The Lord gives and the Lord takes away

Praise the Lord for the safe delivery of Shirley's baby boy. He was born Saturday on the way (!) to the hospital. I haven't heard the details yet. They have said that they want to give the baby up for adoption, but so far they haven't gotten through on the phone to the orphanages we told them about. I wonder how they feel now that the baby is here? Shirley is staying with Samuel's Mom for now.

Late that night, Ecdes' (our helper who lives on our property) sister died. She was very sick (I think I asked you to pray). She lived out in the country with Ecdes' parents, about 5 hours awaay. They had been told a few weeks ago by the doctors that they didn't know what was wrong with her. He was very sad, of course, and he went out there to be with is family for a while.

Training Trip to Leogane

Tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 11, 2009) we are going to Leogane just outside of Port-au-Prince to train the leaders of 9 teams how to start an evangelistic soccer ministry at their schools. On Friday afternoon we work with the coaches, stay overnight and then all-day Saturday we teach the administrators, chaplains and coaches the basics of starting a team. On Sunday we meet with the regional committee and prepare them to follow up on the training.

Please pray for us and those we will train this weekend! Thanks!

Update on Trip to Verrettes

Sorry we haven't posted about the things you've been praying for...we've been having problems with our internet. So, for now, here's a quick update on Richard's trip to Verrettes.

The trip went well--no problems with travel. 4 young people and 1 adult trusted Christ, even though sharing the gospel was not the objective of the trip.

There was a special training session for the team administrators.

Everyone who was trained seemed to appreciate the new curriculum and we're praying that many players will learn how to better deal with conflict in their lives. Most of the team chaplains will be starting this training right away.

Thank you again for your prayers!