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.