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.