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!

Give a Kid a Kid Christmas 2013

Here's a link for our video about our Give a Kid a Kid Christmas program



$100 buys one goat and training

$1,200 buys goats for a whole team!

$50 provides training for 2 players



To donate a goat to one of our players, please go to www.ambassadorsfootball.org/donate

On the donate page, scroll down to "Support an Ambassadors Ministry" Click on the little triangle.

Then choose "Give a kid a kid - Haiti" near the bottom of the list. If you would like to give to the ministry in Haiti in general, then choose "Ambassadors Haiti" on the menu.

On the next page scroll down to enter the amount and credit card information.

One goat is $100 US, including training and medical care, but you can give any amount.

Thank you so much for your interest in what we are doing in Haiti!

A teachable moment!

Each morning I drive Carol and our neighbor's 4 year old daughter to school named Saphia. When we arrive, Carol goes to her classroom and I usually give Saphia a piggy-back ride to the kinergarten playground where she waits until classes start about 30 minutes later.

Usually there are several teen-age girls there to greet us and watch the children before school starts, but this morning I did not see any girls there waiting for us.

So I decided to stay with Saphia and wait until they showed up.

While waiting we talked about many things, and then Saphia said she would like to touch a branch on a tree. So her climb a sliding board near a tree and by standing on the top (with me holding her of course), she could touch the branch of a tree. By this time there were other children waiting for the school to start and so I let them all have a turn touching the tree branch.

Then they wanted to climb a tree, so I took them over to a tree and taught them how to climb it. At first some of them were scared, but the tree was next to a wall, and when the other kids said they could see cars and people over the wall, the ones that were scared got up their courage and climbed as well.

It was a thrill to see them overcome their fears and experience something new, as well as learning a new skill.

That is one of the things that makes teaching fun!

I saw that this was one of those "teachable moments" and had them sit down at a picnic table and asked them if they knew anyone in the Bible who had climbed a tree. Apparently they had not heard the story of Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10), because they could not think of anyone. So I taught them a kids song about Zaccheus, and told them the story.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And as the Savior passed that way
He looked up in that tree
And He said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today
For I’m going to your house to stay”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV8wFANocHY

I told them that before meeting Jesus, Zaccheus stole money from the people by charging too much for taxes. One of the little girls said "Is this story true?" I said "yes", She said "Well I'm glas Zaccheus is not around now because I don't want him to steal from me." Then I went on to explain how Zaccheus said he would stop stealing because he wanted to follow Jesus and asked forgiveness for the bad things he had done.

So these little ones learned how to climb a tree today, and also heard about how Jesus will forgive them for the bad things they have done. All because of teachable moment!

What "teachable moments" will you look for today with your children or grandchildren?

Francoise has a baby boy!

Francoise, the single Mom who lived with us after the earthquake for a year with her 3 children has just had her 4th child! A healthy 7.7 pounds baby boy. She was assisted in the birth by her fiance, the Father of the baby. They are planning a wedding in December. While this is not God's preferred order (First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage), God ordained the birth of this child and has a good plan for him.

Carol was present at the birth and got to hold the baby moments after he was born. We have been letting the couple stay at our house for a few days while the mother recuperates from the natural birth and they can enjoy a modern bathroom and 24 hour electricity.

Odens, Francoise's fiance has been very gentle with her and the baby and seems like he is going to be a good father.

Francoise now has 2 girls and 2 boys, all of them happy and healthy. Children are a blessing from the Lord!

Awestruck at being present for the birth of Francoise's baby!

When we got a phone call at 6 am, I said “I wonder if Francoise is going to have the baby?” Sure enough if was Odense telling us that her water had broken at 3 am.



Originally Françoise had wanted a home birth with a midwife like she had with her other children. But we were suggesting that that wouldn’t be a good idea because at that time she lived in an area that was pretty accessible. Where she lives now, if she had had an emergency situation, someone would have had to help her down a small cliff to the ravine and take her down the ravine a few hundred yards to where the car so she could get to a hospital. So we invited her to stay at our house when the time was coming close.

A little over a week ago, when we thought she still had a month to go, she went into labor. Then the labor stopped and she was on bed rest. It was a rough time for her. Then her doctor asked for another sonogram and when he saw it he said he thought the baby would be born within a few days. He was right about that, but he said the baby was small. Apparently a lot of babies born in this country are low birth weight babies, but this little boy weighed 7.7 lbs. So I guess the original due date was wrong.

When we first got to the clinic, we were happy to see that it was nice and clean, but when we questioned the request to buy pitossin and antibiotics, we were told that we should take her somewhere else if we didn't agree with that. This was the clinic where Francoise received all her prenatal care and she felt comfortable there, so finally we all agreed to stay. The first nurse was not very kind or friendly. But I guess she was perturbed when I tried to suggest that she wouldn’t need pitossin to get labor going since the water had already broken. I didn’t like the idea of giving her the antibiotic just in case of any infection that might happen because where I’m from they don’t like babies to have antibiotics. But, Francoise said that this clinic had a good reputation—many women we know have had their babies there, so I kept quiet and prayed. First prayer answered: First nurse went off duty! :) The second one was nicer. Next prayer answered: Nurse #1 forgot to open up the drip for the pitossin—so all the labor was natural. But later the other nurse opened it up, presumably to help with the placenta.

After checking Francoise's blood pressure (normal) when we first got there, we never saw the doctor again. Guess that's why you can have a normal birth here for about $30.US. Thank you US AID for subsidizing this clinic!

I was the first one to hold the baby in my arms, even though I tried to tell the nurse to let Odens hold him first! But everyone else wsa busy helping Francoise. After a little guilt, I enjoyed it. He’s a beautiful baby. He seemed very healthy except that his body was fairly blue/pale. His face was nice and pink though and he was breathing pretty well, just had a little mucus. He cried well when he was born and then he looked alert. He also tugged back well when I held his hand and tugged gently. He found his thumb to suck and liked that a lot. Then he nursed. Mama and baby are doing well! - Carol

PS : After a little research I found out that as medical professionals are trying to reduce maternal mortality, they encourage the use of oxytocin (pitossin) for postnatal use to avoid postpartum hemorrhage.

I also found out that more than 500,000 women die each year in childbirth--99% of them in third world countries. So the systematic use of antibiotics is in reaction to that. I don't think there was a risk, or hardly at all for infection in this birth. In the US and other countries it's not considered safe to give antibiotics to a pregnant woman unless there is a serious infection because of the risk for the child.