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.

Bible Study

If you don't know it Haiti is full of voodoo. I recently read a blog from a fellow Haitian Missionary he was talking about voodoo and the beliefs. Please read his blog on voodoo before you read mine so you have some insight on voodoo. (http://newvisionhaiti.blogspot.com/) After I read it I decide to talk with a couple of my boys about it. I couldn't believe they told me everything he had written. They told me that Athensian had an older brother die after being flashed one night. I asked if they were scared about voodoo, they said they were. I told them I wasn't afraid of anything, and then I showed them Ephesians 6:10-18. These verses talk about putting on the armor of God. It is perfect for them. Athesian was so impressed that he asked if I could speak about this when we had our next service. So today we had our service, I would call it more of a Bible study with lots of questions. Athensian brought a friend, as we read the verses I could see that the new boy was taking everything in. After we finished reading the questions started. I could see he is searching for the answers, I did my best to answer them and add insight when I could. I got him a Bible and told him I would mark some verses for him. He wanted to know how he could get the armor of God. I told him it all has to start with Christ. So if you are reading this please pray for him. Pray that God will help me talk with him. He is so close. We are planning on having a Bible study on Thursday, I will encourage him to bring his questions then. I pray that Watson will keep our group going so the boys will have someone helping them to come to have a relationship with Christ.

Work team

We had a great time with all the work teams we have had here. The last team that was here was a great group of people. They worked very hard and accomplished many things. They got the roof finished on our house, and also painted it. They also painted Steve's roof too. I really like the colors. One thing cool was the team got to work with some of the Haitian boys. They got interact with them, even though they spoke different languages you could really see the bonds forming. This really gets me excited, because not only did we get things done around the compound, the team was able to teach the Haitians different forms of work. The team was also able to see how hard they work and how dedicated the Haitians are. The boys were here first thing in the morning everyday ready to work. I know that the team went home having a different outlook about the Haitian people.
That is one of our goals, we want a changed person getting on that plane in Port Au Prince. I want people to come and experience what God is doing here. He will change your life if you are willing to let Him. God works through all kinds of people. I see it here in Haiti all the time!
It is hard to beleive that the summer is almost finished. We only have 11 days to go. On one hand I'm excited to get back to the States, but I'm also sad because all of my friends are sad we are leaving. Please pray for them. They come to the compound everyday, their lives will have a huge hole when we leave. There is so much work here that needs done. And when I say work I'm not just talking about physical work, I'm also talking about Spiritual work. The harvest here in Haiti is ready, God just needs the workers. So if you think that God wants you to come to Haiti, don't be afraid.