International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2012

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To bring attention to the needs of Disabled Haitians, the National Amputee Soccer Team played in front of a good crowd at the national stadium, and also was televised on National Television on Monday, Dec. 3rd.

To the add to the festivities, they marched down the main street and into the stadium with a banner in front of the teams: each from a different part of Port-au-Prince.

Ronald William,one of our AIS staff members, was asked to referee the game. There were lots of journalists there and the organizing committee was all dressed up.

USAID financed the match and even gave a cash prize to the winners. Of course the team we work with won!

So just remember we are all God's children, no matter who we are: Col. 3:11: "Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all."

Also remember we all have "disabilities" Some are physical, others are mental, and some are sinful habits. But that is why Christ came: Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rich Recovers from Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever is a mosquito-borne virus that is also known as "Break-bone" fever because of the way it makes you feel. Your whole body is sore and this time around I had excruciating back pain that often kept me up at night, along with a fever.

There is no treatment for Dengue fever, which has 4 types. At this point I have had two of the four types and am not looking forward to experiencing the other two types! Usually when you get one type you have life-long immunity to that type.

Although there is a blood test for Dengue, it is not really worth the expense because there is no treatment. It was confirmed in me by my itchy palms, which is a symptom that appears at the end of the virus cycle.

Thanks to all who prayed for my recovery!

US Embassy vs. Amputee soccer team

A few weeks ago the soccer team of the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince played the Haitian national Amputee soccer team.

I took some friends who were visiting Haiti with Servants of Haiti and they really enjoyed watching the teams play.

December 3rd is international day of persons with Disabilities so the team will play a special game at the National Stadium.

Oh how we miss Ricky!

This writing on the back of a car we followed in Haiti says "What's up, Ricky?" Naturally we thought of our son, who is in Florida attending College.

We are looking forward to seeing him over Christmas!

Watch where you wipe your hands!

I got up in the middle of the night to go, as middle-aged men do so often. Imagine my surprise when I went to dry my hands!

Since these kinds of spiders eat cockroaches and other large bugs, I picked up the towel and shook him off outside!

Cereal Boxes are transformed!

We finally picked up the two barrels we shipped at the beginning of August in the city of Jacmel on November 9th.

The barrels were stuck in customs for many months and when they were released, they wanted me to go down to a very dangerous part of Port-au-Prince to pick them up, which I refused to do.

So they ended up in the city of Jacmel, about 2 1/2 hours away. I had to do a training there, so I was able to pick them up.

Inside the barrels were soccer equipment and the cereal boxes that children at Crossing Community Church had collected. Thank you so much for collecting boxes for Francoise, now you can see how God can use even the smallest act of kindness to help others in need!

Francoise was overjoyed when she saw the boxes and immediately started to cut them up and make them into beads. She had to rent a paper cutter for $10 US for the day, so we ordered one on-line for her with a Staples coupon, and will bring it back for her after we spend Christmas in Florida.

After she cuts the paper into strips, she rolls them, glues them and then put varnish on them until they are shiny.

Then she strings the beads and combines them with other beads to make beautiful necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

If you would like to order anything, please email us at rich.mears@crossworld.org

Please pray for us to get electricity. We haven't had electricity for a few weeks from the electric company. We thank God we have a generator, batteries and lamps, but it's expensive to run the generator. Richard has gone to an office of the electric company several times, but with no success. They think that someone was stealing electricity by adding wires which was drawing too much electricity and blew the transformer.

A big surprise!

Photo from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/haiti_30578.html

He crouched in the back of our pickup truck, like a rattler ready to strike. Silent, stealthy, and totally hidden to us until we were in front of our house and I was unlocking the gate.

Then all of a sudden, Carol called to me and said there was a boy in the back of the truck. I walked around the back and there he was. He looked about 8 years old, dressed in raged, dirty clothes, and told me he was homeless and wanted to come and live with us.

My heart immediately melted, but I knew I had to be careful none-the-less, even though there didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. I asked him to get out of the truck and wait outside the gate until we were settled inside as we had just come home from a shopping trip and had splurged on some special goodies.

Carol was a little shaken up by this intrusion on our “personal space” and urged caution, but all I could think about was his dark, piercing eyes encircled by white, barely glinting in the dark, and his plea to take him in like a stray puppy.

Just to be safe, I alerted Ecdes, the young Haitian man who lives with us of the situation. He said the boy was probably one of the thousands of street boys who are homeless and try to survive by swarming cars at intersections to earn a few cents cleaning windshields and hustling small change, telling stories of woe to play on people’s emotions.

Still, the plight of the boy moved my heart, so I got some food together and grabbed a gospel tract and children’s Bible story book, and went up to talk to the boy between the slats of the closed gate.

It was like talking to a person in prison, but now I wonder which one of us was the prisoner. Was I the prisoner, cocooned under house arrest behind an iron gate, with razor wire crowning the walls and two guard dogs roaming the grounds? Was I a prisoner to my lifestyle that included internet, cell phones and laptops; electricity, running water and plumbing; a car and money for gas? As the saying goes: “Let us live simply, so that others may simply live.”

I asked the boy his name, and he said it was “Jean Noel”. The irony of his name did not escape me. “Noel” means Christmas in French, and here he was asking for an early Christmas present. He said he was 13 years old and that his mother had died in the earthquake. Recently his father had kicked him out of the house and told him he would kill him if he came back.

Whether all this was true or not didn’t really matter to me at that point, for all I could see was a child who had to grow up all too fast in a country where most normal people only get one good meal a day. But he didn’t seem to be lying, and he had in innocence about him that drew me in.

I asked him how long he had hid in the back of the truck, and he said he had climbed in near the school where Carol teaches. Of course I told him that what he did was not good, and that he could have been hurt when he surprised us.

But I understood his actions as a desperate attempt to get what he really wanted: a home with a loving family, a bed to sleep in protected from the rain – all the things a child should have as he is growing up. It pained my heart knowing that I could not give him these things at this time.

As I showed him what was in the bag, I asked him if he could read, and he said yes. His mother had paid for his schooling before she had died, and he had learned to read.

I also asked if he was a Christian and he said his Mom had taken him to church regularly, but now he did not have any clothes to wear to go to church. “What about the pastor at the church”, I said, “Does he know who you are?” “Maybe he can help you.” He said he had asked the pastor already, and he could not help.

If I had been feeling better, I might have talked with him more, but I had been struggling with fever, chills and muscle-aches all week, symptoms of malaria. So I asked Ecdes to take the boy back to where he had sneaked into the back of our truck, and gave him money for the tap tap.

Sometimes we think that the horrors depicted in Dicken’s stories like “Oliver” and “A Christmas Story” are long over, but in most countries, they still exist.

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Dengue Fever

Please pray for Richard, he's been sick all week. Since the test for Malaria is not that reliable, he was already taking the treatment for it even though there wasn't a definitive diagnoses. Now that he finished that and was still in a lot of pain all through the night, it points to Dengue Fever. There is no real treatment for Dengue Fever unless there are complications. So now he just needs to do everything he can to let his body fight this. And he's already tired of hanging around the house. Those of you who know him well, know that "li remen bouge" (he likes to move).
We appreciate your prayers and are so thankful for all of you, our prayer partners!
Carol

"White Magic" compared to Christ

It was supposed to be a simple transaction: picking up two barrels in Jacmel that I had shipped in a container. But it turned into a lesson about the darkness that keeps some from seeing the light of Christ in Haiti.

It turned out the person who had the key for the house where the barrels were stored was at a funeral. So we went to the “Temple” where the funeral was being held to wait for him.

As I talked to Bruno (not his real name), the man who was helping me get the barrels, he started telling me about the “Temple” and the religion it represented. He said Voodoo priests practice “black magic”, but the people of the “temple” religion practiced “white magic”.

As we waited we saw signs of their religion: Their major insignia was a skull and cross bones, and some of them wore “skull caps”.

In the final procession, the “temple” faithful marched two by two with vests covered with the skull and crossbones insignia in front of the casket in an un-earthly silence only broken by the wail of a distraught woman. Their “high priest” came last in a long robe of blue with a blood-red sash.

As we waited I asked Bruno if he was “converted” (Born again). (This is a socially acceptable question in Haiti). When he said he was not, I told him the story of how I was shot. Since we were sitting in my truck, I showed him the bullet holes in the seat and door as well. I told him how God had helped me remember the Bible verse 1 John 5:13 which gave me the assurance that if I had died that day, I would be in heaven with Christ. I asked him if he had that same assurance and he said he did. However, when I asked him why, he said it was because he does good things, like going to church and helping people. So I showed him in the Bible where it says that doing good things does not get us into heaven. He seemed to understand this and we talked about the subject later that night before I dropped him off.

In all, the whole episode took 3 hours from start to finish, but seeing that funeral made me think about what lengths people will go to trying to reach God through religion (Rituals not found in the Bible). We can thank God for “Emmanuel”, God with us, that God came down to us in human form because we could never go to him through religion or good works.

conflict, awkward moments, grace & forgiveness

I’m really proud of my husband tonight and I’m so glad for how the Spirit works to make things so much better. We had a conflict with some of our Haitian friends and we invited them over tonight to talk it out. It’s hard to explain it without going into long stories and we don’t want to make things public that shouldn’t be. But, I just want to say that I think God, the Spirit, was at work.
We started with reading scripture (Titus 2), praying and then talked things out. Everyone was able to be polite, understanding, apologetic and even threw in a few jokes here and there. I thought Richard did a great job leading the discussion. There were uncomfortable, awkward moments, but there was grace, forgiveness and love, too.
There was a 13 year old there because he was involved in what’s been going on. At the end Richard asked him what he learned and he said “Don’t take what’s not yours.” I thought that was the sort of thing Richard was hoping to get for an answer. Richard said that was a good thing to learn, but he also said, “do you see what happened here? We were able to resolve a conflict without yelling, cursing, or even worse.” That doesn’t always happen. Because we have received grace from God, we can forgive each other. Although there are consequences for our sin, grace makes all the difference.

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:11-14

"So at the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase." Acts 9:31

May the comfort of the Holy Spirit increase.

Making friends and a new creation through soccer!

Making friends and a new creation through soccer!

Thank you for praying for our trip to Gonaives and Gros Morne to train leaders and meet with some of our Regional Committee leaders. In general the trip went very well with no breakdowns, flat tires or accidents, even over some of the roughest roads in Haiti.

On Saturday after the meetings I was tired of talking so I put on my shorts so I could play soccer in the cement school yard.
We played 3 a side with small goals, and just as we were trying to put teams of 3 players together, two 11 year old boys showed up so we asked them if they wanted to play.

Of course they said yes, so we had our teams. We had a good game and our team played well together, giving each other high-fives whenever we scored a goal. I think we scored 3-4 goals and the other team only scored one goal on us.
That evening the boy who was on our team was hanging around so one of our leaders offered him some food.

I was eating at the same time, so I sat down and started to talk with him. His name is Pouchon and he is 11 years old. He said he attended the church where we held the meetings, but when I asked him if he was “converted” he said no. In Haitian culture, it is not impolite to ask someone if they are “converted” or “saved”. Most, even children, know if they have made a decision to trust in Christ. In Pouchon’s case, he said he was not. So as he ate, I shared a little evangelistic booklet written for children in Creole that explains how a child can know that his sins are forgiven through trusting in Christ and his payment for our sins when He died on the cross.
We talked for at least 30 minutes and when we were finished, I asked him if he would like to trust in Christ for his salvation. To my delight, he said yes. I asked him if his Mother attended the church as well, and he said yes. So I suggested that he tell his mother about his decision and ask her to help him grow spiritually.
Later, I asked several of my leaders to talk with him and they said that Pouchon understood the decision he had made, and was excited about his new relationship with Christ.

I wonder if Pouchon would have listened to me if I hadn’t played soccer first and encouraged him as we played together. It was a natural way to build a relationship with him and probably made him more open to talking with me that night.

In any event, decisions like Pouchon made are one of the main reasons we are in Haiti. We praise God for using us and our Haitian leaders in this way!

Training in Gonaives

Just so those affected by hurricane Sandy in the US can relate, today we did a training of leaders in Gonaives. Gonaives is the city that was under 4 feet of water in Sept of 2008 after hurricane Jeane.

There are still high watermarks on many of the buildings, and 2500 people perished in the flood, but in the hearts of our leaders who survived there is an urgency to share the Gospel with their neighbors through soccer ministry.

During the training I was very honest with them about the challenges we face in Haiti - and I asked them to pray for God's provision of money and equipment to keep the ministry going. I admitted we probably had grown too fast compared to our current resources, but we serve a great God who is able to do more than we ask or think.

Some of the stories I heard today made me realize that our work is worth all the hassles we face: One leader was one of 12 children, but got a scholarship to become a teacher. He never knew his father, but now he is a father himself and a father-figure to hundred of children as a teacher and soccer coach. He said he visited the family's of some of our players a few weeks ago and many of them appreciate the difference they see in the behavior of their children who are involved in our program. They are more respectful of their parents and their siblings, and they notice they are growing spiritually as well.

Tomorrow we are meeting with the leaders of our regional committees to talk about how plans for 2013 and pray together for God's provision.

Day one of Trip to train leaders in Haiti

Many Challenges, but blessings too!

This morning started out with several "good deeds" for the day! I gave four young men a ride to school, and then on the way back to my house to pack, I gave a ride to a Mom and her 3 year old daughter. In Haiti, it is not impolite to ask someone if they are "saved", so I asked the Mom. She said yes, and then stated that she attends a local church. When she got out of the car holding her daughter's hand, I put a "25 stories from the Bible" picture book in her other hand and suggested that she read it to her daughter.

Then plans started to get off track: After packing the car and getting all ready to go, I couldn't reach one of my leaders who I thought was supposed to come to my house. So I had to go over to his house to find him. At this point we were about an hour behind schedule. Then my favorite short-cut to get out of Port-au-Prince was closed.due to violent demonstrations and burning tires. We had to take a detour and ended up in a huge traffic jam for 1 1/2 hours. When we finally did get out of town, we found out that hurricane Sandy had damaged an important bridge and we had to take a 20 minute detour.

But that's the nice thing about Haiti: People expect you to be late and don't really get angry if you are. So thanks to the miracle of cell phones, we were able to postpone our meetings by about 2 hours. Most of the people we hoped to see came to the meetings, and they were productive.

However, just as our second meeting was coming to a close, a huge rain storm hit the town we were in, and we were stranded for about a hour before it let up. When I drove some of the leaders home, I was amazed to find out that no rain fell in a town only 2 miles away from the town we were in!

So as they say, better late than never!

We would appreciate your prayers tomorrow as we do a training of 16 teams in Gonaives.

Video of problems from Tropical Storm Sandy

This video shows walls and a house being taken down by the powerful current of a swollen river near a bridge that we use to go up north.

Storm problems

I just got up because an electrical outlet in our room was shorted out by the storm and an electrical fire started to climb up a cord. Thank God I was already awake, heard the phfffhhhttt, saw the glowing wire....I jumped up, yelled "it's a fire!" and "turn on the light!' I was afraid to unplug the things plugged into it, but my hero did it & didn't get burned or anything. Glad I was awake & that it was right in our bedroom, not somewhere else. I can't believe how much rain keeps coming down!

So, God saved us from our little emergency. But please pray for those affected by the flooding.
Carol

These pictures were from yesterday. The rain stopped for a while last night and then started up again. It's been coming down hard. With this storm we don't really have any wind to worry about, it's just so much rain (and thunder & lightning).

I thought it would be good to get these up early because our home internet went out, and electricity might go out (electric company power already went out and we're on our inverter). We have a travel internet USB key to use, so hopefully the towers will keep working.
thanks for your prayers.

Corrine Gries shares about her stay with us!

I've been in Port-Au-Prince, thanks to a last minute "change of plans" (within 24 hours of getting on the plane in the US) - I originally intended to go to the orphanage, but here I am with people that I met on Skype at 830pm the night before I left ;) Thank the Lord for CrossWorld, I met this couple (from Pennsylvania, of all places) that have been in Haiti for several years. Carol works at a Christian school in Port-Au-Prince, and I was able to watch her interact with her students... I loved how she took a moment as a "teaching moment" of doctrine in French class. I love the way she cares for students as individuals and values them. She has a gentle, yet "strong" presence. Richard has a soccer ministry. While I was here, he and his team had a major conference in Fond Parisien (near the Dominican Republic border) to encourage soccer coaches and chaplains in their ministry (or those that play soccer, who with new tools, can see soccer as a ministy). I met one gentleman and asked if he had learned a lot. He was so thankful for the training, as he was thirsty for resources to help with his ministries all over haiti. This was a big deal for many who came. Richard is passionate about people knowing Christ, and I've been touched by the number of times he's said, "we need to pray."

Really, these are their "jobs." Ministry, in a sense, is "how" one lives.... "how" one interacts with neighbors and friends (and strangers like me). I have met the people they have befriended here... a youg man, a woman with 3 kids, for example, who they "walk with" through life. I found this quote recently on the CrossWorld FB page: "What is a disciple? Someone who is learning to live and love like Jesus and helps others to do the same." What I like is the honesty of the "in progress-ness" of each of us (if I may make up a word) and the power that God uses us despite not yet being perfected. I have many examples of this at home, and I am thankful for a new "picture" of this here...

In addition to inviting me into their home, they've invited me into their life in HOW they have been transparent with me. They have not "glamorized" life in Haiti, but they have shared what they love and have shared the challenges. I have learned much, and I have been thankful for this "safe place" that they've allowed me to enter... At the moment, I really can't articulate how thankful I am for these new friends.

I've seen many new places this week in PAP, including the national museum, Petionville, and Fond Parisien (beautiful).... and a salt lake pond between Haiti and the DR because the ocean used to separate the island (ya learn something every day)...

On Oct. 20th we partnered with "Love a Child" (www.loveachild.com) ministries in Fond Parisien, which is near the border with the Dominican Republic.

They invited 4 Christian schools and 12 local soccer clubs to a training seminar that Ambassadors Football Haiti taught. We trained 3 leaders from each team: One to be a coach, another to be a chaplain and the last to be an administrator.

It turned out that many participants were not Christians and so we had a great opportunity to present the Gospel!

It was great to have two visitors to help us with this seminar in addition to Ronald William and Bruce Jean Paul Pierre-Noel, AFH staff members.

Corinne Gries, a friend from Pennsylvania and Serge Pierre-Charles, a Haitian American with a PHD in education. They did a great job registering the 53 participants.

In addition to the training materials, we distributed over 2000 evangelistic booklets to be given to the children at the schools that participated in the training.

So please pray that the Good Seed of God's Word that was sown yesterday - that it would grow in the hearts of the many who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior!.

Road I worked on is now fixed!

The stretch of road I was angry about a few weeks ago is now fixed. They completely patched the whole are that was eroding and it is now a pleasure to drive over it instead of a bone-jolting experience!

New life means new beginnings

New life means new beginnings

Since we have returned to Haiti, we have seen several babies that were born during our time away in the US.

Here are pictures of two of them:

You may remember the story of Venita and Bejanot that we featured in our last newsletter. Bejanot and Venita welcomed their 4th child on July 27th, 2012. A beautiful, healthy daughter named Esther who is growing daily.

Isidor and Joanne, the couple whose 8-day old baby died in the earthquake rejoiced in the birth of their son, Jonathan, this summer.

A lesson on the Haitian economy

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually play soccer in an men's over 30 league. Last night in between games I sat down to one of the top economists in Haiti. He is on the board of directors of one of the largest banks in Haiti. He said that his bank processes the most money transfers in Haiti. Then he proceeded to tell me a statistic that astounded me: There are over 900,000 people who receive money transfers regularly. On average, the people who receive money transfers support 5 people. Therefore, about 45% of Haiti's population of about 10 million depend on money transfers for their livelihood.

He said that in his opinion, this is a form of welfare and most who receive transfers have little incentive to work because if they start to support themselves, the transfers will stop. He also said that most of the people who send the transfers are pretty poor themselves by western standards and are making sacrifices to send money to their relatives in Haiti.

Another interesting statistic he mentioned is that the Haitian workforce between the ages of 15 and 64 is about 5 million, or 50% of the population of Haiti. This means that even if Haitians were fully employed, they would still have at least one person dependent on them for financial support.

Haiti's unemployment rate is very difficult to determine, but estimates range from 40% in 2010 to 90% in 2012.

Another interesting perspective my friend gave me was on the value of the Haitian gourde vis a vis the US dollar. Currently the US dollar is worth about 42 gourdes. My friend said that it would be better for Haiti it is was more like 50 gourdes to the US dollar because then Haitian products, which are 90% textiles (T-shirts, etc.) and commodities like Coffee, Mangos an other agricultural products would be more competitively priced. He said that the value of the gourde should be depreciated more because of the 8.5% annual inflation rate compared to 3.1% in the US. This means at a minimum, the Haitian gourde should have devalued by 5.4% in 2011. Instead it only devalued by 4.5% to 5.0%.

If the gourdes was devalued, this would also mean that those who receive transfers from the US would have more spending power in Haiti.

He said he used to work at a bank in the Ivory Coast in Africa and the fact that the currency there was overvalued compared to the US dollar cost the country millions of dollars in cacao sales because it made their product artificially more expensive than other countries that grow cacao.

So please continue to pray for the economic situation in Haiti. Although the economy is grew at 5.6% in 2011, there is still a long way to go!

Passing along Hope to Haiti

On Wednesday, Sept. 5 Chris Campasano from Passing Hope and two of his friends named Ken and Steve arrived in Haiti. Chris' organization helped get the Amputee Soccer team to Argentina for the Amputee World Cup in 2010 and Chris went there with the team.

This is Chris' 8th visit to Haiti, but the first for his two friends. Ken is the founder of an organization called Givengogear.com, and Steve is active in youth soccer in Dallas and helps run a league with 7000 players. He also works with Miracle League of Frisco that works with handicapped kids in the Dallas area.

On Thursday we did a coaches clinic with 24 AIS Haiti coaches from four different areas of Haiti. We also watched an exhibition game between two U-13 teams involved in the AIS Haiti program.

At both the coaches training and game I had the opportunity to tell them about how I was shot and the miracle of God saving my life. We never know when our life will be over, and the most important thing in life is knowing where you are going after death. My story illustrates this truth and really connects with my audience.

Then on Friday, we worked with the coaches of 6 amputee teams and had a great time.

We'll do another training with the Amputee team on Saturday, and then meet with the board of the Amputee soccer Federation on Sunday afternoon.

Sometimes I get mad!

The roads near our house in Haiti have gotten noticeably worse since we left six months ago. The summer rains have taken their toll. At a key intersection near our house there is a police check point where during the day and most of the night there are 2-3 policemen. While we were away rain water carved a deep grove across this intersection and when hurricane Isaac hit, it became a gully deep enough to make 4WD vehicles scrap bottom.

I got mad as I realized that this started as a small trickle across the road but eventually the water bore it’s way down and ate away the road until it became a big problem. Perhaps if someone had notified the Haitian street department that there was a problem right away, this might not have become so bad. As they say: “a stitch in time saves nine”. And I got mad that there was going to be a traffic jam on Monday morning as cars would have to navigate across this “mini grand canyon”.

So I stopped and took some old tires from the side of the road and started to do what I could to solve the problem. Then a Haitian neighbor showed up with a shovel and we started working together. Another man helped as well and after 30 minutes we had filled one hole.

I counted my blister as a badge of hard work, and the dirt and sweat as my work out that day.

The next morning when Carol and I passed by at 7 AM, I saw that most of our work had been washed away. But by 9 AM the “canyon” had been filled with packed dirt which at least made it passable.

So maybe God used me as a catalyst to get the whole fixed!

In Psalm 90:9, we read that God gets angry about our sin. Thank God we have a Savior to save us from God’s wrath! Let’s use our anger to motivate us to turn to Christ for forgiveness and ask him to turn our anger into loving action.

Hurricane Isaac update

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Hurricane Isaac has dumped lots of rain where we live in Port-au-Prince and the wind has been howling since Friday afternoon.

Since Port-au-Prince has a very poor storm drainage system and much of the city is built on the side of the mountains, much water damage is expected.

Because Francoise and her three children live by the side of a ravine, we invited them to stay with us on Friday and Saturday to make sure they were safe.

Rich, Francoise and her 3 children and a Haitian friend

My Haitian friends and I had built a tire retaining wall to try to keep the ravine from eating away her property, but this summer a heavy rain washed away the wall and ate away at least 10 feet of the hill leading up to her house.

So we didn't want to take a chance that they would be swept away during the night in their one-room house if the flooding was severe.

It has been nice to have them over for a "sleep over." Last night we watched a movie with them, and this morning we warmed up with bowl of hot oatmeal.

Lexy our dog and Macy our cat are inside as well, although Macy the cat insisted on going out for the night and got soaked!

Please pray for those in tent cities as they are cold and wet!

The completed wall

A summer storm took away earth up to the 4th tire from the top. We are afraid this storm might take even more away.

View from the top showing the water damage this summer.

View from the bottom showing how the ravine washed away all traces of the wall we built.

Results of the soccer tournaments

Since We got back to Haiti on August 5th, we have held two soccer tournaments!

The first one was held on Saturday, August 11th in Verrettes between 4 schools in the area. We had four teams play in the morning, and a final in the afternoon. In this case, the home team, La Providence, won the tournament. More importantly, 11 people indicated they trusted Christ and are being followed up with.

This tournament in Verrettes was observed by a delegation of 13 from Ambassadors in Sport International. There were coaches from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, South Africa and the US present. They were all thrilled with the level of play and the evangelistic component of the tournament.

The second tournament was held from August 14 to 18th and involved 8 schools from 2 neighboring towns: Archaie and St. Marc.

First game of the Archaie tournament

Each town had four teams play to determine a town champion.

The match to determine the town champion of St. Marc was played at a small home-made stadium in the neighborhood of "Cite" in St. Marc. This game drew a large crowd. The seats were shaded and even more comfortable than the professional stadium!

Praying before the game!

The team that won the St. Marc Championship was from the Ebenezer school and won one game 4-0 and the other 3-0 so they weren't really challenged.

The team that won the Archaie tournament won their first game on penalty kicks and the second by only 1-0.

Then on Saturday, the two town champions played in an inter-city championship match.

The final between the two towns was played in the professional stadium in St. Marc which was a very nice grass field with solid goals and nicely laid out.

During the first 10 minutes of the final the teams were playing pretty evenly, but then Archaie scored on a shot from outside, and the Archaie team just started to pass around St. Marc. Once Archaie discovered that the St. Marc goalie could not handle high shots over his head, they scored two other goals in the first half, and added three more in the second.

The team from Archaie was well coached by a former professional player who had played against the Cleveland City Stars back in 2007 and had scored the winning goal. Coach Menard now has a soccer school in Archaie and is clearly doing a good job coaching the school team at Toussaint Louverture school which won the tournament.

During this tournament we estimate that at least 40 people trusted in Christ. We will have more exact figures later after we go over the response cards.

Many thanks to the volunteer committees in Archaie and St. Marc that helped make these tournaments possible, and to the finances of the Canadian "HEADR" team that financed the meals provided each day and the transportation.

HEADR team from Canada has a great week!

From August 13th to August 20th a team of 6 Canadians from Moncton in New Bruswick came to help us start 8 new soccer teams in schools in St. Marc and Archaie (Ar-ka-yea).

Meeting a policeman with the UN from Quebec when they first arrived

The team was headed up by Art Moore a jolly Irishman who, along with his sidekick, Nick, in the tan cap, convinced 4 of his former high school students to come and help school kids in Haiti by starting soccer teams at their schools. So the team was made up of Ali (in yellow in second picture, a petite blond full of energy; her best friend Bri (in neon green in second picture), and two rugby players: Cory and Chris with the longer hair and hat.

Visiting "Dessaline park" in Archaie

Our fist stop was Archaie where we visited the 4 schools we started teams in and played with some of the students there, even though schools are not in session in Haiti at this time of year. When we had space, we played outside games like duck,duck, goose, basketball and of course soccer.

Rich introducing the team to children from one of the schools we visited

Where we didn't have a lot of space we sang a French-Canadian children's "parts of the body" song and also "I'm climbing Sunshine Mountain". This year coach Wadnec, one of our Haitian staff members also added a new song that says "Children love AIS and AIS loves children, galigaligalizoom!"

Our schedule each day was to visit 2 schools in the morning and then watch the schools play each other in the afternoon.

While in Archaie, we also helped paint two classrooms in one of the schools that is just being built. This is the same school that our fellow Crossworld missionary, Mark Bradley, has been helping with through his church in Philadelphia: Church of the Savior.

More on the other things we did and the results of the tournament later this week!

AIS USA team members share their perspective after visiting Haiti

From August 8th to August 12th a delegation of 13 members of Ambassadors in Sport came to Haiti to see first hand what God has been doing through us here.

The delegation included AIS staff from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and the US. The director of AIS, Jon Ortlip and his assistant Jan came as well as Jon's son. A businesswoman who grew up on a farm also came to help me do research about the Genesis Goat Project, and there were other members of AIS in the group as well.

Here is what Kent, who came with his wife Kyle, wrote about the visit:

"To say that Kyle and I were impacted by you and the work in Haiti would be a great understatement. I think the work you are doing is incredible and I have mountains of respect for you and your family. I can only imagine the mental, emotional and spiritual stress and challenges that come with living and working in Haiti. We consider you and Carol heroes of the faith and we love you very much. Thank you for your example and willingness to lay your life down so that others may have the opportunity to know Jesus.

What we were impacted by the most was not the hunger or the poverty. We were taken by the complexities created by the socio-economic situation that really makes true conversion to be something unique. Ultimately, Christ changes hearts but the challenge of empowering Haitians to live & teach the bible seems to be a great one.

The program you have started is a brilliant avenue for the church to connect with people in their communities. It is a vehicle where local pastors can share the gospel and their congregation can serve the local people and connect with them relationally. This is powerful because at a glance it doesn't seem like there are too many venues like this in Haiti. To give the church a program that connects it directly with the people and allows the people to see the local church meeting them where they want to be most.......the soccer field. That is so cool."

A lot happened during their short visit, but what was really exciting to me was that 11 spectators trusted in Christ at the evangelistic tournament we held as an example for them last Saturday. Members of the local church will be following up with them to help them in their journey.

It was great to hear Kent talk about his work as a coach in the Ambassadors Football Club in the US. It sounds like a lot of winning is going on! And being around Kent and Kyle, we're sure that it's a blessing for the girls on the Kent's teams to be around them.

We are touched by Kent & Kyle's interest in the people of Haiti. As you can tell from the comments above, they are giving careful thought to what they've seen and heard about Haiti, resisting the temptation to make snap judgments. They have a desire for the club in the US to help young people in Haiti and wanted to see for themselves what life is like here. (Kent has actually been here a couple of times.) They have already made an impact by being part of this group that brought loads of soccer equipment down for our teams!

Thanks for your prayers and support that make this all possible. We sow and water, but God makes the ministry grow!

In Him,

Rich Mears

AIS Int'l 13 member delegation to Haiti

Last Wednesday, August 8th I welcomed a delegation of 13 to Haiti. The purpose of the trip was for AIS leaders from all over the world to see the model that we are using in Haiti and also visit other ministries in Haiti to discover their best practices. This trip was the vision of Jon Ortlip, the director of AIS and Kent Manson, who visited Haiti as a member of the Cleveland City stars tour in 2007. Kent is currently the coach of several girls teams for the Ambassadors soccer Club near Cleveland Ohio. Kent brought his wife Kyle along. Kyle is a kindergarten teacher and just loved being with the Haitian children.
The delegation included AIS staff from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Peru and of course the US. In addition, a businesswoman came to learn about the Genesis Goat project.
On Thursday we visited two non-soccer focused organizations who nevertheless would like us to help them reach their communities through soccer.
Friday we split the team up with 4 doing a soccer clinic for high-level coaches at the National Stadium and the rest of us going to Leogane to see a newer soccer program called “GOALS” that just won the prestigious “Beyond Sport” award. In the afternoon we visited “Athletique D’Haiti” and met with Bobby Duval, the founder and director. He is a dynamic leader who dreamed of building a soccer stadium in the poorest neighborhood of Port-au-Prince: Cite Soliel. Now this dream is coming true! Take a look at his website: http://lathletiquedhaiti.org
Our last stop on Friday was Viva Rio, a Brazilian soccer Academy in Haiti that is trying to produce players capable of becoming professionals in Brazil and around the world. I had a chance to give my testimony to the U-17 team and hopefully we will be able to visit them again soon.

Back home in Haiti

On Sunday, August 5th Carol and I arrived in Haiti from two different cities. Carol flew to Port-au-Prince from Miami, and I flew from Newark, NJ.
You may wonder how Carol got to Miami. She drove down with Ricky to help him get started at Florida International University in Miami. Ricky is living with his best friend from Quisqueya Christian School: Abraham Jaar. Ricky starts freshman orientation on August 13th and classes start the following week.
Unfortunately, my flight was four hours late, but as God worked it out I landed just about the same time as Carol and so we went home from the airport together. We were greeted at the airport by Ronald and Ti-Frère, who sometimes drives for us.
We went directly from the airport to Quisqueya Christian School where Carol was supposed to have a teacher’s meeting. However, we got in too late for the meeting, just in time for dinner, which was good because I was pretty hungry!
When we got back to the house our Haitian friends Ecdes and Paules and our dog, Lexi, Macy our cat and were waiting for us. We're glad to be back but it's hot--just as hot as being in Philadelphia! Hot and humid – ugh! We've had a super busy week with Carol getting ready for school and me preparing for and hosting a team--already! But that's a story for the next post....

Speaking to some future professional players at ASD

July 23, 2012

The evening of my last day in SA I was given the opportunity to address about 15 top players between the ages of 16 and 20 at the weekly optional Bible study held on Monday nights.

Before I spoke, I had time to sit down and talk with the team’s chaplain: Bruce Nadin. He had been the chaplain of the professional team from his home town: Leichester in England, but had moved to SA about 3 years ago to work with AIS and also plant a church.

We talked about some of the problems that face youth in SA: The fact that most young men have no Fathers in their lives, the high incidence of sexual sin and rape and the prevalence of gangs and violence in many low-income townships.

Then we had dinner with the players. I ate with Carlo from Capetown and Mwene from Zambia. Mwene is a product of the AIS ministry in Zambia and went through many years of soccer and Biblical training before making it to ASD’s professional soccer training academy. I also met a young player from Cameroon that spoke French.

So when it came time to talk to the boys, I had some information that I used to relate to them right where they were. Even though I did not have anything written down, God brought to mind stories from my life and ministry that hit a nerve with many of the players.





Afterwards I had the opportunity to pray with the captain of the team who was facing the difficult prospect of not making it as a professional soccer player. He had spent the last 3 years of his life preparing for this career, and now it seemed just beyond his reach. So we prayed for God to show him the next step, and give him peace beyond understanding.

Drakenstien “Hope Academy” Prison Ministry

Monday, July 23, 2012




Have you ever felt like every experience you have had in your life was for a reason?
This is the way I felt as I spoke to 18 inmates in the youth section of Drakenstien prison in Capetown on a Sunny winter (our summer) afternoon. As we went around and introduced themselves the program leader had them say their name and also state their crime, sentence, and how long they had to complete their sentence. Their crimes included murder, rape and armed robbery. If I hadn’t been in prison and heard their crimes, I would have never suspected that these good looking young men between the ages of 18 and 25 had ever broken the law.





As I prayed about what God wanted me to share with these young men, I felt God prompting me to help them see the pain I felt as the victim of two violent crimes: The murder of my Father, and my being shot in a robbery. As I started to describe the sorrow I felt when my Father died, and the pain I went through when I was shot, I could see them reacting emotionally. Then I asked them if they had ever had the opportunity to ask forgiveness of those they had wronged by their crimes. Most of them said they had not. Then I described how God had given me the power to forgive the young man who had murdered my father, and the young man who had shot me even though I had never met them. I told them that because I had asked for my sins to be forgiven and God had forgiven me, I could then forgive those who had sinned against me. I urged them to ask God for forgiveness for their crimes, and also forgive those who had wronged them in their lives. Since 90% of these young men did not have a loving Father-figure in their lives growing up, it is likely that some of them had to deal with deep hurts from their past.

Through the Ambassadors in Sport ministry at Drakenstien, many of these young men have already trusted in Christ for their salvations, but they still have deep hurts, scars and habits that need to be dealt with. I told them how Christ had helped and was helping me deal with these issues and find deep healing. Later that day, a young man who had been involved in a kidnapping and murder thanked me for sharing.






After the short talk, we went out on a large field big enough for a soccer field and a rugby field. It was well equipped with two soccer goals and two rugby goals. It was an exciting day for the team because they distributed new Kappa uniforms to the team. They all looked great in the new uniforms and had an extra spring in their step as they practiced. The AIS SA staff had trained Jonas, one of the prison guards, as their coach. In the past year the prison warden has allowed the Hope Academy team to play in an adult league outside of the prison. Last year they won this league!





I worked with the goalie nick-named “Station”. I showed him how to catch and hold onto the ball securely, showed him and a friend some drills they could work on together, and also explained some simple geometry so he could understand angles better. He soaked up all that I showed him and even asked if I could work with him later in the week. Unfortunately, I had to tell him I was leaving the next day.





As we left the prison, we went by a statue of Nelson Mandela walking with his fist in the air. It turns out that on February 11, 1990, Mandela was released from Drakenstien after spending 27 years in various prisons and started a new life in politics, eventually becoming president in 1994.





My prayer is that each of the young men in the Hope Academy program will leave there with a bright future ahead of them because of their new relationship with Christ. Some are completing their High school education, and several are taking college-level courses.

There have already been several who have “graduated” from Hope Academy program at Drakenstien and most are doing well in their post-prison lives. As mentioned before, one of them is now the assistant coach of the Hope Academy in Soweto.