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Friday, February 19, 2010

A Time of Worship and Prayer...

What do you do when you loose your home, when you loose your children, when you loose your husband, when you loose your wife, when your bed sheets become your home, when the children's soccer field becomes a community of tent dwellers, when you loose you arm, or your leg, or both, when your friend is no longer near you when you need him? What do you do when a tent used for a weekend camping trip becomes your home. What do you do? It seems like so much the story of Job's life and yet he continued trusting God. Yet this is yet another story of Job as we have seen these people trust in God and worship Him in a way that makes my worship and gratitude towards God seem so pale. They called it 3 days of prayer. It was three days of worshiping and and praising Him. I have never witnessed such an event where people are stripped of all they have and they worship God anyway. Even in Gonaives I was following a group of maybe 2,000 people walking down the streets worshiping God. And then Sunday evening the town square was filled with people worshiping. It has been an awesome time in seeing the hand of God in so many ways as so many people from around the world come together to share what they have. For some it is talents, for some food and water, for some tents, for some sharing the love of God. It rained last night. Please pray for those who do not have tents to protect themselves from the rain.
It has been a blessing to have the team from First Baptist Brunswick here again. Tony has done a great job with the team this week. They have been such a blessing to me and the people of Haiti. They spent time serving by meeting medical needs in tent communities, distributing food and water. Praying for people in their tents, helping put tents up, playing with the children at Sherrie's and Dorothy's. We had an opportunity to spend one day in Gonaives, where some helped with the school, while others visited in the community. It was a blessing to see the VooDoo priest reconnect with his friends from First Baptist. We are continuing to pray for him.
We also had another team here with Omaha Rapid response with a Doctor and EMT. It was a blessing to see the body working together. They left Tuesday another team arrived from Omaha on Tuesday and they traveled to Gonaives on Wednesday and are working there helping out with the overcrowded hospitals due to wounded and dismembered persons. They are also working in Jubilee. For update on their work, please see omaharapidresponse.org
It has nearly been 4 weeks since my return. I continue to look around me for opportunities to show God's unconditional love to those around me. It has been a sad time as I continue to look into the depths of the eyes of those in need. They do not have to speak, you just know what they are thinking. "Please help me". When you go through so much for such a long time, which are in desperate need, it wears you down. Last week and this week I have been experiencing some burnout, but the last couple of days God has given me rest. I praise the Lord for that. Mary will be joining me tomorrow and I look forward to seeing her. Please pray for her safe travels.

With love in Christ,


Prayer request
Provision of food, shelter (tents), comfort to these families.
Spiritual wisdom and insight for us and the teams who are working here.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Pray for Haiti...

National Days
of Prayer for

HAITI

Friday, February 12th -- Sunday, February 14th


Please join us in prayer for those of Haiti who have lost their homes and their families.



Monday, February 8, 2010

A Sense of Helplessness...


We are continuing to do what we can to help those in need. It continues to be a sense of helplessness because the need is so great. Nearly everyone we talk with asks us for food, tents and other provisions. There are so many who have lost loved ones and are hurting deeply, but yet continue to go on with life. God continues to provide through many individuals and churches who continue to give. We were able to buy 2500 lbs of rice today and will distribute it tomorrow. Please continue to pray for God's continued provision. The Church here is having a large impact. There are many people in a temporary hospital where there are many people who do not know Christ come from all over the world to help. The Haitian people there and those who are Christians have a great testimony as they worship God in the mist of the storm. Mission of Hope has given 1500 lbs of rice which we distributed last week. Operation blessing has given a lot of baby food, diapers, and MRE's which we have passed on to Sherrie, Dorothy and the Haitian people. We praise God for His provision through other Christian organizations. Mike Little visited last week and was able to do many building inspections and talk to many people about returning to their homes. People are still scared to sleep in their homes even if their homes are good, therefore they continue sleeping in the streets and tents.


Last week a team from Omaha was here with Omaha Rapid Response. They were able to purchase and distribute food. Some of them were medical people who worked in tent areas and at Sherrie's. We had a couple of opportunities to visit with Dorothy. It was such a blessing to love on the children again. As always building relationships into the Kingdom. We thank God that He allows us to co-labor with others who Follow the ways of Jesus.


We had another opportunity to visit Gonaives on Saturday evening. Things continue to go well at Jubilee and the children are being fed each day with Amos and the others taking care of the task. Some one broke into our house last week and took a few small things. On Wednesday night they crossed Pastor Genada and Rose's fence around 1am and tried to break into their doors and windows with pipes. Pastor Genada was able to scare them away. We think the increase in crime is in part due to those who escaped from prison in PAP and have returned to Gonaives. There is no where to lock up these criminals and it is a bad situation. Please pray for them and for the safety of the people there.


A team from Brunswick First Baptist Church led by Tony McNorton arrived on Sunday morning. They began working in the tent communities building relationships, building a tent and assisting with medical issues. Last night we had the opportunity to visit Pastor Accilien and his congregation and worship with them. Afterward Beaver gave us a word of encouragement and then the churches had a special time of prayer for each other. Today we worked at Sherrie's and in her community doing medical clinic, and loving on the people there. What a blessing it is to build relationships into the Kingdom of God. Please pray for the power of the Holy spirit to magnify the light of Jesus in the lives of those sharing the love of God here.

Mary traveled to Wake Forrest N.C. last night to visit with Lori this week. She plans on returning to Haiti on the 20th.

For more pictures see the post below.

With love in Christ,
Prayer Request
Provision of food, shelter, comfort to these families.
Spiritual wisdom and insight for us and the teams who are working here.
Those who lost love ones and continue morning.
The criminals who have escaped and causing trouble.

Picture Update...

Note: You can click on each picture to view if larger.













With Love in Christ,