Joanne and her sponsor child
Monday, June 29, 2015
Hello,
We wanted to send you an update on the team here in Haiti. The team arrived safe and sound, thank you so much for your prayers. They are doing great. They arrived on Wednesday the 24th.
The team went to the revival in Pass Rein Thursday night.The revival has been a lot of fun. Pass Rein loves to worship. There has been prayer ministry and salvation's this week.
Saturday morning the team started off by sharing at the pastor's conference. Then part of the team played with some of the children from the Children's Village in our play and prayer room. In the afternoon we attended a baptism in Pass Rein. The baptism took place in front of a small waterfall. There were some interested observers from above the waterfall and when we were finished baptizing, one of the young adult men observing said "is there any reason why I should not be baptized today?" Pastor Nathan said no reason, but first you need to accept Jesus into your life. So Joel, one of our church leaders explained the gospel to him and then led him in a prayer to accept Jesus. Then he was baptized by Pastor Nathan, Pastor Rusty and Mike. God's timing is just amazing. He was at church the following morning, along with the others who were baptized.
Saturday evening Pastor Rusty preached and shared a physical example with the people at Pass rein. They loved it. The example was shared again by Nathan on Sunday morning.
Mike preached Sunday morning in Pass Rein. Then Nathan did an interesting thing with the giving. He created a competition between the women and the men by challenging them to out give each other. So the giving was put into two separate baskets. It was hilarious watching them try to out give each other. By the end of the morning the women had won and Nathan said the challenge would continue again that evening.
In the evening not only did the challenge continue and become even more competitive, but as some of the groups came up to sing for the church he interrupted and asked the congregation if they wanted to pay for the different singers to not sing. It was so funny watching as people reacted spontaneously, people paying for their friends to not sing and then the reaction as the singers realized they were out of the singing group because someone had paid them to not sing. It was one of the most fun giving ideas I have seen. So much friendly teasing interaction. It was such a blessing watch them interact as a community that loves each other. By the end of the night the men had won the challenge.
After church in Pass Rien Sunday morning, we went to the Poteau church. After praying for people in the church, one of the team members was able to meet the child they sponsor from the Poteau school. It was a pretty special meeting :)
This morning, Monday, the team visited the medical clinic and then spent time with the children in the Children's Village. Tomorrow they will be spending time in Gonaive, visiting the market, some historical landmarks and the older boys transitional home where we now live.
Please pray for the team on Wednesday, as they will be climbing Prayer Mountain and putting up one of our large white crosses that will be seen from the village in Poteau and from the main road to Cap Haitian. It is a large white steel cross, the cross in Marose on the mountain behind the Children's Village was wooden and needed to be replaced with a steel one, which will last much longer. We are in the process of replacing the wooden crosses in each of our other villages as they do not hold up in the humidity here. This requires the crosses, which are very heavy to be carried up the mountains, along with the post hole digger, cement, gravel, sand and water to set them with. So prayer would be much appreciated.
Again thank you so very much for your faithful prayers.
Blessings,
Chris
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Hello again,
Bazelais has arrived and is doing well, he is a pretty quiet boy. We appreciate all of your prayers, please continue to lift him and our family up as everyone adjusts. I put a couple of photos on the blog which you can access by clicking on the blog link below.
Mike loves birds, so for his birthday I bought him a pair of turtle doves. There is both a male and a female. They are really sweet and have such a distinctive coo. We just brought them home today and they are settling in. There is a photo of them also on the blog.
Thank you so much for your prayers.
Blessings,
Chris
Three new additions :)
Two of the newest additions to our house :)
Our newest boy joining the transitional house,
receiving one of Mama Becca's quilts
Reading the Action Bible together
A old Lincoln Continental, notice the huge tree growing through the windshield ?
Friday, June 19, 2015
Thank you for the new mattresses
Putting on the finishing touches
Sewing on the edges
Working hard
24 so far Yahoo!
Hello,
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It has been beautiful here in Haiti. The past couple of weeks it has been in the 90's during the day and then it has rained during some of the evenings. I love the rain, I grew up in Seattle, what can I say. The rain seems to freshen the air and bring life to the plants. At first some of my children here laughed at me when I said I could smell the rain coming. Now they are beginning to smell it too :) I can actually smell the wet soil coming with the wind, and I love it. We can hear toads, and see dragon flies, both of which also love the rain. Glimpses of beauty in a dry and parched land. God is good.
Our mattress team here in Haiti has made about 1/3 of our new mattresses for the children. I will post some more photos on the blog. We are excited to get them. It has been a blessing to the men making them and will be a blessing to the children when they receive them. Thank you so very much to each of you that contributed to the new mattresses.
We just finished up this week in our schools. 11 of the children in our Children's village have passed the 6th grade national examination. There are almost 60 children that have passed the national examination in all of our schools put together. We are so proud of them. Statistics say that 60% of Haitians never get further then the 6th grade. Which is why we believe education is so important here in Haiti.
We have another older boy who will be aging out of the Children's Village and moving into the transitional home with us. This transitional home provides aging out young adults with the ability to continue their education and learn life skills, even though the government says they are too old to continue living in an orphanage after they turn 18. We are trying to help them obtain the skills needed to take care of themselves, their families and be instrumental in the future of Haiti. Bazelais will be joining us tomorrow afternoon. We would appreciate prayers for him and our family as he adjusts to living here.
On Wednesday we have a team coming from Anacortes. We are excited to see them. Part of the team has been here a few times. Please pray for safe travel for them. Their team will overlap two different revivals while they are here. The first one starts this Sunday in Pass Rein and will last one week. The team will have an opportunity to participate in both of the revivals. The second revival will start Sunday July 5th in the village of Myan, which is between Marose and Gonaive.
We still have a few children that need to be sponsored. Sponsorship is $30 per month. We really want to help these children, but we can not do so with out your coming along side and helping us to. Please contact me if you are able to help one of these precious children. Thank you so much.
Blessings,
Chris
Thursday, June 4, 2015
A tribute to Rebecca
I would like to take a just minute of your time to give a much needed tribute and to sincerely appreciate someone who has been an instrumental factor in our ministry here in Haiti. Our daughter Rebecca. Even from childhood Rebecca has always been a very determined and purposeful force for whatever she puts her mind and heart towards. Haiti has definitely been her sincere passion for the past 7 years. She joined us on many of our earliest trips to Haiti, when we were just trying to get things established and build some positive relationships. Her heart for the people of Haiti grew very quickly.
Rebecca was instrumental in the beginning revival movement of God in Pass Rien. She established a powerful and dynamic women’s ministry in a country where women are not considered to be ministry worthy. Time and time again we saw the power of the Holy Spirit working in miraculous ways with these dear women. Her inductive Bible studies were a cultural breakthrough for the women of Haiti. Setting them free to read and study the word of God for themselves. Healings and deliverances were a common occurrence among them. Rebecca set in place women’s ministry leaders in our Life-Giving churches. Her leaders loved her and were always asking for her, and still are. Some of my best memories are of Rebecca and I baptizing many women and youth together in the rivers of these villages.
Rebecca was also instrumental in establishing a transitional ministry for aging out orphans. She has travelled the world and seen firsthand the destruction of young people when they are put out onto the streets before they are able to support themselves in a healthy way. Rebecca was determined to create a better way, with real Life-Giving opportunities for these kids that we have invested so much in at the orphanage. A year ago her and her supportive husband Andrew bought a house in Gonaives about 15 minutes from the orphanage for the very purpose of ministering to these older boys aging out of the orphanage. Integrating these boys into a family atmosphere where they will continue their education, gain much needed life skills, and find an identity in Christ that will sustain them for all eternity.
As with all great “doers of the word” successful ministry comes with a heavy cost. Haiti was very hard on Rebecca. She was sick much of the time she was here, and being apart from her family took a great toll. In December Rebecca made a healthy and wise decision to return to America, and spend time at home with her family, directing her passion to rebuilding what God gave her first. Her personal relationship with Him, her health, and her family. Andrew and Rebecca have very generously donated their house to insure that her “Ministry Continues.” And it will. God used Rebecca in a mighty way, and we pay tribute to her for that. We join together in prayer for her and her family, for all that she has given to advance the Kingdom of God in Haiti………
Bless you Becca, We love you……..
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Hello,
Hope all of you are enjoying the first few days of June and summer. We have had a lot of new things happening.
When I wrote last, Mike was getting ready to fly to the Orphan Summit, and then on to our annual fundraiser. He is now back home in Haiti. Our annual fundraiser was a very successful and enjoyable evening. Our Canadian appreciation evening was a wonderful event also. Thank you to all who attended these events. We are so thankful for all the wonderful family and friends who helped to put the two evenings together.
A few days after Mike returned, we had a visit from our South Carolina team. This team is primarily made up of preachers and they preached at our pastors conference, youth conference and at 5 of our 6 churches. They nearly preached around the clock. They had a great trip, I will post some photos of their team on the blog.
One of the items we are excited about is we have a team of Haitians making new mattresses for all of the children in the Children's Village, and each of the mama's (nanny's). We will post photos of the progress as we go. They are being made in locally here in Gonaives, it is so fun to be able to bless young businesses with orders big enough they need to hire other local people to help with the work. I will also post some photos on the blog of the team beginning to work on the mattresses.
Last Friday night we had an all night prayer and worship celebration at the location of a new church plant for us. Please pray for direction of this plant over the summer.
Near the end of this month we have a team coming from Anacortes, please pray for them as they prepare for their trip. We also have a couple named Mary and Ian who will be arriving with the team, but they will be staying for 4 to 6 months. Please also pray for them as they prepare to come along side of this ministry. Pray for direction, adjustment and the cultural differences they will experience.
Please also pray for us. We have had no power in our home in Gonaives for a month now. Which effects almost everything, from food storage, to pumping water, and functioning in the evening, even something as simple, but important as charging our phones for communication. We bought a used generator, but the cost of gas is around $5 a gallon. So we try to not to use it. It affects the internet which requires power to run the router. Also people cut the line for the internet weekly thinking they are cutting into the power line to take power. We have been told by the power company that they are not going to repair the line or the transformer for our street. So please, pray for discernment on how we can solve this problem.
Thank you for hanging in with us as we minister in Haiti. We really, really could not come along side of the Haitians with out your help.
Blessings,
Chris
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