Fun with the TLC team and Beginning Language School

 Sorry that I have not been able to up-date this blog in quite a while! We have been in Carrefoure for almost 2 weeks now. We had a great week with the TLC team in Grande Riviere :o) They were a huge help with the ongoing  work projects for our house. They put on a 3 day VBS and we had around 200 children some nights :o) They all enjoyed getting to know the boys and had a great time playing with the children. Several of them brought treats to hand out and some of the team even donated some of their clothes. We put together goody sacks for each one, including Pastor and Madame Dominique, Madame Masees, and some of the helpers that cooked and washed clothes for us. It was fun to watch them open them, knowing that it was like Christmas to them as they rarely get fun stuff just for themselves :o) We thank God for His help and protection and for giving us all a good week! We also thank you for your prayers!

                                                  

                                     

   We began language school last week and God is helping :o) Our teacher is our good friend, Escotte, who is doing a good job helping us learn creole. The kids are learning how to count in creole too :o) Language school is costing us $250 a month. If you feel lead to help towards this cost you can click the donate button. Thank-you!  Escotte has taken us to the market a few times and we are learning how to barter and buy our groceries. Completely different then going into Walmart ! ;o)

 I am learning how to 'cook' again, as cooking here is very different than in the States! I thought I knew how to cook but I am discovering that I do not! You have to plan ahead to soak the beans, wash the rice and wash all the veggies and fruits. The flour must be sifted. The eggs must be washed well with a little bleach and water. Leftovers do not keep due to the heat and the in-consistency of the electricity for running the fridge. These are just a few lessons I am learning. ;o)

 Life here is hard. We have a lot of comforts that we take for granted in America. In America we turn on the tap and fill our glass with fresh, safe water, open the freezer and pop out ice cubes into our drink, proceed to the living room where we sit down in our comfy lazy boy while enjoying the cool breezes of the Air conditioner!  In Haiti we get our drinking water from a jug of water that has been filtered and IF the power has been on long enough, it might be cold from being in the fridge. Ice is a rare treat here. We sit down on hard chairs by the open door hoping that a breeze might be out today. Notice the differences?! The moral of the story....enjoy America today and pray for God's grace and help as we adapt to Haiti.

  In other news, we are in NEED of a team to come to GR (Grande Riviere) the first or second week of August. We plan to be putting up the walls in our house, possibly plumbing in the bathrooms and other house projects. We are looking for 8-10 people who are not afraid to ROUGH it and are willing and able to do HARD work. Rewards will be enjoying Madame Dominique's DELICIOUS cooking, getting to the KNOW the boys at the orphanage and the BLESSING of helping to further God's work in Haiti! All interested applicants email us for more details such as cost, what to bring and etc.

We VALUE your continued monthly support and prayers as we go thru language school and fight sometimes daily culture shock! Blessings on you all!

Hello from Grande Riviere!

 We have arrived safely and are doing well. The culture shock has been minimal so far. The city power has actually ran pretty steadily here in GR and we have been able to have our fans going and keep our water (dlo) cool in the freezer ;o)  We brought Terro and other bug sprays/killers with us and it has helped a lot with keeping the creepy crawlies away! We were received with shouts of joy, open arms, hugs and kisses from our Haitian family when we finally got here Tuesday afternoon. We had a long day of travel with minimal problems. Praise the Lord! God helped us thru customs, even though we had a few hairy moments. We have NO DOUBT that your prayers went before us and God intervened during the long, frustrating process.
  Our kids have had a wonderful time playing from dawn to way after dusk. They play futbol (soccer), wheel chair races, duck-duck-goose and anything else their imaginations can come up with. Danny has gone to Cap-Haitian with Pastor Dominique and is beginning to learn the ropes of shopping. I have went to the open market twice now with Madame Dominique. What an experience! I am thankful that she has been helping me as it is a LOT to learn! With God's help and your continued prayers, I will get it :o)
  Madame Dominique is a very good cook and she has been teaching me how to cook like a Haitian! I am enjoying it and learning a lot of creole words in the process. We made Diri and pwa with pul today and colsla ju to drink :o) (Rice & beans with fried chicken smothered in cashews. The juice is made with a fruit that grows here in Haiti...Mmmm!)

   We are all getting things ready for the Touching Lives for Christ ministry work team that will be here next Monday evening :o) Keep them in your prayers as they help with some building projects for our house and teach a 3 day vbs. We are looking forward to them coming. Will post up-dates as often as possible!  Bonswa! ( Good evening!)

Our family at the airport ready for the adventure!

Timoun jwe (children playing!)

Last Sunday in the States

 Life is full of 'lasts'. Last day of school. Last day at work. Last cookie in the cookie jar. Last time you see a loved one before they move or pass on. Today is a significant 'last' for our family. This is the 'last' Sunday we will be in the States for a span of time. As we sat in the service this morning, we were aware that next Sunday we will be worshipping in a completely different culture that will soon become 'normal' for us. We will understand about 25% of the service as it will all be in creole until we learn more of the language. We will hear very little English, if any. We will be with people we do not know very well, but will learn to know. We are all feeling a range of emotions: Sadness about saying goodbye, anxiety/fear of the un-known, Excitement for what lies ahead and overall a deep, abiding peace. That peace over-rides all the other emotions and it tells us that God is in control. This amazing journey that He has set us on has been His idea from the beginning, He has called us, prepared the way, provided for our needs and given us a ever-growing passion for Haiti! We are going to Haiti with His protection, His strength, His grace and He will NOT fail us! And we know that we are also going with the support of an awesome group of prayer warriors who are not afraid to touch Heaven on our behalf! Thank-you! You may never know, this side of Heaven, how MUCH your prayers mean to us and to every other missionary who is in the midst of deputation or on the field of their calling laboring for the Master. Thank-you for praying for your missionaries!

Please remember us in these SPECIFIC ways:

-Pray that God will make our way thru customs smooth, in-expensive and without incident.

-Pray for the culture shock that will no doubt hit us immediately as we experience the intense heat, warm drinks, no a/c, creepy crawlies and the language barrier. ( We will be without an interpreter for a week)

-Pray for the Touching Lives for Christ ministry work team that will be coming to Grande Riviere the 11th-18th. They will be flying into Port-au-Prince and driving up to our compound. Pray for safety on the long, winding roads. Pray for all of us as we minister to the children through Vacation Bible School and as the team works on various building projects.

-Pray for all of us as we will be driving back to Carrefoure (day long drive) to take the TLC team to the airport. Then our family will move in to the same guest house we stayed in last summer and began language lessons.

We will try our best to keep you all up-dated with pictures and blog posts as we can.

On to the Adventure!

Pics from the work team and...We have a departure date and the countdown is on!

 The work team made it back safely and they were able to get all the tile floor laid, a spiral staircase and a heavy metal door installed. God gave them all a good trip and many opportunities to minister. When Danny left, he let Pastor and Madame Dominique know that we are coming back in just a few weeks and they said "oui!" ;o)  We are thankful for God's help and protection and for the wonderful group that came from Warren Bible Methodist Church! Thank-you! We also want to say a special Thank-you to Bro. Don Mobley and Menal. They have been with us from the designing of the house to building every part of it, lending their knowledge and expertise! We appreciate everything you have done, Bro. Mobley, and really appreciate ALL your help!
   Yes, you read the title correctly, we finally know when we are moving to Haiti! June 4th is the scheduled moving day. Just 9 short days away! The list of stuff we need to have done before leaving the country is overwhelmingly long but with God's grace, strength and YOUR prayers we will get everything done! We will be flying into Cap-Haitian and staying at our compound in Grande Riviere for 1 week and then the 2nd week we are excited to be hosting a TLC (Touching Lives for Christ) ministry work team! We will be involving them in various work projects and working a VBS for the village children in the evenings. Satan has fought this team hard from scheduling obstacles to personal issues that some of them are dealing with individually. We all agree that God must have some wonderful things in store for us all as we minister at Grande Riviere! The dates are the 10th through the 18th that the team will be in Haiti. We plan to ride down to Carrefoure with them and send them  back to the States on the 18th. Then our family will live in Carrefoure staying at the same compound that we stayed in last June. We will be working HARD to learn creole for about 3-6 months. Thank-you for keeping us in your prayers!  
   Abigail turned 9 this past Thursday on May 24th and we were able to have a sweet Birthday Tea Party for her with 5 of her friends. She was so happy that it worked out to have her party before we leave for Haiti. Abby and her friends had a lot of fun playing a water game, making a cute purse for their dolls and enjoying cute mini cupcakes, chocolate drizzled strawberries and mini strawberry pies topped off with snow cones! It was a cute party that she will always remember :o)
  Happy Memorial Day! Remember those who gave their lives so we can be free here in America!

The men working on the tile floor in our house.

The team enjoying fresh fruit!

Danny and Mr. Rice showing some of the children how to work on the flooring.

Danny behind our new door...Thanks, Menal!  Bon Travay!

 

Miss Abby with her doll waiting on her guests.

The sweet Tea Party guests enjoying themselves!

God is Faithful! All our shares have been pledged!

 Praise the Lord from whom ALL blessings flow! Shortly after we arrived here in Hobe Sound, we found out that All of our shares have been pledged! We are so thankful for God's provision! Danny and a wonderful work team from Warren Bible Methodist Church in Warren, OH flew to Grande Riviere this past Thursday morning. Their goal is to get the tiling down for our floor and the walls up for our house. We are thankful for the team that God has once again put together as they have the expertise and knowledge needed for this part of building our house. God always knows what He is doing! :o)
   The kids and I are enjoying our stay back in HS again. They have put us in the missions house and it has been such a blessing to have an area where we can just hang out, relax, cook in the kitchen and wash laundry in the washing machine and dryer provided! This may sound silly to some of you but when you are on the road as much as we have been, cooking your own meals and having a place to do laundry that does not require change is huge! We are also very diligently trying to get school work done! The team will return on the 21st and we are already counting the days :o)
   The plan is for our family to move to Haiti the first part of June. We will be staying in Carrefoure for 3-6 months for language study. Then we will move into our house and began ministry at Grande Riviere.  We have a few needs that you can help us pray about and give toward them if God directs. We have been given the opportunity to purchase an inverter, that normally retails for $2,700, for around $1,600. This inverter would give us more hours with power at GR and we would not have to run the generator as much which would result in a cheaper gas bill. This would also ensure that we could run our few appliances and have electricity and internet more consistently. We also are needing some more funds to purchase a vehicle. If we have our own transportation then we will not have to wait on and hire tap-taps to get us to town. A vehicle will also be very helpful when teams come to work, minister and visit. God knows that we need these things and we have no doubt that He will supply! Thank-you for helping us pray about these!
  We VALUE you prayers and support! God bless you!

Share Count Up-date and Special Prayer Request

 We are so happy to let you all know that we have gotten in more shares and only have 16 to go! It has been fun to watch them come in and we have no doubt that God will bring in the remaining 16 as we continue to get closer to Haiti :o)
  Two weeks ago our family got to enjoy IHC in Dayton, OH and we loved getting to see a lot of YOU! We appreciate you all so much for how you have supported us with your prayers and investments into God's ministry in Haiti! You truly keep us going! Thank-you!  The bad news is that we all apparently caught some kind of yucky bug and it has done a number on us causing ear infections, high fevers, sniffles and even tonsillitis for one of us! We are beginning to feel much better now and thank the Lord as we NEED lots of energy to make it thru this next week! Lord willing, this will be our last week in the Hoosier state for a long time. We have MUCH to finish up with the packing and storing and last minute appointments this week. Would you please pray for God to give us all a healing touch and a huge dose of strength?! Thank-you! Also, please remember Danny as he is having an MRI Tue. morning to check out why he has swelling, pressure and loss of clear hearing in his r ear. We have put this in God's hands and are trusting Him for the outcome. He is faithful!

  Yesterday we had a large Haiti Benefit Yard/Bake Sale at our church parking lot. God gave us a beautiful day and we made a good amount of needed funds for our move. Our church family at Grace were very generous in the way that they donated items and baked goods to be sold. And several of them also donated their time and energy to helping out with the set-up, running the sale and the clean-up! Another HUGE blessing was that a local motorhome company donated one of their motorhomes to us to use for shade and ect. during the day. It came in very handy as most of our kids were not feeling well. They were able to rest in the motorhome while we worked the sale. A big relief for us and them! God is so good to know our needs even before we do!

  Today was our last Sunday at Grace and it was an emotion packed time! Our pastor called us up front and presented us with a card that the whole church had signed! So special! And then Danny shared with everyone where we are at with our shares and our plans. Lots of good-bye hugs were exchanged after the service. There a lot of precious people at Grace whom we love and appreciate very much! They have been with us since the beginning of this exciting Haiti journey and have been supportive all the way through. Having a good church family is indeed a blessing! We also claim Hobe Sound Bible church as our other church family too so we are doubly blessed!

 Thank-you for your prayers this coming week! We VALUE and NEED them! Blessings to you all!

                                       
                                         

Introducing Tape Designs By Becca!

 Our oldest daughter, Rebecca, is very creative and has designed adorable flowers out of duct tape :o)They are in different sizes, colors and designs and can be worn in your hair or to dress up your outfit. She has been selling them and we have just created a Facebook page called Tape Designs by Becca. All the money that comes from selling these will be put in a fund to use for our children's needs while we are in Haiti. This will help Becca come back to the States for youth camp and fund other things/events that come along for Becca, Ben, Abby and Caleb.
  The flowers can be picked up in person at our booth at IHC or you can order them through the mail. The prices are very reasonable and when you wear a flower by Becca you will be helping support us in Haiti too! Thank-you for checking them out!

 

 

Praise Note!

Praising the Lord for #31 share that came in last night! God is good! We are expecting #30 anytime! Ask God what He would have you do to support His work in Grande Riviere, Haiti!