Update on the trip up north

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

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

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

thanks,
Carol

All Packed and Ready to Go!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soccer Convention scores a goal!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Financial Seminar hits a nerve

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

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

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

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

Helping the English-speaking community get their finances in order

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

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

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

AIS Haiti helps sponsor a youth soccer convention!

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

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

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

Phiseline 14 yrs old

Kensia 14 yrs old

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

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

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

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

Update after a full weekend --mostly good

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First day of School for Kids in Haiti!

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

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

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

Adding 10 new teams to the Gonaives Region

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

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

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

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

One Happy Hog!

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

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

Birthday Boy

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

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

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

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