New Meeting House in Jimani!

Here are a few photos from last week. We had 8-10 men working every day. We thank God for His provision to begin construction of the new meeting house. To God be the glory!    -Tom

The foundation is in place.

God's Word being proclaimed!

 The walls going up.

 The block walls are completed.

The inspection team.

Eglise Eau de Vie de Pays Pourri (Water of Life Church in Pays Pourri)

This weekend I had the opportunity to go up the mountain to our Eglise Mennonite Eau de Vie de Pays Pourri (Water of Life Mennonite Church in Pays Pourri) along with a group from our Fond Parisien church.

 The evening service in the mountain church by lantern light

Pastor Voltaire giving a vibrant message.

Here is the bed that Pastor Voltaire and I slept in.

 There were some boards falling out of the bottom of the bed, leaving some holes.

 This is the house we stayed in. It belongs to Jorèl, Pastor Jack's son, who has moved to Brasil. 

 Pastor Voltaire, Jorèl Inosant (Octalia's husband), and Deacon Gesner.

It was nice and cool.

 This girl is making some breakfast for us. 

 Pastor Jack, the pastor of the Pays Pourri church.

 Pastor Jack has kept trees in the area by his house.

 This brother is teaching Sunday School. He is reading a Bible Story from CAM's 101 Favorite Bible Stories.

 They asked me if I wanted to preach, so of course I took the opportunity

 Pastor Voltaire dedicating this baby to the Lord. 

 It is a blessing to see that most of the children that are dedicated in this church have a dad and mom that are married

 Visiting outside the church

 Pastor Jack visiting with a church member.

 Oktadine insisted that she carry my backpack. She also carried a suitcase for Pastor Voltaire on her head. Thankfully, she only did this for the first 10 minutes down the trail, before giving the suitcase to someone else to carry.

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A view of Fond Parisien from the mountain.

 Headed down the mountain for home.

A part of the time, the trail was in this riverbed.

Building Fence at the Housing Project

We are continuing work at the Earthquake Housing Project in Leroux (Croix-des-Bouquet). In Haiti, it is very important to put up a fence around your property. Most times people put the fence up before building. The fence keeps goats and sheep out of your yard, along with unwanted trouble makers. It is also important, so that some wheeler-dealer does not come and sell some of your yard to someone else.

We give a big thank you to the Florida HBA, for sponsoring this part of the project. We also thank the work team from New York who worked hard.

It is going to be a 6' high chain link fence with barb wire around the top.  

Many of the people that received the houses pitched in to help with the fence.

Riding to the job site with tools and supplies. The little guys are Josiah and Nic who went along to help for a day.

One day after quitting, we drove up the mountain a little so the team could get a view of the valley from the mountain. Here they took a group photo.

leadership Training Seminar Report

I know many of you had expressed interest in the seminars we did in Peyi-Pouri. So I just wanted to post an update on how things went. Looking back we can really see God’s hand at work from the beginning to the end. We saw God both open and shut doors to make things happen that we in ourselves could never have done.

·         The first seminar was held in Robia at Legliz La Ville Dór the 17^th-20^th .

o    We had an attendance of 89 leaders.

o    63 literate and 26 illiterate, which is a 29% illiteracy rate.

o   There were a total of 12 congregations represented.

o   The participation of the community was exceptional I think it really spoke of there receptiveness. Several mornings I woke up and there were pastors already waiting outside the church. The cooking of the meals and preparing accommodations went so smooth I could honestly not have asked it to be better.

·         The second seminar was held in Badi at Lekòl Salem the 26^th-29^th.

o   We had an attendance of 90 leaders.

o   54 literate and 36 illiterate, which is a 40% illiteracy rate.

o   There were a total of 14 congregations present.

o   The community in this seminar was much more spread out, some coming from as far four hours away and staying the week.

 Both seminars were four full days of teaching with the same subjects taught.

·         Andy Eversole: Basic Christian Theology

·         Ric Gullman: Effective Christian  Leadership

·         Mike Martin: Matthew 5-7

·         Emanuel Shrock: Salvation and Justification

As far as expenses, here is an itemized list:

·         Literature - $ 461.19

·         Translators - $ 595.24

·         Food - $ 894.50

·         Mule Transportation - $ 33.33  

I trust this brief report helps give you all a better look at what we did and how it has effected and ministered to our brothers in Christ. 

God Bless, Shea

Newsletter Link

I uploaded the latest newsletter (December 2012) to the mission website. Some of you have already seen it, but for those of you that didn't, here is the link. 

 

Look at baby Jenny almost 2 weeks and 2 pounds later!

Look at baby Jenny almost 2 weeks and 2 pounds later! I am so thankful to God for allowing me the privilege again of being part of a miracle! The first night I was wondering if she was going to survive because her skin was so tight it was starting to crack open. Her whole body was stiff and hard and she was so weak she could barely cry. Now she is soft and cuddly and full of giggles!!! Praise God!!

by Mary Ann

Leadership Training Seminar (Badi)

The 26th -29th was our second leadership Training Seminar in Peyi-Pouri

The northern sky from Badi

Registration the first day left us unprepared. Of the 65 applicants who applied, we had 90 who came to register, 39% of which were illiterate  We praise God for the hunger He has placed in the hearts of His children for His word.

After praise and worship the mornings started off with Mike teaching out of Matthew 5-7

After Mike's session was morning coffee.

Andy and Wismith teaching Basic Christian Theology.

Here Ric is adding to his illustration for the days lesson. His teaching on Christian Leadership revolved around the illustration of a tree planted by rivers of living water (Psalm 1)

We owe a huge thank you to all the ladies who sacrificed many hours preparing food. 

And more food.

And then dishes.

Emanuel and James wrapped up each day teaching the simplistic elements of salvation.

Hiking and visiting in the community. Here we are visiting Bro. Edmond's carrot gardens.

Presenting a small thank you to the cooks on the last day.

And certificates to the leaders.

All 90 attendees and teachers/translators

The southern sky

We want to say thank you to all of you that were praying for us over these last few weeks. We know that God's hand was at work in orchestrating these seminars. And we continue to pray for the seeds that were planted, that they may grow to glorify our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ.