Prayers for travel and a very funny story :)

Hello,

Hope you are all well. We have a broken generator and are now running on a small capacity generator, which is again making it difficult to keep up good communication. We are on the brink of going solar though, thanks to friends from Cookshill Community Church, they held a fundraiser for a complete solar powered system for the Children's village and medical clinic here in Marose. So this summer thanks to them and a couple of other friends we will be going solar. God is so faithful.

Tonight Mike is flying back to Washington. Please pray for safe travel and connecting flights. Pray for safe travel to and from speaking engagements and also two fundraisers. We would also appreciate prayer for our two fundraisers. The first one is tomorrow (Saturday), in Lynden. This fundraiser is our annual US fundraiser. The second one is the Mission Store, which will be held on June 27th. For more information on tomorrows fundraiser you can view the invitation below.

Now, for the funny story. Yesterday Mike rode his motorcycle into the city. He has lost some weight since moving to Haiti. He is finding himself pulling up some of his pants frequently, so they do not fall down. The shorts he wore into town were bothering him, so when he parked his moto, he noticed some twine on the back of his moto. He was removing it when a Haitian man came up to him and asked him if he was Haitian or American? Granted all Haitian's are black not white, but this was not what the man was getting at. Before answering Mike bent down and grabbed a rock and laid the twine on the edge of the road and started hitting the twine with the rock to cut it. He then picked up the twine and threaded it through his belt loops to make a belt to hold up his shorts. After watching the process, the man answered his own question. He said that it was obvious that Mike was Haitian :) Hope this brings a smile to your face as it did ours.

On a side note, I would also love and appreciate your prayers as I negotiate living in Haiti with five children on my own for the month of June. 

Blessings,

Chris

Hello,

We have had an interesting last few days. So glad all of you have been praying for us. We have had our son and his family visiting, which has been great. Three days ago we decided to visit a little oasis we have found in the city of Gonaives. It is a work in progress, but a very peaceful place to be. We found this place right before our 5 year old daughter's birthday and celebrated her day there. We also celebrated my grandson's birthday there before he flew back home with my daughter. We decided it would be fun to take my son and his family there. They have a small concrete pool. One half of the pool is shallow and one half is deep. My two year old grandson was playing in the pool and slipped and cut himself, behind his ear. Our friends from Much Ministries have a medical clinic like we do. Because we were in Gonaives, their clinic was closer, so we took him to their clinic. He needed three stitches. We went back to eat and it started raining. It is the rainy season in Haiti, and when it rains it is serious. We have had four concrete cinder blocks on our window sill holding the curtain down to keep the rain out and the rain and wind has blown them down multiple times. So we are eating outside and have to move inside, within minutes the ground outside is flooded and coming inside the covered patio we are on. The two resident ducks are swimming in the yard outside. When it slowed up a bit we decided to head for home. The only problem is the three bridges we need to cross are not passable and the road around the bridges is 10 to 15 feet under water. So now we have 5 adults and 8 children unable to make it back to the children's village. Our friends from Much Ministries had also been eating where we were, so we called them and they graciously offered to put all 13 of us up for the night. They already had a team staying with them. God was looking out for us.

The next day was bright and sunny. Mike, Jacob and Nathan had a youth event planned for the day. Mike started preaching, then it started raining again. He had to compete with the sound of the rain on the metal roof of our church. The youth also had to play musical chairs as the wind and rain choose to change direction and come in different windows. Nathan lead worship before, during and after. Jacob then gave a message. He preached on how great Heaven would be and how great it was that most of them in the room would be able to be in Heaven. Then he shared that as each one of us comes to the Lord, we are given a stack of invitations to pass out. He also shared that some of the people around us would not be in Heaven, because we had not passed out those invitations. Then he challenged them to use the invitations given to them and invite their family, friends and others into a relationship with Jesus. They worshiped for a while and then Nathan asked any one who wanted Jacob to pray for them to get in a line, so Jacob said he prayed for a huge line of youth. God gave him individual words for each of one. God is so good. 

So while the youth event was going on and the youth were getting prayed for, our rooms were flooding and our beds were getting soaked. Bedding and mattresses from 13 beds, plus curtains, clothing etc. We came home to a mess, water running out of our door. Water also flooding the 2 apartments we are building, one of which is going to be our home. So we were mopping the floors and cabinets in the apartments too. 

Today all is back to normal, what ever that is here :) Only my laundry (which is all washed and rung out by hand) got wet by the rain today. I would really appreciate your prayers for the window man to finish installing glass in the windows of the team rooms, one of which our family is in, the other of which Jacob's family is in, along with Kiana, also the windows in the apartments. The glass would protect the cabinets and our things once we move in. Please also pray for the electrician, plumber and cement worker to finish their part of our apartment. It would be really helpful to be in more then one room. 

Tomorrow Nathan will be leading worship in Pass Rien and and Mike will be preaching. Kiana, Amber and Jacob will probably be sharing something also. Please be praying that God continues to move in the hearts of the people of Pass Rien. And thank you for all of your prayers for the ministry and our family, I am certain things would have looked very different the last three days if you had not been praying for us. As it turned out, there was little damage and just a whole lot of work. 

Blessings,

Chris

Riding in a tap tap

Some of the bibles YOU purchased.

Playing with dolls.

                                   

Sewing clothes for dolls.

Playing with Legos.

Our CTK Team

Jeff and Darrell 

Children drawing in our room.

The huge baptism from all of our churches together.

Hello,

Hope all is well with you. We have had some amazing experiences with God these past two weeks. Last week the village of Perou held a revival each night. The theme was "Rebuilding the wall with God's help." It was based on Nehemiah 1:4. Mike preached some of the evenings and Nathan lead worship some of the evenings. During the week Mike also spent time during the day meeting with the Pastor of Perou and also with some of the leaders. He spent time walking around the village and visiting with people. He was able to see sugarcane harvested and also sugarcane syrup being made, in much the same way as it was hundreds of years ago. Complete with actual horse power. This past Sunday was the final day of the revival culminating in a 5 hour church service. There were over 30 salvation's during the week. There were also many re-dedications and prayers for healing. The Holy Spirit has been really moving. God has been so merciful to the village of Perou. Please continue to pray for the village of Perou.

This Monday my son Jacob and his family have come for a visit. They will be in Haiti for two weeks. They brought all of the ingredients with them for making Tacos. Tacos is one meal that Mike has really missed. We fixed the Tacos tonight and they were wonderful. It has been a blessing to have some of my children and also some of our friends visit these past few months.

Our apartment is getting close to being finished. Please pray that we are able to have most of it finished and be moved in before Mike flies back to the US for our annual fundraiser and a Logos Bible Software seminar. He will also be back in the states for Rose's Mission Store and for various speaking engagements. It would be easier for me to be settled and not living with all seven of us in the same room. It has been much like camping. And, after almost 3 months of living this way I am really looking forward to a little bit more space :) I can't even have quiet time in the bathroom.

Last night a very sad and exciting event happened. Nathan's wife was at the hospital where she works and a lady came to the hospital to give birth, which is unusual in Haiti. She must have been having trouble. Afterwards she left and would not take the baby with her. Madame Nathan offered the hospital to take the baby and care for her. The hospital gave her permission, so now Nathan and his wife are the proud parents of a little baby girl. We are sad for the mother, but at the same time very excited for Nathan and his wife. I will post a photo as soon as I am able to take one. 

Thank you all so very much for your faithful prayers for the ministry and our family.

Many blessings,

Chris

Hello,

I've missed writing to you. We only use the generator for power in the evenings so between going to the nightly church services and having the internet down for a few days, I have not been able to update you.There seems to be no rhyme or reason in regards to our ability to connect to the internet, other then harassment from the enemy. 

We were blessed to have a CTK team visit us. They were here for a pastors conference, they also did some teaching with our Good Shepherd pastors. They spent time with the children, including giving out glo-sticks, which the children love and they spent some time praying for us and encouraging us, both of which were greatly appreciated. The team also attended Friday's all night prayer and worship celebration in Pass Rien. Rusty taught and each team member shared testimonies or stories and scriptures. It was a special night for Pastor Rusty as he was with the team that went to Pass Rien the first time, nearly two years ago, to pray over the village and try to sense if God was calling us to work in Pass Rien. He helped to lead 4 of the 7 people to the Lord that first visit. It was also exciting for the team to experience the Spirit of God moving in Pass Rien.  We had 27 people give their lives to the Lord that night. The worship led by Pastor Nathan was very powerful. Thank you for all your prayers for Pass Rien, the people still are meeting every night, they just love worshiping God and learning about Him.

Mike is preaching every Sunday, plus a couple of times a week. He would greatly appreciate your prayers. Also we are still in the adjustment period as a family and would appreciate your prayers for our family as well. We were able to get a break as a family. We found a hotel with a pool, and took our three youngest children along with the two children we are in the adoption process with. They had never been to a hotel before, it was a very new experience for them. It was also a great bonding experience. We are getting a bit better at speaking the language which helps. Jonas, one of our translators is teaching us now. Total immersion also helps, when there is no team, there is no translator to help us, except when Mike is preaching. So we are learning out of the necessity to communicate :) 

Next week, Jacob, one of our sons will be coming to visit with his family. I am excited to see them. 

Please know that we are very appreciative of your prayers, they are very important to us.They are our life line so to speak. 

Many Blessings,

Chris