Grand-Goave is on fire – no, not burning tires or anything like that.  The whole city is all excited because Kelly has made it to the final 5 competitors in Digicel Stars.  One might like to call Digical Stars “Haiti Idol.”  It’s a singing competition for the country of Haiti and it’s sponsored by the largest cellular company in the Caribbean, Digicel.  Kelly, who came in second place in the male competitors at a MOHI competition a few years back, keeps beating out the competition.  He is a very talented young man who writes his own songs, plays keyboard and sings.  We are praying for Kelly, as the competition has 5 weeks remaining.  We’re so thrilled to see the city of Grand-Goâve united in their support of this young man.

Please keep praying for Wilson.  Tomorrow he goes back to Port-au-Prince for a biopsy of one of the tumors.  He’s been a trooper, handling all the testing.  Michelle Meece, from the Hands and Feet Project, has been taking him for all his checkups.  She told me about the one day they were in Port-au-Prince most of the day getting tests done.  When they left, they went to a big grocery store in Petionvil (that would be a treat for any of us here in Haiti!)  This particular store has an elevator entrance.  She told me that his eyes were wide as saucers as the elevator doors shut.  When the elevator started moving, he jumped into her arms.  When the door opened right into the great big store he got a big smile on his face.  They also went out for pizza.  I’m so glad he’s enjoying some extra special moments while he’s going through this.  I like to quote the Bible – it’s full of LIFE!  But there’s this one song from Veggie Tales that I always think of when there are really big challenges like this.  It’s called, “God is Bigger than the Boogey Man!”  He absolutely is!  He’s bigger than any mountain that we come up against.

Two of our high school graduates are applying for a special grant that is provided by USAID and Georgetown University.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to see MOHI graduates attending university in Washington DC?  The selection process is based on genuine need (there is no other way this student could go to university), academic qualifications, demonstration of leadership skills and following directions.  Please remember to pray for them as they submit their applications this week and proceed to their interviews.

We pleased to announce that Kim Conrad will be taking on a new role at MOHI.  She will now serve as our Mission Trip Coordinator.  She will schedule teams, coordinate times, collect applications and communicate with team leaders and team hosts to help ensure a great experience for our teams.  Kim has made many trips to MOHI in Grand-Goâve – She’s pictured to the right here with a team she led that helped erect transitional shelters after the earthquake.  She has a passion for the work we are doing here and will be able to answer most questions that potential visitors would have.  Doesn’t Haiti weather sound great this winter?  Give Kim a call at (765) 543-9166 to discuss the possibilities of bringing a team to MOHI.  It’s best to call on the weekends or after 2:30PM Monday through Friday.

Len and Cherylann Gengel joined us in Grand-Goâve last week.  They are working hard on the Be Like Brit orphanage being built up behind our school in Thozin.  As always, they were a great blessing to us, as well as to our neighbors here in Haiti.  It was cool to see them start the walls of the building together.  We had the opportunity to visit the Haven construction site in Leogane with them.   We witnessed over 300 volunteers from Ireland working on houses for families that lost their homes in the earthquake.  Leogane was at the epicenter of the earthquake and about 90% of the buildings there were badly damaged or destroyed.  Many of the beneficiaries of the 350 homes to be built are on the site each morning helping to build their homes.  We were so impressed with Anne Maguire, who runs the whole production.  Leslie Buckly, co-founder of Digicel, and his wife Carmel were gracious hosts.  It was so wonderful to witness their compassion for the people of Haiti.