Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Miracle by the Airport
We have been trying to get 5 boxes of soccer equipment out of the airport customs office since last August. We had the stuff air-shipped to Haiti special so we could give out uniforms for our summer soccer tournament in Leogane which was held from Aug 8 to Aug 20th.
We partnered with the Haitian Soccer Federation for this tournament and asked them to help us get these uniforms out of customs duty-free since they are a tax-exempt organization in Haiti.
We thought this was something they do all the time since the Haitian National teams need to import equipment all the time. But it was now December 15th and the stuff was still stuck in customs.
So after two failed attempts to go through the Federation, we decided we had to take matters into our own hands and plead our case with the Director of Customs.
So this morning (12/15) we went to the customs office with a letter requesting a meeting with the Director of Customs. We were just going to drop off the letter and hope that he would honor our request to speak with him 2 days later. But when we arrived at his secretary's office, there he was, signing some papers!
He overheard our tale of woe and stoped and looked at our paperwork. His first reaction was that he could not reduce the fees. But then his secretary piped up and pleaded our case. He waved his hand and told us to start the paperwork and come back to his office!
So we got the paperwork typed up and then went to verify that the stuff was still there after all these months, and it was.
Tomorrow we will find out how much they will charge - so keep praying!!
To be continued...
We partnered with the Haitian Soccer Federation for this tournament and asked them to help us get these uniforms out of customs duty-free since they are a tax-exempt organization in Haiti.
We thought this was something they do all the time since the Haitian National teams need to import equipment all the time. But it was now December 15th and the stuff was still stuck in customs.
So after two failed attempts to go through the Federation, we decided we had to take matters into our own hands and plead our case with the Director of Customs.
So this morning (12/15) we went to the customs office with a letter requesting a meeting with the Director of Customs. We were just going to drop off the letter and hope that he would honor our request to speak with him 2 days later. But when we arrived at his secretary's office, there he was, signing some papers!
He overheard our tale of woe and stoped and looked at our paperwork. His first reaction was that he could not reduce the fees. But then his secretary piped up and pleaded our case. He waved his hand and told us to start the paperwork and come back to his office!
So we got the paperwork typed up and then went to verify that the stuff was still there after all these months, and it was.
Tomorrow we will find out how much they will charge - so keep praying!!
To be continued...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
A SOCCER TEAM AT A CHURCH?
On a bright Sunday morning I walked into a church in Borel, in the Artibonite Valley and what did I find? Eighty boys and girls in soccer uniforms sitting quietly in the pews being encouraged in spiritual things by local community leaders and church leaders. I had gotten up at 5 AM to drive the 2 and ½ hours from Port-au-Prince to Borel with two of my other leaders-in-training: Ronald William who is on the AIS Haiti board, and Lucasse Henrilus, a former Lemuel player who works in the AIS office and helps me out when I travel. We arrived just as the service was starting.
The president of AIS Haiti's local committee, Wattnec Milfort is also an elder in this church and started a community soccer school as a way of reaching kids in the area with the Gospel. He has been coaching kids for a long time and two of his players have played on Haiti's national teams. His team was in the final of a soccer tournament he had organized that afternoon, and he wanted the church to encourage his players emotionally and spiritually before the game. And did they ever!
Some of the youth sang a song they wrote that said: “Jesus is happy when we pray. His grace is sufficient. Depend on Jesus. Be strong and of good courage.” Another song had a verse that said “Run straight towards the goal”.
I was asked to say a few words and used 1 Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink of whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” to encourage them to play for God's glory that afternoon. I also shared with them a dream I have of Haiti someday sending some soccer players to Senegal to help the youth of Senegal come to know Jesus through soccer outreaches.
Wattnec's younger brother gave the sermon appropriately based on 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, in purity.” He used the example of Maradonna, the famous Argentinian player who got in trouble with drugs to show how we can either be a good example or a bad example to others.
The team must have taken the good counsel to heart because they played well and did not let their emotions get the best of them, even when they lost in a penalty shoot-out. Sometimes we learn more spiritually when we lose than when we win!
But in the end, God was glorified because 17 people indicated they trusted Christ through the evangelism that was done at half-time of the match!!
Tig se Tig (A Tiger is a Tiger)
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The Haitian proverb above means that a son is just like his father. We would say “The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.”
As I have become like a Father to many of my Haitian leaders, it gives me great joy when, on their own, they begin to put into practice the things they have learned from us.
Recently we had the privilege of being invited to attend the final game of a week-long U-15 tournament in the Artibonite valley. As you may recall, this is the area where we started a pilot project last year and started soccer teams at eight UEBH Christian schools.
Wattnec Milfort, the president of the local committee we organized to work with these eight schools has enthusiastically embraced our strategy of using soccer to share the Gospel with young Haitians throughout the Artibonite valley. In fact, on his own, he organized a tournament and just asked us to help him with the evangelism at the final game.
Wattnec raised the funds, motivated the teams to participate, hired the referees, and did everything make the tournament a success, both physically and spiritually. He also did not do it alone. Following what we taught him about the importance of forming a committee and delegating responsibilities, he called upon several other members of the local committee that we had trained to help him.
The soccer results were that his team made it to the final game and lost in a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out.
The spiritual results were that 270 people filled out response cards, 17 people indicated they trusted Christ, 55 asked for more information before trusting Christ, 51 were already Christians, 59 said they would like to be involved in a Bible study, and 46 asked for prayer.
In addition, we gave out 3 Bibles as prizes and over 300 tracts to the spectators. PTL!!
As I have become like a Father to many of my Haitian leaders, it gives me great joy when, on their own, they begin to put into practice the things they have learned from us.
Recently we had the privilege of being invited to attend the final game of a week-long U-15 tournament in the Artibonite valley. As you may recall, this is the area where we started a pilot project last year and started soccer teams at eight UEBH Christian schools.
Wattnec Milfort, the president of the local committee we organized to work with these eight schools has enthusiastically embraced our strategy of using soccer to share the Gospel with young Haitians throughout the Artibonite valley. In fact, on his own, he organized a tournament and just asked us to help him with the evangelism at the final game.
Wattnec raised the funds, motivated the teams to participate, hired the referees, and did everything make the tournament a success, both physically and spiritually. He also did not do it alone. Following what we taught him about the importance of forming a committee and delegating responsibilities, he called upon several other members of the local committee that we had trained to help him.
The soccer results were that his team made it to the final game and lost in a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out.
The spiritual results were that 270 people filled out response cards, 17 people indicated they trusted Christ, 55 asked for more information before trusting Christ, 51 were already Christians, 59 said they would like to be involved in a Bible study, and 46 asked for prayer.
In addition, we gave out 3 Bibles as prizes and over 300 tracts to the spectators. PTL!!
Report on Business Training Seminar
Program:
Thirty-one Haitians between the ages of 18 and 35 attended nine days of entrepreneurial training (Oct. 15-25, 2008) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti made possible through Jèn@biz – 2008, the first annual business development program of the Haitian chapter of Young Americas Business Trust (YABT – Haiti). Twenty percent of the group was female and the rest were male. The participants, from a variety of backgrounds and business experience, shared sessions and group activities where they learned how to do market studies, financial planning and management techniques to help their businesses succeed.
Strategic Objectives:
Capacity-building
Personal and financial disciplines needed to succeed in business
Environmental scanning to identify feasible business opportunities
Organizational leadership to develop teamwork and project management
Entrepreneurship
How to write a business plan
Field research
Marketing their product or service
How to fund their business
Curriculum:
During the first four days of training, leaders and guest speakers provided an overview of business plan development. In the second week, more in-depth sessions were provided in the areas of marketing, production, internet research, management, finances, and the use of information technology in business development.
Throughout the program, an analogy of a tree to the process of business development was unveiled. The seed was compared to the business idea. The soil, the local environment. The need for sunshine was the need for financial capital, while the need for rain was like the need for good personnel. Just as it takes a long time for a tree to grow from a tiny seed, it takes time for a business to develop strong roots and bear fruit. The fruit then attracts birds, which were compared to customers who then go out and spread the word to others if the business is offering a good and attractive product or service.
Activities:
The delegates participated in many small-group activities throughout the training. In one activity, they examined the decisions made by business owners that lead to the gain, loss, and regain of a client’s trust. In groups of ten, each participant acted as a customer at a cyber café. Upon describing a strong reason that a customer places trust in the products and services of the business, participants passed a card representing their level of trust to the “owner” of the café. Each activity was followed by planned group discussions.
During the second week, participants were also required to perform field research each afternoon, exploring their respective target markets, competitors, opportunities, and challenges for their businesses.
Each participant wrote a business plan, complete with financial projections. For the final day of training, many participants prepared a display that highlighted their business plans. Ten participants chose to exhibit their business plan to the group in formal five-minute presentations.
Representatives from two local microcredit institutions gave sessions on their systems of providing financing for small businesses and fielded many questions. In addition, an entrepreneur from Haitian Partners in Christian Development's Business Incubator told the story of how he started his business.
Outcomes:
After nine days of training, most of the 31 participants handed in a business plan to the board of YABT – Haiti. Of the 31, we expect five to ten entrepreneurs will find funding and then we will mentor them for a year as they birth their business ideas into reality. Monthly training will continue for all participants.
The Story of Obias Exilus:
“There are many opportunities, but not enough services. People’s needs are not met.,” says Obias Exilus, owner of Design Plus, an informal printing services business. “It seems that businesspeople are not thinking right. We need more assessments of each area—to do deeper surveys to evaluate the real needs of the areas.”
Exilus was one of 30 participants in the recent entrepreneurship training program, Jèn@biz – 2008, held in Port-au-Prince for nine days. He entered the training with a hope to start Design Plus (a cybercafe and desktop publishing business), and, from the training, walked away with a better understanding of both the challenges and opportunities he holds as an entrepreneur.
“The biggest challenge is the energy problem because of the present price of gasoline used to fuel a generator for a café,” says Exilus. “Instead, we have to be equipped with an invertor or solar panels which takes a lot of money.”
In response to the challenges, Exilus has specific goals to make his business grow. In particular, he recognizes a budding target market which he believes Design Plus is able to meet. “I want to expand it to a cyber café,” says Exilus, “because we have a lot of students in the area who really need a place to do research and complete assignments.”
“Basically, I am learning what to do, what not to do, how to attract people to my...business, and how to increase production,” says Exilus after his experience in Jèn@biz - 2008. “I will get a profit which will help me sustain the business, and have a profit for the employees and myself.”
Acknowledgments:
YABT Haiti thanks the following individuals and organizations for their support of this project:
A Major donor from the US who funded the training
Haititec who provided 8 days use of their conference room for free
Dr. Leslie Jules and the Center for Specilaized Leadership for use of his curriculum.
Eagle Market, One Stop Market and Megamart who contributed drinks
Sogesol and Lumisec, two financial institutions who made presentations, reviewed the business plans and will finance several of the start ups.
The YABT Haiti board and teaching staff
TeleNational who filmed interviews and student presentations at the closing program.
Haitian Partners in Christian Development
AACH who handled the finances
Thirty-one Haitians between the ages of 18 and 35 attended nine days of entrepreneurial training (Oct. 15-25, 2008) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti made possible through Jèn@biz – 2008, the first annual business development program of the Haitian chapter of Young Americas Business Trust (YABT – Haiti). Twenty percent of the group was female and the rest were male. The participants, from a variety of backgrounds and business experience, shared sessions and group activities where they learned how to do market studies, financial planning and management techniques to help their businesses succeed.
Strategic Objectives:
Capacity-building
Personal and financial disciplines needed to succeed in business
Environmental scanning to identify feasible business opportunities
Organizational leadership to develop teamwork and project management
Entrepreneurship
How to write a business plan
Field research
Marketing their product or service
How to fund their business
Curriculum:
During the first four days of training, leaders and guest speakers provided an overview of business plan development. In the second week, more in-depth sessions were provided in the areas of marketing, production, internet research, management, finances, and the use of information technology in business development.
Throughout the program, an analogy of a tree to the process of business development was unveiled. The seed was compared to the business idea. The soil, the local environment. The need for sunshine was the need for financial capital, while the need for rain was like the need for good personnel. Just as it takes a long time for a tree to grow from a tiny seed, it takes time for a business to develop strong roots and bear fruit. The fruit then attracts birds, which were compared to customers who then go out and spread the word to others if the business is offering a good and attractive product or service.
Activities:
The delegates participated in many small-group activities throughout the training. In one activity, they examined the decisions made by business owners that lead to the gain, loss, and regain of a client’s trust. In groups of ten, each participant acted as a customer at a cyber café. Upon describing a strong reason that a customer places trust in the products and services of the business, participants passed a card representing their level of trust to the “owner” of the café. Each activity was followed by planned group discussions.
During the second week, participants were also required to perform field research each afternoon, exploring their respective target markets, competitors, opportunities, and challenges for their businesses.
Each participant wrote a business plan, complete with financial projections. For the final day of training, many participants prepared a display that highlighted their business plans. Ten participants chose to exhibit their business plan to the group in formal five-minute presentations.
Representatives from two local microcredit institutions gave sessions on their systems of providing financing for small businesses and fielded many questions. In addition, an entrepreneur from Haitian Partners in Christian Development's Business Incubator told the story of how he started his business.
Outcomes:
After nine days of training, most of the 31 participants handed in a business plan to the board of YABT – Haiti. Of the 31, we expect five to ten entrepreneurs will find funding and then we will mentor them for a year as they birth their business ideas into reality. Monthly training will continue for all participants.
The Story of Obias Exilus:
“There are many opportunities, but not enough services. People’s needs are not met.,” says Obias Exilus, owner of Design Plus, an informal printing services business. “It seems that businesspeople are not thinking right. We need more assessments of each area—to do deeper surveys to evaluate the real needs of the areas.”
Exilus was one of 30 participants in the recent entrepreneurship training program, Jèn@biz – 2008, held in Port-au-Prince for nine days. He entered the training with a hope to start Design Plus (a cybercafe and desktop publishing business), and, from the training, walked away with a better understanding of both the challenges and opportunities he holds as an entrepreneur.
“The biggest challenge is the energy problem because of the present price of gasoline used to fuel a generator for a café,” says Exilus. “Instead, we have to be equipped with an invertor or solar panels which takes a lot of money.”
In response to the challenges, Exilus has specific goals to make his business grow. In particular, he recognizes a budding target market which he believes Design Plus is able to meet. “I want to expand it to a cyber café,” says Exilus, “because we have a lot of students in the area who really need a place to do research and complete assignments.”
“Basically, I am learning what to do, what not to do, how to attract people to my...business, and how to increase production,” says Exilus after his experience in Jèn@biz - 2008. “I will get a profit which will help me sustain the business, and have a profit for the employees and myself.”
Acknowledgments:
YABT Haiti thanks the following individuals and organizations for their support of this project:
A Major donor from the US who funded the training
Haititec who provided 8 days use of their conference room for free
Dr. Leslie Jules and the Center for Specilaized Leadership for use of his curriculum.
Eagle Market, One Stop Market and Megamart who contributed drinks
Sogesol and Lumisec, two financial institutions who made presentations, reviewed the business plans and will finance several of the start ups.
The YABT Haiti board and teaching staff
TeleNational who filmed interviews and student presentations at the closing program.
Haitian Partners in Christian Development
AACH who handled the finances
Saturday, November 8, 2008
School collapse
Pray for the families of those killed and injured in the school collapse that happened yesterday in Petion Ville (near Port-au-Prince). There also may still be some people trapped under the rubble.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Prayer - Margaret's Mom - breast cancer
Margaret works for us 4 days a week doing all kinds of things around the house. She is a good Christian and has faithfully worked for us for from the time we arrived in Haiti. Margaret's mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Please pray for them.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The big Surprise!
Jim and Bob, from Bible Fellowship brought us a big surprise...what Ricky has been dreaming of...an electric guitar!
Right away, he tried playing with Joy on her acoustic. Joy and Richard had to try it too.
Now he's practicing a song to do with the praise band for our school chapel next week. He's a beginner, but he might be able to do that because God has given him a real talent for music.
We are so thankful to Bible Fellowship and especially Jim Compton and Bob Spicer.
Help for Hurricane Victims
Last week I posted about helping the hurricane victims and my director pointed out in a comment that our own mission, CrossWorld, has a relief project for Haiti. They have already disbursed $17,000 to provide aid and will continue to collect and distribute funds. If you would like to help with that, please check out http://www.crossworld.org/.
(I thought that once I "published" the comment, people would see it, but you actually have to click where it says "comment" below my post, so I thought another post would be a good idea.
(I thought that once I "published" the comment, people would see it, but you actually have to click where it says "comment" below my post, so I thought another post would be a good idea.
Monday, September 22, 2008
An encouraging visit from members of Bible Fellowship
We were very encouraged by a visit from Jim Compton and Bob Spicer of Bible Fellowship Church this past weekend. They both left their jobs and their families for 5 days to come and learn more about our work here and plan a future visit from a larger team from Bible Fellowship.
We could not travel to central Haiti as we had hoped to because the bridge connecting the north of Haiti to the south was destroyed by the hurricanes and has not yet been rebuilt.
So we showed them around Port-au-Prince and visited Ft. Jacques where we held a soccer tournament this summer.
On Saturday morning we had a meeting with the Executive Committee of AIS Haiti and invited one of our leaders from Verettes to come and explain the needs of one of the schools there. We are thinking this is where we will bring a team early in 2009.
While they were hear they helped us fix up the house of one of our church members that got flooded from the hurricanes. They even donated enough money to put a new roof on it so that they don't get soaked from the next storm.
Of course we talked a lot about our plans for the year and how we hope God will use us. The biggest projects we have in the next 12 months revolve around training:
Training of young entrepreneurs in how to write a business plan, get financing and start a small business with Young Americas Business Trust - Haiti (YABT-Haiti) for short.(Oct. 15-25, 2008)
TREC 2008-2009 with Ambassadors in Sport: This will train our Haitian leaders how to train other Haitians in Sports Ministry. (Dec. 26, 2008 to Jan 4, 2009
AIS Haiti leadership Training: During this training the Haitian leaders we trained in TREC will train other Haitians in how to start their own sports ministries in their schools and churches.
We were overwhelmed by their interest and desire to help and encourage us in our ministry and look forward to when the entire team from Bible Fellowship will come alongside us for a week of ministry in 2009.
We could not travel to central Haiti as we had hoped to because the bridge connecting the north of Haiti to the south was destroyed by the hurricanes and has not yet been rebuilt.
So we showed them around Port-au-Prince and visited Ft. Jacques where we held a soccer tournament this summer.
On Saturday morning we had a meeting with the Executive Committee of AIS Haiti and invited one of our leaders from Verettes to come and explain the needs of one of the schools there. We are thinking this is where we will bring a team early in 2009.
While they were hear they helped us fix up the house of one of our church members that got flooded from the hurricanes. They even donated enough money to put a new roof on it so that they don't get soaked from the next storm.
Of course we talked a lot about our plans for the year and how we hope God will use us. The biggest projects we have in the next 12 months revolve around training:
Training of young entrepreneurs in how to write a business plan, get financing and start a small business with Young Americas Business Trust - Haiti (YABT-Haiti) for short.(Oct. 15-25, 2008)
TREC 2008-2009 with Ambassadors in Sport: This will train our Haitian leaders how to train other Haitians in Sports Ministry. (Dec. 26, 2008 to Jan 4, 2009
AIS Haiti leadership Training: During this training the Haitian leaders we trained in TREC will train other Haitians in how to start their own sports ministries in their schools and churches.
We were overwhelmed by their interest and desire to help and encourage us in our ministry and look forward to when the entire team from Bible Fellowship will come alongside us for a week of ministry in 2009.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Anybody thinkin "How can I help Haiti?"
If you're seeing sad pictures of the aftermath of the recent 4 hurricanes that hit Haiti and wonderin how you can help, there are several ways.
1. Of course, pray. Please. There are neat stories going around of how God is providing for victims of these hurricanes. Like 27 orphns and orphanage workers whose orphange and school were washed away. I talked to Sherry, a missionary teacher (but not at QCS) yesterday at Quisqueya Chapel and she breifly mentioned how she would be receiving these 27 that afternoon even though she never expected to have an orphanage...God provided the building and bit by bit God is providing what these children need.
2. Get online or call Christian missions and ask if you can serve in Haiti helping with the relief efforts.
3. if you go to wwww.unjobs.org you can find jobs that are available with organization related to the UN who are organizing and carrying out relief. Most of the ones listed there are high level jobs, but it may be worth checking out if you are availble for an assignment of 3 months, 6 months or longer.
4. There are a lot of organizations collecting money to help the victims.
1. Of course, pray. Please. There are neat stories going around of how God is providing for victims of these hurricanes. Like 27 orphns and orphanage workers whose orphange and school were washed away. I talked to Sherry, a missionary teacher (but not at QCS) yesterday at Quisqueya Chapel and she breifly mentioned how she would be receiving these 27 that afternoon even though she never expected to have an orphanage...God provided the building and bit by bit God is providing what these children need.
2. Get online or call Christian missions and ask if you can serve in Haiti helping with the relief efforts.
3. if you go to wwww.unjobs.org you can find jobs that are available with organization related to the UN who are organizing and carrying out relief. Most of the ones listed there are high level jobs, but it may be worth checking out if you are availble for an assignment of 3 months, 6 months or longer.
4. There are a lot of organizations collecting money to help the victims.
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
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
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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
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
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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!
Monday, August 4, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, August 1, 2008
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.
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!
Monday, July 14, 2008
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.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
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!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
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
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
Friday, June 13, 2008
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!
Thank you Andrew, Connie and Andrew!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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.
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
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
Sunday, May 4, 2008
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.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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.
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!!
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!!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
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
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
Friday, April 18, 2008
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!!
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!!
Monday, April 14, 2008
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....
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
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
"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
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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
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
Friday, March 21, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
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.
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.
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