Sunday, July 13, 2014

On my way back!!

Greetings to you all.  Tomorrow I start my journey back to the House of Hope for 3 weeks.  As you can imagine, I am excited and so are those on the other end awaiting my arrival.  Getting ready for the trip has monopolized all my time and that's why this blog is happening at the last minute... but there have been a lot of activities at the HOH that we wanted to share with you, and then will come some prayer requests.

School is over for the summer.  All those who wrote government exams are breathing a sigh of relief of having finished them.  Now comes the long wait to see if they were successful!

With the end of school came graduation for some of our Youth and kids.  We had 2 young ladies graduate from our local Professional school.  There they took subjects like sewing, cooking and embroidery...
Iverlande has already started using her cooking skills by managing the kitchen at the HOH.  Finishing school was a big step for her as she has a medical condition that has made it very difficult for her to progress.  We are proud of all the effort she made and so glad she was able to graduate.

Mirlène also graduated from the Professional school.  School has also been very difficult for Mirlène over the years as she started very late.  We are proud of her for sticking with it, and being successful in the end.

 Obed, Linda's younger brother has been staying with Linda and was also able to graduate from the professional school, he studied mechanics.

We are so thankful for all of your support over the years, that has allowed these young people to reach this goal in their education.  We hope the things they have learned will help them be able to support themselves in the years to come.

On the other end of the spectrum came a graduation from Kindergarten.  After three years of getting ready for the rigors of "real" school, Rose-Carline, Micah and Carly all graduated from "Pre-school"...
Rose-Carline, Micah & Carly on graduation day

Linda with the graduates and their diplomas

A small at home party afterwards

Now, with school over, the HOH has turned towards it's summer events.  The first of this is the Spiritual Life Conference of our Haitian Mission.  It is held each year in our small town, which usually causes the population to multiply enormously over the weekend.  It brings much excitement at the HOH as there are morning and afternoon sessions for the kids, and early morning, morning and evening sessions for the youth and adults.  

One thing our kids always look forward to is getting some new clothes and new hairdos to wear to the conference.  All hands are on deck to braid and put beads in the girl's hair...

 Jn Mary helps Nitchy get her new look on!

 Siliana, Jedline, Rose-Carline & Carly happy with the finished job.
 
 All dressed up and ready to go...

The conference goes on through this weekend.  Then tomorrow morning starts the wait for "Tati Jen" to arrive.  I should get there sometime Wednesday evening.  Here are some things you can be praying for...
  • Safety in travel over the next few days, and also a safe arrival of all the bags containing the supplies for our week of VBS.
  • The lessons are prepared, the supplies on the way down, and the books made up.  Please pray that God would use these lessons sharing his Incredible Grace, and our Identity in Christ to encourage and bring growth in the lives of our kids, youth and young adults.  Pray for me as I'll be teaching each morning and evening.  Pray for the group from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church who will be helping out where they can and also bringing games for the kids to do.
  • I have many other issues to help the leaders at the HOH deal with as I go down, so pray for wisdom as we iron out some wrinkles, and make plans for the year to come.
  • Linda will be teaching a Child Evangelism course to some new teachers in the area the last week that I am in Haiti.  Pray for her as she prepares these courses and for strength and health as she teaches these teachers how to present the gospel to children.
  • Lastly please pray for good health -- lots of sickness going around, it'd be nice if we could have a few healthy weeks to accomplish all that we want to.
  • Praise God for the increase in monthly support over the months, we still need more, but it has made a difference!  So pray for this continued need with thankfulness for what has already happened.
We appreciate you and your support so much. Thank you for the different parts you play.  We'll be in touch, most likely when I get back!