare food and make everything perfect for Jesus while the other just sits and spends time with him. Jesus is pleased with the one spending time with Him. So I challenge you, just as I'm challenging myself to spend that time with Jesus. Just sit at His feet and listen to Him, read your bible, spend extra time praying. If you feel distant from Him it is because you are walking in the wrong direction. I've been walking in the wrong direction, but starting now I'm turning around.
I also promise to post more about the things Gods is doing here in Haiti.

Everyday life..

Things are going well here in Haiti. We are getting a lot of things done on the campus preparing for the arrival of team. Today I had a guy come and trim off the dead palm branches off the trees above some of the houses. He came with two ropes and a machete. As was amazed when I saw how he was going to climb the trees. He had full trust in his ropes. It took him about 30 minutes per tree, I don’t know how his legs and feet still had circulation. I’m always impressed with the way Haitians work. There is never a job that one of them can’t do. And they are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever been around. (not all of them of course)
Everyone in the family is doing well. Zacc has a couple of Haitian boys that he plays with everyday. Kishmee and Daniel, I can hear him speaking Creole words to them. It excites me that he is learning Creole. Ariel started an English class. She has four students. I see her writing on the chalkboard and having the kids remember poems. I’m not sure if she realizes but I think it is helping her learn Creole too. Miranda has been playing soccer and riding her bike a lot. She has really been helping us around the house. Theresa is busy home schooling and getting things unpacked. We do have a new member of the family it is a puppy named Zeus. Duckenson brought it for the kids. At first I wasn’t happy but he has really grown on us. I will post pictures later. Well that is all that is going on in our world right now. Nothing amazing just everyday life. We hope everyone is well and giving their best to God.

settling In

We made it to Haiti without any major problems. We traveled with 12 checked bags and 10 carry ons. We had a good person check us in curbside at Regan International. He told me some of my bags were heavy, which I knew. He said he would check us in too so we didn't have to pay extra. That saved us a lot of money, $100 per bag. The Port Au Prince airport was a little harder to get though. As I was getting our bags I had Ariel get in line for a cart. After I got all of our bags I looked and Ariel was next in line. I went over to her and she told me people kept cutting in front of her. In Haiti that happens a lot.
The next day was busy, Theresa home schooled the kids and unpacked our bags. I hooked up a well pump so we would have water from our new well. I have been also working to upgrade the power lines on the campus. We have a lot to do to get ready for the teams that start coming December 28. We are almost booked full until the end of March. We do have a week in January if anyone is interested. We had a team cancel.
The kids are adjusting great. Ariel and Zacc have been playing with the cooks kids. Miranda has been playing soccer and her DS game. We praise God for everything good. It is hard to believe we are here. It has been two years since we first started talking about it. God is good.

God at work

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging, but I promise I will try to keep everyone updated. This weekend we went to speak at a church in Manassas, Va. We spend Saturday with our friends Ryan and Karla touring the Smithsonian. Then this morning we spoke at their church.
As some of you know I wanted to put a solar pump on the well in Borel that supplies water to the town. I have been researching the cost and how they work. I'm currently waiting on a bid from a company so I know the end cost. I figured it will be around $3600. I wanted to order everything we needed this week so I was going to use our money with hopes of getting paid back later.
I have been praying that God would send the people to Manassas to help us pay for the solar pump. We got to church this morning ready to speak and Theresa said to me, I don't think we should show pictures today let's just speak. I gave her the deer in the headlights look because we are going to speak in 15 minutes and I'm prepared to show pictures not just speak. I knew she was right so we changed our presentation. We let God lead this morning and talked about what He wanted everyone to hear. I told the church about the solar pump and the cost. The church allowed us to put a basket out for donations. After the service I was counting the money hoping to have a couple hundred dollars, but thankful for any amount. Then I came to a check for $3600. I was shocked. I showed Ryan and he looked at the name on the check. He told me that today was the first time this individual had come to this church and the person asked the pastor how long we would be there because he wanted to run home and get his check book. Just think about that for a minute. I always say God can't surprise me any more. Then He does. God is always working in our lives. Are we willing to put faith and trust in Him? Our God has unlimited resources. God answered the prayer of a guy who wanted to put a solar pump to provide water to a town. I also think He answered a prayer of an individual who asked God where do you want me to give your money. Thank you God for all of your hard work!!!

Love

We have only been in Haiti for two days, but it feels like we never left. Everyone is having a great time. We brought Zacc’s bike so he has been riding all over the compound, Ariel has been playing domino’s and cards every night since we got here, and Miranda has been helping work in our house getting it ready to paint. We will be really glad to get into our house so we can unpack all of our things. We are staying in the guest house with the current team. They are a great group of people!
The team has the task of putting a roof on Watson’s house. On Monday we went to St. Marc to buy all of the supplies, that meant I would be driving the big truck. I really didn’t want to drive a stick through the busy streets of St. Marc, but it went well. It took most of the day to get the supplies needed. We had a truck full of lumber and sheet metal. I pulled the truck off the road by the path that leads to Watson’s house and we started to unload. As we carried the items back to his house more and more people started helping to carry the supplies. It was amazing to see how everyone just started helping. I watched a lady come up to the truck and grab a 16 foot 2x4 and carry it to the house. It made me think about the US, how often do we take the time to help out our neighbors? Are we willing to go and help without being asked? The more time I spend in Haiti the more I love the people. The Haitian people don’t have much, but they are HAPPY, They have a love for one another that is awesome and many have a greater love for Christ. Maybe Haitians focus so much on God and each other because they don’t have all the distractions that we have in our lives. We as Americans tend to focus our LOVE on things and not people or GOD. We are always thinking how things will make us happy, but the TRUTH is only GOD’S LOVE will make our hearts content.
I will try to post every other night. The internet has been slow so I will post pictures and video when I can. I have been uploading a video on youtube for the past hour and I still got 15 minutes to go. The video is of the worship service Watson had for the local children. I started it in the summer and told Watson he need to continue to teach the children about Jesus. It started that first Sunday with a hand full of children and on Sunday there was about 80 to 90 children. The video is at the beginning of the service, kids just kept coming. I ask that you keep this ministry in your prayers, these children are the future of the Church and of Haiti. It only takes a little spark to start a fire!

Satan Hard at Work

Have you ever felt lead to do something for God? And as you go on that path follow Christ you keep getting hit by satan. That is how this last week has been for me. Every time I turn around I see a reason for us not to come back in January. Satan is hard at work here in Haiti, He doesn't want Gods Will to be done.
I was outside tonight just looking at the sky when my friend Marcus come by me. He said "that I was quiet tonight." He also asked "what would I tell my friends and family when I went home about Haiti." I told him that I had a good time but have been over whelmed a lot. I asked him how he would feel if everywhere he went people asked for things, even the shoes on your feet. The constant need overwhelms me. Everyday you hear another story of someone in need. I told him that I don't have a lot of money and I can't help everyone, How do I decide who to help and who not too? What he said made me almost hit myself in the head. He said "you could have a lot of money it doesn't matter, what you need to do is to ask God to lead you. He is all knowing and will tell you who to help. That was exactly the answer I should have already thought of, but satan had me so discouraged my vision was blurry and I was trying to do things on my own. When we try to do that we let satan get his foot in the door. That is when we will struggle!
Marcus also told me that he hopes I start a church here on the compound. He wants to learn the Bible. I told him I want to have a Bible study during the week and some kind of worship on Sunday night. After the conversation with him I seen the most important reason why we will be coming back to Haiti in January. That is to share Jesus Christ with as many people as we can! I can see the hunger for Jesus that many of the people around us have. No matter how hard it gets here, Gods strength will get us through it.
Theresa has had a great week. She told me yesterday "Is it wrong that I feel bad about leaving and would stay longer." She has people bringing her presents all the time. Yesterday and today two young girls brought he cherries. Marcus told us the second week we were here that all the Haitians know Theresa. He said everywhere he would go people would be talking about Theresa. I'm sure blessed to have such a wonderful wife.
The kids are ready to come home. Zacc said he wants to see his meme and maam. The girls are anxious to start school and see all their friends. I have asked them if they wanted to come back in January and they said yes. So God has been very good to us here in Haiti. We had no major sickness with anyone and we were able to meet a lot of great people, Haitians as well as Americans, oh yeah I can't forget about my Canadian friends too. We ask for your prayer for strength as we try to get everything done we need to get done before we go. (which is a lot more than we had to get done before we left the US.) Also please pray for our friends we leave behind. I know there will be a lot of tears shed on Sunday when we leave for Pierre Pyen.