Decorating

Setting up

Ironing the wedding clothes

Nathan brought more decorations

Nathan and Steph

The hat

The hair

Flowers

All ready

Kegan and Steph with the flower girls

The first bite of cake

Bubbles for the send off

And they are off :)

Hello, 

The wedding bells have rung !!!!!!! Steph and Kegan are married!!!! 

We were very blessed to have Steph and Kegan choose to come to Haiti to be married. Steph lived with us in Lynden for a year. And Steph has spent quite a bit of time in Haiti with us. She recieved the nursing hours she needed between LPN and RN school in our medical clinic here in Haiti, along with many short term mission trips. So we were pleased they chose to get married here. Mike officiated the wedding, Nathan and Chael also spoke. It was mostly American in style, but had bits of a Haitian style wedding also. Two of our little girls were the flower girls. They blew petals all the way down the isle. Steph had brought some decorations, but Nathan surprised her and Kegan by getting more decorations for them and having them all set up when she came to look. Steph was so blessed she started crying. There was a mix of English and Creole worship songs. Also Nathan's choir sang for them. They said vows they wrote and Haitian wedding vows. All in all it was a pretty special day. They stayed the night at our house and flew back to the states the next morning. Jason also flew back with them. They arrived back home today. Thank you so much for your prayers for their day.

Mike will be flying to Tennessee on Tuesday. He will be attending an Orphan Summit for a few days, then flying on to Lynden. He will be there for our annual fundraiser dinner on Saturday, May 2, in the Jansen Art Center in Lynden. Please remember to pray for the evening. Mike will also be sharing at the Canadian appreciation evening Friday, May 8th. This will be held at Gary and Wendy Nyboer's home. He is looking forward to seeing each of you. 

A few of you have asked if you could help with our new play and pray room. Yes you can! I would love it if we could get some black (not white or hispanic) Barbie dolls and baby dolls. Doll clothes for both Barbie and baby dolls would also be appreciated. Another item that would be greatly appreciated is Duplos made by Lego. Also games like Candy land, that do not rely on understanding English would be great. If you think of other items, drop me a note and let me know. 

On another note, we have 8 new children in the Children's Village who need sponsors. Please let me know if you are interested and I will send you photos and information. We have both boys and girls and multiple ages. These children need someone who will stand in the gap for. Will you????

Many Blessings,

Chris

Hello,

I wanted to write to you again and share some stories from Pass Rein. 

The first story reaches back to when the (witch doctor) Madame ruled over Pass Rein. One of the activities that she controlled in the area was the cock fighting. Her cock fighting was so popular that she even had government officials participating and betting. The cock fighting was held on a piece of property uphill from the church. The problem for her is that along with the church and salvations in the community, the Holy Spirit showed up and she has not been able to perform her voodoo rituals, keep her prostitution ring going, the cock fighting, etc. She has left the area and now resides in Gonaives. Since she has left, the man who owned the property the cock fighting was held on, decided he would try and resurrect the cock fighting. He tried twice and failed both times. The Spirit of God had other plans for the land. A little while ago this man got sick and died. In the meantime Mike felt like we were supposed to put a cross up on the hill in Pass Rein, like the cross on the hill behind the Children's Village. We also have one on the hill in Perou. Mike actually had our welder make a cross.  So now, a distant relative inherits the land. This relative just came to Nathan and said that he wanted to donate the land to our Good Shepherd Church. He said he felt like the land was supposed to  be used for a place of prayer and worship. It just so happens that this land is part way up the hill in Pass Rein. The perfect place for a cross and a perfect place for someone to spend time praying and worshiping as they look up at the cross. The plan now is to build a gazebo type structure for protection from the sun and a place to sit. God is amazing and He IS in the redemption business.

The second story happened just the other day in Pass Rein. Madame Berline one of the more committed women to the church in Pass Rein told us that she had a dream during the night. It involved 5 crowns and 5 women of God. She said she asked Jesus in the dream if she could see heaven. She said she spent time with Jesus in her dream and saw heaven. The next morning she told Nathan and a few others about her dream. By the afternoon she was so sick, she called some of the leaders and told them she would not be at all night prayer and worship that evening because she could not even walk she was in so much pain. One of the main leaders, Bashmi, felt like she was supposed to share her dream with the congregation so he  walked down to her house and carried her the 7 blocks uphill to the church. She shared her dream and the church prayed over her for a long time. She was completely healed and after church was able to walk home. God is so awesome and compassionate.

Please continue to pray for the Madame (witch doctor) that she would turn her life over to God. Also, please pray for the church in Pass Rein, that they would continue to hunger and thirst after God. Please pray for safe travel for Mike as he flies next week. And please pray for our fundraiser in Washington on Saturday, May 2nd and our Canadian appreciation and thank you evening on Friday, May 8th. I know Mike is looking forward to seeing you.​

​Blessings,

Chris​

Keagan building puzzles with the children

Don't all medical people measure oil and water for cakes with a syringe?

And then grease the cake pan with gauze 

Steph's birthday party

Christina and Brooklyn helping to set up the new play and pray room

Hello,

Hope all of you are looking forward to our annual fundraiser in the U.S. It will be held on Saturday, May 2nd. Mike will be there to share and would love to see as many of you as possible. 

Also in Canada we will be holding a Canadian thank you dessert reception on Friday, May 8th. Again Mike will be there to share and would love to see you.

As usual we have a lot of things happening here in Haiti. We have had two more small teams since I last wrote. The first team in April was Tyler, Christina and Brooklyn. They are a blessing when they come. They spent most of their time playing with the children. They made a small swing for the little handicap boy, as he is not able to swing in our regular swings. Tyler helped with some electrical things and Christina helped me to get the new play and pray room set up. I will post some photos on the blog. You can access them by clicking on the blog link below. 

Right now we have Jason, Steph and Steph's fiance Keagan. They all are in the medical field. Jason is a tech, Keagan is an LPN and Steph is a RN. They have done physical's on each of the children in the Children's Village. They have worked in the medical clinic and Steph assisted our doctor in performing minor surgery. Steph celebrated her birthday for the 3rd year in a row in Haiti, this Saturday. She celebrated along with four of the children who also have April birthdays.Tomorrow the team will travel to Perou and spend some time with Wadner and his family. They will give Wadner a medical physical also. 

Our really exciting news will happen this Thursday. Both Steph and Keagan have chosen Haiti as their wedding destination. Everyone here in the Children's Village is extremely happy to be sharing their special day with them. The Good Shepherd Choir wants to sing for them, as well as another singing group. Mike will be speaking and officiating, along with Pastor Nathan and Pastor Daniel. I will try and post some photos of the wedding. Please pray for them as they take their vows and begin their new lives together.

Also, our truck is broken and we would appreciate prayers for the repair, it has turned into a major repair of the engine. We depend on it for the teams, ministry and personally.  We feel better knowing that there is a truck available for sick or hurt children or for members in the community that need a ride to the hospital. 

I will try and write again tomorrow, as I have two stories to share from Pass Rien. Thank you for your prayers. 

Blessings,

Chris

Playing puzzles

Reading books

Playing with more puzzles

Spirograph

The new play/pray room