Another great week has come to an end here at MOHI.  Our annual conference was well attended, while we hosted a great group from Syracuse.  Pastor Ricardo Volcy, our new friend from Syracuse, is originally from Haïti.  What a tremendous help he was, as he translated during many of the conference sessions, as well as preaching himself.  Dan Lee and Craig Cook, both from Kansas City, made quick appearances to speak at the conference.  As always, it was great to see old friends from years gone by, attending the conference and praying for one another.

Our dear friend, Kevin Groder, was here hosting the Syracuse team and of course they all had a blast.  The team played with kids, taught in the conference, painted, built shelves, hula hooped, went four wheeling in the mud, visited people in their homes and prayed with people.  They experienced Alexis’ intense hike in the beautiful mountains of St. Etienne and a quick trip to the more touristic city of Jacmel.  They were very fleixible and very helpful to us.  Sound like a great trip?  Put together a team to come visit us in Haiti. Contact us and we’ll see if we can get Kevin to host your team, too.  Never a dull moment!

Construction continued this week on the new school.  The mat area for the back wall is just about excavated and we’ve been working on the perimeter wall, as well.  About 30 people were employed this week, as a result of this project.  Each person represents an average family of 7.  That’s 210 people that have a little more hope in their lives.

I went to our church in St. Etienne this morning.  What a thrill to see the church enlarged and still packed out.  The new Sunblazer unit is secured there and unfolded, capturing the sun’s rays on its solar panels.  40 families in that community have electric lights now, rather than using a gas lamp.  They’re also very excited about how long the charge is lasting.  They were expecting to have to recharge every few days.  It seems the charge is lasting for most families for 8 days or longer.

The World Food Program has made several deliveries this past week.  We are storing the food for the people of Grand-Goave.  The food will be used to feed school children in many of the schools in town, as well as for emergency relief, should there be severe weather during the hurricane season.

Kera Walker is adjusting well to her knew role here at MOHI.  She’s teaching the missionary kids – no little feat.  She’s seeing how challenging it can be to ensure school work is getting done in the midst of all the activities.  The kids love to be involved in hosting visiting teams, special meetings, conferences, working with the orphans and other children, dance and music.  But, thanks to Kera, school will have priority.

Our family will be returning to the States next month and would love to meet you!  Please join us for an open house on Sunday, August 7th at 3PM in Westminster, MA.  Contact us to RSVP and receive further information.  Remember the date and please make a point of joining us for an afternoon!