Meeting the Former Haitian Ambassador to the USA

On Sunday, Sept. 19th, Carol and I went to a Haitian church and met the former Haitian Ambassador to the USA. He had just resigned his post on August 1st so that he could run for President of Haiti, but they threw out his candidacy based on a technicality.

He is a fascinating person. He grew up at the mission campus of a Baptist denomination in the South of Haiti. He then emigrated to the US as a teenager and became a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in 1965 where he worked for many years. He broadcast anti-government protests into Haiti from the US which earned him a death sentance from the Duvalier regime. Later he helped to found Radio Lumiere, the biggest evangelical radio station in Haiti. He was also the first Haitian president of the Baptist denomination that he grew up in and is an ordained pastor. Now at At 70 years old, he feels he wants to give back to the country that gave him birth.

This got me thinking about the fact that those of us who are Christians are Ambassadors for God, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:20 . This is where "Ambassadors in Sport" got it's name from. As someone has said, our lives may be the only Bible people we meet will ever be exposed to.

Sometimes we will need to be brave and protest unjust governments and social structures like our new friend did when he protested against the Duvaliers. Sometimes we might have the opportunity to use our knowledge and experience to help many others and give back to the country that gave us birth, like the former ambassador.

I just pray that I will be a faithful ambassador for Christ, even twenty or thirty years from now. How about you?

Amputee Soccer Training Camp helps build the team

Thanks to the generosity of Mission of Hope, Haiti (www.mohhaiti.org,the amputee Soccer team enjoyed a week of concentrated training from Sept. 13 to the 17th.

They had two practices a day, ate 4 meals a day and had a great time of team-building in preparation for the World Cup that starts on Oct. 17th.

The Mission of Hope provided free lodging and daily transportation to the training field, in addition to serving two meals a day.

Ronald William, head coach of AIS Haiti stayed with the team day and night the whole week while the team's coach trained with the team 3 out of the 5 days. Ronald's fiance cooked the noon meal and also did laundry each day.

Rich drove out to be with the team on Thursday and helped them organize a exhibition match against a US mission team that was at the camp, as well as a local soccer team. About 300 people came to watch these games, and afterwards, Rich and Pastor Evens were able to talk to them about praying for the team, and also share the Good News of Christ with the spectators.

On Thursday Rich stayed the night with the team and showed a Power Point about Amputee Soccer and also an evangelistic film called "Le Combat".

The next morning the team had their final practice from 6 AM to 9 AM. After that was a trip to a local beach for 3 hours where the team had a great time playing in the water and adding one more memory to a great week.

Please continue to pray for the team as the still need to raise quite a bit of money before they will have enough to go to Argentina.

Amputee Soccer team arrives at camp

I spent the day taking the Haitian National Amputee Soccer team to the Mission of Hope campus outside of Port-au-Prince. They are graciously hosting the team and feeding them for free.

They are going to be there until Friday doing intensive training and also doing some Bible study in the evenings.

The woman who was to cook and wash clothes for the team had to back out at the last minute because her Mother got sick, but God provided another friend who could do the job at the last minute.

Preparing for a camp of 18 people is quite challenging in Haiti because you can't just go to the local shopping center and get what you need. This morning I spent 3 hours going across town just to get some cash so we could purchase a few items we needed.

Please pray that God uses the camp in the lives of the players!

I will return on Thursday and sleep overnight to take the team home on Friday.

Kimberly's Birthday

Kimberly’s first birthday cake and present



Birthdays are such a special celebration in the US that we forget that in many countries, there is just not enough to go around for a birthday celebration.



This has been the case for Kimberly since she was born. Her single Mom never had enough to throw her a birthday party. Kimberley was born on September 11th 2005, so yesterday Carol and I decided to throw her her first birthday party. She dressed up in her white dress and was dancing with excitement as Carol made the cake. Then we wrapped an African-American Barbie doll up for her.



Her Mom and her little brother and older sister and our family all sat down and sang “Happy Birthday” in French as she wiggled with delight. Then her eyes opened wide when we gave her the present. Francoise, her Mom was almost as happy as she was and laughed as Kimberly un-wrapped the doll.



These simple pleasures are what being a Christian community is all about!

A great week for the Amputee Soccer team!

God starts providing for the Amputee Soccer Team!

On Thursday, Sept 8th I took some of the leaders of the Haitian Association of Amputee Soccer to visit the Mission of Hope in Haiti. This organization has a large campus outside of Port-au-Prince and has offered to house and feed the team for 5 days of intensive training from Sept 13th to 17th. We were going out to see the campus for the first time and make final arrangements. Mission of Hope received us graciously and in addition to giving us free food and lodging for the camp, even is going to transport the team to a nice soccer field twice a day for training!

Friday, Sept. 9, was a big day for the Amputee soccer team.

It was the first day of fundraising in Haiti for the team, and we were anxious to see what God would do.

I decided to take Cesar, one of the goalies of the team with me to visit several businesses and present the opportunity. The first business we went to was a small store where I sometimes buy water. We explained the needs of the team to the owner and asked her for a donation of two jugs of water(worth about $3 US) and she gladly gave them. This was the first donation by a Haitian!

Next we went to a hardware store to buy the soccer goal posts for the team. The manager got so excited, he gave us a 25% discount worth about $20 US. Another customer in the store opened up his wallet and gave us about $6 US. In all, we visited about 8 businesses that day and were well-recived by most of them. Please pray as we follow up next week with them.

That afternoon the Amputee soccer team got all dressed up in Addidas uniforms donated by my High School Alma Mater, GA and played an exhibition match at Quisqueya Christian school (QCS). The students at QCS were excited to hear about the Amputee team from the captain of the Haitian National Soccer Team, Pierre Richard Bruny, who is the president of the Haitian Association of Amputee Soccer. The students then watched the game and were inspired by the effort both teams made and cheered like mad when the red team scored a goal.

After the game I handed out brochures about the team to many of the spectators, and later I got a phone call from someone who wanted to know how to contribute to the team.

The QCS student council had decided to raise funds for the team by selling hot dogs and soda and they raised $355! So during the first day of fund-raising in Haiti, the team received about $385 US in cash and discounts!


Saturday, September 11, 2010 started early when I received a phone call at 7 AM from a friend of mine who has a radio show. He called to tell me he wanted me to call him back so he could interview me on the radio via the phone about the amputee soccer team and the robbery. Even though I wasn’t quite awake, Carol said I did a good job communicating in Creole. In my closing words, I said that I forgave the gangsters who shot me, and that if they asked forgiveness of Christ, they would be forgiven by God as well and find power to change their lives.

Later that day there was a picnic at QCS, and Carol and I went over early to see if we could help. I noticed that one of the English-speaking churches in Port-au-Prince was having a men’s seminar at QCS as well. Since I knew the leaders of the conference, I asked them if I could make an announcement about the Amputee soccer team and they said yes! Not only did they say yes, but the pastor of the church wrote a personal check for $200 US, and made a pledge of $500 from his ministry!

After such an exciting morning, I enjoyed the picnic with Carol and Ricky, but also was able to make several other contacts for fund-raising.

After we ate, Ricky pulled together a boy’s soccer team to challenge the parents and teachers in a game. Unfortunately a player fell on my ankle while I was playing goalie and sprained it. It was the same leg that got shot, so right now I am back on crutches!

But I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next week as our quest to raise enough funds to sent the Amputee soccer team to Argentina continues!

Radio Interview reaches most of Haiti!

On Tuesday, Sept 7th we did a radio interview. It went really well and was heard by at least 100,000 people around Haiti via Radio Lumiere (www.radiolumiere.org), the largest Christian Radio Station in Haiti that covers 94% of the country. We were the invited guests on a radio program from 9 AM to 10 AM hosted by David Eliassant each Tuesday and Thursday. Myself, Ronald William and Cesar (one of the players on the Amputee soccer team) arrived just minutes before we were to go on the air and had very little time to prepare. David, the show host, started out with me and I described Ambassadors in Sport Haiti and our vision. Then he talked with Ronald a bit and then moved on to Cesar. Cesar did a great job explaining how he had lost both arms in an electric accident. David also asked him if he was a Christian and if he had ever felt like his life was over. Amazingly, Cesar said that, through Christ's strength, he never felt hopeless and now had a new vision for encouraging other amputees through sports.

I was also able to share how I had been shot, but that because Christ has forgiven me, I am able to forgive those who shot me. I encouraged those who make a living by stealing to allow Christ to change their lives and forgive them.

We had hoped that Bruny, the captain of the Haitian soccer team would be able to join us, as well as Pastor Evens of the Haitian Amputee Soccer Federation, but we had to leave without them in order to be on time for the interview. Praise God, they showed up at the break in the middle of the show and were able to share how they had gotten inlvolved with the Amputee soccer program.

I have attached a picture of Cesar at the microphone, telling his story.

We are having an exhibition match at 2 PM on Friday (Sept 10) at Quisqueya Christian School and hope that the media will come and cover this incredible story! Please pray that God will use all of this for His glory!

Please pray for my students

I've been praying every day for the safety of my students. One of my sixth graders was not there yesterday. I didn't put it together until now, but she has the same last name as a girl who was kid - napped last Friday night.

Also, I just realized that 3 girls out of 19 students in one of my 7th grade classes lost their fathers in the earthquake.

I thank God that the atmosphere has mostly been upbeat at school, but during prayer requests in homeroom, a young man asked for prayer for the anxiety that many of the students feel.

Pictures of the Haitian National Amputee Soccer Team

Here are some pictures of the Haitian National Amputee Soccer team.

The uniforms they are wearing were donated by Rich's High School, Germantown Academy.

These are the 15 men who have been selected to go to Argentina to represent Haiti at the Amputee World cup which starts on Oct. 14th.

Rich has been using his musical ability to teach this group how to sing the Haitian National Anthem, Amazing Grace and the US National Anthem, which they will perform when they visit the US before heading to Argentina.

Please pray for them as the funds for their trip have not come in yet.

Here's what Richard found in the bathroom at 3 in the morning...good thing he turned on the light before going in.

The other half of the story

I just met with Debreus, the young man who was with me when I got shot.

Here is his side of the story:

He said he was coming back to the car to get another load of books when he saw a man open the front door and take my briefcase. Then he heard a loud noise and realized that I had been shot.

He talked to a friend who was also going on the bus and the friend said that his brother Joseph knew how to drive and was there at the station seeing him off. So he called his brother and asked him to go and help me get to the hospital. That is how Joseph ended up helping me!

The police also talked to Debreus and told him that as long as I had an ID card, Joseph would have no trouble getting me to a hospital.

I found out from Debreus that he had lost his personal overnight bag as well that had his Bible in it, as well as 1000 gourdes, which was worth about $25 US. In addition, they took a box of the "Champion" evangelistic booklets we were taking to Jean Rabel. God has a sense of humor! Imagine the gang members opening the box and reading a bit of the booklets to see what it said! Maybe 200 gang members took home the colorful booklets, and one got a Bible!

After Debreus got on the bus, he found out that the Pastor we work with in Jean Rabel was on the bus, too - Pastor Bolivar. I am sure that they were praying for me the whole trip, and that is part of what God used to give me the peace I had in the hospital.

During the bus trip, Debreus also thought that the bag with the video projector had been stolen, but to his surprise, the bus driver handed it to him after they got there. It had been loaded on top of the bus!

The Saturday after Debreus got back to Jean Rabel, he called a meeting with the Regional Committee and told them what happened. They also rejoiced that they had received evangelistic booklets , soccer cleats and a video projector to use for outreach.

In spite of Debreus trying to find a big TV antenna so they could project the World Cup games, they never were able to show any matches because the signal was too weak. Instead, they used the projector to show several Evangelistic films in Creole. These films show how Christ is more powerful than the voodoo demons many of the people near Jean Rabel still worship. They showed the films numerous times, and 36 people indicated they had accepted Christ afterwards!

There are now 14 schools involved with AIS Haiti in the Jean Rabel region and we are hoping to organize some tournaments in the fall.

So now you know the other half of the story!

Internet problems

We're not able to write much these days because our internet setup won't work at our house these days. It works at the school campus (where I work) but slowly.

When we first got back, we had electricity problems, but whenever we had something to provide electricity, we had internet. Now, that same system won't work at our house. I guess there was some damage to a tower or something. We did have a bad storm with very bad winds.

At the same time, Rich has been busy getting many things fixed at our house and starting the new school year is always a busy time--even more so coming back after the earthquake.

Please bear with us :)
Carol

Damage to Truck

My body wasn't the only thing damaged by the bullet. It went through my body, the seat of the truck, through the plastic door covering and made a dent in the metal of the door, but did not pierce it.

This means the bullet is still in the truck's door!

Everytime I hop in the driver's seat, I am reminded of God's mercy and grace, and that he still has a plan for me on this earth!

For me, this has become a memorial, just like Jacob piled up some rocks at the place where he had his dream of the ladder into heaven.

What about you? Do you have something that reminds you daily of God's goodness to you and his good plan for your life?

I read in a book about a man who keeps pictures on his desk at work of the hospital he was born in, and the place where he would be buried to help remind him to make the most of each day for the Lord.

Rich shares his story

Since I've been back in Haiti, I have had several opportunities to share the story of the robbery and shooting with several groups.

This is a group of young campers from a bad section of town that a friend invited to a summer camp at our church, Quisqueya Chapel.

They listened intently as I told of God's deliverance and showed them the place where I was shot.

I reminded them that we never know when our life will end, and we all need to be ready to face God's judgment.

Afterwards we went out to the truck to see where the bullet went into the door.

On Sunday, Aug 30th I will have the opportunity to share my story at Quisqueya Chapel, the church we attend in Haiti.

Bits and pieces of what God is doing in Haiti

Dear Friends,

It has been a world-wind of activity since we arrived back in Haiti on August 8th. Here are some high-lights of what God is doing through our faithful Haitian friends and co-workers:

1) During the World-Cup outreach over 2,000 people watched the games in five different locations. One young single mother and her 2 children came to know the Lord in Gonaives and now they have been coming to church regularly and are growing in their faith! Many others are being followed up with. Most people that attended the matches received an evangelistic booklet called "The Champion". We are still distributing the 40,000 copies of this booklet that we received from One Hope Ministries.

2) We are sponsoring a door-to-door outreach to Leogane this week being done by a group of men from a church in Archaie. We supplied them with lots of literature, Bibles and a video projector and Christian DVD's for them to show films at night. Last night several hundred showed up for one of the films!

3) One of our leaders, Elysee Vaillant participated in an outreach at his girlfriends' church this past weekend. Please pray for Elysee as his father is dying of Prostate cancer, his sister is 8 month's pregnant after being married in 2009, and his house needs a new roof and is leaking badly when it rains.

4) This week we visited the camp ground at Verrettes and the Amputee soccer team is going to use it for their official training when it begins in 2 weeks. It was good to see our leaders there who have had a busy summer receiving the Right-to-Play team and the Corban team.

Thanks for your gifts, prayers and partnership that enable us to be God's hands and feet in Haiti!

Amputees Play Soccer

A few months before the earthquake I met Dr Fred Sorrells of the Institute of Sports. Even then, he was trying to introduce sports for the disabled in Haiti.

Just this week I met him again practicing with a team of Amputees on the soccer field of Quisqueya Christian School. It turns out that Haiti has been invited to play in the World Cup of amputee soccer to be played in October in Argentina.

We helped him immediately by giving him several cases of "The Champion" evangelistic booklets we had been given for our World Cup outreach and also some follow up discipleship material.

In addition I was able to tell the men the story of how I was shot. They were very moved by the story and applauded when it was over.

The next day we gave him some shorts and Ronald was able to help train the team. More importantly, 6 out of the 30 players indicated that they had trusted Christ for the first time. So God continues to use the tragic circumstances of life for His glory!

Then on Saturday, Ronald and I worked with 6 goalies who only had 1 arm. Out of these 6 we selected 3 to be on the World Cup team.

Ronald and I have been asked to continue to work twice a month with the special men at Quisqueya Chapel, where Carol and I go to church. They have a nice field we can practice on.

Please continue to pray for this exciting opportunity!

Haiti's earthquake was caused by a previously unknown fault

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38648080/ns/technology_and_science-science/

When it rains, it pours

It's rainy season here in Haiti, and it is raining hard almost every night. Thousands of people are still in tents, and many of them suffer when it rains.

But we all know that "When it rains, it pours" doesn't always pertain to rain. Normally we have three sources of electricity which combine to give us power when we need it: Commercial power (EDH), a generator and a combination inverter / battery system. When we got home Sunday, the generator was broken and the inverter batteries where dead, so that left us dependent on commercial power which at best gives electricity only about 8 hours a day (usually at night). We have actually been working on replacing the batteries for a while.

So for the past three days I have been waiting for a repairman to come fix the generator and also trying to find the right kind of batteries to buy. I was told the kind I want are stuck in customs and that they raised the duty on batteries from 5% to 20% after the earthquake. Yet most business in Haiti need batteries to ensure a steady source of electricity to function.

Then there was our water supply which was "borrowed" by our neighbors who are building a house down the street so they could have water to mix cement. So, since I was injured, we have not been receiving water from the water company. Fortunately we had some in our cistern. And today I was able to clean out the pipes that bring rain water into the cistern.

In addition, my cell phone was stolen when I was shot, and Carol's phone was stolen while a friend of ours was borrowing it. So I had to go out and buy two new cell phones this week. At least the phone companies here give you back your phone number if your phone is stolen (with receipt of course).

This is all part of living and working in Haiti! We were definitely spoiled this summer in the US, but now we're back in the "majority world" where most people live without electricity, clean water and telephone service.

Rich

Back Home in Haiti

We got back to Haiti yesterday.

We were welcomed home by 7 friends (plus 3 cute kids) (OK some of them live here, but some came over to say hello.)

One great thing to come back to, besides friends, was lots of birds in our trees--what a welcome, new sound for this house. On the other hand, it felt like about 1000 degrees with high humidity. And our generator isn't working. With inverter problems, that wasn't much fun. But we got city power late at night and it's still on now. We also have no working cell phone between Richard, Ricky and I. So....Richard will be busy while I set up my classroom for the new school year--that's where I'm off to this morning.

Thank you, to all of you who prayed for us and helped us while we were in Pennsylvania and helped us get back here; especially the Colombo family and Steve Payne. We really appreciate you.
Carol

Heading back to Haiti!

Rich is back on his feet, Carol is ready to start teaching again and Ricky is excited to see his Haitian friends as we all head back to Haiti tomorrow (August 8th).

Our Haitian co-workers Ronald and Elysee will be there to greet us and we are anxious to hear all that God has done through them while we have been away.

While we are sad to leave family and friends in the US, and will miss then very much, it is clear that God is not finished with us yet in Haiti and we are excited to see what he has in store for us as we return.

Thanks to all who cared and prayed for during the past 6 months as we survived an earthquake and Rich being shot. Hopefully the next 6 months will be a bit calmer!

Hear Rich's story on the Internet!

For those of you who would like to hear Rich's story, Crossing Community Church recorded his presentation and you can find it on their website: Crossing.org

Just look at the box on the home page and you will see "Rich Mears - Haiti".