Sunday, June 29, 2014

With grateful hearts

Hello again,
Hope you are having a wonderful summer Sunday. Mike is preaching in Marotte and Nathan is preaching in Pass Rien. And I am home with my 8 year old son Joshua. He has the chikungunya virus which is spread from mosquitoes. Most of Haiti has it or had it. According to what I've heard It came from South Africa. I thought we had managed to avoid it, but I guess not. You mostly get a fever, rash and bad joint pain. So we would appreciate your prayers please. 

We had a great night in Pass Rein. Nathan led worship, Mike and Rusty preached, Joann and Mike from the Anacortes team shared their testimonies. And best of all five women were prayed over and set free. I am constantly in awe over God's love. He continues to allow us to participate in bringing his light and glory to the Pass Rein area. 

So I am sitting here with my 6 year old daughter and I asked her what else did the team do lately? She looks at me and says, painted my nails, sang songs, played with me and played with Dieka. I guess her perspective of the important things the team did is very different from mine.  Hmmm I wonder what God would deem most valuable. Something to think about.

Yesterday, Nathan and Mike rented a big bus and took the teachers and school directors from all of our schools to a beach near Arcahaie. Nathan's wife made a beautiful meal for them to eat. They talked about how the school year went and what they want to see for next year. Then they spent the day relaxing. It was constructive, but also a thank you to them for the work they do.

Mike also took the team to Saint Marc yesterday, they were such a blessing to all of us in the Children's Village. He will  take them to the airport Tuesday morning. Please pray for safe travel for them and for on time flight connections. 

On another note, a very exciting note for both us personally and for the ministry. My son Jacob and his wife Amber along with their family of 3 and 1/2 little ones arrive in Haiti Tuesday, along with my daughter Rebecca, soon to be followed by her 9 year old son (who will be staying with his other Grandpa and Grandma for a week or so). Her husband Andrew will follow in about a year. He has
some commitments to finish up with first. We are excited personally to have some of our children and grandchildren ministering with us. It has been so hard being far away from family. But, we are also excited for the ministry as the two families will be running transitional housing for our aging out orphans. Jacob and Amber will be running Dita's home and the ministry for the girls and Rebecca and Andrew will be running the home and ministry for the boys. We are excited because they are not just providing a house, they are providing a true transition into adult life. This program is offered to those children that are trying to finish high school or vocational training. They will also receive training in cooking, cleaning, laundry, purchasing food, budgeting and inductive bible study, along with other life skills. We are so thrilled to be able to offer a life giving alternative to being put out on the streets.

The venture of transitional housing was the focus of our May fundraiser headed up by our daughter Amber, she along with Mia, Jesse, Jacob, Melissa and Dustin and a few others, worked hard to raise funds for this project. This project was also the focus of our very faithful friends, Bob and Rose Crabtree's mission store. They hold a mission store for us each summer with a particular theme. They invite their friends to a picnic lunch and share, sometimes they have a store set up of actual items needed, this time they focused on transitional housing and it was very successful. We received many notes telling of how enjoyable the time was. Rose asked our son's Jacob and Jesse to speak. Jacob spoke on the transitional home and his family's calling to minister in that area. Jesse, whom we adopted from Haiti 25 years ago, spoke from both his heart and his perspective. We are very proud of them. We are also very grateful to Bob and Rose and their friends for their help and support.

Thank you for reading my thoughts and thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings,
Chris

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