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.

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.

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

We Just Got Home

We just spent this last week returning to Haiti so that Jane could work with Madam Johnathan and Pastor Migueloson as a team overseeing Starfish for the coming school term. My focus was to get up to speed with mechanical needs, available tools, and determine what we will need to bring.
It was good to get back after a one day delay in Fort Lauderdale due to plane breakdowns, spending the week as house guests of Kate Zlotnicki.
With a ring full of keys I headed down to the maint. shop but to my surprise the generator building next to it was silent. They tell me that E.D.H the local power company has been increasing on more of the time over the past two months which reduces the cost of electricity by approx. 50%. Its a good thing as I see that one of the generators is in parts with the field coils out being rewound.

Brett asked us to start settling the house where we will be living. After a walk through I see that a coconut has fallen through the roof over the living room. That afternoon we got a ride down to the new seminary to see the house hold furnishings Gordan and Doreen had left us that would need to be moved. As we were leaving to return to the OMS compound with the work team, it started to rain and rained for the complete 30 minute ride in the back of an open truck!

Friday morning while Jane worked in the office with Starfish, I proceeded to replace the damaged roof panel and in the late afternoon we moved a pick-up truck load of boxes back to our house ( with thunder and the threat of rain.) Saturday morning we moved all of the furniture and the rest of the boxes with the larger truck. As soon as we unloaded we went to town with Kate to a little place for American hamburgers and fries then off to grocery shopping.

The store was very neat, well stocked and modern [along with an armed guard] and about the size of a convenience store here.

As we compared prices gourdes to US$ we were a little set back by the cost. Many people at home believe that we should have no problem living very lavishly in Haiti on our US Dollar, well check this out. Deodorant stick 200 gourdes/ $5US, 6 eggs 75 gourdes/ $1.92 US, 1LB. spaghetti approx $2 US, 1 litre carton imported milk $2 US, 1 Kg powdered milk from Brazil 400 gourdes/ $10.26 US

After returning home from shopping Jane worked at settling the house while I helped with an electrical problem.

Sunday we worshipped with Kate at the Vaudreuil Church with one of our Haitian friends interpreting the sermon for me.

Sunday evening we worshipped at the radio station at the English service.

Monday morning we met with leadership and are very encouraged.

Tuesday evening Jane hosted a bar-b-que for the missionaries with all of the fixings that we had brought with us.

Weds. I was able to move the box crammed full of tools that Gorden had left for me up to the house.

It was a great time to be with the staff there in Haiti, they are all being stretched and are looking forward to our return. We only wish that it could be sooner than later.

Thursday it was good-bye and off to the airport for a day of airflights with a late arrivale here in Erie.

We are settled and anxiously waiting for our remaining support to come in to allow us to move in.

Bud