Beach Fellowship of the Lamb

Jesus prayed to the father right before he was arrested:  I do not ask for these only (the original disciples), but also for those who will believe in me through their word (all Christians for all time -- including us!), that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.  (John 17:20-23)

Here's a summary:  "I want my church to be unified as one to reflect the unity of God and to represent me well in the world."

Today, for about six hours we sat at a beach with the leadership team of SDLG, fostering unity with many who don't even speak the same language as us.  Bev was able to share some words with all of them, and she expressed that we were seeing and experiencing the beauty of the body of Christ as we worshipped and prayed with them.  "I think this is a piece of what heaven will be like," she said.  I tend to agree.  

What an awesome time!  After worshipping and praying, we had separate meetings: Bev & Heidi met with Giraud to talk teaching and supplies at the school; Drew, Sara & Sharon met with Dr. Edvard Archer (Moise's brother) to talk healthcare and doing assessments of the kids.  Joe had a long meeting later in the ocean playing volleyball with our Hatian brothers and sisters!  Several ate sugarcane and enjoyed coconut milk for the first time.



This evening, the women are gathered around Moise and Francoise talking life, one of us is preparing to preach three times tomorrow and the other men are walking around the property assessing plumbing and minor repair options.



(pictured:  Joe eating coconut with Davidson, a leader at SDLG)



Other highlights from the trip so far:
-At 11 PM last night, Drew broke through his top bunk (must have had too many red beans & rice) right on top of Mark.  The first breaking part sounded "like a rifle shot" (according to Matt) and quickly had the four fellas up out of their beds, including Mark, who sustained no injuries.  Soon we were laughing at the lifelong memory we will all have.
-Joe has quickly become Moise Jr.'s best friend and Matt his punching bag.  Everywhere we go qualifies as a soccer field or a boxing ring.
-A cappella singing of worship in Creole on the way to and from the beach today.  Beautiful!  Sharon joined in as much as she could and the others of us tried to hum and sway along with them.
-Experiencing the passion that Giraud has for excellence in the school.  He shared his heart and desire with Bev & Heidi for over an hour.

Please continue to pray for us!  We will spend most of the day at the church tomorrow and will spend time with the children (there are 14 boys who recently moved to the SDLG center!) for the first time.



With Love,

The Haiti team

(pictured:  Giraud, Heidi, Bev, Samuel)

Enjoying the Presence and Following the Lead of the Lamb

Relatively smooth traveling today! Only a small delay on the runway in Fort Lauderdale, but no sweat.

We gave Moise, Francoise, their kids, and Samuel hugs within the first few hours in PAP, and each hug refreshed to us the reality that the family of Christ spans across the ocean.  It is a reminder to us that we have family across all the oceans and all the seas, on all continents.

It is a reminder that someday we will have family from every corner of the globe, from every people group on the planet.  Christ has already purchased them (Rev. 5:9-10), and he calls us to participate in their conversion and turning to the Savior and following Him (Matt. 28:19-20).  There are many in Haiti that the Lord will redeem so that they can worship him for eternity. Our desire is to play a part in that this week here in Haiti.

May the Lord become greater and we become less (John 3:30).  This is not about LCF Haiti.  This is not about Source de la Grace.  This is about the King of the universe being worshipped in spirit and truth.  He deserves the praise.  We want to submit to him and participate in his plan this week.  And may it all end in worship, glory, and honor to him.

We spent some moments worshipping and praying this evening with Moise and Francoise.  Bev exhorted us to "keep in step with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25) this week.  Man what a week it will be if we can do that!  He leads the way, we fall in line.  He calls the shots, we obey willingly.  Lord give us the grace and strength to do that!

We are headed to bed after a long day.  Tomorrow we are excited to spend several hours with the leaders of SDLG at the beach, and hopefully to see the children at SDLG.  Pray for God to be pleased with the unity of his family and for disciples to be made in Haiti.

(So the team all deferred to me to do the blogging tonight, and this about turned into a sermon.  If they continue to defer to me, you all might get a seven-part sermon series this week!  So some of you might want to add to your prayer items a request that others step up to the plate!)

We love you and cherish your participation with us and the family of Christ in Haiti.

Drew

Enjoy the Presence of the Lamb

The Haiti team is planning on leaving Friday, Oct. 12 for a week long trip ministering to Source de la Grace.  The team members are Mark and Sharon Howerton, Heidi and Joe Kretsinger, Drew and Sara Matthews, Bev May, and Matt Neuenswander. 

We will have 3 prayer times scheduled during the week to cover the team in prayer.  Please join us for prayer at my house.  You can call me at 415-8508 for directions.  The prayer times are: Sunday the 14th at 7pm, Monday the 15th at 7pm, and Thursday the 18th at 7pm.

The blog will be updated as well with reports from the team.  We know that 14 orphans are living at SDLG.  Please pray for the team members and the children as they begin to build relationships that God has ordained through His blessings.

God gave me this phrase as the theme for this trip... "Enjoy the Presence of the Lamb".  I believe with all my heart and soul that God will reveal Himself to the team the gentleness of His love just as a little lamb is so gentle.  I cannot wait for God to bless this team, bless Moise, bless the children, and bless the congregation of SDLG.

Please keep the team in your prayers,
Amy

Sunday Recap and Travel Update

Hello friends,

I wanted to take a moment and recap what the Haiti team did on Sunday as well as let you all know about our travel back to KC today.  Sorry we didn't get a post up on the blog yesterday.  We were all pretty tired from getting up for the early morning service at SDLG, but I don't think any of us would have missed it for any amount of sleep!  The Haitians have a powerful way of worshiping and praying together.  I wouldn't be surprised if the folks down there could surpass just about any church here in the states in their faith and powerful prayer.  We got to hear some wonderful worship music in Creole (so wonderful that Brandi, Joelle, and Julia kept Kristie busy writing down lyrics and teaching pronunciation a good part of the afternoon).  We also got to hear Joelle, Julia, Kristie, and Sara play and sing "Our God" in both English and Creole both services.  They spent a lot of time throughout the week practicing and learning the song in Creole, and their effort paid off!  It was amazing and moving for both our team and SDLG.  The first service was preached by a pastor from Tennessee that came to meet with Moise about a ministry called Celebrate Recovery.  The second service was preached by a friend of Moise's, a pastor from All Nations church in Brooklyn NY and was honestly one of the best sermons I've heard in a long time.  It was obviously intended for the Haitian audience, but it was amazing how every point could be applied just as well in my life.

After church we took Moise and Francoise out to lunch to thank them for their hospitality to our team.  The food was good and the fellowship better.  Ron, Ashley, and Moise got interviewed by a journalist for a segment on a radio program this week about the VBS and work at the church.  Following lunch, Ron drove us home.  That may sound insignificant, but for anyone who has ever experienced traffic in Haiti, you understand that such a thing is quite a feat.

This morning we made it safely to the airport in PAP where we learned that our flight was oversold and five people who thought they were going to Miami were about to have a change of plans.  Kelsey and Julia were none too anxious to leave Haiti anyway and jumped at the opportunity to get the $500 travel voucher offered to, Lord willing, help them towards their next trip down to Haiti.  I'm sure the two people they allowed to get to Miami as planned were very appreciative too.

The rest of us made it back to KC safely and without incident.  The trip as a whole was very successful, no doubt largely due to the prayers from you all.  We all look forward to talking to you more about our trip and sharing stories, photos, and messages from our friends at SDLG.

P.S. Keep Kelsey and Julia in your prayers as they travel back home tomorrow.

-Chip

Saturday Post

Hello from Haiti!  Vacation Bible School is complete and was a great success.  The kids were starting to get the VBS routine down by day 3 so today went very well.  We were able get the sound and projector working so the kids watched the Jesus video in Haitian Creole.  Ashley met with some of the VBS helpers we had from the church to explain to them how to use and best conserve the extra supplies we brought to leave with them.  One was so excited with how it went that she wants to host a VBS on there own during the carnival time this February.  This is the best confirmation imaginable that God will continue to bless the encouragement we shared with the women on Tuesday to be active leaders in the church and the example we tried to set throughout VBS well into the future. 

We also wrapped up painting on the school today.  So now the orphanage and school are completely painted inside and out.  There is a little trim and touchup work to do, but the vast majority of the painting work is complete, and Pastor Vaval could not be more pleased. 

We’re getting up bright and early tomorrow morning so that we can attend both morning SDLG services (the first starts at 5:30a.m.).  Joelle and Julia will be playing and singing in both services and Nicki will be sharing a story with the church.  Afterwards we hope to take the Vavals to lunch to thank them for their first class hospitality.  Every meal has been wonderful and they’ve gone above and beyond to make sure everyone is comfortable. 

As always, there is so much more we all wish we could share, but we want to have plenty of energy for our day tomorrow of praise to the one who has obviously blessed our trip, our team, and this partnership between LCF and SDLG.  Keep us in your prayers. We're all doing quite well so they're working! We truly feel blessed to have such wonderful support from everyone back home. 

-Chip

Cause for celebration!

I just had to blog after reading about Day 4 of the team's trip.  I try to not hog the blog because the focus should be on the team reports, but I just couldn't help myself to express the pure excitment of reading the updates each day. Praise God for his provision and blessings!  The VBS is bringing so many precious little ones to hear about God's love for them.  I am beside myself with joy picturing the children absorb all that God is doing through the team and through the SDLG church family.  And not to mention, the beautiful painting that is being accomplished on the walls of the property!  The painting sprayer seems to be a huge blessing, more than imagined, I would guess.  I think it is saving hours if not days of time so that the work on the buildings can move forward.  Yeah!

As the team enters the last phases of the trip, please continue to pray Ephesians 3: 14-21 and Psalm 19.  The verses are rich of God's intentions for our lives on this earth.  Pray that God gives the team all they need physically and mentally to minister to the Haitian people.  It is evident that the team is being blessed immeasurably by this journey.

Blessings,
Amy

VBS Day 1

What a wonderful day!  I would say the best yet.  We got to SDLG early today to get the painting started and to prepare before VBS (and to avoid some of PAP’s terrible morning traffic).  The kids began arriving for VBS around 9 a.m. and we welcomed each while music played through the sound system.  We hugged and high-fived and even encouraged those who wanted to dance at the front of the church.  One little guy had some pretty good moves.  Day one of VBS was a huge hit and was coordinated wonderfully by Ashley.  Joelle and team lead the kids in songs.  We were amazed that they already knew almost every song we had planned to teach them and even sang several additional songs for us in Creole.  Samuel was a huge blessing; not only in translating but he was by far the most successful at wrangling the kids and keeping some semblance of order.  We jumped rope, colored, and each kid made a keep-sake out of modeling clay depicting some of God’s creation (the theme of our VBS week is “Our God is the ONE true God” and today’s focus was on Genesis 1:1 and God’s creation).  I believe all the kids were blessed by the songs, the scripture, the skit, and most of all the attention, hugs, and holding of the team. 

Meanwhile, great progress was made on the painting.  The outside of the orphanage is painted and a large portion of the outside of the school.  The Haitian painters continue to be fascinated by the sprayer and several got to try their hand at it today including Pastor Vaval!  I believe he enjoyed it most of all and caught on very quickly. 

Our evening ended with a precious worship time on the Vaval’s front porch with Joelle and Julia taking turns playing the guitar.  We took time to each share a personal prayer request and were blessed to be joined by Moise and Kristie in our concluding Haitian style prayer (the whole group prayed for each other aloud simultaneously).  The mingled voices being lifted to our Lord created a humbling and moving experience for each and every one of us. 

We’re all looking forward to another wonderful day of VBS with the kids tomorrow, and hopefully a trip to a local orphanage in the afternoon followed by a few hours of painting in the cooler hours of the evening. 

Although we’re having a wonderful time here, we miss you all and can’t begin to express how grateful we are to have you all back home supporting and praying for us.  We think of you throughout our days. 

There is so much more to share, but that will have to wait for another time.  As day four winds down and the muscles are starting to feel a little sore and the wits a little frayed, this verse seems appropriate to close with…

God, the giver of all grace, has called you to share in Christ's eternal Glory and after you have suffered a little he will bring you to perfection: he will confirm, strengthen and establish you forever. (1 Peter 5:10)

-Chip