Back to "normal"?

Hello again,
Well, I "think" things are getting back to normal here...but then again, exactly what is "normal"? I was thinking about that on my return flight from the US on Tuesday. We have had some real mountain top, and valley experiences these last two months. And yet, I'm not sure just where "normal" fits in. So, I came to the conclusion that "normal" is simply being where God wants us, doing what God wants us to do. The highs, lows, and middle of the roads are all just a part of it.

In the last month we have had two teams come in. The first from the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. They put a roof on the school where they had worked on the church last year. I think I have already mentioned them, but wow, talk about workaholics... those guys (and gals) got that roof finished in 3 days. Here are a couple of photos... first work day and then the dedication on Sunday of the building. Awesome? You bet!!!Our second team was just as awesome. They got all the work done, plus a lot more than planned, and had a good time doing it. They were also from Pennsylvania, but from the Pittsburgh area. Talk about people with a love for others... they sure fit the bill. My only regret was that they came in on Tuesday, and on Thursday I left to go to Fort Pierce. (They did fine without me, but I sure missed being here with them.) They not only worked on projects, they got to be with the orphans and then out at the IDADEE orphanage site, with the area kids there. And with both teams...spoiling Abbie was part of the mission, I guess.
This picture is of "our two girls" and our "new" daughter from the US. It's Betty, Shannon and Vero. Our family is expanding.On my short trip to the US, I was asked to share our ministry and the Christmas Bag ministry with a women's group in a church in Vero Beach. Talk about some awesome ladies. They were so gracious and outgoing. (And they sure can cook, too!!!) Had a wonderful time with them, and also with the gals from MFI who went along as an encouragement for me. As our plane left Fort Pierce on Tuesday, I got a photo of the sunrise...the world awakening...and I pray it will awaken to the light of the world in Jesus Christ!!!
Our last group helped bag items for the bucket ministry, and Don is now busy getting those things distributed...keep that project in prayer. We have a team coming on Tuesday again, so the work never lets up. We keep praying that God will be glorified in all that these teams do for Him. It is FOR and THROUGH Him that these projects are accomplished.

For now, Keep Jesus at the center of your life and let others see your light shine, FOR HIM!!

A very thoughtful note

Each month, our mission in Georgia sends out a letter along with receipts to our supporters. This month, the letter opened a new door in my thinking. Now I want to stress right now, we are NOT asking anyone to support us. I just thought this was something I had never given a thought to before and wanted to share it with you all. So, here it is, in it's entirety:

From World Outreach Ministries

Dear Friends in Christ,
Your prayers and financial support are vital to your missionary's success. Without the practical side of things being taken care of, the "spiritual side" of a ministry can not take place. The truth is, your support is critical to their outreach.

Did you know that the same principle was true in Jesus' life? Most people do not realize that Jesus had supporters during his 3-year ministry. Luke 8:3 says, "And many others, who ministered to and provided for Him and them out of their property and personal belongings." Amplified Bible

Jesus operated the same way as missionaries do. It says that "many" were supporting Jesus and His disciples. Because of their help, Jesus and the Apostles changed the world forever. Never doubt that your help IS important to God's plan.

I guess I never thought of the fact that even JESUS was a missionary and needed others to back Him. In the back of my mind, I just figured God took care of all of that. And yes, in a way, He did, through others. That was just such an eye opener for me, that I wanted to share it with you. Maybe I am the only one who never put those things together in my mind, but it is so neat to see. I never gave a thought to the fact that Jesus WAS a missionary.

I leave Haiti tomorrow for 5 short days. I will be going to a church in Florida to share the Christmas Bag project. I've not done this before and I think I'm a bit nervous, but I know I can do it. It's such a worthwhile project. We have a team here right now, but they are great and can handle things without me. Sort of makes one humble to know that others can do without your help, but that is fine. With Don here, they will do great. We also have Stan here with the team, so we have no worry at all.

We have had some very constant rains, and heavy ones at that. But it's been mostly at night. I guess the only problem with that, is that the dorm roof is leaking, and pots and pans have to be set out, and beds moved to avoid the water. Time to start praying for a new roof, huh?

Guess an "Abbie update" is due. She has finished her "kindergarten" work and is now into 1st grade work. She is so proud of herself. But it's sort of sad, too. She is only 4, and is moving ahead so fast. Where does childhood go these days? But time does move on, and kids grow up. A neat statement from her came out the other day. She said, "Grandma, everyone needs Jesus IN THEIR HEART, so they know He is with them EVERYWHERE." What a concept for a 4 year old to grasp. Vero is doing a great job every night, teaching her from the Bible. And Abbie loves it.

An added note here: check out both the Christmas Bag web page and the Missionary Flights web page at right. The MFI page has a sad story to relate, but it shows where MFI's heart is, with the missionaries. And I will stress here, they do these emergency flights, with no cost to the missionary. MFI truly "Stands in the Gap" for us!!

On that note, I'll close and if I get a chance while in Florida I will post again. If not, I'll talk to you all next week!! Be faithful and share the love of the Lord with others!!

We are back...

FINALLY, we are back on line. What a time it was not having internet. We sure get spoiled with having these modern things in our lives, don't we? Through these 6 plus weeks of not having internet we have felt so cut off from the world, but now are back in communication with everyone. Although we did have a few days where we could get on, thanks to the loan of a modem, we were without email, or internet for so long.

We have a team here now. Talk about HARD work. They put rafters and a roof on a school building. From start to finish it took 3 days. I can't believe how quickly and efficiently they work. These are a great group of people who come each year. What fun we have with them, too. God has blessed us so much with this group. They all work like a well oiled and running machine. It is wonderful. Today is a day of rest and some shopping and swimming. I'm sure they will enjoy that, but they also deserve it, BIG TIME.

While in town one day (we always take the camera), we got a shot that brought to mind how fishermen in Jesus time worked. I thought I'd share it with you, so you can see that yes, we are a bit behind times here, but still find ways to work and feed families.We see these things occasionally, but never cease to stop and compare things to Jesus time and how they lived then. Throwing the nets out and bringing in the fish...just as Jesus told us to be fishers of men.

For now, PRAISE GOD for His mercy and love and for being with us. My next blog will share something from our mission in the US. The president sent a letter to our supporters and it included things I never really thought of before.

Let the Lord lead you today in all you do. Praise Him for His loving kindness!!!

Wedding photos

Well I finally figured out the problem, and yes, it was the operator. I guess I was just so exhausted I wasn't paying attention. I did want to share with you some of the pictures and you can see how happy Betty and Ronald are.

Yesterday we got a call from them, in the Dominican. It was good to hear from them. They called simply to say thank you for the wedding. They will probably be gone a week, Ronald said.

Don's been busy working on getting the material for our team coming in a little over a week. The fun never ends here. And we have another team right after that one. Teams are a blessing to the Haitians as well as to us. They bring us new insights to things, and fun and laughter and of course, they accomplish a LOT of work. And God always uses teams to bring us encouragement and they help uplift our faith.

Well, just wanted to get these few photos out and let you see them. What a blessing technology is to us, to be able to share with you so quickly.

For now, will close and get ready for church. You all have a really wonderful, God centered day. Our love to everyone and we thank each of you for your support and care for us and for the people of Haiti.

Time to regroup

Hey to all,
Well, the wedding is over. It was such a wonderful time and the bride and groom were awesome. But they are on their way to the Dominican for some time alone...don't we all wish we had that? Really, it was a great time. But now it's time to relax a bit then to regroup. This has been a tough couple of weeks, but we are back on track now.

This last week, we have had some really awful rains and thunderstorms and lightening strikes. Praise God we weren't hit, but we heard it hit elsewhere, close by. Our ground is saturated again. We either have feast or famine...and it seems we are never happy with either. When it's really dry, we pray for rain, when it rains and rains, we pray for it to stop. It would be nice to be in the middle somewhere, but we won't complain anymore either way...right now we are thinking of an ark...yet we know God said he wouldn't flood the earth again, right? Maybe just Haiti???? We are on our way there it seems.

I'll sort and get some pics put on here of the wedding in the near future. I tired to put one, but something isn't working right, probably the operator. In the mean time, have a super great God filled day. Remember to keep Him at the center and front of all you do.

Life and it's hills and valleys

Hello to all,

I've been back in Haiti since Tuesday. Hit the ground running... so much going on and so much to do, it's hard to leave even for a week.

The funeral was sad but the pastor gave a wonderful salvation message. There were so many people there. It was great to see so many come to pay their respects. The meal following the service was really nice. We were able to spend time with family and friends we haven't seen in a long time. Some of the people I haven't seen in over 30 years. Boy, time sure flies. We are now praying that the message that was shared will soften hearts and lives and that people who were there will open their lives to the Lord. LeAnne's wish was that she would get to see everyone again in Heaven. That is our prayer too.

I came home and started working on the wedding dress. I had left it in pieces. Making a size 12 into an 18 has it's challenges. A LOT of challenges. But today I have it almost completed. I have two more seams to do some minor work on, and it will be done. A good friend had offered to make Abbie's flower girl dress. It came and it was so beautiful. I was so happy with it. But, it was not long...and they wanted a long dress. I did everything I could to use what was there and extend it, but could not work it out. I praise God that the bodice was all done, and the zipper in...that would have been another challenge for me. All I ended up doing was adding a long skirt to it. (But I sure would have rather she used it as it came, it was BEAUTIFUL!) Now I will start on the flowers... those might take me a bit, since I'm not sure how many for people, how many for the alter, and exactly what they all want. Challenges never end here.

Today, our friend who installed our satellite system came. We were so happy he had returned from the US, so we could at least find out what was wrong. Well, our system was NOT hit by lightening. Our wireless antenna pulled in static from the lightening, and fried our wireless connection and our modem. He installed a borrowed modem for us to use until we can get ours replaced. So, we are on slower service than we had, but Praise God, we have Internet access again. Then the next chapter came.....

I had signed on to yahoo, to see if any of our kids were on. Our daughter came on and immediately told me there was some problems in Wisconsin again. My sister-in-law was back in the hospital in intensive care. This time it is her heart and kidneys. Our daughter didn't have a lot of information at that point, so I called my brother's cell phone. My niece filled me in on what they know so far. It seems her kidneys are starting to work again and they are doing more tests. So, our request right now is to PLEASE KEEP BEV IN PRAYER. We don't know the extent of the problems or exactly what is wrong, but she can sure use some prayers on her behalf. Her family can use prayers too. They have all of our phone numbers here, so they will keep in touch. My heart goes out to all of them. I wish I were there to pray with them and be with them, but I can't at this time. But that won't stop the prayers from going out.

As soon as I finish the dresses, flowers and some other minor things, I have to start on the food for the wedding. It is next Friday morning at 9 AM. You know the saying, "No rest for the weary!"...well, I sure do fit in that category right now. But I do have the Lord to lean on and I sure am doing that. I don't know what people do who do not have that solid rock to depend on in times like these. HE IS my rock, and my salvation and I lean on Him a lot.

Again, it's back to Isaiah 40:31... "...they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint..."

Blessing, and keep praying...

Problems abound

Times are tough. I got word last Sunday evening, Sept. 6th, that my sister would probably not make it through the night. She had been in intensive care for over a week. I had talked to her nurse that gave me the news. I called my daughter and let her know what he said. She immediately left to drive the 32 miles to be with her. I told her as soon as I had made flight arrangements, I'd call and let her know. I signed off with her and a huge storm hit. We don't have Internet when we have a storm. Well, it was a BAD storm. Lightening hit and we are not sure if it hit the modem or if it hit the satellite dish outside, but we are now without Internet. This is a very difficult situation for us, not to have communication with the US now.

The next AM I called our daughter via satellite phone (very expensive). I found out my sister had gone to be with the Lord at 5:46 AM that morning. She had been in pretty bad shape for a while and this was a blessing for her, but a hard, hard time for the rest of us. I made all the arrangements and flew out of Haiti on Tuesday.


When we flew out of Haiti, by a miracle, it was a very early flight. We arrived back in Fort Pierce at a little after 3 PM. When we were taxing up to the immigration building, I noticed one of the props was not turning. Found out a while later that the engine had quit. Now MFI is down to only ONE plane flying. Two of them have an engine out. MFI needs a whole lot of prayers. I ask that you put that high on a prayer list. And share that with anyone willing to pray.

On Wednesday I flew up to Wisconsin. When I got here, I was informed my brother's wife was taken to the emergency room, and admitted to intensive care here in town. They said her heart was not beating right. But had a hard time figuring out exactly what was wrong and what to do about it. All I kept thinking was, what else can happen? They transferred her to another hospital and they did something called a TEE...inserting "something" down her throat and to her heart. They sort of "jump started" the heart. (Can you tell I have no medical knowledge and don't really understand all that happened?) She is doing fine now and came home today. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

I am slowly coming to grips with LeAnne's passing. It's hard. She is my only sister and we were really close. But she is without pain and praising God now, and it is US who are here, very sad for ourselves, but not for her. Keep me, my brother, and LeAnne's family in prayer. Our kids were close to her too, so they could use some prayers as well.

So, now you are caught up on my side of the family. Don is in Haiti, taking care of Vero, Betty and Abbie. Well, actually they might be taking care of him. He is continuing with all of his work, so he can use your prayers, too.

For now, praise God for His goodness, HE IS IN CONTROL!!! He knows better than all of us what is happening and what we need. I return to Haiti on Tuesday, so from that time on, until we can find a way to fix our satellite, we will have no communication on the Internet. Keep us all in prayer.