Sometimes we forget to share the "little blessings" that the Lord sends our way. Last week in all our busyness I saw a vehcile coming up the drive. I went to the gate to find out who it was and what they wanted. It was the Deputy of our zone. I opened the gate and invited them in. As I received him at the pavillion by the Conference Center I found there were four men plus the driver. They had come to make a demand (we would say request) for a couple of wells in their area. He also was very complimentary about the work being done by GO in this area. I regretfully had to explain to him that one of the rigs being used here was broke down and that our other rig's Haitian operator had been in an accident last week. Many of you know Samuel. He had a stroke and crashed his vehicle about four miles from our compound, David, Saul and Sharron went to visit him in the hospital. Today they called and said they had been able to bring him home. Sharron and Saul have gone to check on him as I write this blog. Last week David said he was unable to speak and could only look straight ahead. He did recognize him. Today he is speaking a few words. Please pray for his quick and full recovery. * now for the little blessing. A young man with the Deputy said to me as they were leaving...."you don't recognize me do you? I had to say, "no, I don't." He proceeded to tell me that when he was a little boy we fed him and gave him toys. WOW! he was in our feeding program in the early to mid 90's. He remembers that and the sack of toys at Christmas. He wanted to thank us and tell me that he is now married with four children and serving the Lord. Sometimes the Lord allows us to see the fruit of our labors here on earth.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Feb. 15, 2014
New church plant:
We are so excited about the new church plant near Saut d'Eau. The area is called Grand Savann. In the last couple of years the mission teams from TiTanyen Church, under the direction of Pastor Kelly, have been sharing the Gospel in this area. Many have been and continue to be saved and discipled. They have been meeting in the blue temporary "tent" you see on the right of the picture. This area is only 15 miles from our compound but can take up to 1 1/2 hrs to get there. Our entire staff has been involved in getting the materials there. Many trips with the dump truck and others to carry blocks, water, cement, steel, sand and gravel. Through the death of a young worship pastor , his friends and family wanted to honor his life and commitment to the Lord. They began praying and felt the Lord leading them to build a church. What a blessing to this community.
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We are so excited about the new church plant near Saut d'Eau. The area is called Grand Savann. In the last couple of years the mission teams from TiTanyen Church, under the direction of Pastor Kelly, have been sharing the Gospel in this area. Many have been and continue to be saved and discipled. They have been meeting in the blue temporary "tent" you see on the right of the picture. This area is only 15 miles from our compound but can take up to 1 1/2 hrs to get there. Our entire staff has been involved in getting the materials there. Many trips with the dump truck and others to carry blocks, water, cement, steel, sand and gravel. Through the death of a young worship pastor , his friends and family wanted to honor his life and commitment to the Lord. They began praying and felt the Lord leading them to build a church. What a blessing to this community.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Feb 13, 2014 for (Jan 2014 & 1/2 of Feb 2014))
The year started off with a bang. Casey Dean arrived on Dec 30, 2013 to intern with us for a year after making 12 short term trips. (Watch those short term trips....Haiti gets in your blood) . Pat and Andy Richardson arrived on Dec. 31, 2013. They have been many times for week long stays but felt the Lord wanted them to come for a month. These guys are GREAT....they work so well together and their heart is to make the homes of the missionaries more eye appealing and comfortable. They decided to come and tackle Staff 1 house. What a project! They came with all the materials to make curtains, bedspreads, covers for chairs, pillows, paint, they refurbished furniture.... the list goes on. It would be hard to tell you all that they accomplished. Attaching a few pictures for you to see.
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Jan.1, 2014 a team of 23 Americans, Canadians and Haitians arrived to do a week long Youth leaders Conference. This was overseen by Chris and Sheryl Brumley/ Camp Barnabas & Carl and Maya Gilles with National Wesleyan Leaders. It was great to see how the Word was poured into the 200 youth leaders as well as times of worship and play.
Jan.14, 2014 a church women's group came to spend the day in Bible study, worship, prayer food and fellowship.
We are always blessed to guest house for a group called Global Compassion located in MO. They work in the northwest of Haiti and use our facilities to overnight coming and going. This year they had 25 on the first team..left 5 people here on compound to paint, repair vehicles, do home schooling for missionary children and gather up supplies for the next group coming in. At the end of the week these 5 plus the second team all went to the northwest to minister.
Bethel Church from CO arrived on Jan 24th. So sorry to miss them as David had to be at a special called Executive Board meeting for GO on Jan 25th in Tupelo, MS. Because we were not going to be here for the New Work Fellowship church team from Hopkinsville, KY we took the time to drive to their church from Owensboro, KY to share with them and take them some items to bring into Haiti. Appreciate all those that came on the two teams and the work accomplished.
Jan. 27th Monday we left Owensboro to head for Agape Flights in Venice, FL to drop off 453 lbs of items that could not be shipped except in a special (expensive) container. We drove as far as Nashville and received a call from a friend we were going to see in Atlanta. He said "DON'T COME"... Good advice. We decided to call Tommy and Becky Scott to see if we could spend the night with them. Good move....even the next day Atlanta was shut down until Friday. We turned around on Tuesday and came back to Owensboro. We tried again. This time we were going to leave Owensboro on Monday morning as we needed to be in Tupelo on Tuesday for MOT. . Sunday we were dressed and ready to go to church. David decided to check the weather station. OH NO! winter storm starting at noon. We changed clothes, loaded the car and took off. toward MS. We landed in AL that night and visited the Richardson's at their home in Russellville, AL. We were able to cram all our classes of MOT into Tuesday morning so we could head down to Venice to drop off the items. We spent the three days visiting friends and family along the way to and from FL. Items delivered at Agape we were ready to head back north. Had the opportunity to visit with Ben and Ruth Ann Yantis and then in Atlanta we had lunch with Pastor Kelly's daughter Kernyne, who is in university there. Arrived back in Owensboro Friday night at 7pm....Finished 2,210 miles since Sunday. Our total time in the US was 19 days....we traveled 3,900 miles. WHEW!!!! glad to be back home.
Jan.1, 2014 a team of 23 Americans, Canadians and Haitians arrived to do a week long Youth leaders Conference. This was overseen by Chris and Sheryl Brumley/ Camp Barnabas & Carl and Maya Gilles with National Wesleyan Leaders. It was great to see how the Word was poured into the 200 youth leaders as well as times of worship and play.
Jan.14, 2014 a church women's group came to spend the day in Bible study, worship, prayer food and fellowship.
We are always blessed to guest house for a group called Global Compassion located in MO. They work in the northwest of Haiti and use our facilities to overnight coming and going. This year they had 25 on the first team..left 5 people here on compound to paint, repair vehicles, do home schooling for missionary children and gather up supplies for the next group coming in. At the end of the week these 5 plus the second team all went to the northwest to minister.
Bethel Church from CO arrived on Jan 24th. So sorry to miss them as David had to be at a special called Executive Board meeting for GO on Jan 25th in Tupelo, MS. Because we were not going to be here for the New Work Fellowship church team from Hopkinsville, KY we took the time to drive to their church from Owensboro, KY to share with them and take them some items to bring into Haiti. Appreciate all those that came on the two teams and the work accomplished.
Jan. 27th Monday we left Owensboro to head for Agape Flights in Venice, FL to drop off 453 lbs of items that could not be shipped except in a special (expensive) container. We drove as far as Nashville and received a call from a friend we were going to see in Atlanta. He said "DON'T COME"... Good advice. We decided to call Tommy and Becky Scott to see if we could spend the night with them. Good move....even the next day Atlanta was shut down until Friday. We turned around on Tuesday and came back to Owensboro. We tried again. This time we were going to leave Owensboro on Monday morning as we needed to be in Tupelo on Tuesday for MOT. . Sunday we were dressed and ready to go to church. David decided to check the weather station. OH NO! winter storm starting at noon. We changed clothes, loaded the car and took off. toward MS. We landed in AL that night and visited the Richardson's at their home in Russellville, AL. We were able to cram all our classes of MOT into Tuesday morning so we could head down to Venice to drop off the items. We spent the three days visiting friends and family along the way to and from FL. Items delivered at Agape we were ready to head back north. Had the opportunity to visit with Ben and Ruth Ann Yantis and then in Atlanta we had lunch with Pastor Kelly's daughter Kernyne, who is in university there. Arrived back in Owensboro Friday night at 7pm....Finished 2,210 miles since Sunday. Our total time in the US was 19 days....we traveled 3,900 miles. WHEW!!!! glad to be back home.
Feb. 13, 2014 (NOV 2013/ DEC 2013)
Long time....no write.
Oct 2013 until Nov. 12, 2013 David and I were in the US. We did MOT (Missionary Orientation Training) in Tupelo, MS the first week of Oct and then GO Mission Fair and GO Board meeting the first weekend in Nov. David also underwent some medical testing at Vanderbilt trying to discover the problem with his shoulders and an upper and lower GI. They found nerve damage in two nerves. They think this may be causing the "shakey hands". Taking some meds to overcome the symptoms of the stomach and intestines.
We had the blessing of sharing an early Thanksgiving with our family before returning to Haiti.
We had the pleasure of hosting the CEO of Agape and a photographer the first week of Dec. Agape had been given money during the earthquake. They still had several grants to give out to ministries doing post earthquake projects. We applied for a $15,000 grant to drill three wells and were blessed to receive the entire amount. We were able to show the Agape crew how their funds had blessed so many. Each well provides water to approximately 500 per day.
Christmas.....Such a joy to hand out the gifts to the school children. Over 500 hundred children were blessed with toys, candy and hygiene products. THANK YOU First Baptist Church Hendersonville, NC for gathering and bringing all these gifts to share. We love Christmas in Haiti with all our Missonary staff and Haitian staff. Such fun having our Mennonite neighbors come Christmas caroling on the 23rd. We had lasagna and all kinds of finger foods and desserts for the 53 in attendance. Thirty-two for Christmas dinner. God is good !!!! !
Oct 2013 until Nov. 12, 2013 David and I were in the US. We did MOT (Missionary Orientation Training) in Tupelo, MS the first week of Oct and then GO Mission Fair and GO Board meeting the first weekend in Nov. David also underwent some medical testing at Vanderbilt trying to discover the problem with his shoulders and an upper and lower GI. They found nerve damage in two nerves. They think this may be causing the "shakey hands". Taking some meds to overcome the symptoms of the stomach and intestines.
We had the blessing of sharing an early Thanksgiving with our family before returning to Haiti.
We had the pleasure of hosting the CEO of Agape and a photographer the first week of Dec. Agape had been given money during the earthquake. They still had several grants to give out to ministries doing post earthquake projects. We applied for a $15,000 grant to drill three wells and were blessed to receive the entire amount. We were able to show the Agape crew how their funds had blessed so many. Each well provides water to approximately 500 per day.
Christmas.....Such a joy to hand out the gifts to the school children. Over 500 hundred children were blessed with toys, candy and hygiene products. THANK YOU First Baptist Church Hendersonville, NC for gathering and bringing all these gifts to share. We love Christmas in Haiti with all our Missonary staff and Haitian staff. Such fun having our Mennonite neighbors come Christmas caroling on the 23rd. We had lasagna and all kinds of finger foods and desserts for the 53 in attendance. Thirty-two for Christmas dinner. God is good !!!! !
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
September 16, 2013
September has already been a very full and eventful month and it is only half over. Westport Road Baptist Church sent their second team for this summer. There were 7 men and 3 women. Last year when the team was here from WRBC they asked to partner with the church in Blanquette. One of the projects they wanted to do was fence in the church property. David looked and looked for fencing for the project and it wasn't until one week before the team arrived that he found it at a hardware store we use all the time. They had just received it and had not even put the price in the computer yet. PTL! Lord is always on time. There were 120 posts to be put in and 1200 ft of fencing in some extremely rough terrain. The church had volunteers to dig the holes and our crew poured the cement and set the poles. The men worked Monday through Thursday and the ladies helped out on Tuesday and Thursday. The guys really bragged on how well the ladies worked. ALL came in hot and tired but satisfied to get the job completed.
At the same time Jan Flanagan and 3 ladies from the US came and stayed in our two apartments upstairs at the VQ. They had 8 ladies and 1 man come to the compound each day for a sewing conference. What fun to see them make all the different items...hopefully will be able to make and sell some of them. Both groups interacted well and had great fellowship.
Friday ended with a BANG!!! Healing Hands....Curt King driller....drilled in a new well for us on the compound. After two dry holes of 627ft SUCCESS....a 12 gallon per minute well. This one well is producing more than 6 other wells we have on property.God is good!
MONDAY!!!! When David and one of the team members started to put a new part on the well rig machine...they noticed that the entire mast had a HUGE bend in it. Our Haitian well driller finally gave some reason for the problem. We had another well driller on property and he wasn't encouraging that it could be fixed. Any of you who know David know that he never sees anything as impossible. After 4 days of hard labor and lots of prayer the rig was back in working condition. The rig was moved today and started drilling again.
At the same time Jan Flanagan and 3 ladies from the US came and stayed in our two apartments upstairs at the VQ. They had 8 ladies and 1 man come to the compound each day for a sewing conference. What fun to see them make all the different items...hopefully will be able to make and sell some of them. Both groups interacted well and had great fellowship.
Friday ended with a BANG!!! Healing Hands....Curt King driller....drilled in a new well for us on the compound. After two dry holes of 627ft SUCCESS....a 12 gallon per minute well. This one well is producing more than 6 other wells we have on property.God is good!
MONDAY!!!! When David and one of the team members started to put a new part on the well rig machine...they noticed that the entire mast had a HUGE bend in it. Our Haitian well driller finally gave some reason for the problem. We had another well driller on property and he wasn't encouraging that it could be fixed. Any of you who know David know that he never sees anything as impossible. After 4 days of hard labor and lots of prayer the rig was back in working condition. The rig was moved today and started drilling again.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
24 August 2013
August has been another abundant month for GO Haiti. Steve and Amy Piper with their girls Emmy and Ellie came to spend a week with us. They have encouraged us as they began to expose their girls to Haiti at a very early age. The girls are now teens and have been doing foreign missions for several years. They helped in the clinic as well as helping in the office. We were so far behind in copying and entering receipts. We are now all caught up due to theirs and Kristie Runk's help.
August 7th Andy and Pat Richardson and their grandson Zane arrived. Pat is the one who has decorated all the team rooms and a couple of rooms in my house. She wanted to know if we needed new curtains this year. I told her the VQ kitchen and my office. (the curtains in the office had been there for almost 20 years plus we needed a little "staging" in the room. Really looks great and much more inviting to work in there. Andy picked out the material for the VQ and the curtains really add a lot of color. Our Haitian ladies say the curtains are "HOT". He and Zane did so many needed repairs around the compound. Hey! maybe they will come and stay longer. Many of the staff houses need a facelift!!!
The week of Aug 8th Sheryl Brumley received word that her father was going to have to have both legs amputated. Sheryl spent hours trying to find a seat on any flight out. Nothing! She ended up taking a small plane to the DR then a taxi about 30 miles to the large airport in Santo Domingo to fly to CO. Praise the Lord...He provided a way.
The Runk's left on their scheduled furlough on August 8th. With all that has happened it left Chris Brumley, David and myself as the Am. staff on property. GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES.... The Team from Vision church in South New Jersey came with 10 team members on the 10th of August. One team member just happened to be PA. A couple we met a few weeks ago here in Haiti...the wife is a nurse so as Sheryl had to leave the Lord provided help for me in the clinic. While the team was here they did a Youth Camp for 190 youth from TiTanyen for 3 days.
We "guest housed" another group for Dr. Vlad. This time 15 team members. We put them all in Staff House #3. I told them we were shorthanded and they would have to fix their own breakfast and make their sandwiches for lunch. They were fine with that. Our VQ staff fixed the supper meals for all the guests on the property...some ate at the VQ...Dr Vlad's team was served in Staff house #3.
This was a lot to cram into a week but God's grace was sufficient.
Aug 22nd...Gene Self along with 2 friends arrived in Haiti. Gene has been here several times but the other two ...it is their first time in Haiti. Randy Levens is an oil well driller. HEY>>>that's similar to water well drilling. He and Curt King are starting today on a new well for GO. This rotary rig can go much deeper and quicker than ours. The guys also started painting on our Afternoon school yesterday.
Each year we treat the TiTanyen Youth to a day out on the GO property...to play, sing, do skits...whatever. Today is that day. We will feed them lunch....all 150 of them
Sheryl is returning to Haiti today. Her father is doing as well as can be expected.
August 7th Andy and Pat Richardson and their grandson Zane arrived. Pat is the one who has decorated all the team rooms and a couple of rooms in my house. She wanted to know if we needed new curtains this year. I told her the VQ kitchen and my office. (the curtains in the office had been there for almost 20 years plus we needed a little "staging" in the room. Really looks great and much more inviting to work in there. Andy picked out the material for the VQ and the curtains really add a lot of color. Our Haitian ladies say the curtains are "HOT". He and Zane did so many needed repairs around the compound. Hey! maybe they will come and stay longer. Many of the staff houses need a facelift!!!
The week of Aug 8th Sheryl Brumley received word that her father was going to have to have both legs amputated. Sheryl spent hours trying to find a seat on any flight out. Nothing! She ended up taking a small plane to the DR then a taxi about 30 miles to the large airport in Santo Domingo to fly to CO. Praise the Lord...He provided a way.
The Runk's left on their scheduled furlough on August 8th. With all that has happened it left Chris Brumley, David and myself as the Am. staff on property. GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES.... The Team from Vision church in South New Jersey came with 10 team members on the 10th of August. One team member just happened to be PA. A couple we met a few weeks ago here in Haiti...the wife is a nurse so as Sheryl had to leave the Lord provided help for me in the clinic. While the team was here they did a Youth Camp for 190 youth from TiTanyen for 3 days.
We "guest housed" another group for Dr. Vlad. This time 15 team members. We put them all in Staff House #3. I told them we were shorthanded and they would have to fix their own breakfast and make their sandwiches for lunch. They were fine with that. Our VQ staff fixed the supper meals for all the guests on the property...some ate at the VQ...Dr Vlad's team was served in Staff house #3.
This was a lot to cram into a week but God's grace was sufficient.
Aug 22nd...Gene Self along with 2 friends arrived in Haiti. Gene has been here several times but the other two ...it is their first time in Haiti. Randy Levens is an oil well driller. HEY>>>that's similar to water well drilling. He and Curt King are starting today on a new well for GO. This rotary rig can go much deeper and quicker than ours. The guys also started painting on our Afternoon school yesterday.
Each year we treat the TiTanyen Youth to a day out on the GO property...to play, sing, do skits...whatever. Today is that day. We will feed them lunch....all 150 of them
Sheryl is returning to Haiti today. Her father is doing as well as can be expected.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
July 30, 2013
Another busy busy month. We had the privilege of guest housing one of Dr. Vlad's medical teams. He is the Haitian doctor who worked with North Carolina Baptist Rescue 24 for 3 1/2 years. On Saturday July 13th we had a delightful time at a cookout with our neighbors Christian Aid Ministries. We all try to get together a couple of times each year...either at our place or theirs. We always have a great time of fellowship and food...this time we had 3 different kinds of homemade ice cream. What a treat!!! On July 14th a couple of men...Jaime and Scott from Global Compassion, came to install a shade house on the GO property. Because of the major winds we have to contend with it was decided that the shade house would be installed beside our home. David and Odelin...one of our Haitian workers... have been working for the last two days to prepare the soil and sow some seeds. Pray for Harvest. Two men from Louisville, KY with Hopeful Hearts, Bob and Trip, who were in Haiti visiting ministries, came to our compound for a couple of days. What a delight to meet them and see their hearts for missions.
July 22nd we had 28 Americans with 5 of their Haitian staff arrive to hold a conference for 180 sponsored teens with Hope for Haiti. The same day the Kate family from Ohio arrived to participate in well drilling. The ladies worked the clinic and any other odds jobs where they were needed. On July 26th the Gerald and Mattie Jones came to spend a week with us. They are from Owensboro, KY, our hometown. Friday, Saturday and Sunday night we had 200 young women sleeping in our dorms. They were from an overflow of a neighbor holding a conference on their property. Westport Rd. Baptist church arrived on Saturday with 9 team members....7 who had never been before. The doctor and nurse on the team have worked in the Burn clinic and the rest of the team members are doing VBS in Blanquette ..up the mountain from TiTanyen. Of course we won't let this many hands be idle. Every afternoon they are trying to catch us up on maintenance painting on the compound. We've cooked lots of food and fed a lot of people and it has been a tremendous blessing for all.
July 22nd we had 28 Americans with 5 of their Haitian staff arrive to hold a conference for 180 sponsored teens with Hope for Haiti. The same day the Kate family from Ohio arrived to participate in well drilling. The ladies worked the clinic and any other odds jobs where they were needed. On July 26th the Gerald and Mattie Jones came to spend a week with us. They are from Owensboro, KY, our hometown. Friday, Saturday and Sunday night we had 200 young women sleeping in our dorms. They were from an overflow of a neighbor holding a conference on their property. Westport Rd. Baptist church arrived on Saturday with 9 team members....7 who had never been before. The doctor and nurse on the team have worked in the Burn clinic and the rest of the team members are doing VBS in Blanquette ..up the mountain from TiTanyen. Of course we won't let this many hands be idle. Every afternoon they are trying to catch us up on maintenance painting on the compound. We've cooked lots of food and fed a lot of people and it has been a tremendous blessing for all.
Friday, June 28, 2013
June 28, 2013
Great week. Sunday we had a group of Americans coming for a wedding here in Haiti. The group ended up being a total of 8 people. What a great group. Rather than just sit around they wanted to be put to work. They graded roads...damaged by recent rains, did mechanic work, organized pantries, cleaned shelving...the list goes on. Thanks to the Indiana group for such a open attitude.
On Wednesday the team from New Work Fellowship in Hopkinsville, KY arrived. All 15 of them. Half of the team were first timers the rest had been here before. Their first three days were spent doing a Youth Camp for 100 youth from TiTanyen. Several of the team members also did some construction...roofing, etc.
Such willing hands. The praise and worship in the devotion time has been wonderful too.
Wednesday we had the Kindergarten graduates, the kids leaving the 3rd year of our morning school and the 4th year graduates of our Afternoon School here on the compound for a "play day". We had the blessing of feeding them lunch before they returned to the village. Boy, do they love the fried chicken.
Thursday we had Kindergarten graduation. What fun. This is the first time we have done the graduation outside in the Kindergarten yard. Lots of work but well worth it. Had to build a stage, put up tarps for shade and moved about 160 chairs from the compound and the school. We had 38 5/6 year old graduates. What talent...some sang, some danced and some read and recited their parts. Really really good. My congratulations to the teachers.
On Wednesday the team from New Work Fellowship in Hopkinsville, KY arrived. All 15 of them. Half of the team were first timers the rest had been here before. Their first three days were spent doing a Youth Camp for 100 youth from TiTanyen. Several of the team members also did some construction...roofing, etc.
Such willing hands. The praise and worship in the devotion time has been wonderful too.
Wednesday we had the Kindergarten graduates, the kids leaving the 3rd year of our morning school and the 4th year graduates of our Afternoon School here on the compound for a "play day". We had the blessing of feeding them lunch before they returned to the village. Boy, do they love the fried chicken.
Thursday we had Kindergarten graduation. What fun. This is the first time we have done the graduation outside in the Kindergarten yard. Lots of work but well worth it. Had to build a stage, put up tarps for shade and moved about 160 chairs from the compound and the school. We had 38 5/6 year old graduates. What talent...some sang, some danced and some read and recited their parts. Really really good. My congratulations to the teachers.
Friday, June 21, 2013
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