Mary and I are doing fine, we are in south Fla and will be meeting with our friends at Cross International tomorrow morning before returning to Haiti on Saturday morning. It has been a joyous time of spending time with friends, family, and sharing with he Body of Christ here. One of the things which has made it a blessing while here, is having Kathy, Beaver, and Rebecca Brooks to walk in our stead in Gonaives. Kathy has returned this past Saturday and Beaver will return Monday. Below is a report from Kathy about the awesome things which our God is doing. Thanks to all of you who gave us a little of your time while we were home. Please pray for us as we return and continue our disciple making process.
With love in Christ
Psalm 119 :32 I will RUN in the way of your commandments when You enlarge my heart.
I guess ordinarily it is not a good report when we find out that our heart is enlarged….but when it is the hand of God that is stretching and making space it is indeed a good thing.!
Beaver and I and Rebecca and the many others that have been in Gonaives for the past two months are so grateful to be a part of the Beauty of Transformation in that place. Blessed. To be a part of what our beautiful God is doing in Gonaives…Jubilee …and in each of us. Beaver spent time gathering the young fathers of the community and talking about what it looks like to walk with God in the Kingdom of heaven here on earth. . How being a husband and a dad that loves God and loves their families is so crucial to the way the community develops and the way the children grow. He gently corrected and instructed for Life…not condemnation, but for a future and hope . Construction on the new school and clinic building continued … I realized how very important it is to build this space. I believe every action is a prayer…and creating space for education, and health is a vivid prayer that says, God we agree with you for the transformation of this community! We say no to manipulation and fear and bondage..we say yes to clarity of thoughts, an ample supply of food and basic needs and that every person live with hope and destiny. The school in Jubilee stands out as a monument to HOPE and Love. It is a place where Jesus is made known through genuine acts of kindness, small almost imperceptible ways of honor and love. It is a place where children get much needed food, love , security and letters, words, ideas, hope and possibilities! This will change the future of this country. It has no walls. It does not exist inside the walls of a closed compound. This is RADICAL for missions in Haiti. Emory and Mary Wilson chose this. On purpose. And I think God is making a huge statement to the world. Fear is not the boss. Love is. Relationship is more important than stuff and love is stronger than blocks. It is a huge radical proposition,. It is working. Much of my time was spent time physically creating a compost center for the community to use …bringing their fruit and vegetable peelings that otherwise would go in the dump. The goal is create a stockpile of good healthy soil that anyone can use to grow gardens in their own homes. We also invested in planting several trees in the community spaces…mango, banana and coconut! David, the young father that is heading up the program has started a seed bed of veggies and flowers to share with the community. We are so excited about this project! One of the other things necessary to plants to flourish , besides good soil, is ‘sweet” water…dlo dulce. Specifically without salt…In the last week , we were introduced to a local artisan who was drilling wells in the nearby area and coming up with sweet water. After checking out his work and watching in fascination as the men drilled for water by hand…we hired them. We should have sweet water flowing in a few more days. We spent one week teaching the kids about plants and ecosystems that promote plant growth…we took 20-25 kids at a time to a beautiful banana and mangro grove where fresh water flowed from canals drawn from the nearby river….then we all ran down the path that led to the river itself…what followed was ecstatic kids (and a few adults as well) playing and splashing around in flowing beautiful water! I call that school .Laura Lynn , Rachel Greene and Terri Stokes were the model teachers splashing and being splashed! We got a vision of how to move forward with the plan to create a Training School We are starting now to plan the curriculum that will train people in practical job skills and incorporate math, basic business plans and the idea of how to use micro-finance for small business start-ups. Our goal is that Haitian men and women can develop businesses that produce life giving -sustainable resources for their families and help build strong communities. Thank you for all the many people that have prayed for us and the ones that also financially support the work of Mary and Emory Wilson in Haiti. What a very good investment you have made! They are so very loved and appreciated by the people of Gonaives!. Grace and Peace! Kathy Brooks |
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