Week full of Blessings

Atrel Update:
Last Weekend  Kyrk's dad, was able to travel to Atrel to preach at the church's annual thanksgiving service.  He was also able to be present at the baptism service which was held on Saturday.  Praise the Lord that there were 30 young people who were baptized.  It is such an encouragement to us to hear how God is working in that area.  People are being saved and the church is alive and sharing the good news with others.  Hearing this news also caused us to want to move up there even more.  Pray that in God's perfect timing we will be able to move to Atrel.

New homes:
Also during the past two week we had a group here from Florida that was affliated with Missionary Flights International.  They were a great team and really worked hard to complete 4 1/2 houses during the 2 weeks they were here.  Kyrk really enjoyed working with them and also being able to see 5 more families have a new home.  While he was out visiting one home, he began talking with the people who live next to them.  The family was living in a shack that they had put together with what was left of their house that fell during the earthqauke.  The family had 2 boys and the night before Kyrk visited, their third child was born in that home.  The family named the child "Dieubon" which means God is good.  Wow, here is this family who is living is very rough conditions and they are still able to say that God is good.  Their second son was badly injured in the quake and he has a broken spine and can no longer walk.  This makes the family sad, since he was doing very well in school but can no longer attend school, due to the fact that he can't get there. 
Pray for this family, that God would encourage them and also that we may possibly be able to help them with a new home. 

Baby Dieubon

The home Dieubon was born in.

One of the houses the second team from MFI built

The first MFI team along some other volunteers and some people from the community.

Crazy Storm

Yesterday afternoon it had started raining gently around 2:30 pm.  Around 3:30 the kids and I needed to go and put somethings away and talk to a few people so we ventured outside with umbrellas.  By the time we had walked for about 20 seconds the wind started to blow very strong.    We walked a few more steps and the wind really started to blow hard.  At this point I didn't know if we should turn around or keep going.  We made the quick decision to keep going, but as we were running, a large palm branch fell down in front of us.  My umbrella became useless as it blew back completely.  The kids were screaming, but thankfully Brianne was with me. 
We went to Patti's porch, but by this time that wind was super hard, so we went into her kitchen.  About 20 minutes later it was just gently raining again.
It was such a freak storm.  The MAF pilots said they clocked the wind at 60 mph. 
The news reports are saying that at least 5 people were killed from the storm in Port.  Many tents are damaged and life is even harder for those in the tent cities. 
We have a group of people here right now who are building houses and when the storm hit they had to seek safety along one of the walls they had just built since tin was flying from neighboring buildings.   Things were flying and they were thankful for the safety of a well built wall.  There was not a roof on the house yet, so they got wet but it really gave them an appreciation of what life is like for those with poor shelter right now.
Thankfully it is nice and sunny today and hopefully things dry out that I'm sure are soaked in many shelters.
Pray for those who have lost their temporary shelter and also for those who are living in very wet homes or shelters right now. 


If you want to check out a news report about the storm here is the link.
 http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h90k2RxxtfWLiWNPKW43im9ChSDA

Update on Bible Curriculum and House Construction

BIBLE CURRICULUM
Thank you for your prayers regarding the Bible Curriculum.  We are still continuing to work on this but unfortunately our meeting was rescheduled.  Many people were unable to make it and therefore it has been postponed.  It has been so clear to us over the past few years that Satan really doesn't want us to complete this project.  Pray that we would be able to meet in the next week in order to keep this project moving forward. 

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
Since last Thursday we have had a team of 10 people here helping to build 2 houses.  They have been a wonderful team and have worked very diligently to complete 2 houses in the time that they have been here.  This team leaves on Thursday and another team comes on the same day.  Pray that as they teams come and help build that not only will people have a new home, but Christ's love will be shared through this also.
Having these teams here has kept Kyrk very busy, overseeing all the construction and logistics of them building.  He is currently out checking on the sites for the next 2 houses which will be built by the next team.

Building the walls of the new home.

Learning the art of plastering the inside of the walls from the national workers.

Baptist Haiti Mission Blog

If any one is interested in hearing more about what is happening at the Baptist Haiti Mission check out our BHM blog.

With the help of, Nicole a volunteer here, we are updating that blog on a very regular basis.

Here is the link:
Baptist Haiti Mission Blog

Or you can go to  www.bhm.org and click on the Field Journal icon on the left hand side.

Bible Curriculum Update

As some of you may know, a group of us here at BHM are working on writing a Bible curriculum for primary schools.  Currently there is no standardized curriculum for our schools, each school teaches what they want for Bible class.  Developing this curriculum has been a project which we have been working on for the past 4 years and it is so exciting to see what God is doing and how He is working. 
Last year we had the first grade material in a few local schools to test it and see what the teachers and students thought.  Based on that feedback we are making a few edits and trying to get the material prepared for the rest of the 350 BHM affiliated schools.  God has also brought a very talented person along who is willing to help write and edit our curriculm.  This is a huge answer to prayer!

We, the education committee, are meeting tomorrow to continue to work on this curriculum.  We thank you for your continued prayers for this project. 
Pray that:
God would give wisdom to those who are writing the lessons
there would be unity among the committee
the curriculum would be completed in God's timing
God would provide the funds needed to print the curriculum

It is very obvious to us that it is something that Satan doesn't want us to finish.  There have been many struggles over the past years and I'm sure there will be more, but through the power of prayer we are trusting that God will bring this project to completion and many boys and girls through out Haiti will hear the gospel as a result.

3 families will soon get a new home

Last Monday Kyrk traveled out to visit 3 families who lost their homes in the earthquake.  Once the request for a new home is submitted and approved by the association of churches, the family then has to show land papers, showing that they own the land.  Then Kyrk goes out and checks the building site etc.  This means that about once every 1 or 2 weeks he is going out to visit people.

This man is currently living in this house along with his wife and 6 children.

Inside their home.  Since the entire wall has fallen down this is what you see when you walk by the house.

This lady is 93 years old and has 14 children, 7 of which have died.  Her house was almost completely destroyed and she is so thankful that she will soon have a new home.

This plot of land is where a lady's house used to be.  It was completely destroyed and following the earthquake she allowed the local school to set up a temporary school on the property.  Now that the school is able to be used she is looking forward to having a new home on her property.

Children in the temporary school

The temporary school was built with whatever materials they could find.

School has begun

Yes, we have officially begun school once again. It has been a long 7 month break and we were all ready to get back into the routine of school. Having not done school since Jan. 12, Naomi and Jonathan were very excited to be able to start back once again.
I am praying that this excitement and enthusiasm for school continues for a long time.
Rebekah is also enjoying doing school related activities and Robert likes to join us, but so far he has spent most of the "school time" in bed. I have found this to be the best method to be able to teach Naomi and Jonathan and keep Robert out of trouble.
Home schooling our children is a challenge, but I'm praying that God will continue to give the patience and wisdom needed.

Dr. Bernard and Group of Carpenters journey

Thank you for your prayers.

Kyrk's cough seems to be going away and he is feeling much better.

Also, Dr. Bernard made it to the states on Thursday and has already received treatment. We are keeping the BHM blog updated with his progress, so check that out for more details. You can get to it through the BHM website, or by going to baptisthaitimission.blogspot.com

God has done some other great things this week. Early Wednesday morning Kyrk sent a well loaded truck up to the northwest along with our group of carpenters. They were going to put a roof on a school and build the school furniture. All of their supplies were loaded on the truck. Everything was going well for them until they got about 3/4 of the way there and the truck could not go any further. They have been receiving a lot of rain in the northwest recently and since the truck was so heavily loaded it was not going to make it any further. Around 6pm they called Kyrk and asked what they should do. It was decided that they should see if they could find another willing truck which they could hire to carry some of the supplies, lessening the load on our truck, so that everything could arrive at the school. Miraculously by midnight, they had everything safely at the school.
Continue to pray for our group of carpenters that are working at the school. Pray that they will be able to safely complete the work that needs to be done and that they can return safely when they are finished.

Fun Pictures, Kyrk's cough and Dr. Bernard

On Saturday Kyrk spent the day building a model airplane with Jonathan. He loved being able to spend the day with Dad and to learn how to build an airplane.



Anna is growing up so quickly. I was taking a picture of her on Sunday and Rebekah wanted to get in on the action also.


Over the past couple of days Kyrk has been struggling with a very bad cough. It is really making him miserable and he would like to be able to stop coughing. One of our workers gathered the leaves in the picture below and told Kyrk to make a tea with them to help his cold. The tea tasted really good and hopefully it helps his cough. Pray with us that God would heal Kyrk's cough.

We are not sure what the first 2 leaves are, but the third one is orange tree leaves and the fourth is coffee tree leaves.

Thank you for your prayers for Dr. Bernard. He is supposed to be coming home from the hospital today and it is looking promising that he is going to be able to go to the states soon to get the needed treatment. Praise God! I'm sure he and his family would appreciate your continued prayers.

Prayer needed for Dr. Bernard

A few days ago Dr. Bernard was admitted to a hospital in Port-au-Prince with chest pains. For those who don't know Dr. Bernard, he is the head doctor of our Hospital on the mission campus. He has served in the hospital for more then 30 years.

Dr. Bernard is a wonderful servant who has diligently helped so many people over the years. Now he is in need of help.

He is in need of advanced cardiac testing, which can not be done in Haiti. Doctors suspect that he needs stents, but they do not have the equipment here in Haiti to help him further.

He needs to go to the United States, or Canada for further medical help. Pray with us that God would make this happen. He has no medical insurance and no way to cover the medical expenses in the States or Canada alone. Pray with us that God would miraculously provide a willing doctor and hospital so that Dr. Bernard can get the medical attention that he needs.


Dr. Bernard, hard at work in his office

Praying for the flu bug to stop

Thank you so much for the prayers that you have offered in regards to the major flu bug that we are battling here. We are praising God that our family is finally over it completely. There are still a few people sick with the flu, but we are hoping that the worst of it is over. Chris and Kelli returned on Wednesday and some of thier children are now sick and we are praying that Chris and Kelli don't get it. Our 2 large groups leave tomorrow so your prayers for good travel would be appreciated. We are praying that they will all feel great and ready to travel by tomorrow morning. The Dutch group has 3 days of travel ahead of them.
Below is a picture we took Wednesday morning. We had 3 groups here for that day, which is the most people we have ever had here at one time.


These groups have been a huge help. The Dutch group has been rebuilding 3 classrooms at the Griffen school that were damaged in the earthquake. This is a picture of the school they are building.

The other groups were building houses. I should have pictures and stories of those families and thier new homes later this week.

Thank you again for joining us in prayer for healing and for this sickness to stop.

Saturday evening thoughts

There are so many things that I want to share as I sit here at the computer tonight. God is so faithful and good and He never gives us more then we can handle.
I truly have been amazed by the strength that God has blessed me with over the past few days. As you read in my last post we have been having some sick children. Well it ended up that both Kyrk and I also got the flu. I was in bed all day Thursday and Kyrk has spent the last 24 hours in bed. All of our children have gotten it (except for Anna). Everyone seems to have recovered except for Jonathan. He is still pretty sick tonight.
Continue to pray for healing.
This sickness has also spread to several others here at the mission including a few members of a team from Colorado. Pray for God's healing of their bodies and also that no one else gets this. We are praising God that so far none of the 24 Dutch people visiting have gotten it, so that is a blessing.
As I reflect on the challenges that this past week has brought, I am also amazed by the strength that God gave to face each challenge.
One big encouragement for me this week was to get to see God through a wonderful Christian lady who just started working here, helping out in the kitchen. She has been through some very terrible things in the past few months, but even through it all she is still praising God. It has been such a blessing to interact with her this week and to see Christ through all that she does. She is so grateful for the work that she has found and praising God for the ways that He is providing for her needs as well as her 2 daughters.
Thank you once again for joining us in prayer for our Haitian brothers and sisters. It truly is a blessing for us to be able to live and grow spiritually together along side of them.

Heavy Rains have passed

Thank you so much for your prayers last night and today. Thankfully it seems that the storm system that was giving us very heavy rains has passed. We had some rain today but it was only for a couple of hours this afternoon. We have not heard any reports of severe flooding,so we are thankful for that.

Another prayer request is to pray for our sick children. Rebekah was sick with the flu yesterday and Robert has come down with it tonight. I pray that we can sleep well tonight and that Robert is able to get a good sleep also. Also pray that this doesn't spread to the many visitors that are here right now.
God's timing is always perfect and He never gives us more then we can handle, so I'm continually reminding myself of that and trusting God to provide the strength to handle this extra challenge right now.

Heavy Rains

I'm not sure how many people are reading this tonight, but there are many people in Haiti that could really use prayer right now.
Today we have had very heavy rains and they are still continuing. The National Hurricane Center says that there is a storm system developing which is causing all of our current rain. We have already received over 2 inches since noon today.
Pray for the people in tents. Pray that they will be safe from the heavy rains and be able to stay dry somehow. I can't even begin to imagine what tonight is going to be like for them. Pray for comfort, peace and protection.
Thank you for joining me in prayer!

World Servants group arrives

Thursday a group of 24 people from the Netherlands arrived safely at the mission. It is always fun having the World Servants group here.
Over the next 2 1/2 weeks the group is going to be rebuilding 3 classrooms at the Griffen school which were damaged by the earthquake.
Also during this past week we have had a group of 9 here from Alabama. They have been doing a VBS program at the Callebasse school, along with some painting around the mission and organizing relief supplies. It is great to have such willing workers here to help out.
Thanks for your prayers. These are busy weeks, but we are praising God for the strength that He is providing.
Monday another group comes to help rebuild houses. Continue to pray for safety for all these people and for strength and wisdom for Kyrk has he is overseeing all the building projects.
I will try and post pictures next week of what these groups are doing.

An encouraging Sunday

What a joy it was this morning to be able to worship together with our Haitian brothers and sisters. It was also a huge delight to hear the children's choir, which was made up of over 85 children singing praises to God. God is good!

I'm so thankful for this great start to the week. We know that the week ahead is going to be an especially busy one, so it was great to have a worshipful, restful day.

Back in Haiti

We arrived back in Haiti on Tuesday afternoon after a very restful time in the States and Canada. It was wonderful to be able to see all of our family and several friends.
I was truly humbled to hear from so many of you who regularly read this blog. I never knew so many people where interested in what is happening here. It was a huge encouragement to us and it reminded me of the importance of regular communication with people even if I think it might be boring things, people really want to know what is happening here.

As we were driving home from the airport we passed the Pettionville church. It was amazing to see the church looking even better then it did before the earthquake. The team of builders that repaired the church did an excellent job. I'm sure that the people of the Pettionville church are so thankful to have a church building to be able to worship in together in and to have a facility to use to help minister to the many hurting people in their community.
Thank you for partnering with us to be able to encourage the Pettionville church following the earthquake.

Here is the newly finished church.

Short update

As some of you may know we are currently out of Haiti. We left on May 13 to attend my brother' wedding on May 15. We are really enjoying our time in Canada and will be traveling in the states in a couple of weeks to spend time with friends and family also.
We are returning to Haiti on July 6.
During this time I will update if I hear of things happening in Haiti.
Even though I may not be updating frequently please know that God is working and those at the mission are continuing to help the people around us.
The team of national masons are continuing to build a house a week and other groups of people are also building houses. A few schools have been repaired already and repairs have started on several others.
We are praising God for the volunteers that are coming to help. In the past 2 weeks there have been 2 medical groups come. One did follow up care for some of the earthquake patients who had broken limbs. The other team went to rural villages and provided medical care there.
God is also continuing to do great things through the tent city ministry. Continue to pray for this ministry and that many people would come to faith in Christ.
Please join me in praying for the staff in Haiti. This is a very busy time and with some of the missionary staff gone on furlough it makes it much more challenging for those left in Haiti.
Also continue praying for wisdom and guidance as we continue to seek God's will as we serve the people of Haiti.


Here is an updated picture of our family.

Master's class resumes

This past week the Master's of Education program was able to resume. 29 of the 32 students were able to travel here to Fermathe for the one week class. This truly is an answer to prayer! God provided a professor who was willing to come (this class was supposed to be in February, so the original professor could not come for a May class.) and almost all the students were able to come.
It truly is amazing to see God at work and we are praising God that things like the Master's program are starting to get back to "normal."

Ministry in Tent Cities

At least twice a week a group of people, including the Billy Graham chaplains and various young Haitian men, are going to tent cities to have Bible studies and visit people living there. Recently Darlene started going along and doing a children's program as part of the visit also. Darlene just recently returned to Haiti after almost 10 years and has a real burden for children.
Last week when she went to a tent city they had more then 50 children listen to the Bible story and learn basic truths about the Lord.
We are praising God for the great work that is being done within the tent cities.
On Tuesday Marilyn, the Billy Graham chaplain, was talking with some people and they shared with her that the government wasn't able to help them, but it is the Christians who are the ones helping them.
Praise God that the church of Haiti is really being a testimony during this time and reaching out to the people around them in need.


Darlene and Marjon sharing with the children.




Marilyn and Elismond visiting a woman living in a tent city.

New homes being built

We are praising God that we have been able to begin rebuilding good strong homes for people in the surrounding communities. We have a great construction team that is working diligently to build about 1 home each week. The families are so grateful to have a good strong home that is built well and is keeping them safe and dry.
Thank you for partnering with us to help provide these homes for these families. When we talk with them they share how grateful they are and their desire to say thank you to those who have provided the funds to build them these homes.


We started today to build a new home for this family.

Part of the construction crew starting the foundation.

Yonel

The following was written by Marjon Harkema:

On our second day at the mission we saw a little boy in a wheelchair. It was clear that he was a victim of the earthquake. His arm and leg were hurt. Beside him I saw his mother. We asked for the story behind this family. During the earthquake Yonel broke his arm and leg. After a couple of days he came to the hospital at the mission with his mom. They had to walk for many hours to reach the mission. Yonel´s mother was sick, but she thought she had an infection. She had been sick for 2 1/2 years already and since they live in such a remote village, medical care is not easily assessable so she never saw a doctor. After some examinations in the mission hospital the doctors discovered that she has very advanced breast cancer. She will probably only have 6 months to live. Instead of being sad, she is so thankful and happy that people at the mission honestly shared with her what was wrong. Now she can arrange everything for her kids before she dies. Her husband died in December 2009 and when she dies she will be leaving 5 children orphans. But thankfully there are family members and people from the church who are willing to come a long side of these children and see that they are well taken care of.
This story made a deep impact on me. She is not afraid to die at all. She is a real Christian. Wow,...what a brave women. She doesn´t complain, she doesn´t give up. She is a real example of a good Christian. Every single day she give thanks to the medical people. Please pray for her and her family.


Marjon's children with Yonel.


Yonel

Schools reopen

As of Monday April 5, the Ministry of Education has told all schools that are able to, that they should open and resume classes. It is so encouraging to see children going back to school, even if they have to meet under plastic or in a tent. We are praising God for sending people here who have been a huge help setting up tents at several schools. We are also praising God for the work that is being done to repair several schools.

Training for pastors and teachers by Billy Graham Association

On Tuesday five more people from the Billy Graham Association arrived at the Mission. During the next four days they are going to be training pastors and teachers in different areas of Haiti in how to share the gospel during a time of crisis and grief counseling. Yesterday they started in a place called Thomassin (15 minutes from the Mission).
The training in Thomassin was attended by 80 pastors and teachers and was about grief and how to deal with this after the earthquake. First there was a plenary session which was about the symptoms of grief and how to deal with this from a biblical perspective. It was so interesting to notice the big difference between the North American/European way of thinking about how people would react to a disaster like this and the Haitian way of thinking. An example of this was: Marjon Harkema who joined the Billy Graham team said to a Haitian man: After I heard about the earthquake I was so sad about everything. Then this man said: “Why were you sad? I wasn’t sad.....Yes, I lost my house but my family is still living, so I have no reason to be sad. So why should you be sad...?” It is so easy to project your own way of thinking and your own emotions to other people and expect that they will think and feel the same.
After the plenary session the whole group was divided into smaller groups accompanied by a Billy Graham chaplain. In these small groups there was a dialog about the personal stories and experiences. The most important thing that came up was that some people felt powerless to not be able to provide the material needs of people. The Billy Graham people explained that you can’t be responsible to provide for all the needs of people. You have to believe that God will provide whatever you need (maybe not in a way you think, but He will provide). The most important thing for the pastors and teachers is to help the people spiritually and to show them God’s great love. The bible text which was applied during these session was 2 Corinthians 1. The training was closed with singing and prayer. What a blessing to be able to have these training sessions!

Marjon and 2 of the Billy Graham chaplains


Sharing in their small groups

At the same time yesterday more tents were being placed at a school in Thomazeau (2 hours from the Mission).

Tents are going up at schools for temporary classrooms

Last week several people from the Netherlands arrived in Haiti. Gerben Jousma, Sietze van der Velde and Gerben & Marjon Harkema from BHM the Netherlands with their two kids Emma and Thomas.
Last Friday and Saturday they put up several tents at the Fermathe school, which is close to the mission. Yesterday the schools started again and since the school is damaged, it’s not safe to be in this school anymore. The back of the school has collasped. That’s why the tents were needed to be able to start school again.




This is a second building on the school property which is used as classrooms and an auditorium. We have been working on repairs and it is almost ready to be used once again.

Sunday we celebrated Easter. The church was full, we had a great service. People were singing, worshipping, praying for more than 3 hours. Several people accepted Jesus as their personal saviour. What a blessing!


Gerben, Sietze, and Gerben pose for a picture after getting back from setting up the tents. Hannah and Elizabeth Lieb joined them for the picture.

Emma and Thomas enjoyed meeting Yonel, a young boy who was injured in the earthquake, after church on Sunday.