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.

Great things happening in the Petionville tent cities

There are currently 2 large tent cities in the Petionville parks. Last week Chris Lieb along with a few visitors from Hawaii and some youth from the local churches, went to share an evangelical film with the people in these tent cities.
It was great to see the responce of the people to this film and some were lead to the Lord as a result of seeing this film. We praise God for the work that HE is doing in the lives of these people who are living in these cities.
The Billy Graham Chaplains that are here are spending thier days in these tent cities, doing Bible studies with these new believers and working with local church leaders to get them involved in local churches.
Amongst all the bad news that can be heard about the tent cities, it is so encouraging to see how God is using this. As Chris went through the tent city he was amazed at how organized and clean it was. There are people there to maintain order, they have toilets, showers and people in charge of making sure that they are used properly. They have security guards and the police are helping with security also.
When Chris asked some of the people what they needed, of course their first answer was "I need food and water." Then he said, "No, really what do you need." They then shared the truth with him and said, "We have enough food, we have water, we have a decent place to live for right now. We just need a permanent home to live in."
This is another praise that at least in the 2 tent cities in Petionville people are being taken care of and God is looking after them.

In an effort to provide permanent housing for people, we are starting to build 2 houses this week. It is a slow start, but people are so grateful to see that we are trying to do what we can. Sand is difficult to find and we have limited materials, but we are starting with what we have.
Pray with us that God would give us wisdom as we continue to rebuild houses and that we would be able to get the needed materials for these houses.

Rubble clean up begins on the Conference center

Prior to the earthquake a team for Hawaii was planning to come to Haiti to help out in March. After the earthquake they decided that they still wanted to come and help out in whatever way they could.
It truly was perfect timing. It seems that the aftershocks for significantly slowed down and now we are starting to do clean up and thinking about reconstruction.
The team arrived on Wednesday, and Thursday they were already hard at work. They removed the roof of the badly damaged conference center and today they started clearing away the large amount of rubble. This is going to be a huge job. They are working along side some of the local people who work for the mission and they seem to all be enjoying it even though it is hard work.
Pray for safety as we continue to clear this rubble and prepare for rebuilding.

Blessing of food

Yesterday we were blessed with not one, not two, not three, but four large truck loads of food for some of our schools. This is a huge amount of food and today we already started sending it to the schools.
Schools have not resumed classes, but the cooks have agreed to come in and prepare food for the school children so that they can come to school each day and receive a good meal.
God is so good and we are praising Him for this blessing of food so that several thousand hungry children can receive food daily.

Aid continuing to go out

Yesterday 2 pastors came in sharing the needs of their churches and communities.
Praise God that we still have some food, shoes and tarps here that we are able to share with these communities.

One of our workers also shared a need yesterday for a small tent community that has been set up in his community. He was so grateful for the tarps and shoes that we were able to share with these people. Those tarps will be especially appreciated today as it is a very rainy day.

We are very thankful for the rain, but at the same time we pray that people will be able to find safe, dry places to stay warm and dry.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. Haiti isn't in the news as much now, but there are still such great needs and the people of Haiti appreciate your prayers for safety, peace and wisdom as they continue to recover from this disaster.
Continue to pray also that us as staff would have wisdom to know how best to help these people and that we would be faithful stewards of the gifts that so many of you have given to BHM.

Discipling new believers

Praise God for the things that He is doing here. It truly is amazing to see the large number of people that God is drawing to Himself.
We are starting to hear reports from Churches and hearing the ways that they are planning to disciple these new believers. Some are setting up small groups to meet with these new believers and help them grow in their new faith.

Pray for the pastors and church members, that they would have wisdom to know how best to disciple these new believers.

Pray for the new Christians, that their faith would grow and that they would find good Bible believing churches to become a part of and be discipled through.

We are back

Many of you are probably wondering what happened to the regular updates. My family and I took a much needed 2 1/2 week vacation and just returned to Haiti on Friday. It was my hope to still put some things up while we were away, but communication was very difficult with the field at that time, so it didn't happen.
Since we have been back I have heard many exciting stories of what God is doing and hopefully over the next few days I can share them all with you.
Here are a few updates of people that many of you have been praying for and following their progress.

Katiana: When we returned to Haiti we were very pleased to hear that Katiana was able to be transported to Tampa, FL by the US military to get the needed treatment. She was constantly fighting infection here since we could not provide the sterile environment that she needed to heal. Praise God that the report from last Friday is that she is up and walking and God is truly doing a miracle in her life. Continue to pray for her complete healing.

Aldine: She was a little girl who came to us from a near by orphanage. While she was here at the hospital we were able to get her to eat well and when she was feeling better she was able to go back to the orphanage and get cared for there.

Malika: Is the little 7 year old girl who was found by her neighbors and was brought to the hospital for treatment of some wounds. When she was released from the hospital we still had not heard anything about her parents. The neighbors took her home and they were planning on taking care of her as long as they had to. We pray that some how her parents were found, but if not we are thankful for kind neighbors who were willing to take her in as one of their own.