Wow! Another answer to prayer

I had asked you to pray for our neighbors, specifically, Sophie, a teenage Mom with a little girl named Sophonie.

Last year I was praying a lot about them and others in their family and the others they were living with. But then things happened...like she moved away. It turns out she didn't move far away, and her Mom still lives down the street from me, so she started coming here a lot again. Another reason I stopped being focused on reaching out to her with the gospel was because I was feeling overwhelmed by not knowing if people are telling the truth, if they are coming around just because we give them food, medicine and clothes, etc.

But, yesterday we were sitting on my back porch, I was holding Sophonie (now 3) and feeding her Applesauce Cake I had just made. I'm not sure how it came up, but Sophie said "I would go with you to church." I was very surprised. She said she would need clothes though. (A cultural thing--it's considered disrespectful to go in old clothes, ladies "must" have sleeves and close-toed shoes.) We talked about that, about how I go to an English church, but I'd love to go to a Creole church with her. But we didn't make specific plans.

Today she stopped by and as we were talking, she said "you're my only friend, you know." "What?" I was surprised again. She said that she can't talk to anybody because all they do is gossip. She said she's trying to stay away from guys. So I brought up our idea of going to church and mentioned that maybe she could make some new friends who want to follow the Lord. So we decided to try for next Sunday.

I'm so excited. I didn't know she was this open. Please pray for this to work out...for God to give me wisdom as to what church to bring her to...for new friends for her...for our relationship.


Here's a picture of my sweet little Sophonie with a doll I gave her for her 3rd birthday. As soon as she got it, she kissed it's little face right away, before we took it out of the box. By the way, she does have clothes, but she does NOT like to wear them. I always give her a hard time about coming to my house without clothes on. (And, yes, it's a black baby doll).

Youth Ministry Allnighter

Last night was an "Allnighter" for the Youth Ministry of Quisqueya Chapel. There were 146 on campus, including the leaders. (Some could not stay all night, though.) It was an amazing night. After watching a long film, Q&A time and worship time, most of the kids stood in a long line to be prayed for by not one, but several of the leaders. They went to the first leader, he prayed for them, then they went to the next leader. I think there were 4 leaders praying like this. This took about 2 1/2 - 3 hours! ('til about 2 AM). One amazing thing was that you can get a crowd easily in Haiti among the poor who don't have much to do, but about a third of these kids are not poor (financially) but many are becoming very aware of their needs for God's work in their lives.

After the Q& A time, during worship, I felt that God was prompting me to pray with 3 specific guys--friends of Ricky's. During the first song, I noticed that one of them was praying with his head in his hand instead of singing. I felt pretty strongly I was supposed to pray THEN, so I walked over to where they were and only one was still there. It took me a few minutes to get up the courage to tap him on the shoulder and ask him if he would like to pray together. He had asked some questions about assurance of salvation, so we talked about that. Then we talked about other things and I said the obvious..."if you want to be sure, you can get that straight right now." He said "I guess we should pray." Then to decide who would pray first, he suggested we do "Rock, Paper, Scissors" His scissors could cut my paper, so that meant he prayed first. When we finished, we were both bursting. He said he felt filled with the fruit of the Spirit--filled with joy--like he was smiling soo big! Highlight of my year, I think.

ANOTHER amazing thing about last night was realizing how God has been answering prayers of mine from last year. Some of you have been praying for these things too. I prayed that Ricky would not fight us too much about going to Youth, that he would want to go and that his friends would come. Last year none of his closest friends were attending. As I looked around last night, I realized that in the past month almost all of his close friends have been at Youth or at least this Allnighter. And mostly they are showing interest in the things of the Lord. Another prayer was for a young Christian man who is strong in his faith to mentor Ricky and his friends. There were specific men I prayed about who have taught at our school. One of them was supposed to return to California and stay there, but God brought him back to be the main leader of the Youth Ministry (Marc). Ricky and his friends have Marc for Algebra, they get to talk to him at break, lunch, after school and at Youth. And when I was talking with Kevin (above) he mentioned that Marc has had a huge influence on all of them. I hadn't noticed how God was working...Now I thank Him for it!

Business Training

Thank you....to those of you who prayed for the business "training the trainers" seminar, Business Labs Haiti 2009 by Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) in Port-au-Prince last week with the Israeli trainers provided by OAS (Organization of American States). It was a success. Here is an excerpt of a letter from a participant (translated from French):

"...as a participant, I would like to present in my name and in the name of all the participants, my sincere congratulations to the staff of YABT for the realization of this training seminar.

...this seminar rivaled other seminars offered by international organizations, in spite of your meagre financial resources.

I lift my voice as a Haitian and professional of this country to testify to my respect for you because you knew how to do things differently. From the judicious choice of participants, the choice of partners, the trainers, to the organization of the seminar led to the total success of Business Labs Haiti 2009. The participants as well as the trainers openly expressed their satisfaction...

May God bless Young Americas Business Trust"

Answer to prayer about my back

While I was interpreting at the naval base for the Comfort Ship doctors (see older post), there was a lull in the flow of paitents and the doctor I worked with asked “What about you? Do you have anything that needs medical attention?” I mentioned my back and he turned to a doctor next to us, Lieutenant Barretti. I couldn't believe there was an Osteopathic Dr. who knows how to do adjustments right next to us! He adjusted my back right then and I felt much better! This was amazing because not all osteopaths do adjustments. I had been praying for God to provide some way for me to get help since I’m almost positive there are no chiropractors in Haiti. And God put me in that room with that doctor! In fact, I just realized, I wasn’t planning to go on this trip until after I prayed for help for my back and the teacher in charge of the trip happened to sit next to me at lunch and asked me if I could fill in on any of the days during Easter weekend because they didn’t have enough people. What’s really neat is that Pam had no idea what God had planned. I think Pam felt like I feel sometimes when I have to ask people to take on another task when they already have so much going AND it’s a holiday, or something else—ugh! But really she was being used by God to schedule me for a surprise! We can’t forget that in such mundane things like getting people to sign up to go on community service projects, we are doing angel-type work! What a privilege.
And I'm so thankful for Dr. Barretti!

Amazing story of how God is working

This is an update on the ministry of our Crossworld Co-workers, Bruce and Cindy McMartin who led a dental team to Northwest Haiti last week:

"What's hurting you?" "Open your mouth wide." "You'll feel pressure, but let me know when you feel pain." These were phrases repeated hundreds of times during this past week with the dental teams.

Hello Everyone! Yes, we're still alive..exhausted, but thankful for a good week. Thanks for praying for us.

In 4 ½ days, my team alone saw 202 patients, did 85 fillings, 223 extractions, and made 17 people very happy with a gap now filled with a false tooth. The 2 dentists with me were so good in overseeing the students as they did all the work - coaching, instructing, and encouraging. It was a great experience for these students.

Two of the students with me were Iranians. They shared with me how much this trip had impacted their lives and they seem very open. One of the leaders developed a good relationship with them and he'll be following up with them. The Mormon students always ask a lot of questions. They give 2 years to do a stint somewhere, but they want to know why we would give our whole lives. Seeds have been planted and we pray that God will send others into these lives to continue the process.

The best news is that right now (from my team alone) 41 more Haitians will be in heaven! And hopefully that number will increase as a result of this past week's impact. Where before the people in the new area that Pastor Johny is trying to begin a ministry in were very closed, they are now open and even seeking him out. Seven individuals asked to be involved in a Bible study.

The team that Bruce was with also had a great week. Praise God with us for safety in travel and for good health for everyone. Bruce was with Pastor Zenas in northeast Haiti. A year ago Bruce and one of our Haitian workers, Robert, installed some solar panels for Zenas to provide electricity for a cyber café, their church and their home. The first night the team was there, 6 men came, 3 armed with automatic weapons, to steal the panels. When installing the panels, Bruce and Robert had taken measures to hopefully keep the panels from being stolen - the 5 panels all connected together in a steel frame bolted into the cement roof, etc., etc. But the thieves persisted and stole the panels. Bruce and Zenas were devastated (each panel cost US$900). After church the next day, Bruce prayed with Zenas and a few church leaders asking God to demonstrate his power and allow the panels to be retrieved for His glory and so all would know He is God and that this was His ministry and His panels. Bruce said he prayed stronger than he was feeling inside - solar panels are never recovered after being stolen. The community was in an uproar and many fanned out searching in the surrounding ravines, but it was a young boy who found them in a ravine closer to the church. The thieves hadn't expected it to take them so long - almost 2 hrs - to get the frame off, and didn't expect them to be so heavy - all 5 together in a frame and awkward to handle. So, they hadn't gotten far with them and hid them to come back later for them. There was a procession of 300+ believers and non-believers that marched through town with the recovered panels. Quite a testimony to the whole surrounding area. All are saying it's a miracle because being right close to the Dominican boarder, items stolen quickly disappear. God is powerful, He is sovereign, He answers prayer (even when our faith is weak), and He accomplishes his plan for his glory.

Thanks for praying!

If you prayed for this, thank you! Joy was accepted at Eastern University's Templeton Honors College and was offered a good scholarship. She has been accepted at 3 colleges and now it seems that the decision is down to 2 of them. It's a relief for her to know that she's done with the applications and she has good possibilities.

Josh is doing great, thanks for the prayers

Yesterday we went to see Josh in the hospital and we amazed that he wasn't in his room! He had taken a walk with his mother to the terrace on the floor below. He was walking, talking and later using a laptop! He's in pain, a little groggy, but amazingly well! The last CAT scan showed no leakage of spinal fluid. Thank you for your prayers. He should be going home to Titayen today.

Here's a picture of the youth praise band leading worship on Youth Sunday at Quisqueya Chapel. Joy's leading, (in the middle) Josh Brumley is on the left with his red electric guitar. Ricky, is on drums to the left of Josh.

Share your dream

One of the participants in Jen(a)biz started up a retaurant (Le Bon Choix) about a month ago. It's been going pretty well with the main challenge being the shortage of gasoline. The restaurant is in an area that doesn't get much electricity, so they have a small generator and it has to be filled with gas. For a couple weeks people had to wait in long lines to get regular gasoline (we use deisel, so we were spared this time) but that seems to be over now.

Can you imagine running this business without having your own vehicle to transport things like gas to the restaurant? I'm sure it's hard.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to write a post about Elysee and his restaurant is that it seems they just got a good opportunity. A high school near them is going to have a special party for the seniors, called Philo here, (All over Haiti they celebrate "Philosophy Day") there. So far, they've just been cooking food for the small numbers of walk-in customers each day like many other restaurants here. But Elysee shared his dream with the owner of the property he's renting. He explained that he wants to host parties and events, as well. Because he shared that vision, the owner, whose son is a Philo student at this high school, suggested that Philo day be at Elysee's restaurant.

So today they're making food for over 50 people! They borrowed all the card table and chairs we had as well as table cloths to make room for all these folks.

In addition, we have lent them a bunch of restaurant stuff that the old Township House Restaurant in Newtown threw out when the restaurant changed hands. We did not know how and when God would have us use this in Haiti, but he knew. It has been a great blessing to know that God's had a plan for this stuff all along.

Do you have a dream you should share with someone? You never know who God may want to be part of it.

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...

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.

My faith was small, but my God is big

My faith was small, but my God is big.

Weather in Haiti can change very quickly. The rain clouds can come rolling down the mountains surrounding Port-au-Prince and turn a sunny day into a cloudy one in 15 minutes. As I was loading the equipment to show the Jesus film I was rejoicing that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Less than 30 minutes later as I pulled up to the spot where we were going to show the Jesus film, it was overcast and spitting rain – and then the thunder and lightning started and I was beginning to lose hope. Lord, I cried, you know how we’ve been praying that it would not rain!

But the light rain turned out to be the least of our problems. After the technician had announced to the whole neighborhood over the loudspeakers that we were going to show the film and rolled the tape, the old 8mm projector with the big film rolls started to skip and the picture was all blurry. It was like watching modern art while listening to the Christmas story (all in Creole of course).

So I started to pray again asking God to intercede and then went back home to get my TV and video player in case we could not get the projector going. (I also had the Jesus film on video cassette). By the time I got back, the film was running normally and people were really starting to gather in spite of the rain.

Watching the Jesus film in Haiti is very interesting because you feel like the people surrounding you could actually have been extras in the film except for their dark skin. In our neighborhood there are still many who don’t get enough to eat everyday, we see farmers taking their cows to pasture and the crow of roosters still wake us up in the morning. Then there was the young man who climbed a dead tree and perched in its y shaped branches to watch the film, just like Zacheus did to see Jesus!

It was also interesting because the technician that helped me with the film was also part preacher and cheer leader. He got the crowd really excited about watching the film and then did a running commentary throughout. For instance, he encouraged people to cheer when Jesus did a miracle (which they did enthusiastically). He also added drama by stopping the film just before the crucifixion to remind people of its significance for them. Plus, the thunder and lightning also added special effects while the rain clouds blew by as the film came to a close.

At the end of the movie, we had counselors from a local church distribute response cards and lots of people filled them out because we also used the cards for a drawing where they could win a soccer ball or a Bible. In total we got 358 responses and 43 trusted in Christ, 88 asked for more information, and 134 want to study the Bible! So you see, God did answer

Please pray for the follow-up of these new believers and seekers by the church in our neighborhood!

After the movie, the people watched the semi-final of the soccer tournament. We are also going to do an evangelistic presentation tomorrow night just before the final game, so please pray for that as well!

Answer to Prayer - Stephen

Thank you for praying for Jawa's son, Stephen. He is doing much better now. He didn't need a hernia operation. He's being treated for....hmmm I think it's an infection in the intestines. But he's eating (not all things though) and doing much better.

Richard on the Radio!

Well, Richard was interviewed on the radio this morning at 6:30 via telephone. (My job was to keep the household, mostly the dogs, quiet :) ) A lot of Haitians listen to the radio, so hopefully the word got out about the upcoming games with the Cleveland City Stars. A few minutes later, Reginald from Radio Lumiere called back and had set something up for him to be interviewed for another station. So, almost right away that was taped (over the phone again) and will be played on Monday. God is really providing a lot of great opportunities this week.

Soccer evangelism in the north

Good Friday
Croyance's Visit
If you've been praying for our friends who are up in St. Michel in the north (Elysee and Croyance), THANK YOU. They have been fine/safe. Not just safe, but reaching out too.
Croyance has been up there only a few weeks, but he's already got a couple of things going on.
He has a weekly radio program going. And through the radio, he's organizing a tournament for people in the 8 sections of St. Michel. He's working with 6 pastors and they're going to do evangelism at the tournament. Croyance was here today to borrow soccer equipment for the tournament. Please pray...the tournament will be next week.

Answer to prayer

Political Days: Another teacher was remarking that she was jealous of the snow days people back in the states have been getting and she mentioned that we haven't gotten any "political days." (Our only equivalent to getting snow days off to catch up on things is getting a day off for political problems.) This made me realize I should be praising God for that! So I have been. The only time school has been cancelled this school year was in December due to rumors about problems expected during elections. And even then, only the elementary and middle school closed while high school students had final exams. So, thank you, if you've been praying for safety and stability in Haiti and our safety.

Thank yous...re: our house in Holland

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for a tenant for our house in Holland. Since we moved out, we have only had it rented out for 1 1/2 months. So we were very happy when a nice couple moving into the area chose our home and moved in last week.

We so appreciate Michael Marino (Century 21) for going above and beyond the call of duty doing way more than just "renting out our house." Also, he, Tim Smith and the Baileys (maybe others?) moved out some furniture that we had hoped to keep in the house. The tenants didn't have room for it, so the Baileys are helping us out by storing it.

Also, Rosanna Colombo has done more of her "angel-dusting" over there to keep it looking beautiful. I don't know if there any assistant angels in on that....Thank you, Rosanna, and any other angels who helped with that!

THANK YOU all of you!!

You, and others doing things like this really do make us able to be here...thanks for being part of the team.