Lots of Soccer Ministry going on!!

Lately we've been describing our life in Haiti, but there is lots going on with the soccer ministry:





1) In the past couple of months we have done lots of training in soccer ministry all around Haiti. Our training focuses on preparing our teams to participate in a National Futsal Tournament and Bible Contest that will start in the fall of 2014.

We are training our coaches in how to coach and referee Futsal (5 a side soccer on a field the size of a basketball court).

Our chaplains are being trained to prepare our players for the Bible contest which will be based on the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Then our administrators are gearing up to run the first stage of the tournaments with local four teams.

But the best part of the training is that we are connecting with our volunteers and players and helping them be better equipped to minister.

2) The Goat project is moving forward with lots of baby goats being born and our players and leaders, for the most part, taking good care of their mamma goats. We have hired an administrator who is going out and meeting the players and leaders participating in the program. Please pray as she gets adjusted to her new responsibilities.

3) A little over a month ago Jon Ortlip, the Executive Director of Ambassadors Football (AF), Aaron Treadway, Director of Professional Soccer Ministry and Jon's son, Henry came to Haiti.



They came to accomplish two things: a) Present the idea of a "Center of Hope" to Quisqueya Chapel and b) For Henry to interview me for "Risen Magazine", a Christian Magazine that features interviews with various Christians in the news. Well, the issue came out, and you can see the picture they chose at http://www.risenmagazine.com/spreading-gods-love-through-soccer-rich-mears/. If you subscribe to the magazine, you can also read the article.



Quisqueya Chapel is now considering allowing AF to build a "Center of Hope" which consists of an artificial turf soccer field and possibly locker rooms and offices. This Center would not only become the headquarters of Ambassadors Football Haiti but also has the potential to support the ministry through a soccer school, soccer camps and night leagues.


4) Please pray for our Haitian leaders Rochenel Pierre and Lucasse Henrilus will get their US Visas so they can attend an Ambassadors Football training from the end of June to the beginning of August. This training would not only help them spiritually and professionally, but would also help them meet Ambassadors staff from all over the world.



Rochenel Pierre Lucasse Henrilus

5) We have been invited to a training in the US being held by the US Youth Futsal Association from June 9-14th by Keith Tozer, the coach of the US National Futsal Team!! Please pray that God would provide the Visas and resources for us to ba able to attend this training.

Easter present from God

Easter present from God--as if rising from the dead and bringing us eternal life were not enough!

We had friends over on Sat.--2 families who struggle to make ends meet. In one of the families, 2 girls had to come to our house barefoot and 1 had on a pair of shoes that didn't fit, so she had her heels on top of the back of the shoes. We wanted to get them sandals, but we couldn't go downtown and stores were not open.

But on the way back from being at the church property (Richard had worship rehearsal & the kids played on the playground) there was a lady walking along with a tub of sandals on her head. Richard stopped the car and Margaret, who works for us, but was just with us for fun that day, got out to see what she could find. The lady had sandals to fit all 8 of the children! They were able to buy them all for 800 gourdes (100 gdes, about $2 each)!

I wish I had taken a picture of all those feet with all those sandals on them! We were all thanking God. And that woman was nice to sell them for that price, too. (I will add a picture later if I can.)

Our Resurrection Weekend in Haiti

Yesterday was “Good Friday”, or “Holy Friday” in French. Since early this morning we heard the “music” of the “Rara” bands. These bands are associated with voodoo and usually include some who are drunk and turn violent.
I asked my Haitian pastor friend why “Rara” bands play for almost the whole day on “Good Friday” and he said it was in celebration of the soldier who won Jesus cloak when they gambled at the foot of the cross. They are celebrating “good fortune” and not the Risen King!

We celebrated by having a turkey dinner with our dear colleagues David and Phyllis Schmid who just got back from a 6 month medical leave. David got very sick in October and had to go to the US for treatment and to recover. He is doing much better now and it was so good to see them.

Then we went and picked up our “Haitian adopted grandchildren” and their Mom Venita.
They are living in very bad conditions in spite of the fact that we helped build them a house after the earthquake.
Two of the children had bad cases of Scabies, a mite that bore under the skin and causes infection. So we took them to a hospital last night and got treatment for them.

Today (Saturday) our church is having an Easter egg hunt for kids and so we are going to take them to that. I will present the Gospel there using the “Resurrection Eggs”, plastic eggs with charms inside that explain the Gospel.

Then on Easter Sunday I (Rich) will lead worship at our church and play the recorder for a few songs.
May you have a blessed Resurrection day!

Thoughts about the Passion week

Carol and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary on April 13th by going away for a weekend at the beach (one of the nice things about living in Haiti!). On our rings, we have the verse 1 Jn 4:19 "We love because he first loved us." Without Christ's sacrifice on the cross, and his forgiveness of our sins, we would not have been able to forgive each other and stay together all these years!

Love, or the lack of it, can make a huge difference in a child's life: For a few years now we have been paying school fees for a 14 year old boy in our neighborhood named Davidson. We already knew that is Father had died many years ago. Then in the past month his Mother died suddenly of a fever leaving him and his 3 brothers as orphans. After his mother died, we found out that he has a little brother (same mother, different father) who is 3 years old who does not talk normally. So I took him to visit a preschool that specializes in developmentally delayed children. Thankfully, the director said that she does not feel he is autistic. She believes he simply has not received the love, attention and stimulation that he should have as a baby. She suggested that he be put into a kindergarten situation with a regular schedule and regular stimulation with other children, so we will look into this after the Easter holiday. Imagine that, a Mother's love has such an impact on a child's intellectual and emotional state that it allows the child to develop normally and reach his potential. Without it, the child does not develop normally! Thank God that God loves us all the time, and in James 1 verse 27 it says: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Nature awaits the return of the King of Heaven and earth:

A very emaciated Mom was fighting off her puppies when they tried to nurse. She had no milk for them, and so what should have been a beautiful time of mother and puppies was disappointing for both. Later I saw several Puppies who were fighting each other over a piece of fruit. Poverty affects everything on the food chain…

Coral reefs in Haiti:

80% of Coral reefs in the Caribbean in the past 50 years have died off because of Bleaching (Time p.43, April 14, 2014) Other causes: Over-fishing, Pollution, Fertilizers, Lionfish.

“At least a quarter of the world’s corals have been lost over the past 25 years.”

“Corals don’t like it when the water around them suddenly heats up, which can trigger what’s know as bleaching. The coral organism reacts by ejecting the zooxanthelia algae living inside its tissues, which robs the coral of both its color and its source of food. While bleaching doesn’t necessarily kill the coral outright, it leaves it extremely vulnerable to other stresses.” P.44

I love to go snorkeling around the many coral reefs in Haiti, but as you can see they are quickly being killed off.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Brain_coral.jpg

Romans 8:22 says: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time"

Maranatha - Come Lord Jesus!

Former Lemuel Soccer Team Player is now a Theology Student!

This is a picture of Rich and Thony Amady, one of the original players on the Lemuel soccer team which started back in 2001.

He is now taking courses at the Evangelical Seminary of Port-au-Prince and hopes to become a pastor someday.

This summer he may do an internship with Ambassadors Football Haiti and work at some summer camps we hope to organize during the World Cup.

As John says in 1 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

Update on Tournaments and Trainings

It has been a busy week of ministry for AFH.

The week started with an evangelistic Futsal tournament in Gonaives from February 27 to March 1 with 8 teams participating. Each player in the tournament received a New Testament in Creole so he can prepare for a Bible contest we will run in conjunction with our the AFH school futsal tournament we hope to start in October. In addition 5 people indicated they trusted in Christ and Lucasse, one of our staff, got to have a spiritual conversation with a young man who described himself as a “gangster”.

Then Rochenel and Lucasse travelled up north to the town of Jean Rabel to do a training seminar with our coaches and chaplains from 16 teams. The chaplains received New Testaments in Creole for their players and will start reading the 4 Gospels with them in preparation for the Bible contest starting in October. The coaches learned more about Futsal and ministering to their players.

From March 4-6 Lucasse and Rochenel taught a seminar inPort-de-Paix they were joined by Sylvain Nelson, who is now Pastor of a large church in Gros Mornes. Pastor Sylvain taught the chaplains while Lucasse and Rochenel taught the coaches of 16 teams from the area.
The last tournament of the week is March 7-9 in Gros Mornes with 4 teams. This is the first tournament ever in this town, and it has generated a lot of enthusiasm.

This same weekend there is also a tournament in Verrettes with 4 teams. Please pray that many will hear the Gospel.

Get this Kid off my back!

Today I visited with one of our AFH leaders named Fritz who was given a goat last fall. His goat had twins - a brown one and a white one - a boy and a girl. Guess which sex is standing on his mother's back?

Fritz has done a great job raising his goat and even has several of his own. He started out with 2 females and now he has 6 goats total!

Sad News, but there is always hope in Jesus!

This week has also been a week of some very sad news:

One of our AFH leaders who was active on the Regional Committee in Gonaives died suddenly this week leaving his wife with 5 young children to care for. His name is Belguens Ezavier and he was in his 40’s and just fell ill one morning and by the afternoon he had died. We are grateful that he is a Christian and we will see him again someday in heaven.

The second sad news is that my 53 year old cousin, Bruce, has inoperable Pancreatic cancer and may have less than a year to live. Pancreatic cancer is hard to detect and by the time they discovered it, it had already spread to the liver and other places. His Doctor is going to try chemotherapy and perhaps some other treatment that may help. Carol and I will be in PA from June to August and hope to spend some time with him then. Please pray for him and his 2 brothers and sister as they go through this trial together.

God has a way of helping us and comforting us in our sadness. Today I visited a bed-ridden 80 year old woman and had a chance to pray for her health. She reminded me of my own Mother who is going to be 80 years old on March 15th and is not in good health. In the same house was a young woman named Eliana, the same name as a the daughter of a good friend of mine. She is suffering from cancer, just like my cousin Bruce. So I prayed for her and Bruce at the same time. Then I had the simple joy of seeing some of the fruits of our goat project and holding one of the kids born by a female given to one of our leaders.

First and Second Day or AFH's Evangelistic Tournament in Gonaives during Carnaval Season

The first day of our outreach week started out with a car problem: A seal on the clutch master cylinder started to deteriorate which caused us to not to be able to shift properly.

We got to Gonaives well before the time for the match but ended up setting up the equipment we brought late because of the repair, if that’s what you want to call it. The mechanic could not find the right parts so he “degajed” meaning he improvised enough to make it work so we could limp back to Port au Prince.

We did get set up for the first match of the tournament in Gonaives. We used our brand new portable Futsal goals and they worked great!






Just before we left we had time to see all the kids in their uniforms. This was probably the first time in their lives they ever wore a complete soccer uniform with matching shorts, jerseys, socks and shin guards. They all looked really great!



Uniforms from our Canadian "HEADR" team that came down last August. Thank you Art and Team!



Uniforms from Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia thanks to Rose Simon and shipped by Crossing Community Church!

As we headed back to PAP we did have some car problems with the clutch, but nothing as scary as the day before when our rear wheel fell off the car and we had to stop in the middle of the road. The mechanic who had fixed a bearing seal had apparently not tightened the lug nuts very well, and the rough roads of Haiti just shook them loose.

We did have a very scary incident on the way home: My helper Ti Frere was driving and we were passing a tractor-trailer on a straight away on a very dark stretch of road when all of a sudden we see a single headlight in front of us. A truck was on our right taking up more than his share of the road and there was a ditch to our left. We tried to avoid what turned out to be a motorcycle and we are pretty sure he keep control of the bike and just brushed us as he went by.

Many times motorcyles and even cars in Haiti do not turn on their headlights on at night unless they "have to". In this case, the motorcycle did not have his lights on when we first started to pass the truck. Since it was a dangerous area known for kidnapping we did not feel it was safe to stop and find out what happened.

Both of us were quite shaken by the event, but an inspection of the car the next morning showed a very faint stripe where the motorcycle swiped the side. Driving at night is dangerous in any country, but it is particularly dangerous in Haiti because of the lack or street lights and many people and bikes lining the streets without proper lights, reflectors, etc. Next time we will do all we can to arrive before dark!

The good news is that during the second day of the tournament two people trusted Christ and, as God arranged it, they were the ones who won copies of the New Testament in Creole at the drawing after the match! What are the chances of that happening?!

The final is on Sunday, so please pray for a good crowd that will hang around and watch our evangelistic films afterward and that many will trust in Christ!

Training on February 25th and New Testament Distribution

The training we did on Feb. 25 had two parts. One part was done by Dr. Kelly Crowdis, the veterinarian we are partnering with to train our several of our leaders how to do “goat first aid”. This will keep our leaders and players goats healthy.

The other part was led by Rochenel and Lucasse and trained our coaches and administrator how to become officials at Futsal games. As Rochenel talked to our coaches one of them said how much he appreciates the Biblical training he has received. He says he reads a devotion to his players at each practice and feels God’s Word is having an effect on his players!

From February 27th to March 9th we will distribute really nice New Testaments for children.



We were chosen to give these out because we have teams all over Haiti. The organization that gave us the Bibles wants us to run a Bible quiz tournament at the same time we do our national tournament starting in October, 2014.

o we are distributing the Bibles now and asking our leaders to study the 4 Gospels with our players in preparation for the Bible tournament.

This week alone we are distributing 624 New Testaments to 52 teams!

Please pray that our players will be open to reading,understanding and applying

God's Word!

Blessing a Bank Customer Service Rep

Our new Head Coach (in soccer terms “National Training Director”), Rochenel, went to a bank to open an account. While he was in line he noticed that the bank employee was not giving very good service and was kind of mean. Finally after a long time he was waited upon.

As he started to talk with the bank employee she noticed his Ambassadors Football shirt and asked what the logo stood for. He explained that he works with a Christian organization that does evangelism though soccer. She all of a sudden perked up and they started to talk about soccer. She says she loved soccer and really liked that AFH worked with schools. After they were done, she said to Rochenel: "Anytime you come in, ask for me. I want to hear more about what you're doing!"

What a gift - Android Tablets made in Haiti!

A ministry partner gave us several Android tablets for our leaders. We are so excited that these are being made in Haiti. They are great! Very useful for our guys out in the field to keep track of events, equipment, meetings, take pictures and videos and keep in touch with each other. Here is Rochenel using his. (I was surprised how easily he caught on to using it.)

Valentines Banquet and Outreach

Carol and I, with the help of many friends, are putting on a Valentines Banquet for 72 people tonight (February 15).

Our warm-up for this event was hosting Francoise and Oden’s wedding reception of 40 people a month ago at our house!

We chose the verse inscribed on out wedding rings for the event:

Verse: “We love because He first loved us” I John 4:19

Purpose: To celebrate the wonder and joy of Christ’s love for us and his command to love one another by providing a wholesome and fun atmosphere for couples and singles to fellowship together.

The Menu is Filet Mignon or Salmon, Parmesan Potatoes, Green Beans Almandine and roasted vegetables with Cake and Ice cream for desert. (Ice cream costs about $10 US a half-gallon, so is a special treat!)

In addition to serving a nice meal, we are going to have a book and information table to encourage couples and singles to work on their relationships and seek God’s help.

So please pray for your marriage and marriages in Haiti and the world over as we celebrate God’s love for us tonight!

Mr. Mouse goes to School

http://www.funnypica.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Funny-and-Cute-Mouses-Funny-Mouse-Picture-006-FunnyPica.com_-570x380.jpg

There is a little mouse that is causing a stir at Quisqueya Christian School these days. Believe or not, one of the male students named him “Mr. Snuggles”. He slips in under the door of Carol’s classroom during class and runs around looking for food while she is teaching French. Although he already speaks French because he is a Haitian mouse, he wants to learn how to read French so he can be the first to write a Haitian “Mouse tale” or become the star of a mouse movie like “Fivo” or “Remy” in “Ratatouille”.

Some afternoons He has probably overheard Carol comforting a student after school who is going through a rough time.


At other times he sneaks in to enjoy the sound of laughter and enjoy the crumbs when Carol has a “French cuisine” party with yummy French pastries.

He also enjoys watching youtubes and movies in French that Carol sometimes shows her students now that she has a video projector in her room.

Sometimes he finds the room empty and leaves his “calling card” on her desk or floor so she knows he’s stopped by.

Now, however, he finds it more difficult to get into her room because they put a door sweeper on the bottom of the door so he can’t run in and out quickly like he used to. Nevertheless, he has chewed a corner off the plastic door sweeper so he still gets in, because he really likes the way Carol teaches!

Even when he leaves, you can hear kids screaming in the hallway as he goes by!

The Ten commandments

Francoise and Odens are now married, but they have a lot to learn about family life and teaching their 4 children about the things of God.

So I started with the basics by spending some time talking about the 10 commandments with Odens and cncouraging him to share what he learned with Francoise and the children.

So he has started to do this and yesterday he told me a story of how God is working through His Word in their family: Emmanuel, who is now 5, was fighting with a friend. So Odens explained that we fight when we are angry and if we don’t deal with our anger quickly and in the right way, and can ultimately lead us to kill someone. He told him Jesus told us to love our enemies and treat our neighbors as we would want to be treated. But we need Jesus’ help to obey. So little Emmanuel got down on his knees and asked Jesus to forgive him and to help him obey and love his friend he was fighting with, and tears started streaming down his little cheeks!

Odens may not know the Bible as well as we do, but he is putting what he knows into practice with his family. As James says:

1: 22-25 “22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

A Surprise Visit from Ambassador Football's International Director

Jonathan Ortlip, the International Director of Ambassadors Football called me a few weeks ago and said he wanted to come and visit for a few days since he hadn't been to visit in a few years.

So we picked up he and Aaron Treadway this morning and then at noon we picked up Jon's son Henry Ortlip. Henry is a photographer and videographer who is going to interview me for a short video about AF Haiti.

We are also exploring some potential partnerships with some other ministries while they are here.

More on this later this week...

The shipment has arrived!!!

Many thanks for everyone who donated and helped to pack the 15 barrels we just received in Haiti! They arrived in record time and with very little hassle! Thank you Crossing Community Church in Newtown PA for collecting, storing and all the help sending the equipment to Haiti.



Nothing was missing and we did not have to pay any extra customs or fees.

The only mishap was the truck that delivered them knocked down the top of our gate and it took a tall ladder and lots of effort to put it back in place.



This shipment will help us supply our teams with what they need to prepare for the National Futsal Tournament we hope to start in October of 2014.

This January is an important month in Haitian history

This January is an important month in Haitian history. On January 1st, the country celebrated its 210th year of independence from France and January 12th marks the fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake.

Since January 12th falls on a Sunday this year many churches are holding special services to commemorate the occasion.

Quisqueya Chapel where I sometimes lead worship has invited the Amputee Soccer team to sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in French to start out the service. We will also sing “It is Well with my Soul” by Spafford and Bliss to help comfort those who lost loved ones.
After church the Amputee team is holding a bake sale to raise money for their next trip to the Amputee World Cup in fall of 2014.

Although the Amputee team has received lots of positive press, their individual members still face discrimination daily and struggle to find enough work to feed their families.

So please pray for these dear brothers as God brings them to mind!

A Nice way to start the New Year

One of the first soccer coaches I worked with in Haiti, Lionel Nicholas, recently called me. He said he is coaching a secular soccer team as a volunteer but still tries to introduce his players to Christ. He encouraged me by saying that he still remembers many of the coaching and spiritual principles I taught him and is using them daily.

As you start this New Year why not call someone up who has helped you in the past and express your appreciation. It will make you feel good and really encourage your friend!

Christmas means sharing God's love with others!

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”



Since Carol and I were without our children for Christmas for the first time in our lives, we had time to do some “Good Works” which God had prepared in advance for us to do.

On short notice, I was asked to M.C. the Christmas Eve program at church where many talented people sang solos and read poems, etc. It kind of reminded me of New Year’s Eve at Crossing Community Church years ago, except a lot more serious! The service ended with us singing “Silent Night” as we all lit candles and turned off the lights.

Then on Christmas day we decided to go and visit a family we had helped after the earthquake (Venita & Bejano). So Carol made some casseroles and we packed up some small presents and drove up a mountain over rough roads to get to their home. It seemed like they were not home, so we knocked on the door of Venita’s sister-in-law to see if she knew where they were. When we stepped inside the house there was a tiny new-born baby lying on the bed. It turned out that the sister-in-law had just given birth on Dec. 24th to a baby girl! It turned out our friends were not home, so seeing that the sister-in-law was in need, we gave them the food and presents we had brought for Venita. She and her husband and two other young boys rejoiced over this unexpected blessing from God and we did too!

Then since we were close to Bolosse where we used to live and there was no traffic we decided to go and visit Elysee’s family – The Vaillants. It turned out that his whole family was there: Mom, two brothers and his sister with her two young daughters. We had some small presents for the children and enjoyed visiting with the family and praying for Elysee, who is still in prison.

The following day we had to go to the US Embassy to get something notarized and found out that a man we know who has cerebral palsy was in the hospital near there. So we decided to go and try and see him. Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic and dust, and our A/C is broken. But we finally made it. When we arrived, we found out that we could not visit him because it was not visiting hours. So we just asked someone to deliver a gift of money to him and left.

We had been talking with Grace, Joy and Ricky over the holidays, but Carol especially was missing being with our children. I had just seen Ricky and my family from Dec. 12-20th in Miami, but Carol had school that week.

So when Grace called feeling very homesick and needing to move out of her apartment by Jan. 1, Carol started to count up the points on our credit cards to see if she could get to Nashville to see Grace. Well, God made her Christmas wish come true and on Dec. 29th she flew to Nashville to be with Grace for a week.

In the meantime, we had promised to have Venita & Bejano and Francoise & Odens and their 8 children over during the holidays. So from Dec. 29 to Jan 1, I had them come to our house for a sleep over New Years party! As you can imagine I wasn’t lonely! I set up a baby pool, took them to two different playgrounds, a Christmas play and handed out the presents Carol had bought for them.







I was also able to do devotions each day on the 10 commandments and also encourage each couple in their relationship with each other.

The highlight of their visit was Dec. 31st when I had 22 people over for a New Year's Eve lunch.






So thanks to all of you who make it possible for us to be here in Haiti doing the Good Works that Christ has prepared for us to do!