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.”
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