Have I mentioned RAIN

Have I mentioned RAIN??? Wow, it's either feast or famine. And today it was definitely FEAST!! It started last night and rained and rained and got harder and harder. I had hoped it would ease off by morning...nope...no way. So, we headed to the airport, knowing that if it didn't lift some, the planes could NOT land. We had two planes with over 4,000 pounds of cargo. We waited and waited. They were long overdue...I called MFI in the US to see if they had called them...nope. Finally, above the generator noise, and other loud noises, I heard the sound of the radial engine. It seems no one else could hear it. I insisted it was up there somewhere. And watching the ONE little hole in the cloud, we saw it...and then it was gone. Well, it came around and did land. And it was POURING and we had to go out and unload the plane. By the time the second plane arrived, it had almost stopped raining, but we were all so drenched it didn't much matter!! Okay, it was bad for us, right? Well, consider the team...they had to ride all the way to town in the back of the OPEN truck...but some had rain gear, others had garbage bags on. I don't think they got as wet as we did.

This team has been fantastic. They got their work project done in 2 days. So, now it's visiting other missions, and some fun time, if the rains stop!!! According to the weather maps, it should be done. We pray it is.

But through it all, we are still praising God for His faithfulness and love. He knows what we are going through...and He IS with us. As it says in I Thess. 5: 16, "IN EVERYTHING give thanks...", so we are thankful. Not necessarily FOR the rain, but IN the rain.

Well, you all have a super great day in the Lord. We are blessed, and we pray you are blessed as well!!

A bit more on the weekend...

Hi,
I thought I'd add one more picture, or maybe two. I don't know if you all realize it, but we treat everyone the same. If it's the president of MFI, or one of the workers here, they are all in the same boat with us. Thus the first picture....it's of the group (that WONDERFUL group) who were here doing the retreat. They are on the back of the truck heading to the airport to leave. (It does look like a cattle truck, doesn't it?) On the very back, bouncing around and hanging on, are Harold (one of our main guys at MFI...he does all the work to keep us going here), then Pastor Randy (preachers are treated like normal people), and then Al, our purchasing agent at MFI. You'd think we'd treat them much better, but this is the fun of being on the mission field I guess. (Gee, I hope our purchase orders come through okay now). Actually, on the trip to the airport, Al was trying to drink some water from his bottle. We missed the best shot of him bouncing one way and his water shooting the other way. But they all held on and we didn't lose a one of them. And actually, we had Dick, (THE PRESIDENT) in the truck with us...air conditioned and smoother riding. But he rode in the other truck all weekend, so he wasn't exempt. We praise God we have such a great group of guys to work with at MFI. (And they are all good eggs, too, when it comes to things like this.)The second photo is one taken of Abbie. Our grandson decked her out as a princess. (She claims she is one, so I guess it fits). We are so glad they are getting along so well.
Well, it's on to getting things ready for our team tomorrow. Have a super great day and remember to keep Jesus at the front of it all. His love is overwhelming, overpowering and totally awesome. (I learned all those neat words from our grandkids).

The MFI retreat weekend

Wow and excellent...that is what this weekend was. MFI came in to host a retreat for the missionaries and those affiliated with MFI. They brought along some friends of MFI, plus a great singing group from Hobe Sound Bible College. Dick Snook dubbed them the "Hobe Sound International Quartet". The young guys were great. But then, I love quartets, so I am a bit prejudiced, I guess. THEN, you come to the pastor that lead the teaching. He was FANTASTIC. We so enjoyed Pastor Randy Crowe. He is from a very small island in the Caribbean. That is if you consider 1/2 mile wide and 2 miles long, small. But he's a pilot and flies to other islands to minister also. The island is Man-O-War Cay. The humor he interspersed with the word of God, and the lessons from the word were so encouraging. The problem is, it was over WAY too quick. Dick Snook, MFI's president did a great job leading the weekend. And we all enjoyed the hot dogs and chips and all the rest they brought along to eat. These few photos are of Dick Snook leading our services. Then the second one is the singing group. Following that, and definitely NOT the last, is Pastor Randy Crowe.
I guess we all needed that "break" from the normal here. And it was something so uplifting that we are refreshed. The fellowship with the team was awesome too. They all stayed here at our dorm, so we were doubly blessed. Isn't God good to bring what we need when we need it?

We have gotten word that our first container is in port and "should" be inspected this week. But that was the last we heard on it. Pray with us that we will hear more tomorrow and that within this week it will be delivered.

The next blessing we have is that our daughter-in-law and her adopted son are here with us for a while. He gets along so well with Abbie. We are really happy to have them here. Keep them in prayer for their papers to finally move and that they will be able to get the passport and visa and be able to take him home. This is our prayer for them.

I will update you again soon. We have our next team coming in on Tuesday, so will continue to be busy again. Keep us in prayer for strength and fortitude.

For now, remember to let Jesus be the focus of your life and the light of your life.

Happy Middle of January

Happy Middle of January...almost

I just realized that tomorrow is the middle of the month. After checking the temps in Wisconsin, where we're from originally, I'm SO glad to be in Haiti. They canceled Bible study tonight at our home church there because of the wind chill factor...oh I DON'T miss that cold stuff. I sort of miss seeing the snow (out the window), but not the cold.

Decided to put a picture of our new grandson and Abbie (our "adopted" granddaughter). They have been playing well together since he got here last Thursday. With an almost 8 year difference it's great they are getting along, mostly.
We had one team leave on Tuesday (yesterday), and another coming tomorrow. Thank the Lord for our Haitian helpers and for our daughter-in-law. They did a lot of the work for me. BUT the team that left did a lot of the clean-up, too, so that was a huge blessing. The group coming tomorrow is hosting the MFI retreat. We have the pleasure of having them here with us until Sunday at noon. We, and many others, are really looking forward to the fellowship, prayer and praise and the teachings. These retreats that MFI hosts are such an uplift and delight for all who attend. I'll let you know more on how it went once it's over.

Don's been working on a few things around here that needed attention. I'm so happy he is doing that. There is no fuel to speak of here right now. I'm not sure of the problem, but we have to be very conservative at this time. We can't even buy it on the black market. So there must be some reason for this going on. Keep that in prayer for us, since we have teams coming who need to get to and from projects they are working on. It will be a tough thing if we can't get anymore fuel.

We finally got word that our first container is in Cap...now that doesn't mean we'll get it any time soon, but it IS here. Our broker is trying to set a date for inspection and then the wait on paperwork begins. So that is a HUGE prayer request right now.

Getting late and this body needs some rest. Still fighting whatever it is I have. Dr. Steve is back and I hope he will be able to tell me what to do to get rid of this .... ahhh... YUCK...I have. It gets tiresome being sick, and I sure am tired of it. Too much to do to wear out so fast. I'm believing God has a reason for me going through this, but at this point, I don't see it. But I still believe He is with me and is holding on to me.

So, for now, Praise God for all you have, all you are, and who you are in the Lord!!! He truly IS an awesome God!!

We are into the NEW YEAR

Greetings in the New Year!!

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here and update. Quite a few things have been going on and I'll try to cover most of them. First, of course, was Christmas and then the Disney trip with my daughter's family. Then I returned with a team...and pneumonia. The team was great and tried to help me relax and rest, but that is so hard for me to do when I am supposed to be taking care of things for the team. But they did get the blocks laid for a pastors new home. He was so happy to have so much done in such a short time. The day that team left, another came in. This one had our daughter-in-law on it, her father, and three other fellows. They are working with a Haitian pastor doing many things. Our daughter-in-law flew to Port au Prince to bring her son back to spend some time with us (maybe a month), while they TRY to get the paperwork moving on the adoption. The neat thing about this all is that mom, new son, and both grandpa's are here together.

I am going to put some pics in here and share some of the fun we've had. Abbie was a real trip with Christmas presents. Even those for others made her so happy. There weren't many, but she enjoyed each and every one, for her and for others, with total joy.These few are from Disney. I especially love the one with the three boys holding hands. The other two do take care of Donny.Donny fell in love with Minnie Mouse. At each park, Minnie paid special attention to him and he soaked it up, BIG time.And then the one of Abbie at the airport with a stuffed horse that a family who was leaving was taking out. She thought that horse was so neat. It was BIG, SOFT, and it MOVED.
And of course, our new grandson and his new grandpa's.
So, you see, it's been a busy time here. I'm still recuperating and prayerfully getting better. This sure is hanging on, even after two rounds of antibiotics. So, keep praying, for me, for the teams, for the completion of the adoption of our new grandson, and for the salvation of the lost. Keep our whole ministry in prayer. We have a full schedule of teams for the next several months. And we are STILL waiting on our containers. This is a real challenge for us, this lesson in patience.

Till next time, God bless and keep Jesus at the center of your life!!

Container update

Just wanted to get a quick update on the container situation before I leave for the US tomorrow. We talked to our broker while Stan was here. He said the ship with our container on it is now scheduled IN to Haiti on the 23rd. That means they MAY clear it between Christmas and New Year's. Which then means we won't get it until January sometime. Pray with us that it will come in God's time and the price will be more reasonable than it has been. Again, the Christmas Bags won't be given out in time for Christmas. Such a disappointment. But they will be given when we get them. And the kids will be just as happy whenever they do arrive.

Our team left yesterday. They were great. We enjoyed our time with them. They didn't really get to do what they came for, delivering Christmas Bags, but they did a lot of other things and saw a lot of missions. They adjusted well to the changes and we were thankful for that.

We are going to have Christmas with Vero and Abbie tonight. It's been hard for Abbie to see presents under the tree and not be able to open them, so she will get to do that tonight. I'll try to get some photos, and prayerfully be able to post a few.

Everyone here is battling bad colds and coughs. We have decided maybe it's something in the house, but don't know. Guess we'll find out in time. Don is starting to clear up and Abbie sounds better, so maybe we are on the way to getting over this. It's been raining and cold (for us anyway), so maybe that had a lot to do with it.

I want to follow our daughter-in-laws lead and put a thankful list each time. We really DO have so much to be thankful for. God has brought us great teams. Through some very wonderful people God has supplied finances and food to distribute. We are very thankful that we have been able to help so many in need. We are especially thankful at this time of year to remember that the Lord loved us so much He sent His Son to stand in our place. We pray more and more people will come to the realization that God's sacrifice is our salvation. We praise and thank Him for His Love, Grace and for His Son!!!

May you be blessed beyond measure as you celebrate the most precious gift of all, JESUS!!

Closing in on Christmas

Hello again,
Sorry it's been a while since I have been on. We've been so busy. Add into that, putting up Christmas decorations. The day before Thanksgiving, Vero said, "in two days we can put up the tree and decorations, right?" I had told her we had to wait until after Thanksgiving. So, that is what we did. Not as many as I have done in the past, but things are still "Christmasy". Abbie walks around saying Merry Christmas to everyone. We don't have to deal with "political correctness" here. We can keep Christ in Christmas. And He is. Abbie has her own manger scene, and talks about how Mary and Joseph had to find somewhere to stay so baby Jesus would have a nice place to be born. This set is so neat, and she is so happy, thanks to Wendy and Joe Karabensh. They gave her the set last Christmas. But anyway, here are a couple of pictures of our decorations. Abbie loves to watch the tree and play with some of the Christmas decorations.Aside from getting into the Christmas spirit, we have a team here. They came to distribute Christmas Bags for Haiti. The glitch there is that the container didn't come. So, they have been finding other things to do. But some bags were brought in by MFI, and they have gotten bags taken out to one orphanage and to one church. But they are seeing and doing a lot of things, too.

My exciting news is that after the team leaves on Tuesday, on Thursday I leave. Our daughter and her boys are getting to spend Christmas at Disney. And I am getting to go with them. "Every Child Has A Dream" foundation is sending Donny and his family there. Donny has Cerebral Palsy and was chosen for this trip. Another bonus to this is that I have to be there a few days before they arrive, so I am going to spend those couple of days with my brother and his wife. (A prayer request here is for Bob, my brother. He is heading into chemo treatment for colon cancer.) I won't be here for Christmas, but I will return on the 30, with a team, and will be here for New Year's, which is the biggest celebration in Haiti. They celebrate Christmas, New Year's and their Independence Day all together. So, we'll have a celebration then.

Don has been so excited about being able to help so many people. He is heading out this afternoon to deliver food to yet another area. Supplies are running low, but we are depending on the Lord to provide what is needed. The homes he has been working on are coming along great. The families are so happy. For those we have been able to help, this will be a time of rejoicing. Pray with us that the Lord will continue to help us bless many more. God has used so many wonderful people to bring these things to reality. We are so thankful for all the help and all the prayers, too.

For now, I am going to wish all of you a VERY BLESSED CHRISTMAS, and pray you are keeping Jesus at the center of all the celebrations. Remember, He IS the reason for the season.