May 22 ,2011

Hello
I heard from Mike tonight. The team is doing very well. He said the last day of the pastors conference was good.They talked about unity among the pastors. They also talked about forgiveness, bitterness and making things right with each other before taking communion. Then they gave everyone 10 or so minutes to be quiet before the Lord or to go to who they needed to so they could make things right before they took communion. Pastor Steve felt like the team was supposed to stand in for all of the white people who had treated the Haitians poorly, unfairly and unequally, and for the church and missionaries who had misrepresented God so poorly.Then they asked the Haitan pastors to forgive them. He said it broke open the flood gates. He said many came forward with stories, who had been taught to hate white people and had been in turmoil.There was a spirit of repentance. He said the Haitian pastors also asked for forgiveness. He said the unity was very powerful. Thank you so much for your prayers during the conference.
One interesting tid bit for those of you who have been to Haiti. On the way up to the orphanage Mike noticed that the paved part of the road (which has become longer every trip) had actually been painted with a stripe down the center. Something we have never seen before, not even in Port-au-Prince the capital city. When driving in Haiti they never stay on a certain side of the road. And in Port-au-Prince the roads have as many people in the streets as cars. The first 3 stoplights were put into place in Port-au-Prince less than 5 years ago.
Mike said the big cumings diesel generator we shipped to Haiti is finally hooked up and running. So now the power is a little more consistent in the evening. Before there were two little generators that supplied inconsistent power in the evening.
Mike taught in church this morning and it went well. Then, I guess the more Mike talked with Jonas about marrying Nadine, he found out Jonas had talked to her about getting married but had not actually proposed. So after getting her father Nathaniel's blessing a few days ago, Mike suggested he needed to actually ask her not just talk about it. Mike told him how in the states traditionally the man gets down on one knee and asks the girl if she will marry him. Jonas is a shy quiet kind of guy, but after church in front of the whole orphanage and staff he got down on one knee and asked and I guess Nadine was speechless and blushing. So Mike told her she needed to answer something not just keep him waiting there. So she said yes and then the whole orphanage started cheering. Everyone is just thrilled. Later the team played with the children and built balsa wood airplanes with them. They also hiked up the mountain to the cross. On each trip we try to plan some food that would be fun and new for the children, so today the girls on the team made brownies for them, which they throughly enjoyed. Pastor Steve taught evening church and each of the team members shared their testimonies. Then they passed out glow sticks in the evening which is one of the children's favorite activities. I guess the mosquito's are really bad this trip, which is unusual. The orphanage is not by any standing water. It is very dry around the orphanage. The only water around is a moving river. Please pray that no one gets sick from the mosquito's. While Mike was talking to me they were having a lightening storm.
Tomorrow Pastor Steve will be traveling back to Port-au-Prince to fly home. Please pray for safe travel for him. The rest of the team will be traveling to a new village. This villiage would like us to start a church and school for them. Please pray for direction and discernment as they visit. We want to be doing only what we believe God is asking us to do. We also have 3 new boys in the orphanage who are brothers, they are about 8,9 and 10 years of age. And we might be getting a little girl, mike says she looks like she is about 3 years old. Please pray for their adjustment. The children are very good about drawing the new ones in and making them feel apart of the group.
Well that is all for now, thank you so much for all of your prayers we really appreciate them.
Blessings,
Chris