Haiti April Update & Exciting Announcement

Prayer Requests

• Road Protests turned violent in Port Margot
• Pray for food, housing, and economic needs in Haiti.
• Scott visiting April 10-24
• Haiti improving the adoption process. http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/andlifegoeson/2013/04/08/adoption-news-5/
• Book Projects. Revision of Health book almost done.
• Cory trip to LaGonave Tuesday-Thursday week.
• Dr. Winick's dental ministry
• See Exciting Announcement.

Praises

• Good Kentwood Community Church team!
• Book Herder Grand Opening.
• New timber bamboos are growing well
• Love a Child Orphanage started over 8,000 Moringa trees.
• Progress on the Konsey book editing 
• Continued building of the Fauche church

Travel: KCC Team visits to Port Margot and beyond occurred at the beginning of the week providentially as road protests the rest of the week would have canceled all travel. Both their and Scott's international travel went well. Cory, Genner, and Scott plan to travel to LaGonave for a couple of nights. [They are having a good time after a good trip. Should be home tomorrow]

Agricultural: The defoliation from travel of the timber bamboo caused us to pray once it arrived but both types grew new leaves and passed the danger point. Cory attempted to pollinate a few vanilla blossoms and it appears that one succeeded. Six trays of baby Artemesa plants grow under the house eaves. We hope they will grow well after they are distributed to heal many cases of malaria and other diseases. Cory and the guys spent a day at Children of The Promise Orphanage near Cap Haitian landscaping a new group house with edible landscaping. [He met the new house Dad only 4 days after the family moved to Haiti and found out he went to college with Cory's sister and brother-in-law.] [Several groups recently asked about visits!]

Advice Books: Making progress on the Konsey health book editing. While there is no word yet about how to send some of the remaining books to the Dominican Republic, Cory is delivering 500 books to LaGonave this week. If things continue to move well in the next 4-6 weeks the edited book with a few new topics added will be ready to be reprinted. [2 requests in last 2 days for books]

Book Herder Project: The KCC team joined us for the Grand Opening of the Book Herder Project. The committee set up a short program to dedicate the project which included prayer, singing, a short speech by Eli, review of the rules, question and answer time and the formal declaration of opening. People can check out books on Tuesday or Thursday and keep them for 1 week. Cory and Eli also purchased 33 additional books including reference text books from the 7th Day Adventist bookstore in Cap Haitian. 

Medical: With the KCC team we once again headed out to pray for the sick and elderly. One home we revisited this time we saw a young man we'd prayed for while he was gone for testing in Port au Prince. We learned that Hugue was told he has blood cancer and needs treatment in the USA or Dominican Republic. Two other houses had good news - the lady recently released from the hospital continues to make progress and accepted the Lord, and the 92 year old blind lady wasn't home as she was feeling well enough to be out visiting neighbors at the time of our second visit. 

Dr. Winick continues to see patients but shared with the team that there is a place in Port Margot with someone who pulls teeth cheaper. Please pray for Dr. Winick as he adjusts to his dental and church ministries. He now meets with Eli once a week to work on his English pronunciation, while helping Eli's French and Creole. 

Kid's Club/KCC Team Visit: The KCC team shared the Easter story through a skit, taught a verse, worked on crafts and had a great time interacting with 5 different groups of children over 4 visits. Splitting up into two teams we also spent one afternoon visiting homes and praying. We matched a few families with new prayer partners and as soon as I organize and confirm names we will be matching a few more with KCC families. 

The team also painted a few school rooms down at the school. Although their visit lasted only one week we enjoyed this team and they encouraged the folks of Fauche. We celebrated Easter Sunday with the local church and 2 Port Margot Kid's Clubs. They visited the market, bakery, beach, a few Wesleyan churches, and Cory's garden. They chatted with our local pastor, hospital administrator, school and kid's club directors in addition to talking a lot with us about Haiti, missions, and the Lord.

 

Exciting Announcement!! Announcing a second blog! Grafting Treasures Why?? Because our family's adoption journey deserves it's own space. This blog will not replace our ministry blog and will not be updated nearly as often but we wanted a space to share specifically about this new part of our lives and prayer requests. We are waiting for our second application packet from a US adoption agency to arrive by mail.  We know this can be a many year long process with no guaranties so we covet your prayers. Want details- check out the blog.

Thank you to those who support us financially and in prayer. Thank you especially for those who prayed and supported the recent team members!

Serving the Lord in Haiti with your help,

Cory, Kris, Eli and Anna Thede