Dec 26,2011

We know everyone has had a very busy holiday season.  The same here.  On Dec 9th the Runk's arrrived on compound to spend a couple of months here. We love having them and of course the children are a delight.Dec 10th Ronnie Blackwell from Danville, KY brought a team of 8 men to be with us for a week.  WOW !! we worked them hard. The first day we  sorted and sacked over 500 Christmas bags. Thanks to the team...they were able to bring down 8 duffel bags of toys from our home church Walnut Memorial Baptist Church in Owensboro. These toys plus all the extra toys that were brought down during the year made up the gifts for the school children.  The next few days the men worked on building forms to make a concrete pour on the expanded grease pit where we work on vehicles. On Thursday we did the pour....around 19 yards of cement all mixed on the ground. Friday was a day of blessings.  We gave out the Christmas gifts to our Kindergarten, Morning School and the Afternoon School  The smiles and the laughter on the face of the children was worth it all.  Sorry each of you couldn't be here to share in the give away. As the team shared in their debriefing....Friday was worth the entire trip. Another ministry shared over 300 boxes of gifts so we were able to give to other schools and orphanages.Wednesday we gave to another Kindergarten of 40 children plus 106 kids up the mountain at Blanquet school.  There we were also able to give out dresses made by many ladies in churches in the US.
Thank you so much for helping make this time of the year special for so many.
Christmas Eve:  What a special time.  It is the night when we invite all our staff...American and Haitian that  live on the compound to come and share in our home.  We started with a time of prayer then we read the Christmas story found in Luke 2 ...in both Creole and English.  It was time for the food and fellowship around the table. As we finished the food the kids were anxious to see what was under the tree. Mme Girard, Cecile, Saul, his wife and three children opened their gifts.  One gift was a song book so that started our time of singing. Everyone participated. We had quartets, solos, etc. Lots of laughter and fun. As we ended in prayer we knew we had just experienced Christmas.
Christmas Day.  The Heady's and Runk's shared a lovely Christmas breakfast at the Erickson's home. We opened gifts and then it was time for David to go to Shekina to preach. At 2pm we had dinner at our home. We invited the only 3 Americans  with Samaritan's Purse left on the compound for the holidays. All 11 of us had a great time of food and fellowship....way too much food!!!

Dec 7, 2011

WHEW!  Great days of travel but wonderful to be back in Haiti. We returned about a week ago.  Catching up is always a challenge.  We had a blessed time in our 3 Mission Conferences...Lee University, Christ Church and Global Outreach. Our travel to visit 6 missionary units in Ecuador was also a blessing. It is exciting to see how the Lord is using each one of them to accomplish His ministry in each of their areas.  As we visited each one I'm saying..."I would love to be here". Ecuador is such a beautiful country.  They have lush country sides and lots of vegetation. However...my heart was at peace when we returned to Haiti knowing this is the place the Lord has called us and His call has never been more clear.  As we age...David will be 72 the 20th of this month...we know there are things in the future that will change but our hearts for Haiti are still strong. Working in a physical way may not be able to continue long term but working in the spiritual will always  be a possibility. God called...and that call has not been revoked.
We have a BUSY year 2012  ahead as our team schedule is FULL. This is so exciting knowing that God is still calling out people to work in His Kingdom.
Please pray for laborers to help.  We need an office manager, a teacher to help oversee the schools, at least 2 couples to come and work along side the staff we have now.

Oct.19,2011

David's trip to Africa has been good. Long and tiring but very timely. He and Pete will return to the US Thursday night. They will arrive in Memphis and hopefully David will be back in KY on Friday. We will be leaving on Sunday for TN to do two different Mission conferenes that will go from Oct 24th- Oct 30th then on to MS and Ecuador. It is rare that David and I travel without the other but this trip has given me time in KY to spend time with family and get some much needed things done here such as preparing us to be on the road and in the air traveling for the next full month. We covet your prayers....you know we aren't getting any younger!!!
Please pray for our staff in Haiti. They are doing a wonderful job but the load is heavy. They just finished a team of 10 and all went well. They showed the Jesus film in a new area in TiTanyen and 40 people accepted Jesus as their personal savior. PTL! They have another team coming in about 10 days. I know they will need this time to catch up on all their administrative things too. They continue to work on the construction of the new church in TiTanyen and they have started another home for a family still living in a tent.

Oct.7th, 2011

David is flying to South Africa today. He and Pete Gibson ...from our home office...will be visiting several of our missionaries in Zambia and South Africa. Please pray for them as they make this journey. We know it will be an encouragement for those they are going to see. I will be staying in KY while David is traveling.
The last two months I have been filling in for the nurses in the Burn Clinic...first Sheryl...while they took a much needed time out and then for Linda as she and Glen took some time to visit family and take care of some business. Burns are such a terrible injury. It is so difficult to watch the suffering of these patients but so rewarding to see their burns heal. We have many patients for 3,4, 5 months and more. You really get attached to them. We have a 94 year old lady that was burned on both her legs from her knees down. Her family has been so faithful to bring her every day. Some days it took four of us to minister to her needs. What a strong lady...both in the physical and in the spiritual. Many days we sang to calm her as we dressed her legs.
Sept 21st-26th.Sally Betro and Teresa from Atlanta, GA came to do a teacher's conference. What a blessing to have people pour their lives into our teachers and give them teaching tips and of course encouragement.
It is always hectic trying to leave Haiti for a few weeks....trying to get everything caught up so the load won't be so heavy on those we leave. David and I will be in the US for several weeks. When he returns from South Africa we have couple of days to do his laundry and head out again.
Oct 24- 25th we will be in a Missions Conf. in Cleveland, TN at Lee University
Oct 26-30 we will be at Christ Church Mission conference in Nashville, TN. Return to KY to repack and go to Tupelo on Nov 2nd for a Mission conference and GO Board meeting. We should be back in KY on Nov 6th and then we both fly to Ecuador Nov. 10-21st. We have several missionary units to visit during these days. REST?????

Sept 21, 2011

The Brenize's arrived on the 8th. Eileen always comes with "goodies" in hand. This time it was peaches, apples and she always brings David her homemade fruit cake. They were a blessing to all. Dave did so many maintenance jobs...hard to name them all but the steps to my container are much safer now because he remade them. Eileen had meetings everyday with some of her Flannelgraph program leaders. She sent in 8 new complete set of the Flannelgraph and now it isn't enough because more programs are starting up. PTL!
Sept 10th a team from our home area arrived. What a blessing. Dr Michael Braden...eye doctor in Owensboro...his wife Trish, son Jarrett and daughter Ellen along with Tommy Heifner.. Matt and Leesa Pendley. They set up an eye clinic in our Burn Clinic. They had told me they wanted to give complete eye exams not just check to see if they needed reading glasses. The old people from our feeding program were the first patients. What a challenge....so many people here cannot read. We had to use charts with symbols but even then one of the old ladies told me she could see the shape but she had no idea what to call it. Michael was so good as he patiently took so much time with each one. Each patient that needed glasses were allowed to select a frame and then the team took the frames back to Owensboro, KY where they will make each prescription for each person. We will bring them back to Haiti after our time out in the US.
The greatest blessing was to see the patients faces when they received a new Bible. They had their choice of a French or Creole. Some said "why give a Bible to the ones who can't read?" They will take this Bible home and someone in their family will read it to them>>>> The team thought they would give away 60 Bibles....they gave 123 away. PTL!!!

Sept. 7, 2011

Everyone has been working toward school opening on Sept 5th...now the government changed the dates until Oct 3rd. Sure makes for a late date getting out next summer.
The wedding dresses were a "hit". Eight couples were married at TiTanyen church last Saturday. It is such a blessing to see these couples get their lives on the right track. So many have just lived together so long and now that they are saved they see the need to marry. The church helps them as much as they are able but you can see what a blessing the wedding dresses are for each bride.
The Brumley's returned on Friday. Great to have them back. The Erickson's left on Sat. and will be out for over 3 weeks. Pray for them as they travel to 3 states to see their kids and grandchildren. Clinic continues to be very busy. We never lack for patients. I filled in for Sheryl while she was out and now am filling in for Linda while she is away. August is the month I give out school funds for sponsored children. The families of sponsored school children are so grateful to receive these funds. We want to thank each one of you who supports a child in school. Every year we think prices can't go higher and every year they do...especially their books.
Dave and Eileen Brenize will arrive tomorrow for a week. It is always good to have them back here. They ministered with us for 6 years on the GO compound. Eileen continues to direct a ministry called Hope for Tomorrow...there are around 30 Haitian teams in our area and the mountains that do flannelgraph programs weekly for the children in their village. What a ministry.

Wednesday August 31, 2011

Despite all the troubling weather in and around the Caribbean we were blessed to only receive a little wind and about 3/4" of rain out of Irene. We know that the tents and temporary shelters would have had a difficult time standing in hurricane force winds and rain.
The Gateway team left on Saturday. What a great team. Really flexible. Linda Sullivan collected and sent down a large number of wedding dresses along with mother's of the bride or matron of honor dresses so we needed to find a place for all of them. (we loan these out to ladies in the community). Linda Erickson and I cleaned out the back of one of our containers and had one of our guys build racks to hang all the dresses on. What a blessing to have them in good plastic zip bags. We have them hanging in order of sizes, etc. So much easier to work with when the ladies come. We also have a section in the container where they can try the dresses on. The team ladies were so helpful in organizing all these.
We continue to work on the new TiTanyen church. What a huge undertaking. To date this will be the largest church we've been involved in constructing. We are praying that we have a lot of partners come along side us to carry the financial load of the construction. The church congregation is doing its part. Each week they have a "contest" between the men and women on giving to the construction of the church. YEAH!! for the women. They have out given the men 5 weeks to 1. It is a joy to see them giving with a cheerful heart.

August 23,2011

The last few days have been "catch up" time for us. Getting lots of things done that have to be set aside when we have teams.

We've been so blessed to have Mary King staying here on the compound while her husband Curt is well drilling. They've worked in Haiti for years and she is a nurse and speaks Creole. She has been so gracious to work in the clinic while Sheryl Brumley and family take a much needed time out....speaking of Sheryl...she had surgery to remove a complex cyst off her thyroid. The surgery required removing the right lobe of her thyroid. PTL! all the tests came back normal and they will return to Haiti on schedule the first of Sept.

Last Thursday Linda Erickson, Mary King and I had the pleasure of doing crafts for the 150 youth attending the Youth Conference at TiTanyen Church. Thanks to the last teams here on the compound we had white T-shirts and sun visors for them to paint and decorate. They made "salvation bracelets" and we had enough other new T-shirts to give everyone a new shirt to take home. The biggest hit of the day was Mary teaching the youth to make balloon animals.

I started giving out school funds to the sponsored children thinking school was starting Sept 4th. What a disappointment to all when the Minister of Education decided that schools won't open until Oct 3rd. They opened in Oct last year. We understood this was due to the earthquake. God knows?

Gateway Church in TX sent a team of 8 here last Saturday. They have been very flexible to do whatever. The kitchen in the Afternoon school needed major work. They've scraped, washed and painted the walls. The guys picked up the stoves with 5 large burners and brought them to the GO compound to be degreased, scraped, cleaned and painted. They also installed 3 new burners. The ladies have painted all the brown trim on the Kindergarten...lots of block windows so it's been very time consuming.

August 9, 2011

We've been extremely busy since our last update but it's been a great time of ministry. The Fellowship team painted the clinic addition the first couple of days and ministered with a young peoples program in TiTanyen...overseen by the Brumley's. These are some of the children in the village who don't attend church. They come to the program each Saturday for a Bible story, games and food. On Saturday the team went up the mountain to another children's program and ministered there for a few hours. The kids were thrilled as the American played games, etc.
While part of our staff was working with the Fellowship team David was at the airport picking up a team from Westport Rd Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. This team consisted of the pastor, his wife and two teenage children, the church's administrator and her husband and 3 teenagers.
These teams, along with 5 people here working with well drilling and David Jr. his wife Betsy, Ben Scott and a 19 year old young man from Louisville made for a GREAT week of ministry. Accomplished a lot too. David Jr and Betsy took one team and I took the other team. Both of our schools were painted inside and out. The Fellowship team was able to spend a day ministering and blessing another orphanage in TiTanyen. My Kindergarten director had asked me the week before if we had someone who could paint some more cartoon characters on the outside of the school. I told her we didn't have anyone that I knew of who could do this. Well..........God always has a plan. Alyssa, the pastor's daughter, said.."Oh, I can do that." She sketched out characters on the wall and the rest of the team helped paint them all. They are so cute. The Louisville team also did a VBS for an orphanage about 4 miles up the road from us. They had a great time. One young man from the orphanage plays the trumpet. As we arrived and got out of the van he started playing the Star Spangled Banner. The team was shocked and so was I. Then they played their Haitian national anthem. It was a joy for all.
Ben and David Jr also helped us with some much needed maintenance............electrical, etc. They shared with everyone that they were not electricians but sons of electricians so they wouldn't guarantee their work.
What a week....16 teenagers and not one complaint or whining out of any of them. God is good !! Great groups !!

July 28, 2011

Picked up a team of 12 yesterday. They are from Fellowship Church in Brentwood, TN. Two adults with 10 9th and 10th graders. They will be working with a children's program in TiTanyen for a couple of days and then with another children's program in the mountains on Saturday. Lots of painting for them to do too. The Burn Clinic addition is finished and ready for a coat of paint.
David Jr, Betsy, Ben Scott and Mitch (a friend of David Jr's) will arrive tomorrow. On Saturday a team of 9 will arrive from Westport Rd Baptist Church, Louisville, KY . We have 5 others here drilling wells too. Never dull.....lots of people. I've run out of beds to sleep people until after Aug 6th. PRAY for our strength as we attempt to mix all these groups and accomplish what the Lord wants done in the next 10 days.

July 27 ,2011

Great Week. July 18th a team from Christ Life Church in Tempe, AZ arrived led by Pastor Phil Goldsberry. He was accompanied by his son-in-law Brendon, son Phillip and wonderful support group for a total of 11. We were blessed to have 4 days of VBS....two days in the mountains at Blanquet Church and 2 days at Shekina Church. I was so impressed by the organization of this team...everything they did they did with excellence....from the Bible story teaching to the crafts and then the games. Everything pointed the children to Jesus. Each one of them showed the love of Jesus to these 300 children. I think there were around 45 young people that prayed to receive Christ and many others prayed for a stronger walk with Him. This team also worked toward painting the outside of Shekina church. This is a very large church and they only had a couple of afternoons to paint. Trisha..one of the team members worked in the kitchen a couple of afternoons showing our Haitian staff some new recipes. They loved it.

July 15, 2011

Monday July 11th Brian Tyndall...COO for our GO Home office arrived with his 17 year old son Caleb. It was their first time in Haiti. Great to be able to show them the ministry here. Our only regret was they arrived to late to see the Gran Moun Feeding program Monday morning and all our schools closed on July 8th. Sorry they missed the kids...especially the Kindergarten children. We were able to show them a lot of the ministry and they were able to spend time with each of our couples and their families plus Pastor Kelly. On Thursday they flew to Jacmel to visit with the Whittaker's before flying back to PAP on Friday morning. We had enough time for David to bring them back to the compound for lunch with all our staff and then back to PAP to fly back to the US.
Thursday morning we received a call that our container was on the road to the compound. WOW!!! We loaded the container on June 4th in Nashville. The container left Nashville on the 7th of June . July 7th it arrived in Haiti and believe it or not....it cleared customs and was on the GO property at 10:30 am this Thursday morning. (normally it is at least 4 to 6 weeks clearing customs). EVERYONE was enlisted to unload this container. We worked 5 hrs on Thursday and about 7 hrs today to complete the task. Needless to say it was a HOT HOT job. What made it more difficult was we had some huge shelving for our warehouse on the container plus 600 sheets of 15ft metal roofing for the new TiTanyen Church. Lots of clothes, shoes, blankets, folding chairs, ice maker, copier, welder generator, etc filled out the container. Lots of things to bless a lot of people. We want to thank everyone who contributed the items and especially those who came to Nashville to help load. Praise the Lord !!!!

July 13, 2011

July 2nd a great team arrived. ...Mark Green, his wife Linda, daughters Taylor, Danielle and Jessica with son Travis and his wife Shalane. Also on the team were 5 very mature, well mannered high school seniors....Ethan, Jordon, Ashton, Kelly and Ally. What a wonderful time we had with this group. We were blessed to hear how God touched each one of them as they opened their hearts to hear from the Lord. We had the team going in several different directions. Some worked each morning at the clinic, some painted the schools...(Thanks guys for resurrecting the cartoon characters on the wall of the Kindergarten.) Some of these painting were peeling and they were able to refurbish them. Several of the guys went on the well repair team. All the houses we built have now been painted inside and out. PTL!. So many happy families....grateful to have a safe and secure place to live. We were blessed to see how this team bonded with the Haitian people.

June 30, 2011

Great week with the New Work Fellowship Church team. Several new people on the team and lots of " return " people. Always a joy to see familiar faces. Some of the team went on well pump repair, some worked in the clinic treating patients, others work on getting the electrical put in the new addition of the clinic. After clinic the ladies cleaned off all the shelves and medicines bottles in the pharmacy part of the clinic.....lots of cement dust with all the construction going on. Painting the addition to the clinic and the inside of one of the houses we built in TiTanyen rounded out their week. Saturday night was so special as they showed the Jesus in one of the tent areas and 43 people accepted Christ. WOW! God is good.
Years ago when we first came to TiTanyen I taught conversational English at the seminary. I had a young man named Samuel in my class. During Samuel's last year of seminary he almost died with tuberculous . He had a very tough type to treat and spent two months in the hospital and 4 months recuperating at home. God raised him up to pastor two churches in the Cap Haitian area...about 6 hours northeast of TiTanyen. God has blessed his ministry as he has stayed faithful to him. Our hearts were saddened when Samuel's wife called Thursday and said Samuel had passed away. He leaves a wife and two children and congregations that will miss him. Pray!

Tuesday June 21, 2011

The team from CO was small but accomplished LOTS. Many people think you have to have a lot of people to make a difference but the small teams do a great job too. David preached Sunday at a church in Bon Reop called Light and Peace. He has preached there many times but not since the earthquake. WOW...what a change. They have done a lot of work on their building and their congregation has doubled. PTL! It was good to see all of the "Gran Moun" at the feeding program on Monday morning. They are really enjoying our new staff member Glen Erickson. He greets and hugs them all as he hands out the food. So many old people here do not receive this kind of attention and it is so appreciated.
Today David and I left for town about 8:15am....we went to the bank, had a tire repaired on the truck and then went by the hardware store to pick up some needed items. It is a distance of about 28 miles round trip. It took us 4 hrs and 45 mins. to accomplish these simple tasks. Nothing simple here.
David and crew will head to the airport at 2:30pm to pick up a team from New Work Fellowship Church in Hopkinsville, KY. There are 8 men and 3 women on the team. Most have been here before and are a great group of people. Pray for them as they work and minister....it is HOT here.

June 16, 2011

With the container loaded on Sat. June 4th we spent the night with the Scott's....went to Christ Church Sunday morning and then headed for Tupelo. Our GO duplexes were full with new missionaries so we spent the entire week at the home of David and Shay Hall while we were teaching at MOT. (Missionary Orientation Training) We saved on gas too as their home is only about 3 miles from the GO office. (Wonderful hospitality) Each year...the first full week of Feb, June and Oct...we, along with our GO Home Office staff, train new missionaries going to the field. David and I do a lot of practical teaching as to what to expect when they arrive at their new location. This was a great group. We had five couples and one single going to 3 countries. We stand in awe of how God continues to call out people in the country's economic downturn. Our God is not broke...AMEN! During the week David was also in many Leadership Team meetings. They were taking advantage of having David face to face and not on conference calling. We returned to KY late Friday night (10th) and spent Saturday trying to pack our suitcases for the trip back.
Many of you know I (Judy) broke a bone in the side of my hand. I went back to the doctor on Monday in hopes he would tell me I could do away with the cast but that didn't happen. He x- rayed it and said it was healing but I had to wear it another 3 full weeks. (do you know how hard it is to function without your right hand?) The Lord continues to teach me patience.
We finished our packing and flew out of Nashville on Wednesday morning. It was great to return but the weather here is about the same as in the US....HOT!!!
We have a team from CO here right now and many more teams on their way this summer. Pray for strength for our entire staff.

Tuesday June 7.2011

When I say people came to help.....they came from central Indiana, Louisville and Hopkinsville, KY, Tupelo. MS, Smyrna and Franklin, TN...many of them drove 3 1/2 to 4 hrs just to come and help. It was so hot up inside the container that we were thankful we had enough people to trade out teams and let them "cool off" every so often. Dave King and his son Josh....representatives for CAM...the organization we ship through....we so patient as it took much longer to load this container. We shipped 600 sheets of metal roofing plus about 40 pieces of large shelving that will be used in our warehouses in Haiti. We had 4 stations set up where teams of people were sorting and sacking clothes, shoes, etc.
What a joy to have so many be such a part of this. Our only regret is that we didn't put out a sheet of paper for everyone to sign....so many we didn't know....so that we could thank them personally by email or card. A huge' thank you' to all of them plus those from Danville who made a couple of trips to bring clothing they had collected. We are asking the Lord to richly bless you and your efforts.

Monday June 6, 2010

Friday...David was able to gather up all the items in Owensboro and put them on a 17 ft U Haul truck. We left around noon for Nashville. I followed in our van...loaded to continue on to Tupelo for a week of MOT. After unloading at the Scott's warehouse David and Tommy went to Franklin, TN. A man had offered to give us backpacks, blankets and canvas chairs for the container we were loading on Sat. They returned with a pickup loaded way above the cab.
Saturday morning...8 am.. it was time to load the 40 ft container. We knew we had a huge number of items to load. Thinking maybe we didn't have enough help we put out an SOS on Friday night. PTL! many responded. We are not really sure how many exactly showed up.....50 or 52...and I can tell you we needed every one of them. Some came for 2 hours, some for 4 and some stayed the entire 8 hrs it took to load. We had three stations set up sorting clothes while some of the men loaded 600 sheets of 15ft metal roofing.
OOPS...need to go teach a class. More later

June 2,2010 Urgent help needed

If you aren't busy on Sat June 4th...8 am... come and help us load a container that is shipping to Haiti from Madison, TN. The address of the warehouse is Anchor Electric. ..633 Old Hickory Blvd E. Madison, TN 37115. If you are interested call us at 502-396 1392. Need lots of strong backs as we have 600 sheets of 15ft metal roofing along with shelving, clothing and misc items. Also lots of sorting of clothes. We have rented a truck for Friday to take to Madison what items we are picking up in Owensboro. Many supplies have been shipped and delivered directly to the Scott's warehouse. As we say in KY...."come on down".

May 27, 2010

OOPS!.. The doctor informed me that it wasn't the lower bone in the little finger that it was the bone down the right side of my hand that was cracked. I asked if I could shorten the cast to about half and he said "no" it is that long for a reason. Well....I tried. It is amazing how limited you are with a cast on your right hand when you are right handed.!!!!

May 26, 2010

Long time...no write! We have been in the US since the end of April. We were able to attend the GO Board meeting in Tupelo, MS as well as David had several Leadership team meetings. We were blessed this past week to be able to take a real "vacation". A dear couple from GA made their condo in FL available to us. We rested, read, walked the beach, fished one day and basically did nothing. First time in years we've done this when we had no agenda. We returned to KY on Tuesday afternoon. We were unloading the vehicle and Judy was taking items upstairs to put away. She had her hands full and stumbled on the stairs...fell against the wall and hit her hand on the baseboard. She heard something crack. However those of you who know Judy ...decided she wouldn't go to the ER. About three hours later she called a doctor friend of ours and we went to his house for him to check out her hand. He said it wasn't broke but may be cracked. He suggested she come by his office the next day for an x-ray. She did and YES the outside of her little finger was cracked. She is in a cast covering 3 fingers and up half way up her arm.
Now we are back to reality. We are loading a container on June the 4th out of Nashville. Lots of items to get rounded up. After we finish the loading of the container we will be in Tupelo for a full week to train new missionaries. We will then return to Haiti.
Pray for all our staff in Haiti as they continue with all the ministries there.

21 April, 2011 Thursday

A FIRST....David has been preaching all this week at Second Baptist Church PAP. He and Pastor Kelly do this week long conference each year the week before Easter. This is always broad casted on radio and internet. They normally leave for town around 3:30pm. Yesterday....for the first time in 28 years...David had to cancel going a service due to problems in the country. David and Kelly couldn't get out of their driveways. David had made two trips into the airport yesterday morning and returned with no problems. Sheryl and Chris went to the bank and on their return realized about a block before turning into our driveway that the road was blocked. They were able to go off the road and down by our water fountain following the fence into our road. After this NOTHING passed north or south for 6 hours. The people of TiTanyen had blocked the main road north and south manifesting (demonstrating) to encourage the Cement plant to give them electricity. For about a year TiTanyen has had current for about 4 hrs a night. Since Jan. they haven't had any. This was their way of expressing their displeasure with the government. About 4 pm the "swat team" of the Haitian police showed up and started tear gasing the crowds. All afternoon there was lots of shooting. PTL! no one was injured. Lots of people were affected by the tear gas. Many were struggling with breathing and lots of sore throats and coughing.
TODAY....all is clear. Don't know what the outcome of all this manifesting will be. Please pray for all involved.

April 20, 2011 Wednesday

Today our two interns left. Ashley Johnson from IL had been here 5 weeks. She was a blessing but she is so excited to be going back home. On July 2nd she will be marrying an intern that was here in January....Jon Kling. Cody Guidry from Resurrection Church in Picayune, MS came for a two week internship. What a blessing he was to us and the Haitian people. He had such a willing spirit and would anything you asked him to do. Young people are such a vital part of our lives and ministry. April 7th a team of 13 came to work on the addition to the Burn Clinic. They were from Cornerstone Church in CA. They were working with an organization called ...Lazarian World Homes...that has a new construction system with Styrofoam block. They reinforce it with lots of rerod and pour the cylinders full of cement. They were able to get all the walls up and our guys will pour the roof. It is a blessing to meet so many new people that have a heart for Haiti and missions around the world.
Sam Massey, Ronald Houston, Chris and Kay Burgess came to "guest house" with us while working on their own project however as their project wrapped up they had time to completely wire our new warehouse. I told them David had saved that job just for them.

April 20, 2011 Wednesday

Busy month and lots of people. Fellowship team arrived and what a blessing they were. All of our houses had been painted on the outside but people were so excited to move inthey moved before we had a chance to paint the inside. The team helped the families move their furniture and set out to paint. They truly enjoyed trying to teach some of the kids to paint also. This team left on April 6th and the Richardson family arrived the same day. Andy,and Pat Richardson with their adult married children came to minister here for a week. What fun to see an entire family worked together. Andy, Robbie, Beth and Alissa worked putting roofs on three new permanent houses. Pat had purchased fabric to make new curtains and bedspreads for one of our team rooms plus Apt. #2. Linda Erickson, our newest missionary on the field, helped Pat sew every day after she finished clinic. Andy and Robbie has to rework all the curtain rods. PVC works great. So many people think they have no talents that can be used on the mission. ANY talent you have can be a blessing to the ministry.

Tuesday March 29, 2011

Yesterday was amazing. I received so many "Happy Birthday's" through emails and Facebook. Thanks to all who took the time to send a message. We started 3 new permanent houses this past week. What a blessing to 3 more families. Teams have been painting the houses as they are completed. We have a team from Fellowship Church in Nashville, TN tomorrow. No news on who Haiti's new president will be. Hopefully we will find out in the next week or so.
Pray that peace and calm will continue to reign in the country. Fuel prices went up about $1.25 per gallon at the pumps...that's in US money. Tap tap drivers called for a strike on Monday but mostly it is just a slow down and nothing violent. Our boss mason had a hard time finding a ride from PAP to the compound today.

Friday March 25, 2011

So much to share...Friday the 18th the former president...Jean Bertrand Aristide.. returned to Haiti. Everyone had said and all of us believed that if and when he returned the country would turn upside down. Praise the Lord that didn't happen. The country stayed very calm which surprised everyone. The run off elections for president of Haiti was held on Sunday the 20th. Again everyone expected problems but the country was calm. Pray it stays that way. We don't know when we will have results of that election.

Friday March 25, 2011

Wednesday March 15th Glen and Linda Erickson arrived in country. They are our new full time staff. They spent last March, April and May here on the field. In June they went through Global's MOT and spent the next few months raising their support, packing and shipping their furniture to Haiti. Satan put lots of stumbling blocks in their way but they never wavered. They were scheduled to arrive in Haiti on Feb 15th but Glen had to have a total knee replacement on January 26th. Well....this didn't discourage them or slow them down Can you imagine being in Haiti so soon after this type of surgery? Glen is a mechanic and maintenance man. Linda has been a nurse for 30 years. Much needed talents on the mission field. Please pray for them as they adjust to a new culture and work at learning the language.

Friday March 25, 2011

What a great week! Last Friday March 18th a team of 9 from our home church.. Walnut Memorial Baptist Owensboro, KY and two ladies from Russellville, KY .. arrived in Haiti lead by Becky Ivy. Her daughter, Casey Dean, joined the group in Miami. The team came to work with the Sponsorship program. They did something really neat...they brought in new tennis shoes ...not only for the sponsored kids...but every kid in our schools. Can you imagine fitting around 300 kids with new shoes. This was a blessing BUT....that's not all....they also purchased and brought new shoes for all the old people in our "gran moun" feeding program....all 62 of them. Can you imagine not only buying over 500 pairs of shoes but organizing them and then packing them to come to Haiti?"They came with a servant spirit as the washed the feet of the "gran moun" and prayed for them before fitting them with shoes. David said one of the older ladies came by him and showed him her new shoes with tears in her eyes...then she lifted up her old sandals that were worn out and had been stapled together. We all agreed that it was probably the first pair of new shoes she had ever had in her life. God is good!

Monday March 14, 2011

Last week was a good week. David tried to pump out the well in the village of Dumonte and had all kinds of problems. The hole had caved in 10ft. The generator they took with them didn't want to start. Had to work on it before going further. Then there was so much mud to pump out that the electric clean out pump was clodded. Okay ....fixed all these problems and returned a second time for clean out. PTL! They pumped for several hours until it finally was clean enough to install the hand pump. Our guys said they filled at least 500 buckets while doing the clean out. They said they think the people in this village were happier and more excited than anywhere they have installed a well. David preached at TiTanyen this week. WOW...do we need more sitting space. Good problem to have. W ebroke ground on the new church... just trying to get all the paperwork cleared before starting construction.
This morning we also started 3 more new permanent homes on the church property in TiTanyen. We praise the Lord that people continue to have a vision for giving homes to those in need.

Sat March 5, 2011

David is out with Healing Hands ministry (they have a rotary rig) today trying to finish up a well they started yesterday about noon. It is in a very poor area about 25 miles north of us. When David visited this area last week he said he had never seen a village that poor that close to the main highway. Such a need. Water isn't the only need they have. We are going to try to gather up some clothes to give out there too. We had a lot of clothes come in on the last container but we have given most of them out to many churches to distribute. David had tears in his eyes as he shared about a 14 yr old boy who had been hanging around the rig yesterday afternoon. He said he didn't asked for anything but you could tell he was hungry. David had a sandwich in the cooler and gave it to the young man. He said it was so sad. He didn't know how to eat a sandwich. He had to show him. Pray that the Lord will show us how to encourage and help this village.

Sat. March 5, 2011

Well drilling continues to a MAJOR part of the ministry. The need for potable water in the tent cities is overwhelming. One well can accommodate 500 people each day. When you see the masses in the tent cities you can imagine how many wells will be needed. Last weekend there was a land "giveaway" on the opposite side of road across from TiTanyen. Some organization constructed at least 100 plywood houses in two days. They had a 100 or more people working feverishly. TiTanyen has doubled in the last couple of years. More wells are needed there. We drilled in two more in the last couple of weeks.....pumps are on and functioning. We never lack for places to drill. We drilled a well on the side where the new housing is and hit gray mud. What a disappointment. Just need to keep trying. We get many requests each day for wells. Haiti needs many more well drillers. PLEASE PRAY.

Thursday Feb 24, 2011

The five kids are doing great. The team painted the inside of one our new homes that we built. The people were so excited to move in that they couldn't wait on the paint. This particular family where they painted had a 13 month old little girl and two school age boys. Of course our team was the "show" of the day in the village. They enjoyed making new friends and hearing everyone practicing their English

Saturday Feb 18,2011

What a good week. Lots accomplished and it is just fun to see how the Lord works as He opens doors of ministry. Always chances to share of God's provision for His people.
A team of 11 arrived today from GA. What a blessing! There are two families with a total of 5 children (ages 14 to "almost" 9) and two ladies. One family we have known for a long time...Jim and Lora Hardin. They are as excited to be here as we are to have them. Jim came many years ago with our son before either of them were married. The supplies they brought overwhelmed us but the stories of how the Lord provided it all was a faith builder to them too.
Should be an exciting week.

Wednesday Feb 16, 2011

We were in the US for MOT (Missionary Orientation Training) Feb 7-11th. Great group of new missionaries coming on board. There were 17 in the class....8 couples and one single young woman. This group will open up two new countries for Global. All these were young couples in their mid thirties. The Nicky and Kristie Runk..... who were here with us for 3 months went through MOT and now are ready to start their funding raising. Pray for them that the Lord will provide quickly. We are anxious for them to get on the field. Another couple from our home church in KY ...Michael and Katherine Grant.. who have been in the Philippines for 7 years decided to come with GO. They went through MOT last week. It is so exciting to see how in this economic downturn God is still calling people out to serve Him in countries around the world.
We brought in LOTS of parts for repairs.
We received a call as we were driving out of Owensboro on Monday. Chris said one of our men was turning into our driveway and a truck loaded with market ladies and their goods decided to pass him on the left as he was turning. The other truck broke in two pieces and four ladies were hurt. Two were treated and released from a local clinic. The other two went to Doctors without Boarders clinic near town...one had a broken leg and the other maybe a back injury. The chauffeur fled before anyone could get his name, etc. The judge said this made him at fault for the wreck. The next day he came back for his phone and Chris saw him at the truck. He called a policeman we know and he came to the scene. He called the judge and made an appointment for the man to come to his court today. We'll see what the outcome is???? David thinks a door, fender, tire, wheel and mirror will go a long way toward repairing the Dodge 1 ton. PTL! None of our 4 guys were hurt.
David and crew repaired the 100 KW generator and put it online this afternoon. This is a huge PTL!!!!

Feb 7, 2011

OOPS!!!!! How did I get this far behind? We've had people the last two weeks
Hallelujah the container that we loaded in Nashville in Nov. arrived on Friday before the WEAG team left on Saturday. YEAH!! we had plenty of hands to help us unload. Another answer to David's prayers...enough hands to unload and the generator arriving before the team arrived to install it.
Had a great team from Richmond,VA area. The guys were from four different churches. What a great team spirit they had. They were actually "guest housing" with us and working at a Haitian church in PAP however when they finished their work there they were so gracious to be hands for us. They painted the inside of one of our Haitian staff houses, painted one side of the galleria of the VQ and installed new commodes in the VQ and our house. Thanks Chris Burgess and team ...you guys sure lifted a load off of us.
On the same day the team arrived four others came from TN and IN. Tommy Scott and Gary Richardson and Paul and Joyce Scott came to help David install the new generators. LOTS of work to rewire the entire generator house. They had to take the two 40 KW generators outside and hook them up temporary to keep the compound going while they replaced them with 100 KW's. The 60KW's had to run also. Not easy to gut all the wiring and replace it and keep everything running. They needed lots of wisdom, discernment, long hours and hard work to accomplish this feat. David took the team of 11 to the airport at 6 am on Wed morning...returned to the compound to do more generator work and then Chris took the team of four and us to the airport to fly out. David and I are in MS doing MOT this week. Arrived last night. We have 17 new missionary candidates to train this week. PTL!!! God is still calling people out for His service.

Monday Jan 24, 2011

It was a great week. The WEAG team was exactly what we needed. There were guys on the team that worked on plumbing the new fuel tanks and the fuel tanker we have for storing extra fuel on property. The others worked on laying block for the new building that contains the two 3,000 tanks. ...YES...even the women laid block. The building they were working on is near the main gate to our property. The security people at the gate were shocked to see ladies laying block. Later in the week they told Chris that "this was very good". Interesting how different cultures view working situations.
Samaritan's purse changed out their country coordinator this week. Judd Johnson and his wife Peg will be here overseeing the ministry. They arrived from Ecuador. We enjoyed sharing a night of food and fellowship with them, John Freyler from SP's main office and Betsy Hall...deputy country coordinator. We will be praying for Matt Ellington and his family as they take on other responsibilities at the home office of SP.
Saturday night we had 3 men overnight and then 10 for Sunday night from Global Compassion. This group is working in the northwest and trying to work two teams for two weeks. They will come back again for Wed. and Thursday night. We have another guest house team of 11 men arriving from VA on Wed along with 5 people for GO. Four of these guys are coming to help David switch out our 60KW generators for 100KW generators. They are having to rewire the entire generator house. Pray for all involved as this will take lots of coordination in trying to keep all buildings functioning as they make the change over. Joyce Scott is coming with her husband Paul and she will help cook for all these hungry men.

Monday Jan 17, 2010

We continue to hear great reports from the prayer and fasting services that took place on Jan. 12th. So many people with their hearts turned toward the Lord. In two churches we are associated with... TiTanyen and Second Baptist in town they had 91 people accept Jesus as their personal savior. PTL!!!!
Saturday a team from WEAG in Richmond, VA arrived....the plane was over 2 hrs late so it was around 7:45pm before they arrived at the compound. Sunday morning we left the compound at 6am and David preached in town at Jim Cartright's church. After that we took the team to brunch and then on a tour of the earthquake damage and the tent cities. Long day..arrived back home at 3:00pm Bible study with the team and our staff at 5:00pm. At 6:00 a team of 15 arrived from MO to guest house with us for 2 days. They minister in the north of Haiti. They are out buying supplies for their two week trip. We will guest house them on their way back in also.
We fixed supper for 44 last night. (all our families and the two teams)
When we returned to the house we had a message on the computer that Jean Claude Duvalier ...former president...ousted in 1986...had returned to the country. Should be an interesting week.

Thursday Jan 13, 2011

Yesterday was a day of prayer and fasting for most churches in Haiti. The government declared a holiday so that all could be off to mark the one year anniversary of the earthquake. The churches were packed and overflowing. TiTanyen church was full and the reports were that at least 650 were standing out in the yard. God has certainly turned the hearts of the Haitian people toward Him. The Billy Graham chaplains headed up a service here on our compound. People gathered at 4:30pm to sing praises to the Lord and then Kevin Bruns shared his testimony of where he was when the earthquake shook Haiti and how the earthquake has effected him this year. It was a time to remember for so many people.

Jan. 04,2011

Back in the swing of things here on the compound. We arrived Tuesday at 12:30 pm and a team from Guatemala arrived at 2:30pm I came on home and David stayed to get the team out of the airport. Chris and Kevin brought the team back to the compound while David waited till 3:45 for the nephew of Nicky Runk to arrive. As if that wasn't long enough he had to wait for the 4:30 flight to see if our missing piece of luggage might be on this later flight. It was the last piece on the last cart to arrive but PTL! it arrived.
This is a team of 22 from Guatemala. For those of you who know us know we don't do teams over 12 but the missionary that brought them had already purchased their tickets so.....here they are. They are a great group. We have 2 doctors working with medical, 8 painting and and 10 constructing temporary shelters. Language is a little bit of a barrier but most speak a little English and one speaks French. Their spirits for the Lord are what has touched our hearts. Here is a group of young adults who have raised $1,200 per person to make this trip. In Guatemala $1,200 is an average salary for a school teacher. Also this group makes up 10 % of their church congregation. What a sacrifice! Their vision is to start sending missionaries out of Guatemala to other countries. This is a first step.

Jan 3, 2011

Has it only been 10 days since Mom went on to be with the Lord? The days have been packed. On Friday we met with the funeral home director and completed the arrangements. After sharing Christmas with our family we had Mom's viewing on Sunday afternoon and the funeral on Monday. What a celebration!!! My nephew Rick Simpson shared some of his memories about Mom ( she would have been so pleased) and then David did her service. He said in all the funerals he has done this one was the toughest. What an anointing the Lord had on David and His Word. Our church was so gracious ...along with the Pairs and Spares Sunday School class to furnish a meal after the service. This allowed the family some special time to share with each other. Next we needed to prepare Mom's condo for selling. I wanted to help my brother get this done before I went back to Haiti so that all this wouldn't fall on him. What a blessing to have our kids and grand kids to come and help go through, box, sort and move all her things. Everyone worked in such sweet harmony. It was fun to reminisce as each trinket brought up memories. Also found a couple of poems she had written about me and my brother. By 5pm Sunday the condo was staged and ready for the realtor to show, family had taken rememberances they wanted and the garage was loaded with items for giveaway. Late this afternoon we will drive to Nashville, spend the night with Tommy and Becky Scott and head for the airport Tuesday morning at 4am. We will arrive in PAP at 12:15pm and have a team from Guatemala arriving at 2:30pm. Pray for strength.