Egdes

This is Egdes. A really sweet kid who lives next door. He comes over twice a week to do some yardwork, wash the car, put gas in the generator, etc. He's a hard worker and, like most people from the country, very pleasant. He's so nice to have around. Richard and Ricky have a good time playing soccer with him, his brother, his cousins and others from the neighborhood on our driveway.

He's probably around 14 or 15 and is in his first year of secondary school (just like Ricky). Richard has had some conversations with him about spiritual things. He said he has already trusted in Christ as his Savior.

You can pray for his growth and for God's will in his life. He was sent here from the country to live with his uncle so that he could continue his schooling. (There are almost no secondary schools outside of the cities in Haiti.) He had started and stopped because of money, but now he is going to school again.

My latest bulletin board

Well, it's not as good as the one Grace did for me, but this is what I was able to come up with for our drama section of the year.

Prayer Request - Missionary's son in jail

Please pray for Max, the son of a missionary. He was in school with Grace at QCS.
This article appeared in the Edmonton Sun today
Cut Haiti aid until son free: Missionary
By ALAN FINDLAY,

NATIONAL BUREAU
A Canadian missionary whose son has been jailed for eight months without charges in Haiti is calling on the Conservative government to withhold aid to the impoverished country.
Michel Charbonneau told Sun Media by telephone from Haiti yesterday his 20-year-old son Max will likely have to spend at least another eight or nine weeks in a Haitian jail awaiting word on charges over a kidnapping he and his parents say did not happen.
LEADING CONTRIBUTOR
"The only way that Max will be released is if the Canadian government freezes a part of the (aid) money or all of the money we are supposed to give them," said Charbonneau.
Canada is a leading contributor of aid to Haiti. The feds announced $520 million last summer for several initiatives. Originally from St. Hyacinthe, Que., the Charbonneaus have been running a Haitian mission, including food and medical care for thousands of kids, since 1996.
Their son Max, who lived with them in Haiti before returning to Quebec after graduation, was arrested during a visit last summer.
OLD SCHOOL FRIEND
His father said Max was arrested over an incident involving an old school friend. According to Charbonneau, the friend had asked Max for a ride after having a problem at home. He borrowed his parents' car, drove her to a nearby hotel and returned home, said Charbonneau.
Three days later, the police arrested him for kidnapping. He has spent the past eight months in prison while a judge decides whether he will be charged.
Charbonneau said the ordeal has been particularly difficult after spending the past nine years helping thousands of impoverished Haitian children.

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.

One more from the AIS leaders' visit...

This is a picture of the AIS leaders who visited us last week as they clapped for Margaret to thank her for the delicious food she prepared for
them. She is a real blessing to have around. She works for us Monday-Friday and sometimes Saturdays. She is a wonderful Christian, who has a great attitude about everything. She's like family to all of us. You can pray for her because she and her boyfriend have been waiting patiently, for a few years, for God to provide a job for him so that they can get married.

Elysee's Birthday & Prayer Request

Saturday, we had a party for Elysee. Feb. 28th was his birthday and he came home to Port-au-Prince for the weekend. His Dad's birthday was Saturday, so we celebrated both. This picture shows Elysee with his Dad and Jenica, Elysee's God-daughter.

We also have a prayer request for him and Croyance.--for their safety in the northern town of St. Michel.

We were so happy that Elysee and Croyance got jobs out in the country and got to leave the troubled area of Bolosse. But, just recently, the UN police began a new tactic. They decided to take over the buildings where the gangs were based in Cite Soleil (ghetto of Port-au-Prince). Although some gang leaders were arrested, some of them got away and fled to other parts of Haiti. We just found out that one of (if not the) most notorious ganster, comes from St. Michel, so he decided to move his whole "army" back there for a while (Between 50 to 100 "soldiers").

Prayer Request : church

Please pray with us about our church situation. We have not yet gotten settled in a church. While we were making the transition to living in Haiti again, we visited the Haitian church we used to attend (Bolosse), The Fellowship House (Sunday AM outreach ministry to upper class Haitian run by CrossWorld folks) and Quisqueya Chapel ("QC", an English Missionary church very close to our house). We kept thinking we'd visit the church out in Croix-des-Bouquets because it's close to the Cazeau house where we hope to establish a ministry house. (see blog entry of Feb. 28th.) We were delayed in visiting the Croix-des-Bouquets church for several reasons--we wanted to talk to the pastor first, and we heard there were security problems there. Then, Ricky was invited to play drums once a month at QC. Then, some weeks, (confession time...) we just didn't think ahead/plan ahead and by default went to the English church. The UEBH (the association of churches we work with) asks all the missionaries to attend a UEBH church, however, it is a challenge, especially for the kids who don't understand as much Creole and just because of cultural differences. We regret to admit that we haven't dealt with this sooner.
We have been taking steps to resolve this issue in the past few weeks and I thought it would be good to ask you to help us pray about it. We are looking into a church start-up being led by a UEBH pastor in our area. We are also considering making a plan to attend English church once a month. We are also thinking about listening to a podcast or audio cassette or watching a video of a sermon together as a family. (If you have any suggestions, please let us know--we already know about Davisville's podcasts, Calvary Philly & Calvary Central Bucks.)

A Few Important Prayer Requests

1. "Kay Cazeau" (possible ministry center)- Many of you have seen the pictures of Roger Cazeau's property in Croix-des-Bouquets (just outside of Port-au-Prince) and have prayed about the use of it for our ministry. And many of you know how amazing it seemed that Roger was praying for the property to be used for ministry, that he wants to help the children of Haiti, that he loves soccer and that he wanted us to have a ministry center there for AIS Haiti.
Well, we have 2 important prayer requests concerning this property.
Someone has started excavating to build on part of the property where we saw kids playing soccer last time we were there. Whoever is building does not have Roger's permission, but apparently they may feel that since Roger hasn't been to Haiti in so long, he forfeits his ownership. Roger has been managing the property through someone else, renting some of the space to a school. We want to help Roger find out what's going on and we need to know if God wants us to do something there.
Also, there have been some kidnappings out there not too long ago, so we're unsure about the security of the area...Is God keeping us away from danger? It seems he is at least for now, but that may not be the end of the story.

2. An office for AIS-Haiti - We've been praying about where and how to set up an office for AIS-Haiti, a place for Rich to at least begin... Now an opportunity has come up that might just be God's answer, but we're asking for you to join us in a concerted effort to ask God if this is His will for now, and if it is how we should approach the finances of it. There is an office that Rich could share with another ministry right across the street from QCS (where Carol works & the kids go everyday). It seems like a great opportunity because it is convenient for us and for people who will work with us (a lot easier for them to get to than our house on public transportation). Since we would share the office, we would only have to pay about $125US/month, however the owner may ask for more when the lease is up April 1st.

3. Sale of Box Truck - The International box truck has served it's purpose well. Now, we are attempting to sell it to put the money where we think it would better serve the ministry. Please pray for God's will and wisdom to know how much to accept for it.

We appreciate your prayers so much.

What is Futsal

In my last post I mentioned Futsal...
Our readers who are soccer fanatics probably know already, but, for some of us, Futsal is a new concept, so.....

Futsal is actually a compact form of soccer that is played with amazing speed and breathtaking footwork.
It is a sport that is a derivative of soccer and played with five-man teams on a basketball style court, with no walls and a smaller (size 3) low-bouncing ball, unlike the traditional sport of U.S. indoor soccer played with six-man squads and walls on an ice hockey rink.
The term Futsal is the international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer", FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish word for "indoor", SALon or SALa.
While it is mostly played indoors, any basketball court or rectangular area could be used to play the game.
Want to know more? Check out the site where I found the above definition:
From: http://ussoccerplayers.com/resource_center/questions_answers/397119.html

In some countries it is popular because it can be played indoors when the weather is not cooperating outdoors. In our case, it's attractive because less space is necessary. In Port-au-Prince, a city of about 2 1/2 to 3 million people, with mountains surrounding it, it's hard to find land for a regulation sized soccer field. Secondly, there's the economic issue of doing anything in Haiti. It will be much more practical for Haitian teams to develop a futsal court.

AIS visitors!

This week we have Jon Ortlip, International Director of AIS, Aaron Tredway, Executive Director of the Cleveland City Stars (CCS) (www.clevelandcitystars.com) and Carlos Calderson, reserve team coach/manager of the CCS. Jon and Carlos arrived with no travel problems on Thursday. In fact, they said it seemed easier to get into Haiti than it was to get into several other countries they have visited! Aaron Tredway arrived Friday morning after getting very little sleep. He was delayed because of a problem getting his passport.

Friday they visited with the Haitian Soccer Federation and then visited the national stadium (Sylvio Cator Stadium) and the training "ranch" for the Haitian National teams. The U17 team was there and they came out to meet our group. Jon amazed Rich with how well he still speaks Creole. (For those who don't know, Jon grew up here.)

The meetings went well--the main subject of the discussion being the goal of bringing the Cleveland City Stars, (www.clevelandcitystars.com, a United Soccer League Division 2 team) to Haiti for a tour, in which they would play the Haitian National U23 team as well as a Futsal team. They talked about the players sharing a message of hope with the teams and spectators.

The ideas and even the prospective dates (May 31-June 10th) received an initial OK. (As an extra blessing, the Federation even offered use of their air-conditioned bus!)

Today ( Saturday) they are meeting with the UEBH (Union Evangelique Baptist d'Haiti), with Bobby Duval, who has a non-profit soccer academy here in Port-au-Prince and hopefully with others who are interested in soccer ministry in Haiti.

The team will help to establish AIS-Haiti by demonstrating Footsal to more people, doing clinics and creating excitement for bringing hope through soccer.

The Big Bike Hike

Since everything closes down here for a few days for Mardi Gras, Richard and Ricky went on a bike hike with some friends from school. A driver took them and their bikes out to the country and they rode toward the border with the Dominican Republic. They crossed over and rode around a lake that is near the border. It was a pretty challenging trip--one day they rode 65 kilometers. They battled hills, heat and hellish mosquitos (had to get in another "h" there :)).

They saw crocodiles, 3-foot long "lizards", lots of egrets (in Haiti we only see them rarely) and more. They took a boat out to an uninhabited island and saw some cave drawings.

It seems it was one of those macho guy adventures (this is the "MamaMea" report of the story, of course) on which Ricky made a significant step in manhood ;). On the first day when they had biked a long way in the blazing hot sun and kept hearing "yeah I think we're really close to the hotel now," Ricky took a spill trying to adjust something on his bike. Thankfully, there weren't many cars on the road and he was far enough to the right not to be hit. He got scraped up pretty badly and ended up with a big bruise on his hip, but nothing worse. Richard then offered that they hitch a ride with a truck that could take them and their bikes to the town, but Ricky brushed himself off, and got back on the bike and rode to the town.

They really enjoyed the trip and we're grateful to Ad and Ardjan DeBlaeij who loaned them a bike and lots of other stuff and led the hike after scoping it out last year.

Visit to an orphanage

UPDATE: We went back to the orphange yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and did more of the same. Some of the girls hadn't had a chance to make necklaces and on Monday we didn't have any ink pads for the rubber stamps we brought. I continued reading with them in the books I had brought. Some of the girls stayed interested and stayed with me. But, there were several distractions and the empty tiled room echoes a lot. So, for some I think it was good.

One thing I really loved was helping some of the girls who were never in school before this orphanage started a couple months ago with their writing. One little girl couldn't write her name, so I wrote it and helped her copy the letters. At first one girl was embarrassed because I asked her if she could write the alphabet. Some of the girls who were probably between 9 and 12 years old, could write numbers, but needed help, or could recognize and copy the alphabet when I write it for them to copy. I was amazed by how happy they were to be given pencils and paper and how motivated they were to work on this.
Since we have off from school for Carnaval/Mardi Gras, and Richard and Ricky went on a 3 day bike hike, Joy and I went to an orphanage started by friends (Joy's good friend, Ari, and her family) just before Christmas.
We did crafts with them. (Yes, Joy did crafts--a true missionary willing to sacrifice!:)) We made necklaces and bracelets with foam beads and let them make pictures or cards. Then we started reading a comic-style booklet that tells the whole story of the Bible. These were given to us by the Frank & June Williams and the kids really like them. We read in French and translated into Creole. Only a few of the girls have been in school long enough to read or understand French. These girls were taken off the streets and given a place to live beginning just before Christmas by this wonderful family, The Manasserros (sp?).

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.

A job for Croyance

We are praising God because our friend, Croyance has started an internship at Fonkoze (the credit union where our friend, Elysee works). If all goes well, he should get a job with them in about a month's time.

Many of you have been praying for him and you know that he was the chaplain of the Lemuel Football Club for several years and helped keep the club going while we were away in the States. Unfortunately, this opportunity means that he will be moving up north.

Here they are with their son, Reuben

He is sad to leave the

ministry he was starting in Port-au-Prince, but he and his wife, Syliane both have family up in that area. Another great thing is that he will be working directly with Elysee.

Please pray for them--that this will turn into a permanent job if it is the Lord's will.

"Our house....is a very very very fine house...with 2 dogs in the yard"

Here are some pics of our house...in case you're curious.

We praise God for how quiet and peaceful it's been in this neighborhood and for Pastor and Mrs. Hantz Bernard who are renting it to us at an affordable price.









our "puppy" Lexi and good 'ole Shadow...sometimes we call her Nanny Shadow

Here is the view from the "roof" porch. ...Come see us sometime!!

Visit to Bassin Bleu - Waterfall

Even though it's been over a month, I wanted to share the fun we had at Bassin Bleu near Jacmel at Christmas.

To get to Bassin Bleu, you have to drive a ways off the road

through a river....

Then you hike a short distance...

A new development....they now have cement stairs to get up to the point where you can get in to the "bassin"...

Then you go down the rocks into the bassin.

There's Grace going down...and

that's me with the aqua shorts & black shirt!

Then you swim in front of the waterfall.

If you're brave you climb up next to the waterfall and....

JUMP!

like Joy

and Ricky...

Bulletin Board by Grace

Before Grace left she did a bulletin board for my classroom. I loved hearing the students comments (before they knew it was my daughter who did it). "Wowwww....!" The Director of the school said that we're taking the bulletin board standards to a whole new level. I love it, because it's like a little part of Grace is still here with me.

We've been studying poetry, so she included excerpts from some poems that have been hanging around the room and some that she liked and she illustrated some of the concepts in an abstract, fantasy-like picture with an antique-y feel to it. Well, a picture is worth a thousands words....

Bursting Waterbed

Or what happens when you turn on the hose to fill a waterbed and then sit down to watch Ice Age 2?
We were falling asleep on the couches in front of this silly movie when we suddenly remembered that we had left the hose running into Joy's waterbed. We jumped up (suddenly VERY awake) and found

This:
...stood frozen for a couple of seconds (probably screamed) wondering if it would burst in front of our eyes... ran in all different directions (feeling like we were all of a sudden living one of those exaggerated animated films where things stretch way beyond capacity before they burst)...I ran for the outdoor bathroom where the hose was connected (to shut off the water), Joy ran for a bucket, Richard and Ricky for rags. AFterwards we could laugh.
That was by far the biggest water ballon we've ever seen.
We wondered about how many pounds it must have weighed at that point. We drained a whole lot out and it seems to be OK. wow.

Lemuel Players Chosen to try out for National Team

Two of the Lemuel Football Club members (here we go again....I said the club closed, but what can you say when players are chosen to try out for the national team?!) have been chosen to go to the tryouts for the Haitian National Team. We are trying to set up practices and provision for extra food for these players so that they will do well at the tryouts. We don't know how good their chances are, but it's pretty exciting anyway.

Lemuel Club Scholarships

I know I said we had a closing program for Lemuel Football Club, :) but at around the same time, money was donated by Richard's former coworkers at ECTS to give scholarships to some of the Lemuel Club players. Richard felt that the national leaders should decide which guys would receive them. After they discussed it for a while, they wanted Richard's input. Finally, last week the awards were given. In the end, we were a little disappointed that the money was spread so thin--among so many kids--that each one only got the equivalent of around $15-$50 US (amounts varied depending on a few criteria). But that can pay for 1 to 3 months of school and the national leaders felt that it would be best this way. The players were happy to receive it.

Thank you ETCS employees for this special gift!

Here are the boys who received scholarships: