How long have we been back?

 

It seems like we have been here for month but we arrived here on January 14. On the 15^th two dear friends arrived to stay with us and help us with work we are doing.  They are part of a group I lovingly call the Minnesota well drillers.  Irene and Paul were such a blessing. Irene helped me set up a Guest House for Empower Global. It is quite a task to take an empty kitchen and turn it into a working kitchen.  Lot of shopping was done in the states and here to get all of the supplies. But on January 27 the team arrived.  Now it is a busy time of caring for and feeding 24 at each meal.  I have a wonderful Haitian staff who are amazing cooks.  For those of you who know Josianne and Rose they are heading up the kitchen team and Lunia is in charge of cleaning and laundry.  The men are raving about the food.  These men as Bud mentioned are here to build an education center.  It is fun to see Bud enjoying the trades again that he worked with so many years.  This past week Joy and Hope of Haiti came in and they are another organization I work with.  We are busy visiting all the sites that we distribute soup to.  This soup is put together by Gleaners of Canada. It is a dehydrated soup that has so much nutrition. So far over 10,000 children and adults has been served this soup.  One place is in the house of a young man who feed severely malnutrition children who live along the river.  I along with Pastor Noe are responsible to deliver this food each month.  Our orphanage is one of the benefiters of this soup. 

Monday a crusie ship is coming in and I will be going to pick them up and take them around to many different areas of ministry.  Another team is coming in for a people’s race here and I will be helping these people who are interested in missions to have a good experience.

Tuesday February 4 we will be moving the kids (orphanage) to their new home.  Everything is set to go but the present landlord has decided that he wants us to pay $600 to have the present house repainted so he can move into the house or he will not release the children’s things and what furniture we have.  Praise the Lord, He has provided this money and we can move.  For months the children have shared beds.  Some children raised enough money to have 8 sets of bunk beds built and someone else says they will help with more mattresses. This is amazing.

February 8 our home church arrives and we will be doing different projects at the school I teach at. Yes among all of this I am still teaching three days a week.

Our car is having problems.  Bud had to put a new water pump in It and it continues to overheat.  Not a good time to be without a car but we are blessed to have a friend taxi driver who is helping.

Life is good but hectic but fulfilling.  Many of these visitors we have had do not know the Lord and we are seeing firsthand how God can change hearts.  We are not just here for the Haitians.  We are here for all those God puts in our lives.

Sammy adoption is still being worked on and we have not heard how it is going.  Sunday we spoke in a

Church and one of the directors of the IBES was there and told us he will help as well.  God has put people in place and now we are waiting for it all to come about. Sammy is going through the terrible 2 and he is a very determined child who is also very intelligent.  This week some of the French speaking visitors had him naming all his body parts in French.  He is now speaking French, English and Creole. It is fun to watch him grow up.

Running!

Hi Everyone,
We arrived back in Haiti on Jan.14 and have been running six days a week since the plane landed.
For two weeks Jane was busy setting up a hospitality house for a team of 20+ trades people coming in for two weeks to do a huge building project for Empower Global. Paul and I were busy hooking up lights, fans a stove & bunk beds to make the house livable while Jane & Irene were ordering mattresses and filling the kitchen with all of the items to feed and house the large team. We flew in about 700 lbs of food and household items Jane had purchased just for Empower. Currently Jane has been supervising a staff of about six Haitian women cooking, cleaning and laundry. We have a dedicated taxi running errands.
I have been supervising the truss fabrication while some of the Ironworkers are erecting a smaller roof system.
As far as I know we have: Carpenters, Cement Finishers, Electricians, Ironworkers, Plumbers and other trades people here along with about 20 Haitian Laborers. The concrete guys have been mixing and pouring a pad about 30' x 130' over three aprox.14 hour days, We have been building 11 trusses 50' long x 9' high which we will begin to erect tomorrow. The Plumbers & Electricians have been busy burying underground services and installing a large generator.
It has been a constant job of keeping the welders, power trowel and cement mixer up and running.
As soon as I have some photos back from the project photographer I will try to get them posted.
Well I must go and get ready for another busy day.
Blessings,
Bud

  

Hi Everyone

Thursday Afternoon

I must apologize for not posting earlier. Jane flew back to Fla. on Nov. 25 and back into Haiti on the 26th.
It was a whirl-wind trip. We flew out on Thursday the 21st, went to a Fla. Emergency Room on Friday morning, they felt that I would need further treatment so we made the decision to drive our car North to Pennsylvania so that I could be with family for my recuperation. We got on the road at noon Friday, stayed at my sister's overnight in Winston Salem, NC and arrived  home on Saturday at 5pm some 1240 miles later.

We attended our home church on Sunday morning, had a large family gathering that afternoon (early Thanksgiving) and Jane was flying back again 6am on Monday morning.

Tuesday afternoon I had an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon. He advised me that the break looked to be within limits and healing well. He said that he could give me surgery but has had many patients with the same type of break deny the surgery with good results. I chose to be fitted with a Velcro splint and let it continue to heal.
Since I am here by myself my daughter wanted me to stay with them instead of opening up our house. We had lived with them on and off over the past four years while home so I fit right in.

Wed. morning we had received quite a bit of snow overnight so I asked if there was gas for the snow blower, "it's in a can in the garage." Of course I put in the wrong gas and wasn't able to get it started. Being that it hadn't been run since last winter it needed a new spark plug, a new primer bulb and the electric starter lubricated. After changing the gas and making a parts run, I had it running like new in a couple of hours. My son in law just laughed to my daughter, "he's up to his usual again".
Over the past weeks I have been keeping busy "fixing" whatever I find that needs being fixed, after all that is my ministry wherever I happen to be.

Friday Morning

This morning the snow is slowly falling, the birds are "pigging out" at the feeder, the temperature is 23 degrees F.

Last week we received an e-mail that one of the Haitian governmental offices has gotten behind Sammy & Savannah's adoptions. We expect things to start moving quickly now but don't want to get our hopes up. Thank-You for all of your prayers in this.

 

 Sammy was having a great time chasing bubbles that Jane was blowing.

 

 

January, Sammy will turn two, He has kept us running over the past year but what a blessing to play this part in his life! I'm sure that God has great plans for him.

 

Last evening I was able to have supper with my mother and brother at her retirement center. Mom is one of our biggest cheerleaders. She just turned 95 last month and is still going strong. A large choir from Erie First Church came while we were there and shared an evening of Christmas music, story of Christ's birth & gift of salvation, what a great time for all.

 

Hopefully the weather will cooperate for Jane's flight home on Wednesday.

 

Thank-You for your continuing prayers, Merry Christmas!

 

Bud

 

Bud's Hand

Some of you have already heard that Bud had a run in with an engine. While he as try to fix it, it kicked back and broke his hand.  The injury was bad enough that I thought it best that he be checked out in Florida.  The doctor there recommended surgery.  Bud and I left immediately and drove to Erie where Bud will remain for serveral weeks.  I will return to Haiti tomorrow. I need to get back to Sammy, school and the orphanage.  I know many are concerned for my safety but I have a wonderful staff who live there and they will help me in Bud's absence. I hope to return to the states in a few weeks to celebrate the holidays with my family but will need to make arrangements for Sammy before that happens.  We would appreciate your prayers for Bud and myself.  I know it will be difficult without Bud's help but I also know that the Lord is always faithful and I am looking forward to seeing how this all fits into His plan for our ministry.  Financially this could have been a disaster for us but God set in motion the needed provisions long before we knew we would need them.  So far he has provided us with the money we needed to get home and pay for some of the medical costs we have had so far. I know He will continue to meet the needs of all of this.  I did get to spend one day with my family before having to go back and we had a wonderful dinner together.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family.

One of my favorite people

This is my friend Prudence. She and her husband lead a church in Lori.  This is one of the places where we are considering building a new school.  In these pictures you will see her working alongside Joy and Hope of Haiti and myself to get food and clothing out to the poor.  No one in Haiti has a bigger heart for the people than Prudence.  Together we are trying to find ways to feed the poor and lead them to Christ.