Dear
Friends,
It has been
a long time since most of you have heard from us. Our apologies!!! About three months ago our internet
crashed. We had just begun working on
setting up a better system for communication – then the internet died and
everything went on hold. So far we have
not been able to find a way to get our old system working again.
We have been
able to purchase one jump drive router that connects to the internet through
the cell phone tower. This enables us to
receive and send out emails periodically but it is extremely limited. To give you a few ideas of exactly how
limited it is... the other day Krischelle spent four hours trying to send out
two emails. She ended up having to
rewrite one of them three times. Bonita
has yet to be able to receive all of her emails – it gets to a certain
percentage and then stops. One night I
(Judy) walked around to all the best spots for reception – Sam even took my
computer to a spot by the side of the road but I got no reception on my
computer. After several hours I gave up,
frustrated and tired. The next day I
found out the problem. Each time I use
the jump drive I have to uninstall and reinstall the whole program. Apart from his favorite spot by the side of
the road, Samuel has also been found in the church, on the outside back corner
of the Lemuel house, and walking around the campus looking for signal.
So, needless
to say, with one jump drive between all of us and all the problems of signal
and reliability, internet access is more of an exception than a rule these
days. Fortunately though, my parents
have been here the past two weeks and will be sending this out/posting this on
the blog for me when they get home.
A lot has
been going on this summer!
1. We were able to begin work on
the school roof project! Although it
will be quite some time before we can actually put the roofs on (due to
shipping delays and other logistics) all of the preparatory masonry work is
finished.
2. We were able to build a house
that we will use for teachers and other staff who come from outside the
area. Plans are to put the roof on next
week!
3. A group from The Village church
in Milton, Ontario put on an English camp for 30 children.
The video below is of the first
day of camp.
The team taught Thony a lot about making videos and presentations. Thony actually made the intro video for the
Olympics themed camp himself!
Rob Stanley, pastor of The
Village, also did some leadership training for some of our youth.
4. A cistern and front gate were
put in at Krischelle’s “house”.
Krischelle is currently living in Manis’ sister’s house and using her
rent money to finish the house and get it set up to someday be used as a
women’s center.
5. My dad and Sam, along with two of Sam’s friends from the south of
Haiti put in the kitchen at our house and a whole team of people helped us
paint!
6. Renovations have begun on the guest house! There will now be latrines much closer to the
rooms so that no one has to traipse all the way down to the one by the
gazebo. For any of you been here you
know how nice that will be!
7. Work has also continued on the church.
Money raised at the Fête Moisson and Fundraising Concert has been put to
work on a front porch and back depot.
8. We had our first summer intern: Elysha Vanderveer. She helped out in many, many ways, including
with the English camp (pictured below with some of the English Camp staff). She also taught a summer English class for
some of the youth in the area.
On a more
somber note there have been some difficulties as well. It has not rained significantly, if at all
since April. It is REALLY dry right
now. Needless to say, the people have
lost yet another harvest. **Update since
writing this letter: It rained yesterday August 21. The area is still dry and could use a lot
more but it was awfully nice to finally get at least something! Praise God!**
By God’s
grace we were able to do two cash for work programs this summer to clean out
two of the rainwater catchment holes in the area. These projects, along with all the other work
that has been going on, has brought some much needed income to many families in
the community.
On another sad note, Manis’ grandfather seems to have had some sort of stroke and has been slowly degenerating for the past two months. Many are surprised he has made it this long. The gospel has been clearly shared with him MANY times but he continues to reject Christ. In fact, the day before his stroke he was calling the spirits he serves against his Christian wife. We continue to pray for his salvation and that he may be released from his suffering into God’s presence and not into greater eternal suffering.
Some of you
may be wondering about Frè Jak whom I wrote about some time ago. Although his physical situation is not much
changed, he seems to be in much better spirits and strengthened in his faith by
the regular visits particularly from Bonita and Thony and a few church
members.
Speaking of
Thony, he has returned to PauP to enter seminary this Fall. Please pray for him. He is going to seminary with the intention of
eventually returning to serve in the church here. Please pray for God’s hand of protection on
him – protection from both the physical and spiritual attacks of satan. Please pray that the attacks God does allow
will be for Thony’s growth and refinement – not for his destruction or
discouragement.
Looking
toward the next few months, here are a few things that will be going on:
August
23-mid September: New Crossworld missionaries Mason and Lauren Young with their
son James will be doing their orientation here with us. Please pray that we will be able to give them
a good start to their time here in Haiti.
August 28:
Bonita flies to Canada for some medical appointments as well as reporting to
and sharing with supporters. She is
planning to return in November.
September
2-6: Teacher and staff orientation
September
10: The first day of school (N.B. We just learned that the government is forbidding schools from opening before October! We pray this will be rescinded.)
September
15: Krischelle will be flying out to finish raising the additional support
necessary for her to work with Lemuel full time.
October:
Jenna Brill, our intern for the year will be arriving! Jenna will be teaching English in the school
and helping out in various ways. Rick
Bucklew who has been down several times and is always a huge help may be flying
in with her. Loring and Marion Swain may
also be spending some time with us in October.
We are also hoping to ship any materials we need for the school. October is the earliest opportunity that we
can due this due to changes in Haitian customs laws.
November:
Sometime in November Sam will be leaving for Germany. He is planning to return in the New
Year. Bonita and (hopefully!) Krischelle
will be returning from their trips, and Lake Tomahawk Bible Church will be
doing their third annual English Camp for the school children.
December: No
big plans yet, though it is always a busy month with preparations for the
Christmas program.
January: We
are looking to put together a team to help put on the school roof. We were hoping to do this sometime in the
fall but with the delay in shipping we have had to postpone it.
Thank you
for your faithful encouragement, love, and support. We are trying to get the internet system
fixed but, as I have no idea when that will happen, we greatly appreciate your
understanding and patience as you hear from us less often. If you need to get a hold of us please feel
free to call at 011-509-3209-3077. For
anything urgent please contact David Muchmore at david.muchmore@crossworld .org
and he will get the message to us.
