Evangelistic Match in Jean Rabel

The Regional Committee in Jean Rabel, one of the most remote parts of Haiti, did a great job organizing an evangelistic match in honor of our visit. Not only did they finance the entire game through local funding, they partnered with Compassion who provided funds for transportation and a meal for the players. AIS-Haiti's contribution to the tournament were the uniforms, balls, and sound system.

In typical fashion, the game that was supposed to start at 3 PM started at more like 4:30 PM, but the crowd was large and enthusiastic.

At the start of the game I was too busy setting up the sound system to notice that the coaches of the two teams and the referee were having a heated discussion at midfield. It seems that one of the teams had players who seemed too big to be under 15 years old, giving them a physical advantage. Even though this was just a friendly, non-tournament game, Haitians are very competitive and bragging rights of one town and one school against the other were at stake here.

However, our Board member, Elysee Vaillant noticed what was going on and intervened, suggesting that the one team offer not to play the bigger players at the start of the game. So the game started, and it was a very exciting game. Each team almost scored several times, but at the end of the first half the score was 0-0.

During half-time Sylvain used a gospel illustration with 3 balls on a stick to show how sin separtes us from God, but Christ can take away our sin and bring us close to God again. Several hundred fans heard this message and many filled out response cards which we have not yet had time to tally. These people will be followed up by the team of evangelistic counselors we trained to do this while we were there.

One young man approached a local pastor and asked trusting in Christ. The pastor was overjoyed to lead the young man to put his faith in Christ and is now more convinced than ever of how effective sports evangelism can be!

But the second half almost did not get played because the team with the bigger players were going to put them in during the second half to try and win the game. The coach of the opposing team heard about this and told his players to start walking off the field. Once again Elysee heard about this and served as an arbitrator to resolve this conflict, allowing the game to end in a 0-0 time at the end of regulation.

We were going to try to show an evangelistic film after the game, but the game ended late and then it started to rain, so we had to call it off. However, we left a copy of the film with the regional committee and they will show it to the community in the near future.

There was no score on the field, but there was rejoicing in heaven because at least on person trusted Christ as a result of the game!

Lessons from a humming Bird

While we were staying in a hotel in La Pointe near Port-de-Paix during our trip, a humming bird got into one of our rooms.

The poor bird flitted around and bumped into the window in a frantic attempt to escape.

When it got exhausted it would rest for a few seconds (which is when I got the pictures), but then it would start another desparate try to be free.

Finally, after seeing the bird get more and more frustrated and exhausted, we opened the window and let the poor thing free.

I couldn't help but feel that God was showing me a picture of my life lately. I have been so busy doing things and flying around at a frantic pace that I have become tired. When I do quiet down and rest from sheer exhaustion, my heart is still pounding and then I feel panic again over how much there is to be done before leaving Haiti in a few weeks and I get up and start to fly about working on my "to-do" list until I drop again.

God seemed to be telling the Israelites this in Isaiah 30:15: "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it."

God wants to give me a peace in the midst of this busy time in my life, and I need to see that only He can open the window and give me freedom and rest. (Just to help me rest, I got a bad case of "Haitian Happiness" when I got back from the trip - thank God it did not happen on the 10 hour trip back!!)

Lord, don't let me have a stubborn heart like the Isrealites and refuse to repent and rest in you during this busy time of finishing up school and preparing to leave house and ministry behind for the summer.

How about you? Will you chose to trust God and rest in him, or will you fly about in frustration like the hummingbird?

Trip to Port-de-Paix - Rough Riding!

On May 16th we got up early and packed the car with 3,800 "Liv la Vie" booklets, 10 cases of Bibles and other Christian literature, a dozen boxes of soccer equipment, a speaker system and video projector to show evangelistic films and 7 people (Two riding in the back). Five members of AIS Haiti went on the trip: Rich, Daniel, Debreus, Sylvain and Elysee, with 2 riders going up and 1 rider coming back.

We covered everything with a tarp because of the frequent rains during rainy season and set out on what we thought would be a 6 hour trip north. In reality it took us 10 hours with stops to drop off equipment for two of our regions: Verettes and Gonaives.

Just outside of Gonaives, it started to pour and so all seven of us crowded into the 4-door cab of the pickup which was meant for only 5 adults. I squeezed in the front bucket seat with another friend trying to give the driver enough room to shift. The rain also made the roads very muddy and we needed 4-wheel-drive to get up a few slippery mountains.

The rough roads didn't help, either. Although there has been much improvement in the roads since I last drove to Port-de-Paix in 2002, the were still very bad in places.

But Haiti is still a very beautiful country with its rolling hills and mountain passes, and there are still lots of huts made of mud and sticks with thatched roofs in the countryside.

The highlight of the trip was fording the wide "Trois Riviere" river. The guide sat on the hood of our truck and pointed the way to shallow water. Daniel drove and we all gave him a high-five when we got accross.

Coming back the river was even higher than we went, so we hired an experienced driver to help us ford the river while we all sat in the back to give the rear wheels more tracktion, even in 4-wheel-drive.

Although the trip was an endurance test, it could have been much worse if we had broken down, or if someone had gotten sick, or if we had run into bandits, etc.

So we thank God for a safe trip, but are glad to be home.

Please pray for Barbara

Please pray for Barbara, my (Carol) Mom's cousin, whose husband just died. She deals with very serious health issues on a daily basis and has no children, nor other relatives besides my Mom and her children. It will be difficult for her to deal with arrangements and the sadness. However, she would say that Jesus has gotten her through many things and He will get her through this too. Thanks

Post about Ricardo Pierre-Louis on another blog

You've read about Ricardo Pierre-Louis on our blog....thought I'd post a link to a good blog post about him by AJOSHA.

http://ajosha-haiti.blogspot.com/2009/05/love-of-languages-translates-to-soccer.html

On their way to Port-de-Paix and Jean Rabel

Richard, Daniel, Sylvain and Elysee were off to the north yesterday. We got up at about 4:30 after a big night at school (Ricky in talent show & our BBall team winning the Championship...maybe another post). We packed books, soccer equipment, speakers, generator, food and water. They left at about 8:30 from our house, picked up Sylvain and Elysee and arrived safely in Port-de-Paix 10 hours later. For those of you who don't know Haiti so well, you're wondering how that can be in this small country. It's a matter of bad roads and loading and unloading people and luggage along the way.

Please pray for them to have a safe trip to Jean Rabel today and for the ministries up there to receive the encouragement and training they need. Also, be praying for the outreaches to be held this summer.

Ricky turns 15!

May 10th was Ricky's 15th birthday! He celebrated all weekend by having a few friends over to play soccer, X-box, and jam on the guitar and drums on Friday night, and then having a combined Birthday party with a girl from his class on Saturday.

The party on Saturday turned into an all-day affair starting at noon and not ending until 8 PM! But the invited the entire 9th grade from school, and lots of people came - enjoying music, line-dancing, and the ever-present X-box "FIFA 2009".

Ricky has grown a lot in every way over the past year. He is taller than me, has bigger muscles than me, and or course has more hair than me! But I can still get around him sometimes on the soccer field, so I don't feel too old!

He's also learned a lot in the past year, not only at school, but in music as well. He taught himself how to play the electric guitar, continues to learn new rythms on the drums and has also started to learn to drive.

Jordan Brumley

I had a dream! I dreamed that this summer we would be able to send a Haitian coach to the US named Obias Exilus and that he would room with Jordan Brumley, who grew up in Haiti as an MK (Missionary Kid). I had hoped that Jordan would be able to help Obias adjust to life in the US and speak creole with him and just have fun together as they got training and also ministered at soccer camps this summer.

So I challenged Jordan to consider doing a summer internship with AIS and pointed him to the AIS website so he could apply.

Well, as you might remember, Obias did not get his Visa. But Jordan was accepted by AIS as an intern this summer and God is in the proceess of providing him the money for this training. He is very excited about this and we are praying that he might consider coming back to Haiti at some point and helping us with the ministry!

Jordan was first exposeed to AIS through the Cleveland City Stars in 2007. He travelled with the team and helped out as an interpreter. He also got to play in the game in Cap Haitian.

Please pray that next year Obias will be able to get a Visa, and maybe next year my dream original will come true - with Obias and Jordan ministering side by side!

Outreach in Leogane

When we are weak, He is strong!



Last weekend (May 2-3, 2009) I came down with a stomach thing - Haitian Happiness, cramps, the whole nine yards. My stomach hurt, my back hurt, my knee hurt - I thought I was falling apart. So I was about to cancel an evangelistic film showing we had scheduled in Leogane, a town just outside of Port-au-Prince.

I really didn't want to cancel the film showing since we had had to cancel once before, so I tried to figure out a way to make it happen without me. I called up two of my key leaders: Ronald William, the soccer coach of a large Christian school in PAP, and Jean Paul Noel, a seminary student.

I sent them out with the video projector and a DVD player and prayed that they would arrive safely and that the equipment would work.

Then it started to rain while they were on the way, and not just a little rain. It flooded the streets of Leogane, and right in front of the church where the film was going to be shown a river appeared!

The rain kept the numbers down to about 50, but the Holy Spirit did it's work and convicted three people of their need for Salvation through Christ.

I just talked to the Pastor of the church and he said these three have been coming to church and they are following up with them.

So even in my weakness, God used me to share his love with others!