Living Stone Haiti

1-21-2012 Shepherd's Staff Seminar in Arcahaie

2012-01-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

Above, Pastor/Evangelist Thony Jean Louis is one of our Living Stone Network partners. He invited us to conduct a "Shepherd's Staff Seminar" with a group of Pastors and Church leaders in the small city of Arcahaie about one hour north of Port-au-Prince.
The event took place in the Church of God sanctuary.
Liz shared her message entitled, "Don't be afraid but fear the Lord." We feel the "Fear of the Lord" is lacking in many leaders. To the right of Liz, Magalie Boyer interpreted during Liz's teaching time. Magalie is from Haiti. She and her American husband Bobby are the pastors of Quisqueya Chapel in Port-au-Prince. After Liz shared, Dan also shared a message about the difference between "authority" and "responsibility." Dan exhorted the leaders to look for workers who were hungry to take responsibility rather than those who are hungry for authority.
More than 250 leaders packed out the small church. They were very excited to receive God's Word as well as to receive a personal copy of what we call "A Bible School in a Book" entitled: "The Shepherd's Staff."
After lunch, the books were passed out to each leader. The goal is that each recipient will utilize their book to teach and train 100 other people how to have a deeper personal relationship with the Lord Jesus as well as discover practical ways to evangelize the lost and make them into disciples for Christ.
Leaders were very happy to receive the book!
Group shot of leader's holding their new books.

Spanish Bible Study Family Gathering

2012-01-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

Liz invited all the ladies from her weekly Spanish Bible study group to come to our house with their husbands and kids. She baked pizza and the other ladies brought a variety of other tasty dishes.
Above, Dominican Missionary Miguel Ovalle conducts a brief devotional before dessert.
Everyone had a great time together with plenty of food, fun and fellowship!

End of Year Road Trip to Northern Haiti

2012-01-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

The week between Christmas and New Year's we joined three other families driving to Cap-Haitien to sight see and visit an old Haitian fort called "The Citadel." Above, Joey stands outside the entrance to the fort with some old canons.
Located high in the mountains and overlooking Cap-Haitien and the ocean, we enjoyed spectacular 360 degree views without safety rails. Yipes! Above, all the missionary kids lay out over the edge of the fort's wall to take in the view far, far below. The fort was built 200 years ago to be a place of refuge just in case Haiti was ever re-invaded by France or Spain.
All four missionary families pictured together at the Citadel. All together their were 19 of us traveling together. It was a great 4 day road trip with great memories!

Christmas 2011 in Haiti

2012-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

On December 19th, we hosted a Living Stone Ministries Christmas Fellowship at a local guest house for all our active ministry partners. Above, Liz speaks to the group about the importance of growing in "The Fear of the Lord."
After praying, singing, lot's of good food and fellowship, we posed for a quick group shot before heading back to our homes.
Liz also shared her "Fear of the Lord" message with the Assemblies of God pastor's wives at their annual Christmas luncheon.
All the ladies received a personal copy of Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" book in French.

October, 2011 "Shepherd's Staff" Leadership Training Conference

2011-10-30T14:19:00.001-07:00

We were delighted to have Pastor John Morrow (above right) from Lincoln, Nebraska with us for a full week of leadership training conferences featuring his anointed teaching as well as the distribution of complimentary copies of a very powerful Bible Training manual entitled: "The Shepherd's Staff." John's interpreter was Pastor Jean St. Cyr. (above left)
Above, Pastor John shares with a group of 300 leaders in the Port-au-Prince conference. He also conducted large conferences in Les Cayes in Southern Haiti as well as the city of Gonaives to the North.
Pastor John has a strong anointing to teach pastors to see themselves as Spiritual Fathers. Other topics included in his series were "The Authority of the Believer," "The Power of the Blood of Jesus" and "The Power of Words." At the end of the full day, Pastors and Leaders were invited to pray and make spiritual proclamations together. (above)
At the end of each seminar every attending leader received a copy of "The Shepherd's Staff" in the French Language. Above, an attending leader reads his "Shepherd's Staff" Bible Training Manual.

July, 2011 Children's Vacation Bible School

2011-07-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Children all around Haiti are participating in many special activities while they are on summer vacation from school. Several of our Living Stone ministry partners regularly conduct VBS (Vacation Bible School) during the summer months to give children opportunities to grow in their relationship with God and with one another. The kids also of course have lot's of fun! (Top) Children were given Creole New Testament Bibles courtesy of the Haitian Bible Society and encouraged to read them everyday. (Middle) Craft projects are always a great way to teach children spiritual lessons as well as creativity while they learn how to work with their hands. (Above) Clement, Mona, Sheila, and Vionel worked together on this recent VBS conducted near Port-au-Prince. They are pictured from left 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th respectively.

July, 2011 Visting Family, Friends & Ministry Partners in the Midwest

2011-07-31T19:14:00.001-07:00

We've been in Omaha, NE since mid June taking time to rest, connect with family and friends, and speak at partner church congregations. Joey has enjoyed spending time with his cousin James (top) going swimming, playing video games, and shooting airsoft guns. (Above) On the 4th of July we took a family picture with Dan's two brothers and their beautiful families. Lord willing, we will return to Haiti at the end of August.

June, 2011 Using Pillow Cases to make Dresses

2011-07-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

This beautiful little girl from "H.I.S. Home for Children" is one of numerous recipients of pillow case dresses created by ladies from Omaha, Glad Tidings and Benson Baptist Church. The dresses were brought and delivered with lots of love by the Glad Tidings team when they came to work with us in Haiti in early June.

May, 2011 CHE (Community Health Evangelism) Community Awareness Seminar

2011-07-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Several of our Living Stone network partners conducted a community awareness seminar to introduce members of a Port-au-Prince Church to the principles and methods of CHE (Community Health Evangelism) These partners were some of the same ones who had completed the TOT1 (Training of Trainers) course back in March. (Top) Mona facilitates a discussion about community health/spiritual topics. (Above) Volcy participates in a small group as they brain storm for answers to various community related questions. The goal of CHE is to empower local believers to utilize the teaching and promotion of basic preventive health care practices as a platform to begin forming relationships with non-believers in their communities and build a bridge to introduce them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The next step is for the church members to decide when they are ready to form a committee with other key leaders in their community and then receive more in depth training so they can begin implementing CHE in their community.

May, 2011 Kid's Club Leader's Training

2011-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

We were given a very unique opportunity to provide training for a group of leaders from 10 rural communities in a very arid, almost dessert like area of Haiti known as Fond Parisien. The event was hosted by Pastor Rod Baker and his leaders from Victory Church, Tulsa OK. The goal was to introduce Children's workers to simple ministry tools they could use to host weekly Kid's Clubs in their communities. (Top) Clement gives a demonstration of how to use a picture book to tell children Bible Stories. (Above) Group poses for a picture during their 3 days of training. After the training, the leaders were encouraged to go back to their communities to begin utilizing their new techniques and materials with children in their communities. There are future plans to provide more in depth training to key leaders in each of the communities utilizing CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) training courses.

3-15-2011 Random Good Times!!!

2011-03-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

While Chris Bedzyk from One Hope was here working on the Haiti Book inventory at the Bible Society, we decided to take a half day and climb the mountain immediately across the ravine from our house. (Top picture Chris on the left and Miguel our tour guide on the right) We call it the "Belo Hike." It was Friday and Joey had the day off from school so he went with us. We had a great time and wore ourselves out getting to the top. Liz came to rescue us and gave us a ride back to our house in the pick up. We affectionately refer to Liz as the captain of the "Search and Rescue Team."

One day, while visiting our new missionary friend Lee from South Korea, she offered us some incredible tasting sea food snacks that look like sushi wrapped in sea weed. (Above pictured on the left is MAF missionary friend Julie White from Broken Bow, NE and South Korean Missionary Lee who made the yummy sushi snacks) As we talked about "CHE" (Community Health Evangelism) and ate these treats, I suddenly realized that as a "Nebraska Boy" this wasn't the type of food I was accustomed to growing up.

3-6-2011 Port-au-Prince Fellowship Water Baptism

2011-03-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Dan was asked by the Elders of Port-au-Prince Fellowship to conduct classes to prepare young believers for baptism. After 4 weeks of instruction during Sunday School hour, 21 young men and young ladies followed the Lord Jesus in Water Baptism. Dan and Roger Clark teamed up to baptize the candidates together. (top picture) Some of the newly baptized young ladies dry off as they watch their friends being baptized. Special thanks to Pastor Bobby Boyer and the saints from Quisqueya Chapel for offering us the use of their baptism pool. Also, special thanks to Mackenson Eustache and Moise Medor for helping with conducting the Baptism classes. We actually had several of the candidates come to Christ during the Baptism Instruction. Praise the Lord!

2-11-11 CHE Training Gives Network Partners Important Priciples for Evangelism

2011-02-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Our ministry network partners were among almost 30 participants in a CHE training at Quisqueya Chapel in Port-au-Prince. CHE is short for "Community Health Evangelism" and is a method of holistic health care / community transformation that puts an emphasis on ministering to people body, soul and spirit. First developed by Stan Roland and Campus Crusade back in the eighties, today CHE is being utilized around the world to mobilize believers in underdeveloped countries to reach out to their communities with both practical health training and spiritual training. We were very privileged to host the CHE training team from Northern Haiti for a full week course called TOT1 (Training of Trainers 1). Pictured from left to right (top) is Evelyn, Osse, and American missionary Dr. Liz Flemming. This dynamic trio kept us on our toes utilizing large group presentation, small group discussions, group problem solving, role playing and team presentations to help participants learn how to interact and think in a way that will help them work with community leaders. The next step is for participants to choose a neighborhood they feel CHE could make a good impact and then begin working with people in each community to form committees that will define important needs and recruit and train CHE's. (Community Health Evangelists) It is the CHE's who will begin to go door to door visiting their neighbors and ministering to them holistically. Lord willing, once these initial steps have been completed, there will be another one week course that will give us more details on how to begin training the committees and CHE's in each community. We and our partners are very excited and are beginning to investigate several communities where we think the Lord would enable us to use CHE as an effective ministry tool.

For a more detailed description of CHE please visit the following web site:

http://chenetwork.org/whatische.php

1-24-11 School Starts for "Camp Petionville Club" Kids Previously Not Alble to Return to School

2011-01-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

On Monday, January 24th, about 65 under served children were able to begin afternoon classes at Pastor St. Cyr's primary school (above 3 pictures) located near the tent camp called "Petionville Club." Many of these children had attended school before the January, 2010 earthquake. However, since that time many of their parents have not been able to find employment or restart their small vending businesses which had been lost after the disaster. We would like to thank the Lord for providing funds through many of your hands when you sent "earthquake relief" as well as Arlington A/G from Jacksonville, FL who joined in to provide the needed resources to help "jump start" these young people's education once again. Lord willing, through small business loans being made to some of these children's parents to help them acquire inventory for their small, mobile vending businesses, their families will once again soon be able to help participate in the expense of their education. In the mean time, we feel quite blessed to be able to be in a place and time like this to share the Lord's provision with these precious kids and families. Please pray for the children to adjust quickly to school and for their parents to be able to once again soon find employment or restart their small vending businesses. Also, please pray for the skill training needed to equip many young men and women to prepare them for the work place as economic transformation opportunities begin to be presented to Haiti.

1-12-11 Eartquake Anniversary Memorial: "Celebration of Life"

2011-01-29T07:46:00.000-08:00

The one year anniversary of the earthquake was marked with many memorial services throughout Haiti. We were privileged to be a small part of a very special, joyful event entitled: "Celebration of Life" The event took place across the street from the ruins of the National Palace and was hosted by a large group of Haitian Churches in partnership with numerous American organizations including "Churches Helping Churches," "YWAM," and long time Haiti veteran missionaries Joel and Yvonne Trimble of "Haiti for Christ." The day began at 6AM with many Haitian pastors, choirs and several international speakers who encouraged the people to continue to trust the Lord and grow in their faith and expectation of God's plan to bring all Haitians into relationship with Him through Christ. Late morning, the popular Haitian Christian Worship Band "Alabanza" (top two pictures) led by Carly Joseph took the stage to lead the people in many well known praise and worship songs. By noon, when the 6 hour event ended, there were an estimated 100,000 people in attendance (bottom picture looking back from near the front of the stage.) Also, at the end of the event, the gospel was preached and people were assisted by Christians in attendance to learn how they could be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

We participated with about a half dozen of our ministry partners in setting up and tearing down some of the platforms both at the morning outreach as well as a late afternoon presentation that took place in Leogoane, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people. It was a great day of remembrance and opportunities to preach the gospel. Many of our missionary friends attending other outreach events also told us stories of many people coming to accept the Lord! Please pray for the new believers that came into God's kingdom on January 12, 2011.

12-23-2010 Kid's Club Leaders Take Ownership of Pastor St. Cyr's Kid's Club

2010-12-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

Wow what a Christmas celebration! To think that just a few months ago Sheila, Gelia and Onese (top picture) had little or no experience ministering to children. At Pastor St. Cyr's request, our national coordinator Clement Jean Benoit started a kid's club at the pastor's house last summer and soon recruited 3 shy young ladies to help. Soon after attending a two week CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) training seminar, the girl's confidence level took off and Clement stepped aside to let them take over full time leadership. We were all amazed when we returned to watch the three young ladies conduct their weekly Kid's club now conducted in Pastor St. Cyr's tent. We were doubly blessed to be present at their special Christmas presentation. As the three leaders directed and watched, their Kid's club children ministered to one another and several hundred guests through singing, dancing, comedy, and sketches including an almost completely memorized scriptural reenactment of "Jesus and the Samaritan Woman."(bottom picture)

12-23-2010 "Balls and Dolls" for Christmas Gifts at Pastor St. Cyr's Kid's Club

2010-12-30T18:03:00.000-08:00

At the tail end of Pastor St. Cyr's Kid's Club Christmas Party, all the regular attending children received gifts along with their invited guests. The boys received "J-316" Soccer Balls provided by "One Hope" and the girls received dolls provided by Living Stone Ministries. The soccer balls are significant because they are made up of the same colors as the Jesus Bracelet and tell the story of God's love for man.

Spanish Ladies Bible Study Christmas Party

2010-12-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

The weekly Spanish Ladies Bible study that Liz co leads had a special Christmas celebration. Since the children were out of school they had holiday activities together along with the study of God's Word. These included games, baking cookies, and gift exchange.

12 -23-2010 Coordinator's Christmas Dinner

2010-12-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

Just before our Christmas, many of our key "One Hope" Coordinators came to our house for holiday food, fun and fellowship. Liz cooked and made fabulous dessert. Clement and Mona our National coordinators also prepared food and helped with preparation. We gave each coordinator a Christmas card and small gifts of appreciation. Together with others who weren't present, this group visited hundreds of schools and distributed more than a half million "Books of Hope" this year. Praise the Lord for His life changing Word!

12-23-2010 Cement and Paint Finished on the Miragoane School

2010-12-30T15:01:00.001-08:00

The cement work and paint look great at the Miragoane School! These photos were taken by our friend and "One Hope" partner Vionel Romelus on December 23rd as he was on his way from Cayes to Port-au-Prince to attend our Zone Coordinator's Christmas Dinner. Thanks Vionel!

11-23-2010 Worship in the Midst of Cholera

2010-11-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

The following is from Ted Steinhauer, the Haiti Country Director for Medical Teams International. I think Ted's observation about what he saw recently in their health clinics in the North West of Haiti sums up the heart of what it means to worship the Lord in all things and at all times.

We hear a lot about the importance of worship and rightly so, but I wonder how many of us really understand or have ever experienced worship as depicted below.

________________________

The setting:

Two Medical Teams International cholera centers; one set up at the Centre Medical Beraca in La Pointe, and the other at the NHCM (Northwest Haiti Christian Mission) Bible School in St. Louis du Nord.

The situation:

Swamped by over 150 cholera cases per day (60% children 5 and under – 1% death rate), an exhausted Haitian and NGO nurse and doctor staff work feverishly inserting IVs, IOs, changing solution bags, wiping filth from bodies and comforting grieving families.

Nonstop rain, wet scrubs, muddy shoes coupled with the smell of chlorine, vomit, diarrhea and death adds to the misery as staff scurry back and forth between intensive care and the oral rehydration wards.

The scene:

Oral rehydration ward where patients in various stages of recovery lie on mats attended by nurses. A staff member begins to sing and soon everyone is worshiping. Nurses sing as they work, and patients raise their hands in praise to their God in the midst of the most horribly dehumanizing situation I have ever experienced.

This, my friends, is true worship and I, for one, am humbled!

Ted

Please pray for our friends Ted, his wife Kathy, and the many International and Haitian medical professionals who are working through Medical Teams International to fight Cholera in North West Haiti. If you would like to know more about this important ministry or follow updates from their front lines of treatment, please check out their website at: www.medicalteamsinternational.org.

11-2 to 11-5-2010 Shepherd's Staff Seminars with Pastor John Morrow

2010-11-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

Special Thanks to Pastor John Morrow from Living Word Christian Ministries. (above middle pictured with Pastor Thony Jean Louis (left) and Clement Jean Benoit) Pastor John came to Haiti to provide a very special ministry conference designed to impart spiritual life to pastors and leaders helping them to better understand and walk in the Father heart of God, the authority of the believer, and the power of the blood of Jesus and the power of words. John is from Nebraska and pastors in Lincoln with his wife Vernetta. Through his ministry partners and World MAP, together they provided more than 300 copies of a "Bible School in a Book" called "The Shepherd's Staff."
Pastor John taught 3 Conferences over a 4 day period including this one at Quisqueya Chapel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The teachings he gave were delivered in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. The Haitian pastors and leaders present at all the seminars were very appreciative and receptive to the teaching God provided through Pastor John.
Participants at the Quisqueya Conference display their copies of "The Shepherd's Staff" ministry manual.
Conference attendees share fellowship over lunch at the Quisqueya Chapel Conference site. We hope to receive more copies of the "Shepherd's Staff" ministry manuals in the future and continue to put them in the hands of ministry leaders through our network partners throughout Haiti. A book like this is especially valuable in under developed countries like Haiti because most pastors and leaders have very few (if any) ministry tools to help them apply God's word to the lives of those they lead on a daily basis. More information about Pastor John Morrow, Living Word Christian Ministries, and the "Shepherd's Staff" manuals can be found on John's website at: www.lwcmi.org Thanks Pastor John and World MAP for coming to refresh and equip us and our ministry partners in Haiti!

11-4-2010 Special Thanks to Bobby Hursh and the Mennonite Gospel Mission!

2010-11-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

Dan knew that after the construction team from Life Church returned to Omaha that he would have no time to oversee the finishing of the cement floors. However, our Father in heaven who knows all things introduced Dan to a wonderful missionary couple by the name of Bobby and Karen Hursh. They and their 5 children serve the Lord in Miragoane, Haiti through the Mennonite Gospel Mission. Specializing in construction, Bobby (above with Dan) and his team of Haitians and sometimes Americans among other projects build houses for local residents. While the Life Church team was working on the school, Bobby was so kind to take a personal interest in the work coming out to offer some pointers during the construction. Then, when Dan explained he wasn't able to be present to oversee the finishing of the cement floors due to the upcoming Shepherd's Staff ministry conference, Bobby went more than the extra mile to help. Upon Dan's request, Bobby allowed his cement crew to bid on the job and then personally provided oversight for the purchase of all the materials and the progress of the construction. They finished just a day before the rains of Hurricane Thomas began to arrive. Thanks Bobby, Karen, and the Mennonite Gospel Mission for reaching out to us in our time of need and being a living answer to our prayers! We pray Proverbs 11:25 for these precious people: "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." Oh Lord, bless these who have blessed us!!!

11-1-2010 Pouring the Cement Floors to the Miragoane School

2010-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

With the threat of Hurricane Thomas coming and the need to tie the newly completed wood school into a poured cement floor, we made the decision to take funds we had on hand to pour the cement floor of the school. Approximately half the funds were allocated for the floor and the other half were taken from earthquake relief. If the borrowed funds from earthquake relief are replaced by donations allocated for the school, we will have more to work with helping people with other forms of relief. Otherwise, we will consider this a worthy project to receive earthquake relief funds and thank God for his provision. It was because of the earthquake that the decision was made to destroy the old damaged cement school and replace it with a wooden one. Thanks to all who helped with this important project. Kids and teachers are using the school! We will try to have pictures of the finished floors soon. Also, thanks to the Lord for answering our prayers in sparing Haiti from the majority of the wind and rains from Hurricane Thomas!

10-11 through 10-18-2010 Life Church Builds the Miragoane School

2010-10-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Life Church from Omaha, NE designed and built the 8 class room 120' x 24' school in less than one week! Working from sun up to sun down this group was unstoppable fighting off mosquitoes, fatigue and sickness to get the school prepared for opening day on October 18th.
The school as it looked on Monday morning the 18th with class rooms full of primary school children. The primer coat of paint is on most of the wood. Church members will finish painting the school in the near future.
Monday AM the team gathered around the school to pray and commit the building to the Lord Jesus and thank Him for His marvelous grace and provision to finish the work in time for school. You can see the children inside as the team is praying.
These are the first children to be taught in the new wood school on opening day. Praise the Lord! Thanks Life Church for your excellent attitude, workmanship, and determination to get the work done! Thanks to all who helped through prayer and financial giving. The remaining step to completion is to pour the cement floors of each class room which will take place when the Lord provides the remaining funds. Currently, we have on hand $3000 of the estimated $7,500. Please pray the Lord would soon provide the remaining $4,500 needed to finish the cement floors. Once again, many thanks!!!

10-5 through 10-9-2010 Pouring the Cement!

2010-10-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to my good friend Gene Foral who agreed to come to Haiti on the spur of the moment to help us prepare the foundation for the school after the original plan we had to use a Haitian national cement team fizzled out at the last minute.
Church members volunteered to help and worked very hard along side us and our Haitian assistants Ruben and Thierry.
Mixing cement in Haiti is very hard work! The bags of cement must be mixed on site with sand, gravel, and water to prepare it for pouring. Great job all who helped to get the school's foundation ready for the construction team that came only two days after we finished. Wow! Talk about finishing just in time!

10-4-2010 Preparing to pour the School Foundation

2010-10-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is how the foundation looked on October 4th when Gene Foral and Dan arrived to work with the Miragoane Church to prepare and pour a cement foundation for the new school.

8-5-2010 Tearing Down the Old to make way for the New

2010-08-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last week, the RUWA Missionary Team from Omaha partnered with the Saints from the Miragoane Church to tear down the damaged school. Please pray that the Lord would provide the best possible design in wood or metal and that we would have all the resources and help needed to finish building the new school before school reopens in mid October. The school currently enrolls about 500 primary school students.

7-10-2010 "Book of Hope" Distribution to Disabled Soccer Players

2010-08-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

On the same Saturday Morning the Gravity Youth team conducted the Youth Retreat at Quisqueya Christian School, there was also a Soccer Practice held for about 25 Handicapped players. "International Institute of Sport" is beginning to recruit players in hopes of forming a national league. Some of our Coordinators presented the gospel and gave each of the players a copy of the new French edition of the "Champions" book which features Soccer as a theme for presenting God's Word and the gospel. The book includes testimonies of famous players from around the world.

6-28-2010 Ricardo Pierre-Louis One Hope Soccer Clinics

2010-06-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend of soccer clinics with Haitian Born Ricardo Pierre-Louis, his wife Nika, and some of the top media team members from One Hope. Ricardo played soccer on several Haitian National team before moving to the States a few years ago and playing professionally for the Columbus Crew. While with us, Ricardo hosted three soccer clinics utilizing several of our Haitian One Hope Zone Coordinators. Each clinic began with children participating in soccer drills, practice stations, and game experience. Then, Ricardo (top picture) invited the attending kids to come around him to hear his personal testimony and encourage them to follow the Lord. Finally, each child received a special "Champions" edition copy of the "Book of Hope" designed around soccer and team building themes. (middle picture) The "Champions" book has created a lot of excitement among the children and youth who have received it so far. (bottom picture)
Let's continue to pray that God will open more doors for us and other ministry partners to use Soccer as an Evangelism tool in Haiti. Thanks Ricardo, Nika and the "One Hope" Media Team for a great weekend!

6-19-2010 Kid's Club Kicks Off In Camp Petionville Refugee Camp

2010-06-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

One of the Haitian leaders of the Petionville Club Refugee camp is Pastor St. Cyr. Before the earthquake, he pastored a small church and school almost next door to the Petionville Golf Club. As refugees began pouring into the club grounds, the Lord catapulted Pastor St. Cyr into a key place of leadership working as a liaison between his people, the US Military, the UN, and many NGO's. When we met, one of the first things he asked us to do was to look for ways to minister to children. Early on we visited the camp giving out the "Book of Hope" tent by tent and on several occasions showing "The GodMan" film. Last week, we were thrilled to kick off the first weekly Kid's Club conducted by our National Ministry Coordinator, Clement Benoit. Meeting in Pastor St. Cyr's old school grounds which is now covered with tarps since the building is condemned, the courtyard was soon full of children. Clement led them in songs, Bible memory verses, ice breaker activities, and finally a powerful Bible lesson (above) utilizing visual aids and an invitation for children to receive Jesus as savior. About 20 children accepted the Lord! (below)

English Bible Study Group Takes A Summer Missions Trip to a Refugee Camp

2010-06-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dan's English Bible Study made up of mostly Haitian young people recently made a big change for the summer. Normally meeting at our ministry office or the church, we felt led to encourage the attenders to begin ministering to the many young believers living in a near by tent camp called "Petionville Club." Our prayer is that the Bible Study attenders will get a chance to grow in their experience of sharing what they've been learning with new believers in a small group setting. You might say we are taking a summer missions trip every Wednesday afternoon! The study is in Creole and French. Also, we were excited to begin using the powerful devotional book "Purpose Driven Life" as a small group guide. Thanks to relief funds the Lord provided, we were able to purchase 20 copies in French and will hopefully soon receive another 30 copies. Lord willing, we hope to soon have several small groups utilizing the books on a weekly basis. Dan leads worship before the Bible Study. (above) Discussion begins after the lesson. (below)

4-30-2010 Family News From Haiti

2010-04-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Along with Home Schooling Joey and doing the office work for the ministry, Liz has also been very active working to help keep the Petionville Club Medical Clinic stocked with meds, tents, furniture and teams. Above, Liz interacts with one of the many short term medical missionaries who have visited the clinic to help treat people from the community as well as encourage and train the Haitian clinic staff.
Joey and Dan have taken up a new hobby together shooting BB guns. Old toy action figures and tin cans make the best targets. Also, they enjoy hunting small lizards to "get them" before they get inside our house! Dan continues to lead our Haitian national ministry partners as they develop ministry plans for their communities. He has also felt led to begin putting a greater emphasis on developing small group Bible studies and lay leadership training.
Finally, as a family we have recently begun conducting a weekly Friday night "Worship Encounter" at the international English Church we attend. As the name implies, the purpose of the meeting is to worship God, encounter His presence, and then pray and intercede as the Holy Spirit leads us. During our first two Fridays, we prayed for Holiness within the Church leadership of Haiti, God's blessing upon the recovery process in Haiti, and freedom from the great fear that is gripping so many people as they wrestle through the incredibly difficult physical, spiritual, and psychological stresses they have encountered over the last 3 months.

4-29-2010 Medical Clinic Treats Bodies and Souls

2010-04-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Petionville Club Medical Clinic continues to treat people for "free of charge" all hours of the day and night thanks to Luidgi Larco (center white shirt standing) and his staff of nurses and medical students. Although there are several other clinics operating in this tent community of nearly 50,000 people, the other clinics, staffed mostly by internationals are only open during daylight hours. Luidgi's clinic is staffed by Haitians and occasional volunteer internationals such as those pictured above from a recent "One Hope" response team. Throughout the night they are available to handle injuries from fights, domestic violence, burns, and accidents.

Along with treating bodies, the tent clinic has recently begun to conduct weekly small group Bible Studies led by Haitian "One Hope" partners Moise Medor and Petit Bossimus. (lower left and right) Regular attenders include staff members of the clinic and other new Christians who have accepted Christ since the earthquake. Petit and Moise are currently working through the book of John and discussing the Word of God in French verse by verse along with answering many practical questions instructing young babes in Christ how to turn away from old life styles of immorality. God is doing a wonderful work in and through this small group of new believers at the Petionville Club!

4-19-2010 Planning Soccer Clinics to help with Spiritual Construction

2010-04-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

We were happy to have Paul Walker and his team from "One Hope" here last week to prepare in advance for soccer clinics that will be hosted this summer in various neighborhoods throughout Port-au-Prince and surrounding provincial areas. Lord willing, several teams coming this summer will host clinics which will emphasize soccer skills, sportsmanship, character development and of course build a bridge for children and youth along with their families to meet Jesus. Soccer is huge in Haiti and with the World Cup taking place this year, the whole country will be thinking about Soccer throughout the summer. We pray the Lord will utilize this method of ministry to impact many lives for the Glory of God! One Hope is planning to send enough soccer balls to be able to give one to each child who participates in a clinic. Along with the balls, we will be giving a special soccer edition of the "Book of Hope."

3-25-2010 Tents Help Bring Comfort to Families

2010-03-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

Pictured above is a family who had been without shelter since the January 12th Earthquake. Thanks to your generous Haiti Relief Offerings, we were able to provide them a brand new Coleman tent to help ease some of their suffering.

Thanks to the Lord's provision through your Haiti Relief Offerings, this mother and her handicapped son now have a dry tent to live in when the rain comes. They had been living under make shift tarps on a street in Port-au-Prince. As you can see from the smiles on their faces, they were very happy to receive their new tent!

On Sunday February 14th, Haitian people marched and sang, "Ayiti pou Kris! Kris pou Ayiti!" This translates to: Haiti for Christ! Christ for Haiti!

2010-03-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

3-2-10 X-Ray on Liz's mouth / jaw injury was a good Report!

2010-03-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks to God! There doesn't appear to me any broken bones or nerve damage from Liz's fall on Saturday night. Since the swelling was down, the dentist in Santo Domingo went ahead and did a resin re-construction of Liz's two broken teeth. They look wonderful! She still has swelling and pain in her jaw but is feeling better each day. Thanks for your prayers!

2-28-10 Please pray for Liz. She fell getting out of the shower.

2010-02-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

Late last night, Saturday, Liz slipped while getting out of the shower at the guest house we are staying at in San Pedro, Dominican Republic. She grabbed for a towel bar as she fell forward but it was plastic and pulled off the wall. She landed on the right side of her face, bit her lip, and broke off two of her front teeth. We visited a dentist today and will go to get X-Rays early tomorrow, Monday morning. Her right eye and cheek are black and blue and the whole right side of her mouth is very sore. She is taking medication and will again visit the dentist tomorrow. Please pray that God would completely heal Liz from her injuries.

One Hope Haiti Conference and Celebration in Pompano February 16th - 22nd

2010-02-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Liz discusses ministry reporting procedures with One Hope's Operations Coordinator, Claudia Cherry in Pomapano, FL. We had a great week of ministry planning with One Hope regional leaders as well as other missionary partners from Haiti.

Purchasing Tents to send to Haiti on February, 25th

2010-02-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

Liz along with Lavon and Linda Croskey of Against the Odds raid one of the Target stores in Orlando, Florida looking for Coleman 6 person tents. We visited almost all the Targets in Orlando during our brief stay with the Croskeys. Thanks Linda, Lavon, and Against the Odds partners for your help! Thanks too to all our Living Stone Ministries partners who have helped to provide tents for Haiti! You can tell by the coats it was cold in Orlando!

Delivering the tents to AGAPE Missionary Flights

2010-02-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 25th Liz and I rode with Linda and Lavon to deliver the 33 tents to AGAPE Missionary Flights in Venice, Florida. Several very kind volunteers helped us load the tents on a cart and roll them into the warehouse where they are presently waiting their turn to be shipped. Please pray the tents will ship quickly and pass through customs without any problems. The rainy season has begun in Haiti and many people are without shelter. We would like to say a special thanks to AGAPE Flights staff, volunteers and supporters who have been working and donating funds round the clock providing shipping of relief supplies to Haiti without charge to missionary accounts. Go Agape! Thanks for your help with this project.

2-27-10 Out and Back

2010-02-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

From February 16th until the 26th, we were in Florida for a One Hope ministry conference that had been planned since before the January 12th earthquake. Since there were not yet any commercial flights, we drove to the city of San Pedro in the Dominican Republic, left our pickup with a friend, and flew to Ft. Lauderdale from there.

Highlights from Haiti’s 3 days of fasting and prayer.
The 3 days of fasting and prayer that occurred February 12th – 14th were marked with many private and public acts of repentance, thankfulness, and praise. Throughout Haiti, people took to the streets and churches were packed as groups assembled to seek the Lord. Also, for the first time we know of in Haiti’s history, carnival was cancelled. Instead of people running through the streets in drunkenness and sin, thousands marched through the streets in a spirit of praise and prayer to the Lord! In the plaza of Haiti’s national palace, more than 1,000,000 people marked the one month anniversary of the earthquake in a large scale memorial service featuring many national and international speakers along with Haiti’s president Rene Preval.

Highlights of our time in Pompano, FL
We along with other invited Haiti ministry partners spent the days in discussion, planning, fellowship, and prayer at One Hope’s headquarters in Pompano. Highlights included discussing the use of music, the arts, and research tools to better impact children and youth as we prepare for current and future ministry activities.

Also, we participated in a Haiti Relief ministry summit that allowed us to meet and share vision with many humanitarian groups currently looking for ways to improve their ministry effectiveness in Haiti.

Finally, on Monday night, Haiti was featured as the “kick off” country for the annual One Hope Celebration held at the One Hope headquarters in Pompano. We along with Dominican Missionary Miguel Ovalle of the Assemblies of God and Haitian Pastor Clement Joseph of the Haitian Dominican Dialog Group were given the spotlight for about 30 minutes to share about the history of Haiti, current testimony of what God has done in several children’s lives, and how we need to look to the Lord as never before as we work together in the future to provide God’s Word for every Child.

Looking for Tents in Orlando, FL
After the conference, we drove to Orlando to spend three days with our friends and ministry partners Lavon and Lynda Croskey of Against the Odds. The Croskeys underwrite most of the monthly budget for operating the school in Miragoane. They and their partners raised enough funds to purchase 20 six-person tents. So, along with spending time together, we drove all over Orlando with the Croskeys raiding Target stores to purchase additional tents. We were only able to find an additional 13 more at this time to give us a grand total of 33. Then, Friday we drove 2 hours to Venice to personally deliver the tents to Agape Missionary Flights who will hopefully fly the tents to Haiti next week. Thanks also to Omaha, Glad Tidings who sent 25 tents last week that will hopefully be delivered to Haiti in the next few days!

On the Road to get back Home to Haiti
Yesterday, we flew back to the Dominican Republic from Ft. Lauderdale and are planning to return to Haiti this Monday after purchasing supplies.

Praise Reports
1. Commercial Flights are now flying in and out of Haiti!
2. Haiti has been approved to receive an additional 500,000 Books of Hope this year to help with evangelism projects during relief efforts!
3. One Hope sent us back to Haiti with a second complete GodMan video projection system to help us better saturate refugee camps with GodMan showings in the Creole language.
4. Joey is doing very well in Omaha staying with friends and spending time with family. He’s getting good grades in Home School and will hopefully be back with us in Haiti in early March.

Prayer Requests
1. Relief Aid to get into the hands of the people who need it most
2. Shelter for all homeless Haitians before the rainy season begins
3. Earthquake after shocks to come to an end in Haiti
4. Pray for many people who desperately need to process the traumatic events that have taken place in their lives during the past weeks. Pray for counselors to be raised up to help people work through their emotional and spiritual pain.
5. Please pray for president Rene Preval and all of Haiti’s national leaders that God would draw them to Himself and give them wisdom how to lead the Haitian people and proceed in Haiti’s recovery in the fear of the Lord.

2-9-10 Step by Step

2010-02-09T19:36:00.000-08:00

Our February Newsletter is on line. This month we shared a spiritual perspective we felt God put on our hearts regarding the recent Mega earthquake that rocked us on January 12th. Also, there's lots of pictures to help you see some of the ministry we've been a part of over the last month. You can click on the above newsletter tab or the following link to get to the page.

www.livingstonehaiti.com/news.html

We are amazed by the love of God expressed to us and the many people of Haiti who have been devastated by the January 12th earthquake. The presence of the Lord is softening the hearts of people causing them to be open to Him and His ways. Besides church services being packed, there is an upcoming call to 3 days of fasting and prayer beginning this Friday the 12th through Sunday the 14th.

Liz continues to work through the Promess ministry to help connect free UN medications with many clinics operating in tent communities throughout the city. Sometimes this entails several trips per day to the airport with our pickup as well as many hours at Missionary Miguel Ovalle’s house sorting the medications in preparation for delivery.

Dan is working with our national assistant Clement Benoit to coordinate One Hope zone coordinators as they visit tent communities distributing the Book of Hope and showing The GodMan film. He also continues to look for ways to integrate the chlorine generators being offered by Mike Philips of Pure Water with community leaders that can reach masses of people with the water purification solution being produced in small 16 ounce bottles. One 16 ounce bottle can purify 250 gallons of water making it potable for consumption.

Joey is doing very well in the US. He is among good friends and family and getting good grades in Home School. Lord willing, he will return to Haiti the first part of March when the team from Omaha, Glad Tidings comes to minister with us in Haiti.

Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray that on-going medical treatment and medications will continue to be made available to people free of charge.
2. Please pray for health care workers and missionaries who are on the front lines of caring for many people with traumatic injuries. Ask God to refresh them in the battle and to send replacements / reinforcements so those that have been working almost non stop for the past month can get a chance to rest.
3. Please pray for tents and other temporary shelters to be made available to all the homeless people of Haiti before the rainy season begins. The rains could begin anytime in the next 30 to 60 days.
4. Please pray for all Haitians to have access to potable water
5. Please pray with us as we fast and pray for Haiti beginning this Friday, February 12th through Sunday the 14th.

Blessings and many thanks!

Camp Petionville Club Book Distribution

2010-01-31T19:27:00.000-08:00

Earthquake Recovery Continues 1-29

2010-01-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

Don Buxman from Heartline Ministries lifts a little girl off the truck to deliver her back to her home near the airport in Port-au-Prince. The little girl along with all the others on the truck had been given medical attention at Missionary John and Beth McHoul's Heartline Ministries medical clinic. Do to a shortage of drivers, Dan helped drive patients home Sunday and Monday afternoon. Wow! What a great group of missionaries and doctors. These folks have been going full tilt for more than two weeks solid. They go into the highways and byways to look for the wounded who have not received the medical attention they needed. Then, they transport them to and from their clinic or other specialized hospitals depending on the needs of the patient. To get a better idea of the intensity many care givers have been experiencing over these past weeks, take a look at John McHoul's blog at: http://jmchoul.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F04579021E6249A3!904.entry

Dan's new missionary friend Mike Philips (left) teaches Pastor Astrel Vincent of City Soley and several of his key leaders how to use a chlorine generator provided by Hays Pure Water for All. Dan met Mike at Missionary John McHoul's orphanage while assisting with driving medical patients back to their homes after receiving medical care. Mike shared with Dan how his ministry was providing a simple water purification machine which could produce a powerful concentrate from salt water and could easily treat water to make it drinkable for 5000 people per day.

Ronald, Pastor Astrel Vincent's Water Manager prepares to treat a 300 gallon water tank with a very special concentrated solution of chorine, hydrogen peroxide and ozone. The solution was prepared in one of the many chorine generators being given to Haiti by Hays Pure Water for All foundation. You can learn more about this incredible water ministry tool at: http://www.hayspurewaterforallfoundation.com/

Dr. Luidgi's assistant who also accepted the Lord Jesus as his personal savior when Dr. Isaac shared the gospel with the two Haitian men on Thursday.

Dr. Luidgi (left) and Dr. Isaac pictured together after Dr. Isaac led Dr. Luidgi to the Lord. The following is the testimony from Liz: I am so excited to let you know, that Dr. Larco Luidgi accepted the Lord yesterday. On Sunday, we visited Dr. Luidgi with a group of 6 volunteers from Brooklyn Tabernacle, which four of the volunteers were Haitian. One of the Haitian men shared the gospel with Dr. Larco Luidgi. Monday, two volunteers from the Dominican Republic and I delivered the Medications to Dr. Luidgi. Yesterday, I visited him with two volunteers from the DR. One of the volunteers is a Doctor from the DR. The Doctor from the DR said to me on Monday, "I feel that I need to talk to Dr. Luidgi about the Lord." Yesterday, we visited Dr. Luidgi to deliver more medications that the Team from Brooklyn Tabernacle had donated to him. When we arrived, Dr. Luidgi asked me, "where is the Haitian man that spoke to me on Sunday? I need to continue our conversation." I (Liz) said, "he's not here, but Dr. Isaac is here and he would love to talk to you." Dr. Isaac from the DR shared the Gospel with Dr. Luidgi and his assistant and both of them accepted the Lord. We told Dr. Luidgi that we would bring him a Bible, and Dr. Luidgi said to me, "Please don't forget the Bible, I need the Bible more than the medication you will bring me." Praise the Lord Dr. Luidgi and his assistant are hungry to learn more about the Lord!

A Hatian doctor by the name of Luigi attends one of his many daily patients at the Camp Petionville Club.

Dr. Issac from the Dominican Republic and one of the Haitian doctors work on a little girl's foot at the Camp Petionville Club Medical Clinic.

Many of you who have visited us in Haiti have ministered with missionary Elsie Lherrison. Elsie is pictured standing in front of her collapsed apartment building several days after the earthquake. She and her daughter Stephanie were miraculously protected by the Lord and were able to crawl out of the wreckage with only very minor wounds. Praise the Lord!

Elisie Lherrison's daugther's bedroom after the earthquake destroyed their building and they narrowly escaped.

Every day the ladies at Camp Petionville Club line up to recieve food and water distribution for their families. The US Military runs the distribution and uses a number system to keep order.

This cute little boy was rescued from a house that collapsed across the street from our house. He and his mother were rescued with only minor injuries.

Liz visited our neighbors with some rice packets from Feed My Starving Children as well as some other food items all supplied by Convoy of Hope. Our neighbors were very happy to receive the blessing. Thanks Convoy of Hope and Feed My Starving Children!

1-23 Invading Camp Petionville Club Tent by Tent

2010-01-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

Amazing! That's all I could say Thursday the 21st as I arrived and began to walk around the normally prestigious Petionville Golf Course which has now become the home of nearly 20,000 refugees. These are people that have partially or completely lost their homes and are still in fear of returning to live inside a concrete house. The US military has set up a command post and is flying in food, water, and medical supplies. So.....we and our One Hope partners figured that if the US Army had everything needed to feed the hungry bodies of the camp, then it was up to us, God's Army, to feed their souls with spiritual food. We decided to do this by going tent to tent utilizing 24 Haitian national volunteers and giving every man, woman, and child in the camp a copy of the "Book of Hope." The experience was absolutely positive. Not only did adults and children gladly receive the books, many, many of them took time to open their book and begin to read and interact with the matieral. That night, we showed the GodMan film in the recently released Creole version to more than 500 children and adults. Numerous children were open to hear the salvation message that One Hope Zone Coordinator Moise Medor delivered at the end of the film as he gave them a chance to pray to ask Jesus to become their best friend, forgive them of their sins, and come live in their hearts. Now.....without swinging a club, wouldn't you say that was a great day at the golf course?

1-23 Family Reading Time at Camp Petionville Club

2010-01-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

This lady and her children spent time together reading the Story Edition Book of Hope in Creole. It features many pictures and only a few words so that illiterates and preliterate children can learn about the story of Jesus through interacting with very simple but compelling pictures and story lines. Many people living in this sprawling tent community have lost everything they own and therfore don't have a lot to do for entertainment. We believe this time of difficulty and uncertanity is helping to open their minds and hearts to read God's Word and consider the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Hurray! Our Ministry Partners are all OK!

2010-01-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

We have more than a dozen partners working as One Hope Zone Coordinators. Up until yesterday we still had not heard from all of them. Then, finally the phone call we'd been hoping for. Everyone accounted for! Praise the Lord! On Monday, 1-18, several of our partners and family members came to us to receive water and food. Some were dehydrated and feeling very hungry. All were thankful to be alive.

Picture Highlights from Week One of Earthquake Relief

2010-01-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

Some of you would remember our first apartment in Haiti. This is the building we lived in from 2002 to 2004. The side opposite our old apartment collapsed into the street below. Thank you God for moving us out of there 5 years ago!

2010-01-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

Liz and I have been amazed how God has spared so many of our friends and ministry partners. However, not everyone we know has survived. Nine year old Murielle perished when a neighbor's house collapsed on her's the evening of the earthquake. You will recall Murielle survived nearly being crushed to death when the shool she attended in her neighborhood of Nerette collapsed on her and her school mates in late 2008. Murielle is pictured here the day she received a Book of Hope over a year ago. Many of you may recall praying for her to recover from injuries sustained from badly crushed legs. For more on processing this difficult loss, please read the post below.

2010-01-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, 1-17, a medical team from Mission of Hope began hosting a clinic at Quisqueya Chapel. Doctors and nurses gave excellent care to young and old alike. Along with the clinic, Convoy of Hope began distributing food and we began distributing the Book of Hope.

2010-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

This man was treated for leg wounds at the Quisqueya Chapel medical Clinic on Sunday, 1-17.

2010-01-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, 1-17 we began complimenting Convoy of Hope food distributions with the Book of Hope. As people were allowed on the campus of Quisqueya, Chapel in groups of 10, they were quickly led to a team of volunteer church members who encouraged them, prayed for them, and gave each person in the group a copy of the Book of Hope before sending them through the food line.

2010-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

This Mother and her children arrive to receive their packets of food at the Convoy of Hope Food Distribution Center after having received prayer and copies of the Book of Hope.

2010-01-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

This mother and all the beautiful children with her left the Convoy of Hope Food Distribution center having received prayer, Books of Hope, and packets of rice meals from Feed My Starving Children. As you can see from their smiles, they look very happy!

2010-01-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

These many babies from His Home Orphanage have been sleeping outside everynight at Quisqueya Chapel. One of the positives taking place out of this terrible earthquake tragedy is that the US is now making it very easy to get adoptions finalized. They are cutting through all the red tape. Haiti's government is almost completely disfunctional at this time so the US has taken over many responsibilites. We expect many adopted children to be able to join their adopting families very, very soon. Some have been waiting years to receive their children. Please pray for Hal and Chris Nunguster the orphanage directors as they work to facilitate the evacuation of their approximately 70 children.

2010-01-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Missionary Dee Dee Schmolz holds 4 year old baby Sandy while "His Hands" orphanage director Chris Nunguster and Missionary Pastor Karl Olson pray for their safe trip to the US where baby Sandy is scheduled to have surgery for a shunt placement in Ohio. Dee Dee escorted not only baby Sandy but our 10 year old son Joey all the way to Ft. Pierce, FL where our friends Lavon and Lynda Croskey picked everyone up at the airport.

2010-01-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

Family Photo Monday morning 1-18 before taking Joey to the airport to fly to Ft. Pierce, FL with Missionary Dee Dee Schmolz and baby Sandy. Joey was met by Lavon and Lynda Croskey, driven to Orlando and then the next day put on a plane to Omaha, NE. He started Home School again today, Wednesday, 1-20 at the home of Gene and Ilainya Foral.

1/20/10 Standing firm because of the strength of Christ in our Hearts. (Isa. 7:9b)

2010-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your continued prayers and words of encouragement. We are blown away by God’s love expressed to us through His presence in our Hearts and His love expressed through so many of you! We woke up to a tiny (Ha Ha!) 6.0 quake this morning. To us, it seemed like nothing compared to the 7.3, however it made me get out of bed quickly and run outside to join Liz who was already up walking the Dog. We are slowly learning to estimate the quake intensity in real time. Hey, who needs a Richter scale? Anyway, It’s not really my dream to have a lot of experience at this. Joey arrived in Omaha and was met by his cousin James, Aunt Suzanne, the Foral family and Linda Sedjro. Thanks for making him feel so welcome! Joey is back in home school with his friend Tim at the Foral’s house in Omaha. Liz and I thank God for opening the door for Joey to begin having some sense of normalcy back home. We believe this will be a great time of personal growth for him even though we already miss him a whole bunch!

Spiritual Perspective: Ps 75:2-3
You say, "I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge uprightly.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm. NIV

We’ve been challenged in our hearts by the above scripture the Lord first impressed upon Liz. We know at all times we are always one breath or one big shake from facing our creator face to face. This is true for all of us in or out of Haiti at all times. Converted born again believers as well as for those outside of Christ many who may go to Church but show no evidence of Christ’s Lordship in their lives. So, on the one hand, we have been reminded that God himself could take us out at any moment He chooses. On the other hand however, we know that as long as he keeps our pillars firm, he has important things He wants to accomplish in and through us all for His Glory.

Book of Hope hooks up with a Convoy of Hope food distribution

On Sunday, Convoy of Hope rolled into Quisqueya Chapel and set up food distribution lines. Groups of 10 were allowed to enter the back gate of the chapel and were escorted to the distribution area on campus. Before receiving meal packages consisting of highly nutritious rice manufactured by Feed my starving Children, they were met by a small groups of Haitian nationals made up of volunteers mostly from the Chapel’s congregation. The groups of families from the community were given encouraging words and were prayed for by the volunteers. Also, each person in the group received a copy of the Book of Hope. The atmosphere was charged with the peace and presence of God as this mixed group of internationals and locals worked together to comfort hungry hurting people.

Update on our Ministry Partners / Friends

Praise the Lord! All our One Hope ministry partners from the Living Stone Ministries network are alive and well. Only one had an injury to his toe. Edson lost a significant amount of flesh to one of his big toes as he and his family escaped their collapsing house. However, he is being treated regularly and is at this moment in line at the Quisqueya Chapel medical clinic to receive follow up care. Pastor Romain lost his father. He died as a hero while praying for others in his neighborhood. Our group took a little time to mourn with Pastor Romain over the loss of his Father. One of the most difficult things for him to process was the need for his father to be quickly buried in a mass grave. Finally, Ghislaine who works with us in our house lost a sister and several nieces and nephews who were working or living downtown the day of the disaster. Please pray for God’s continued comfort for Pastor Romain, Ghislaine, and their families as they process these difficult losses in the midst of great crisis. On a very disappointing note, we learned that Murielle, the little girl who survived the Nerette school collapse in late 2008 died in the earthquake. You will recall praying for her to be able to walk again and go to school without fear. That, she accomplished. We also saw great evidence of her having a personal relationship with Jesus. We believe we will one day see her in heaven with her glorified body. Here is a scripture that has brought us great comfort as we consider the age old question of “why do bad things happen to innocent people.” I don’t want to attempt to say this is the only answer, but one that God has encouraged us with from His Word. We pray it will encourage you as well.

Isa 57:1-2
The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.
NIV

We are checking on the status of Murielle’s family and will do the best we can to minister to them when they are found. Please pray for the countless thousands who have lost loved ones in the earthquake crisis.

Close Calls
Many of our friends and ministry partners experiences very close calls. Elsie Lherison had just stepped out of the shower when he apartment collapsed on her and her daughter. God protected them from the ceiling utilizing a very tall and well constructed head and foot board on Elsie’s bed. She and Stephanie were able to crawl to safety. One Hope Coordinator Jean Josmy Delmas was entering the house he was staying at with the key in the door when the earthquake struck. The house totally collapsed. He received only a minor laceration on his arm. Praise the Lord for His protection!

Acts of Heroism
I guess none of us knows what is in us until we have to face things we could never dream of. Some stories that touched us the most were learning of how certain people quickly responded to help in what seemed impossible situations. One of the large supermarkets frequently visited by almost every foreign missionary collapsed and killed or trapped may inside. There was a group of young single American teachers living on campus at Quisqueya Christian School who ran up the street to help dig out the living, the dead, and horrifically injured people in the rubble. They worked until 5:30 AM the next morning. Also, many of you know Ruben Marcellus as one of our main ministry helpers. He is a One Hope Coordinator and also acts as an interpreter for most of our teams. Ruben was visiting the Church on the Rock Bible School with a friend of his when the earthquake hit. He had just stepped out of the school, the quake hit, and suddenly behind him lay more than 70 Bible School students including his good friend buried in rubble. All those who escaped, including spiritual leaders tried to keep Ruben from going back inside. They said, “it’s too dangerous, the whole thing could come down on you.” But Ruben said, “Yes, but there are people inside who need help.” So, Ruben ran inside and saw many trapped by large chunks of concrete and debris too large to move by hand. He knew he needed a sledge hammer so he went out to the street to look for one. He saw a man trying to free his dead wife from the rubble with just the tool he needed to break through the concrete. He asked the man for it, he refused. Ruben pointed out that his wife was dead but their was still a chance to save people that were alive. The man, obviously in shock, again refused to share the tool and continued to work to free the cadaver. So, Ruben made a split second decision to fight the man for the hammer. After gaining control of the hammer, he ran back inside the school to begin digging out people. Amidst their pleas for help he began to free them one by one. Thanks to God, he was able to free 12 of the students and walk them to safety including his friend he had arrived with that day. The other 50 – 60 Bible School Students perished and the next day were removed from the rubble.

Day to Day since Monday

Monday, 1/18 we invited our ministry partners living in the city to try to get to our office in the middle of the city. Several came. They were very thirsty and hungry. We helped them rehydrate and provided bags of food and water provided by Convoy of Hope and the Assemblies of God so they could return to their families and neighborhoods with something to share. We also relocated Edson’s family to live with other family members in another area of the city who had not lost their house.

Tuesday, 1/19 we went to the Bible Society with a large truck to bring a shipment of books to our warehouse on Delmas. These will be used to compliment humanitarian aid distributions and medical clinics as well as other forms of community evangelism taking place throughout the city or Port-au-Prince. Thanks to God,we were able to provide those that helped with some Convoy of Hope food to take home to their families. Also, we were finally able to purchase diesel fuel again after several failed attempts. This included a 10 gallon tank for our friends Dave and Ann Farquarson who were completely out of fuel for their home generator. In exchange for the delivery, Ann provided us with a loaf of home baked bread and some whole wheat flour. Liz and I hadn’t had much bread in the last few days. We ate it last night with great joy and thankfulness in our hearts!

Wednesday, 1/20 we are planning to meet a small team at the airport to receive some cash for Elsie Lherrison’s ministry and deliver that to her. Also, I have invited my English Bible Study group to meet at our office at 3:00 to pray and prepare for a large scale community Book of Hope Distribution and GodMan showing near our neighborhood. Lord willing, this will take place just before dark in Delmas 48 which is the area Petit and Moise live and evangelize. There are currently about 20,000 refugees camping out on the Petionville Club’s golf course. There are at least 4,000 children. The plan is to walk throughout the area giving out books to everyone living in the community while inviting people to come see the GodMan movie. We will hopefully utilize dozens of young people along with some international volunteers to visit families in a tent to tent visitation.
The US military has made this community one of it’s zones for food and water distribution as well as medical clinics. We are very proud of Petit and Moise as they and other English speaking Haitians are volunteering as interpreters between the Marines and the people.

Current Prayer Requests
1. Please ask God to bring a halt to the earthquakes in Haiti.
2. Comfort, physical, and spiritual healing to all surviving victims.
3. Immediate food, water, and shelter for all people in Haiti.
3. Oganization amidst the vast amounts of Emergency aid groups as they work together to meet the needs of the people of Haiti.
4. Joey as he transitions into life and going back to home school in Omaha, NE
5. Please pray for the many orphans who will hopefully soon begin being evacuated from Haiti. In particular, more than 70 from Hal and Chris Nunguster’s orphanage. Ask God to help them with the logistics of this.
6. Little 4 year old Sandy who was evacuated with Joey a couple of days ago as she heads towards Ohio to receive surgery for a shunt in her head.
7. Liz and I as we work together day by day with our many missionary colleagues and national partners to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in everything we do.

We love and appreciate you so much! Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, and support! Hope to upload some pictures soon. Love, Dan & Liz