Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to all of you.  We hope you have a blessed holiday season wherever you may find yourselves.  Ours has been a busy one so far, we are part way through our Christmas program and party schedule with a few more days to go.

The kids got out late for Christmas vacation this year, most of them just finished their exams on Friday.  So they have been enjoying these first few days on vacation.  Yesterday we held our annual Christmas program.  The kids, under the direction of Saingermain, did such a great job.  It was full of songs, skits and full of the message of the gift of Jesus.  There were about 130 guests in attendance, and with our resident count it made it just over 200 people who crowded in our gallery area to enjoy the festivities.  Here's a glimpse of how the day went...
First came the preparation... Snack bags for everyone consisting of a sandwich, cupcake, bag of kettle corn and some candy.
 
Jenny's "helpers" licking out the icing bowl.
 
 
 
All dressed up... 
 
Songs from the heart
 
Dieula delivers a Christmas Poem.  She'll recite it in her school program tomorrow as well.
 
A fun dance to "Feliz Navidad"

 
And Finally... the food!  Rose Nirva tries cupcake and sandwich at the same time!

It's always a fun day at the HOH, and our friends and neighbors always enjoy coming as well.  One lady thanked us for giving a clear message of the true gift of Christmas, Jesus who lived so we could also live.

Speaking of gifts... the Christmas gifts from Grace Baptist Church in York, PA have arrived!  The kids are excited and we look forward to handing them out after our family Christmas meal on the 26th.  All of our staff will be here with us to participate in this meal and it's always nice to spend the day together.  Thanks so much Grace Baptist for once again sending our kids these gifts.  

We appreciate those of you who have prayed for our late president's wife and family during their difficult time.  We ask that you continue to hold up this family in prayer during this holiday season, as it will be tough for them.  

We'd also ask you to pray for the financial situation here at the HOH.  We were blessed by those of you who participated in helping us collect funds for our projects over the summer months (be watching for some pictures as we start to receive some of the items you helped us purchase).  We now really need to concentrate on increasing the amount of financial support that comes in on a monthly basis.  For those of you who give regularly, we thank God for you... Please pray with us that God would bring more people alongside of us to help increase this monthly support.  It costs us roughly $200 per child per month here at the HOH.  This includes everything:  food, clothes, schooling, medical care, daily needs.  If you do not do so already, please consider helping us with these costs.  If you'd like to know more details about this, just let us know at houseofhope1@hotmail.com .  If you are unable to help us out in this way, please pray with us that God would use others to do so.  Be looking in the coming weeks for news about changes we're making at the HOH due to these financial needs...

Until next time, we'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Continuing in the midst of sadness

I know it's been a bit since we've written. Things have been busy and then they were just sad... and it was hard to know how to write you about it all. 

A little over a week ago, the President of the national mission the House of Hope is part of (the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Haiti) was taken from his home in Port-au-Prince and brutally murdered.  His wife survived gunshot wounds, but is still recovering in the hospital. 

You can imagine the shock to everyone, and it's hard to talk about anything else these days.  The funeral is supposed to be this coming weekend, being held in various places across Haiti.  We would ask for your prayers on behalf of the Simon family (they have 3 young adult children who are in the US).  Pray also that those investigating this murder would be able to find those responsible and bring them to justice and keep them from doing this to anyone else. 

Here at the HOH things are going ok.  We have two of our young men who have been sick, and I will be taking them to Port-au-Prince this week to see specialists.  Pray for safety for them as they travel, and that they'd be able to find solutions for these health issues. We will also try to attend the funeral of Pastor Simon while we are there.

We appreciate you, your support and prayers very much.  I will try to get a better update written when I get back from PAP.  Blessings... And thanks for praying.