April - June 2012

WHERE HAVE I BEEN AND WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?
It has been almost 4 months since my last blog. I didn't drop off the deep end...just seems as though there are never enough hours in the day. I will bullet point what has been going on in our lives and try to catch up.
April 2012

1. CBH Pastors/family conference. 
2. Robert Snyder team of 10
3. Our Haitian lawyer says we need to construct a wall at least across the front of the compound. So many are moving close to here in land give-aways.
4. David Jr and Betsy bring filming crew and also Henry and Lorell Crabtree
5. Crabtree's installed tankless water heaters in all houses, VQ and Conference Center Kitchen
6. Heady's flew to US the last week of April for GO Board meetings, video taping, et

MAY 2012

1. Took a couple of days at Crabtree's lake house and did some fishing
2. Kids surprised me again with a belated 70th Birthday party in the US
3. Went to French Lick for a night to celebrate our 52nd wedding anniversary
4. Visited individual supporters and met with mission directors of supporting churches, etc in Arkansas and Texas.  Had a great 5 days on the road
5. Had some time with grandchildren in Louisville 
6. Caught up on doctors appt....eyes, hearing aids, back, etc.

JUNE 2012

1. Drove to Tupelo on Sunday June 3rd to start Mission Orientation Training on June 4th. This was the largest MOT we've had with 18 new missionaries.  Finished on June 8th
2. Packed and returned to Haiti on June 12th with Casey Dean.  She stayed with us 5 1/2 weeks.
3. Had a team from Wyoming already here.  Great group.
4. Sam Massey and team of 6 arrived (June 14th) to put a new electrical service in the old depot, put new service to the Vehicle Maintenance building and the new Youth meeting center.
5. June 19th Kayla Kirkpatrick came to intern with us for a month. Bethany Morris flew in with her to stay a week.
6. Had 38 Kindergarten graduates and their teachers for a day out on the compound.  How funny....we did some water slides and water sprinklers.  Try teaching that to children who have never played in water before. Served all a nice lunch
7. June 22nd New Work Fellowship arrived with a team of 12...did lots of maintenance work and a 3 day VBS in TiTanyen.  
8. Had 4 men that needed to overnight here on their way out of the country.
9. June 23rd.  Kindergarten graduation for 38 students plus graduation for the Afternoon School. They really put on a very nice program
10. June 25th...day out for Morning and Afternoon school children.  Played soccer, basketball, etc plus served them all a nice lunch.
11. Ben Scott, who has been coming to Haiti since he was 6 years old,  came with another group. They drove here to spend the day with us and have lunch.  Great to spend time with this group.
12. Josh Brumley flew out with the New Work group. He is going out to spend his senior year in Colorado. We will certainly miss him.  He has blessed our lives for over 9 years
13. Eaton First Free church arrived with 33 on June 29th. Great group. Very disciplined and hard workers. They did a 3 day Youth Camp and then spent one day pouring cement at the Youth center building. 
14. Robyn Rone from our home town arrived on June 30th to spend a week with us.

Friday March 30, 2012

SURPRISE !!!   that is an understatement.   For several weeks we had been talking about our former neighbor John coming for a visit to Haiti.  He has been wanting to help with well drilling.  David told me that John had decided to come Sat. March 24th. We left a suitcase full of items for "John" to bring to Haiti for us. Saturday when it was time to go pick up "John" at the airport.....we found the plane had an oil problem and the arrival time was 4 hours later than expected.  As David and Glen left for the airport they decided to take the 15 passenger van.  I did ask why when my car was much easier to navigate in the traffic and after all....they were only picking up "John".  David said there was a noise in the van and Glen wanted him to drive it to see if he could figure out what the problem was.  Sounded logical to me....  The plane finally arrived at 8:10pm so it was after 9:30 before they arrived back on the compound. It was raining so I didn't hear the vehicle drive up. David knocked on the door and as I opened it there was  Becky Ivy, Casey Dean,  the Howard family....Eugene, Tonya and Meredith  ( our associate pastor and family)  PLUS all our American staff with cameras in hand.  SHOCKED!!!! again an understatement.  All these had come to help me celebrate a milestone in my life ( my 70th ) birthday.
Every one but me had known about this for weeks.  They all worked hard to keep the secret.  I really needed a haircut so I told David I needed to go to PAP and get one. He asked me to wait a week so he could go.  Well...that week passed and I was getting a little frustrated.  I told David I would take another friend plus one of our Haitian staff.  He finally said, "wait until Tuesday and I will go with you....I want to get a haircut too"   More frustration.  What most of you don't know is that Tonya is my hairdresser in the US and she was coming to give me a haircut.  When the group arrived David said "well, I'm glad this is over. I've never lied to my wife in 52 years and the last couple of weeks I have had to lie to her.  This isn't fun."  
So much went on behind the scenes.  Linda Erickson did all the grocery shopping for the team.  Sheryl planned a wonderful birthday dinner with Cecile and the other ladies.  Sheryl said the dinner kept growing.  We had to have the first course then open presents and head back for the main course and desserts.  Thanks to all who sent gifts and cards.  WOW!!!  It is a birthday I will never forget. 

March 21, 2012

Sunday night instead of our regular staff Bible study Chris asked that we share our prayer and praise requests and we spent most of our time in prayer.  What a blessing.  As each one of us shared our burdens we also shared a praise. Many times in our busy schedule we forget to thank the Lord for the little blessings He brings into our lives daily.  I reflected on a man in the clinic that had just had a motorcycle accident and he and his passenger came for us to help.  As I was washing his leg he began to thank me for all Global Outreach has done in TiTanyen.  He said he lived in another area and moved here after the earthquake.  There was no water near his house. After a few weeks he looked out and there was GO drilling a well within about 200 ft of his home. Then he told me he had two children in our Kindergarten...1st and 2nd year.  He commented on what a wonderful program we had for the children and how much his children were learning at school. So many times we hear that even though we do a lot in the community...it is never enough. It was such an encouragement to me to hear how what we are doing really is making a difference in lives.

March 16, 2012

We've been back in Haiti since March 6th.  David is doing much better.  (Hard to keep a good man down)
While we were out the Brumley's, Erickson's and Runk's hosted two conferences.  It was exciting for all to see the CBH youth come and spend 5 days on the compound. Lots of sharing the Word, singing, fellowshipping, playing games and good food.  What a joy to have the 180 youth here during Madi Gras.  The day they left a team from PA arrived. Each year this team continues to train leaders in the "Hope for Tomorrow" started by former missionaries..Dave and Eileen Brenize.  It is a blessing to see this flannelgraph program continue and grow. This year they had 162 leaders that go out all over Haiti and share the Gospel using the Flannelgraph. The WEAG team from Richmond, VA arrived on March 4th.  What a great group. They were very flexible as we had them welding trusses and putting up a metal building as well as pouring a concrete floor.
Don and Lisa Buxman...former GO missionaries...arrived with a team of 10 on Monday March 12th. .  We are guest housing them for the week as they build a church in the Cite of Reparatries area.

Feb 16, 2012

David was blessed to have 34 people show up to help him load the container for Haiti. Why so many????? some were sorting and packing clothes to put on the container as others were doing the loading.  All went smooth and we appreciate every hand that was a part of making this project a success.
We had 11 new missionary candidates for MOT.  Always exciting to send out God called people to serve in countries around the world.
We were headed back to Haiti on Feb 14th but David has had a round of diverticulitis that landed him in the ER early Monday morning. Doctors say  he needs to stay around  another couple of  weeks to make sure   the infection is healed.
Appreciate your prayers.

26 January, 2012

Life is never dull in Haiti. We love January because of the constant winds and cooler temperatures. When it is 75 early in the morning and the wind is blowing...it is "jacket time" time in Haiti.  Jeff Haight, from Indianapolis, joined us for a week. He is so flexible and willing to do whatever. Samaritan's Purse has moved their operation to the lower part of our property and across the bay.  We now have our conference center back and of course we had lots of repairs and painting to get ready for groups to come back in.  We've spent most of this month getting ready and on Jan 23rd the second John Maxwell Leadership Conference was launched. Tom Christopher headed this up this conference.  Side note*** This same conference with Tom was in session when the earthquake struck in Jan 2010.  It was the last conference we had here at GO property and what a blessing that it is the first one we've hosted since the quake. What a great group and the three days were so anointed by God.
The rest of Tom's team....his wife, two of his sisters and a friend Bill , have been going to the Cite of Reparatries  each day.  They are doing training for teachers and each afternoon they are holding a VBS for the children.
David is loading a container in Nashville on Saturday. He's been busy rounding up supplies to send to Haiti. I will be flying out on Sat.  We will be teaching for a week at MOT in Tupelo before flying back to Haiti on the 14th of Feb.

January 12, 2012

Today marks the second anniversary of the 2010 Earthquake.  The president declared it a holiday so our Haitian staff is off and businesses and schools are closed.  Just talked with a missionary that decided to go to the Mass grave site...about 3 miles south of our compound...and be a part of the program the government was having there today.  He said former Pres. Clinton was in attendance.  I asked if there were lots of people and he said a "fair amount" but not overwhelming.  He said that he was standing in the sun and it was just too hot to stay for the entire program. Can't imagine...HOT?  It was 99 degrees here at 3 pm. Many many churches took this as a day of prayer for the country.
Last Sunday David preached at TiTanyen. It was such a Holy Spirit filled service. Even before the message the worship leader called people to repentance and renewal. As David gave his invitation there were 3 people that accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Again the altar was full ...people praying and  weeping before the Lord. The service lasted four hours but not sure anyone noticed the time. What a sweet time of being in His presence.
Yesterday we received a phone call from our daughter saying that her mother-in-law had passed away suddenly.  Please be in prayer for Mike and the entire Hamilton family.  David flew to the US late yesterday afternoon to be with the family during these difficult days.

January 5, 2012

A NEW YEAR !!!  Praise the Lord.
We ended up being able to give out over 900 Christmas bags with children in our area. God seem to multiply the items we had to share.  Such a joy to see the delight in the eyes of the children.
It has been an interesting time for us on the compound during the holiday season.  We have been challenged again on the property ....this is the 7th time. Always have proved it is ours. Only in Haiti could this happen.  We know it is an attack of satan however situations like this are very good for our prayer life. We have confidence and trust in the Lord and we have been at peace the entire time.  Only He can give us this kind of peace.
Samaritan's Purse has moved most of their operation to another part of the island that had the most damage during the earthquake. They are keeping a presence on our compound....on about 4 acres in the front of the property. They haven't  completed all their move yet but most of it. Now we can get back to our ministry of training Haitian pastors, teachers, youth groups, etc. It's been two years since we've had a place to bring in our conferences. Our first conference will be a John Maxwell Leadership Conf. that will begin on Jan 23rd. This will be headed up by Tom Christopher from Danville, KY. 
We are gearing up for a very busy team season. We are thrilled people continue to want to come and serve the Haitian people.