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.

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?????