"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Ps. 34:8

My favorite part of being here is seeing and hearing the Haitian people worship our Lord and Savior. For the past few weeks the staff here have been having devotions with the boys in the mornings before baths and breakfast. They sing, they pray, they clap their hands, they worship. We feel the Holy Spirit moving in this place. There is no time limit. They just let the Holy Spirit lead, and it is a most beautiful time.

 When I came here the first time (it’s hard to believe it has been a year already), I felt a spirit of oppression, depression, an evil, unsettling presence looming over this place.  Today there is a different spirit. There is peace, contentment, joy, people working and worshipping together as a family. The whole atmosphere has changed. There is more laughter, less fighting, more singing and fellowship.
We still have disputes, disagreements, some who don’t want to do chores, But that is in any family. The most important thing is that we are becoming more like a family. The children are learning the importance of working together as a family; helping each other when there is a need, sharing responsibilities that go along with living together as a family.
Our biggest problem we have right now is that things keep disappearing. We haven’t been able to stop the stealing that’s going on. Please pray with us that God will change the hearts of those who take what doesn’t belong to them. Pray that Ron and I will receive wisdom to deal with this problem.
We have crates of food and supplies on their way from the states. They could be in Port-au-Prince, or maybe they are on their way here. We do not know for sure, but we are running very low on supplies so please pray with us that they will be delivered soon. Our gracious Father continues to supply all we need and we are very thankful to Him for His provision. He is always on time!

We are looking forward to having some new interns here in the coming months. We will have 2 ladies who are staying for 2 months. They have been here before on short-term trips so they know what they are coming into. The other lady is a friend from our home church. She will be here for 6 months. She recently spent 4 months in Africa, but hasn’t been to Haiti before. We are looking forward to serving with them. There will also be a young man from our church who will be here for 2 months to serve with the boys. Ron and I are very excited to see the Lord sending laborers to this place.

There haven’t been any more reports of cholera here so Pastor Andy has allowed the children to swim and fish again. They love the water and most of them love to fish. There are several boys who have shown an interest in using nets to fish with.

Osiaste is learning to cast a net and has been successful in catching some small fish. Everything that is caught is cooked by the boys and eaten. It may only be a mouthful but nothing is wasted. Ron also gives fishing line and hooks regularly to our boys and the neighborhood boys so that all can fish. What the neighborhood boys catch may be all they eat.

Yesterday the boys had a “Haitian” soapbox derby. Some of the boys are “skilled” at making carts to push around and be pushed in. There were some old plastic casters that were found in a box so some of the boys built carts and Ron gave them paint to decorate them. They raced them on the basketball court. There was so much excitement! It really is the little things in life that count. It still amazes me how such small things can mean so much to these boys.

Today was the last day of school until after Easter.  Ron and I are hoping that we will be able to take the boys on an outing or maybe 2 while they are out.  We look forward to sharing more of our life here with you.  We are extremely blessed to have the opportunity to serve here.  Please continue to pray for us and the ministry that God has provided here.

I would like to share this with you from a book called "Forty Days with Jesus-Celebrating His Presence" by Sarah Young:

"I Have Loved You with an everlasting Love.  Before time began, I knew you.  For years you swam around in a sea of meaninglessness, searching for Love, hoping for hope.  All that time I was pursuing you, aching to embrace you in My compassionate arms.

When time was right, I revealed Myself to you.  I lifted you out of that sea of despair and set you down on a firm foundation.  Sometimes you felt naked-exposed to the revealing Light of My Presence.  I wrapped an ermine robe around you:  My robe of righteousness.  I sang you a Love song, whose beginning and end are veiled in eternity.  I infused meaning into your mind and harmony into your heart.  Join Me in singing My song.  Together we will draw others out of darkness into My marvelous Light."

"The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:  "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;  Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.""



                                                               

Donations may be sent to:

Ron and Karen Cockerham

c/o Kingdom Builders Missionaries

610 Falling Water Rd.

Cookeville, Tn. 38506

Ph. 931.544.0134

e-mail:

kbm2010@frontier.com

"You are a beloved child. I chose you before the foundation of the world, to walk with Me along paths designed uniquely for you."

The past month and a half has been filled with lots of emotions and experiences that I would not have dreamed of happening to Ron and myself.  God continually puts us in situations that we can only get through with His strength.  We have either sold, given away or thrown away most everything we own.  What we did keep is in storage.  Our house is for sale and for now we are living in Haiti.  We have left our family and friends behind to follow a path that the Lord has called us to travel.  We already miss our loved ones but we are very excited to see what we will encounter on this journey. 

Our return here was filled with open arms and lots of hugs and kisses.  The boys knew we were coming back but they seemed surprised to see us.  They were sooo excited to see us and we were happy to see them and to see that we were missed.
We are still unpacking and getting settled in again.  I have to admit, we have been spending more time with the boys than unpacking!  They seem to want all of our attention for some reason.  We are truly blessed to be loved by so many people, here and in the states. 

We went on our first big outing yesterday to La Tortug, which is the island across from us.  We took a big motorboat and all the girls and boys over 5 years old and much of the staff went.  Pastor and his wife also went.  We had a wonderful time, even though there was much seasickness going around.  The part of the island that we went to was uninhabited, the beaches were beautiful and clean and the water was gorgeous.  The most beautiful blue and crystal clear.  We even went swimming!  The kids had a great time.  We ate lunch there and walked on the beach and found huge conch shells that the boys brought home.  It was a beautiful, peaceful place to enjoy God's creation.

Ron and I would like to thank each of you for the gifts and prayers that have been given and sent up for the ministry and for us.  We are humbled and blessed by the thoughtfulness and generosity. The children are grateful, also.

Here are a few prayer requests:

1.  That we would stay healthy and grow in strength and wisdom as we care for these boys.
2.  That God would give us opportunities to share His love to the people of Haiti.
3.  That He would continue to supply the needs of this ministry, financially and spiritually.
4.  Pray that the ship that is carrying the crates of supplies for the ministry will be released
     by the Haitian government soon.

We thank you for being a part of our ministry here through your prayers and support.  We love each of you   and pray that you are blessed.

The Cockerham's in Haiti

"For I know the

plans I have for you,"        

declares the Lord,

"plans to prosper you

and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope

and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

                                         

Donations may be sent to:

Ron and Karen Cockerham

c/o Kingdom Builders Missionaries

610 Falling Water Rd.

Cookeville, Tn. 38506

Ph. 931.544.0134

e-mail:

kbm2010@frontier.com

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ' Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.' " Isaiah 6:8

Matthew 28:19 says:  "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

It is said in the book "Reality: 7 Truths From Experiencing God" - "Our Master commands us to go.  We need permission to stay."  The gospel shares with us the account of Jesus being obedient to His Father by leaving His right hand to come to Earth to give His life on the cross at Calvary.  Jesus told the ones who wanted to be His followers what they had to do to be His follower.  He said they would have to leave their homes and their comforts behind.  There were excuses made - "Lord, let me go and bury my father."  Luke 9:59.  "Lord, I will follow You, but first let me go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  Luke 9:61. 

It is easier to come up with excuses not to go than to just "GO".  We can put off "going" until it is a more convenient time.  Is there really a "more convenient time"?  Are we guaranteed tomorrow?  Will our next breath be our last?  Will we wait until we can "afford" to go?  Will we leave the comforts that we are so consumed with to go and tell a lost and dying world about Jesus?

Ron and I are in our home in Tennessee now.  We have been here since January 31st.  Since before we returned home we were sure we would go back to Haiti.  Why? (you might ask)

When we gave our lives to the Lord He gave us new life.  He cleansed us from our past sins and created new creatures.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."  2 Corinthians 5:17

He put a desire in our hearts to serve Him,. to obey His commands, to share His love with others.  We prayed for Him to show us what He wanted us to do with our lives for Him.
He sent us on two mission trips.  The first was to Romania.  Ron kicked and screamed until the Lord told him, "Yes, you are going."  We did not go on another trip for several years.  Then we had the opportunity to go to Kenya.  Ron and I both knew from the beginning that the Lord wanted us to go.  We fell in love with the people and the country.  The Lord put a great desire in our hearts to serve.  We thought it was to be in Africa.  When we came back from the trip we started praying and preparing to go back to serve there.  The door closed... we didn't go back.  Our hearts were broken.  Why would God put such a deep desire in our hearts to go there and then shut the door?  It took a few years to get over the hurt and stop asking why.
I know why now.  The desire to go back to Kenya was our desire.  God put the desire in our hearts to serve but as with His disciples, He sets the direction and we are to follow.  His plan wasn't for us to serve in Kenya at this time in our lives.  Now that I think about it, I just want to serve Him.  It doesn't matter where.
I certainly didn't think we would be sent to Haiti.  I never even thought of Haiti until the day of the earthquake in January 2010.  I was sitting in our first home,  (which was an answer to prayer), watching the devastation on t.v.  It was heartbreaking.  I prayed, Lord, I don't know what I could do because I'm not a doctor or nurse, but if you can use me please send me to help in some way.
He sent me to Haiti,  (but not Port-au-Prince) the last of March and into April for 6 weeks.  I was there for three weeks before Ron joined the three of us who went.  Those were the hardest days of my life.  They were also the turning point of our lives.
Now I know why God shut the door to Africa.  He had a much better plan for us.  His plans are always far greater than we could ever imagine.
There are 36 boys in Haiti who need to be loved and cared for.  They need to be nurtured and disciplined and taught to love God and fear Him and trust Him.  That is why we are going back.  Ron and I both feel that the Lord has called us to be "parents" or maybe even "grandparents" to the boys.  They need and want someone in their lives who will provide consistency, structure and stability.  They have had many people in their lives who have come and gone.  They get use to someone and then they leave.  That is just the way it is.  We want to change that.  We want to give them some sense of security in knowing that we are there for them and that even if we have to leave it will be for a short time and we will be back.  Over the past 5 months we have grown to love each of the boys and we have built relationships with the boys, the staff and the pastor and his family.
We are very excited to see what the Lord has for us to do when we return.  We have many ideas for projects and things we can do to improve the living conditions in the home.  The boys would love to have doors and locks on their shelves to keep their things safe.  We are praying that the Lord will supply the wood, hasps and locks.  Another project we would like to see completed is tables and chairs in their rooms to do homework, craft projects or just to be able to sit and read or play games. The only seating in the home is in the dining hall.  A huge project is replacing broken glass in the windows with lexan.  Glass does not last with 36 boys! and the storms that rage through.  These are a few of the material things we see in the future.  The spiritual needs are so much greater!

I will close this in the hopes that you better understand why and where our hearts are where they are. 

Jesus said, "Come, follow Me."

So we go....

Thank you for your prayers.  They are a very important part of our ministry.  We are on the front lines of a great battle and only through prayer and the grace of God can we endure and run the race that has been set before us.

We greatly appreciate the support that we have received.  We can't do what we do without the help of our supporters.  We are now a part of Kingdom Builders Missionaries, so any donations can be made through them and are tax-deductible.          

                                                     

                                                               The address is:

             Kingdom Builders Missionaries

                  610 Falling Water Rd.

                  Cookeville, Tn.  38506

                  Ph.  931.544.0134

                           e-mail:

                kbm2010@frontier.com

                        Thank you

                    from the bottom

                      of our  hearts. 

                                                              We love you.

"My Word that comes from My mouth;  will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it [to do]."  Isaiah 55:11

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brother and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11

I just finished reading "The Hole In Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision U.S.
(Thank you, Sandy, for sharing it with us). What a powerful testimony of a man who surrendered to the call of God on his life. 
While living in this town of Port-de-Paix, Haiti for the past 3 months, Ron and I have seen a small part of the 3 billion people in the world who are desperately poor, a small part of the 1 billion who are hungry, and my soul cringes to think how many of the millions we've seen who have been trafficked into human slavery. Ten million children in the world die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, one of which is cholera. We have personally seen the effects of this. Our neighbor was taken to the hospital today with cholera. She left two small children and an older daughter behind to go to a hospital which is probably over-crowded with cholera patients. The hospital itself is not like any we could imagine. I pray for the Lord to have mercy on her and heal her so that she will be able to come home to her family. Come home to what? She and her family live in a guard shack with no door. Their kitchen sits in the front of the shack, the dishes sit on the ground where they cook, when they have food to cook. Right now they have no food. The smaller children eat here and at the girl's home. Their yard is a cesspool of green slimy water. Their pig lives outside the house. There is no husband that we know of. They carry water from the main road and wash their clothes in front of our garage and lay the clothes on the ground to dry or on the rock wall along the road. This is the life this lady will come back to if the Lord allows. Though she lives in these conditions, she is always smiling and waving at us and she sings quite often.
Ron and I have been blessed to be a part of the ministry of In the Father's Hand. The children here have their own personal story to tell. Some have parents or a parent, some don't. Some have brothers and sisters, some have even lost cousins recently to cholera. Can you imagine having to give your child away because you couldn’t feed that child? Some of the children here were abused so badly that they were one big bruise when they were brought here. All have been saved from a life of starvation, abuse and hopelessness.
You may be thinking that we have the same situations in America. Yes, we do. The difference is that in America there are government agencies to help the poor and abused. Here, the government is a lot of the problem. The government is so corrupt that they don’t want the people to live in better conditions. They want to keep them “under their feet.” They want the wealth for themselves and so the poor continue to live in extreme poverty here.
There are many needs within the ministry. Some of the most urgent needs are money for food and water and shoes and socks. It takes a lot of rice and beans to feed 100 children. It also takes a lot of water to provide baths and drink. Would you please pray with us for these needs to be met. If you feel that you would like to help in some way any help would be greatly appreciated. I would be glad to give information on how to help.
I mentioned at the beginning of this blog about the book I just finished reading. In it is a story, a parable, that made me think about what a difference one person can make in this world of impoverished people.
It's about one man and a million starfish.
"One early morning, after a fierce storm had hit the coast, I strolled to the beach for my morning walk. Horrified, I saw that tens of thousands of starfish had been washed up on the beach by the winds and waves. I was saddened by the realization that all of them would die, stranded on the shore, away from the life-giving water. Despairing that there was nothing I could do, I sat down on the sand and put my head in my hands.
But then I heard a sound, and I lifted my eyes. There, in the distance, I saw a man bending down and then standing up, bending down and standing up. Curious, I rose and walked toward him. I saw that he was picking up the starfish, one at a time, and throwing them back into the sea.
"What are you doing?" I yelled.
"Saving the starfish," he replied.
"But don't you see, man, that there are tens of thousands of them?" I asked, incredulous. "Nothing you can do will make a difference."
He did not answer me but instead bent down, picked up another starfish, and cast it back into the water. Then he smiled, looked me in the eye, and said, "It made a difference to that one!"

You may not be able to give much, and you may think that you can’t make a difference, but it doesn’t take much to make a difference.

 

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;

Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy;

Deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

Psalm 82:3-4

"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