Pastors share, garden tour and home visits.

Supper smells fill the house as the cooks work on the second batch of coconut candy, moringa, chaya and left overs.

Last night the team experienced the steady sound of rain on a tin roof as we received at least 6 inches last night.

The rain noise helped cover the barking dogs and roosters.

Kody, our cat pointed out a large centipede on the breaker box this morning which Cory captured to show the team.

Breakfast the team tried Haitian hot chocolate, cornmeal mush, and fresh mango.

Then Pastor Jonas shared with the group and answered questions for a short time.

We ended with prayer for him.

Then Cory took them on a garden tour around campus.

A bit muddy so some only walked part of the tour while other's hiked through the lower garden.

Pastor Rigo then talked for almost an hour to the group and answered questions as well help the team to  understand more about the medical ministry and the youth work of the district.

P. Rigo

Home visit.

We prayed for him before lunch.

The new food for the team to try at lunch was Haitian spaghetti and a new type of fried cooking banana.

Then the team had a chance to look at a few Haitian paintings that were for sale.

After rest time we split into two groups and headed out for home visits to houses of Kid's club children.

Mme. John Pierre

The original list needed to be cut down because part of the homes were too close to the protest the condition of the road and others were in areas just to muddy to walk to easily.

We hear that the UN is involved and tear gas, firing in the air....

Prayers appreciated for the team as they will be traveling to the airport early on Saturday morning and then Cory will need to return home.

The home visits my group did went very well.

Cory's group also watched the making of the flat cassava bread.

Eli lent out two more books for the Book Herder project.

Clouds rolling in so I'll sign off and try to add some pictures before our connection grows weak.

Cory showing vanilla pollination. 

Post-team glow and fatigue.

Team left the dark compound shortly after 5:30 a.m. after we enjoyed a last meal together.

They were checked in at the airport by close to 7:30 for their 9 a.m. flight to the USA.

We assume all is well!

If you went to camp as a kid, or take a vacation away as an adult you know what I'm feeling.

A great time with the team. Lots of interesting, positive, memory making experiences while getting to know old and new friends better takes energy.

Lots of energy!


Energy's expending with: the change of routine, making sure everyone's experiences go as well as possible, dealing with the multitude of small decisions needed to be made to feed and care for 7 or more additional people, answering questions and inter-personal interactions, additional language translation, shorter sleeping, and change in diet.....

Getting back to 'normal' also takes energy and time. Second load of team laundry in the washer and I plan to get a third in yet today, sheets as they dry faster than clothes or towels.

 I've spent some time putting tools and stuff back into their normal locations. I've started to sort some of the donated items so that they can be distributed soon.

Even our bedrooms require some straightening and cleaning as with the business of the team we just cannot quit get things put away like we do normally in my house.  Priorities shift position when the addition responsibilities of hosting fall on each of our shoulders.

Yesterday's older couple's kitchen.

Hosting teams = positive? YES!
Hosting teams = time and energy consuming? YES!
Hosting teams = enjoyable? YES!
Hosting teams = full time? NOPE!

We need to recharge. I know some folks can do this close to every day of the year and I'm thankful to have been blessed by many of them who run great guest houses! Thank you!

The Lord did not call us to run a guest house and therefore did not equip us with the personalities and skills to host teams full time. We realize this and make an intentional effort to limit teams and space them out so we can recharge and be ready to give 100% to the next group who comes for a visit.

We also know that many of you pray extra when we have teams and your prayers provide us with the extra energy and organizational skills we need to do a good job hosting visitors. Thank you!


So for the next couple of weeks I'll drop back to my normal level of blogging. We will spend more time on school, office work, translation, and preparing for the Kentwood Community Church team [Cory's mom's team] to come the day before Easter.

We want to thank again each person who supported this team with prayer. The sending churches. The families who gave up time with the team members so they could come. Those who stepped up and took on additional responsibilities to cover so that the different team members could come.

Still smiling at 92. 

Thank you. We enjoyed every one and every day of this team. Thank you for helping make this possible.

Thank you in the name of the Northern District of the Wesleyan Church of Haiti, for the Fauche community, for our staff and our family.

Full, Final Team Day.

Pastor Jonas

 WHEW!!! Everyone's walk speed slowed down today especially this afternoon.

After breakfast Pastor Jonas can up and talked about his jobs [Pastor, District treasurer, Grade school administrator, in charge of campus, on hospital board, student of education ......

After answering questions from the team we prayed for him.



Then I headed out with the team following John Pierre to visit the 6 homes he'd prioritiezed as needing prayers for illness and health.

Several of the people were young people who's health issues [head aches, foot swelling, abdominal pain] kept them from going to school or forced them to return home after starting college in bigger cities.

 After singing a short, Christian song or sharing a verse we'd pray [one in English followed by one in Creole] and then take pictures if folks were willing, which all today were.

Leaving the first house we met the next door neighbor by the gate who requested we come to her house for a moment and pray for her and her family.

So we did.

We made a total of 7 visits during the morning walk.

We prayed for one lady who's 92 years old and suffers from sores that open monthly and from body weakness and pain.

We also prayed for a couple. He's been sick for over 9 years following 20 days of 'uncousiouness' I'd guess he had a stroke.

He's 80 and the wife is 70. They live alone in a partially build house because all of their 7 children live in bigger towns. They accepted the Lord as young people.

Because we'd passed the rice/corn mill on our 2 hours prayer walk we stopped in for a quick look before returning to campus.

Lunch. Put laundry out. Rested a bit.

At 2 Fre. Dieucel who works with the school stopped in to tell the team thank you and pray with them.

His jobs include school administration, pastor of a church in Cap Haitian, a college student in seminary with over  a year to go, Kid's club leader and a new position on the Book Herder's commiett.

Following today's pattern after asking for specific prayer requests we prayed in both languages.

Pastor Jonas's family.

Then we visited Pastor Jonus's house and prayed with his wife and three children.

Next Pastor Emmanuel's home and prayed with his wife, one son, grandson and himself.

Then just after 3 p.m. we arrived at the church for the last Bible class. Only the children who lived on campus had arrived and each received a small banana.

To fill a bit of time while we waited we did a bit of question and answer with John Pierre and he took the opportunity to thank the team for all that they did.

 Even the Kid's Club leaders appeared to be on low energy but once we started and more children arrived the pace picked up.

Today's story consisted of the firely furnace. Then they learned a verse. To the delight of all the children each one of the team was called up one by one to lead 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' first slow and then fast.

When we finished as a whole group the 20th time we still needed more energy to get through several verses of Father Abramam and Deep and Wide.

Stickers and then one young lady thanked the team and a second one prayed for their trip tomorrow.

Cory took part of the team up with the truck to the cell tower while the others started to pack and put things away.

I'll share tonight about prayer and we will have a wrap up time with the team.

Tomorrow they need to leave campus at 5:30 a.m. to go to the airport. Please keep them in your prayers. Thank you to the sending churches and families who shared these special people with us.

W/M Team Monday.

The sun is setting over the mountains as another day draws to an end.

This morning we started off a bit cloudy and we questioned if the weather would be good enough for drying laundry but with small amounts of sun two loads did dry.

The dental tool cupboard now stands proudly in his consulting room. Dr. Winick should of went with the Starfysh team to the mountains of LaGonave.

His wife has been helping out most afternoons with the Bible classes as a monitor.

Painting occurred in the Child Surviver Program's new office.

Cory and I worked on paperwork while Eli and Anna worked on school. Other's cleaned up the guest house.

Before lunch Pastor Rigo stopped in to share about the medical ministry, his church and working with the youth.

 He shared how he ended up with all three of these important jobs.

How he prayed for a way to help this community get dental care.

Anna and Peggy made brownies.

Massage class in the gazebo started out with 2 ladies, then two nursing students joined and finally about a dozen ladies and one gentleman from the adult literacy class.

This ended up overlapping a bit with the Bible class but all worked out.

Following the story of Daniel and the lion's den we learned a verse and passed out stickers.

Prayer walks in two groups covered 9 of the Kid's Club families.

At each house we greeted the families, asked for prayer requests, prayed and took photos.

Cathy returned to a house that she visited last year in the yard where the witch doctor's family lived.

While the same people were not present this year we shared with those who were that she'd remember during the last year to pray for the gardens.

One of the directors of Kid's Club and his family.

Many folks asked for prayers for a home or house, protection, God's blessings, and that children do well in school.

Eli and Anna will be sharing devotions this evening following brownies and supper dishes.

The team did confirm their flight out of Cap Haitian on Wednesday morning.

March 3. Prayer walk and home visit.

Yesterday following a productive day of school we headed out to visit Daniel's brother and family. While we've prayed for him a lot we had not visited him at home.

John Pierre acted as our guide to the home. Come to find out we often passed by it on walks down to the river. Daniel, being home, soon wheeled out his younger brother while his mom gathered all the X-rays from both fractures for us to check out.

Last summer when the horse kicked his right leg he fractured his femur. The motorcycle fractured both his tibia and fibula on the left [the tibia in a couple of locations] We chatted a bit and ended in prayer.

The brother in the middle also had some leg/back pain issues lately so we checked out his normal X-rays. While nothing specific was diagnosed thankfully the pain receded with time. In the picture Daniel, children's group leader, stands beside the middle brother and behind the younger.

We continued on our walk. Walking though our community reminds us of the multitude of items to pray about:

• Small children everywhere a chance for education and a good life.
• For the folks of all ages-may they met Jesus and find the hope and freedom that comes with making Him Lord and Savior.
• Gardens, animals. Jobs, food, income for the people.
• Young people including the teams of young men playing soccer on the campus field. Education, jobs, resisting temptations. Becoming good leaders.
• Rice mill can continue to work well. Represents jobs, food.
• Music reminds us about carnival weekend. Pray for safety. That folks will turn toward the Lord and not alcohol, drugs, revenge, and other dangerous things.
• Road. Safety for both those walking and riding on trucks or motorcycles.
• Political aids. For the Presidential elections. Leaders in this country.
• River, mountains. Earthquakes, flooding, correct amount of rain for crops.