It was a special week for our students and an extra special week for me!

Rachel-Anne, Fran, Sara and Cheryl

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Our students were so excited to see some of our friends from All Saints Church (Belmont, MA) back in the school again. They remembered Rev. Cheryl Minor, Fran and Sara from previous visits. The first grade in particular remembered that Cheryl and her husband, Rev. Paul, had brought them caps and gowns in June for their graduation from Kindergarten. They loved the activities, story telling and singing. The older elementary and high school students were very enthusiastic about learning to read music and playing the recorders.

Teaching, teaching, teaching!

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All Saints Church did have been a wonderful support to their sponsored class this year. They collected back packs and added underwear, toothbrushes and toothpaste, lotions, soap, etc. to each of them. They packed them into barrels and shipped them to the mission in Haiti. The team was here shortly after the barrels arrived and were able to distribute them to the students. It was a special moment for the kids and they were so grateful to the church.

Backpack distribution

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Why was it extra special for me? Because I got to spend it with Cheryl!

You may recall, Cheryl and I went to middle and high school together. We were very aware of each other throughout those years, as we were both very involved in the performing arts (music) during school. We even had some of the same classes, however we never really connected. Cheryl’s dad was (and remains!) an amazing, classical musician and music professor at the University of Connecticut, who groomed her and her two sisters to follow in his footsteps. Cheryl worked hard at it, too. I was a rebel who escaped reality by playing guitar, singing, writing songs, writing music arrangements and practicing the trumpet. We both had our hearts set on our futures in music. She had always wanted to be a music teacher and I had planned to double major in music theory/composition and teaching. Both of our plans were disrupted and yet we’ve both had much more fulfillment than we could have planned for.

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Today, although we may have very different lifestyles in different cultures, we have so much in common. We both love the Lord first and foremost. We have made our marriages and children priority in our lives. We are both in full time ministry and find great contentment serving the Lord by serving people. We both love our churches and the children of Haiti have totally won our hearts. We both think about and pray for the others we went to school with and especially those that we have reconnected with on Facebook.

Cheryl teaching the children

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This was our first week without Leah. Although we all miss her very much, God’s grace is there for us. We had a very busy week in the clinic. Our staff did a great job of caring for all the patients. Lex and I had a good staff meeting with them, too. We talked about how things are going, how we can make things better and some changes that we hope to be implementing in the coming months. We listened to them and asked for their ideas. We also talked about making a way for Dr. Lavaud to have easy access to doctor’s working with our partner’s at Bless Back Worldwide. It was a very encouraging meeting for all of us.

Clinic

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Lina continued working with our students this week and also joined in with the All Saints team. It’s so great to see the kids taking pride in their accomplishments.

I did it!

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This morning we had the pleasure of sharing the pulpit with our friend from Chile, Pastor Thomas. He shared about laying our lives down for our friends.

Our friend from Chile, Pastor Thomas, shared the word of God with us this morning.

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Frank and Jan (Hands and Feet Project) have two beautiful children, Gabriel and Josie. AJay really appreciates getting to spend time with Gabriel from time to time. Josie is a riot! She is the boldest, little spitfire you will ever meet! This morning she came running to Lex as he was preparing to pray during the service. As Lex says, “When she starts running, you HAVE to be ready to catch her, because she just JUMPS!” So he caught her. He went to put her down to go up on the platform, but she wasn’t ready. She stayed with Lex until he was done praying and eventually she let him put her down. Of course, neither Lex nor the church minded one bit!

Our friend Josie is bold as a lion!

Baby sharing a Bible story with the kids

Times of praise and worship

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Yes, it was another great week at Mission of Hope International. Thank you so much for your time, prayers and financial support. God bless you!