Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Seneca Hills Bible Camp

If you ever get a chance to serve the Lord by helping out at a kids camp jump at it. Bud and I had the privilege of serving as camp missionaries this past August with kids from ages 9-18. Our job was to teach children about missions each morning for about 45 min. Then the rest of the day just join in for the fun. In addition, it did not take Bud long to find the maintenance shop and work with a group of very talented young men. The executive staff was so welcoming and we could not get over the quality of young people the camp hires. We have already decided that we are sending some of our grandchildren there in the next few years. Not only do the kids have a lot to do but the word of God, and missions are a very big part of their day. God stretched us as well and renewed my passion for working with kids. I came away with lots of fun activities for the children we live with in Haiti. Tomorrow is our last day home. We will be leaving on Thursday to drive to Florida. We will make a couple of stops along the way to see family and visit one of our Starfish Kids Churches in Venice Florida. Sept 1 we will be setting up our home in Haiti. Thank all of you for the roles you have played to help us get to the work, God has called us to do. Please check out our prayer requests under the heading of prayer requests. Jane

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Our Friends At Cross Cultural Training







PRAISE THE LORD WE ARE PACKING

It seems we have been packing and unpacking for months as we travel from place to place. But this time we are packing to move to Haiti. We are not fully funded but we are trusting our Lord to meet our needs as we go.
We are leaving for Florida on the 27 of August. There we will meet the plane that will take us to our new home. Although we are excited and full of anticipation, the feelings of grief fill our hearts as think of the day we will say good-bye to our children.
Our first few months in Haiti we will be spending half of our day in language classes. I am sure there is already a long list of mechanical and maintenance work piling up for Bud. I will be jumping right into my work with the Starfish Kids and teaching first year students in our English as a second language classes.
This past month Bud and I have been in Cross Cultural Training Classes at headquarters. We met so many wonderful missionaries from the UK, Australia and Canada who took the class with us. We feel better prepared for our new lives in Haiti. We also had the privilege of being commissioned at the Mid West Conference in Indianapolis. OMS has prepared a very beautiful and spiritual ceremony that we will never forget.
Thanks to all of you who have been partnering with us in prayer and support. Together we will serve along side our Lord. I can't wait to share the good news of what God is doing in Haiti. The next blog we will write will be from our new home.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Being Used by God in the US

Sometimes I get so caught up in all the things we need to do, to get to Haiti that I forget that everyday we called to work for the Lord. I have been trying to find time to record in my journal all the miracles that God has done for us this past year and how He has used us to do His work here as well. One of our advisers from OMS explained to us when we first applied to be missionaries that our work does not begin when we get to Haiti. We are to be working during this time of raising our funds as well.

This past week I volunteered to teach at a vacation Bible School for one of our supporting churches. It added to our load of things to do but I felt God would have me to use my talents to help this church. These children also took on the task of raising money for radio 4VEH and brought in enough money to buy 17 radios. But the best part of the week was when I got the chance to share the Gospel message with my class and two of my students accepted the Lord as their personal Savior.

This weekend we will be heading to the Mid West Conference, where we will be commissioned for service. We will then be home for a week and we will return to Indiana for three weeks of Cross Cultural Training, followed by a trip to Michigan to meet with some of our Starfish Kids Sponsors. Our summer continues with a trip to Oregon and then 2 speaking engagements in Oil City. We will also be resident Camp Missionaries at Seneca Hill Camp. All this brings us up to the end of Aug. Our funding is coming in more quickly, We are at 70% and are excited because we have several who have shared with us that they will be sending theirs in soon.

It is hard to believe that nine months ago we began this journey and we have never experience the presence of God in our lives as much as we have during these months. We have also grown in our ability to trust the Lord for all things and to take care of our needs. I will try to share some of our stories again later. We love giving God the glory for the great things He has done.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Meet Some of Our Starfish Kids

Have you ever seen such wonderful little faces. These children were so excited to come and meet me.

Actually this day was my birthday and
I received one of the best presents I have ever been given. 32 of these children from this school accepted Jesus as their personal Savior this morning.

After their lesson and prayers we also had a Jesus party and gave out bags full of things like soap, pencils, paper and a toy. What excitement filled the room when they finally got to open their bags. I was able to visit 3 of our 34 schools that day. This is one of our poorest. The building behind me is actually their school.

Now that we are home, We had the opportunity to visit 3 Haitian Churches in the Spring Valley, New York area. We spoke 3 times in 2 hours at 3 different church and received a very warm welcome. Later that evening we attended Radio 4 VEH's 59Th birthday celebration in Queens. The music and fellowship was wonderful.

One day after our arrival home from New York we left for Hamilton ON to visit our Canadian office and meet some of our sponsors. Bud and I always love meeting with people who have as much love for Haiti as we do.

Now we are home for a few days. In a week I will be helping with a Bible School in one of our supporting churches. God has been so good and we do not expect anything but that from our Lord. His Love is perfect. Thank-you for your prayers. We will soon be off to Greenwood for Cross Cultural training and will not be home long before we will be visiting Michigan, Oregon and leading a missions spot at camp in Pa. We are still praying to be in the field by the middle of Sept. Our funding is coming in Praise the Lord. We are above 60%. Please continue to pray with us. Jane