Hello friends and family,

Thank you for all your prayers. As usual change in plans since I last blogged. We were suppose to work on a house for a family that needs a roof and a floor, but we have had rain so the weather did not permit. We did continue on the basket ball court, mixing cement by hand and carrying it in buckets, we got about one sixth of it complete. We are believeing to finish it before we go home.

We did VBS with the nutrition center children yesterday and that was BEAUTIFUL. Debbie put VBS together and we followed her orders. Our big manly men were stringing beads on string. Bob, wore his soccer mom shirt and had a team of children holding his hand. Karen sneezed the kids into laughter, Pastor Joel danced like we have never seen before, Jason held a little girl in his lap and gave her his undivided attention. Aissa, and Debbie Albright made sure every child left there with something that belonged to them (crayins and a coloring book). This was harder tha you think because the children kept trying to give them back, as if we were only letting them borrow them. Overall VBS was a sucess and the children felt the love of JESUS. We will do another one on Friday for another nutrition center.

We have learned so much from our Hatian brothers and sisters in Christ, yesterday when were carrying the cement to the basketball court, we had the priviledge of listening to our Hatian family have a worship service from 8:30 to 12:30. They do this every Wednesday and they are fasting too. As we were reflecting in the evening, we realized as a group that many times we struggle to sit still in church for and hour and a half, or if we do more than the usual amount of songs it could be a problem. Never the less, those who have loved ones on this trip, we will be returning home to you still a work in progress for the Lord, but with a new appreciation for just who GOD IS IN OUR LIVES!

Last night Mr. Price, a former witch doctor, came to give his testimony. Remember, we have had rain with thunder a lightning. They don't have a car or umbrella or shoes for that matter, but it was so important to him and his family to come and share with us what God has done for them and how God had turned his life around. Mr. Price shared about the darkness and evil that he served for over 40 years and how that gets passed down to the next generation. Mr. Price is now blind, but is so happy because he can see the light of Jesus in his heart. His son, Kelli, now wants to be a Pastor when he grows up. Mrs. Price stuck it through, many times he would beat her and be cruel to her because of his practice of being a witch doctor, but yesterday they shared how good their marriage is now. She infact has to take care of Mr. Price because he blind, do to his former practices. Some of our men walked them home last night in the rain and mud, over some steep hills to house with no light. This morning Mrs. Price came back to wash the shoes of the men who took her family home. I think everybody cried this morning when we saw her here.

Make room in your hearts and your homes for your new family because this 2010 Haiti Team 1 has truely become a family and we now have a Hatian family too.

Thanks for your love and support. We will blog again tomorrow:)

Kathy

Much to share this morning.

Pastor Joel and Pastor Larry, had an awesome time with the Pastors. They met a Pastor yesterday who can not read or write, he does not even recognize his name on paper, but when he opens God's word he is able to read it. This is a testimony of just how MIGHTY our God is.

We handed out clothes and shoes to the children yesterday and the look on their faces was priceless. We did not just hand them out we took time trying them on and finding something they liked. It was a humbling experience.

Yesterday we had the priviledge of making food bags and delivering them to people in the community. We brought food and prayer to the surrounding area. Seeds had already been planted before we arrived. The church had laid a cement foundation for a man and his wife. Yesterday we brought them rice, beans and oil; the man just could not understand why we were doing this and when the team prayed with him he gave his life to the Lord! ALL PRAISE AND GLORY BE TO GOD!!!!!

This is a very hot time in Haiti and without the rain their crops will not grow. God was so good that we had some rain yesterday, just as we were finishing up our community prayer walk. We got back on the bus just in time. We were traveling back to the facility when our bus could not make it over the hill because of the road being so wet, our tires would just spin. We let the bus roll back to gain some momentum before we went up the hill again, but that didn't work. We tried putting everyone at the back of the bus, I'm not sure why, but that didn't work either. Finally we all got out of the bus, waited off to the side and sure enough the bus made it over the hill. This made for a great team bonding experience:) Needless to say the rain did not stop and we had thunderstorms all night. This caused the group to have devotion and reflection time inside last night and what a time that was. We did praise and worship and the POWER and PRESENCE of the Holy Spirit filled the room. God really does inhabit the praises of his people.

God has taken 19 people who met 3 or 4 times before this trip and made them a FAMILY of servants for his kingdom.

Today we have VBS for the wellness center kids, and we will work on a house for a family in need. We will also hear the testimony of a former witch doctor.

Keep praying,
Kathy

Pastor Joel shared with us in the begining when we left that plans never stay as planned. Today's plan was to build a basket ball court; needless to say it is not even 11am Hatian time and we have squared a basketball court, filled the foundation of the school that is being built, dug trenches and removed weeds from the field. We have been productive physically, but above all we have built relationships with our Hatian brothers and sisters. We have worked side by side with one another and sometimes don't understand eachother, but we know that we all love the same GOD and that Jesus is making a difference in all of our lives.

Mito, one of our translators, has asked for prayer, he just got married 10 days ago. His wife, Rosemani, is in the choir and is a leader at church. They do not have a house yet and would like to have a baby. Keep them lifeted as well as our other brothers and sister.

Pastor Joel and Pastor Larry are sharing in a pastorial gathering today. Pastor's walked upto 11 hours, not miles, HOURS, to get here for this today. I can't wait to hear what they have to share.

I am going to recruite some others to blog now too.

Kathy

We made it!!! Yesterday we had safe travels. Challenges started in the US with the airlines and luggage, but God worked it out. We landed on a grass field in Pignon and were greeted by many beautiful Hatian children as well as the Mompremier's.

We visited our first feeding center yesterday, many children from surrounding neighborhoods; older children caring for their younger siblings. They sang songs of worship, lead by their beautiful teacher, and then we were able to share in serving a healthy meal to the kids.

Time to go, today we have a project I will fill you in on later. KEEP PRAYING

Kathy

Brittany shares about the Nutrition Centers in Haiti.

Today we've started to pack out bags and clean up as we prepare to leave. Many feel tore between wanting to leave and wanting to stay and do more. yesterday, we have the wonderful privilage of distrubuting food. (thank you to those of you that prayed for no rain it was on of the hottest days yet!) We were able to feed over 20 families for a week and all it cost was $150. Many US families spend that in a week just for a family of 4 or 5. The 5 house we went to was locked no parents home. When the door finally opened there were 4 malnutrition girls standing there ages 4-12. JeanJean told us this is really bad, the girls are left alone for hours on end and not feed. We left with them bags of rice, beans and cooking oil, most of us on the team were so moved we handed over our trail mix for the girls to eat right away. JeanJean said he had spoken to the parents before about the girls attending the nutrition center but they declined. JeanJean went back this morning to speak to them again, asking them to send their kids. This afternoon I'm pleased to say they all showed up and ate at the nutrition center and they each recieved a pair of shoes.


This morning we woke early to head down to the river and baptise a few people from the team! What an awesome exxperience... more photos to come.


We had another clinic this morning and treated another 30 people. Kristie does such a wonderful job working with these people. Her pharamancy always needs new supplies, but everything seems to come right when it is needed.


Yesterday we had our last VBS... what they didn't tell us about this one as that it was basically 80 two year olds! yes, you read that right 80 2 year olds! So come 11am it was melt down time followed by nap time. It was a true joy though to be with these little ones and hold them as they slept. At the end we gave them all of our remaining shoes... which were all small shoes. So it was prefect.

Before Lunch today we went and prayed for Andre a witch doctor. He asked us pray for him and to keep praying for him. In voodoo you sign a contract and if you break it before your committement is up their is fear that someone will kill you. Fear is a big thing here. We explained to him that Christ has already paid for his contract in full by his Son. JeanJean was telling us that fear is a HUGE thing here. So we ask you on behalf of Andre to pray for him, pray that God will break the strongholds in Andre's life that he will trust the Lord and not fear.


We ask for your prayers again as we travel back for safety. We also ask for you to pray that we hold on to what God has taught each of us here, that God uses each of us on the team to share this journey we've been on and what He is doing here in Haiti.


PS for those of you wonderful people that are picking us up at the airport: American Airlines arriving SFO at9:59pm from Maimi (sorry don't recall the fligt number)