Where to Begin?

Lex, Alexis, A. Jay and I just spent 5 1/2 weeks in America.  We traveled by car from Fort Meyers (FL), to Charlotte (NC), to Franklin (TN), to Akron (OH), to Manchester (CT), to several locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, to Jacksonville (FL), and to Ft. Lauderdale (FL).  We took four (glorious) days of vacation (NO telephone calls!!!), but the rest of the trip we kept a very difficult pace.  Thus, I’ve not posted since we left Haiti.  I apologize for that.  I do hope to give you a thorough update today to make up for it.  Despite the pace, we so enjoyed our time speaking, making new friends and catching up with many of our faithful supporters.  I will share some of the highlights later in this post.

Back to Haiti…

What a thrill for us to return to Haiti and find everything functioning just as if we were here.  Now, I’m sure it was different for our missionaries and staff, as they all took on greater responsibilities, but they did an incredible job.

Pastor Kevin and Tammy took over our roles as the troubleshooters and Leah kept everyone healthy.  They were kind enough to write and share pictures with us while we were away, too.  Our staff organized the opening of our schools, kept the churches hopping, built a home, church benches and an electrical supply building, kept the missionaries, orphans and students fed, kept the radio station reaching out, kept things maintained and fixed things that broke…  One might think that our presence may not be needed anymore, but the welcome we received upon our return showed that we were certainly missed.

A Dieu Manatise

Our return was preceded by the death of Feyo’s sister, Manatise.  For those of you who have not yet visited MOHI in Haiti, Feyo is an older gentleman that we say “came with the house.”  He was the caretaker for the missionary compound prior to MOHI’s acquisition of it.  He is loved by so many from America and Europe who have visited here.  He is now deeply saddened by Manatise’s passing.  Just as in America, the death of a loved one in Haiti requires many expenses by the family.  This is a time when land and farm animals are sold to pay for the funeral.  MOHI is standing by the family through this difficult time.  If you would like to help, please make an online donation and mark in the memo “Feyo’s sister.”  We’ll make sure your gifts get to the family.  Thank you.

No Turning Back

You may recall a couple of months ago, at the Thozin church, a vodou priest made the decision to follow Jesus.  Friday morning our pastoral staff went to his home, at his invitation, to clean out all the trinkets he had used previously in vodou.  They loaded them all in the van and drove them to the river to be burned.  It’s a big commitment when a man burns the items that provide an income for him.  We are so happy for him and the church remains diligent in prayer and intercession on his behalf.

Leah Fuller

When Leah first came to MOHI, almost 3 months ago, she told me, “If we are still friends after 3 months, I want to talk with you about coming back long-term.”  Although we missed half of those three months, we ARE still friends!  Leah has purchased airfare to return to Haiti in early January.  We are thrilled that Kevin, Tammy, Leah and our family are all able to get along so well in our close living quarters.  I look forward to working together for the benefit of the kingdom of God and the people of Haiti.

Our Time in America

Here’s a quick recap of some of the highlights of our time in America.  We were so pleased to have been able to touch base with so many of you.  I regret that we did not always have our camera handy to capture the moment, but we did get a few shots.

Florida

We stayed with our friends, Bob and Sally (Bob Heier Ministries) in Ft. Myers for about a week and a half.

Our friends Chris and Joy Youell, who organized a wonderful fundraiser for us last year in PA, are now in Ft. Myers, as well.  Together they all worked hard at creating an itinerary for our time there.  We were able to visit several churches, including services and/or events at Baptist churches in Ft. Myers, Port Charlotte and Lehigh Acres.  We spoke with several student groups at the McGregor Baptist Church’s school in Fort Myers, Sunday School classes at Crossroads Baptist Church, and attended a couple of social events.

Aside from making so many contacts and visiting with our friends, there was yet another highlight for me in Florida.  Bob and Sally brought us to ECHO. I personally enjoyed those couple of hours more than I can even express.  I will share a little about it farther down in the “vision” part of this post.

North Carolina

Our friends Jackson and Melissa Roper were the most gracious hosts.  Other than the middle of the night, they had us on a tight schedule of meetings the whole time we were with them.  They work with that awesome organization called Bless Back Worldwide.  (Woot!)  We met with all of the organizations leaders, folks who had already made trips to Haiti, as well as those scheduled to come next month and those who arrived here yesterday.

We spent a day with Clifford Chin at the Covenant Day School, enlarging our vision for our schools here and brain storming about ways we can work together more and more.  We met with principals, guidance counselors, teachers and administrators, as well as speaking to five classes.  We took off from there for a meeting on the other side of town and then headed to a lovely dinner meeting at the McCloy’s home.

Ludwig and Farah invited us to their home for a Haitian-American dinner with many of their Haitian friends from the area.  It was so wonderful to have a “taste of home” and meeting so many professionals who want to do something for their homeland.

We visited Elevation Church with Tom and Leigh Ann Loeblein while we were in Charlotte.  That was quite an experience, as it is NOT your traditional church.  It was very loud, which I am somewhat accustomed to here in Haiti, but the bass in the chest made me feel all of my fifty years.  *smile*  Pastor Steven Furtick shared some great insights from God’s Word.  It was time well invested, for sure.

Franklin, TN

We spent just one day in Franklin with our friends Mark and Aegis Stuart, from the Hands and Feet Project, and their awesome kids, Journey and Christela.  Mark’s parents, Drex and Jo, joined us there.  It was so great to catch up with everyone and to challenge them to a game of bowling.  Drex won.  Will and Andrea (also from HAF) were around, too and we were able to talk a little shop while having fun.

We met up with our friend Hanna Wickham and her cool son Zjandre at the mall.  It was a quick visit, but much appreciated.  Hanna’s parents, Lennie and Amy Engman, have been our home away from home since we moved to Haiti, so Hanna’s extra special to us.

Akron, OH

Fred and Sandy Muffet (Directors, Mission USA and Chapel Green Campus Local Missions) outdid themselves once again on this trip!  They made arrangements for our family to have a house to stay in.  (Since we live with people ALL the time, this is a huge treat for us!)

Fred and Sandy made arrangements to have a food packaging event at the Chapel (with Bob & Sally joining us, too!) on Saturday.  Several lines of people (children and adults alike) worked in two hour shifts throughout the day.  Lex shared before each shift about our work in Haiti, thanking the people for their sacrifice and hard work to help the children of Haiti.

Sunday Lex prayed and shared at both morning services at the Chapel’s Green Campus, as well as in the adult sunday school class.  Hundreds of folks turned out for the after service cook out and were so gracious to our family.

The highlight for us was seeing the school bus that they have converted into a mobile medical clinic!  It’s HUGE and AWESOME!  We are so excited about this addition to our medical ministry here in Haiti.  We are expecting the bus to arrive in Haiti this week.  The bus will be used to bring medical care to people outside of our local areas.  It will be parked regularly at our St Etienne campus, where we can utilize it as a school clinic in between its other outings.  Woo Hoo!!!

Manchester, CT

As always, it was such a blessing to spend a day at the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church and their missions outreach organization, World-Wide Lighthouse Missions.  Pastor Kalinsky and her husband welcomed us into their home and organized a great lunch with their staff.  We were able to go over donated items with them and give some input as to our needs here in Haiti.  They have committed to shipping 12 barrels to us 3-4 times per year.  How exciting in that?  If you have things that you would like to get to us, they are willing to add them to the barrels, too.  Donations should be mailed to World-Wide Lighthouse Missions, 723 Main Street, Manchester, CT  06040, ATTN MOHI Barrels.  They can also be dropped off at their warehouse.  Please contact Cris Mack (860) 645-4198 to arrange a drop off time.  Barrels cost $150 each to ship, so please be sure to include a check to help cover shipping costs.  Thank you!

It was great to join our partners at FGIC for their midweek service.  They were so welcoming and encouraging to us.  This church has been a long time, faithful supporter in prayer, finances and counsel.  We are so blessed to have this Kingdom connection!

Manchester is just around the corner from my hometown of Mansfield, CT.  We were able to stop in for a quick visit with my brother Douglas there.  We got talking about college, as Alexis is a Junior in High School now, and decided to take a ride over to the University of Connecticut.  Alexis joined her uncle in his sporty convertible.

My high school, E.O. Smith, is located right on the UCONN campus, so I was very familiar with the campus…or at least I USED to be!  I was shocked with the major changes that have been made on campus with a new little city, parking garage, “high rise” apartments over the “downtown” style store fronts.  The student body has increased significantly, as well, with over 17,000 students on campus.  Despite all the changes and increased foot traffic, the beauty of the campus remains intact.  I enjoyed my walk down memory lane and Alexis enjoyed her first exposure to a college campus.

Massachusetts

We are so grateful to Lennie and Amy Engman for always opening their home to us and accommodating our never ending crazy schedules!!!  We arrived in Westminster Thursday night and took off for Nashua, NH the next morning!  Alexis is taking three classes this year through Joshua Tree Educational Services, LLC, which is located in Nashua.  All of her classes are on Friday, so she was able to sit in with her classmates and teachers for both Fridays we were in New England.  She spent the night and joined us the next day for our annual Meet and Greet Open House at the Engman’s home.

This year’s event was as wonderful as each of the previous ones.  We welcomed dozens of friends, supporters and others we were meeting for the first time.  We are so grateful for everyone taking time out of their busy schedules to accommodate us!

Sunday we went to the Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead, MA.  It was wonderful to see our friends who had come to Haiti earlier in the year and to meet so many sweet people from their church.  Lex was able to share his testimony and share some words of encouragement.  We are grateful to Pastor Dave and the church for their support and donations.  We are especially grateful to Nora Walker and her mom, Sarah, for their commitment to collecting school supplies and spreading the word about our work in Haiti.

After church, we drove from Eastern Massachusetts to Pittsfield, in the West for a special event.  Mark Stuart and Will McGinnis had invited us to attend an Audio Adrenaline concert.  We’ve been working with them (via the Hands and Feet Project) for years and it was fun to see Will at “work.”  I’ll tell you what, they have some neat songs on their new album “Kings and Queens.”

We had many meetings throughout the week with different pastors, entrepreneurs, staff/board members and friends.  Some folks who will be coming to Haiti soon, others who have been previously, some supporters and others who are starting to support MOHI.  We just love spending time with people who love the Lord and want to be a part of bringing life to others through Him!

We had the privilege of shopping for carpet to put in the library room in Thozin.  We decided on a floral print on a moss green background.  The carpet should be shipping to Haiti near the end of the month.

Thursday was our shipping day.  We did some last minute shopping on Wednesday and early Thursday and then headed to Hyde Park.  We brought peanut butter and school supply donations and met Sarah Walker there with the donations from the Clifton Lutheran Church.  It was quite late by the time we finished up, but we were grateful that we’d gotten there when we did.  The container was close to being full, which meant that it would be shipping out right away.

A few months ago, an old friend from high school, Dr. Cheryl (Vasil) Minor contacted me about bringing a team from her church to serve here at MOHI.  While in MA, we were able to join her and her husband at the All Saints Church in Belmont for a fundraising dinner for their trip.  It was, of course, so great to see each other and catch up on the past 32 years!  We shared with the group about MOHI’s ministry in Haiti.  I love how interactive the group was, as they had lots of questions to ask.  It was a late night, but thoroughly enjoyable!

Saturday was it.  We had to prepare for Sunday church and pack the car for our return to Florida.  We finished up early Sunday and were on our way to West Newbury Congregational Church.  This is another church that has been a great support to us.  Many of the members have been to MOHI, some several times.  Lex shared with the congregation and we enjoyed a brief time of fellowship before hitting the road.

On our way out of town, we stopped at Paul Fallon’s home to drop off a couple of suitcases.  Paul arrived in Haiti with them last night, so that was a great blessing for us!

Jacksonville, FL

From Virginia to Jacksonville, FL our car started to act up.  We were grateful to arrive safely in Jacksonville where our friends Peter and Esther Plastridge graciously received us.  John Armour (who oversaw the construction of our new school’s foundation and also created the amazing water purification system we use here!) and his son Austin spent the better part of the day with Lex, trying to fix the car.  In the end, we had to go to plan B.  John let us take his van to get to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, while he and Peter made arrangements for the car to be fixed.

Since the car, which will be shipped to Haiti soon, stayed in Jacksonville, Peter and Esther decided it was a good idea to fill it with items we need.  Along with their church family, they will pack the car before driving it to West Palm Beach, where Ticker will take it to the port in Miami.  In the meantime, we have a hefty bill to pay for the car repairs.  As always, we know that God will continue to provide!

We made it to Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday night at 9:30 and left for the airport at 4:30 Thursday morning.  We had a good flight and are happy to be “home” again.

Vision

Honestly, Lex has always been the true visionary in this venture called “Mission of Hope International.”  I have always been very content in supporting his vision – and sometimes he has had to “drag” me along, as it was more than I could comprehend.  This year, however, it seems the Lord has been expanding my vision personally, by leaps and bounds.  This vision is still in support of Lex’s vision, but is just more detail focused.

Information

The first area that I started to get “lit” about, was bringing computer technology to our students.  Child in Hand has brought XO laptops (via One Laptop Per Child) to our students.  I am excited for our kids to not only learn how to operate a computer, but also to learn to express their creativity.  Drawing, writing, reporting, blogging, school newspaper…  The ideas are flying around and they’re all a thrill to me!

Library

Personally, I love a good book.  I like that I can travel the universe from where ever I am.  My imagination is much more incredible than even the latest technologies for film-making.  I grew up with a library in my school, in my neighborhood and at the neighboring university.  There was never a shortage of books.  That’s not the case in Haiti.  Haitian schools stress reading text books and learning by repetition.  Here it’s highly unusual for someone to have a novel, biography or piece of classic literature at their disposal to read.

When Paul Fallon designed the new school building for us, we asked him to include a library room.  Recently I’ve been getting all worked up about the prospect of our kids having access to books on a regular basis.  When our friends from Kids Against Hunger were here a couple of months ago, we started dreaming of a beautiful, inviting room for children to come to and read.

Tammy Groder, who loves books even more than I do, is cataloging all the books that we have.  Melissa Lee is preparing the interior design of the library room.  Brian Gosselin will be leading the construction crew coming in February to execute that plan.  I am sooooo excited!

Books for Haiti is also donating 40 Kindles to MOHI, which will expand our library without taking up too much space.  How cool is that?!!!

Agriculture

During our time in Fort Myers, Bob and Sally took us to ECHO.  This was an incredible experience for me.  They grow all kinds of plants that grow in Haiti.  They are an information resource for all sorts of things like farming talapia, providing seeds and education about how best to grow them to, my favorite, a unique method of producing cooking fuel.

So, let me tell you about the cooking fuel.  Goats are very popular in Haiti.  Goats, like all animals produce manure.  It was explained to me on this tour, that one can make a giant “tea bag” out of goat manure, put it in a 55-gallon drum, fill the drum with 30 gallons of water, seal the drum, install a gas line on the drum that leads to a tire tube, install a second gas line from the tube to a burner and voila!  How?  The manure will begin to break down, creating methane gas.  The gas goes through the line to the tube, which begins to inflate with the gas.  The gas is then used as cooking fuel and there is no need to cut down trees or spend money on propane.  How amazing is that?!!!

At another area we saw sugar cane growing.  There was a chicken wire fence going down the center of the field.  We saw that on one side there was a lot of undergrowth.  On the other side there was virtually none.  Why?  Because there were free roaming chickens on one side.  The chickens kept the undergrowth under control, aerated and fertilized the soil at the same time.  (It also keeps the chickens from hopping up on the dinner table, like they used to do at our place years ago!)

Our tour guide shared a story about sharing rice planting techniques with farmers in a particular country.  The farmers were really not interested in listening, as they had been planting rice a particular way for generations.  One farmer, however, asked for help.  He followed the “new and improved” planting method.  When the harvest arrived, he reaped 100% more than the other farmers.  The next season, all the farmers asked the one to help them to use the new method.

My prayer is that the Lord would send someone to work with us here at MOHI who would utilize some of these awesome ideas from ECHO.  I have every confidence that once the results are seen, people will want to follow.

 

Family Vacation

Finally, for those of you who have made it this far, you may enjoy seeing these pictures from our family vacation.  Thanks for reading and I hope to be back on my weekly writing schedule once again.  Thank you!