On Friday the entire school comes in uniform! Two teachers will be leaving at the end of the school year. Several missionaries are already sharing an open position this year. The support is incredible!

A Wonderful Opportunity!

Grace attends the local Christian missionary school here at Cite Lumiere. She loves the small size and the great teachers! Unfortunately there are teachers moving at the end of the year and gaps need filled. Do you know of anyone who would we be willing to teach for one year or possibly many years in Haiti? This is a wonderful opportunity for the person or family with the heart to serve! Is God calling you?

For more information about available positions, salary, and housing, contact the school Principal, Mrs. Karen Martin, at clcsprincipal@gmail.com.

Please pass along this information to anyone you think may be interested. Thank you very much!

Getting ready for Christmas in Haiti is just as exciting as at your house!

Here are photos of some amazing things we think are sort of unique to Haiti! What do you think?

Mud cookies, 1/2¢ each. It’s probably like eating a piece of pottery. The sad reality is this is the only affordable food for some families as food prices have increased 100%.

Mud cookies are sold all over Haiti, but Haitians are understandably ashamed of them.

The clay is mixed with salt and vegetable fat and dried in the sun. If they have flour and sugar, they will mix that in too. (THONY BELIZAIRE/AFP/Getty Images)

Just when you were looking forward to a relaxing afternoon at the beach…

Grain bin villages! These homes are supposed to be earthquake and hurricane proof.

These homes are easy to ship and assemble, the heat escapes out of the roof!

Traditional Haitian meets modern style!

School posters that teach the best practices of squatting!

This is where you step up and squat. Bring your own paper!

Now to change the subject quite a bit…

People from over 20 churches coming together to learn how to share the gospel! Would this happen where you live?

Over 200 people met at the MEBSH 1st Baptist in Les Cayes before going out to share the gospel door to door for two days! Believe me, we were astounded…yes, that is a good word for it!

Except for Sundays, this is how jammed the roads can be with bikes, day and night! (You are only seeing one side of the road!)

Having a bike is really important in Haiti. It is how you and your friends get around. We have seen up to four people on one! There are 3x more bikes on the road here at a given time than automobiles!

We want to thank all of you who donated bikes this summer. They were given to kids that have a distance to go to school. One boy was walking seven miles each way! There were some really grateful smiles when we decided who the new owners of each bike would be!

Sanyo is a special family friend. He needed a bike to get to his college downtown. Here he is taking home a suitcase to use as a dresser!

We heard this about one of the donated bikes: “I take it to school, and when I get home my mom takes it to the market. When she returns my brother takes it to the place he sleeps overnight, and then he returns it in the morning so I can go to school!” It was great to hear that the whole family was using it, so thanks again!

A blind man and his son come by several times a week. The boy was thrilled to take home Grace’s old bike on his last visit!

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” – Colossians 3:17

Grant all outfitted up and ready for a bike ride, the perfect stress-reliever for school!

This is a common sight around here anymore!

It is easy to find taxi drivers with time to spare. Here is Madam Yadley, our cook, also sharing the gospel!

The yacht we took to visit two island schools stated on the side, “Emergency Cholera Boat!”

A recent week filled with school visits was also filled with adventure! We needed to visit a few remote schools because they were selected for new school sponsors who were waiting for information and photos. There is no easy way to most parts of Haiti! Like any Caribbean country, the mountains in the center have to be crossed almost every time you go out. Usually there is a rough road with hairpin turns (and no guard rails). Sometimes there is no road but only a path to climb over them.

That was certainly the case one of the days that week as we had to climb over a mountain to get to a school! One of the days required riding mules and wading through two rivers, and one day we traveled to an island by a private boat. We always find a little school at the end of our journey! There is always a Pastor and his family that welcomes us who are living there serving the school and community. There is a church or cluster of buildings that they call school. Most of the times the church is used as the school during the week. They are always just scraping by.

We meet with the Pastor and director of these schools to evaluate and ask questions about the school, classes, education, and also what they are teaching spiritually. We then take pictures of the classes, school, and church. When the classes come together, sometimes we have the blessing of hearing them sing for us. We love to interact with the kids! If we have time we like to send off rocket balloons with them. They love the attention you give them! Occasionally we have a Haitian meal at the Pastor’s house such as chicken legs or fish, and rice and beans with sauce. They share the little that they have. It is very humbling.

View of Pestel harbor where we set sail!

Typical harbor scenes along the way.

Off on an adventure!

The boat ride to the islands was really beautiful! Being out in the water was refreshing with the wind blowing in our faces. It was a wonderful break from the scorching heat! When we arrived at the first school on the island, one of the girls started crying when she saw us white people. It was the first time she had seen the “blan.” It was probably the first time for most of them? That is why we get so stared at!

Haitian waterways have all sorts of interesting boats.

The mountains you see are where we just came from.

Everyone surrounded us as we were trying to take school pictures!

At this remote school on the island (above), there were so many parents there that we knew it would be a good opportunity to share the gospel. After taking the pictures of the kids the Pastor sent everyone into the church close by. Marie Lucie translated the gospel message from English to Creole. Much more can be shared with the people when you have a translator!

We have a list of things to accomplish at each school, but seeing the kids is top priority!

They aren’t all so sure about us!

Going up the mountains sometimes takes three hours to drive to the school, and it is always a very bumpy ride! Other times, you have to get out and walk after the difficult ride. But it feels so good to get out and stretch! Traveling up and down the mountain, we are always hanging on with a tight grip to keep our heads from hitting the roof or the windows! And watch out for anything that is loose in the car–it goes all over! The scenery is a so beautiful that it is a great distraction. You never know what you will see–anything from scenic mountains to a bowl of bananas on someone’s head to a person bathing in the river! Anytime we are out in the field it is a good time to share the gospel because there are people just everywhere!

Trusting each other is the idea! Wondering how this was all going to go!

Traveling on donkeys up the path to the schools was a real adventure! The donkeys were very steady as they stepped over rocks, tree roots, and up and down the steep paths. There were times when the donkey got really close to the edge of the river. It made you nervous but you couldn’t do anything but take a deep breath and pray! Those steady donkeys made it every time! When their master gave them direction, they were very obedient. The Bible came more alive to us in the story of Balaam and his donkey that talked to him, and Jesus who came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

We sure did get stared at by the Haitians! This wasn’t normal for them to see!

Taking a rest along the trail! It was a neat experience to share together!

There were several rivers to cross!

The donkey had no problem crossing the river. Notice the chicken tied to the left behind Trinity!

Finally arriving at the school!

Trinity didn’t have a choice when the Haitian tied a live chicken on the back of her donkey coming back from the school. She was always checking on that chicken to see what it was doing. It made her a little nervous that it might just peck her!

Carrying in boxes of boys and girls clothes! Also in his backpack were the “101 Bible Story” books. Can’t wait to see their reaction!

The director passed out clothes to the ones she knew were most in need!

Thanks for our new clothes!

Happy kids modeling their new clothes!

The kids are so precious! They will take all the love you give them!

This is a typical school scene. All the classes are in the church in one room!

The food we are sometimes served is very good, and in this case, very attractive!

When we travel to each school we take “101 Bible Story” books and Bibles if we have them available. We are always looking for opportunities to share God’s Word! We now have new posters (The Ten Commandments) to give them to hang up in their church and school! When also like to donate clothes, underwear, shoes, etc., to these children when we have them. Other items we hope to give to the schools in the future would be simple toys–soccer balls (1 0r 2 per school), frisbees, or any kind of balls. The kids would be so excited and the directors like it too!

Sharing the new posters we are giving to each school and church!

The new posters are a good way to share the gospel over and over!

One day we climbed for two hours over a mountain to visit a remote school north of Bonne Fin. As we finally sighted the church in the distance, Marie Lucie said, “If Jesus went to church in Haiti, this would be the church He would go to because these people went to such great sacrifice to build the church.” Many of the people that we passed on the mountain were going to market and they kept stating that we were the first white people to cross their mountain. Then they would add, “Now we will get a new road!” (Especially after they saw the “white man” climbing the mountain!)

How do they do it? How do they build a building when there is no road to get materials over a mountain? We sit at a table in a house or sit under a tree on plastic chairs. We have just crossed a mountain on foot, rivers on foot, an ocean by boat. Every single thing they need has been carried in by pack mule, boat, or on their head for centuries. Amazing!

The climb was very treacherous! We passed many people, donkeys and pack mules on the path!

The view from the top of the mountain! We rested a while!

The church built many miles from any road!

Typical class photos!

Schools are so thrilled to have a monthly sponsor so all the kids can attend!

Sponsoring a school affects an entire community!

Thanks for your visit and thanks for remembering us!

“I was born ready to have my picture taken!”

Sponsors like to see how their kids are doing! We try to provide them with an updated photo of their child every two years. Do you remember how every Fall the photographer set up his screen on the school stage and took pictures of every kid, class by class? With around 650 kids that are individually sponsored, that’s us! But not really…we have enjoyed just interacting with the kids a little bit.

We will post a few shots that show how comfortable they are getting in front of the camera. Except for some of the little guys (who are still scared to death) they all like to see their photos on the camera!

What you don’t see is that we have to actually take TWO photos of each child, one of them holding a little wipe board with their name and number on it, and the other without. Unless we have those identifiers, we would have no clue who is who when the photos are downloaded.

“Smile? I’ll try this thing out!”

“My moment of fame, for sure!”

“This is a good thing, right?”

“Thanks for sponsoring me!”

“I have done this before, no problem!”

“I am smiling to thank my sponsor!”

“I have to try something new!”

“I am grateful for a sponsor that loves me!”

“Sponsor, you make me happy!”

“See, I am all grown up now!”

“Thanks for giving me an education!”

Now for a few that didn’t go quite so good…it is all in the eyes.

“Are you going to shoot me?”

That’s a small sampling of the beautiful kids that pass in front of our camera every week! Each one is special to a sponsor somewhere…loved and prayed for. Each one is special to God (who is everywhere)…especially loved and died for!

Typical Haitian school children!

The arrival of the second week of September meant that another year of school started for some…the ones that are privileged enough to go, that is. Families have to scrape the first payment together. Many will not be able to pay subsequent payments, so the schools know this and make the first payment a lot more than the rest. The other kids sit in their houses and watch the lucky ones leave for school each morning. They cry, they don’t look forward to another long day with nothing to do or another long day of helping out in the fields.

In Haiti, there isn’t education for all. Only for those whose parents have a job (80% are unemployed) or those that are fortunate enough to have their education sponsored by someone outside Haiti. With luck, a family will be able to get enough money together to send one of their children to school. They are banking on that child doing well and then helping the rest of the family in the future. Without major governmental change, this is the situation that most families find themselves in…and it is not going to change soon without God’s help.

Our yardman and his wife (our cleaning/laundry lady) with two of their kids in their school uniforms. All our workers kids are privileged to have sponsors.

Many parents come to the missionaries (“the white distraction”) to ask if we will pay for their children’s tuition, books, uniforms, shoes, book bags…why not just ask and see? Some only see us as $$$. We pray for patience and wisdom to respond appropriately every time, every day we get hit up. And what we have learned in getting all our wisdom? 1) Stay in the States on furlough until the last possible minute before school starts. 2) Keep promoting child sponsorship whenever possible.

These aren’t your typical school kids! They are Jean’s children (our office manager at Child Care).

Sponsoring even one child makes a huge difference for that child! Who can put a price on an education or being able to read the Bible? Costs start at $30 per month and increase some depending on the education level. If God has been speaking to you about sponsoring a child, please go to this link for more information: http://www.acworldrelief.org/sponsorships/

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

The last part of Colossians 3:23 has really stood out a lot lately. We do love being here and we are happy to help where we can, but we are learning that desperate people aren’t always thankful people. But who are we trying to please? The Lord reminded us – that we must do it heartily unto Him, not men! And how would we handle ourselves if we were in their situation? Always thankful? How did Jesus feel when the crowds pressed around him? Did they love him and His words or did they just want his healing? The Bible says he had compassion on them after all.

This month the back porch at Child Care has turned into three dental check-up/teeth cleaning stations!

Our Update! Grace loves her new 4th grade class and her teacher, Mrs. Ferris, at the Cite Lumiere Christian School. The 4th graders share the room with the 5th graders so she enjoys having most of her friends in one room!  Trinity has resumed her home school studies her junior year, Grant is entering his junior year of college, and Evan is deep in his last year of nursing school already!

Grace’s 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Ferris, lives nearby us. Grace will have her two years.

Trinity’s Junior photo

Grant, taking a break from school, to help babysit Bessakina, our cook’s baby!

The farewell potluck at Bonne Fin for the Hartzler’s!

Saying good-bye to a special family, Eric & Jami Hartzler and kids (the girls are not in the photo).

Sharing a meal with lots of locals and visitors after the English service at our home this month!

We returned to Ohio for nearly eight weeks this summer. We stayed in Stan and Gloria Hartzler’s cozy walk-out basement in Orrville. They are our advocates for our sending church in Ohio for any personal needs we have or with the needs we can help with in Haiti. They do a tremendous job! They spoiled us with love, gifts, food, special visits, etc. and many cherished memories were made! They are like family. They really made our furlough restful, refreshing, and fun! Stan said, “The Bible says whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord…so we are!”

Stan and Gloria Hartzler adopted us for the summer. They are so special!

We often went shopping to get ready for the next sea container going down with food and supplies from the States. It takes a lot of time and organizing but we are thankful we can send from the States to help us year long down in Haiti. We took good notes this time which we hope will make it easier from year to year.

Finally after many years, a photo of Susie’s entire family! So thankful for our time together!

Special memories with good friends, Susan and Sarah!

We had many special times with family and friends. It was refreshing to hear their hearts and to share our hearts with them. We made many memories and wished we could have had more time to spend with everyone we know and love. As we think of eternity often, we look forward to when we can visit, reminisce, laugh, and share stories in the eternal realm where there is no time or schedules but a bliss of love, joy, and perfect peace with our Savior, who makes that all possible in our hearts and forever in eternity.

Finding time to reconnect with good friends is priceless! Loved having a special lunch with Kara!

We had some opportunities for a few outreaches to share the gospel, and were reminded again how many do not know how to get to heaven. It was a blessing for us to share the gospel in our own tongue! Ahh, much easier! One of our favorites was the 4th of July outreach which was a good stirring of the soil in peoples’ hearts! May the Lord give the increase to the Word of God sown in the hearts of men and women we talked to at these outreaches.

Free Bibles, free water and freely sharing the gospel before fireworks.

We appreciate these young men having the courage to go out and share their faith! Keep going as time is short!

We went to Bri Yordy’s baptism, daughter of Scott and Mandy Yordy (fellow missionaries and our neighbors in Haiti from Roanoke, IL). We rejoiced with Bri and her family. It was a blessing to be there and spend some time together in Illinois seeing Mike’s mom and family, too!

Our kids enjoying time with the Yordy’s during the baptism weekend.

We enjoyed a two-week camping trip to the same campground we stayed at last summer. We really enjoyed fishing, swimming, corn on the cob (roasted over the fire), and the many campfires in the evening.

Our camping meals together. Cherished memories for sure!

We remember the smell of frying fish, chlorine at the pool, marshmallows being roasted over the fire, just to name a few, compared to the different smells here in Haiti, burning charcoal, smell of Haitian frying foods over the fire, smells of sweat (to be truthful!). We remember the cooler air and breezes compared to the very hot and humid air of Haiti. It is always a shocking climate change, but we are getting used to it again.

Here is Evan showing Grace how to fish! And she caught some fish herself!

Grace enjoyed going to VBS with Brooke Gucker. One of their projects was to construct a miniature wilderness tabernacle! They sure enjoyed their time together.

We also had a restful time in Michigan with Cindy Hitz, her son Tommie, and her daughter Kristen. They invited us to their lake house for a couple days and we enjoyed relaxing on the lake along with waterskiing, tubing and kayaking. It was a time of encouragement for all of us to be together!

Slipping away for a little time together!

Everyone had a blast on the water! They were fun to watch!

The weather was perfect for long days outside!

Some people have all the style!

One Saturday we had a wonderful opportunity to go to Columbus for a Voice of the Marytr’s conference to hear of the many, many persecuted Christians all over the world that bear the marks of the Lord Jesus and some even that give their lives for their faith. It was a great reminder to diligently pray for the believers in Christ to be strong in Him, that they will feel His presence and grace, and to continue to share their faith so that many can be saved.

We attended a Voice of the Martyrs conference with good friends, Adam & Ann Uhler and some other special friends. We are standing in front of a cross near the church entrance that reminded us of Haiti!

The last week before we left, Trinity, Grace, and I were able to be with and help the ladies make pillowcase dresses at the World Relief Center. It was a great turnout and many dresses were made. Also, many homemade backpacks loaded with school supplies and underwear were donated. We are so thankful for every hand that helped and for all the donations. Special thanks to Gloria Hartzler for organizing this and to Martha Lou Marty for taking time to get all the material and for all the “extra things” she makes. May the Lord be your rich rewarder for blessing the lives of those in desperate need!

The piles of completed pillowcase dresses were amazing!

Willing hands of friends, Connie & Becky, make light work!

Preparing to leave is always with mixed emotions. It is hard to leave Evan behind each time as he returns to college and a separation occurs. He was in Haiti nearly five weeks with us and then we had nearly two months together in Ohio! It was a treasure to have that stretch of time together.

The last night in Ohio the Hartzler’s and Gucker’s (Sheila is their daughter) prepared a farewell feast! We sure enjoyed the many laughs we shared that night! You are close to our hearts. We thought of this meal many times when we arrived in Haiti and immediately jumped back into the Haitian culture by attending a week-long VBS out in the country. The food filled our stomachs, but was completely different! (We would ask each other…remember the pork roast, the butter braids, the salad, the sweet corn, or the peach cobbler with ice cream?) But as we see the faces of the Haitian people and can express our love for them, it is all worth it to be back here where God wants us.

The wonderful farewell meal the Hartzlers and Gucker families prepared for us! Wow!

We again want to thank all of you for all the love shown to us, your many prayers, your donations, your encouragement, and all your support. May the Lord abundantly bless each of you! Please continue to pray for us in this poor country where many are not only physically poor but spiritually poor, too! We love each of you and we also pray for all of you back in the States! We will miss all of you.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” I Cor. 15:58

One of our favorite places in Haiti…the entrance to a great beach!

Haiti often gets a bad rap in the news, whether it is politics, weather or disease. You know… earthquakes, cholera and malaria. These things do exist and do happen, but not very often. Haitians don’t understand why their country is presented negatively to the world. There are positive and negative things here like everywhere else! It’s just that the positive seem to be kept secret while the negative are played up by the media.

I have to admit I thought the same things before we moved to Haiti. I had no desire to go to Haiti, the idea never even occurred to me until God started opening my understanding. When we were invited on our first work team and I finally did go, the things I saw on my first trip were overwhelming. But after being here awhile (and getting used to what I was seeing), I discovered that there is an entire other level that the first-time visitor might miss at first. In congested areas the natural beauty of Haiti is often at or above the rooftops.

Don’t look down so closely and so often. Rather look up, around and beyond the obvious a little more often. Haitians don’t seem to notice what is always there (trash, potholes, mud, cinder blocks); why do we? (I think there is a spiritual application here, don’t you?)

Haiti is a beautiful land. Wild, unspoiled beaches ring the entire country. Waterfalls abound along roads and streams. Mountains and palm trees frame almost every view. Bright green rice fields blanket the plains and large fruit trees line the clear, rock-strewn rivers. Sounds almost like a travel guide, eh?

The only good thing about the negative publicity is that Haiti is largely empty of tourists. That means that we get spoiled. We have almost the entire beach to ourselves (well, not always!), and there are some spots where we will only see other missionaries. So while tourism is needed badly for economic reasons, the unspoiled, unhurried natural feel of the place is great for now.

We are looking forward to returning soon. It is a wonderful opportunity and privilege for our family to serve there!

Children, too, are truly beautiful around the world!

Travel days are part of our life now. Here we have landed in Atlanta and are waiting for the hotel shuttle!

Return. We have returned to the States for our summer furlough. We are so glad to have extended time with family and friends, but this also gives us time to reevaluate our priorities and reassess the opportunities before us.

Rest. Thanks for the love and support we continually feel. Special thanks to the Hartzler’s, Stan and Gloria, who are letting us all stay in their lower level in Orrville, Ohio! We are getting spoiled in a hurry with their big hearts constantly showering us with generosity and love! Stan said recently that the Bible instructs them “to do everything heartily, as to the Lord,” so they are! We want to thank everyone in our church family who has had a part in making us feel comfortable and welcome.

Our spacious summer home in Ohio. It is nice and cool!

Review. Besides our child sponsorship work, this past year we have had several opportunities to teach evangelism classes, show the Jesus Film, as well as lead a weekly Bible study in the community. Right before we came back to the States we were invited to participate in evangelism training at the church level. We had the opportunity to teach people from 21 churches who came together to learn how to share their faith and then teach others. The plan is to cover much of south Haiti in this way. Our hope is to use our time in Haiti wisely in light of eternity.

Restock. This is the time of year we need to purchase food and household supplies for our next term and pack them for shipment to Haiti. It is not really our favorite part of furlough! There is a lot to think about and it can be overwhelming to say the least…

Thursday afternoon Bible Study in a Simon neighborhood!

Sharing the gospel with young Haitian believers at a “grain bin” community of homes!

Waiting along the highway provided the opportunity to visit with people about eternity!

A local park was a great place to share the message of God’s love!

Sharing God’s Word in tract form followed by direct conversation!

Teaching the Word to searching souls!

People are just everywhere in Haiti and we find so many who are interested in talking about eternity.

During school visits there are opportunities to teach kids about God!

Every soul has an eternal destination before them!

Even learning Creole or teaching English is always an opportunity for discipleship!

Sharing the gospel during an intermission while showing the Jesus film!

Handing out Bibles and tracts at the end of our evangelism presentation.

Bringing God’s Word to thousands, a simple gospel tract is a very effective tool!

Request. We anticipate printing hundreds of thousands of the tracts you see here. If God gives you the desire, we could use donations for purchasing the paper and ink in Haiti to print these or others we will develop. We give these tracts to churches that have received our training to share in their outreaches, as well as handing them out ourselves or supplying local evangelists. We also print lots of training hand-outs and the expense adds up!

Haiti is a country without many reading materials. When you hand someone a tract, many times they will stop and immediately read the whole thing, even out loud! Many people cannot read, so sharing the plan of salvation with them in person is then imperative.

Here is a repeat photo about tracts from our last post that is one of our favorites:

After receiving a tract, this man is curious enough to start reading it on the road!