Twins make a pick-up game lots of fun!

Twins make a pick-up game lots of fun!

While visiting the House of Hope, an orphanage for children with long-term disabilities and diseases, and also 10 earthquake orphans, I brought them a soccer ball to play with and joined them in a game. Immediately two young boys volunteered to play with me on my team. It turned out that they were twins: Bensley and Bensly! They were great fun to play with as they could anticipate each other’s movements very well and make passes almost without thinking. We won our first two games, and of course I have to brag about the nice move and shot I made that resulted in a goal!

I also made the directors of the orphanage happy because I brought them a case of Christian story books to share with their 87 children.


In all I distributed over 10 cases of Christian books to the schools and churches we work with.

Trip to North-West Haiti went well!

Trip to North-West Haiti went well!

In spite of my Toyota truck taking more punishment than they show on a Ford truck commercial, we made the long treck from Port-au-Prince to the North west department of Haiti without incident. The trip was so rough that it took chunks out of our heavy-duty truck tires.

But it was worth every minute of bone-jarring travel to meet our players and talk with our leaders about what God is doing through our teams. In total there are now 8 girls and 5 boys in the Haitian talent development program of the Haitian Soccer Federation that formerly were part of our teams. In addition, we were able to distribute Christian literature to encourage our chaplains in their work with our players and also give out badly needed equipment. Some of our teams did not even have balls. (This is always a need, so please collect as many soccer balls for us as you can!)

Some of our leaders have been volunteering with us since our first training in December of 2008. They continue in the work because they see God working in the lives of their players and in their schools through Ambassadors Football Haiti’s programs.

In addition to encouraging our leaders, another purpose of the trip was to take pictures of the players and have the schools, churches, AFH volunteers, players and parents be aware of our strategy and have them sign a document that makes them aware of how we want to help spread the Gospel together with them in their communities.

By the time the project is done, we will have taken more than 1,800 pictures of players and volunteers.

Meet our Leaders from Jean Rabel in Northwest Haiti

On April 2nd I met with the Regional Committee of 5 members representing 20 school teams in the area around the town of Jean Rabel in Northwest Haiti. Although we traveled some of the roughest roads in Haiti in order to get to this area, the scenery was spectacular.

But what was even more spectacular is the heart these leaders have for reaching youth for Christ through soccer evangelism. Even though we haven't been able to host a tournament in the area for over 2 years, they were still enthusiastic and wanting to work with their school teams.

The following day we visited one of the most remote beaches in Haiti: Mole St. Nicolas. We have one team in this beach town, but encouraged this one team invite 3 other local teams to form a zone because they are so far away from our other teams.

We took pictures of our players at three of our schools in the area and found them all very enthusiastic.

While there we could not resist taking a dip in the ocean since the town has one or the nicest beaches in Haiti!

The town also boasts 4 forts built after the Haitian revolution to protect Haiti from a French attack, several of which are well-preserved.

Trip to Northwest Haiti

From April 1st to 7th Rich and his assistant, Midi Osner will be visiting leaders from about 40 of Ambassadors Football Haiti's school teams in the Northwest of Haiti. The purpose of the trip is to encourage the regional committee leaders responsible for the teams, collect completed ministry agreements from volunteers and players who make up the teams, and also take their pictures for badges. All this is to prepare the teams for evangelistic soccer tournaments we hope to start later this year.

In addition, we will be distributing soccer equipment and Christian literature for the Bible studies with the players. We also give literature to the school directors we work with so they can give them out to the entire school.

So please pray for safe travel, good meetings and for the Holy Spirit to work through us to touch hearts and minds on this trip.



Forging a River in Northern Haiti and Distributing books

A Classical Resurrection Day

A Classical Resurrection Day

Rich volunteered to lead worship on Easter Sunday and because of his love for classical music, decided to pick traditional hymns interspersed with selections from Handal’s “Messiah”. The morning will start out with somber songs commemorating Christ’s crucifixion and evolve into a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection ending with the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. Flowers given in memorial of loved ones will decorate the sanctuary for the Glory of God and visually complement the sounds of beautiful, God honoring music.



As Hebrews 10:22 reminds us: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
Thanks to Christ’s death and resurrection this is possible!

Rara Bands in Haiti on Good Friday

Rara Bands in Haiti

Good Friday in Haiti is a day of dancing in the streets for those who practice Voodoo. While it is not clear why there is such joy on the day Christians set aside to remember the crucifixion of Christ, it sometimes seems that voodooists are celebrating Satan’s supposed victory over Christ on the cross.

These street celebrations are led by a “Rara” band. “Originating in Haïti, rara is a form of festival music used for street processions, typically during Easter Week. The music centers on a set of cylindrical bamboo trumpets called vaksen (which may also be made of metal pipes), but also features drums, maracas, güiras or güiros (a percussion instrument), and metal bells, as well as sometimes also cylindrical metal trumpets which are made from recycled metal, often coffee cans.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rara)

To see a 3 minute youtube on Rara you can check out: http://festivalfilmjakmel.com/raymond/?p=4

As a musician, I find Rara music very repetitive with a strong beat. There is no melody or words and it seems to mesmerize those who are dancing.

Some Haitians say that a man and his wife can get so caught up in Rara, that they may not see each other until the next day. Many in the Rara bands use the revelry to drink home-made boot-leg liquor called “Clarin”, and so don’t remember much of what they did while dancing in the streets.

While dancing in Rara bands can provide temporary relief from the daily cares that seem overwhelming, Haitians who have trusted in Christ realize that only the resurrected Jesus can change the hearts of people in Haiti and help their country find true peace.

However, by Easter morning all the Rara bands are done and Christians have a chance to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ in peace, not his death.

Joy in Substitution

Joy in Substitution

A couple of Sundays ago, Carol was asked to substitute teach for the middle school Sunday morning class at Quisqueya Chapel, the English-speaking church we attend sometimes.

She arrived early and soon a student walked in. Figuring that this was a divine appointment, Carol asked the young man how he became a Christian. He replied: “ I've been a Christian since I was a baby.” So Carol gently asked him questions to help him understand that being born into a Christian family does not make one a “Christian”.

The conversation continued one-on-one until a few other students showed up. But the value of a few minutes of challenging discussion of spiritual things cannot be underestimated in the life of this young man.

Although he didn't indicate he trusted in Christ that morning, he definitely learned some spiritual truth that will guide him to the right decision when he is ready.

Visits with two regional committees representing 28 teams:

Visits with two regional committees representing 28 teams:

From March 7th to 10th, 2013 I visited with the Ambassadors Football Haiti’s two Regional Committees located in the Artibonite Department (think “state”) of Haiti.

First I visited the four teams we have in Archaie, where the “Betsy Ross” of Haiti came from, and where the first Haitian flag was sown. This committee did a great job with their first tournament last August and said they were thrilled that 60 people had trusted Christ as a result of this tournament. However, they reminded me that I had promised some Bibles for them to use in follow up. Now, thanks to some recent funds that came in, I can provide them with these Bibles.

The second visit was with our Regional Committee of Lower Artibonite in the town of Verrettes. This meeting went for a couple of hours as we talked about the challenges they faced and different ideas of how to resolve them. In the end we all left tired, but encouraged that we had a good meeting.



The following day we passed through Gonaives and picked up the president of the Regional Committee of Upper Artibonite named Nesly Gustave. He served as our guide as we travelled to Gros Mornes where we have 4 schools involved in the AFH program. The road to Gros Mornes is very bad, so it took us a little longer than expected, and unfortunately we got there late and couldn’t meet with all the schools we had hoped. In the end, we only met with one team and took their pictures for their ID cards. Nesly is going to have to go back on those rough roads to take the pictures of the other teams and collect their administrative forms.



Saturday we got up early to do a special training with our 8 teams in Gonaives. Players from 7 out of the 8 teams showed up little by little. When we got to the field we found half of it taken up by construction material and equipment. It seems like wherever you go in Haiti, roads are under construction! In addition, there were other teams training on the field. But next to the field was a park that had walkways that were actually just perfect for the drills I wanted to do that day, so God provided! We got some chalk and outlined the squares we needed for the training on the walkways, and at one point had 5 squares of 4 players going at one time. I showed the other coaches present how to do the drills and then had them supervise the players. When more players came, we sent the first group to a lesson about the dangers of dirty water and then related that to the importance of keeping their spiritual lives clean as well. Then when all seven teams we showed up we added a third activity because the team practicing on the field challenged us to a friendly game. They ended up beating us 2-1, but our players held their own! At the end we got all of the players together so I could tell them the story of how I was shot in Port-au-Prince and remind them that “today is the day of salvation” as we never know when our life will end.





After that, we visited an orphanage that is on the same grounds as a school that is in our program. I showed the boys a few things they could work on to improve their soccer, and also showed one of the girls a few things. They gave hugs and then we had to run.



Then I had lunch with 4 of the 5 members of the Regional Committee members. We talked about how the teams were going and also about how each team needed to take more responsibility for their finances. This lead to a discussion of different ways the teams could raise money locally like asking the players to contribute a small amount each practice, charging admissions to games, and asking local businesses for contributions. We also talked about how we can help players who show potential to get into programs that can help them possibly become professional players.

Our final trip that day was to the town of Ennery, the birthplace of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the “George Washington” of Haiti. There are four AFH teams there, and three of them showed up to have their pictures taken for identity cards. While they were waiting I had lots of time share my life story: The loss of my Father at age 11, how I started to play soccer, how I started Ambassadors Football Haiti, and how I was shot. Throughout the story I mixed in Bible verses and spiritual lessons. I also taught them a worship song I had translated from French to Creole. The words in English are “Jesus gives peace, Joy and love”. I had to change one word because the French work for “love” – “L’amour” sounds too much like “lamò” in creole which means “death” – it wouldn’t do for children to sing “Jesus gives death”!







So in one day I figure I spoke in Creole to about 180 of our players. Plus, I gave 200 nice evangelistic soccer booklets to the players on the team we played against. So I am praying that God’s Word will touch the hearts of all who heard me on this trip!

Haitian Hospitality

Haitian Hospitality

In many cultures, hospitality is highly valued and respected. This was definitely the case this weekend when Nesly Gustave invited me and my Haitian driver, Midi Osner to stay at their house for two nights while we visited the 16 Ambassadors teams in the Gonaives area.

You may remember that in 2008 and again in 2009, Gonaives was flooded and mud filled many houses up to 6 feet. This was the case with Nesly’s house, where you can still see the marks on the wall where the water rose. The water flooded so fast that they could not escape their house and were forced to sleep on the roof under driving rain for two days. The following day all they had to pay ten times the normal price for some crackers and water because the flood had carried away everything in the town.

Their house did stand in the flood, but it took them over 2 months to clean out all the mud and muck and let it dry out. Today the house has 2 small bedrooms, and a small living room which doubles as a bedroom. This is where my friend and I slept. It also has a storage room which serves as part of the kitchen, since most of the cooking is done outside. One nice new addition to the house since I last visited was a new cement-floored outhouse which doubles as place to take bucket-showers. It was clean and had a good ventilation system. The other wonderful thing was they had a new outdoor pump that provided good water for bathing. It was fun for me to learn how to pump water by hand while the children laughed, but I’m sure it gets old pumping water after a while!

All this supports a family of 10 children, with 4 still living at home. The rest are married and out of the house, and one lives in the US with his wife and child. Nesly’s mother told me she had 12 children, but her last one died as a baby, and another died around the time he was learning to walk. She proudly told me that all of them had attended school, but Nesly had gone the farthest and is studying to be a lawyer.

She told me that she came from a family of 12 children also, but now only five are still living, which makes sense since the life expectancy in Haiti is still under 50. She and her husband have been married for 24 years, and seem to have raised children who get along well together as adults and love each other. These are blessings that money cannot buy!

She was an excellent cook as well, and I can honestly say that I lacked nothing while there: food, drink, water, shelter and a clean bed with a mosquito net! The Bible tells us we should be content with these basics. It wasn’t the Hilton, but as Proverbs 17:1 says, “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.”

On Sunday morning Nesly’s Mom took her granddaughter to church hopefully introducing another generation to Christ and setting the foundation for another loving Haitian Christian home.

Haitian Children love stories!

Haitian Children love stories!

In the past few days I have had a chance to several stories about my life in Haiti and also that illustrate the Gospel to two groups of primary school children.

At one school, I told the story of a little boy who begged his Father to buy him a soccer ball. After a long time, the Father was able to sell a goat and buy the boy a soccer ball. The boy loved the ball and enjoyed many days of playing soccer with his friends. But one day, after playing a hard game, he was very tired and went to sleep next to a window with the ball lying on his chest. A thief took the ball while he was sleeping and when the boy woke up, he realized it had been stolen. A few days later, his mother asked him to go buy matches at a store and while walking down the street, he saw his soccer for sale in a store. He ran home and told his Father, but he said the only way to get the ball back was to buy it back. So the Father did this because he loved his son.

Then I told them the story of creation and how Satan tricked Adam and Eve into sinning and how they lost their beautiful garden home. (Just like the boy lost his soccer ball). Then I drew a parallel between how God send Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, just like the Father in the story bought back the soccer ball for his son.

At another school, I meet the 18 young players who make up our team and was able to tell them the story of how God preserved my life after I was shot, and also got to show them the bullet holes in my truck.

I challenged both of these groups to examine their hearts and make sure they have a relationship with God through Christ, because we never know when we are going to die!

A Surprise Visit!

A Surprise Visit!

One of the things I like about Haiti is that you never know who is going to show up at your door. The other day I had an appointment with Watneck, one of our long-time leaders. He told me he was coming with a few of his players who he was bringing into Port-au-Prince for tryouts with some first division professional teams.

Imagine my surprise when he shows up at my gate with 8 big, strapping (and hungry) players. At first I was a little overwhelmed by the numbers, However, my first thought was “What an opportunity this is to share Christ with these young men, and some life-experiences I have had that could help them as they launch their professional soccer career”!

So after I put on some water to boil for a big pot of spaghetti, I had them sit down and started to talk to them about how important it is to live a balanced life and not neglect our spiritual lives for the sake of soccer. I asked the 8 who had trusted in Christ, and only 3 out of the 8 said they had. So I had a chance to share the Gospel with the group using the testimonies of several Brazilian soccer players who are Christians. I also told them that you never know when you might die, and showed them my gun-shot wound. Then we talked about some of the trials they will face as professional athletes living among competitive players who will try anything to get ahead and win.

I decided to give each one of them a nice Leather-bound New Testament in Haitian Creole and as I handed out the first one, the young man named Jean Marie took the Bible and said “Merci”. Then I read Ephesians 2:8-9 and asked them what we have to do to receive God’s free gift of salvation. I reminded them of how Jean Marie had received the gift of the Bible. He took the Bible from me, and said “Thank you”. This is one very important thing to understand about receiving God’s free gifts. Of course I went on to talk about the importance of repentance, and asking forgiveness and many other concepts that are important to know in order to have a sincere, saving faith. But one essential is simply believing and receiving God’s good gifts.

Finally, I had them play a game. I handed them 5 Haitian bank notes and told them one of them was counterfeit. After they found the one that was false, I told them how police who are trained to detect counterfeit notes are not shown notes that are false, but only bank notes that genuine. Once they know what the genuine notes look like in detail, it is easy to spot false ones. In the same way I told them they need to study God’s Word so they know the truth so well, they will not easily be deceived by all the temptations a professional athlete might face.

Watneck then mentioned that his players had no equipment: no cleats, socks, shin guards, shorts, or jerseys. So I looked in my soccer depot to see what I could come up with. Imagine going to professional tryouts with no equipment! Of course professional athletes in Haiti are lucky to make enough to just support their immediate families, and the chances are pretty slim that many of these players will make it to the big leagues, but we want to do all we can to prepare them for life now, and after their careers are over.

I also helped him type up some letters he needed for a woman’s soccer tournament he wanted to do next week since March 8th is International Women’s Day.

I ended up spending most of the day with this group of young men who have so much potential, but who will struggle without a spiritual compass in their lives.

Update on Francois' brother

Today (Sunday, Feb 23, 2013)we invited Francois' brother (Tinor) to attend Calvary Chapel in Haiti with us. He came along with Francois' children because Francois had to work Sunday morning.

After church, we invited them all to our house for lunch, and while the children played, I had a Bible study with Tinor. He really soaked up the Word and seemed to understand many spiritual principles and doctrines.

Please continue to pray for his spiritual growth, and that he will be able to find a job.

Valentines banquet at Quisqueya Chapel

Carol and I were responsible for the decorations and set up of a couples banquet on Valentines day. It turned out to be a lot more work than we expected, and I (Rich) had a bad cold that day, but Carol had off from school because of "Carnaval", and so we made it through and actually looked pretty good by the time this picture was taken!



About 30 couples came and enjoyed music by a lovely soprano and accompanist, a Filet Mignon dinner, and flower-shaped cake for dessert! Child care was provided, so Mom and Dad could relax and enjoy a romantic night together!

A Surprising Discovery!

While in the US in January, my daughter Joy and I pulled out a box of old family pictures and started going through them. I found buried treasure when I came upon a portrait and letter from my Grandfather Panfil’s brother, John B. Panfil.

My Grandfather on my Mother’s side, was named Henry Panfil. He and his brother, John and sister, Stephanie E. (called by her middle name - Elsie), emigrated from Poland as children. Henry was evidently quite bright and one of his school teachers took a shine to him and sponsored his education all the way through law school at the University of Pennsylvania. (Later my Mother became one of the first (and youngest) women to graduate from U of PA’s law school as well, finishing in 1956 at the age of only 24)

As a Catholic Priest, John could never marry, but his sister never married either and became his housekeeper. So when his superiors asked him to go to Mosul, Iraq as a missionary around 1925, they went together.
The letter we found is date May 25, 1926. Here is what it said:

Dear Miss Stott,
We received your letter and are glad of hearing that you are in good health and that Henry has passed his examinations (His Bar exams to become a lawyer).

After our long voyage we finally arrived to Mosul and intend to stay here for a while. Mosul is not a pleasant place to live in. A dirty, dusty oriental city. Plenty of water, the river Tigris flows near the city but its waters are contaminated and muddy. Sand storms, sand flies and flies make your life miserable in Mosul.

Elsie wants to go back – she is very lonesome. Anyhow we intend to go to Persia this summer; it is cooler there.

I am working presently among the Assyrians; their church is the eldest one in Christendom. They have lost their country during the war and were massacred by the Turks and Kurds and are in need of the American help in order to exist. We are trying to revive their old church, their customs and their language.

We visited the other day “Sheiloh Ady” (Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir), temple of the Yazidies (Yazidi), worshippers of the devil! They represent him as a peacock and adore him in secret. God is good, they say we should not fear him; being good he cannot do any wrong to us - but the Devil has power over the world, we are afraid of him, we must respect him and beg him not to molest us. Some begin(believe) in it, anyhow!? And really they fear the devil. They never pronounce his name, “Shaitian” , (Shaytan(Satan)) – and a Christian who would dare to pronounce it is in their presence, is in danger of being killed! Even the words having the letters “Shait” are eliminated from their language! Poor people, detested, persecuted, exterminated by the Muslims and Christians alike, but still attached to their belief!

I am glad that Henry has a place as a lawyer; he has now and open road for success and I think he will succeed. How are the things in Philadelphia? How is the exposition? Write us all about Philadephia and send us occasionally, if you can, some Sunday paper – we have no literature here – and the news are only from the Arabic papers. I am preaching in Syriac already – it is a nice language – the language spoken by our Lord.

Greetings and regards to all our friends,

Sincerely yours,
John B. Panfil

Several things strike me about this letter:

1) My Grand Uncle was a missionary almost 90 years ago to a country the US the invaded after 9/11 and still occupies.

2) He left his comfortable life in Philadelphia and went to “A dirty, dusty oriental city” to comfort the Assyrian Church who was suffering, much like we have ended up leaving Philadelphia to serve the Haitian church and people, many who are still suffering the effects of the earthquake and grinding poverty.

3) His sister went with him to a male-dominated oriental culture. No wonder she was lonely!

4) The false religion he describes is basically the same as Haitian Voodoo: In Creole the name for “God” is “Bondye”, or “Good God”. God is good, and can’t harm us, so he can be ignored. Satan and his “loa” or demons are the ones you have to worry about!

5) He mentions the genocide of the Assyrians in which 750,000 people were forcibly removed from their homeland near Turkey to other surrounding countries, but most died during this “removal”. This genocide started on April 24, 1915. It included the slaughter of 1, 750,000 Aremnians, Among those who died were the grandparents of my Armenian step-Father, William Hadigian. His Father saw his whole family killed by the Turks and then as a teenager he was conscripted into the French Foreign Legion for a time before escaping and making his way to the US on a boat.

6) The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) reached a consensus that "the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Genocide


Because John B. Panfil’s story was so fascinating, I started to look up his name on the internet, and what did I find! His name is associated with 2 photos on the internet. One of his house, and another of a young man in a kayak-like boat on the Tigris river.
In addition, I found him and his sister’s names in the 1920 and 1940 census, as well as the passenger list of several passenger liners. In addition, I found his name in several newspapers from Syracuse, NY where he spent the rest of his life after returning from Iraq (possibly in 1934).









As Hebrews 12: 1-3 says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame,and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Rev. John B. Panfil and his sister Elsie, are two of the witnesses that surround us here in Haiti, and set a great example for us to follow!

So far so good...

Thanks for praying for our friend's brother. So far he really seems to be serious. He's staying away from the Carnaval partying and this morning he met with a Haitian man who is a good discipler and also with Richard. He has been to school when he was younger at least a bit, but he says he can't really read. He has knowledge of some Christian concepts, but we don't know how much. Please keep praying for him and for his former girlfriend.

Mardi Gras

It's been a quiet Carnaval Week so far in Lake Wobe Port-au-Prince. The government decided that the main Carnaval (Mardi Gras) celebrations this year should be in Cape Haitien in the north. I think this is part of the decentralization of the country which is a good thing. We like it.

It's interesting to see how a former performer in Carnaval/Mardi Gras governs the celebrations now that he is President of the country. He used to use his platform to criticize former government leaders, but this year when other performers prepared impersonators to mimic "Tet Kale" (could I translate that Old Baldy??? -it's the friendly nickname that he goes by ever since his campaign) They did have plans to criticize him for campaign promises that he made and in their minds has not fulfilled. But he put the kabash on that--those performers' floats were not allowed in the big parade in Cape Haitian.

Of course, he himself, did sing on a float in the parade. I already saw a video of it online. But instead of being surrounded by saxophone & guitar players, he was surrounded by body guards with big guns. (This made Richard think of a former president of ours who used to pick up a saxophone to entertain us once in a while.)

Rumor has it that his son who is starting out as a Jazz performer was told not to behave in certain ways that some think are just like what the President did when he was "Sweet Mickey." They say the son did not comply and was sent away to another country, so we will not be seeing him perform this Carnaval.

OK Enough about rumors and politics--I promise, you won't be seeing any more of that on this blog for a long time.

More on ministry will be forthcoming.
Signing off from home where I sit because I get off from school for Mardi Gras,
Carol

"I need a new way"

Please pray for the brother of a friend who said "Mwen bezwen yon lot fason" (I need a new way) He threw away his cigarette and dumped out his "kleren" (a type of whiskey) and said he wanted to accept Jesus and have good friends. That was Friday night. He said he wanted to go to church, so his sister told him to cut his hair. But he said he was born with his hair, so he'd keep as it was, but he said he wouldn't wear his pants down low. He asked his sister to iron a shirt and pants for him to wear to church. When he put them on and looked at himself, he had doubts. He thought he didn't look good enough, but his sister encouraged him to go anyway. He was going to go to the Calvary Chapel here, but he was ready early and didn't want to wait until 8:00 when their first service starts, so he went to another church. Our friend said that he stayed home today instead of partying for Carnaval. We're excited about this. We told her that it might be good for him to come and talk to Richard and to try to have him get together with one of the leaders at Calvary Chapel.

Please be praying for him.
thanks,
Carol

Small miracles add up to big blessings!

Every day God does small miracles in our lives, but we have to be watching for them to appreciate how special they are.

James 1:17 (NIV) says: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Here are some of God's perfect gifts he gave me on my visit to the US:

1) I forgot my soccer shoes, but the host family I was staying with in Ohio "happened" to have a pair of almost-new Adidas flats that were just my size! So I was able to play three times while in Ohio!

2) I preached at a church one Sunday and mentioned an amount of money that I needed for a particular project. A woman came up to me after church and said a friend of hers had given her that exact amount of money to give to a charity and so she wrote me a check for the exact amount I needed!

3) My daughter Joy invited me to attend a Philadelphia Orchestra concert featuring Beethoven's 5th symphony at the beautiful Kimmel Center in down-town Philadelphia. I had never been to the Kimmel center so this was a special treat.

I was running late so Joy called me and told me they shut the doors at 7 PM and don't let people in after that. I parked at the first parking garage I saw, which happened to have free "valet" parking. I ran through the streets of Philadelphia like a madman and burst through the door of the Kimmel center where I practically ran over my lovely daughter and her friend who were waiting for me. We hurried up the three flights of stairs and got to the row of seats on my ticket. Three people got up when I showed them my ticket. Joy's friend had a student ticket with no seat number, but I had an adult ticket and Joy also had just purchased a ticket at the box-office at the last minute. When we looked at Joy's ticket, it turned out to me right next to mine, with a vacant seat for her friend on the other side!!! So we got to sit together.

Afterwards, none of us had eaten dinner, but one of the local hotels was offering free "tapas" after the concert. So we went their afterwards and got free food!

4) I saw a friend who I hadn't seen in a long time pop up on Skype. Last time I had talked to him he was doing a graduate degree in Arkansas. I start talking to him and it turns out that he and his wife now live in Philadelphia where she is doing post-graduate work in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. I studied Anthropology at the U of PA back from 1977-1981! He also told me that he was helping people save money on their utility bills, which was the business I had worked in before heading to Haiti in 1998. So I felt I had to go and visit them. It turned out they lived only minutes away from the Kimmel center, so I was able to stay overnight at their house after the Orchestra concert! The next morning I was able to help them out by watching their 5 month old son for a while so they could run an errand. I even remembered how to change a diaper!

The necessity of forgiveness

The necessity of forgiveness

Ambassadors in Sport bi-annual Leadership Summit

About 40 leaders from about 22 countries met this past week to share best practices and discuss our common vision to help evangelize the world through soccer. According to the internet, there are 196 countries, so we are now present in more than 10% of the countries of the world!
One of the leaders works with inner-city children in Pittsburgh, PA. It turns out that Pittsburgh is only about 2 hours from Twinsburg, OH, so when he learned about some of my adventures in Haiti, he asked me if I would like to come and talk to his teams.

On Wednesday morning I sent out an email to my prayer supporters asking for prayer for the Leadership summit and I also mentioned that I would be in Pittsburgh that night.

It turned out that one of my long-time supporters was also going to be in Pittsburgh that night, so throughout the day we communicated.

So on Wednesday night, we drove in very cold weather, to Pittsburgh and arrived at Northgate church in time to participate in a “soccer 4-square” tournament. I jumped right into the game with the teens while Lenny, my host, prepared for the meeting. Lenny told me that he has been doing soccer ministry in two locations in Pittsburgh for many years, and then a few years ago he learned about AIS and started to partner with them. This was the first Leadership conference Lenny had attended and it just so happened that he sat next to me! Now I was on my way to Pittsburgh to share with his players.

Since I could not show pictures of the ministry in Haiti, I had the children sit down and come close so I could tell them stories of Africa and Haiti. It turned out that many of the teens were from African countries, while others were from Thailand, Iran and Colombia.

I started out by telling the 50 or so children the story of a young man I met in South African prison who had kidnapped and killed a popular South African entertainer. Through the Ambassadors in Sport soccer ministry in his prison, he had trusted in Christ and asked forgiveness. Then I told them the story of how I was shot by a robber in Haiti. Some of the prisoners in the South African prison had shot people, and I was able to tell them that through Jesus, they could be forgiven.

After I told them I had been shot, one of the older boys asked me what I would say to the man who shot me if I had the chance. I said I would tell him I would forgive him because Christ had forgiven me. This lead into a discussion on forgiveness where I reminded the children what it says in the Lord’s prayer: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others”

Later I learned that many of the children were dealing with anger and unforgiveness. One girl said “I never realized that God asks us to forgive others in the Lord’s prayer.” Another was very angry with his Father for certain things done in the past.
So I rejoice that God guided me to speak about a topic that touched the hearts of so many children.

Then I had the opportunity to go upstairs and share our ministry with adults who were there for the Wednesday night prayer meeting. These dear believers asked lots of good questions and then prayed for me and the ministry.

Then I went back down to tell the children a quick story about the earthquake in Haiti and challenge them to trust in Christ.

Later that night we went to see my friend at the house of his best friend who is a Pastor. It turns out that part of the church’s outreach is a bookstore. When I showed he and his wife the jewelry that Francoise makes from cereal boxes they purchased $135.00 worth to sell in their store!

Needless to say, I left Pittsburgh at 6 AM the next morning rejoicing in what God had done during my short visit!

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake. Many churches are holding fasts and there are other events going on to commemorate the dead and pray for the living.
Yesterday by chance, we had a mini-reunion with two families that lived with us for a while after the earthquake: Francoise Duverger, a single Mom with the young children under the age of 10, and Venita and her husband Bejanot.
Francoise is our friend who makes the lovely beaded jewelry we sometimes sell when we are in the US. Yesterday she was sad for many reasons. Her mother was in the hospital recovering from an operation, and a goat she had purchased as an investment died suddenly. What made matters worse was that the goat was just about to deliver two kids. Someone said they saw someone beating the goat a few days ago, and this could have caused internal bleeding. The goat represented a significant investment. For a woman who only makes about $800 a year, the goat cost $50 and she had offers of people who wanted to buy the kid-goats.
On top of that, Francoise is the only one in her family that has a somewhat steady source of income, so her family kept calling her all week to pay for an operation that her mother needed. When she couldn’t reach her relatives on the phone to send money to them, she was even ready to take a day off work and deliver the money herself. But I was able to reach a friend who lived near her family village, and he, through much effort, was able to deliver the money for the operation to her mother.
You may wonder why none of her relatives has a bank account where she could send the money, but to get a bank account, you have to have identification of some kind. Many do not even have a birth certificate, and then it costs money to get a government ID card.
Francoise’s sister is also in the same hospital as her mother waiting to give birth to her first child. As in most developing countries, childbirth is a leading cause of death and Francoise is concerned about her sister’s first birth experience.
All these factors reduced Francoise to tears yesterday afternoon with her three children and sister-in-law standing around her. I urged her to eat and gave her some Tylenol and she seemed a little better when she left.
It is hard being a single mother in any culture, but in Haiti with all of its daily challenges sometimes it is overwhelming.
Since the earthquake Venita and her husband Bejanot have had their marital struggles. Bejanot often does not come home at night because he says it’s hard to face his now 4 children with nothing to give them to eat. Since the earthquake he has not been able to find steady employment. They also had another child in July of this year named Esther. She is a healthy baby, thank God, and is healthy.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, I was able to give them about $100 to start a small business selling cold drinks. I was able to lend them a cooler as well. Please pray that the business goes well and Bejanot can start supporting his family. Bejanot will be mentored by another friend who went through my business training program a few years ago, and who I also gave some money to start a business that is going well.
Another couple we helped after the earthquake is Isidor and Johann. You may remember that their 8 week old son died in the earthquake. Now they have a new son who is about 6 months old. We had them over before Christmas and they are doing well.
So as we reflect on the day that changed everyone’s life in Haiti 3 years ago, we are thankful for you, our supporters, who allow us to walk in the good works God has prepared for us to walk in here in Haiti.