Mears Ministry in Haiti

Discipleship Group applies what they are learning

2012-01-09T08:38:00.002-05:00

In an effort to prepare trained leaders to spread the Gospel in Haiti, Rich has been meeting with a group of about 16 young men. We have looked at the 10 commandments in a very practical way in an effort to apply God's Word to our lives. Yesterday we looked at the last one: Do not covet.

In our discussion we talked about how coveting is usually the thought pattern we fall into before we steal. Often when we covet, we break some of the other 10 commandments in an effort to get what we want. For example, David broke many commandments in his effort to get Bathsheba as his wife. Other examples we looked at where Achan in Joshua 7 and Ahab's murder of Naboth to get his vineyard (1 Kings 21).

But the best part of the study was when I asked how the participants had applied what they had learned to their lives. One who is married said he had asked forgiveness from his wife for his sins against her and had started to communicate better with her and resolve some long-standing conflicts.

Another said that after we had done a session on personal finances, he realized he had been wasting money on little things, and that this was keeping him from reaching his true financial objectives. His brother said that he was using the envelope system he had learned from our study to manage his finances. His other brother said he had discovered he had a problem with envy at school when his classmates would look better than him. He has since committed this to the Lord and asked forgiveness.

I have learned that most of the times I break the 10 commandments is because I'm not really trusting God and believing that he has my best interest in mind. But even in the midst of extreme suffering, he is still present and working out his ultimate will. That's why I have memorized this promise below:

1 Peter 5:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Business Plan Training Program produces results!

2012-01-09T08:19:00.005-05:00

From November 29 to Dec. 15, 2011 YABT Haiti partnered with Fondation Espoir (FE) to hold a "training of trainers" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There were two classes: One that met 3 times a week for 4 hours for 3 weeks and another that met for 8 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday for three weeks (total 36 hours). Of the class that met during the week, 26 graduated and got a certificate. In the weekend class, 30 participants graduated and got certificates (Total 56).

Of these 56 , 52 entered an on-line business plan competition sponsored by the Clinton/Bush Foundation. So far four have been selected to participate in the second phase of the competition which includes further training in how to start a business!

Objectives:

• The main objective of this workshop was to FE Train trainers to be able to replicate the training in FE’s five training centers as mentioned above. In order to achieve this objective we encouraged each participant to do the following:

1) Complete the on-line application for MEMAHaiti.org, a business plan competition sponsored by the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund and TechnoServe. The application process closed on Dec. 18th and on Jan. 5th they will announce those who qualify for the next step in the competition. Out of the 56 who got certificates, 52 applied to MEMAHaiti, and four have made it to the next second level.
2) Complete an on-line application to the TICAMERICAS.net competition. So far a total of 5 participants have applied to this competition. However, more may apply since the deadline has been extended to January 10, 2012.
3) Prepare a written Business plan that could be submitted to potential investors and banks so that financing can be obtained.
4) Start the business if possible on a small scale and then build on their success.
5) Go on and train others in the principles they learned in the workshop.

Please pray as we follow up with each participant, and help those who made it to the second level to possibly win the competition!

Christmas Day in Haiti

2011-12-26T08:32:00.009-05:00

I just have to laugh sometimes when I think of how well God knows my needs, even before I realize it. No, I'm not talking about what I got for Christmas. I got mostly yummy things I love to eat like nuts, dried fruit,Doritos and candy. These are definitely not things I need, but are things I like a lot!

What I'm talking about is how God knows that even on Christmas it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The day started out with Carol and I doing our Christmas tradition of making "pancake sculptures" for Joy and Ricky. She made a manger scene, and I made angels.

I also worked on the final touches to prepare for leading worship at church. Our theme was "Jesus is coming again" and we read scripture and sang Christmas Carols that look forward to His second coming. (Like "Joy to the World"). It was so nice to worship our Lord with Joy singing and Ricky playing the drums. Joy sang a beautiful duet with a Rebecca Boyer, a friend from Quisqueya Christian School who was also in Haiti visiting her family. They sang Nicole C. Mullins "Come unto me, all who are weary and I will give you rest." A great message for the busy holiday season!

We also read lots of verses from Revelation. In preparation for Worship, I found out that the Greek word "Maranatha" can have two meanings, depending on how it is pronounced. It can mean either "The Lord has come" or "Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20) So even that Greek word looks forward and back at this first advent and his second coming.

Just before we left for Church we opened a few presents, but ran out of time since we had get to church early to rehearse the music.

The service went well, except that just as our Pastor was starting the sermon the electricity provided by the city went off and they had to start the generator. Actually, we can't complain as we are getting up to 20 hours of electricity a day which is the most we've ever had since we started to live here. (Before we would only get about 8 hours, and that was usually at night).

After church we opened the rest of our presents and snacked on the goodies while Carol and Joy prepared a great dinner for us.

Then, as is often the case in Haiti, unexpected visitors showed up! It was Francoise and her three children between the ages of 3 and 7. After lots of hugs and kisses we invited them into the living room where we had some presents already wrapped for them. (You many remember that this is the family that stayed with us for a year, and then, thanks to the generosity of people after the earthquake, we were able to build them a one-room house.)

Joy had purchase most of the toys at a dollar store in the US, but you would have thought they were made of gold from the smiles on the children's faces!

Then I got the idea of using the left-over pancake batter we had made that morning and make them pancakes in the shape of angels. They had sprinkles on them and the kids really like them!

God knew that we would really enjoy having little children around on Christmas day!

Then I drove them back to their house with their precious presents and hugged them all goodbye. As I was just about to start up a very steep hill that I always need four-wheel drive to get up, I noticed a bunch of kids starting to climb the hill with only one adult with them. They were all dressed nicely and so I stopped and asked the woman chaperon if they needed a ride. My intention was to just drive them up the hill, but then I found out why they were all dressed up.

It turned out the lady was taking 16 children between 7 and 12 years old to a Christmas party put on by Munchees, a pizza restaurant about 30 minutes away. There they would be treated to food and get presents. As the president of a community organization, she had arranged for the children to go to the party, but was running about an hour late. I asked why she was alone and what plan she had to get to the party, and she said there would be people to help her with the children when she got to the party, but that they would have to take public transportation to get there.

Knowing that she could not possibly take all of the children in one little Tap Tap (a small pickup truck used for public transportation in Haiti), I called up Carol and asked her is she would mind if I drove them to the restaurant and she said Ok.

As I drove, I talked with this woman who was brave enough to chaperon 16 kids single-handedly on Christmas. She told me she was the mother of 8 children and that one had died. The others were between 15 and 30 years old, but none were married. Four years ago her husband left her for a younger woman, and she had sold things on the street to support her family ever since the government had confiscated her business downtown before the earthquake. When I asked her why she was doing such a good deed on Christmas she said she believes God blesses those who help others less fortunate than themselves. She said she had helped to start the community association after her neighborhood was hit hard by the earthquake and cholera. So I tried to encourage her in the good work she was doing.

When we arrived, the street outside the restaurant was blocked off and was full of people. I wondered how she would get the 16 children through the crowd, but she just got them out of the back of the truck and plowed into the crowd!

I guess God knew I needed to do a “good work which He had prepared for me to do” on Christmas!

Discipleship Groups

2011-11-13T16:02:00.003-05:00

Don't miss the pictures Richard uploaded a couple days ago---- see below....

Richard has his men's discipleship group every Sunday from 3pm - 5pm and he'd appreciate prayers for these young men--their growth in understanding, knowing, loving and serving God.

Today's topic was supposed to be Purity/Sexuality, etc. but so far it sounds like they are still following up on the last topic--resolving conflicts. (When I go from one room to the other I hear some of what's going on.) I think before 5pm they'll get to the new topic--so I'll have to make myself scarce!

The other thing they did today was set up prayer partners. The guys don't all live in the same area and transportation is always an issue, so Richard is encouraging them to share requests via text message or phone call. We thank God that in Haiti receiving phone calls and text messages is free. Sending messages is not very expensive either.

At school, we just started our discipleship groups this week. I have 5 girls, one that was in my group last year. I was so glad they were not shy at all to speak in the group when I asked them to. I was thrilled to hear from 3 of the girls the same type of reaction to attending our school (including Wed. morning chapel). They all said that they really liked how at Chapel and in Bible class the teachers and speakers actually try to help you understand HOW to forgive, HOW to follow God, etc. They said they never used to read the Bible but they are now. And this was shared with enthusiasm. Two of them came to our school last year and one is new. A fourth girl who just started at our school expressed a less enthusiastic but open view...."I'm checking this thing out...." The fifth girl is an MK who has lived in several different countries and is in the process of trying to adjust to Haiti and our school. Please pray for her because she's the only one in her situation in the group. And please pray for spiritual regeneration and growth in all of the girls....and for me to be used by God in spite of my weakness. Does that word "weakness" need explanation? If you've been in the situation, you probably know what I mean. The sense of responsibility, feelings of inadequacy, etc. But I know that even in my weakness, I can at least pray for and listen to these girls as the Holy Spirit works in their lives.

Thank you, faithful pray-ers, for considering these requests,
a willing "clay-pot,"
Carol
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
-Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Our trip North in pictures

2011-11-07T14:24:00.013-05:00

Flat Tire on our first day

Sharing the Gospel with children in Limbe and showing them the bullet holes in my truck.

Group picture of leaders trained in Terrier Rouge

Holes in a metal bridge we had to cross that could easily shred your tires!

Jean Paul sharing the Gospel with children at one of the schools near Jean Rabel - the children surrounding him are the ones who want to trust in Jesus!

Rich handing out evangelistic tracts to school children after sharing the story of how he was shot.

Rich teaching leaders in Cabaret near Jean Rabel

Cooking for 70 people over charcoal with everything prepared by hand!

Sylvain teaching leaders in Cabaret

Coach Ronald William

Rich, Pastor Pierty who had a kidney stone the day before, and Jean Paul

Group picture of the leaders trained in Port-de-Paix

Results of Trip to North Haiti

2011-11-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who prayed for our trip to north Haiti.

Here is a summary of what God accomplished during the trip, and some of the hardships we faced. A more detailed account and some pictures will be posted later!

What God accomplished through us:

1) We trained 148 chaplains, administrators and coaches and visited and did additional training for all of the schools we started teams in this past spring and summer in North-east Haiti and North-west Haiti. In total we trained leaders in 54 schools!

2) We started and trained 11 new teams, and gave them enough soccer equipment to get started.

3) Two girls, one of whom was pregnant at a young age trusted Christ in Limbe.

4) I shared the story of how I was shot at two schools and then Jean Paul shared the Gospel with the children. At one school dozens of children came forward to trust in Christ and gave their names to a local pastor who will follow up with them.

5) We re-started a regional committee in Limbe with 4 schools.

6) We distributed over 5000 Christian books to 23 new schools and several schools already in the program.

Challenges:
1) Flat tire on the first day
2) Ronald felt sick the second day
3) Some of the people we invited did not show up for the trainings
4) One of the Pastors who we work with had a kidney stone and was in great pain. I left the training that morning in the hands in Ronald, Sylvain and Jean Paul and rushed him to a hospital about an hour away.

5) A box of 26 soccer balls was stolen from a store room at one of the churches
6) The roads were so rough that it broke the metal frame we have on the back of our truck in several places and we had to get it welded.

7) On our final leg back I was tired and let a friend drive who was not familiar with the road. We hit a speed bump going quite fast with 4 passengers in the back and actually broke the metal supports of the seat!

Another update on the trip up north

2011-11-01T20:08:00.002-05:00

The guys made it safely from Terrier Rouge down to Gonaives (reloaded the stuff for the northwest) and out to Jean Rabel.

Today they were in Cabaret (there are 2 towns in Haiti called Cabaret, but this is the one up north) which is between Jean Rabel in the far northwest and Port-de-Paix in the north. There were 60 participants in the training, representing 20 teams. Things were going well until Pastor Pierty, who had helped the AIS guys a lot, started experiencing very bad pain. Someone in that area was able to give him a shot for the pain, but they felt he needed to a hospital. Richard drove him to Beraca Hospital in La Pointe (an hour and a half drive) and we're waiting for word on what the problem may be.

Please pray for Pastor Pierty and the doctor(s) who help him. Also, please continue to pray for safety as the roads are very bad up there.

I'll update you as soon as I hear anything specific.
Carol

Update on the trip up north

2011-10-29T23:42:00.005-05:00

After some challenges getting packed and making photocopies, Richard and Ronald traveled less than an hour and had a flat tire. But not far away they were able to find a "Kaoutchouman" (tireman) to fix it. After that things went well. They drove to Gonaives, offloaded some of the boxes of literature (the boxes are being housed there because of the weight of the truck and the difficult roads beyond that point). They made it safely up to Terrier Rouge Friday by 4:30.

When they arrived, Richard was having fun with some kids who came around out of curiosity. He played with them for a while and then started talking to them and telling his story about being shot. He told them about his peace in knowing that if he died he would be with Jesus and talked to them about trusting in Christ. As a result to girls/young ladies said they were interested in knowing more. Jean-Paul talked to them and they prayed to receive Christ. Pray for them, please, one of them is pregnant and is only about 14 years old.

Tomorrow they have to do a lot more driving again, so pray for continued safety.

thanks,
Carol

All Packed and Ready to Go!

2011-10-26T19:34:00.005-05:00

Friday, Oct.28th is the day we leave on our trip to train over 140 volunteers and distribute books and soccer equipment to 51 schools in North Haiti (That means we will distribute 102 soccer balls - 2 for each team.)

These pictures show us packing the Christian literature we will be distributing to each school. In all we will be giving books to over 4,200 students. The total pieces of Christian literature is over 10,000! Ronald is putting together the training booklets we will use.

We will be covering a lot of ground during the 7 day trip, so please pray that our trusty Toyota pick up will see us through and that I will drive well and be protected from accidents (I am the only driver on this trip).

Ronald William and Jean Paul will be joining me on this trip and Sylvain will meet us in Port-de-Paix.

Ronald will be training the coaches, Jean Paul and Sylvain will be training the chaplains and I will be training the administrators.

Please pray that God would provide the stamina, safety and the last amount money we need to cover our expenses.

Soccer Convention scores a goal!

2011-10-26T09:14:00.004-05:00

The soccer convention we held on Saturday, Oct. 22nd was a good first effort.

25 people from 17 organizations from 6 departments (states) in Haiti attended.

After we all introduced ourselves and our organizations, we discussed two main questions:

1) How can we work together to organize local, regional and eventually national soccer tournaments for youth in Haiti (U-12 to U-16).

2) How can we group together to find donors of soccer equipment and also ship it into the country at a reasonable cost and without paying customs.

We also introduced the game of Futsal to the delegates and had representatives of the Haitian National Amputee soccer team there to help everyone understand the game and help their young players appreciate those who have physical disabilities.

In addition, we had a display table of the Christian books we distribute, and handed out a lot of them. We hope that even the non-Christian teams will order books from us and that this will help us build relationships with them that could allow us to share the Gospel with them at a later time.

Financial Seminar hits a nerve

2011-10-26T09:03:00.003-05:00

Sunday afternoon our American visitor and I arrived at Quisqueya Chapel and found a group of Haitians eager to learn about what the Bible has to say about finances. I estimate there were about 30-40 people there and we had them all come up close and make a semi-circle because we couldn't get the sound system or the power point to work! In addition, we had planned to do the seminar in English, but we did a survey and found out that most of the attendees were not fluent in English. So I ended up translating for over 2 hours of teaching!

However, all the effort was worth it as everyone there was eager to learn and apply the teaching to their lives.

It was hard to hear of the difficult financial situations some Haitians find themselves in, and one young man said that he only earned enough to buy food to eat. But Biblical principles apply to rich and poor alike, and in 2 Cor. 8, Paul tells us that it was the poor who eagerly gave to help the saints who were in need in Jerusalem.

So please pray for brothers and sisters in Haiti as they try and apply the principles they learned with very little margin for error. We are planning to have a follow up session in a month or so.

Helping the English-speaking community get their finances in order

2011-10-20T21:38:00.001-05:00

On Sunday October 23rd, a friend from the states named Peter and I (Rich) are going to hold a seminar on the basics of Financial Planning at Quisqueya Chapel, the English-speaking church Carol and I attend sometimes in Haiti.

Since we have started to advertise for this seminar lots of people have expressed an interest in the topic and we are hoping to attract some who may not know Christ as their Savior.

Please pray for this opportunity to help people understand what the Bible says about money, and about their eternal destiny as well!

AIS Haiti helps sponsor a youth soccer convention!

2011-10-20T21:36:00.002-05:00

The Haitians have a proverb: With many hands, the load is not heavy (Men anpil, chay pa lou). We have been working for many years to introduce soccer ministry to churches in Haiti and have made tremendous progress going from zero to 78 teams in 5 years (That’s about 15 teams a year!). However, since the earthquake, we have heard that there are many who have started soccer ministries around the country and we would like to work together with them and help them in any way we can.

To this end, we have organized the first (that we know of) “Youth Soccer Convention 2011” to be held on October 22nd in Port-au-Prince. So far we have over a dozen organizations that have signed up, and we are hoping that many more will attend.
Please pray that by working together with other organizations we will be able to reach more and more youth with the Good News that Jesus loves them!

Three young ladies involved in AIS Haiti make the national training program

2011-10-20T21:20:00.004-05:00

Phiseline 14 yrs old

Kensia 14 yrs old

We are proud to announce that three girls who play on the “New Generation Soccer School” team that we sponsor in Borel, Haiti have been selected to enter the Haitian National Training program whose purpose is to develop young talent for the Haitian National Teams.

These three young ladies now live at the Haitian National Training Center where they practice two times a day and do school work in between.

Their names are Kensia, Phiseline andNapthtalene. A few years ago we helped Kensia’s family out because their house burned down.

We wish to congratulate their coach, Wadnec, who has a history of developing many players who have played professionally and/or on the Haitian National Team! Wadnec has been through many trainings with AIS Haiti and is the president of the AIS Haiti Regional Committee in central Haiti. Great job, Coach!

Update after a full weekend --mostly good

2011-10-17T07:20:00.003-05:00

TiNor & Carline: Yesterday when Francoise & her 3 kids came over, I asked if they all went to church at the chapel and the kids said yes. Then they told me that their "tonton" (uncle) went with stuff that Monsieur Richard gave him. Francoise said he went Saturday afternoon (there's a 5pm service for people who work on Sundays) and Sunday.

I asked Francoise if he liked it and if he seems serious about seeking. She said he wants his life to change so that he doesn't smoke anymore. I think in God's grace, we don't realize the gravity of all of our sins at once. It would probably be too much. We come to God aware of one or a few sins and later see that we were full of them. Do you agree?

A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING: Saturday we had the privilege of attending a beautiful wedding of two of our teachers at QCS. An American PE teacher (Ricky's basketball coach when he was here) and a Haitian nurse and science teacher. They have lived out a godly relationship in front of the students of QCS (answered some of the kids questions & kept a bit of privacy). They have been modeling the respect a man and woman should have for each other in a relationship so well and they are two young people that get along really well with the teens. The wedding was simple and beautiful and we had fun at the reception.

I loved seeing 5 beautiful orphan girls in cute sundresses and dressy sandals from an orphanage where Art (and later Miquette)have made some friends. Art has gone there and played games with the girls. You would not have known they were orphans, the girls looked wonderful and conducted themselves beautifully. And the thought came to me that Art and Miquette might have invited hundreds of orphans if they had the money for it.

CHURCH WITH THE DEAF: Sunday morning was great because we went back to the church we used to attend when we lived on the other side of town (2000-2003). I wanted to sit with the deaf people but I was nervous to go back since the last time I went (6 months ago) I hadn't seen anyone I knew. I was hoping to renew contact with my deaf friends since I'm teaching beginning sign language at QCS. But since I don't want to take advantage of them, I decided to ask for a tutor that I would pay.

I was glad to see, one friend, Benoit, during the greeting time. But I was really curious about our closest friend among the deaf, David, whom we had heard got married last year. Finally he came late, by himself. But at the end of the serice I found out that his wife was at home with their 3-week old baby girl! Everybody was so nice. We exchanged phone numbers & email addresses. And I loved the fact that I could understand them so much better than the ASL (American Sign Language) I see on the internet. It makes sense because I took lessons in 2002 from a Haitian interpreter. This was really important for me and my class because of the variations in sign language from one region to another. You can learn a lot online, but they always remind you that many words have 2 or 3 signs and you have to find out what the people in your area use.

DISCIPLESHIP GROUP: I am so grateful every Sunday afternoon when I see the discipleship group guys come in. Most come from pretty far away because of our contacts from where we used to live. Fortunately on Sundays it's a lot easier to get around Port-au-Prince. I don't hear exactly what's said, but I hear them praying together and all of them getting into the lively discussions. Richard will share more I'm sure, but a lot of the churches are so big, it's great for them to have that interaction.

CORRUPTION: I can't say much about this, but even during this wonderful weekend I could not escape being touched by how evil corruption is. It is so hard to have justice happen when corruption spreads its tentacles throughout a system and greed is fed, inflamed and will not relent. Miracles are needed. Please pray.

Good news & prayer request about Carline and TiNor (Francoise's brother)

2011-10-08T12:36:00.006-05:00

A while ago we asked you to pray for Francoise's brother's girlfriend, Carline who was very sick. She been getting better, but does not fully have her strength back yet. (She went to get a job cleaning someone's house, and was hired until the person saw how weak she was. Then, they said she wasn't well enough.)

Even better news is that Francoise has been influencing Carline. And she was asking Carline to go to church with her. Carline was very hesitant. She was worried about looking nice enough to go because in a lot of churches here, people put a lot of emphasis on how people look at church. But Francoise has been going to a Calvary Chapel here (in Creole, though, not English) and they are very friendly and accepting of everyone. So Carline went and really liked it. Then she was asking Francoise how she learned to pray like she does. Francoise said she listened to Chrisitan programs on the radio and heard how the people pray on there.

Sadly, throughout all this, Francoise's brother has treated Carline badly. He has said very mean things and even hit her. I'm not sure how much but TiNor has at least dabbled in drinking and drugs. It was to the point recently that Carline would go into the weeded area near Francoie's house to hide, for hours or even a night. So Francoise told her brother to leave her house, to go back to where he was living before and to leave Carline with her so she could take care of her.

Today when I asked her how things were going with them, she reported that her brother wants to go to church and change his life! He said he would need decent shoes to go. So we're going to try to help out with that. We're very surprised and a bit skeptical, but praying, and hoping...

Another good news item is that Francoise has an interview today to work for an American couple cleaning in a guesthouse. Although it's probably parttime, if she gets this it could be really good for her because they are likely to pay her decently, at least per hour, pay her on time and will not mistreat her. They are super nice Christian people.

Thanks for praying for these things. Have a great Sunday everybody!
Carol

First day of School for Kids in Haiti!

2011-10-04T19:22:00.005-05:00

Monday, October 3rd was the first day of school for many Haitian children. This year the new President arranged for public buses to be available to help children get to school. In Haiti, all school children have to wear uniforms. So President Martelly put extra buses on major roads that only allow children in school uniforms to board.

The children in the above picture are Francoise's. She has worked very hard to be able to pay for all three of her children to go to school this year. Most Haitian parents make huge sacrifices to send their children to school, realizing what a huge advantage it is in life to be educated.

Perhaps they should talk to teens in the US to help them realize what a great thing it is to be able to go to school in the US for free! (According to US News & World Report, 23% of HS students dropped out in 2008, and 57% of African American and Hispanics dropped out).

Adding 10 new teams to the Gonaives Region

2011-10-01T12:45:00.002-05:00

This week Ronald and Jean Paul went to Gonaives to meet with the Pastors and school directors from 10 new schools that want to be a part of AIS Haiti near the city of Gonaives. Four teams are from Gros Mornes, four teams are from Ennery and two teams are from Gonaives.

This will bring us to a total of 78 teams around Haiti reaching over 1,400 young men!

The best thing is that the leaders we trained in Gonaives are taking the responsibility to train the Chaplains, Coaches and administrators who will oversee these teams.

This is our vision, according to 2 Tim. 2:2 - train faithful men who are able to train others!

One Happy Hog!

2011-10-01T12:35:00.003-05:00

In what other capital city of the world could you come across a Happy Hog in the middle of the road?

This critter was enjoying himself on the road up to Venita's house.

Birthday Boy

2011-10-01T12:24:00.002-05:00

My Birthday was Sept. 26th and I turned 52 years old! After getting shot over a year ago, each passing year is precious.

I found a great Birthday Bible verse in Psalm 71:17-18 "Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."

Carol made me my favorite cake: Carrot with Cream Cheese icing. Ricky had a game on my Birthday and scored two goals: one a header in the last minutes of the game for the win! Grace and Joy also called me.

Now I need to get ready for Carol's Birthday coming up on October 9th!

The Story of Venita

2011-09-24T18:54:00.005-05:00

You may remember the story of Venita. She was one of the people we helped after the earthquake by letting her stay at our house with her 3 month old baby, Sarah. She thought that her whole family had been killed when the house where they were living collapsed during the earthquake. But God had other plans. She found her 3 year old son at her Father’s house a month after the earthquake, and then 3 months later she found out that her husband and 6 year old daughter had fled to the Dominican Republic, but had since come back to Haiti.

Venita left our house a few months after the earthquake and lived in a shack on a property owned by her family. During that time Venita’s husband, Berjano had not really been living with them. He said that he had to stay downtown with a friend a lot of the time to be available early in the morning for day work. So Venita’s job as a kindergarten teacher was the family’s only means of support for much of the past year.

In August we found out that the whole family was finally in a position to live together, since the husband, Berjano, had just found a more permanent job.
Unfortunately the next month Venita called us up and said that Berjano had asked her for a divorce and wanted to take her oldest girl with him. It turned out that Berjano had been having an affair and had a child with his lover.

Carol and I prayed about the situation and decided to help her try and build a house out of block so that she could have some security and Bejano could not come and take her daughter. The problem was that our earthquake relief funds were almost gone, and it was going to cost quite a bit to build her a house. So we started to pray and we decided to ask one supporter in particular if she would consider giving a gift toward the house. The supporter sent back an email saying that she had already sent a large gift to our account two days before, and that we could use it however God directed us! So you see that even before we prayed, God had answered our prayer for Venita and her family.

So for the past three weeks, we have had Venita and her three children: Sarah 2, Gaeton, 3 and Bergline 7 staying with us at our house while Venita’s house has been built.

Please pray for Venita as she enters into this new stage in her life as a single Mom with 3 young children. She works full time as a Kindergarten teacher, and will also be taking courses to get an official degree in teaching.

Post Earthquake Development note

2011-09-22T05:44:00.001-05:00

The President of Haiti met with the president of the Dominican Republic, Fernandez who "reiterated his commitment to donate the university being built by the Dominican government in Haiti next January 12, and announced a donation of two buses, so the students who live far from the new facility can attend, and told Martelly that he secured with U. S. friends a donation of 15,000 books for the college."

Good turnout for discipleship group

2011-09-18T16:12:00.002-05:00

After years of not having a formal separate discipleship group, Richard started one this September. He and I have been planning and praying all summer. At first, he started a Friday morning meeting and had a few guys come out. He changed it to Sunday afternoon (3-5pm) and today there are 11 here.

It's not that it's so hard to have people show up for Christian activities, but we are very happy because we've been seeing the need to have a time set apart to meet with guys that God seems to be putting in our lives to search the Bible and apply it everyday life. Please pray with us that God will bless this time, bring the men that he decides need to be here and give Richard wisdom as he leads.

Update on Carline

2011-09-04T20:14:00.003-05:00

Richard and Francoise took Carline to a cholera clinic first (as the doctor asked) and she was told she didn't have Cholera. Then they went to the clinic of the doctor Richard had called, where she was put on IV overnight to rehydrate her. She felt a lot better this morning, in fact she felt that she should just get up and go. But, of course, the cause of the illness is still not known. Her husband (boyfriend?) came to the clinic but he says they have no money.

Pray for Carline

2011-09-03T17:32:00.002-05:00

Our friend Francoise has been caring for her sister in law (her brother's wife), Carline, who has been sick since Sunday. We just found out about this and the young lady has not been able to keep down anything for days.

Please pray. Richard called a doctor for advice and he said it would be best to bring her to a Cholera clinic to rule that out first. So they are doing that now. (Saturday afternoon.)

Appreciate your prayers for her...we'll keep you posted.
thanks

Deaf in Haiti

2011-09-03T17:24:00.006-05:00

I've been teaching a beginner sign language course (ASL) ast school and have spent some time researching what's been going on with the deaf people in Haiti since the earthquake.
Check out the link below to watch videos of help they have received. (Click on "links to this post" below.

Carol

Answerd Prayers!

2011-08-29T20:36:00.002-05:00

Last week we got a call from a friend saying that her husband wasn’t treating her well and was asking for a divorce. He also wanted to take their seven-year-old daughter with him to live with his girlfriend and the child he fathered with her. A couple days later it dawned on me that the reason he wanted her was probably not good. In this country, often step-parents don’t accept the children of their spouses’ previous marriages. And if they do have children with them from another husband or wife, those children can be mistreated. They are sometimes used for child labor and are treated like a servant of the other children. I thought there was a good chance this might happen. An irony occurred to me. We grew up with the story of Cinderella, thinking that it was a rare thing that a step-mother would be so cruel to her husband’s child, but I’ve heard too often about situations like that since I’ve lived here.

Our friend’s husband had crushed her phone when they argued, so I knew she couldn’t call us and it is very hard for her to come see us since she lives pretty far away and has to work 6 days a week to feed her three children. (The father of the children has not contributed much.) So, I really wanted to drive over to her house to check on her and give her a few things—food, etc. to help her. So I was praying for her and about going to see her.

The only day it would really work to do that is Sunday, so Saturday, Richard and I made plans to go after church. This morning in church, I was praying about this a lot. I had never been there, but I knew it was not that easy to get to. Also, I had grading and school preparation to do. Then, when we started driving there, it started raining. I asked Richard if he thought it was unwise to go today. He said he thought it wasn’t that bad, so we kept going. When we got close, Richard couldn’t recognize the road to take to go up the mountain and we took on the wrong road in the pouring rain and came to a very narrow dead end. We had no choice but to go down the steep road in reverse. It was a road made with pavers and I was really nervous that we would slip or something. Even when we made it safely down the hill (Ok, I guess Richard is a good driver after all) Things just didn’t seem to be working out. But I kept praying. Then Richard asked some people on the street for the road that the big sand trucks come down. They directed us to an unpaved mountain road. In spite of the rain coming down the road in a stream, we made it up to her house.
She was so glad to see us and was praising God when we got there. Later she told us she had been praying for God to provide because all she had was a little rice to feed her kids and nothing else. I was relieved to see her oldest daughter was still with her.

We talked to her about taking a few days off work. Really, we don’t think she should have to work at this time of year, because she teaches in a pre-school and school doesn’t start until October this year. As it is, they had her working all summer to this point doing “camp” with the kids, never giving her a day off. Her two-year old has been sick off and on for a long time, including a bout with cholera. We wanted to take her to a good doctor. And since her house is missing 1 ½ walls (tarps are hanging there) and she has some of the materials for it, Richard and I suggested she come stay with us for a few days and maybe her relatives next door could supervise the building of the walls while she’s gone.

Her one-room leaky house (with outdoor tarp/tent area for cooking) is actually an improvement on what she was living in when she went back to this area after leaving our house (where she lived in a tent after the earthquake). The other “house” was a structure of tarps, scrap aluminum and a floor of smallish stones. This one is made of two cinderblock walls, two “tarp” walls and it has a cement floor. Her relatives and many other Haitians live in similar homes. But my concern was the oldest daughter, Bergelin.

Venita told me later that she had the exact same concern I had about her husband’s interest in her. And that she had already rescued and hidden her once when her husband had all Bergelin’s clothes in a bag hidden behind his back. Because of the clothes, she knew he was about to take her so Venita wisked her away to a neighbor’s house before he could find her. Bergelin doesn’t want to go with him because she said he is “hot headed” (tet cho).

Venita and the kids were thrilled to come here and are having a nice time. All except Sara who is sick.

The day after they arrived, Richard spent a day taking all three children, and a neighbor’s child to Dr. Jeudy, the Dr. who treated Richard after he was shot. After that, we had to get some medical tests done and also buy some prescription medications for the children. This ended up taking most of the day, due to the many stops we had to make along the way. At one point, all of the children had to have a blood test, so I ended up holding 3-year-old Gaetan during the test because his mother was holding baby Sarah. He was brave until he got stuck, and then cried those hot tears that stream down the face. But it was over in a flash, and he was back to his own smiley self by the time we got back in the car.

We got home safely, and now everyone is sleeping peacefully after a big day!

Venita needs prayer!

2011-08-28T20:33:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago before Carol got back from the US I went to see Venita and her family at her family's homestead way up on the mountains above Port-au-Prince. It is hard to believe there is such natural beauty just 15 minutes above Port-au-Prince.

I went mainly because I had heard that they had been reunited with their third child who had been staying with relatives until they could afford to send her to school in the fall. Bejano, the Dad, had just gotten a job teaching men about domestic violence in the tent camps. Venita had her old job teaching school back, so with 2 incomes, it finally seemed that they would be able to build a house and live as a family again.

So I was delighted to meet Berjline, a tall, toothless five year old! She was all smiles and giggles and adored her little brother and sister. It was great to see them all together.

But then a few weeks later I got a call from Venita. She was talking very fast in Creole and knew she was very upset, so I asked Margaret, our cook, who is also a wonderful Christian, to try and make sense of what she was saying.

It turned out that Bejano admitted to having an affair with another woman that had already resulted in a baby outside of the marriage. Now he wanted to take Berjline away from Venita so she could help his girlfriend with the new baby, sort of like in Cinderella with the step-mother. Ironically, the man who taught other men about domestic violence threatened his wife and smashed her cell phone in his anger when she refused to let him take Berjline. He had already taken Berjline's clothes and was about to snatch her away, when Venita cried for help and her family hid Berjline for her.

We had been praying about the situation all week, and of course we could not contact Venita because her phone had been smashed. So Carol and I decided to go up the mountain on a Sunday afternoon because on Sunday's there is very little traffic. Unfortunately, it started to pour rain just as we got to the dirt road. The road quickly turned into a river flowing swiftly down the mountain. I looked at the road as a challenge, but Carol was a little frightened. But our trusty Toyota 4WD pickup made it up no problem. Venita was so excited to see Carol, she ran over and gave her a big hug!

It's hard to describe Venita's house when it rains. Picture drips all over the place, and one in particular on the bed where she and the 3 children sleep. In addition, she had 20 bags of cement taking up 1/4 of the house because during the earthquake, two out of the 4 walls of the house fell down. The other two walls are just tarps and plastic sheeting. She said that at night all kinds of insects and animals crawl inside for "shelter".

Later I found out one type of animal that visits her in the middle of the night: Tarantulas! When we were visiting a new-born baby next door, one tried to crawl into the house where the baby was sleeping, so I killed it with a stick.

Since Venita wanted to fix up her house, and had a week of vacation before school started, we invited her and her 3 children to stay with us while the house was being worked on.

Now they are peacefully sleeping in Ricky's old bedroom.

Poor Venita has been through a lot since the earthquake, so pray for her as she faces this next challenge. And pray for marriages here in Haiti and in the US, where Satan still seeks to destroy families by sin and unfaithfulness.

The Lord takes away, and the Lord gives

2011-08-27T20:34:00.001-05:00

The Lord takes away, and the Lord gives

Our car battery died the other morning, just as we were trying to get Carol to school on time. The annoying thing was that it was less than 2 years old, and supposedly had an 85 month warranty. So I emailed Interstate battery customer service and explained the situation, expecting to maybe get a portion of the price I paid for the battery back.

In the meantime, I got the battery tested, tried to charge it overnight, and had a mechanic look at the car to make sure it was not an electrical problem. All tests showed the battery was really dead, and so I went out and purchased a battery for $160 US.

The story of Bernadette

2011-08-27T07:40:00.003-05:00

As we were leaving to get Carol to school on time the other day, we saw a young lady near our gate gesturing for us to stop. We were running late so we didn’t stop, but when I came back from dropping Carol off, she was still waiting near our gate.
I asked her how she knew us, since I did not recognize her. She said she had seen us at Quisqueya Chapel where we attend church, and also knew mutual friends who had helped pay for her schooling when she was young.

Then she began to tell me her sad story: She was pregnant and the Father of her child started to beat her after he found out she was pregnant and didn’t want to get an abortion. I invited her into the house and invited our cook, Margaret, to join us. Margaret is a wonderful Christian woman who is also very wise, and she listened intently as Bernadette told her story.

Bernadette had been badly injured during the earthquake and showed us her disfigured arm and also where they had sewed up her stomach due to internal injuries.
She told us how her church had disciplined her for getting pregnant before marriage and was not allowing her to attend Sunday morning services. We asked her where she was living, and she said with her Mother, who was not a Christian. She said her Mother was very upset about the pregnancy and was very mean to her most of the time.
We asked her if she had ever accepted Christ, and she said she did have a personal relationship with Jesus. I then asked her if she had asked for forgiveness for her sin and showed her 1 John 1:9.

She was quite open and seemed to be sincerely repentant.

We prayed with her after we talked and she shed a few tears. It had probably been a long time since she heard words of comfort instead of condemnation.
After Margaret fixed her a good meal with lots of protein in it she seemed to feel better. As she left, we told her she could come back if she needed more help, or just to pray.

PS: Bernadette came back today and we prayed with her again.

YABT Haiti and Diplo Foundation Graduation

2011-08-13T21:03:00.001-05:00

One of the partnerships we have through Young Americas Business Trust in Haiti is with the Diplo Foundation. They offer on-line courses in internet governance with the goal of educating those who set national policy in the basics of how the internet is goverend. In Haiti, very few understand all that happens behind the scenes to make the internet work.

After we ate lunch one of the topics we discussed how to protect Haitian children from on-line pornography and child predators. None present knew of any laws in Haiti that have been enacted to address these threats to Haitian society.

This is a practical example of how the Diplo training can impact Haiti.

In addition, I purchsed Bibles in Creole for each person who attended. I said that neither YABT Haiti nor Diplo are Christain organizations, but I am a Christian and had purchased Bibles for them to have with my own money. I left the Bibles on a table, and said anyone who wanted to could take one. Every single one of the participants took a Bible, including the head of the Haitian equivalent of the US FCC (Federal Communications Committee)!

What is it like to drive the back roads of Haiti?

2011-07-22T12:27:00.006-05:00

The area where we travelled has no road maintenance, so when it rains, sometimes deep gullies form and mud holes develop that become deep from trucks sloshing through them.

Just last year we were in the general area, and the roads had just been finished so they were in good shape. But after no maintenance for a year, they are getting really bad.

Our most treacherous journey was to Bassin Bleu near Jean Rabel. It started to rain when we were most of the way there, and we stopped to think about whether we should continue. But the rain let up, and Pastor Pierty, who was driving, thought that we could make it.

Even in 4WD we were slipping a bit, especially on the hills, but we still made progress. We had about 5 people in the back as well, and sometimes they were slammed against the rails when we slid.

Then suddenly, while going up a hill the truck began to fish-tail. I looked up and it seemed like we were going to go over a deep embankment on our right. But just at the last minute, Pastor Pierty got the truck under control and we made it up the hill.

When we finally got to the school we were rewarded by a bunch of kids waiting for us inside the small school made of mud walls with a thatched roof.

Thank God the rain had stopped by the time we headed home, and we didn’t have any more problems, but it is definitely a trip me and my Canadian friends will never forget!

Canadians have a Haitian adventure

2011-07-22T12:07:00.006-05:00

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From July 11 through the 18th, 2011 we hosted four young Canadians who wanted to help us start teams in 8 schools in North-West Haiti: Art, Nick, William and Kate.

Here is a short summary of the trip in numbers:

Number of decisions for Christ: 60
Number who want to study the Bible: 50
Number of Christian books distributed: Approximately 5,000
Canadians who survived: 4 Canadians who did not: 0
Haitian coworkers: 6 – Ronald, Sylvain, Debreus, Jean Paul, Maxime and Pastor Pierty
Schools visited: 9 Schools who got sets of equipment: 10
Number of complete sets of short, jerseys and socks donated: 13
Number of balls collected: 120
Number of miles driven over some of the roughest roads in Haiti:
Number of flat tires: 1

Each day we got up early and drove over rough roads to visit 2-3 schools mostly in remote areas. When we got to the schools we played games with the children that showed up (it is summer vacation here), and explained to the school director and pastors who to best use the books we gave them. One of the books is called “25 stories from the Bible”. Other titles were: Pilgrims progress in Creole; Sharing your faith; New Testaments in Creole; Growing in the Christian Life and God’s Marvelous Creation.

After playing games with the children, I shared my testimony of how I was shot and showed the children the bullet holes in my truck. Then Sylvain shared the Gospel in a simple way and gave an invitation.

In the afternoons, we held an evangelistic soccer tournament for 8 schools. We handed out hundreds of tracts at these games and at the final we shared the Gospel and 16 people indicated they trusted in Christ.

For three nights we also showed Christian films to the community and hundreds of people attended these as well. Some people trusted in Christ as a result of these films as well. We showed films like “The Combat” and “The Solution” that contrast Voodoo with Christianity. We also showed 2 films for children on the life of Jesus: “The God Man” and “The Jesus Film for Children”.

So we thank our dear Canadian friends for collecting lots of equipment and donations to make this trip possible and finance a great soccer tournament. The team from “Mosquito Bay” won the tournament. This is an Ocean side community know for its quantity of bugs!

Thanks to our Canadian friends from the University of Moncton and this recent team, we have more equipment than we have ever had, and have been able to start 20 new teams just this year, so now we are up to 80 teams all over Haiti!

Mission to the NorthWest of Haiti

2011-07-11T11:37:00.002-05:00

Starting today (July 11th), I will be welcoming a team of 4 tough Canadians who I challenged to come work with me this summer to reach 9 villages in this remote part of Haiti.

Our Haitian team of myself, Ronald William, Jean Paul Noel, Sylvain Nelson and Debreus Dreisnel will be joining them on this thrust into an area steeped in voodoo.

We are partnering with our Crossworld Co-Workers, Bruce and Deb Robinson, and 9 UEBH churches in each of the villages we will be visiting.

To attract the community, we are sponsoring an evangelistic soccer tournament throughout the week with the final game on Saturday.

We hope to visit 2-3 different villages each day and do sports with the children and distribute books entitled "25 Stories from the Bible" to each student at the local Christian Schools, about 50% of which have not yet trusted in Christ.

We have found that when a child trusts in Christ, his parents often react positively to his child-like faith and come to Christ as well.

I will be away from the internet during this time until July 18th, so as God brings us to mind, please pray for us!

Hold the Fort!

2011-07-11T11:25:00.003-05:00

As I was preparing to lead the Worship service at Quisqueya Chapel this past Sunday, I came across this story:

Near the end of the American Civil war, the Confederate Army under General Hood tried many times to repel a Union army under W.T. Sherman three times its size. On the 5th of October, 1864, the Confederate army of Hood, in a carefully prepared movement, went behind the Union army stationed near Atlanta, GA and commenced the destruction of the railroad leading north, burning blockhouses and capturing the small garrisons along the line. Sherman’s army was put in rapid motion pursuing Hood, to save the supplies and larger posts, the principal one of which was located at Allatoona Pass. A million and a half rations of food were stored here and it was highly important that the earthworks commanding the pass and protecting the supplies be held.

The area was completely surrounded by the Confederates and the Fort was asked to surrender. The Union commander refused and a sharp fight commenced. The defenders were slowly driven into a small fort on the crest of the hill. At this moment an officer caught sight of a signal flag far away across the valley, twenty miles distant, upon the top of Kenesaw Mountain. The signal was answered, and soon the message was waved across from mountain to mountain:

“Hold the fort; I am coming. W. T. Sherman.”

Cheers went up; every man was nerved to a full appreciation of the position; and under a murderous fire, which killed or wounded more than half the men in the fort—the Union General himself being shot three times through the head, and his Colonel taking command, though himself badly wounded — they held the fort for three hours until the advance guard of Sherman’s army came up and the Confederate army was obliged to retreat.

After hearing this story from a civil war veteran in 1870, Philip Bliss, the composer who wrote the melody to “It is well with my Soul”, wrote the words and melody of “Hold the Fort”. Philip died in a tragic train accident at 38 years of age at the height of his evangelistic music ministry and was about to join Dwight Moody in Europe when the accident happened, killing him and his wife, and leaving his two sons as orphans.

Just as the men of the Union army held the fort, we need to remember to “hold the Fort” of God’s Kingdom here on earth against the “Devil’s schemes” and his rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). This church is in a strategic position here in Port-au-Prince! But just as the Union army fought to save badly needed supplies, supplies needed for the Union to win the war, so we must give and supply the needs of this church so that it can be a haven of hope, a fortress for God’s Kingdom here in PAP. Rest assured that God’s Kingdom is coming! In His last words in Revelation Jesus reminds us: “Yes, I am coming soon! (Rev. 22: 20). Until then we need to pray, give and work for the defense and advancement of his Kingdom here in Haiti and around the world.

Hold the fort Philip Bliss

Verse 1:
Ho, my comrades! see the signal waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh.

Refrain:

“Hold the fort, for I am coming,” Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to Heaven, “By Thy grace we will.”
See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on;
Mighty ones around us falling, courage almost gone!

Refrain

See the glorious banner waving! Hear the trumpet blow!
In our Leader’s Name we triumph over ev’ry foe.

Refrain

Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near;
Onward comes our great Commander, cheer, my comrades, cheer!

Mud and Rivers and rocks, Oh My!

2011-07-09T13:48:00.007-05:00

For all those fans for 4 wheel drive, have I got a road for you!

Last week I drove from 7 AM to 7 PM on some of the worst roads in Haiti, straddling "mud tracks" 2 feet deep, fording rivers, and beating my tires up on "washboard" rock formations that loosened up every bolt on my Toyota pickup (and even shook some completely loose).

I had a full load of 5 people inside the truck and two men outside sitting on top of 50 cases of Christian literature, soccer equipment and suitcases.

Our first stop was a remote church where we delivered lots of books to be distributed next week during our visit with our Canadian Friends. Then we tried to hook up with a Haitian pastor who had just had a bad motorcycle accident, but couldn't wait until he got home.

Our last stop before heading to La Pointe, was to drop off the rest of the books that will be distributed to 9 different churches between July 11 and 16th. There are colorfull "25 Bible story" books, Pilgrim's Progress in Creole, Bibles and booklets for children that clearly explain the Gospel.

There were also Literacy "primers" to teach children how to read in Creole. When i got to this remote village, I decided to test the reading skills of the children gathered around. To my amazement, even the smallest child seemed to be able to read the letters with ease and even some sentences! The future of Haiti is definitely the children!

To get to La Pointe, we had to cross a wide river that trucks have been know to get stuck in. Naturally, I was a little nervous, and it didn't help that some of my Haitian companions told stories of people they knew who got stuck when water stalled their engines and the car drifted down the river a bit!

We made it across, however, thanks to "guides" that sat on my hood, sometimes pointing in different directions!

I was glad to get even a cold shower that night to wash all the dust off and crawl into bed!

Sylvain and Sylvena's Wedding

2011-07-09T13:21:00.008-05:00

A wedding is always a cause of celebration in any culture, but it takes on new meaning in Haiti where most children are born out of wedlock, and many couples don't have the money to get married in a "proper fashion". Teenage pregnancy is still a huge problem here and has been exacerbated because of the insecurity in the tent cities.

So when a couple does their best to celebrate their union in a way that glorifies God, and his goodness in bringing them together, it is indeed a special occasion.

Sylvain and Sylvena met in Port-de-Paix where they attend Ebenezer Baptist Church. She is a Kindergarten teacher, and her students attended the wedding and sang a cute song for the couple. Sylvain is a school teacher and also works for Compassion and Ambassadors in Sport. He also has his own evangelistic ministry in the area that seeks to go into remote areas and share the Gospel.

I was asked to pray at the wedding, which was a great honor, and of course I had to write down the prayer since it was in Creole and I didn't want any mistakes!

I also helped out by driving the wedding attendants to and from the wedding and helping them keep out of the mud, since it had rained earlier that day.

In all, it was a great celebration and reminded me of how thankful I am for Carol and our children, the fruit of a godly marriage - and of course I prayed the same for Sylvain and Sylvena!

Richard arrived safely up north

2011-07-05T16:13:00.003-05:00

Thanks for your prayers. Richard arrived safely up north. Sunday, he made excellent time getting to Gonaives in 2 1/2 hours, even though sometimes it can take 4 or more hours.
Yesterday he drove around a lot (about 10 hours) getting to Port-de-Paix and then having meetings in that general area.

If justice seems so elusive to you that you don't even try to acheive it, is that a kind of oppression?

2011-07-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

This is a note I put on facebook this morning.

I was actually invited to a 4th of July picnic and even though I wasn't really in the mood, I knew it would be a good thing to do. I'm glad I did.

Please comment on this note--I'd appreciate your thoughts.

"I'm trying to be in the 4th of July spirit, but I just had a heart-breaking talk with a Mom whose son (one of the most honest, good-hearted, unselfish people I've known) is in jail. He's been like a son to me and it's really hard to accept this. I get angry with people involved in this and disheartened knowing a little of what jail is like in this country. He contracted malaria this week. I'm thanking God that at least the prison provided chloroquine and rehydration fluids.

The saddest part is that it seems the Haitians involved don't feel that they can even try to prove that he is not the one who's at fault. They are so used to the idea that you can't fight "city hall" or anyone (in this case, it's probably individuals), it almost doesn't occur to them to try. And partly because of this, we have been uninformed, and misinformed about what actually happened. It doesn't seem worth it to those involved trying to piece together what happened because they think you'll never be able to prove that he didn't do it. What experiences must they have had if they act this way? Or is it just hearsay? So, instead they are focused on trying to raise the huge amount of money to pay back the organization that is out the money.

To answer my question above....if you think about the Merriam-Webster definition "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" it doesn't seem like that's what's happening here, at first. But, what if the LACK of exercise of power or authority allows some people in the society to take advantage of someone else without punishment?

Sadly, we have lost time not knowing many of the facts in this matter because of hopelessness--at least in their society and justice system. They do hope in God, but, I guess like all of us, they only think He will work in certain ways.

Hmmm. Need to go pray some more."

.

Prayer requests

2011-07-03T06:35:00.003-05:00

Here are some prayer requests for Sunday and Monday:

Please pray for Richard today as he drives up to Gonaives and tomorrow when he'll be driving on worse roads to Port-de-Paix and La Pointe.

Pray for the AIS "Team" as they have a lot going on this week up in the north:

1. Sylvain Nelson's wedding! - He has been working with AIS for years and is currently a part time administrator for the northern regions. (Tuesday, July 5th)

2. For book distribution - over 10,000 books to be brought to 3 regions. "25 Greatest Bible stories" and "Book of Hope" (both in Creole, but giving you the English names), and Bibles.

3. For Equipment distribution for soccer teams in 3 regions.

4. UEBH Beraca Conference - Representatives from the UEBH churches and ministries all over Haiti meet together for a few days of teaching, worship and spending time together.

5. Meeting with the AIS-Haiti Regional Committee in Gonaives.

Thank you for praying!

YABT training for Young Life - How to Write a Business Plan

2011-07-01T20:43:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures of the YABT training for the Young Life group that started last weekend and continues tomorrow and Sunday.

Tent Camp for 18 months and still no where to go for many

2011-07-01T06:05:00.005-05:00

I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks as I sat in a circle together with 14 IDP* (refugee) tent camp leaders and the pastor of the church property where the camp sits. The camp is supposed to be dismantled by the Fall and these people need somewhere to go. We had just finished two hours of discussion about how to help people in the camp understand their God-given talents through ABCD: Asset Based Community Development.

As a North American, I wanted to go in and fix their problems like I order a hamburger at McDonalds. But there are no easy answers when it comes to assimilating the thousands of people in IDP camps back into the mainstream in Haiti. Imagine living in a tent for 1 ½ years! That’s not a week’s vacation with your family.

I’m not sure of all the emotions welling up inside that caused me to cry, but I know deep inside I wanted these dear brothers and sisters in Christ (who were volunteering their time to help others in the tents) to know that somebody had heard their cries and cared about their challenges. I wanted them to know that I (and all who support us and pray for us) was there to encourage and comfort them in a seemingly impossible situation.

I told them frankly that I didn’t know how God was going to deliver them from this situation, but at the beginning of the seminar we all confirmed what we knew: God loves us, and all the people living in tents; God would not ask us to pray for our daily bread without giving us a way to earn it or find it, and God has given each one of us talents and abilities to serve him, and serve others.

Without the caring heart of Mark Bradley, a fellow Crossworld missionary, and his wife, Anne, I would not have had the opportunity to share with and learn from these dear people. But when Mark asked me to visit the camp with him, and we started to talk to Pastor Renes about the challenges he faced, I decided to meet with them to discuss ABCD which I had just read about in the book “When Helping Hurts”.
So with Mark’s help I learned enough about ABCD, and the spirit behind it, to lead a discussion with these leaders.

ABCD starts with the perspective that God has given everyone talents and abilities that they can use to help themselves and others. Instead of asking the refugees what they need, ABCD asks them what they HAVE in terms of skills, community connections, business experience and personal assets. It seeks to engage everyone in finding solutions to pressing community issues rather than doing things for people who “have nothing to offer.” In Mark 6, Jesus started with what people had, a few fish and loaves, and proceeded to turn it into a feast for 5000. When we offer what we have to God, he can do miracles – and that is what Haiti needs right now – lots of individual miracles.

Even though I had never taught this material before, the discussions we had energized me, and God helped me find just the right illustrations to help the group understand the concepts. Once this was done, we worked together on putting together a survey to help people discover their talents. I left it up to them to decide whether they would survey people individually or in groups, and also when and how they would get together to discuss the results of the surveys and hopefully find some ways to connect needs in the community with skills their neighbors have.

I plan to meet with them on July 21st to discuss their findings and try and find ways to link their abilities with my network. In the meantime, please pray for this whole process, and pray that God will make a way for these dear people leave their tents.

Rich

*Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) – people are not technically considered refugees if they are in such a camp in their own country.

Prayer Requests

2011-06-30T16:06:00.002-05:00

Please pray for safety for Richard as he drives around town. He did a special meeting this morning with the leaders of an IDP tent camp that is going to be disbanded soon. The people need wisdom and help with people getting resettled. Thank God for a church in Pennsylvania who is partnering with the church at this site to pray for, to have a partnership with them and help in whatever way God leads them.

Please pray for Ronald and Sylvain who are up north (again) conducting training.

Pray for the YABT training that will continue this weekend at Young Life.

thanks!

What is she doing?

2011-06-29T19:53:00.003-05:00

"Madame, Emmanuel told us he saw you walking on a thing in a room and you didn't go anywhere! We want to see this thing!" Francelaine & Geovania asked me.

No, I didn't let them watch me walk on the treadmill. And, no, no picture of me on it. ;) But seeing how silly it seems to them, since they have to walk just about everywhere and wouldn't if they didn't have to, makes me think & pray about whether we're really getting anywhere as we put out effort in our ministries.

In fact, our recent CrossWorld retreat was a all about evaluating what we spend our time doing and what effect it has. We read the book "Live Like You Mean It" by T.J. Addington and spent time clarifying what we think God has us here for, what we need to do to accomplish that, etc. It has been challenging and refreshing.

If you would join us in prayer about this, we'd appreciate it. And, I think I need to use our "most used word" of the retreat to ask specifically for prayer...."intentional." Pray that we would be more intentional about all that we are here to do. Thanks

Training in Cabaret in the North

2011-06-28T13:47:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures of the training that went on up in Cabaret on Saturday.

Each team was given some equipment to start with.

Reorganizing the "Soccer Depot"

2011-06-25T00:19:00.002-05:00

Working on the depot. We call it "the soccer depot." It's where we keep the donated sports equipment, first aid materials, training materials, Bibles, books, and equipment for showing films.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And, yes, there's Jean-Paul again. Ronald and others also helped on this project.

Before there were only a few shelves and mostly there were cardboard boxes piled on top of each other. The contents was scribbled on in marker, for example "shirts." This time we have uniform labels on each box that fit into plastic sleeves so we can write on each box exactly how many we take out or add to it. This picture was actually taken before we completely finished the job.

We are setting in place a more organized method of tracking all this "inventory" as it comes in and goes out to the (over 70) teams our 10 regions around the country. We hope to replace the cardboard boxes with plastic tubs over time, but that' the next step. It's good to have the time to do this so that things will be more streamlined throughout the year. And it was really nice to be able to find the tools to work on this project because of Kevin Belmont who helped us clean out and reorganize our personal depot!

Jean-Paul graduated from seminary!

2011-06-24T19:07:00.009-05:00

By the grace of God, one of our AIS-Haiti workers, Jean-Paul Pierre Noel graduated from STEP seminary last week. Here's a picture of him with his fiance, Christelle Francois. They are planning to be married in December, 2011.

Jean-Paul did an internship with AIS-Haiti after his second year in seminary. He has been faithful in volunteering and recently started working in a part time position with us. He is a gentle, gracious Christian who is a joy to work with.

When I say that he graduated "by the grace of God" I'm not implying that we weren't sure of his capabilities. Although he may say that in all ways he needed God's grace (I think that's true for all of us), but I say that because Jean-Paul did not have enough money to attend STEP. God graciously provided, even in the last week of school, a donor from our home church, Crossing Community Church, gave a very generous gift that allowed Jean-Paul to pay off all his debt! We praise God for this.

For the time being, Jean-Paul is still working with us part time in Port-au-Prince where he plans to live after he is married. Please pray that God would provide funds for us to increase his hours with AIS and that he will be able to help us lead AIS into the future.

Training this weekend

2011-06-23T10:07:00.006-05:00

Ronald William just arrived this morning up north where he, Sylvain, Debreus and Orvil will be conducting a training session for a group of 24 young men in Cabaret in the Northwest department who are interested in volunteering with AIS-Haiti.

Ronald had to get up very early this morning to take the bus up to Port de Paix and we were glad to get the call that he arrived there safely. Now, to get to Cabaret where they will hold the training day, Sylvain will be working out transportation for them which involves crossing (through!) several rivers, some of which are at flood levels. One especially is quite difficult right now. Please pray that they get safely there and then for Sunday when they will return.

A CrossWorld missionary who works up in that area has asked us to be in "serious prayer because there is so much potential" Also, the area is very heavily influence by voodoo.

Some of the participants will be trained to be coaches, some to be chaplains, and others to be administrators of the teams.

Ronald took a big bag of equipment with him to help 8 teams to get started. These teams will be associated with UEBH Christian schools in the general area.
Here are some pictures to show you what it's like crossing the rivers up north.

Here's one taken from a side window looking at a very full river.

Storm Damage

2011-06-11T23:13:00.012-05:00

While we were away at a retreat with our CrossWorld colleagues, Port-au-Prince was hit hard by a storm this week.
Week before last, our friend, Kevin Belmont came and put in a nice, sturdy "staircase" made of discarded car tires filled with dirt so that Francoise could get up and down from the ravine to walk anywhere she needs to go and to tend to her garden that she has planted on the side of the ravine. You can see what looks like a big boulder next to her is actually the ground (the property she is renting to own) where she had planted some corn. Her house is up on the left and the blue tarp is her outhouse, which is now slanting down toward the ravine.

Sadly, many poor people live in ravines or on the edges of them. People like this were hit hard. Of course, certain sections of tent cities were also washed out. Thankfully our friend, Francoise was fine, but the water carried away earth, stones,and some of the "tire stairs". Please pray for the people of this ravine (Puits Blain & Vivy Mitchell) and another one on the other side of our neighborhood in the Delmas 75 area.

The picture below shows the lower tires that got washed away.

There is a good side to this, in that the path where Francoise's neighbors used to walk to get to anything outside of their "neighborhood" is gone--taken away by the water. So now lots of people are appreciating the tire stairs that Kevin built and at the bottom, they hop over to the "earthen boulder" and then hop to other chunks of land or rocks to get to or from their houses.
The down side of this is that something was stolen from Francoise this week and she's concerned that more things will be stolen.
It's interesting to me that her garden doesn't need to have a fence around it. She says that as long as people see her tending the garden, they won't take her produce, only if they think she doesn't live there anymore would they take it.
Another point of good news is that Francoise says that people who had lost everything were going around asking for sheets and clothing and we just received some sheets and towels that were intended for earthquake relief but sitting in customs for about a year. The reason for that was that the person they were sent to went back to the US because of health problems. So, now we have these available to give out.
In the picture below you see Francoise's next door neighbor's house. There used to be vegetation on the side of the ravine and it went gradually down to the bottom. Now it's cut away. The neighbor said that it would cost a huge amount of money to try to fix this.

Water Project inaugurated just in time for a rash of new cholera cases

2011-06-06T08:02:00.007-05:00

Highlights from this week:

We finally got to "inaugurate" the water project in Verrettes. When we went out there, we heard that with all the rain we've been getting there has been a new wave of cholera victims. All the cases at the Verrettes church were treated and the people recovered, thank God.

Please pray: Our friend, Venita's two children, Sara and "Louch" (Gaeton) are sick with cholera-like symptoms and are currently on IV at the General Hospital. They are being told it's not cholera, but hopefully they are being treated as if it is.

I'm going to have to finish this post later....stay tuned...

When you help the least of these…

2011-05-23T20:51:00.001-05:00

When you help the least of these…

You may remember Davidson, the 11 year old orphan who lives with his Grandmother who is deaf.

This morning at 6 AM he rang our bell. It turns out that he was up all night in pain because of a tooth ache. One of his “baby” molars had a big cavity, and was causing a throbbing pain.

Since I had to take Carol and Ricky to school, I gave him some Tylenol and told him to meet me at noon with an adult from his neighborhood so I could take him to a dentist I know.

In the meantime, I called up a Haitian friend who is a dentist and made an appointment for Davidson.

By the time I picked up Davidson to take him to the dentist, I could tell that he had been in pain a long time. I asked him where his adult companion was, and he said no one could go with him. So I made the decision to take him myself. To make the ride shorter, I asked him to do math problems in his head. I wanted to see how well he would do since I had helped him get a scholarship to attend school. He knew how to add pretty well, and could handle money as well. But he was weak on subtraction, multiplication and division.

When we arrived at the Dentist’s office, we waited a little while so it could be “cleaned”. Apparently it hadn’t been used in some time since my Dentist friend often visits refugee camps to provide dental services.

We placed Davidson on the dental chair, and he laid still. The Dentist decided it would be best to pull the tooth, since it was a “baby” tooth. So, being the son of a dentist, I explained to Davidson that he would be getting a shot, and then would feel some pressure as the dentist removed the tooth.

This was Davidson’s first time at the dentist, and I saw a lone tear streak down his face even before the shot. He was clearly afraid. So I tried to comfort him, and soothe him. But nothing could prepare him for his first shot of Novocain, which I always said was the most painful part of getting a tooth pulled! But the little guy was very brave and did not move, but cried quietly as the shot started to numb his jaw.

It had been a long time since I had been present during a tooth extraction, and I forgot how big the chisel and forceps looked. I was afraid I might faint since I had not eaten lunch and it was really hot in the office without electricity to run fans or anything. But Davidson and I both made it through with flying colors!
The Dentist gave Davison some antibiotics and did not charge us for the extraction saying it was part of his ministry to the poor. I gave him a small amount of money anyway to encourage and thank him.

On the way home I purchased a bottle of water that was mostly ice and told Davidson to lay it gently on his cheek to ease the pain of the extraction.

As he lay on the backseat of my 4-cab pickup while I fought afternoon traffic in down-town Port-au-Prince, I couldn’t help but thank God for letting me be part of “The good works God had prepared for me to walk in” that day.

But my adventure was not over. I needed to take Davidson home and talk to his Grandmother about the medicine he needed to take. So he lead me down a big hill, up a winding, narrow passage way where water ran when it rained, then up a lot of stairs to until we arrived at his Grandmother’s house. She was so thrilled to see me, she ran down from her roof and gave me a big hug thanking me for helping her grandson. The she led me inside her one-room house and showed me where rain comes in through the cement roof. But she is one of the lucky ones – she owns the house they live in, and it did not collapse during the earthquake.

After explaining how to take the medicine and leaving some money for them to buy some pain-reliever, I prayed with Davidson and asked God to reduce the pain and help him to recover quickly.

As I walked the long path back to my car, I reflected on how much effort this 11 year old makes just to get to school every day. I was drenched with sweat just walking back to my car!

I know I can’t help every 11 year old orphan in Haiti, but God put Davidson in my path today, and I helped relieve his suffering in a small way. Thank you for your prayers and support that allow God to work through me to be your hands and feet here in Haiti, helping boys like Davidson in a direct way, but also influencing over 1,000 young soccer players through the over 80 teams we now sponsor in Christian schools around the country.

Hatian National Amputee Soccer Team visits the Citadel

2011-05-23T12:23:00.002-05:00

Amputee Soccer Team at the Citadel

2011-05-14T21:53:00.005-05:00

How do you get a person with one leg up the steep hill to the visit the Citadel? On horse-back of course. Unfortunately, the horse handlers beat the horses with wooden sticks (switches) and this sometimes makes the horse move forward suddenly. One of our amputee players lost his grip on the saddle, and fell off the horse, hitting his elbow on the hard cobblestone road. He was not seriously injured, but it certainly was a scare!

Once in the Citadel, the players had to climb lots of stairs and fully exerted themselves just getting around to explore this vast fortress.

Then at the end of the visit, they sang to a crowd of several hundred, with me singing bass to round out the harmony.

As the tour guide told us the story of how "King" Henri Christophe committed suicide after he became handicapped because of a stroke, I could not help but reflect on the irony of that story when looking at the Amputee soccer team. Here were poor men who, even though handicapped, were living a courageous life and fighting to survive on practically nothing. Whereas Henri Christophe had riches, fortresses, palaces and everything the world had to offer at that time, yet lost hope when he became handicapped. Why do the players of the Amputee soccer team have hope, where Christophe had none? Because most of the players on the team are Christian and are trusting Christ to meet the daily needs of them and their families.

Enjoy the pictures!

Street kids in Haiti

2011-05-10T09:37:00.001-05:00

When you are a missionary, you are like a Mom - you have to be able to do almost anything at any time, with little notice with practically nothing.

This trip was like that for me. I drove 8 hours up to Cap Haitian, mostly in the dark following a diesel exhaust-belching bus (Thank God for A/C!). On the way back, I did the same thing, but lead the way most of the time. I took care of first aid, food for 40 and had to go to the airport (1 & 1/2 hour round trip) four times to pick up 30 lost suitcases.

But the best part of the trip for me were the spontaneous moments when Haitians crowded around us to see what we were doing. Many times this trip I took the opportunity to share my Christian testimony and the story of how I was shot and survived. Of course it helped that I had the bullet holes in my truck seat and door to show the doubting Thomas's. Many listened with rapt attention, especially the children. On the last day in Cap Haitian I was at a park waiting for the team to show up and get on the bus.

A few street kids started to gather around me so I gave them tracts. Right away, one of the boys started to read the tract outloud - he was so happy to have something to read in Creole! He read straight through the tract without stopping with the correct pronunciation and intonation! I was amazed and asked where he had learned to read like that (80% of Haitians can't read). He told me that before his parents had died, they had send him to 5 years of school. He said his Father had died in the earthquake, and that his mother had died of cancer 3 years ago. I asked him why he didn't stay with his relatives. He said his Grandmothers were dead, and the only relative he knew about was an aunt in Ti Riviere which was over 60 miles away.

His name was Gilot and he is 11 years old. My heart was breaking. I so wanted to take him home and train his sharp mind!! The best I could do was get the name of his Aunt and give it to our contact in Ti Riviere where we have a soccer team to see if he could locate the boy's aunt.

As I kept talking a dozen more boys showed up, so I called a friend from the hospital we had visited and asked him if he knew of any place that helped street kids. He said there was a ministry that gave them a hot meal once a day right at that plaza. The boys knew of it, but said they didn't serve food on Sundays. So I gave everyone some crackers and water and kept talking to them. Out of the 15 boys or so, 3 could read!

Back in the 60's I remember an advertisement for the Äftrican-American college fund that said "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". Please pray for these bright young boys who could help their country so much if given a chance, and the right spiritual training.

University of Moncton Days 3-5,Weds, May 4, 2011 to Friday, May 6

2011-05-07T22:47:00.003-05:00

Days 3-5,Weds, May 4, 2011 to Friday, May 6

Today is the big day of the U-13 soccer final. Before that, we have a big day planned: We will visit three sets of students at two schools. In Haiti there is such a demand for education, that the state schools (public schools) and some private schools have Morning and afternoon sessions with completely different sets of students.

So at one school we are visiting today, we are going to play with the AM section in the morning, and the PM section at 1 PM. After that is the final of the soccer tournament we have sponsored.

Yesterday I met with a reporter of one of the biggest radio stations in Cap Haitian (Radio 4VEH). He is going to advertise for the game this afternoon.

The soccer tournament final attracted the largest crowd we have had to date, outside of the Games played in 2007 in the National Stadium. We estimate there were over 1,000 people at the game. The sound system was very powerful, and as I arrived at the game late, I heard Jean Paul sharing the Gospel with the crowd. The 30-40 Evangelistic Counselors we had trained the day before were all there and they asked people to fill out response cards after the presentation. As we reviewed the cards after the game, 32 people indicated that they had trusted in Christ. In addition, many others asked if they could study the Bible with one of the three local evangelical churches represented. We gave the response cards to the representatives from the local churches to follow up with and met with them the morning after the game to give them some money to buy cell phone time so they can call and make appointments with those interested.

The Amputee soccer team also was at the final game and were introduced to the crowd, who cheered them as they shook hands with the players who were about to have a penalty-kick shoot out because the game ended in a tie: 1-1. It always breaks my heart when a young player misses a penalty shot which allows the other team to win the shoot out, but this is what happened.

After the game, we did the drawing and took advantage of the crowd that had gathered to go over the Gospel one more time.

The next day I got up early and went to help the Amputee Soccer team train the newly formed team from Cap Haitian. I then went back to the airport to get another 13 suitcases that were lost in transit (this in addition to the 16 that I had picked up the day before!).

We also sent Ronald William off to San Rafael to deliver equipment to 4 schools there that we had worked with before. It was a 2 hour trip on two motorcycles with two heavy sacks tied to the back. When he and his partner got back they were exhausted and had bloodshot eyes from all the dust.

That afternoon we played the first-ever Amputee soccer game in Cap Haitian to a crowd of over 400 people. I refereed the game and it was great to see them play again. The game ended 2-1, but most of the relationships that were made will never end, because most of the players are Christians!

We played in an interesting way so that everyone could participate. The amputee players played in the center of the regulation-size field, with 2 Canadian student players on each team playing only on the wings, and not able to enter the middle of the field. Those who played in the game said it was one of the best experiences of the trip for them.

We had practice with the amputee team the next day before we joined the Canadians to go to the Citadel. The Citadel is one of the “wonders of the New World”. It is a huge fortress built on the top of a mountain at the cost of the lives of 20,000 “free” Haitians, who were forced by Henri Christophe to build his palace and fortress.

It was a very emotional moment when the Haitian Amputee Soccer Team climbed up the stairs and entered this historic place. Ironically, Henri Christophe, who had everything – wealth, palaces, fortresses, and an Italian wife, committed suicide after he had a stroke and became handicapped. In comparison, the members of the Amputee soccer team are for the most part very poor and handicapped, but most are Christian and so they have hope in Christ and so courageously go on living.
Later in the afternoon, the Amputee Soccer team sang three Christian songs, including Amazing Grace, inside the Citadel where the acoustics were fantastic. We just started singing and then the whole Canadian team were attracted to the sound and so crowded around. Then the Canadian team started singing. It was a moment in time we all will never forget!

After the visit, I asked the Amputee soccer team if they still had energy enough to stop by the hospital in Milot to see if there were any patients who needed encouragement and prayer. The immediately said “This is what we came to do!” They found one lady who had just had her leg amputated due to cancer. She was discouraged because the cancer had spread to her upper leg and now she might have to have another operation to remove more of her leg. They surrounded her, hugged her, sang for her and prayed for her!

Thanks for letting me be your hands and feet in Haiti and “walk in the good works that God has prepared me to do” for His glory!

University of Moncton Team Day 2

2011-05-07T22:02:00.002-05:00

Day 2: This morning we got up and organized all the Christian books to be distributed on this trip. In total we will distribute 3,750 copies of the “25 Bible stories booklets” and hundreds of other Christian books including 30 New testaments.
We visited the largest school yet with over 650 students. One of the guards at this school was a leg amputee, and he got very excited when I told him about the visit of the Amputee Soccer team. He is going to try and get off from work to attend the training and game.

Right now I am sitting at a school way out in the country and the students are just leaving in their blue uniforms. It is amazing that the internet is working out here!
The most exciting thing is that this morning two people trusted Christ today during one of the trainings we did at school for those who want to help us with evangelism at Wednesday’s tournament final.

In the afternoon, the Canadian women played a friendly match against a group of Haitian women, some of who had played on the National team. The Canadians scored first on a perfect shot that went over the goalie’s head and into the back of the net. Then in the second half, the Haitian women scored on a deflection, so the game ended in a tie.

The Canadian goalie said she had never seen crowds that big in her 5-year University career!

We are expecting even bigger crowds tomorrow for the U-13 boys final!

University of Moncton Team Day 1

2011-05-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

Day 1 (May 2, 2011)

For the past 2 years, AIS Haiti has had a partnership with the “Right to Play” club of the University of Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada. This club works hard to collect soccer equipment for us. Last year they arrived with over 60 bags of equipment which greatly helped our ministry.

They also help us by doing physical education activities with the schools we work with.

This year they came with over 100 bags of equipment and they are helping us open up a new territory in the North-east department of Haiti in a town called Terrier Rouge near Ft. Liberte.

The team of 36 students from the University of Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada arrived on May 1st after much trial. Some of their flights were cancelled due to bad weather in their area, and the airline said they wouldn’t be flying out until Tuesday. Eleven members of the team that could not get out of Halifax drove 10 hours to Montreal so they could arrive on time. They did not sleep for 3 days, and when they were re-united with the team in Port-au-Prince everyone cheered!
Monday, May 2, 2011 was our first day visiting schools in Terrier Rouge, and before our first school visit, we were greeted by the mayor who gave an address in the town square complete with music, singing and dancing!

Right now I am sitting in my car at a small school outside of Terrier Rouge and the team is playing with the kids who are laughing and having a great time.

At each of the schools we visit, we are giving them a booklet called “25 stories from the Bible”. In addition we are sharing with them a simple way to present the Gospel using the 5 “Gospel colors”. Today we gave out more than 1,000 of these books. As God’s Word goes out, we are praying for a great harvest.
Please be praying for us Wednesday as that is the day of the tournament final, and we will be doing evangelism at half-time!

AIS Haiti and YABT Haiti have a new office

2011-04-23T08:15:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a project sponsored by a European Foundation, we have a new office with new office equipment.

It is just off of Delmas, one of the main roads in Port-au-Prince. We are sharing the building with a Haitian organization that works with refugee camps and trains youth in English and computers, so we have a lot in common!

Pallets bring strength and security to tent dwellers

2011-04-23T08:05:00.004-05:00

As thousands of tons of aid and goods have come into Haiti, so have thousands of wooden pallets.

We are able to get these pallets for free from a Christian ministry and we have been distributing them to our friends who live in tents.

Unfortunately, women who live in tents are very vulnerable to attack and rape since tents have no security.

We encourage our friends to build make-shift walls out of pallets that are not easily broken into and then mount a wooden door to make forced entry more difficult.

So far we have distributed over 20 pallets to 3 different families.

The finals of the Verettes Soccer Tournament

2011-04-09T17:09:00.002-05:00

And the winner is... The Kingdom of God! Every time we do an evangelistic soccer tournament there is a physical battle on the field and a spiritual battle in the hearts of those who attend. On the field, the boys play their hearts out and often get bloody cuts because the fields are mostly rocks and sand. Those who do evangelism are cut by the jeers of spectators who do not care about what is being shared. Last time I passed out tracts and talked to spectators, some tossed them back at me and asked for money instead.

One of the Semi-finals was held between a public school and a Christian school. After the game we showed a new evangelistic film in Creole and about 300 people stayed to watch it. Before the film was over, we stopped it and gave an invitation. Although no one indicated they trusted in Christ at that time, the good seed was sown, and we know that God's Word always has an effect on the hearts of men.

A few days later the final was held. The team from a little town of Castra won the match and was very happy to receive a nice trophy. This was an event these boys will remember the rest of their lives. Once again the good seed was sown through handing out tracks and a short message at half-time.

This week there is a final in Leogane, and we are praying that God will touch hearts there as well!

Haiti has a New President!

2011-04-04T19:08:00.002-05:00

If a movie star like Ronald Reagan can become President of the USA, and an action film star like Arnold can become governor of California, then why can't the king of Compas, become president of Haiti?

With over 60% of the population of Haiti under the age of 25, it is no wonder that the youth of Haiti voted for their hero.

Here is an AP story on the his victory:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/04/04/general-cb-haiti-election_8391009.html

Associated Press
Michel 'Sweet Micky' Martelly wins Haiti election
By TRENTON DANIEL , 04.04.11, 07:47 PM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly scored a come-from-behind victory Monday in Haiti's presidential runoff, according to preliminary results from last month's election in which he easily defeated a former first lady for the leadership of a country facing enormous challenges.

Martelly, who has never held political office, received nearly 68 percent of the vote in the two-way race with Mirlande Manigat, electoral council spokesman Pierre Thibault said in an announcement that was immediately followed by noisy celebration in the Haitian capital.

The popular musician, a star of the Haitian genre known as compas, had trailed Manigat in the crowded first-round election in November. But his campaign gained momentum in the second round and many voters seemed enchanted with his lack of political experience in a country where the government has failed to provide many basic services.

Martelly promised profound change for Haiti, vowing to provide free education in a country where more than half the children can't afford school and to create economic opportunity amid almost universal unemployment.

"I'm going to celebrate with the people, then I'm going home to my kids," Wilson Goren, a 32-year-old street vendor, said as fireworks erupted around him after the results were announced.

Final results are due to be released April 16.

Conference encourages Non-government Organizations to use Haitian Companies

2011-03-28T11:35:00.002-05:00

Junior Bataille translates

According to recent statistics, less than 2% of relief monies has been spent through Haitian companies. This means that Haitian companies that could help NGO’s reach their objectives are not getting the business. Partners Worldwide, a Christian organization we partner with, held a one-day conference on March 25th to try and play match-maker between NGO’s and Haitian companies. Junior Bataille translated between French, Creole and English. Daniel Jean-Louis organized the conference, and I networked to find out what kinds of businesses successful Haitian companies are engaged in.

Visit to Venita's house

2011-03-28T11:05:00.004-05:00

href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wGDSXC4cJX4/TZC0FTvgP9I/AAAAAAAABI4/u2W9elkwPt8/s1600/100_1881.JPG">

You may remember Venita and her baby Sarah. This is the Mom and Baby that stayed with us for about 3 months after the earthquake. First she found out that her son was still alive, and then she finally got in touch with her husband and older daughter who had fled to the Dominican Republic after the earthquake.

Now they are living in a small shack on some property owned by their family. It is way up on one of the mountains surrounding Port-au-Prince. Just a 30 minute climb in a car takes you to an area surrounded by scrub trees and practically desolate. The main industry is digging into the side of the mountain for sand and rock that is used in construction in the city down below.

Please pray that we would find culturally correct ways to help this family!

Amputee Soccer Team sings at Quisqueya Chapel

2011-03-21T06:28:00.003-05:00

I met this weekend with Pastor Evens of the AHFA board and also 8 players from the team. Pastor Evens informs me that 3 out of the 5 board members are essentially inactive and that the team has practiced only once or twice since returning to Haiti.

I met with the 8 players on Saturday to rehearse two songs that we were to sing at the church I attend on Sunday. However, Sunday was election day, so only 3 of the 8 could come and sing. With me singing we made a nice quartet! People responded very positively and after church we sold snacks and raised over $100 US, which is enough to pay for 1-2 practices.

I also found out that since their return to Haiti, at least 2 babies have been born to members of the team.

Please pray for the team as they face many challenges both personally and as a team.

Election Day in Haiti

2011-03-20T07:23:00.003-05:00

Today is the runoff election for President of Haiti. The polls are open and the lines are long. But in at least one large tent city, there is no polling place.

Pray for safety. Last night Wyclef Jean, a rap star who tried to run for president but was ineligible, was shot in the hand. The car he and other entertainers were in was shot at. He is OK. He has been living in the US but is in Haiti to support one of the candidates. We don't really know if this had anything to do with the election per se.

Other than this, it has been very calm here the last few days.

UPDATE: many polling areas are waiting for materials, although they were supposedly open at 6am.

We're on our way to church (don't worry it's not far) to pray for the elections and worship God. Richard is worship leader this morning.

Elections calm

2011-03-20T03:33:00.000-05:00

The elections were calm. It will be a couple weeks before we get the results. If we get through tomorrow OK, things could be peaceful until then. We'll see.

God has prepared GOOD DEEDS for us to do in Haiti (and for you to do, too, wherever you are)!

2011-03-18T14:04:00.016-05:00

Davidson and his Grandmother

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the Dad who came in from shoveling snow and saw his son watching TV. He said to his son “You know, you probably won’t remember what your watching on TV tomorrow, but today you have a chance to do something you will probably remember your whole life. Why don’t you see if you can shovel widow Smith’s driveway and get back home before she knows who did it? The young boy did the job, Mrs. Smith never found out who did it, and both the father and son never forgot that good deed. Neither did God, because he is the one who created that young boy to do that good work!

The other day the bell at our gate rang, and I mentally complained about another interruption to my day. I walked up the stairs to see who it was, and was surprised to see Davidson at the gate. Davidson is a boy about 11 years old who used come and watch us play soccer in our driveway. I had not seen him for several years, but still recognized his features. I asked him what he wanted and he said he would like to go to school, but didn’t have the money to pay for it.

It turns out that he hadn’t gone to school since his father died on Sept. 11, 2008 at 32 years old. He had never learned to read and was just basically wandering around doing nothing all day under the loose supervision of his Aunt. His Mother had two children by another man, and as is often the case in Haitian society, the step-father was not interested in taking care of children his wife had had by another man. So Davidson lived with his grandmother.

I was busy, and of course there are thousands of children just like Davidson in Haiti, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to take this young man over to a local private school and talk to the school director about his situation. I had a good relationship with the teacher, “Mèt Johnny” (Maitre Johnny) since I had given his school some sports equipment. It turns out that Mèt Johnny knew Davidson’s father and was willing to give him a full scholarship for the rest of the school year. All I had to do was purchase a few books and give him some school supplies.

Later, Davidson and his Grandmother came to see me to thank me for helping him get into school. It turns out that she is deaf and does not know sign language, and it was quite comical trying to communicate with her. We laughed a lot, but she has led a very hard life. Out of her 3 children, only one was still alive. Her husband was not around, either due to death or desertion, and now she was raising her grandson. In addition, her house was partly destroyed by the earthquake. She said she would be homeless by now, but she owns her house and land, and so they are living in the one room of her house that is still standing.

She was thrilled that we got her grandson into school, and I realized that this was another “good work” that had been prepared by God for us to do.

This week there have been several other “good deeds”. One was taking a woman and her mother to the airport after their car had broken down on a mountain pass we were on. I had to change my plans for the day, but we got to share some Christian literature with the woman and give her a Bible story book for her children.

Then there was the 10 year old boy who ripped the tip of his toe off playing soccer. I was waiting outside a friend’s house and saw the boy limping and in pain. I sat him up on the back of my pickup and took a look at it. It looked like it needed stitches, so I asked the Haitian workmen who were with me if they knew his house. They said they did, and so we went and talked to his mother. She said she had no money and had to stay at her house and could not take him to a clinic, so we took him with a friend of his, and later found out that the doctor said he did not need stitches. (Possibly because it was in a place where stitches would be very difficult to do.)

So these days I wake up excited about what “Good Deeds” God has prepared for me to do. I know they will most likely be interruptions, but that is OK.

What “Good deeds” do you feel God would have you do today? It could be as simple as making a phone call, or sending an e-mail to encourage someone. It could be stopping to help a stranded motorist. Just be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and see how He leads you. I guarantee it’s a lot more interesting than watching T.V.!

Isidor and Joanne

2011-03-18T14:01:00.003-05:00

We finally got to meet Isidor’s wife! We invited them over on a Sunday afternoon for dinner and had a lovely time with them and Francoise and her children. Isidor was the man I helped at the hospital the night of the earthquake. We kept in touch and he is the one who helped to build Francoise’s house.

Please pray for them as they would like to have another child, after the tragedy of loosing their 8 day old baby during the earthquake.

Soccer tournaments in Verettes & Leogane

2011-03-18T13:54:00.003-05:00

We are currently holding evangelistic soccer tournaments in Verettes and Leogane. In Verettes, the tournament includes some public schools that we gave equipment to last summer when the “Right to Play” team from Canada was visiting. The final of this tournament will be March 31st.

In Leogane the tournament is just getting started. In talking to Pastor Guillaume, we heard an encouraging story. One of the older players involved in AIS Haiti is now playing on a First Division team. He is 17 years old. He was asked to play on the Haitian national team, but they wanted to falsify his birth certificate so he could play on a younger team. As a Christian, he refused to do this, and so was not selected.

This is the kind of Christian morals that we are trying to instill in the over 1,000 boys we are working with!

Rich and the Big Fish!

2011-03-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

I’m always a few years behind in my reading and movie watching, so it didn’t bother me that I just read Soul Surfer, the story of Bethany Hamilton’s recovery from a shark attack where she lost her left arm. Her story of getting back on the surf board after her attack reminded me of how I had to work at recovering from my gunshot wound so that I could play soccer and basketball again.

I never thought that snorkeling would remind me of her story. After all, the biggest fish I usually see snorkeling in the clear Caribbean water in Haiti are about the size of a bird. On this particular day I had seen an interesting, long, thin fish that reminded me of a pencil, as well as a tiny little fish whose head was deep purple, and whose body was bright yellow.

As I was heading back into shore, I suddenly saw a really BIG fish out of the corner of my eye, and suddenly remembered Bethany’s story. I turned and thankfully saw it swimming away from me, and I wasn’t about to chase it and find out what kind of fish it was. I’m not sure if it was some kind of shark, or a type of swordfish common to the area called a “Wahoo”. In any event, it definitely scared me, and I swam as fast as I could to the shore, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if it was chasing me!

The Sad State of Soccer in Haiti

2011-03-05T11:29:00.003-05:00

Two soccer games this week indicate the sad state of soccer in Haiti.

One was an adult game, and another was between two Christian schools here in Port-au-Prince.

Each Thursday night I join with about 24 men from the professional class in Haiti to play 6-a-side soccer. These men are all businessmen, doctors, lawyers, and artists, who are well known in Haiti. During the day they are dressed in suits and ties they are making important decisions; and even when they are under a lot of pressure, they have to act professionally.

But something happens when they put on shorts and a soccer jersey. They revert to when they were boys playing in their neighborhoods. They tease each other when they miss a shot, they make fun of how someone dribbles and they laugh at each other’s antics. They waste a lot of time arguing over hand balls, penalty shots, and blaming each other for letting the other team score a goal. And, I would say, take everything a little too seriously. You would think it was the World Cup the way they go at it!

Of course, teasing is viewed differently in different cultures and there is room for friendly teasing, but where do you draw the line?

During the last game, things got out of hand and a player and the goalie got into a fist fight (yes, two guys on the same team) when the goalie missed blocking an easy shot from mid-field. I was closest to them, and tried to break it up, but could not do it alone, so others came to help me. This stopped the play for the evening and we all went home disappointed that this had happened.

In another game this week, between two Christian schools, there were so many fouls committed that the lone referee could not control the game. He would have had to have called a foul every minute. They were literally wrapping their arms around the opposing player on corners and holding them so they could not move. They were tripping, and pulling jerseys, etc. – basically doing anything they could to get the advantage over another player – and these where supposedly students from Christian Schools!

In addition to the rough play on the field, there were flagrant violations of the tournament rules. For instance, the teams were supposed to be made up of players who were 18 or younger, but some were in their twenties. Then one of the teams had brought in two players who did not even go to their school! This is really sad because it is the coach’s responsibility to abide by the rules.

This game was part of a soccer tournament that was held at Quisqueya Christian School so after the game I got the organizers of the tournament together with the players and coaches to discuss the game and rule violations. First I asked anyone on the teams involved to raise their hands if they were over 18. Not a single one raised their hands, even though we know there were several who were above that age. Then the one team cited the two players who did not attend the other school. This turned into a circus with each coach hurling accusations at the other, even after it became evident that one of the teams had used players that were not from their school. There was no remorse, only attempts to justify their actions, such as “You have sinned just as much as we did”, etc.

The saddest part is that these are Christian Schools, and all of this arguing happened in front of the players. What example did this set for these young men?
Although this is not what we always see, it is unfortunately very common. And, judging from the World Cup games, Haiti is not the only country where this occurs. Americans can be found fighting, at least verbally over peewee soccer games. And I also, at times, lose my temper…..

What do these two stories tell us about soccer in Haiti? Do anything you can to win! All’s fair in love and soccer! Winning is everything!

This is so ingrained in the psyche of the Haitian soccer player that even when they are older and just playing a “friendly” match, they still argue, foul and even end up in fist-fights. Proverbs 22:6 says “Teach a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.” Unfortunately, this goes for negative behavior as well as positive behavior! It’s so important for us teach and model good character from a young age.

This attitude is also seen in business in Haiti where competitors are sometimes threatened of killed, or their stores robbed or destroyed. Sports often reflect a microcosm of society at large. (This is the theory of the bestseller “How Soccer Explains the World”)

So as you can see, Ambassadors in Sport – Haiti needs to not only teach soccer skills in Haiti, but also change the way Haitians view the game and life…that Christianity is not about how you act on Sunday morning, a major part of it is about how you treat everyone every day. And children need to learn that how you treat others should not depend so much on how they treat you as it does on how God treats you. This amounts to changing the culture, which is impossible without God’s help. That is why our job is so important here in Haiti, and why we need to start with younger players and teach them “Fair Play” and to play by the rules.

It is also a reason why we need to train more soccer officials and work with Christian schools that ought to be an example of fair play.

Finally, it is the reason we include Biblical instruction in our program – because without the Bible as a standard, everything is relative, and rules don’t mean anything.

So please pray for us – we’re not only trying to use soccer as a tool for evangelism in this country, but actually change the way it is played through God changing the hearts of the players!

Four business ideas for Haiti

2011-02-26T20:33:00.003-05:00

1) Potable Water Business in Verrettes

By March of 2011, we should be able to start selling filtered water to the community of Verrettes. Thanks to the donation of a water system by an NGO after the earthquake and the support of Crossworld’s Haiti relief fund, we have been able to build a small retail outlet to sell clean drinking water by the gallon.

The business will be overseen by a local committee and the profits will go to support the work of AIS in the area. The committee will take care of registering the business with the local authorities (i.e. getting a “patente”). Free drinking water will be given to the school that is located on the property, and a monthly rent will eventually be paid to the campus where the building is located.

We will also start selling the Digicel services mentioned below from this location.
If this business is successful, it may provide a model for future businesses.

2) Selling Digicel Services throughout Haiti

Digicel is the largest provider of cellular phone service in Haiti. Since it entered the country in 2006 it has taken the cell phone market by storm and now holds a greater market share than its largest competitor, Voila.

In Haiti the cell phone market is mostly a pre-pay system where you have to buy a card to put minutes of use on your phone or have it electronically credited for minutes using an electronic system called “Pap padap”. We have had a contract with Digicel to sell “Pap padap” under the name of Elysee Vaillant, one of the board members of AIS Haiti, for over a year now.

Digicel is now about to introduce a new service called “Tcho tcho mobile”. This service allows the electronic transfer of money to anyone who has a cell phone at a fraction of the cost of existing money transfer services. Traditionally in Haiti, money transfer services have been a very profitable niche for companies like CAM, Western Union and major banks who charge exorbitant fees. Digicel wants to take over this market in the same way it took over the cell phone market in Haiti. This money transfer service has the potential to revolutionize the money transfer business in Haiti by allowing safe and secure financial transactions anywhere in the country. For instance, farmers in the country could receive payment for their products directly from the person buying them in Port-au-Prince instead of having to go through a middle man. As an incentive to get people to sign up on this system, Digicel is offering a bonus of 40 gourdes ($1 US) for each person a distributor signs up.

We had a plan last year to start selling “Pap padap” last year in every place we had a soccer ministry, but could not implement it because of the challenge of how to safely transfer money. Digicel’s new system solves this problem and will allow us to offer a new service as well.

In general our plan is to train our volunteers in soccer ministry how they can make money by selling these Digicel services. Once they have proved themselves in this, we would like to offer them micro-loans to add on products and services to their business.

More specifically, we hope that by also training more experienced Digicel salespeople and by offering them insurance and other benefits, we will secure their loyalty and increase their sales production for the benefit of all involved.

Our initial markets will be outside of Port-au-Prince because we believe competition will be fierce in the capital. We already have ministries in seven out of the 10 departments, or states, of Haiti and plan to expand to all 10 in the next few years. In addition, under Haiti’s earthquake recovery plan the Haitian government desires more services to be offered outside of PAP to reduce the number of people who need to enter the city.

We will need to rent a small office in each of the places we hope to establish this business.

3) Standardized Guest houses in Haiti

At this time, there are no hotel or guest house chains in Haiti. There is no “Hilton” or “Holiday Inn” chain in Haiti. If you travel out into the country, there are few decent places to stay. Many “hotels” outside of Port-au-Prince also double as Brothels. This, coupled with the varying quality in accommodations, services, and security from place to place, make safe and comfortable travel in Haiti difficult.

Our idea is to build a guest house in each of the towns we have ministries in. The building would be a simple design with 6 to 8 rooms. Each guest house would have internet, modern bathrooms, hot water, air conditioning, and 24 hour electricity and security. We would market them not only to the international community that is working outside of Port-au-Prince, but also to the local Haitian population as well as the Haitian diaspora.

There is a Christian construction group called Lazarian World Homes that builds homes, hospitals and other structures using a mixture of a high tech foam and cement. They are interested in helping us with this project. They have the potential not only to help us technically, but with fund raising as well.

In addition to rooms for guests, the building would also have space for the office of AIS Haiti in the town and a cybercafé. The cybercafés would also sell the Digicel services that we mentioned in the previous business description.
These combination guesthouses and cybercafés would employ young men and women who are involved in our soccer ministries. It would give them hands-on training in the hospitality and technology industry, which has nowhere else to go but up in Haiti, particularly now with the high amount of foreign organizations in the country, but also in the future as tourism begins to make its rise in Haiti once again.

4) Developing a brand for Various Haitian Agricultural products

To date, there is no single brand under which a variety of Haitian products are marketed outside the US. There are various companies that sell Haitian coffee, dried mangoes, etc., but most of these companies are foreign owned, and they make the bulk of the profits by simply placing their label on the products. So far, to our knowledge, no one has made an effort to create a well-known brand specifically for Haitian products. Such a brand would increase local profits and encourage higher levels of agricultural production, which is the staple of the Haitian economy (employing 85% of Haiti’s workforce).

Since Bruce McMartin, a fellow Crossworld missionary, is already trying to develop a coffee business in the US, and we have several other contacts through STEP, etc. it would seem that trying to put all of our agricultural products under one brand name could be beneficial to all.

I am currently working with a young Haitian entrepreneur by the name of Gerald (Junior) Bataille who has this dream of creating a Haitian brand. He has his start in beekeeping and honey production, and he has created a model through which he can grow his company by giving away pollination services and a large portion of his profits (through grants and no-interest loans that recycle for various projects) to agricultural partners and communities. Because of the intrinsic link between agriculture and beekeeping, growth in one domain increases the potential for growth in the other, so he sees this giving as an investment. To further encourage production and to increase his profits, Junior’s company would also sell agricultural products produced by his partners (as well as similar products purchased nationwide) under his label at a Fair-Trade price.

If you have questions about, or would like to invest in any of these businesses, please feel free to contact me ar rich.mears@crossworld.org

The joys of Discipleship

2011-02-11T11:51:00.003-05:00

The picture above is me praying with someone who just trusted Christ

Many times in this life, we wonder if it is "worth it all". Thankfully, we forget some of the hardest times, and usually remember only the best of the "Good old days".

But I received two phone calls recently that encouraged me greatly. One was from Charles, an orphan we befriended 10 years ago when we first came to Haiti. We helped and encouraged him in many ways. He was on the Lemuel soccer team and also attended the discipleship group I had back then. From time to time we also helped pay for his schooling as well. He called me to say that after the earthquake he had found a job as an accountant with one of the NGO's that came to Haiti to help, and that he was doing very well. He thanked us for our support, prayers and encouragement when he was young!

Another was from Croyance, another young man that I spent much time with during my first few years in Haiti. He is now married and has 2 children. He told me that he oversees a number of churches in Northwest Haiti and saw over 100 people trust in Christ through his ministry last year.

So we sow the seed and never know how God is going to make it grow!

Not much reaction to the election announcement yet...

2011-02-06T08:18:00.003-05:00

Although very few parents sent their children to school on Thursday, not much happened as far as demonstrations. That evening, the school sent out an email stating that we would be having school Friday and attendance was close to normal. Again, not much reaction at all to the announcement.

This weekend we are at the Quisqueya Christian School staff retreat and we were especially happy that we could get here (no barricades in the roads). We've had a great weekend so far surrounded by the beauty of God's creation, good fellowship, delicious food, uplifting worship and challenges by a passionate speaker to see faith as something that must be manifested in our actions and to take rest seriously. To obey that second exhortation, I went to bed early both nights! On Saturday morning, Richard was getting up at about 6:30 to go have devotions by the ocean and at first I said I was going back to sleep...until I remembered that I had planned to get some exercise this weekend. So I got up and walked with praise music on the ipod. We also got to play tennis and volleyball. So far I'm not sore...it'll probably hit me when I get back home tonight and sit down to grade papers and prepare for lessons this week! But, it's still worth it :).

For now, I'll try not to think about going home until it's time to go....

Haiti election update

2011-02-03T15:54:00.002-05:00

After a night of delayed announcements, the Haiti electoral committee officially said at 7:15am that Mrs. Manigat & Popular pop music star "Sweet Mickey" Martelly will be in the run-off election later this year. The incumbent party's choice, Jude Celestin was eliminated from the run-off because of election fraud.

At Quisqueya Christian School, there were only 9 high school students present today.

No evidence of demonstrations yet.

Up north you get snow days, here we get "demonstration days"

AIS Pro-bowl Team

2011-01-28T20:36:00.003-05:00

Let me introduce you to the AIS Haiti starting line-up. Guess which one is me!

Next to me is Jean Paul Noel, who will graduate this year from Seminary in Port-au-Prince. He helps us train our Chaplains in central and south Haiti.

Next to him is Sylvain Nelson. Sylvain graduated from Seminary two years ago and oversees the AIS work in Northern Haiti.

Next to him is Ronald William, AIS Haiti's administrator.

Please pray for us as we make plans for 2011.

All of these three men are now on AIS Haiti's staff. If you would like to support them as indigenous missionaries in Haiti, please let us know!

Francoise and her 3 children move into their house

2011-01-28T20:29:00.003-05:00

Thanks for the generosity of our brothers and sisters at Crossing Community Church, we were able to build a small house for the family that had been living with us since the earthquake. They moved in just before the end of the year.

The builders had to remove over 10 feet of earth to find a good-enough foundation, and now we have to build a retaining wall.

It is small, but solid and much better than the tent they were living in for most of the year!

Rich as Pied Piper

2011-01-28T20:17:00.003-05:00

This week we went to Verrettes to check on the water purification project and also visit the Regional Committee there. While we were waiting for the meeting to start, we went to the school were we are doing the water project and soon I was surrounded by school children. So I decided to tell them a story. Can you guess what I am doing in one of the pictures? Yep, that's right - I was showing that I was crying about a soccer ball that was stolen! They loved my silly actions - and I held their attention enough to tell them about Jesus, and his love for them!

Happy Reunion of Earthquake Victims

2011-01-28T20:02:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday we had a happy reunion with Venita, her husband and two children: Sarah and Gaeton along with Francois and her 3 children.

It was a joy to see little Sarah walking and jabbering since we had not seen her for about 6 months. She had scabies so we gave Venita some money to take her to the doctor.

Needless to say, it was a noisy, but fun time!

Ricky's First High School Basketball game!

2011-01-28T19:42:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of Ricky's first High School Basketball game. He grabbed 15 rebounds and scored 5 points with only 2 fouls in a 55-40 win!

Baby Doc Arrested

2011-01-18T13:09:00.001-05:00

I just heard that Baby Doc Duvalier (former dictator of Haiti) was arrested.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/18/proscecutor-police-meet-with-haitis-ex-dictator/

Suprise Return of ousted Dictator Baby Doc

2011-01-17T16:01:00.003-05:00

He was kicked out of Haiti 25 years ago and is now returning.

I read that he and his family are accused of taking about 100 million $ from Haiti and putting it in Swiss bank accounts and that even the 4 million that the Swiss government is trying to get him to give back to Haiti, is being blocked.

A lot of people think he shouldn't be allowed to come back.

http://m.current.com/news/92924643_video-haiti-urged-to-arrest-baby-doc-duvalier-for-his-return-to-haiti-after-25-year-exile.htm

Ambassadors in Sport Int'l conference a little bit of heaven

2011-01-08T17:20:00.002-05:00

The AIS International conference has officially ended, but the memories and encouragement and prayers lifted up will linger on.

Fifteen nations were represented with the following languages and more spoken: Czech, Albanian, Haitian Creole, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, English, Thai and several African tribal languages.

When we prayed together, we prayed in many different languages, and when we sang, it sounded like the choir of angels in Revelation.

I fly through the night on Sunday to Miami and then fly to Haiti early on Monday morning.

It will take me a while to reflect on how to apply all the things learned and ideas discussed at the conference, and I have lots to share with my Haitian con-workers in Haiti.

Youtube of first Amputee World Cup game Haiti vs. England

2011-01-06T20:28:00.001-05:00

Here is the link for a nice Youtube of the Haiti vs. England match of the Amputee World Cup in Argentina in Oct. 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERjXJVGzvas

Ambassadors in Sport International Leader's meeting in Brazil

2011-01-06T18:52:00.003-05:00

This group of over 60 leaders from around the world has been meeting at a beautiful campground in Brazil for the past few days. We have two days more.

It has been so encouraging to see what God is doing through soccer ministry around the world.

There was a video played tonight from a closed country that reminded me so much of Haiti: Dani, A young 10 year-old player who is the 6th out of 10 children gets involved with the AIS program. Neither his Mother or Father have jobs, and last year he did not go to school because they could not afford to send him. Now he is learning soccer skills and getting help so he can go to school, as well as attending a Bible study.

This is the same situation most of the children we work with in Haiti are in! The main difference is that of freedom of religion. In Haiti we are free to share the Gospel even in public schools!

Please pray for us as leaders that God would help us encourage each other and share experiences that can advance His kingdom worldwide. Please pray for Dani and his family as well, and for the many Haitian children that are just like him.

January 3

2011-01-03T11:26:00.004-05:00

Richard made it safely to Brazil for the AIS International bi-annual leadership conference. The conference starts tomorrow and he'll be back this weekend. If he gets a chance, he'll post pictures from there....Hopefully not just boring pictures of ministry leaders in meetings wishing they were out on the soccer field or the basketball court! ;)

School starts tomorrow for QCS, but we're not sure how things will go with political unrest. People are still angry, but took a rest for the holidays, so we'll see what this week brings...

Our daughter, Joy, whose trip to Haiti last summer was canceled when Richard was shot, is coming Wednesday. Please pray about the fact that the new election is scheduled for January 16th, the day she's supposed to return to Pennsylvania for Spring semester at Eastern U.

Good news! Francoise got moved into her new house. It's rough living for now, but hopefully we can get her set up with the essentials before long. Although it's common for Haitians not to have a kitchen, bathroom, electricity or running water, she still has to figure out how she'll make do in that neighborhood without them. Please pray that her close friend (& ours) Mme Jean Claude and her family can get their house rebuilt next door so they can help each other out.

Happy New Year & Update

2011-01-01T12:42:00.012-05:00

We wish, and more importantly will be praying for a new year full of God's protection, presence and blessing in each of your lives.

I arrived in Haiti by myself yesterday and Richard is leaving from Philadelphia today for Brazil for the bi-annual international leaders' conference of Ambassadors in Sport. Our children, Joy and Ricky will arrive in Haiti on Wednesday morning, January 5th.

God did amazing things for us during this trip to see our oldest daughter, Grace, graduate from Biola University in California. The most important thing for her was for us to all be at the opening of her Senior Art Exhibition on December 13th.
We were supposed to fly on American Airlines December 10th so that we could help her set up the show. But, as most of you now know, from December 7-10 there were demonstrations going on in the streets of Port-au-Prince with barricades of burning tires to keep life from going on as usual. This was to protest the fraud in the Nov. 28th presidential elections.

So, American Airlines and other airlines canceled their flights starting Dec. 9th. But the fearless missionaries of Missionary Flights International, decided to try to reschedule their Dec. 9th flight for Friday, December 10th and we were fortunate enough to get on the list for that flight. Of course we still had the challenge of getting to the airport through or around the blockades and we weren't 100% that MFI would be allowed to fly. We had heard that the airport was closed.

After asking some wonderful Haitian friends for help, we came up with this team. They got us safely to the airport (you can read Richard's colorful account of this below). Here's a picture of most of the team and the motorcycle that went ahead of us. It just didn't feel right asking everyone to gather together and smile for a pretty photo of the event. We were smiling at the fact that we had made it to the airport, but we still didn't know what would happen.

Here's the DHL warehouse where we waited for several hours:

Here's us on the floor of one section of the airport. We waited in a few different places and finally got on the plane at 3:30 pm.

We were so grateful to get on the MFI flight! And grateful for the volunteers and missionaries who are willing to do stuff like this!

Sarah Palin visits Haiti under tight guard | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

2010-12-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

Sarah Palin visits Haiti under tight guard | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Ledger-Enquirer.com | 12/10/2010 | Haiti protests ease, US senator pressures govt

2010-12-12T08:19:00.001-05:00

This is a report of the situation on Friday, the day we were able to get to the airport and get on a Missionary Flights plane and fly to Florida. We made it to California in time for our daughter's art show and graduation!
Thank you for your prayers!
Click on the link to read and see pictures:

Ledger-Enquirer.com | 12/10/2010 | Haiti protests ease, US senator pressures govt

Candidates reject recount in sloppy Haiti election - Americas AP - MiamiHerald.com

2010-12-12T08:08:00.000-05:00

Candidates reject recount in sloppy Haiti election - Americas AP - MiamiHerald.com

Made it to the airport!

2010-12-10T09:26:00.002-05:00

I felt like I was on a commando mission: 6 AM: gloves, check; Shovel, check; Crow bar, Check; laptops, check; passports, check; Suitcases, check; Passports, check; Money, check; motorcycle with guide, check; driver and car, check.

All was ready as I surveyed my crack troops: 5 Haitians and the 3 of us. I reviewed the plan: The motorcycle and guide would go ahead and tell us if there was any danger, if there was, they would notify us and try and talk their way through the obstacle, with us behind, or take us on an alternate route.

We synchronized our Rolex's and, put black paint on our faces, put on our flack jackets but before we hit the road, we prayed for the success of our mission: Get to the airport through possible riots and street blockades with burning tires, etc.

As we set out, we did not know the danger that lurked behind every corner - what would the morning hold?

The guide on the motorcycle waved us to go faster - he was concerned that we keep moving through the dangerous streets.

Several times it seemed like he was lost, but he got his bearings and we forged ahead.

So far, so good.

But then it happened, a huge Dragon came out of no where, breathing fire. I held up my weapon, the Bible, and he backed down and let us pass.

We did not know what would be around each corner as we went on back roads I never even knew existed. But our driver assured us he knew where we were.

Then I looked up and saw a crossroad that I recognized, but it was blocked - we would have to take a detour.

This was the moment we were waiting for: We turned onto the main road and braced ourselves for screaming young men burning tires and yelling political slogans... But there was no one! Only the remains of yesterday's tire burnings and rocks and rubble strewn about the road.

When we saw a UN patrol heading in the way we were going, we knew we had almost made it to the finish line!

This is all a long way of saying that we had no problems getting to the airport this morning and hope to be in Florida by this afternoon. God answered our prayers even though our commercial flight on American Airlines was canceled and there are no normal flights going out today. We still have to deal with changing our flight to CA to tomorrow, but at least we will be in the good 'ol USA - maybe I will kiss the ground when we arrive!

Youtube about the demonstrations

2010-12-08T16:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a youtube showing what's happening today. I don't really know if all that the reporter is saying is true, but, it shows a lot.

By the way, keep in mind this is not happening on every street. We are about a mile or more from a street where this is happening. Many people are just staying in their homes to be safe. However, those who feel they must, are out there protesting, hoping to have fairer elections in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRm9EDWxVoQ

Airport closed - please pray

2010-12-08T13:52:00.004-05:00

The airport has been closed today and we are supposed to leave Friday afternoon to go to Grace's Senior Art Exhibition and Graduation from Biola University. We don't expect it to be closed for more than today, but...it wouldn't hurt to pray about it.

Listen to this on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/08/131902356/-streets-of-port-au-prince-are-in-flames?sc=fb&cc=fp

Riots - day after election

2010-12-08T13:04:00.003-05:00

This is going on right outside our school campus. However, school was called off, so we didn't see it in person. It started at 7 am.

Elections

2010-12-08T12:42:00.000-05:00

I heard a joke on Thanksgiving about the elections. I'm not sure how to translate the names of the birds, but it goes something like this.
The crow says to the hummingbird "Name your child after me." But the hummingbird says "What did you ever do for me that I should name my child after you?!"
Everyone understands when they tell it that the Crow represents Preval trying to tell the people of Haiti who the next president should be. But their answer to him is "what did you ever do for us that we should choose the one you name?"

PORT-AU-PRINCE | Wed Dec 8, 2010 12:13am EST

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Jude Celestin, outgoing President Rene Preval's hand-picked successor, took second place in the first round of Haiti's presidential elections on November 28, electoral authorities said on Tuesday.

But the top vote-getter, former first lady Mirlande Manigat, failed to win more than 50 percent of the votes needed for an outright victory so Celestin qualified for a run-off against her provisionally set for January 16.

-- A 48-year-old engineer and government technocrat, Celestin has the advantage of being the candidate of Preval's ruling Inite (Unity) coalition, which has given his campaign access to state-level support. His first round campaign was clearly well-funded, and in the capital at least won the contest of election posters -- Celestin's mustachioed face appearing against the green-and-yellow background of Inite colors predominated in the rubble-strewn streets of Port-au-Prince.

But there were signs his association with Preval, and his message of continuity, may have hurt his image.

Preval, who cannot stand for re-election after serving two terms in office, has faced widespread criticism for his low-key response to the January 12 earthquake and the current cholera crisis.

Celestin has promised to provide the country with technical schools and create jobs.

-- Although recognized as a hard-working technocrat, Celestin is nevertheless a political newcomer.

Preval's coalition picked him as its formal candidate in an apparent strategy to appeal to the younger voters after it dropped its original choice -- 63-year-old former two-time prime minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who went on to run as a contender for another party.

Nevertheless, with the help of the Inite party machinery and funding, Celestin's rallies have been well-organized and drawn crowds wearing the green and yellow party colors.

His own campaigning style has been relatively low key -- he told one foreign reporter he was "not a man of the media."

-- His leadership of the National Equipment Center (CNE), the main state construction company in Haiti which has built rural roads in recent years, gave him some visibility during the immediate rescue and debris-clearing after the January earthquake, although many have criticized the government recovery activities as slow and ineffective.

His backers have trumpeted his CNE experience as a concrete example of just what Haiti -- and its donor partners offering billions of dollars of reconstruction funds -- needs to rebuild after the devastating quake.

Critics accused Celestin and his campaign of shamelessly using state funds to promote his candidacy.

-- Born in Port-au-Prince in 1962, Celestin was educated in Haiti and studied mechanical engineering in Switzerland, according to his official biography. He is a divorced father.

Election results

2010-12-08T02:12:00.002-05:00

Tonight the results of the November 28th presidential elections were announced. There were 19 candidates, and none of them got more than the 50% of the vote needed to win the election. Mrs. Mirlande Manigat, former first lady (about 20 years ago) political science professor and apparently voodoo mambo (witchdoctor)got 30% of the vote. Jude Celestin, a construction and vehicle businessman got about 22% of the vote. The two of them will be in a runoff election on January 16, 2011. Michel Martelly, known as Sweet Micky, an entertainer who performs rap and Kompas (popular Haitian music) came very close to Celestin with 21%.

There were a lot of rumors of election fraud and then tonight on television there was a police officer (probably someone in charge- but I didn't catch that) reporting on arrests made during the election. An article a few days ago said that the UN was concluding that there was more fraud than they originally thought during the election. I'm not sure what that means, but most people expect a lot of demonstrating (some has already started)tomorrow and in the next few days. Hopefully people will set their sights on a more fair election in January.

This is difficult for our school, but especially Ricky and I as we are trying to finish up the semester early to go to Grace's (our daughter) Senior Art Exhibition and graduation from Biola University. We leave Friday. Ricky has taken 2 finals and has 4 to go.

Please pray for Haiti.
thanks,
Carol

The Water Filtration System "block house" going up

2010-12-07T11:24:00.001-05:00

Election Results

2010-12-06T23:48:00.003-05:00

No school again tomorrow because the election results are to be announced then. Many are calling for the elections to be annulled due to fraud. And we've heard that another election will be scheduled. Whatever happens, some people will most likely be angry and demonstrations may become violent.

Preliminary results offered by the website "Haiti election 2010" present Mirlande Manigat, a former first lady, professor of political science and a "Mambo" (voodoo witchdoctor) as having 30% of the vote; Michel Martelly, a Kompas and rap singer might be second.

We'll be safe at home, but please pray for Haiti.

Also, this is a very difficult time to miss school for our high school students and especially Ricky. This week is review time for final exams and since we're leaving a few days early to go to Grace's graduation from Biola & her senior art exhibition, Ricky has to find time to take 6 finals before Friday morning.

Thanks for your prayers,
Carol

Elections

2010-11-28T17:27:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to a New York Times article on the election situation:

Basketball Clinic at Petionville Club Refugee Camp

2010-11-25T07:23:00.008-05:00

href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4mOIuyhcq1c/TO5XQp_WCnI/AAAAAAAABE8/wNj938KwILU/s1600/100_0975.JPG">

On Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving, we had scheduled a coaching clinic with 6 Christian Schools in Port-au-Prince so that our visitor Kevin Belmont could use his basketball skills in ministry.

I had also invited Art McMahon, the basketball coach of Quisqueya Christian School, the youth Pastor and Pastor of Quisqueya Chapel, Marc Williams and Bobby Boyer, and Ronald William the administrator of AIS Haiti to help out.

We all arrived a little late at the school, but then we ended up waiting and waiting until we realized that nobody was going to show up except the assistant coach of the school where we were holding the clinic.

So we prayed and God gave me the idea of going to a refugee camp close by and doing a clinic with the kids there. So I called my contact there and he gathered about 30 children. By the time we ended, there were at least 100 kids!

We split up into six "stations" - dribbling, defense, shooting, passing, etc. and divided the kids up.

Thankfully, I had brought a portable basketball hoop which Kevin carried on his back to the middle of the camp.

Of course the conditions were not ideal with the "court" being made of uneven hard-packed mud, but the children had a great time and were all smiles. Kevin overcame the language barrier by demonstrating the moves with great animation and the help of a Haitian coach working with him.

After the clinic I had the opportunity to share the story of how I got shot and share the Gospel with these precious young men. They listened in spite of all the noise and activity all around them. I left enough evangelical books for the camp recreation leader to give one for each participant. Only God knows how the message I spoke will affect the lives of those who heard it, but we are praying that we will be able to follow up with many in the days ahead!