Good morning all,
Praise God for new day and that His JOY comes in the morning. We had a very sucessful VBS yesterday. We saw our brothers and sisters really using their gifts. Stevo, who has served our country in the military has much medical experience and did infection control yesterday. He took all the kids with cuts and open wounds and cared for them. He removed a bot fly from a boys leg.(for those who don't know what that is, because I didn't either, until yesterday, it's a fly that plants itself in your skin and lays it's eggs and then they eat away at your flesh) Pat showed much patience helping the younger children with their craft. Pastor Larry, Debbie, Jessica, JC, Karen, Kat and Stevo also demonstrated their acting abilities as they did a skit for the children based on the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It was hilarious. Kim, Amy, Jason, and JC took one for the team yesterday, they stayed out in the sun throughout the entire VBS and did sports with the kids. The sun in Haiti is no joke, their gift of compassion and kindness tword their team mates did not go unnoticed.

Jessica delivered a message last night at devotion time about the gifts God has given us and how we use them to serve him. She shared about the arm and the leg and how we need both, but that they are attached to one body, God's body of believers. She did GREAT! Jason piggy backed off that with Romans 12 and Karen brought in Phillipians and reminded us not worry or be anxious for anything, which was an ontime word. God's love is so amazing!

This morning a group of us started our day at 4am and we hiked to a voodoo cave. It was a very different experience. The hike was physically challenging(at least for me). We saw snakes in trees, bats and stuff left over from sacrifices. It did not smell nice in the cave. We made it back 5 hours later and now I am blogging with you. We have a choir coming to sing for us tonight. Stay tuned for tomorrow because it's Sunday and we are going to CHURCH!!! Please keep Pastor Joel lifted as he will be delivering a message of salvation tomorrow.

Thank you for loving Jesus and thank you for your prayers.

Kathy

Yesterday we did shoes and clothes for children and women. We did food distribution as well. We met a woman who used to be a witch doctor and of course passed this down to all her children. She has one daughter who still practices activley and she is here visiting her mother. We prayed for her and she is coming to church on Sunday. We are believing that she will receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior, please join with us on this and be praying.

Sister Aissa was suppose to do our devotion in the evening, but God used her in a mighty way to preach His word last night. She had the honor of sharing the message in church this morning with our Hation brothers and sisters. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

God loves us so much He won't leave us like we are. Last night, as a team, we had a God encounter. For some it was painful, for others joyful, for some prayerful. God spoke out loud! He took us off auto pilot, we are so driven and focused about what we came to do for Jesus in Haiti, that we forgot we are human. He reminded those who now run, how to crawl again, and those who are crawling how to stand up. GOD IS SOOOOOO GOOD!

Brother Peter followed up with a word this morning from Ephesians, it was POWERFUL.

We are now half way done with the basketball court and we have VBS this afternoon with a different group of children.

We are approximately at the middle of our trip and some are getting physically tired and others are missing their families. We find renewed strength in HIM daily, but we want you to know your prayers make a difference. Please keep praying and let the Holy Spirit guide you as He knows the needs of each memeber on the team. Thank you for all your love and support!

Kathy

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