Church
December was a very busy time for the Church. There were children’s programs and special activities. My favorite happening though was a very special baptism in the ocean.
Baptism in the ocean. Don’t you love the fishing boat in the back ground? Matthew 4:19 – And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men
Kidnappings
As many of you have heard there are gangs taking over the country since the president was shot in July. They are kidnapping, raping and killing people. They are asking high ransoms for the release of the person and even then they do not always release them, they will kill the kidnapped person and also the person that delivers the ransom. 17 missionaries were recently kidnapped and held for 2 months. 5 were released because they were sick. The rest escaped during the night and walked for miles to get away from the gang members. God preformed a miracle just in time for Christmas. Sadly, one of our special friends is now very concerned as neighbors are telling him that gang members are asking questions about him because he has a house, a car and American friends. He is very frightened for his wife and 2 little children and himself. Please join us in prayer for the situation and gang members in Haiti.
School
The children have been attending school, although not always in uniform to avoid being kidnapped. We are so happy as we had several new children sponsored in the last few months. One was a Christmas present for their dad. Another sponsor took on 2 more kids. As food becomes more scarce all the time, the lunch served at the school is all too often the only food the children have for the day. School is in session from 7 am till 1 pm. This gives the children time to get home and study while there is still day light as very few of the homes have electricity and now there is no fuel for generators. It is not easy being a student in Haiti.
Animals
We had several animals born in the last few months and several more ready to be born. We are most excited that several sponsors decided to give “their family” an animal for Christmas. And beyond excited that a church group in Ohio decided to collect money to buy animals for families in Gonaives. And whenever possible the animals will be bought from our families in the animal program! This program is doing what it is supposed to do! Helping families help themselves.
Containers , earthquake victims and blessings
Jackie hurt her knee in October and had to have emergency surgery done in November. Then there was a recovery period so she knew she wouldn’t get much done as far as Haiti was concerned. God had other plans!! First she was offered a whole container of soup mix to ship to Haiti. After finding several other groups to share the cost on the shipping container plans are under way to send this load out as soon as the arrangements can be finalized (the area where the food is has been flooded so it is difficult getting the container in and out on the muddy roads). We are more than excited about the thought of one million meals being sent to Gonaives and La Gonave Haiti!! Then a church in Florida has reached out and asked if we could safely get supplies to the earthquake victims. Ariol, our young man who is such a blessing to us, said he wanted to take it, There was so much stuff that he had to rent a truck!! Tarps, rice, beans, powdered milk for the babies, Bibles and so much more. They had to pass through an area that was controlled by gangs and ended up taking dirt roads to get around them. They arrived late so spent the night and the next morning Ariol spoke to the people about Jesus. They were eager to receive Bibles and listen to him. After everything was distributed they headed back over the mountain. And Ariol’s brakes messed up on his car. It started rolling back down the mountain and he knew he was going to meet Jesus very soon. But the car rolled into a big pile of dirt and stopped. It was getting late and the car would not drive so a stranger came by and offered to let them stay at his house for the night. They did and the man even helped fix the car and followed them all the way back to Port au Prince to make sure they were safe. What a blessing he was! But while the car was sitting for the night it was broken into and Ariol and the other guys things were stolen. Ariol did get banged and bruised up from this so we are praying for a quick recovery for all of them. Dr Leggette will be traveling there in January to treat people in the tent camps. We are also lining up 2 containers which will load the middle of January if everything goes right. If you are a sponsor and have a gift for your child please get it to us quickly. We can also use lots of loading help because several of our people have had surgeries, broken bones etc.
Recent Comments