Wednesday, January 30, 2008

We are still here!

The past few weeks have been packed full of activity. For two weeks we enjoyed having a group of 9 people here from the Seattle area (and one from Il.). They come every year, and as always, were so helpful during their time here. They come with the intention of fixing as much as they can, and making our lives much more bearable during the rest of the year. They certainly fulfilled that once again this year. The fixed many leaking roofs, and other problems we had during the rain. The put in all the electricity in the new building, and helped with many computer networking and internet problems. And also fixed up our vehicles for another year of rough muddy roads! I'm sure there's much more they did, that I've forgotten to write down!

Things are going well here at the house. We are thanking God so much for the full time nurses that have made Linda and my jobs so much easier. Especially as we had some extremely ill children be admitted during the past couple of weeks. Most of them are doing much better, some have returned home, unfortunately, one little girl passed away after several days of much struggling here at the HOH.

While I have told some people this news already, we are pleased to announce that Ciliana (the 1.8 pound preemie we've received back in December 2006) finally tested negative for HIV! Praise the Lord with us. We've had so much fun rejoicing with her. Everyone who comes by the HOH has to pick her up and dance with her in their arms. She had no idea what was going on, but she sure enjoyed the attention. It almost feels like she does realize something has happened because since that day, she has really had a spurt in her growth and development! You can see her here starting to take her first steps unassisted! We praise God for her, and are so thrilled to have her as a part of our lives. We can't wait to see what He is going to do with her in the future! But for now, we are enjoying the little changes that happen every day.

This coming week our students have a week of vacation as it is Haiti's Carnival week. They have been busy planning two days of fun for the young people in our town. We did this last year and it was well received, so we plan on doing it again this year. There isn't much for young people to do when they are on vacation from school, and so many just end up getting into trouble. We hope to use this as a method to reach out to them, have a chance to share Jesus with them, and also to allow them some time to relax and have fun. St. Germain, our resident event coordinator, is spearheading this event, and it will take place Feb. 3-4. That gives us the whole weekend to prepare for it, and from what I hear we are going to need every bit of it!

We have started up our Bible studies again, after having stopped them over the Christmas holidays. It's been good to be back into studying the Word together again. It is exciting to see God working in the hearts of our young people, calling them to present themselves as "living sacrifices". Please keep them in your prayers. There are so many temptations and bad influences around them. Pray that they'd be open to the Lord's working in their lives, and willing to be different from their peers, in order to allow His working to be displayed in their lives.

Linda has had a bit of trouble with her health again, and it's becoming more and more evident that she has diabetes, she is on a very low dose of medication, and seems to be doing better than she was. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, and willingness on her part to keep up with a healthier diet and with the medication

God has heard your prayers concerning the need for more financial support for the HOH. While we have received an increase over the past few months in support coming in, we still need more, and ask you to please continue to pray for Him to supply the things that we need.

We would also ask you to pray concerning the shipping of things into Haiti. The shipping company we've used over the years is threatening to close up shop. I talked to the owner last week, and he told me he might rethink his decision to close down, if all goes well on this next boat load that he is bringing in. He wants to come into Haiti the beginning of Feb. So, I'd ask that you pray that all goes well, and that this shipping company would not shut down. It is such a vital link for us to receive donated supplies, most particularly clothes for the kids. We can't even begin to process what it will mean for us if we have to start looking for clothing to buy here in Haiti, the time and cost involved in that will be huge. So please pray with us, that the shipping company will still make runs, and if not that God would open up other options for us to receive the things we need to make the HOH run.

One last request I'd like to share at this time, is for me as I am trying to finish up translating, and preparing the second half of the Young Peacemaker's course. Last year over Spring break we taught the first half to the young people and children here at the HOH, and the principles they learned in the course have been life changing for them. This year we hope to finish the rest of the course. The only problem is that I'm finding it very difficult to find the time needed to translate and prepare the lessons. The date is set for the 14th to the 19th of March, so please pray that I would be wise in how I spend my time, and also that I would have a clear mind and health to do the work, and have it done in time for the seminar mid-March. In preparation for the second half of the course, the young people themselves are doing revisions of last year's lessons each night during our family devotions. It's interesting to re-hear the course, but this time from their perspective.

Thank you so much for holding us up in your prayers. You are an important part of this ministry, and we thank God for each and every one of you.

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