"Many of those who heard the Word believed." Acts 4:4

“This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:26-27
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
The first 2 weeks of school have gone well. Most of the boys have uniforms now. There is still a huge need for socks, underwear and backpacks.
The school cooks lunch for the children each day, and there is a program here through the U.N. and the World Hunger Program who has donated rice, beans and oil to the school. This provides a meal to all the children who attend Grace Christian School and for a lot of the children it is the only meal they get for the day. Through this program we have also received rice and beans to give to each family who has a child in the school. They will receive enough food for each family member periodically. The details haven’t been worked out yet, but it is truly a blessing to know that there is enough food to feed many families who are in great need.
Last week Pastor Andy held a church-planting revival across the river to the west. The area is even more impoverished than Port-de-Paix. We had been unable to go along because the river has been very high and too dangerous for us to cross. There is no bridge and we would have to drive the truck across. Sunday was the church dedication so we were finally able to go and oh! What a blessing. There were about 100 people there for the dedication and 30 people accepted Christ throughout the week. Praise God for Pastor Andy’s obedience to plant the church.

  These are some of the 30 who accepted Christ.

                                     


We have a team here from our home church, Stevens Street Baptist Church, which has been exciting for Ron and me. Dr. Alex Case and his wife Rhonda, who left Saturday, were among those who came, and brought enough medicine to conduct a 3-day medical clinic for the community here. What a privilege it has been to work beside them in ministering to the sick here. There were 430 patients seen and 23 salvations and an untold amount of medicine handed out. Thank you, Alex and Rhonda, for giving your time and love to these people. You are already missed!

　                                 

                                      

                                

                                 

                                 

Ron and I are doing good. The heat is draining as well as the daily struggles with the living conditions, as anyone who has been here knows, but we know that Father has placed us here for a purpose and every day when we look into the eyes of these boys, we know we are where He wants us at this time. We thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve here. We know that through your prayers we receive strength. May God be glorified by all we say and do.

                                    


“I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart and I will glorify Your name forevermore."
Psalm 86:12

“Your Words were found, and I ate them, And Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of Hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16

Today (10-11) school started for the Haitian children and young ladies and men. There has been much excitement, a little apprehension in some, and a few who just did not want to go. There are no uniforms yet for our boys. The young men should have theirs tomorrow. The rest of the boys will have theirs soon. The girls are so colorful with their hair bows and ponytail holders. I love that all the students here have to wear uniforms. That makes them all equal to each other when they are in school. Even here there are some who have more than others and the ones who have less are looked down on. Jesus said “There will always be poor among us.” Praise God that in His eyes we are all equal.

This year the Lord has provided another building for the children, as well as the one they have been using. The pre-schoolers are in the most recently rented building. It has been very crowded in the past. Now there is a little more room. There are about 206 children attending now but that is expected to increase to about 300 in the next week.

As I sit here writing this, I hear children in the school closest to us singing. It brings joy to my heart.

M prayer request for our children is that their minds and hearts would be open to desire to learn the most that they can. So many here can’t read or write very well. It is a struggle for them to learn. Many haven’t had the opportunity to go to school until they came here. Please pray that their hearts would be filled with the desire to read so that they will be able to read God’s Word with understanding.

                                        

There has been much work going on in the boy’s home. We have been working on the classroom, hoping to be able to use it for English classes, Bible studies and meetings very soon. It will be much easier to work with small groups in a more controlled environment. This work had to be put on hold for a short time so that tables could be built for the preschool children at school.

                                         

Pastor Andy has been praying for 8 years for a cross for the church. That prayer was answered this week as a cross was built, painted, lights attached and the cross mounted. Praise God for answered prayer. The smile on Pastor’s face was priceless! There have also been 2 other crosses with lights mounted recently. One is above the main gate to “The Land” (the boys home) and the other is overlooking the sea at the other side of the home. We are so thankful for the cross and what it means to us.

                                   

                                   

Apparently money is coming into Port-de-Paix for rebuilding. There is a lot of road work being done downtown. It almost looks like a battle zone. Buildings are being torn down to widen the roads. In our neighborhood we have new road signs! So exciting to see!

We have a team here from the states for a week which includes Tiffany (Keith and Cindy’s daughter), M’lin, Tiffany’s husband and their baby (for those who don’t know them). The baby is so beautiful. The pictures just don’t do justice!!!. There is another team coming Sunday for 2 weeks from our home church. They will be doing medical clinics and rebuilding part of the seawall. We are so grateful that there are people willing to serve here. The needs are great!.

Pastor Andy will be traveling to a small community across the river next week to do a revival. Please pray for that time of sharing the Gospel with the people there. We are also planning to take the Medical team there, maybe 2 days. This is a much poorer part of the country than even Port-de-Paix. We are excited to see Father work there.

I will close for now with these words from my devotion today: From Psalm 84:5,11

“Our hope is in the omnipresent Lord God, who travels with us each step of our journey. He is the one who sheds light on our dark path and protects us from evil. His grace and glory make our wilderness a place of refreshing springs with pools of blessings. Because He will not withhold from us any good thing, we can have peace in His faithfulness to supply all we need.”

School starts in one more week!

We found out yesterday that school starts for our children on the 11th.  We thought it was the 6th but for some reason it isn't until next week.  We got our hopes up only to have to wait another week.  I don't know about the boys but the adults here are excited for school to start.  Maybe we will have a little quiet time in the mornings.  Right now there is noise from daylight until way after dark. 

Starting Monday we will go on our school schedule, which means that the boys will get up at 6 a.m.  and go to bed at 8 p.m.  No movies until Friday night. 

Grace Christian School was founded by Keith Lashbrook and is run by Pastor Andy, who oversees Lashbrook Family Ministry.  There will be approximately 300 students attending.  This includes the children of Grace Chapel, the children in the neighborhood who can't afford to go to another school and the children in Lashbrook Family Ministry.

Today, which is Saturday, there was a prayer, praise and worship service at the church to pray for the children who will be attending the school this year.  It was amazing.  2 1/2 hrs. of prayer and singing and praising.  The church was full of children and some adults worshipping the Lord.  What a great time of honoring our Father.  It is so nice not to have a time limit on our worship here.  I think it should be that way everywhere!

Our boys here still need socks, shoes and backpacks for school.  We are trusting the Lord to provide all that is needed.  There is also a financial need.  As you probably can imagine it is not cheap to send all these children to school, but we know that the Lord has it all worked out.  It is exciting to see how He will supply.

This has been a great day.  Good news from my son, who had outpatient surgery and ended up in the hospital for 2 days afterward.  He is much better now and at home.  Praise the Lord for answering our prayers there. 

As I am writing this I am looking out over the sea and there is a magnificent double rainbow.  It goes from one side of the island, across the sea to the other island.  There is no artist greater than our Father. 

Hmmm... I just read the story of Noah and the ark last night to the little boys....Our God is Awesome.

"His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise."  Habakkuh2:3