Flooding problems

The boy quoted in this article is in one of my French classes.

Posted on Mon, Sep. 08, 2008
Haitian family recalls `darkest night'
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA

As the wind howled and rain tore through the Haitian village of
Messailler, Charles Amicy huddled on a dark staircase with his family.

Amicy and his wife tried to console the group of six children, three
of them his own. As they wept, he encouraged them to pray.

As the floodwaters raged around their two-story home, they sang
religious songs to help block out the screams of neighbors.

''It was the darkest night of my life,'' said Amicy, 48, a
Presbyterian pastor, recalling Hurricane Ike's wrath early Sunday
morning.
'People were crying, `Save me. Save me.' There was nothing I could do.''
The family, three orphans living with them and a maid, clung together
for hours as water crept up the walls of their home.
They survived, but so many others in Messailler and the nearby poor
oceanside town of Cabaret -- grandmothers, pregnant women, babies --
weren't spared.
Bodies of the dead were scattered on the grounds of Amicy's five-acre
compound, a former sugar cane plantation turned religious retreat
where local children learn, orphans feel loved and the faithful flock
to church.
Amicy's 10-year-old son, Allan, saw several corpses that had been
dumped by the river onto the grounds of the compound.
''This has had a big impact on his life,'' said Amicy, who lives in
Port-au-Prince during the week and at the compound on weekends. ``He
cries. He doesn't want to sleep alone.''
The horror began at 2 a.m. Sunday.
Amicy was awake, praying in his second-floor bedroom, when his
25-year-old nephew ran in, saying he heard a ``big noise.''
Amicy hurried downstairs and toward the front door to peek outside. As
he reached for the doorknob, he felt water on his feet, coming through
the cracks of the door.
Then, the door collapsed. Water came rushing.
Amicy ran toward the first-floor bedroom where his three children,
three orphans and a maid were asleep.
He ordered them all upstairs.
The children -- ages 3 to 18 -- were crying.
At daylight, Amicy walked outside.
What he saw, he will never forget.
''Houses washed away. There are no more walls. Everything is
flattened,'' he said.
``Everywhere you look, devastation.''
Toilets were flushed down the river, tires shred to pieces, tables floated away.
Also stolen by Ike: More than $300,000 in prescription drugs from the
compound's pharmacy and five vehicles used by the ministry, including
a school bus, a dump truck and a van.
After assessing the damage and handing out spaghetti to hungry storm
victims, Amicy knew he had to somehow get his family back to safety in
Port-au-Prince.
But phone lines were dead and cellphone service spotty.
So they started walking.
Barefoot, with only the clothes on their backs, Amicy led his family
up the hills, away from the water, on a four-mile walk to a main road.
There, they were picked up and driven to the city.
Even after all the devastation and heartache among Haitians, Amicy's
spirit remains unfaltering.
''We will rebuild,'' he said. ``I don't know how, but I know that God
will help us.''


(c) 2008 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights
Reserved.http://www.miamiherald.com

Richard's home

Richard is home safe. We'll give an update of anything we hear about the woman's condition.

Pray right now if you see this tonight

It's 8:15 pm our time Tuesday night (9:15 in Pennsylvania). If you happen to click on this tonight, please pray for a woman in our neighborhood that Richard just took to the hospital, along with some of her family members and Ecdes, our helper. All I know is that she felt like she might be having a heart attack. Please pray for God's will, God's help, comfort & provision (they didn't have any money) and safety & wisdom for Richard.

Pray for flood victims

Please continue to pray for the flood victims of hurricanes Hanna and Ike. We keep hearing stories of the extent of the damage and it is extreme. I've read estimates of displacd people from 82,000, to 150,000 and more. Many of these are children.

Especially pray for the 18 refugees from an orphanage in Gonaives that our school is helping. There are 12 very young children & 6 workers. They spent 5 days the roof of their building which was flooded up to the second floor and were rescued by boat, but their food had run out after the second day. A Haitian pastor brought them down here and found a guesthouse where they could stay in the neighborhood of our school. The staff of our school has been providing food, clothing and even some fun playing on our soccer field.

You tube on situation in Gonaives

Watch this youtube on the situation in Gonaives (a city hit hard by hurricanes and the same one that had a huge flood in 2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sygFl7dwO48

If the link doesn't work, go to www.youtube.com and search for this:

Haiti suffers floods as Hurricane Ike hits Caribbean - 07 Sep 08

Photos of Hurricane Hannah's damage to Bolosse campus

These are some pictures of the hurricane's damage to the Bolosse campus. One of the pictures is of a school classroom with no roof - and school is supposed to start in 3 days!

Others are of our co-workers the McMartin's house. A tree fill just alongside it and would have destroyed the house if it had fallen any other way. Just one branch hit a corner of the house and put a hole in the roof.


I went over to the Bolosse campus today to encourage people, pray with
them and lend a hand. I took 50 pastries with me and some cold water, a
camera and a desire to encourage people spiritually.

The first place I went was the Christian school. The roof of 2 large
classrooms was completely blown off and there were other places where
trees had fallen on buildings.
We encouraged those cleaning up and working by giving them pastries.

Next stop was the house of our fellow Crossworld missionaries Bruce and
Cindy McMartin. A huge tree fell just next to their house wiping out
their side porch and very nearly destroying their whole house. As it
was a branch came crashing through the roof of their guest bedroom.
Naturally they stayed up all night, afraid of what else might happen.

Another missionary friend, David Schmid dislocated his shoulder when he
was avoiding a falling branch. He spent the night in the hospital and
was released today.

Then I helped Elysee Vaillant's family buy some rope to hold down their
roof from the wind and went into the neighborhood around the campus to
see the damage. In another miraculous event, a tree that was between 3
houses fell in the only open spot possible. If it had fallen any other
way the house of our cook, Margaret, would have been destroyed. Many
houses had lost their roofs and some collapsed entirely. The public
school at the top of the hill lost all of the roofs on all of the
buildings - and school is suppossed to open this Monday!!

Finally, I went to see the apartment our whole family used to live in
when we first got to Haiti. Ricky and the girl's old room had the roof
entirely blown off. I spend the afternoon moving the bedding and
furniture to a part of the apartment that still had a roof so it
wouldn't get ruined.

And the rain has not stopped - with 2 more storms possibly on the way.
Please pray for the victims of these storms and for us as we seek to
encourage them materially and spiritually!

update on Gustav

The rain finally stopped late this afternoon here in Port-au-Prince. We don't know what the damage is yet. Richard called a pastor in the south today but he also said he didn't know the specifics yet.

A boy from down the street came to our gate and said that he and his sister hadn't eaten in two days. Richard asked him a few questions and found that 9 people are living at this "house" with almost no roof. He came in and suggested we make a spaghetti dinner for them. He mostly made it himself while I was making our dinner. He and Ricky carried it over to the neighbors.

I never really thought about the fact that many Haitians have hardly any food at home, in cabinets or whatever...that they buy food almost daily...that there was probably no place open and their charcoal wouldn't light in the rain.

Please pray for them and people like them in the same situation.

Update on Hurricane Gustav

Thank you for your prayers.
Although we have off from school again today because of problems on the roads, we're fine where we are. It rained hard and steady from yesterday afternoon until about 7:00 this morning, now the rain is lighter.
The south of Haiti was hit harder than up here in Port-au-Prince. However, many people do not have decent housing, so they have the rain comes in and in some cases walls fall down. For example, Madame Levy who works for us, lives in a 4 room house with her husband and 5 children, but only one room is dry. We're going to lend them some money to fix their roof (we've already given them quite a bit of money this year for medical & funeral expenses). Please pray for them and others like them who are suffering because of the hurricane.

Tropical Storms & Food prices

Please pray for the people of Haiti. Tropical Storm Fay damaged some local crops, the food prices on basic food items like rice have continued to increase and today Tropical Storm Gustav is making landfall in the south of Haiti, too. This storm is predicted to be stronger than the last, so there could be worse flooding, wind damage, etc. The eye of the storm is expected to move across Haiti during the day today (Tuesday) with it coming closest to Port-au-Prince around 2 pm. Please pray for it to get blown south quickly to go into the Caribbean Sea.

Prayer requests

There are a few prayer requests heavy on our hearts...would you pray with us?
Please pray for my sister-in-law, Nancy Frankenfield's, family. Nancy's sister, Sue, was shot and killed yesterday by a woman with mental problems that she was trying to help. Sue's daughter is only about 19 years old. Please also pray for the spiritual lives of the whole family.

Please pray for our friends and supporters, the Nowalinski's. Their sweet, beautiful,20 year old daughter was killed in a car crash last week.

Please pray for my cousin & faithful prayer warrior, Betti for strong faith and wisdom facing an extremely difficult situation and for God to continue to comfort her.

Please pray for my friend, Sharon, who had back surgery for scoliosis, was opened up again because of an infection, and after that had an infection again.

Please pray for my friend, Susette, again. Although we had the good news that her cancer is gone, she has had complications because her esophogas was "burned" during her treatment and that has been very difficult.

Thank you, so much, for praying with us.

Results from the La Pointe Tournament

Results of La Pointe tournament:

57 people indicated they trusted Christ
21 Said they would like more information before trusting Christ
117 Said they were already Christians
134 Said they would like to study the Bible
62 Said they would like prayer

469 Total cards collected

The photos show the crowds surrounding the penalty shoot out and the two teams that played in the final. La Carinage won because their goalie stopped 1 penalty kick!

Moments like these make it all worth it!

I was struggling with a cold and it felt like my head was going to explode. It was wet and rainy and dark. But last night I forgot all about my « light and momentary afflictions » as my heart rejoiced over a young man who gave his life to Christ.

We were all together after the rain scattered everyone just as we were about to present the trophies to the winning team. We all huddled on a porch to escape the downpour. We were glad because at least we got to finish the penalty kicks when the final ended in a tie.

I had just finished counting the response cards for the game: 16 indicated they trusted in Christ, and 13 said they would like more information.

Just then a young man came into the middle of us and knelt down. He asked us to pray for him. Nelson, a STEP (seminary) student asked him what he would like us to pray about and he said he wanted to trust Christ. Nelson patiently explained the Gospel to him but made it clear that we could not pray for him to trust Christ, this was a decision he had to make on his own. After this explanation and him asking a few questions he was ready to pray, and what a simple, sincere prayer it was!

It's so neat to see God moving in the hearts of people. We were just faithful in proclaiming the Gospel, and this young man sought us out because the Holy Spirit prompted him.

Moments like these make it all worth it!

When you do it to the least of these

When you do it to the least of these, you do it to me

The other day I was driving around Port-au-Prince in a hurry as usual trying to pack too many errands into an already full day when I passed a woman with a baby sitting on the side of the road. This is a common site in Haiti as sometimes women “borrow” a baby so they can earn more money begging than if they didn't have one.

But this woman was different, as I raced by her, she didn't even bother to lift her hand and beg.

I did my errand, but could not get the picture of this woman and baby out of my mind so I re-traced my route and found her sitting listlessly by the road with a naked baby boy in her arms.

She was talking to someone, so I parked the car and waited a few minutes before walking up to her. At first I looked at the baby and saw that he was doing OK, but looked very hot and de-hydrated. So I went back to the car and got my water bottle and gave him a cold drink. At first it was too cold for him and he pushed the bottle away, but when he realized it was water, he started to eagerly guzzle it.

Then I looked down more carefully at the woman. She had a large wound on her breast and I couldn't even bare to look at it.

I gave her more than twice what I usually give to beggars, but still it wasn't much.

I drove away wishing I had given her more, and had spent more time with her, but I had other things to do.

Still I did go back to her, and stop and gave her baby a drink of water and her a little money, and I did it because I love Jesus!

Who knows, when I get to heaven this may be the one thing that Jesus rewards me for the most.

Tournament in La Pointe - the best yet!

The Tournament at La Pointe - The best yet!

Yesterday I flew to the North coast of Haiti to visit the 7th tournament of this summer.

I was delighted with what I found.

In spite of all the obstacles of organizing a soccer tournament in Haiti, the committee had done an excellent job.

First of all, not all of the 8 schools we invited participated, so they had to re-organize the schedule.

Then some of the food we sent up on a bus got soaked with rain because the bus broke down en route.

In addition, they decided to allow two teams to stay in dormitories for the week since one is over an hour away and the other is a 2 hour walk.

Last night I shared my testimony with the two teams that were staying overnight. They listened intently as I told them how my Father was murdered when I was 11 and how God used that experience to draw me to him and also to ask him to give me the power to forgive the man who killed my Dad.
Most of them don't have Dad's, so they were touched by what I said.

Afterwards, I reflected on what a blessing it is to be able to speak to these dear boys in their own language and be able to share heart-to-heart a story they could really relate to. God has given me this ability, and I want to use it for His glory as long as He permits me to.

It was a miracle that we were able to provide food for this tournament because all summer we were praying for food, but not until last week did we actually receive any.

So this week each day we feed over 200 players and coaches. This allowed everyone to stay all morning for the Bible studies and then have enough energy to play the matches in the afternoons.

In addition to organizing the matches and arranging for the food, the committee also raised about $150 US from local businesses. This is the most of any tournament this summer, and is something we want to encourage so that eventually each tournament can become entirely supported by their respective communities.

Right now the players are participating in a Bible contest and the winner will be announced soon.

This afternoon is the second Semi-final and Sunday will be the final.

We are going to do Evangelism during both of these games and in the evenings we will show 2 different evangelistic films.

We hope to share the Gospel with hundreds of spectators during these two games and already have a team of trained evangelistic counselors to help us with the follow up.

It's great to see our local leaders catching the vision and sharing it with churches, schools and even businesses in the community!

Difficult Day at Fort Jacques

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon we went up to Fort Jacques for the final match in the tournament up there and to show the film "Le Combat." Things started out very well. We had bought a new cable for the speaker and we were playing lively Christian (Haitian) music while people were filling the stands.







The game got started a bit later than we had planned on, but it was off to a good start. Claudy, our contact from the local church was there. He kept his suit on from church, we guessed because he was in a hurry. His church had had a harvest festival which ended at 3 p.m. Now I wonder if there are other reasons he would wear the suit. Young people in the neighborhood respect and listen to him, and we found out that that is very important.




Marken was there as comentator (he had helped out in this way earlier in the week, too.). He's good at it and knows the names of most of the players.

During half time Celestin, a STEP Seminary Student presented the gospel and other STEP students gave out cards for people to sign up for a drawing and indicate if they were interested in trusting Christ, being in a Bible study, etc.
Sadly, after halftime people started getting angry and a spectator threw a rock at a player. Then lots of people started throwing rocks at each other. It's such a shame when a few people ruin a nice thing for everyone. Many people in the stands came running towards us to get behind the community center. I (Carol) went inside with the computer I was using to play music. The comentator tried his best to calm things down, as well as Claudy and others. Our group got together in the Community Center to pray while others continued to try to calm things down and convince the players to finish the game. People stopped throwing rocks, but were still angry, so the game had to end. So that the crowd would not get angrier, the trophy was given to the winning team.
We prayed and talked about whether we should still show the film. Our friend, Mme. Levy and I were the only ladies and we said we weren't too afraid, so we decided to try to show the movie.
When the kids and teenagers came into the community center they were loud and rowdy. They would not calm down enough for us to do the drawing--most people couldn't hear us, so we started the movie and they quieted down. We even had problems with the computer freezing up for a few seconds many times during the second half of the movie. Everyone laughed when a man who was being baptized was held under the water by the pastor and the picture froze like that. I couldn't help laughing. But the movie came back on after several seconds. Celestin did a good job staying cool (as did all of our Haitian volunteers) and at one point when I was trying to get the computer the stop freezing up, he talked a bit more about the gospel and the point of the film.
Then, it was very late when we finally did the drawing and many peoples' names were called who had left by this time. We kept drawing names until we had winners who were present.
When we packed up and started heading down the mountain, it was late. We ended up driving some of our volunteers home and one had to stay overnight with us because he lives further away. We got home exhausted and very aware of how hard the work is sometimes and how we need God's wisdom to reach tough kids. Please pray for them and for us to be able to reach out in ways that are effective according to God's plan. It doesn't have to be according to our plan, but we want people, especially young people, to hear and understand God's message of love.

One without hope in Haiti

Nothing focuses us more on life than death.

On Tuesday, July 8th I took some of my former Lemuel Soccer team players and the coach of College Evangelique Maranatha up to scenic Ft. Jacques to help me with an evangelistic soccer tournament we were organizing.

Ft. Jacques is a fort that was build in the early 1800's to defend PAP against the impending invasion of the French after Haiti won it's independence in 1804. It has a spectacular view of the city and is a favorite place for young couples to meet and find a secluded corner to snuggle in.

The young men who went with me had never visited Ft. Jacques before and there was a break in the action, so I said they could go on a tour of the fort. They started to enjoy the view with the binoculars I had lent them when they heard a commotion behind them. They turned around to see a group of people standing around a hefty young man who was dressed nicely and had new sneakers on his feet. But this young man was flat on his back and his new jeans had bleach stains all over them – you see he had tried to commit suicide by drinking clorox bleach and was writhing in pain and convulsions. This young man, obviously not a poor young man, had lost all hope and had tried to take his life.

Since I was the only one around who had a car, the coach ran to get me and I quickly backed the car up to a place they could carry him to. However, the people there said I should contact the police first because if he died in my car on the way to the hospital, I could be held liable. Fortunately, this had already been done by a “good samaritan” and we were able to lay him in the back seat of the car, wreaking of clorox and vomit.

As we drove him down to the hospital, we prayed that God would save his life and give him another chance. It also caused me to reflect on life in this country of Haiti, and why I am here. I honestly wonder why there aren't more suicides here because without Christ, I don't see much hope for the people socially or economically. But I know God loves the people of Haiti, because he is still sending Christians here to minister to the rich and the poor, the families and the orphans.

This past week I had the opportunity to lead many people to Christ, as over 120 people indicated they trusted Christ for salvation. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to perhaps physically save the life of this young man who was without hope. Naturally, I would rather talk to people about Christ before they become hopeless and try to take their own lives. But on Tuesday, it was clear that I was at Ft. Jacques “for such a time as this”.

The last thing I heard about the young man was he was transferred to the public hospital. Please pray for his physical and spiritual healing.

Maybe God won't call you to physically save a life today, but you can always encourage others with a smile, kind deed, prayer or act of generosity – just like Christ did when he was on earth. Who knows, you may give hope to the hopeless.

Teams, Tournaments, even one for girls!

On Saturday, July 5th Ian Moore, Jonathan Bryant, Steven Gassaway from the US and Frantz and Jean Paul, our Haitian helpers all arrived safely back in Port-au-Prince. God protected us in many ways on this two-week trip around Haiti. No one got seriously sick, the truck did not break down, there were no accidents, nothing of great value was stolen, and we did not run out of money. We drove over 500 miles on some of the roughest roads of Haiti. The roads were so rough that my metal cage around the back of my truck came un-welded in several places and by the time we reached home every seam was cracked. Thankfully, this happened on the last day as we were entering Port-au-Prince, otherwise we would have had major packing problems!

Another AACH team arrived in Port-au-Prince on Saturday as well. Opal Golden and three High School students from the school she teaches at in New York state arrived and we all had a grand reunion at our house. Altogether, 13 people ate and slept at our house on Saturday night – a record for sure. Four of the guys slept on our roof to escape the heat and humidity in our house.

This team was headed to Les Cayes in southern Haiti to run a U-15 tournament for boys from July 7-13th and the first ever girl's tournament from July 14-20th.

Thanks to the generosity of another ministry, we now have another truck for the AACH/AIS soccer ministries to share. It is a big 'ol Chevy pick up, army vintage with a diesel engine that has benches and lots of room for stuff.

We packed up the team heading off to Les Cayes on early Sunday morning and sent them on their way. They have been having a great time helping with the tournament there and have been working hard to build relationships with local churches so that those who trust Christ through the many outreaches during the tournament can be followed up with.

Just before we left we posed in front of the big truck for a picture. (Hopefully we'll be able to upload that soon) It's neat to think that just about two years ago Carol and I returned to Haiti with a vision for using soccer as a tool for evangelism not knowing anyone else who had the same vision. Now through our partnership with AACH, we have hosted two teams from the US and now work with about 100 Haitian leaders in 8 out of the 11 departments (like states) in Haiti.

One down – Seven to go!

The summer U-15 soccer tournament at Verettes is officially over. The final and semi-final matches were both hard-fought games which ended in ties and had to be decided by penalty kicks.

In the end, it was the team from Borel that won the tournament. Apparently, their coach did a good job teaching them how to shoot penalty kicks!

The semi-final game between the home team Verettes and the visitor Borel was the best game of the tournament. Verettes dominated the first half and scored two goals. It looked like they were going to win the game. But about 10 minutes into the second half, they were awarded a penalty kick and scored making it 2-1. Then a miraculous goal just before the game ended tied the game, sending the game to penalty kicks. The goalie of Borel made two spectacular saves to lead his team to victory.

Two semi-final games were played on June 25th with the final being June 26th. Our Haitian brothers who did the evangelism did a great job sharing the Gospel at all the games. At one game he told the story of a boy who always wanted a soccer ball, so his Father worked and saved in order to buy him one. The boy loved that ball and played with it every day. One day he came home hot and tired after playing and opened the window in his bedroom and went to sleep with the ball beside him. When he woke up, the ball was not there. Someone had stolen the ball. A few weeks later he was still sad about the ball and was walking through town when he saw his ball for sale in a store. He knew it was his ball because he had made a mark on it. (In Haitian society, you can’t accuse someone of stealing unless you catch them red-handed.) So the boy told his Father, who then worked hard to buy the ball back for the boy. The Haitian evangelist went on to explain that, even though Satan “stole” the good things God prepared for us in the Garden of Eden by tempting Adam and Eve to sin, Jesus paid the price to restore us to God and eventually all things will be restored to us in the new heaven and new earth.

About 40 people indicated that they trusted Christ through these games and we collected well over 400 response cards. Through our partnership with 5 local churches in the area, each one of the people who responded will be followed up with.

In addition to the Gospel presentation at the games, we also have done two soccer clinics this week: One for young boys and another for girls where we presented the Gospel. Then on Thursday night, June 26th we showed two evangelistic films that were produced in Africa that contrasted African voodoo with Christianity. We had about 300 people at these films and many seemed to understand the message the films conveyed.

This afternoon we will do a soccer clinic for some churches up in the mountains surrounding Verettes. The youth in this area do not have the same opportunities to be coached as those who live in town, and we want to show these out-lying churches how they can use sports as a tool for evangelism.

Tomorrow we will visit a local church who is helping us with the follow up and rejoice with them over the work that God has done in their community this week. Then we will head to our next tournament in the North of Haiti in a town called Limbe.

Please continue to pray for God to touch the hearts many through these tournaments and for safety on the roads!

Lots of Help

Lots of Help!

This past Sunday (June 22nd, 2008), Ian Moore, the founder and director of AACH arrived at my house with 2 College students from James Madison University; Jonathan Bryant and Steven Gassaway. They came to help with the tournaments, do soccer clinics and learn about missions in Haiti. We will be together for two weeks and will visit 4 out of the 8 towns where we are holding soccer tournaments: Verettes, Limbe, St. Rafael and Hinche.

In addition, we have a Haitian Seminary student with us named Jean Paul who is helping us with the Bible studies for the players on the teams and also presenting the Gospel at half-time. Like most Haitian boys, he grew up without a Father in his life for many years, in his case because his birth was the result of an affair. His Father eventually became a Christian and accepted some responsibility for him financially and also let him live with him for a while, but some times he felt like a ping-pong ball going back and forth between his Mom and Dad. He became a Christian and while studying law at a University and felt God calling him to become a Pastor.

We are also getting lots of help with the tournaments from the committees we set up in each town. In Verettes, there is a committee of 9 men who have taken complete responsibility for planning the tournament and they have done a great job.

Please pray that we will stay healthy and safe, that people will hear, understand and accept the Gospel and the leaders we have trained will learn through their experiences this summer.

A Dream Come True

How do you feel when a dream becomes a reality?

On June 23rd the first game of our 8 summer soccer tournaments was played. Seeing the 13-15 year old boys in the beautiful new uniforms that were donated almost brought tears to my eyes since the week before it had taken me three days and $400 to get them out of customs.

But it was a beautiful afternoon for soccer and the two teams played a good, but lopsided match with Borel beating Gonaives 4-0. (Gonaives is the town that was totally destroyed by a flood the same fall as New Orleans – we hope to have a tournament there next year.)

Thanks to the new sound system provided by Northampton Presbyterian Church, we were able to present the Gospel to the spectators at the match, and will continue to do this at half-time and after the games for the next 6 games of the tournament.

Yesterday we presented the Gospel at 3 soccer games to about 400 people, and also at a soccer clinic for boys and girls with about 60 participants.

Today in the afternoon are the semi-finals of the tournament and we will have two games with the final tomorrow. This morning we are doing a soccer clinic with coaches and kids from the area.

Travelling

I'm writing this from the Dominican Republic where I'm going to study Spanish for two weeks. Partly because I'm working towards regular certification in the US, and partly because I love langugaes. Richard was here for the weekend, but now I'm alone in a country where I barely speak the language. It's good for me because it helps me remember what it's like for people who are beginners in French or English. I'm staying in the apartment of a friend in an area where I don't know anyone who speaks English, French or Creole. It's forcing me to use the little I know! |It was interesting going to church in Spanish. They even did the one Spanish chorus that Richard taught me years ago: "Alabare." That was fun. The embarrassing part was when they were doing the announcements at the end and my brain was tiring of trying to understand so I just looked at my bulletin and focused on reading the announcement s until....out of the corner of my eye, I saw a lady waving at me. I looked up and the whole congregation was waving at me. The pastor was saying something in my direction0--I don't know what! but I figured they were saying hello to visitors. So, I said that I didn't understand but I was here for 2 weeks to study Spanish. My course starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a big day for Richard, too. He is driving out to Verrettes with Ian Moore (AACH) and two college students who have come to help with the evangelistic tournaments in that area. In the next two weeks they will be going to Verrettes, St. Raphael, Hinche and Limbe. Please pray for safety and mostly for the success of the tournaments, presentations, etc. in each town.
Hopefully we'll put some pictures up soon.
--Carol

Australian Film Crew

Here's "our Australian film crew" :) (see below). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of them filming or taking pictures, but Here they are having a meal at our house and jamming with our kids.
Thank you Andrew, Connie and Andrew!

Ambassadors in Sport sends film crew to Haiti

How do three young Australians end up in Haiti? They volunteered to make a documentary for Ambassadors in Sport, International and film footage of how God is using soccer worldwide to introduce fans and players to Christ.

Andrew Cameron and his friends Connie and Andrew arrived yesterday and for the next two days we will be filming the ministry in Haiti.

I'm very excited about this opportunity because it will allow us to share the vision God has given us for the youth of Haiti with many more people. I just found out that tomorrow we will be able to film the championship game of a school tournament in Verettes with hundreds of spectators and the two best teams in the area. One of the teams is from a school we trained in soccer evangelism called "La Providence" (Providence). Some would call this luck, but we call it God's providence!

Pray for us as we travel about the city and country in these next two days, for protection and good filming!

Recent training trips to Jacmel and La Pointe

Candidate for Prime Minister rejected

Haitian parliament rejects Ericq Pierre as PM

Published: Tuesday 13 May 2008 09:20 UTC
Last updated: Tuesday 13 May 2008 09:56 UTC
Port-au-Prince - Haiti's parliament has rejected the intended new prime minister Ericq Pierre. His nomination was approved by the Senate, but he failed to win sufficient support in the House of Representatives. President René Preval will now have to look for a new candidate. Haiti has been without a prime minister since Jacques Edouard Alexis resigned last month, following violent protests against high food prices in which six people were killed.

Praying for students

Sorry this is ened up so long! Oh well...
A little over a week ago I got an idea to have lunch one-on-one with students to get to know them better and to ask them for specific prayer requests. I was excited about the idea but I wasn't sure how to go about it. I have a couch in my room, so I thought it would be nice to eat in there, but I wasn't sure of the logistics of getting lunch (the line is often slow). Then I started getting nervous about the kids not wanting to and having awkward moments of chewing in front of each other with only me wanting to talk. But, since I think the idea came from the H.S., I had to get past those fears. I prayed and asked a few other people to pray with me and asked them for ideas. And, there was some pressure because the school year's almost over. I decided to focus on the Freshmen.

Last week all I was able to do was to ask the kids to write on the bottom of their vocab quiz 3 things they would like to eat for lunch. I didn't tell them what it was about. (I love creating mystery in class.)

This really was one of those times when I felt it was hard to trust God and take a step of faith. It may seem silly, but I guess it's because I know I have a lot of other things to keep up with at the same time. And, of course, I'm not doing it the most simple way. Of course, this is my life. I wanted this to be special. A lot of them had written down lasagna and I really wanted to make that for them. But there is also the problem of heating things up, etc. And, I have 15 Freshmen and there were 15 days of school left, including yesterday.

Yesterday morning I had no classes until 11:00, so I went to the store and got several different kinds of drinks, coke, sprite, propel water, sport shakes, etc. and ingredients for lasagna, brownies and cookies. I had to give R the car because he had an appointment, so I dropped off the drinks at school and then I walked to the local "fast food" place. I got a cheeseburger and fries and put them in a casserole holder that has a "hotpack".

Before class I put the drinks out on my table (more mystery) and I announced my plan to them, trying to make it sound like it would not be weird, awkward and long. (i.e. they don't have to stay the whole lunch period If they don't want to.) Then I said I would be starting right away. I asked the kids to stand up if they would like to eat a cheeseburger and fries for lunch and if they were available to eat lunch w/ me that day. I asked them to sit down if they hadn't done their journal. I asked them to sit down if they hadn't kept up with reading Romeo & Juliet. I was left with 4 students. I put their names on pieces of paper & had a student choose one. I had the rest of them write their names on a calendar for which day they would like to have lunch w/ me. I told them that if they really didn't want to have lunch with me, they could just write their name down and not show up that day. Then, I had a lovely lunch with Bianca. It wasn't awkward at all.

This morning I prayed for Bianca, made lasagna which I will freeze in individual pieces (it was way too hot last night) and I'm praying about the rest of my lunches.
Please pray with me. Thanks, Carol

Verrettes Tournament plans for the summer

Richard and Daniel went out to Verrettes on Thursday to meet with the TREC graduates out there and planned the tournament for this summer. There was a great turnout for the meeting and dates were chosen for the last week of June. Please pray with us for all of the tournaments for summer 2008--that God will provide all that is needed and that they will be used for His glory.

Joy for President!!

This morning Joy Mears made her speech as the only candidate for student-body president of Quisqueya Christian School and I (Rich) was impressed.

Even though she didn't really have to make a speech because nobody was running against her, she took the opportunity to connect with her classmates.

She was genuine, self-effacing, and clearly communicated her ideas.

When she said she had the support of her family, I cheered.

When she said she loved God, loved her school and loved being organized, I cried.

When she clearly communicated her vision for next year, including things like assessing current activities, including elementary, middle and upper school students in more activities to creat unity and suggesting that QCS have more traditions, I thought "She learned all of that without getting a Master's in Organizational Leadership!".

Carol and I just looked at each other afterward and rejoiced in how God is working in Joy! And Joy got an enthusiastic ovation from her classmates.

Great Afternoon of Ministry

Sometimes you forget the things you really love to do when you haven't done them for a while!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to coach and do a Gospel presentation to about 30 Haitian boys between 10 and 12 years old.

I was introduced to this team by my good friend Louis Price-Mars who is working with gang leaders and business owners to try and reduce violence in one section of Port-au-Prince. He saw this former professional soccer player working with kids in the area and wanted to encourage him so he asked me to meet him and see how we could help.

The boys were very well-behaved and I had a great time coaching them. They loved it when I was "monkey-in-the-middle" and they had to keep the ball away from me! Then I taught them a passing drill that even players twice their age have trouble with and they got it right away.

Afterwards we talked about how soccer has rules and if you break the rules, you probably won't win the game. Then I transitioned into how God gave us certian rules to follow in the Bible and how we can't possibly follow all those rules. That's why God had to send Jesus: to forgive us for breaking the rules and help us "win" the game of life.

A small crowd had gathered in addition to the 30 boys and I could see that many were really listening.

Afterwards I gave the coach a Gospel tract and some materials he could use to teach the boys more about Jesus.

Our follow up plan is to make contact with some of the local churches the boys already attend and help them follow up with the boys. We also have several coaches we trained in December who live near the neighborhood and hope to put them in touch with this team.

These days most of my time is spend in administration and organizing, and I really miss coaching and being with kids - so I'll have to do this more often!!

Fun Sports day at Quisqueya

We had a fun sports day today at Quisqueya Christian School. First there was volleyball, but no one in our family played that, we were waiting for soccer. There was a father-son/father-daughter game and Richard and Ricky played in that. I played with the women faculty/staff against the girls' soccer team. No, I can't really play soccer, but it was fun and good exercise. I still don't understand the rules :) And, of course those girls ran circles around us! After that there was a game between the high school soccer team (well, we really haven't had a boys soccer season this year, but it was the guys who WOULD have been on it) against staff men and Dads. This game went on a LONG time because the score was 1-1 for a long time and they couldn't stand to leave it that way, they just HAD to play til they broke the tie. The "older" men won! Rich was a little sad because in other games like this he has scored, but he didn't today. It was still fun, though. And Ricky got to play a little bit to sub for high-schoolers.
After the games, we had a barbecue with salads and desserts brought by the families. We had a really good turnout and it was great seeing everyone so carefree and having fun after problems in the city last week.
Sadly, Joy couldn't come because of her homework load and the fact that we're going to be away for a CrossWorld retreat at the end of this week. I'm sure she'll get to play soccer and volleyball there.
Carol

Calm week

This week has been calm. On Monday some parents didn't send their children to school just to be cautious, but everything was fine. In fact, the huge potholes in the roads on our way to school are being fixed! How nice.
More directly in response to the protests, I've heard that the price of rice is supposed to go down by 15%. I think that means that the government will subsidize it.

In addition, the prime minister of Haiti, Mr. Alexis resigned and the President, Mr. Preval, said that the government will pay for the windows that were broken (although I don't know where they'll get the money from.)

The cybercafe has been open all week, but has been very quiet.

Just this morning (Friday, April 18), I was able to talk to a man about his faith when he came in to make a photo-copy. He said he used to be a Christian, but even though he knew God could forgive him, he said he couldn't forgive himself. I told him the story about the theif on the cross - how he had sinned right until the last day of his life, but Jesus still forgave him. He was in a hurry, but I gave him a tract that clearly explains the Gospel and encouraged him to come by again and talk.

Please pray for Euwin!!

Violence hits close to home

When I returned to the Cybercafe this week, I found all of the windows of the stores on the bottom broken and two of the three stores empty. My first thought was that the two empty stores had been looted, but when I talked with the owners I found out it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Looters had taken some things, but not that much and they were able to remove many things before the second wave of looters appeared. Still their loses were great, especially compared to us who sustained no damage at all!

About 11 AM on Tuesday April 8th about 200-300 young men from the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince marched up the main street of Port-au-Prince called Delmas that goes from Cite Soliel (the poorest part of PAP) to Petionville (the richest part of town).

All along the way they broke windows in both cars and buildings, including the shops right below our cybercafe.

Some stores they looted as well, such as the foodstores and gas station mini-marts. The gas station right next to us had floor-to-ceiling glass windows and they totally smashed and looted that store.

All the while our two employees, a young lady named Jackie and a young man named Lucas were in the cybercafe on the second floor trying to protect our windows and keeping the doors locked. When the violence erupted they also allowed those who were in the stores below to find shelter in our store.

As I thought about this, it reminded me of when the Psalms tells us God hides us in the cleft of a rock. God truly delivered our neighbors and he used our cybercafe as the "cleft in the Rock."

Jackie and Lucas also helped the store owners remove their merchandise so that no more would be taken. They are my heroes this week!

Monday morning

We have school today. There are rumors of demonstrations for today, but they may not happen and they may be downtown only. Over the weekend the Prime Minister was fired, President Preval promised a 15% reduction in the price of rice (with a gov't subsidy I guess), Brasil sent a plane load of food and the World Bank has promised 10 million dollars to help Haiti. We'll see what happens...here we go....

Protests continue

Protests are continuing today (Thursday) in some parts of Port-au-Prince. We went out today, just in our neighborhood to try to find some diesel gas for the generator but there was none being sold. Some places were closed, some open. We were able to buy a few grocery essentials, but when we tried to buy eggs from a local vendor, he wanted three times the normal price. We figured we'd try somewhere else, but ended up not getting any.

Since we haven't had any city electricity in the last 24 hours (we usually get about 6-7 hours a night which charges our inverter batteries to make them last a few hours) we will most likely not have electricity after tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

School was cancelled for today and tomorrow.

Protesting high price of food

I found this interesting paragraph in an article on www.time.com

"The cost of staple foods has risen some 50% in Haiti since last year, a crushing trend in a country where three-quarters of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Only Somalia and Afghanistan have a higher per capita daily deficit in calorie intake than Haiti does. (The figure in Haiti is 460 calories below the United Nations' daily minimum of 2,100.) The U.N.'s World Food Program says it has received only 13% of the $96 million it needs to help Haiti's 10 million people in 2008 — barely enough to support its operations there through the end of this month. Due to an estimated 55% rise in global food and fuel prices since last summer, the WFP last month made an extraordinary appeal to donors for an extra $500 million this year. At least eight other poor nations in Africa and Asia have recently experienced food-related unrest."
From "Food Crisis Renews Haiti's Agony" www.time.com
Wednesday, Apr. 09, 2008 By KATHIE KLARREICH

There are some tires burning today too, but not as many as yesterday. I just heard that people set fire to a radio station and they are threatening to start a fire at Chanmas, the main plaza downtown near the capitol buildings. We're fine where we are, but almost everything is closed, businesses, government offices, schools, etc.
Please pray
Thanks
Carol

Protesting High Prices

Yesterday people started protesting the recent spike in prices in Haiti.

It's hard to tell what is really happening, but I'll tell you what seems most likely factual.

Protests started at the Palace this morning. At about 10:30 am our time, people stormed the gates of the Palace. People are protesting against stores mainly. As if the shop owners were the cause of the high prices. People are throwing rocks into the windows of stores and looting them. Then people started marching up Delmas, the main route in Port-au-Prince. Protesters have "taken over" Place ST. Pierre, a main plaza in the middle of a busy commercial area. Some roads have been closed.

The children and I are at school and it seems to be safe. However, right outside the school compound people were marching and throwing rocks into store fronts and looting.
Our Cybercafe and ministry office is right across the street from the school. Fortunately it is upstairs, so as of right now it has not been hit. The drugstore below it was. The people workiing in the Cybercafe locked the doors and stayed inside when they heard what was happening.

Here at school at QCS, parents started coming to pick up their children at about 11:00. By 12:15 we only had about 1/3 of our students left.

Please pray. For those who don't have enough to eat, for store owners who are caught in the middle of this. For the whole situation. Richard is still in the States and will be back Friday.
I always kid him that everything falls apart when he leaves (car, generator,etc.) Now it's the whole country. Well, sometimes you gotta laugh.
Praise God, the neighborhood we live in seems to be away from all this. I think I should have no problems going that direction to go home, but will ask others here if they feel it's OK. We can always stay at school, what fun!
Carol
Here's something that was posted 2 hours ago:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5geZrL5OB_kHM3gx_HW4bPRSgT3YwD8VTPSLG0

TREC Results pour in!

Follow up on Evangelism done during TREC continues

In order to help us follow up with the almost 900 people who filled out response cards we trained over 20 additional counselors to make phone calls and meet with those who were interested.

We are working with five churches and have appointed a coordinator at each church. We meet with these coordinators each month to find out how things are going with follow up.

At this point over 200 people who indicated they trusted in Christ or asked for more information about Jesus have been contacted. Of these, over 50 are involved in follow up Bible studies and 2 are regularly attending church.

One young man came to watch the Jesus Film and even though he was already a Christian, he was convicted about the sin in his life. After meeting twice with a counselor to do a Bible study, he confessed that his 17 year old girl friend was pregnant and her parents, who are not Christians, told him he had to marry her within 2 months. They even came to talk him with a pastor and a witch doctor (I guess they wanted to cover both Christian and voodoo religions!). We are praying for God to help give all parties wisdom in this situation – especially since the young man does not have a job and is not ready to support a family.

In another instance a woman with several children expressed interest in learning more about Christ. Just for inquiring, she was kicked out the house and the family business with her children because her family serves the demons of voodoo. She is still meeting with one of our counselors for Bible study but is struggling financially. She wants to go to church, but does not have any nice clothing for her and her children to wear.

Second visit to Verettes to follow up with leaders of the Pilot Project in schools

On March 17th and 18th, Rich and Daniel, the Director of AACH, went to Verettes to visit with all the leaders that were trained at TREC in January.

The news was very encouraging: Each of the schools had already distributed the over 2000 Liv la Vie booklets we gave them and were using them to teach their players. In one school 10 children indicated they trusted Christ after studying the booklets. Now other schools in the area are requesting booklets!

In one school our leaders went back and shared the evangelism training they received with their fellow teachers and school administrators. Now they all are supporting the Liv la Vie studies with their students. In one 5th grade class 13 children trusted in Christ!

Another school is involved in an inter-school soccer tournament and are sharing the Gospel with all the teams they play.

Campus Crusade for Christ at James Madison University is sending 8 students for a week to experience sports ministry in Haiti.

From May 7-17th eight students from JMU will come to Haiti to come alongside their Haitian brothers and sisters and share the Gospel through sports ministry. From May 9-11 we will hold an eight-team tournament at Verettes and then the students will do soccer clinics at individual schools.

Regional Committee set up at Verettes

Since our goal is to train Haitians how to do sports ministry, we set up a regional committee in Verettes made up of 7 members. The committee’s responsibilities are:

1) To organize regional activities and tournaments
2) To manage shared equipment
3) To prepare and send monthly reports to AIS-Haiti
4) To assist schools with their strategic plans

We were very encouraged to see how those we trained at TREC are putting what they learned to good use!

Visiting the schools

Richard is out at Verrettes for two days visiting with the leaders of the schools who came to the training at Christmas time. Please pray for safe travel for him and pray for the effectiveness of the ministries in these schools.

First there was a meeting with several of the leaders. Yesterday he went out to a remote village to visit one of the schools and found that they are teaching some students how to sew. He asked them if the school could make soccer shorts for the ministry and they said yes.

I'll post more as I have more information on the trip.

Everyday Opportunities

Several times, our Ambassdors’ cybercafé has provided an opportunity to talk with people about faith in Jesus (Well, OK it’s really the Holy Spirit, but the cybercafé is a vehicle). On Friday Rich had two of these opportunities.

The first happened because a lady’s cell phone kept ringing with a loud musical ringtone that was bothering others in this small room. Someone turned and asked her to shut it off or answer it. Richard could tell that the customer was a little upset by the way it was said. So when she was leaving, he grabbed a “15-minutes-free internet navigation” coupon and followed her outside to give it to her. He tried to smooth things over and she ended up asking him where he goes to church. To his surprise she spoke in English. She said she’s been feeling that she needs to go to church again. Rich told her about the English-speaking church we sometimes attend called Quisqueya Chapel. He gave her the Pastor’s phone number and encouraged her to make an appointment with the Pastor’s wife to talk about her desire to get closer to God.

The second time was when Richard and Dorothy were interviewing someone to do translation work (we share the space with Dorothy and her ministry includes translation work). Since it is a ministry, they asked him about his faith using the question: “If you were to die today, are you sure you would be going to heaven?” He said he was not sure but answered that he tries to live the way his mother taught him to live. This led to an interesting discussion and Rich got to share with him that the Bible makes it clear in 1 John chapter 5 in the thirteenth verse that those who trust in Jesus can know that they have eternal life. He said everything we talked about made sense and said he would think about our discussion and let us know if he makes a decision to trust in Christ!

Richard presents his Graduate Research on Youth Unemployment in Haiti

Richard presents his Graduate Research on Youth Unemployment in Haiti

On Sunday, Feb. 23rd, Rich spoke to a group of High School and College students and educators in Haiti about the problem of Youth Unemployment in Haiti. He was invited to present his graduate research on this subject by Young Americas Business Trust – Haiti (YABT-Haiti) organized several sessions during a United Nations Simulation at the Caraibe Convention Center in Port-au-Prince.

As a result of his research, Rich was able to make 4 recommendations that could help reduce youth unemployment in Haiti:

- A multi-faceted approach where the Haitian Government, businesses and Unions work together to address youth unemployment
- Teach and promote good character
- Find ways that idle youth can work together with community leaders to make a positive contribution to their communities, and provide healthy ways they can use their time.
- Identify and encourage youth with entrepreneurial talent

Currently Rich is working with YABT-Haiti to create a program that uses laptops to take a computer training course to Haitian schools that do not have electricity or computer equipment. He and YABT-Haiti leaders hope to launch a pilot project in two schools starting the end of March.

This project fits into AIS-Haiti’s third “B” in “Ball, Bible, Business”

Ball: Using sports to engage youth in our program
Bible: Evangelizing and Teaching Christian Character through Bible study
Business: Identify and encourage youth who demonstrate entrepreneurial talent.

Passing the Test

Passing the test

The other day I was helping to teach Lucasse, a young man who works in the Ambassador’s Cyber cafe how to drive.

Lucasse played on the Lemuel Soccer Club for a few years and when we started a cyber café in Haiti to help us learn how to start a business in Haiti, he was a natural choice help us as an intern.

I wanted to encourage Lucasse to get his driver’s license so that he could help when driving was necessary for the business.

So early one morning before the cyber café opened I took him to the English church’s property, which is rather large for Haiti, and let him drive around. I thought it would be good to practice parallel parking with him so I moved these volleyball poles that were stuck into cement-filled tires. It turned out that was a mistake.

The next day my back was killing me, and it got even worse the day after. As I write this I am still in a lot of pain.

But, yesterday I took Lucasse for his driver’s test and he passed! He passed, and I was in pain. He was happy, I was in pain. He told everyone he had passed, I told everyone I was in pain. I was happy for Lucasse, but the pain kind of dampened my enthusiasm.

This reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Once we put our trust in Christ, we are happy and tell everyone “I’m saved from my sins – I passed the test and now have a place reserved for me in heaven!” Jesus is happy for us, but I don’t think he’ll ever forget completely about the pain he suffered so that we could pass from death to life!

Follow-up

We're working with 5 churches in the area where the training and the special outreach game were held in January.
Saturday, Feb. 16, 24 people came to be trained for follow-up on those who indicated interest in Bible Studies or that they had trusted in Christ. The individuals were organized into groups with a coordinator for each church or smaller area. This week (Feb. 23), there will be a meeting of the coordinators to find out how it’s going with the follow up and to encourage them in the work.

Schools in Verrettes

Richard went out to Verrettes to visit the leaders who participated in the training at Christmas time. These are kids from one of the schools represented where they are starting a soccer team.

Adult ESL Class

Some of the parents of students at QCS have requested an English class and I was asked to teach them. This could be a great opportunity for interaction/relationship building with the families of QCS and integration of Biblical principles and concepts. Please pray that God brings the people He wants to the class and for me that I will be used by Him in this new venture. There will not be a set curriculum, I am designing the course. I have done this before, but I hope to improve on what I have done in the past.

From E-rate to providing computer classes for Haitian schools.

The telecommunications act of 1996 included a bold plan to increase the use of computers and information technology in U.S. schools and make sure that every school in America had internet access. One of the programs this legislation started is commonly called the E-rate. The purpose of the E-rate program is to provide funding to every school that applies so that they can improve their connection to the internet and keep their information technology current. From the start of the E-rate program until I moved to Haiti, I worked off and on as an E-rate consultant working with teachers and staff to make sure every student at their schools would learn how to use the internet and also have high-speed internet access.

So it was natural that when I returned to Haiti last year with 10 donated laptops from Drexel University and over 30 desk top computers from Philadelphia Biblical University and Bucks County Community College that I would seek to help Haitian schools offer their students computer courses and an introduction to the internet.

In the past year and a half I have provided desk top computers to 3 Christian schools and also have opened a small cybercafé. The cybercafé provides an opportunity to help introduce Haitian students to the internet, and also as a source of income in Haiti for Ambassadors in Sport – Haiti.

While visiting the schools near the cybercafé to tell them about our grand opening and invite students to come and visit us, I found out that of the 9 schools in our area, only 2 had any computers at all. The other 7 had no computers and no way of introducing information technology to their students.

So in conjunction with a Haitian friend who has lots of education and experience in teaching computers, we put together a program where we will bring our laptops to these schools and introduce students to computers, the internet, word processing and spreadsheets. In an effort to keep the price affordable for students so that as many as possible can benefit from the training, we figured out a way to offer “volume pricing” where the more students sign up, the lower the price will be.

Today we visited this school to try and encourage more students to take advantage of this course. As we talked to these well-behaved students in their uniforms, beads of sweat formed on our temples. Not because we were nervous, but because these high school students were crowded into a room with half-height walls 30-40 in a class sitting on wooden benches while all the other classes were going on around us so we had to yell to be heard. There was no air-conditioning, no carpet to absorb the echo of all the teachers yelling to be heard, and no comfortable chairs for the students to sit on – only hard wooden benches. There were not even any fans because the school only has enough electricity to power a single light bulb in each room. The only teaching “technology” in these rooms were a blackboard and chalk. Yet these students listened to us and asked some very good questions. Only about ¼ of each class had ever touched a computer, and some of them were about to graduate!

Please pray for this initiative which we plan to start in March after Haitian state exams are done.

TREC Training: Topics that were addressed and special visitors

The two main topics addressed at the TREC training from Dec. 26 to Jan 4th were how to start and train an evangelistic soccer team and how to use soccer for Evangelism.

Thanks to no less than 7 soccer coaches from the US and Brazil, the Haitian participants got great coaching and are well-prepared to work with their teams.

In addition, they got to see first-hand how soccer can be used for evangelism because we organized a game between the Haitian Coast Guard and a local radio station called Megastar. Because the sound system did not work until the middle of the game, no one knew about the game at first. But by the time the game was over and we were doing the drawing for the prizes there was a crowd of about 200-300 people.

However, there were many other topics addressed at the seminar including Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Christian Stewardship and Fund Raising, Basics of Health Education, Managing a tournament and Conflict Resolution based on a book called “Peacemakers”.

There were also 3 special guests who visited us during the seminar:

1. Roger Derpilus, a Haitian who is being sent as a missionary to Senegal by the first ever Haitian missionary society called “Vision d’Antioch”. We want those who are influencing the next generation of Haitians a heart for the unreached in other nations.

2. Dan Carl who is the country director for “Book of Hope” Ministries in Haiti. The “Book of Hope” is a comic-book like booklet that reviews the life of Jesus and presents the Gospel. There are several versions of the booklet geared for different aged children and youth. Their goal is to put a booklet into the hands of every student in Haiti. We are helping them by distributing these excellent ways to share the Gospel with children in the schools we are working with. (www.bookofhope.com)

3. Antoine Craan works for the Haitian Soccer Federation and is in charge of training and supervising all the referees in Haiti. He was kind enough to review the most difficult rules of soccer with our participants.

Fasting & praying for our friend, Susette Manaserro

Our friend, Susette Manaserro, another missionary here in Port-au-Prince, was diagnosed with cancer on Christmas Eve. Apparently she is in 2nd stage Hodgkins Lymphoma. She is married and has young children. One of her daughters is Joy's closest friend here. She is in the States now along with her husband and one of the children to get treatment. Two of their daughters are still here attending school at QCS.

My friend Nehemie suggested that we fast and pray for Susette. This afternoon seemed like the perfect time to start because Richard and Grace are away in Cap Haitien and...well, it just seems right.

Grace shared something with us while she was here about faith. (She said she heard this somewhere...) She said something like... sometimes God moves the "mountain" when we pray in faith and sometimes His plan is for us to go up to the top. In that case we have a tough road ahead, but God has something better in mind--a mountain top experience. Sorry I don't know who to give the credit to :/

So, I'm praying for God to move the mountain and to take care of this whole family. They are some of the sweetest, most generous, most joyful, faithful and full-of-faith people you could ever meet.

I've been thinking about how last August I started praying for 3 people who were battling cancer while I was walking on the treadmill. Somehow I found that I really focused on praying for them longer and I felt I was not wasting my time. (The 3 people were: my cousin, Kathleen, Richard's cousin's wife, Jessica, and Kimberly, who started supporting us when she was only about 13). Since that time, Kimberly, who had already been getting treatment for months, has recovered, and has raised about $30,000 to help cancer patients; Kathleen went home to be with the Lord on December 6th and Jessica is still undergoing treatment. Although at times I struggle with unsettling thoughts about how Jessica is so young, the mother of two young girls, so intelligent, beautiful and gracious. How Kimberly was so young, so intelligent, about to finish college when cancer interupted her life. How Kathleen was only a few years older than me and we were only at the "middle" of our lives. How Susette was doing so much to help street kids here in Haiti. On Christmas of '06 about a dozen girls who were living in the streets had a cozy home where they could celebrate Jesus' birth. But I trust that God's plan is better than my plan. I don't know all He knows.

Happy New Year!

We wish all of you a happy, healthy, new year for 2008.
May you sense His presence, know His will for your days and Grow to love Him more every moment. We thank God for all He has done this year to keep us safe and healthy and able to serve Him.

Thank you for reading our blog. Of course, since it's that time of year, we're making resolutions to write more frequently. We've been really busy this month with the end of the quarter at school, Christmas and of course, the TREC training. Today I will be posting several entries now that I got Richard to come home for a few hours and we got some pictures.

Soccer Match

The emphasis for the first 2 days of training was on soccer and evangelism. Pastor Sony Camilus of Campus Pour Christ in Haiti did the evangelism training. Then we gave the participants the opportunity to put what they learned into practice by organizing an exhibition soccer game between the Haitian Coast Guard team and the Radio Megastar team. It was an exciting match with each team trading goals until the Coast Guard team finally prevailed 3-2. But was even more exciting was that over 300 people attended the game and filled out response cards. Many indicated that they had trusted in Christ!

A Defining Moment

There are certain times in your life when you get a glimpse of why God created you. One of those times is when you hold your children in your arms for the first time. They look up at you and you understand the joy of seeing a new life just begun.

I had another moment like that after our evangelistic soccer match. I was heading toward the truck after the game, exhausted and just wanting to get things packed up and get back to the guesthouse so I could rest. As I approached the car, I saw several of our participants talking to a young man with a soccer ball in his hand. It turned out that the young man named Louis James had just won the soccer ball in the drawing we had just held for those who turned in their response cards. The conference participants were very excited and introduced me to James and told me that he would like to trust Christ as his Savior. I talked to the young man and shared with him some Bible verses and then he started his new relationship with Christ that very moment!

This is the second birth that the apostle John talks about in John 3. To me it was just as exciting as the birth of any one of my children – and this second birth means that I will see Louis in heaven and spend eternity with him!

Pictures of the Coach training

Here are some pictures of the coach training.

TREC - a good start

They came from the North, they came from the South, in all, Haitian representatives came from 6 out of the 9 “departments” around Haiti. On Wednesday, December 26, 2007 about 45 Christian leaders and school teachers came to Port-au Prince to participate in a 10 day intensive training program on how to start and in some cases continue evangelistic soccer teams in their churches and schools.

These men made great sacrifices to come to this training: First they gave up most of their Christmas & New Year’s holiday to come to this training, and second, most of them paid their own way to come. In one case, 3 coaches left the north coast of Haiti at 2 AM and arrived in PAP at 6 AM after traveling over the roughest (and dustiest) roads imaginable.

The seminar kicked off with two special guests: Ian Moore, the founder and president of the Association of Christian Athletics of Haiti, and his friend Georges Edeline. Georges Edeline is among the elite coaches in the US who have the USAF’s “A” license. He has over 40 years of coaching experience, and has helped many Haitian players get scholarships to play in the US. Among them is a well-known Haitian economist that has a radio program named Kesner Farrell who was one of his first recruits at George Washington University.

Since Georges was born in Haiti, he is fluent in Creole and loved being back on the soccer fields of Haiti where he grew up. Our coaches benefited greatly from his vast coaching experience, and his jovial demeanor that immediately attracted them to his style of teaching. Thank you, Georges!

Soccer Match

In spite of some logistical difficulties, the soccer match went well. Richard was busy today with the showing of the Jesus Film, but he'll post as soon as he can. What I know so far is that several people were interested in what they heard and indicated a desire to trust in Christ. Richard prayed with one person who received Christ.

Evangelistic Soccer Match & Jesus Film

Please pray for the evangelistic soccer match tomorrow that is part of the training for the future leaders of soccer ministries. The game will be tomorrow (Saturday) and everyone will be invited to come back to see the Jesus Film on Sunday afternoon.

Pray for the logistics, for those who ccould and those who will attend. Pray for the particpants to catch a vision for this type of outreach in their areas.

Good start to Soccer Ministry Training

Thanks for your prayers. The soccer ministry training got off to a good start yesterday. Almost 50 participants arrived by Wednesday night and got settled at Ormiso, a conference center in Carrefour. Although we were disappointed that it didn't work out to have the training at Titayen, it's been good to have it closer to home. Richard has come back home yesterday and today to get more cleats, sneakers, socks, shorts and balls. The kids and I are at home, though so we don't have a lot of details, but here's a little about what's been happening.

For the first two days we were able to use the National Stadium from 8-10 am. (Originally we were to use the stadium everyday, but the Federation changed their plans and decided they needed to close the stadium for the rest of the holidays.) After that, they've had sessions on "Methods of Evangelism," "Role of the Coach."

Hopefully we'll have pictures up tomorrow night.

Getting Ready for TREC

Last minute preparations being done in our dining room for the TREC soccer training. Thanks to Leah and Sarah, we got the notebooks done on time.

Joyeux Noel!

Merry Christmas '07 !

It's a busy season with the training going on, but we're enjoying it, especially having Grace here with us from college.

We hope you are all enjoying the season too.

On December 23rd, Richard and the kids led worship in the English church near us.

We managed to get a family picture at the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.

Joy's friend, Leah, is here with us again (from Canada) and this time she brought her friend Sarah with her. It's fun having a full house for Christmas!

(That's Joy's friend Ari in the matching red & black dress).