Graduation and Beyond...

Yesterday we celebrated a joyful day with our third and fourth year students and with the staff and families of Emmaus Biblical Seminary. It was the hottest day we've had so far this spring/summer, but everyone was in joyful spirits, even Lily, who sat through the 3 hours like a champ!

A small (but VERY exuberant!) marching band led the students into the church where the ceremony was held, and then the service included a sermon, speech by the valedictorian, receiving of diplomas and degrees, special music groups, etc. How unbelievable to watch Matt's second fourth-year class graduate, and we were blessed to have some of his graduates from last year in attendance as well.

We also had staff meetings and a staff prayer and celebration breakfast yesterday, all of which offered us lots of time for reflection on the past year.

It is astounding to me how much the Lord did this past year at EBS. While discussing the spiritual growth, ministry, unity and joyful peace of the past school year, it was quite obvious that none of the staff or students could take any credit. That which was done at EBS this year were things that only the LORD can do: transformations of the heart, godly unity, divine plans, fruitful ministry. He was so obviously close to EBS this year, and this morning as we walked through the campus, empty, locked, and silent, you can still FEEL Him.

1 John 3:3 says that everyone who has their hope FIXED on God will be purified, because HE is Pure. What an encompassing verse for the year. We become that which we focus and dwell on, day in and day out, and as EBS dwelled on Him this year, I saw us become more like Him, by His grace. Praise the Lord for that which He has done...and is just beginning to do!

Pictured here are several of our students graduating third year (blue robes) or fourth year (maroon). Also pictured, two of our dearest friends and fellow staff members, Paul and Bright, and also Guenson and his new wife, Claudia. Guenson was a staff member here for almost two years, but left in December to marry Claudia in Jamaica and begin working there. They are here for 10 days and we have already had several opportunities to pass good time with these dear friends.

Meanwhile, we are, with mixed emotions, preparing to leave on Tuesday, and preparing for our busy summer of speaking and presenting the Seminary! We are truly excited to speak out on behalf of these men and women, and to find family to walk alongside of them, not just to help them continue their studies, but to pray for them and serve the Lord beside them. We're looking forward to these speaking opportunities, as well as passing sweet time with family and friends, and Matt's "air-conditioning" dreams and my "Dairy Queen" visions have begun :)

As we pack school supplies away for the summer and prepare for another transition, we want to sincerely thank you. THANK YOU for your intensely felt prayer this past year. For your emails, for your letters, for your support, for your encouragement and for your love. We cannot even count how many times this year we have felt despair, only to receive a Godly email or letter from one of you...how many times we have lifted up a project or financial need to the Lord only to receive a check from you in the same week...how many times we have felt frustrated or discouraged and had you step up as a listening ear and a committed partner in prayer....how many times we have felt your prayers for us and Lily as we adjusted to life here as a new family....how many times one of your comments on the blog has resonated in our spirits or encouraged our souls...how many days your boxes or letters have given us joyful moments of "Christmas!" or of familiarity...

We are so very blessed by you each and could not, could not be here without your well-rounded partnership. May God bless you each for how you have blessed us and so many here!

the kitchens in heaven

Yesterday Matt and I were able to experience something that the hundreds of people who have prayed for, supported, worked on, and visited the new seminary campus have never experienced...We feel so blessed! Yesterday was the last day of school (oh my heavens, how can that be!?) and to celebrate, we piled almost ALL of the students and all of the staff in two big trucks and took them to see the new seminary for their very first time.

The combination of last day excitement, the very rare opportunity of a 'field trip', and anticipation of seeing the new site transformed our 50 theologically trained pastors into little boys :) They were SO excited! The sheer volume of their chatter, joking and cheers turned something quite normal, walking around the new campus, into something electric.

I wish that ALL of you who have played any kind of role in the fabrication of this vision for a beautiful and set-apart Emmaus Biblical Seminary could have been there. Everyone quickly divided into two groups and 'toured' each building.

More exciting than the men's dorm was the men's bathroom.

"What ARE those?" a forty-year old student asked me, tapping on a bathroom stall door.

"That's a toilet," I told him, and opened the door, and showed him how the toilet had it's own little room, and how there were FOUR such rooms in that bigger room....He shook his head in disbelief.

With joy I watched twenty students stand in the shower room, marveling at the beautiful tiling and the "huge" room.

"Is this what Seminarys are like in America?" one of the cooks asked me half-way through, in almost a whisper.

"This is even better," I told her, with my whole heart. "This is the most beautiful seminary I have ever seen."

"ME TOO!" she whispered back, wide-eyed.

Room after room we toured, and I saw it all for the very first time all over again with them: with THEIR eyes. In some rooms they chattered excitedly, pointing and exclaiming. In others, they were silent, running worn hands over glossy cream tiles and gazing at each detail. For one sacred hour we walked and talked and looked and laughed, and I could tell that everyone felt so blessed to be a part of this campus, of EBS, of Bible training in Haiti.

We all joined back together in the cafeteria, where many students (and the cooks), touched the burners of a propane stove for the first time, marveling at how different it would be than cooking over coals and fire. We drank Cokes and continued to gaze and share, until one student spoke above the rest.

"This MUST be like the kitchens in heaven, right?"

I laughed out loud at his joke, only to realize that he was entirely serious, and was silenced by the sincere and solemn "Amen's!" of the students. "It must be!

We loaded up again and began the trip home, stopping here and there beside road-side shanties, muddy naked children and dirt roads to drop off a student.

I felt every emotion possible churning in my heart.

Pride in these men, these women, who have taught me so very much about faith, about service, about the LORD. Sorrow that the year has ended, and that my precious hours with the first year class are finished forever. Joy at their excitement over the new seminary. Love, true love, for my brothers, my sisters. Deep gratitude that the Lord has clearly called us to such a place, such a people, for such a purpose. Heaviness for each and every person we passed who met my eyes with empty, dark, hopeless stares. Hope for this place, GOD's land, because these men and women have such a burden to see it transformed.

But most? Bumping down that dusty pot-holed road crammed into the cab of a truck with 3 other adults and Lily? Most I felt very very small...A tiny fraction of a slice of God's creation, so undeserving, so loved and so blessed...NOT with a home, a husband, a baby, family, friends, a job...NO, this afternoon I felt blessed because I am His. And HE, great God of the universe, All-Powerful Planner and Creator, so Merciful and so loving ..He is mine.

If I flee from the greenest pastures

Would you leave to look for me?

Forfeit glory to come after
Till I only dwell in Thee?

If my heart has one ambition

If my soul has one goal to see

It's my solitary vision

That I only dwell in Thee.

What We Need He Is

It has been beautiful almost everyday and then rained almost every evening, and everything on the compound is BEAUTIFUL! It is hot and muggy in between, but we've been surprised how well we're all handling the heat...we must finally be acclimating!

Our dear friends, Elisa and James, left Friday morning. We enjoyed many sweet moments with them, and our last ten days were filled with much laughter, many great conversations of the past, present and future, joyful times of music, games and movies and some blessed times of prayer. I don't know when we'll see them next (they live in Georgia), but we are SO grateful for this time. We feel especially "under attack" lately within our own minds: burdened with different frustrations and worries, exhausted from the school year, Matt's masters, mission work and being new parents, and a little overwhelmed by all of the travel, details, speaking and appointments the next 6 weeks hold. I know God brought Elisa and James at the perfect time to lift us up, carry the burdens with us, pray for us, and bless us with laughter. Thank you for your prayers as well!
The Word of the Lord, however, has been the most beautiful thing in our lives these past days; anchoring us, directing us, inspiring us and renewing our minds and our spirits. I don't know what we would do without the Bible! This past week, this passage drew us out of our "small picture" mentality and refreshed us with the "big picture." I know it's a long passage, but let it's imagery and peace and promise wash over you as you read.

"This is the fast which I choose for you:
to loosen the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the bands of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
to divide your bread with the hungry
to bring the homeless poor into your house
and to cover the naked.

Then your light will break out like the dawn,
and your recovery will speedily spring forth;
and your righteousness will go before you;
the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call,
and the Lord will answer;
You will cry,
He will say, "Here I am."

If you remove the yoke from your midst,
and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in darkness

And the Lord will continually guide you
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and give strength to your bones;
You will be like a watered garden
A spring of water whose waters don't fail.

And you will be called repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets." Isaiah 58


That is WHY we are here, WHY you are there, WHY we are HERE on Earth: to be repairers of the breach between God and His people...to let the oppressed go free...to divide our bread with the hungry...to satisfy the NEED the afflicted have for Christ.

And when we call, He'll answer. That simple. And when we follow Him, He will "continually guide" us, making us well-watered gardens in scorched places.

Praise the Lord...We remember again that He is truly ALL that we need, and that All of the things that seem like "such a big deal" are not such a big deal after all. May He continually guide you today, and satisfy your desires, and give strength to your bones!

Penguins, Photos and Plans

What a full (on many levels) few days it has been!


As promised, here is Cap-Haitien's infamous penguin! I seriously have no idea what it is doing here, and it's looking quite a bit worse off that in did when it first appeared (think it got hit by a truck or something), but he is still bravely standing by the road with his sombrero.


My class was working through "Measurement" last week, and I love this picture of Sylvio gleefully having his height measured. While he "won" as the classes tallest at 6 feet 6 inches, he was not the heaviest, at under 150 pounds! Everyone loved this exercise as much as they did last year, though their initial predictions that they weighed around 60 or 65 pounds were blown out of the water :)


James and Elisa continue to be a joyful part of life here, and by the time yesterday's "end of the year" soccer championship began, all the students were greeting them by name. Every year each of OMS's ministries have a large soccer championship, and last night the Seminary beat the Church 2-0, so we move on to the championship Friday.


Next Tuesday is the last day of class, so we are all quickly drawing near to the end of our lessons and preparing for final exams. We are saddened at the thought that we only have a few more days in the classroom with the students! The year has flown, so much has been taught and learned and shared, and it is always hard to go from daily communion with each other to not seeing them for 3 months, and some of them, even longer. Elisa took a class picture of my class today, and we'll get one of Matt with his class tomorrow.


James had the chance on Friday to play in chapel (pictured here with Matt translating) and the students LOVED hearing some English worship music. We were reminded again of how much fun (understatement) heaven is going to be, all worshiping OUR God together with one voice, for all time.


This weekend Aunt Lisa celebrated her 23rd birthday, which she's promised to celebrate again with us this summer whenever we are in Ohio! Today marks 2 weeks before we head for Florida, and then begin our 6 weeks of speaking. We are getting really excited about this chance to speak on behalf of the students pictured here, and others...It's going to be a whirlwind! Here is a calendar of our major speaking engagements, and if you have the chance to get to one of these churches to hear about what God is doing in Haiti through the students of Emmaus Biblical Seminary, we would love to see you! We would also love your prayers for this six weeks: that all of our traveling and constant transitioning with Lily would go smoothly, that the Lord would work in and bless many hearts who are able to hear testimonies of what He is doing here, that the short and random times we have with family and friends would be sweet, and that many would rise up to come alongside one of the men or women God is using here to bring Haiti to Christ!


Please email us if you have questions about any of these venues!


June 2nd...We leave Haiti, arriving in Columbus, Ohio on June 3rd.
June 7th...Livingston UMC, Columbus, OH in the morning (www.livingstonumc.com)
Faith Assembly Worship Center at 4:00 pm (www.faithassemblylondon.org)
June 9th...Argentine Nazarene in Linden, MI at 7:00 pm (www.emdnaz.org)
June 13th and 14th...Cornerstone Church in Bear, DE all services (www.cornerstonedelaware.com)
June 17th...Seeds of Greatness Church in New Castle, DE, evening service (www.sogm.org)
June 21st...Sharptown UMS in Pilesgrove, NJ, all services (www.sharptown.org)
July 5th...Wesley Chapel in Jackson, MS morning service (wesleychapel.wbs.edu)
Dayspring Community Church in Clinton, MS evening service (www.dayspringonline.org)
July 12th...New Bedford Presbyterian Church in New Bedford, PA morning service (www.newbedfordchurch.org)
July 19th...Northridge Church in Sabetha, KS morning services (www.northridgesabetha.com)
July 21st...Fly back into Haiti!

Kid Island

We have been enjoying having our friends here so much... Brenda and Sammie, Don's wife and daughter, sadly leave tomorrow! Here they are pictured with us on Friday night playing a new version of Scrabble. James and Elisa, Don, Brenda, Sammie, Matt, Lily and I joined several of the other missionaries today for our "annual" trip to "Kid Island." Kid Island is a deserted little beach we found last year and is only able to be reached by driving the 90 minutes to the beach, then taking a water taxi over to the island. We all spent the day there, and had a really wonderful time. Lily loved the ocean, Matt and the other guys got in some good frisbee and swimming, and the kids loved the shallow waters. It was good to get away!

We are worn out tonight, but tomorrow morning, after the airport run, will be going to one of our favorite churches...it's been awhile since we've gone as that it is also quite far away, but Rodrigue and Rosnal, two of Matt's previous graduates, pastor it, and it will be a joy to worship with them!

I have also FINALLY gotten a picture of my Haitian penguin, and have more to share about chapel and a few things the Lord seems to be bringing across our paths over and over...next blog!

Meanwhile, please continue to be lifting us up. As beautiful and relaxing as this beach looks (and it WAS) this has been a particularly difficult last few weeks for us both, and I think God has brought friends from home into our lives right now and many other blessings, and burdens, too, to continue to refine us in this time. We feel anxious for your prayers...thank you!

Friends and Finishing Strong

Friends and family,
Now blogger is not working at all, and I'm posting today through my sister-in-law in Delaware! Thank you for all of your patience with these blog issues...We covet your prayers and desire for you to know what God is doing here so much! Right now we have several good friends here: Don, our friend from Sharptown Church who has been working on the Seminary has been joined by his wife, Brenda, and their daughter, Sammie, and Elisa, a good friend from Asbury College, and her younger brother. They took our family portrait today, have been spending good time helping us, and have been such encouragements to us just by their presence and friendship!

We are in our LAST session at the seminary, and working hard to finish well, prepare for graduation, and continue working alongside the students for sustainable ministry over the summer. Matt, Elisa and James are out with the students even now evangelizing in an area a few miles from the compound.

Lily is IN LOVE with James, smiling constantly at him, and grinning and laughing each time he plays guitar. Tomorrow he'll join the students in leading a worship chapel...great stuff!

Please be praying that the Lord would be our SOURCE. Please pray that all joy, all plans, all intentions, all work, all thoughts, and all stability would be from HIM, and that we would not work from ourselves, or serve from our own ideas/desires, or be satisfied by provisions, but that we would be constantly drawing and transmitting only from THE source...THANK YOU.

We'll keep blogging through dear Laura until we can begin blogging again. THANK YOU!

the roman colosseum and other evangelical opportunities

Thursday, May 7th...continued BLOG problems! Please excuse how segmented this is! It is the only way I could post, short parts, no photos...I'm sorry!

We cannot BELIEVE that we only have three weeks left of this school year! As my students took an exam yesterday, I sat praying for them each as I do each exam day, and was filled with sadness that our "year together" is almost over! What an amazing group of men and 'woman' I have had this year. They've taught me so much and have been a passionate and especially 'seeking' group. With the exception of 2 or 3, they are on fire for evangelism, for spiritual growth and for Godly knowledge, which has driven me towards the same areas of interest.

Just last week we were working through Chapter 13: Famous Places. I gave each of them information on one of the most magnificent places on earth, and asked them to prepare a presentation to share with the class. For three days, we learned about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, the Great Wall of China and the Eiffel Tower.

One pastor was assigned the Roman Colosseum, though I was unsure of how much of the information detailing gladiators, battles and even ship fights he would understand. Impressively, he explained to the class the 'entertainment' the Colosseum offered as well as detailed descriptions of the structure. I thought he was finished, but then he said, "Now, I will discuss the opportunities of the Colosseum."

For about 10 minutes he outlined, in details, his plans to use the Colosseum for some major evangelical efforts, discussing how one's voice could carry, and about how 50,000 Haitians who do not yet know Christ could attend. A grand soccer match between the Seminary students and another team would lure in these thousands of lost men, women, and children, and then a break in the middle of the game would afford a magnificent opportunity to share the Good News!

By now Wilfrid (won't surprise you that this was my student who saw 140 come to Christ over Easter), and the entire class, were quite excited, and all began sharing more ideas of who could preach, how they could do baptisms at one end with the water left over from the ship battles, the importance of playing soccer in a Christ-like manner so as to not ruin the opportunity for witness, and about how "all of Haiti" could be converted in just a few weeks with such an avenue as this!

All of the obvious problematic realities these plans presented were entirely passed over by the class, so I let them go, as well :) Their hearts, the part that is of utmost importance, showed through, and I know God was beaming with me at the illustration!

Nonetheless, the actual evangelism that is taking place with the students on Wednesdays and Thursdays continues to go very well! Yesterday they saw another 8 people come to the Lord, which seems to be about the average each day they go out. Today the weekly Bible study they have begun in this area will take place again for all of the new converts...exciting times!

I rather wish they would all fail English so I could have them again next year :) I can only hope I've had a fraction of the impact on these men and women God is using to transform Haiti that they have had on my life!

Port-au-Prince

We are safely back from a wonderful weekend in Port-au-Prince! We ate amazing food...foods with sour cream, cheeses, chicken breasts, bacon...mmmm. We ate bowls and bowls of ice cream, with chocolate sauce and cherries (Greg and Cathie know me well!) We had wonderful time with many good friends from all over Haiti, and finally got to meet Teresa's husband, Ryan. We played many rounds of Settlers, and 'Hand and Foot'. Mostly, we enjoyed great conversations on the roof, news of family, friends, other areas in Haiti, and were blessed by new perspectives, theologies, stories and advice from missionaries that have been serving here much longer than we have.

It was also a blessing to have some "family" in Lily's life for the weekend...we miss her grandparents, aunts and uncles FOR her, and it was a joy for us to give her time with grandparents.

Matt finished the semester for his Master's degree yesterday, and is glad to have some additional time to focus on the seminary. The school year is winding down rapidly, and we are grateful for one more month in the classroom with these students!