On the verge of forgetting that we CAN talk about something other than the earthquake, work and ministry, Matt, Lily and I are heading for the beach this morning after Evangelistic English class. We're even going to spend the night and come back tomorrow afternoon/evening, something we've never done as a family! If you can't get ahold of us, that's why...SO THANKFUL for this opportunity...

He is Mighty to Save

***this one's a bit gruesome. and beautiful. just warning you***

I love my job.

This might not be a highly sought after position, and maybe OMS just took me because no one else was applying, but the weather is gorgeous and the work is SWEET. Not in a modern sense, but rather SWEET water to my soul, to live and eat and study and work alongside of other men and women He is calling to bring radical change - "God Only" change - to Haiti.

I got to sit with one such man today, a new student from Port-au-Prince. He has been in my English class since last week, but having never had an opportunity to learn our language before, he is quiet lost and mostly there to gain what he can while waiting for his Bible classes to start.

But today I started doing interviews with these new students, gathering their testimonies to use to help raise support for their food, lodging and tuition.

And Alex? Sign ME up.

After telling me a bit about his background (no wife, family lives in La Victoire, a few hours from here, 27 years old), I asked a question that excited him.

You come from a Christian family?

No. No one in my family is a Christian except for my mother, who I led to the Lord in 2007.

So how did you become a Christian?

Radio 4VEH.

(Brett and Kate, knew you'd be thrilled. Radio 4VEH, the Evangelistic Voice of Haiti, is a ministry of OMS and is broadcasted throughout all of northern Haiti to pre-set, solar-powered radios.)

Someone on there was talking about Jesus and you came to the Lord?

No. I became a Christian because I didn't want to be eaten.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Start from the beginning.

OK, here goes. One day, in 2001, I was listening to Radio 4VEH, even though I wasn't a Christian, but just because it was on where I was. And on the radio, there was this young man telling his story. He was a young Christian man, from a Christian family, and he told this story on the radio:

"I lived in Grand-Rivier (near EBS) and my family sent me into Cap-Haitien to go and buy a goat. So, I went into town to find a good goat, and I bought one. I was on my way back home and I was crossing the big bridge in Cap-Haitien. As I was coming across, I saw a huge spiraling wind coming toward me. It picket me up, and while I was up inside the tornado, I looked down, and I could see all the people still on the bridge.

Ok, time out. I know that our culture isn't very accustomed to "spiritual interference" in daily life. We tend to think of God and Satan as doing spiritual things and man doing physical things. However, in Haiti, angels and demons, God and Satan and the things that they do are very much so a part of the physical world, not just a part of the spiritual world. You can believe this story actually happened, or that it was more of a dream or vision. Whatever you believe, it's the POINT of the story that matters here...

"So I was looking down at all the people, wondering what was happening, and a strong voice spoke into my ear, "Today, you are going to Leogane, and you will be killed."

"I began to pray, Lord help me, Lord help me, and in a moment, I was in the middle of a plain area, and there were hundreds of people there having a voodoo ceremony. The moment I arrived there, men grabbed me, and tied me up next to 7 other people, most of them children and young people like me. I saw that I was to be killed and sacrificed to demons and eaten by these people.

"I prayed and prayed, Lord save me, and then I watched while the men grabbed the first child, a young girl, killed her (I'm going to spare you all the details Alex shared with me) and began to roast her. As soon as they began to eat her, the men grabbed the second child and did the same thing. I was sick and crying and praying, Lord save me, save me as I watched the first seven people killed, roasted and then being eaten by the hundreds of people there.

When it came to me, they reached to kill me, and someone said, "I think the first seven will be enough. We don't need this little boy."

I continued to pray, and sat to the side while everyone ate and spoke with demons. Finally, when the demons were not satisfied, a witch doctor brought the knife and began to kill me. He raised his knife and thrust it at my chest. I prayed out loud: LORD, SAVE ME. I opened my eyes, and saw the tip of the knife touching my flesh, but unable to penetrate my skin.

The witch doctor was angry, and called another man. Three different men tried to stab me through the chest, but as hard as they tried, the knife would NOT go through my skin. Save me, God, Save me.

Angry, they brought a mirror (often used in voodoo ceremonies to look into the spiritual world) and forced me to look in it, hoping that I would be overcome by demons and that they would be able to kill me.

But in the mirror I looked, and I saw my mother, my father, and my brother. Only them, and they were praying, praying, praying in the mirror. Lord, save him, save him.

The witchdoctors were so angry that they grabbed me and slammed me into the ground.

My goat bleated next to me and I was on the bridge in Cap-Haitien. Everyone was walking past me, shopping and going places. I had returned. God saved my life."

"WOW" was all I could say when Alex finished telling me the boy's story. "So," I asked again. "How did you become saved?"

"The second I heard that boy share his story," Alex said, "I said to myself: If that had happened to me, I would have been sliced down the middle, chopped into pieces, roasted and eaten. If that had been me, I would have no God to save me. I know nothing bigger than demons. I would be eaten. So, that very moment, I said, "God, being a Christian might bring many sacrifices and many struggles, but please be MY God. Lord, save ME."

"So I have followed the Lord every since that day that He saved me."

"Wow" I said again, blown away. I wanted to quit right there and have a little praise service, but looking at the fresh scars on Alex's hands, I wanted to hear more. I wanted to hear about Port-au-Prince.

So, why did you go to Port-au-Prince if you're from La Victoire?

I went to study God's Word. God put on my heart, before I was even saved, to be a missionary, before I even knew what that meant. He made me to be a missionary, so I went to Port to study the Bible.

Were you in Seminary when the earthquake happened?

No. I was teaching. The only way I could pay for seminary was to teach. So all morning I would go to class and study theology, hermeneutics, Bible courses, and then all afternoon I was a teacher for first and second graders. At 4:49 on January 12th, I was standing in the third story classroom of the school, explaining the homework to the kids, because class would end at 5:00.

I felt the shaking begin, and I pushed towards the door, but everything was shaking so much, that I couldn't get anywhere. I pushed towards the door, towards the window, but I didn't get anywhere, and I saw the ceiling caving in, the walls cracking. I could do NOTHING. I kept my eyes on that doorway, but saw that the opening was getting smaller and smaller, blocks were falling, all was black, except the shrinking light of that doorway.

I knew then that I was dead. I knew I would die in just a few more seconds. I didn't want to die afraid, you know? I wanted to die at peace. So I closed my eyes, and I stood straight, and I raised my hands to the heavens, and I thanked the Lord for my life.

At this point, Alex has gotten up from his chair and is standing in the middle of my office, straight, with arms lifted and hands open...yeah, I was crying.

I praised the Lord, and was just waiting to be dead. And I opened my eyes, just to see, and the door, it was RIGHT in front of me. I hadn't moved, and it had been far off, but suddenly it was right in front of me. Blocks were everywhere, things continued to crumble and fall, so I just jumped.

"You jumped? out the door? of the third story???"

Yeah. I thought, "God has given me an open door. GO." So, I jumped. I cut my hands, my knees, but just cuts. I stood up. And I walked home. My home was gone, everything was gone. For six nights I slept in the streets until I could get enough money together to come. For the first four days, there were no cell phones, so my family was sure that I was dead. On the fifth day I called them, and on the sixth I came home.

"Wow" I said for the tenth time, a word he's probably wondering about.

And so then you came here?

Well, I knew there were two places to study God's Word in the North. Limbee and Emmaus. And I have NO money, and now, I have NO seminary, and now, I have NO job, and now, I have No home. And then I hear on Radio 4VEH that Emmaus is helping people like me. They said on the radio that even if you had nothing, to come, and Emmaus would give you Bible teaching and food and a place to stay. I called the number that day. Then I came.

"Praise the Lord," I kept thinking, SO EXCITED to be a part of what he is talking about.

"So," I said, wrapping up so I could go home and tell Matt his story, "what do you think?"

"It's good" Alex said. "Classes are good, teachers are good, the campus is good. But it is different than where I was. It is good."

In what way?

"I feel when I come on this campus, there is a...a spiritual ambiance here." Alex paused while I silently prayed Thank You, Jesus.

"Yeah, that's it. I can feel the Spirit here. I don't think He'd done with me yet."

I think He's JUST getting started.

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing

Zephaniah 3:17

I LOVE this picture, from Port..."Jesus, the only solution."

because He is able...

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed, as it is written: He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever. 2 Cor. 9:8-9

There is so much to be talking to the Lord about lately! Please continue to join us in prayer:

-The students, now joined by students who survived the collapse of their seminaries in Port-au-Prince, continue to sleep in the chapel and administration building, many on the floor, out of fear of sleeping on the first floor of the 2 story dorm. As of yesterday, there are only three or four sleeping in the men's dorm, especially once the entire student body 'confirmed' their fears by finding a small crack in the plaster on the second story.

Please continue to pray that the Lord would calm the fears of the hundreds of thousands that continue to feel tremors (this past Saturday, even) and that continue to be ruled by this fear. Please pray for freedom for EBS's guys, and for the many throughout Haiti who are crippled by nightmares of what has happened and fear for what still could.

-Last week, Mary Lou, the other missionary that worked with us at EBS and in Sakenville, left for her 6 months Homeland Ministry Assignment, basically, a time of rest and working with churches from Canada and the States. Please be praying for her during this time away!

-Luke, Paul and Matt have now become the leadership committee for EBS. Please be praying for them for all of the necessary wisdom, patience, communication, and stand-firmness in order to bring Him glory through the many ministries of the Seminary...which has now also expanded to all the new students from Port.

This, in addition to working through the arising kinks of a new campus and the start of a new much-delayed semester, is proving to be more than a full time job. Please be praying for all three of them and for their peace and joy in the midst. We're so thankful for such a fantastic group of men and women to serve and to serve with!

Please continue to pray for the many people throughout Haiti still seeking permanent shelter and daily food. Our hearts continue to just be broken by the huge need EVERYWHERE for help and hope. Please pray with us for wisdom, that we might seek strong after Him and find a way to live deliberately and in a thriving, not crazy-surviving-there-is-too-much-to-do-go-go-go! fashion!

THANK YOU for being our praying family!

so Cain killed Abel, and changed everything for Sakenville

You might remember a few months ago I shared a couple blogs on substitute teaching for Lucner whenever he was stateside for his master's studies. As intimidating as putting myself before 50 businesspeople, students, politicians and community members was to teach them English (after being used to only teaching 10-12 seminary students), I was blown away at the opportunity I suddenly had to share the gospel to a deeply captive audience.

I think it was Aunt Lori that said, "I can just see your brain working, Stacey...can't wait to see what the Lord does with this."

Not long after that, but before we ever moved to Sakenville, Matt and I started talking about what WE could do in Sakenville to bless the community, to die to them and most, to give this dark place Jesus.

The Lord used our friend Abel to bring these two things together.

"I want to learn more...the English!" he said one afternoon over lunch after helping move us in all morning.

"Do you think there are a LOT of people in Sakenville that want to learn English?" I asked.

"OH YES."

So we thought and prayed and talked some more, and finally I hooked up with Pastor Janiel's wife, an administrator, and asked her to go into this ministry idea with me. Due to the earthquake and all that has followed, I've yet to share a word of this with you, but this past Saturday morning we held our 4th S.E.E.P. class, Sakenville Evangelistic English Program at Maranatha Church of Sakenville.

SO SO GOOD.

The second people heard that a woman that teaches at the beautiful "new" Emmaus Biblical Seminary was offering a course for "everyone else", that the cost was the cost of copies (ie....$7 US for the entire year), and that the subject was the much-sought-after English language, my "30 student" cut-off went to 40. 50. 60. Not one person over 75. And that is where we are today.

Also advertised strongly was that the point of this class was to study the Bible, learn about God, and to bring people to a saving knowledge of He who made them, died for them and is waiting. There would be one text: the Bible. There would be one purpose: Evangelism. But it would be in English.

Fifteen spots were reserved for people from the church, and each Saturday it brings me joy to tell people about the Lord alongside of these 15 brothers and sisters. We gather in the church, bringing people from around Sakenville and the surrounding zones into His house. And I "stole" the Chronological Bible Story Method from Junior, and that's all we do.

For example, Week One. I told of Genesis 1, the creation of the world and of man. Mostly teaching in Creole, I emphasized major vocabulary (earth, animal, plant, man, sun) in English. I share the passage several times in several ways, having this humungous class of businesspeople, farmers, street vendors, the mayor of Acul-du-Nord, policemen, students, church members and who-knows-who-else repeating the facts of the passage after me.

At the end of our 2 hour class, we go through a long series of questions in Creole and English, working through what it MEANS.

Why are men and women different than animals? Because they were made in the image of God. What was there in the beginning? Nothing but the Spirit of God. What does that tell us about God? He is and always has been.

How can I explain how BEAUTIFUL this part of the class is? Where did you come from? and 75 people strongly (over 50 being non-Christians) shout "God made me."

The next week: How did Adam and Eve know not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Because God told them. What does this tell us about God? He communicates with us.

But the best? This past Saturday.

Don't get me wrong...when Friday night comes around, and I am making word posters, and getting ready to get up early on Saturday morning to walk to church toting a dry-erase board, a bulletin board, and easel, two translations of Bibles and all my notes after a full and busy week, I think, "Why am I doing this again?"

But when I am in front of these 75, albeit still intimidating, Dear Ones, and starts sharing the Word with them, MAN, there is just nothing better. We've talked about how He made us, we talked about what sin is and how it came to be and how it breaks God's heart. What I know and they don't is what is COMING...We're beginning to understand the huge problem of sin, but what they don't know is coming is the solution...the HOPE. I can SEE the darkness in their beautiful eyes, and I can TASTE the hope for the Light to come.

This week was quiet unexpectedly the best yet: Cain and Abel. In the chronological Bible story telling method, you're not supposed to work ahead, and you're not supposed to turn the stories into devotionals. Just tell the story, ask the questions, review the previous stories and allow the students to work through it on their own.

But this week, as I shared about Cain and Abel, I'm telling you, I felt His Spirit in that church, "hovering over the darkness" as He did before the first day of time. We talked about how Cain and Abel both gave God a gift. We don't know exactly why, but God was pleased with Abel's gift, and not with Cain's. He Who Knows the Heart must have seen the difference between the intention or motive or meaning behind these gifts.

Instead of being devastated, apologizing, and giving the Lord an upright gift, Cain was angry. Then, as we all learned in Sunday school, Cain killed Abel. But if you look in Genesis 4, God tried to work with Cain before he ever shed blood.

"Why are you angry?" God asked Cain. "Why are you upset? If you choose what is right, won't your countenance then be lifted up? But if you choose what is not right, sin is crouching at your door. Sin wants to rule over you, but you must master it!"

As soon as I spoke these words, His Spirit fell. I couldn't help but speak it again.

What is sin?

It is doing what we want over what God wants.

Why did Cain kill Abel?

Because he was jealous.

Did Cain do what he wanted to do?

Yes.

What do we call it today when we do what we want?

Freedom.

When Cain did what he wanted to do, did he become free?

No.

What became his master?

Sin.

What did God tell Cain to do?

Fight against sin. Rule over sin.

Have freedom from sin?

Yes, freedom. True freedom.

Would God ask CAin to rule over sin if this was not possible?

No.

So when we do what we want to do, we become slaves to sin?

YES.

But we can defeat sin with God's help?

YES.

So what gives us freedom?

Living for the Lord.

I began to get really chocked up at this point because of the fervent way the entire class was responding and the true way that they were understanding, and felt the hairs on my arms standing up. You read last weeks blog about these same men and women professing that Jesus was Lord but claiming that they wanted the freedom to keep doing what they wanted.

But Saturday, Cain and Abel, and the horrific reality of the rest of Cain's life due to his choice of slavery to sin, though His loving God lovingly urged him to chose joy and life and freedom, dropped scales from many eyes. I could hear them dropping, could see veils being lifted.

WHAT A JOY! To stand before His people, most living it utter slavery and heart-breaking darkness, and open God's transforming and perfect and exquisite Word and let His Spirit reveal it to them, and watch Him change everything, watch Him do impossible things, watch Him transform what I never could.

OH, this is long. I'm sorry. PLEASE be praying for this class, for these students, for me as I teach and for His Spirit to be with us every Saturday morning from 8-10.

Before I go, I've got to urge you...Doing this has been terrifying, time-consuming, challenging and SO entirely out of my comfort zone. But in just 4 weeks, He has shown up in an incredible and tangible way, and people that I am convinced would NEVER study the Bible otherwise are professing loudly His truth.

Go and Do Something New.

Let Him do something new because you are. Let Him be seen in a way He never has been because you are doing something you have never done. Let Him work in a way He can't through ANYONE else, to people He can't through ANYONE else.

OH, Family. I promise you that no matter how terrifying, uncomfortable, sacrificial, challenging or stretching it is for you to do this, that He will heap riches unimaginable, indescribable, invaluable upon your heart.

If even ONE was worth it to Him to DIE for, is even ONE not worth it for us to die to?

Matt and Enick, after a VERY long ordination service at Coup-a-David this morning...Enick, a graduate from Matt's first class, is now officially "Pastor Enick."

Ricky and Aidan...CONGRATS!

Maria...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

If you haven't been been reading the Aberle's blog of Cammie's recent experiences in Haiti, you've got to get on there...check it out! samaberle.blogspot.com

EBS in the news...

Someone sent me a link to this article from the Baptist Press News about Junior (our first year student currently planting churches in Port-au-Prince)...SO good!

Posted on Feb 2, 2010 | by Tristan Taylor

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--On a hot afternoon in a crowded, makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince, Jean Junior Cineas sits under a tarp suspended by a broomstick. He shares his faith with five Haitians left homeless after the Jan. 12 earthquake rocked their island nation. Soon, all five pray to receive Christ as their Savior.

The irony: Cineas is the son of a voodoo priest.

"It gives me joy to [share Christ]," Cineas says as he moves through the rows of tents. "I love to do that. It is my life."

Cineas, 26, who prefers to go by Junior, has had plenty of opportunities to share his faith since disaster struck. He says voodoo's influence has diminished and many Haitians are now calling on God.

"There are a lot of people who came to Jesus from voodoo ...," Junior says. "I heard that during the earthquake, my father called on Jesus. He said 'Oh Jesus. I know what You can do.' But I wasn't there. I do not know if it's true."

Some Haitians were awed by the power displayed in the earthquake -- a power greater than anything they see in voodoo, Junior says. Others are grateful to have survived and want to give their lives to the God who saved them. It is rare for Junior to meet someone who does not want to be prayed for or to hear about his faith.

And much like the Apostle Paul, Junior helps disciple those he leads to Christ. He plans to buy five Creole-language Bibles and return to the tent city to teach his five new friends to study God's Word.

The transformation of Junior and many of his countrymen has not come easily, though.

Junior grew up in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, in a family immersed in voodoo religion. In Haiti, Voodoo is a mixture of Catholicism and African Traditional Religion and deeply rooted in the culture. Like most voodoo priests, Junior's father has multiple wives and so many children that Junior doesn't know them all. He was alienated from his family early on when his father's wives rejected him and made him live in a peristyle (voodoo temple) in the yard.

Junior grew up not knowing his mother -- she died when he was young -- but he knew what his future held. He was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become a voodoo priest.

"I didn't know [all that my father knew about] voodoo -- but what I knew, I loved," Junior says.

Much of his childhood revolved around voodoo and learning about its mysticism. But he also learned about the darker, dangerous parts -- the belief in the ability to kill people by sending evil spirits.

"If you believe in it, you can understand it," Junior says. "I used to understand it, but now I know Jesus. I know [evil spirits] cannot hurt me now, because I have Jesus."

Junior's future changed at age 16 when an International Mission Board missionary visited his father's house. The Southern Baptist missionary told Bible stories, and Junior heard the Gospel for the first time. His father did not accept the stories and continued to practice voodoo, but he gave Junior permission to become a Christian.

"I love God so much," Junior says with a smile. "How can I explain?"

He began ministering with the missionary, helping tell Bible stories to fellow Haitians. Before long, Junior's father changed his mind -- he no longer wanted his son to be a Christian. Junior's new faith began causing conflict in his father's house.

"It was very difficult for me," he says. "I prayed for God to take me away from that family."

When his missionary friend returned to the United States, Junior met IMB missionaries Mark and Peggy Rutledge in Port-au-Prince -- and found a new family. He was able to escape tensions and voodoo activity at home by staying with the Rutledges on weekends. When Junior finished high school, their house became his new home.

"Peggy and Mark are my family," he says. "I owe them everything in my life. Without knowing me, they took me into their home. I love them so much."

Living with the Rutledges and their two daughters, Junior experienced a loving home with both a mother and a father for the first time.

"Peggy showed me what is mother," Junior says in broken English. "Before, I didn't know mother. I didn't call anyone mother. Now I know what a mother is like."

"Junior became like our son and a big brother to our girls," says Peggy, referring to daughters Shannon, 14, and Abi, 11. "As he lived with us, we tried to disciple him and show him what a Christian family is all about. We saw so much potential in him. We grew to love him as part of our family."

Junior also learned about living in a home that worships a loving God.

"He was part of our family Bible studies and often he sat in when we did Bible study with the girls [during their homeschooling]," Peggy says. "He began devouring God's Word. He loved it. And like all of us, he went through rough patches in life, where God was teaching him things that might be difficult. But we kept encouraging him to always go back to God's Word as the plumb line to measure by."

As he grew in his faith, Junior discovered what it is to be part of God's family, too.

"When I have Jesus, I am surrounded by family. For this, I love God," he says.

But Junior still cares about his Haitian family and wants them to experience Jesus' love the way he does. Still, tensions persist.

"I love my father. I really, really love my father. I want him to know Christ," Junior says. "It is really, really difficult. I try to be wise and share Jesus with him, but after a while, he doesn't want to talk to me anymore."

Others in Junior's family have been more receptive. He led a half-sister to Christ last summer and is currently witnessing to another half-sister.

And Junior's relationship with his heavenly Father is flourishing. He has a passion for evangelism and is a first-year theology student at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

"He has such an exuberance for God," Peggy says. "He feels called to be an evangelist, and he's so gifted at it. He knows just what to say to people [when sharing his faith]. God really speaks through him."

"There are many people who have not heard about Jesus," Junior says. "Many people are lost. This makes me sad. I want to do what Jesus said. I want to evangelize. He gave us the Great Commission."

Tristan Taylor is a writer for the IMB in the Americas.

If you haven't been been reading the Aberle's blog of Cammie's recent experiences in Haiti, you've got to get on there...check it out! samaberle.blogspot.com

a standing ovation

(without Jesus, Haiti cannot be delivered)

How can I describe the excitement of what is happening? Capture in words what you can feel in the air on campus today? Lucner, preaching in chapel today, did:

"Look around you. Think of these weeks. Is God finished?

Or is He beginning a new day at Emmaus Biblical Seminary, a new day in Haiti?"

Immediately, strong and rapid and simultaneous and passionate clapping erupted and continued on. Beautiful music. Beautiful praise.

"What are we clapping for?" I heard a visiting professor ask, having been lost in translation.

"We're clapping for GOD."

Love your neighbor as yourself, knowing that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep...

Yesterday was the first day of class. We had our 35 students. The absence of Junior, first year, and Belony, staff, was quickly noted. 34. Prayers for them and the work they are doing in Port-au-Prince, tending to seeds that so many among us planted, quickly followed. Rejoicing over God's plan and His caring for His sheep. Thankfulness for Junior and Belony's willingness to leave a beautiful campus, three meals a day, friends and family, to go to a poor-poor community and plant His church. Joy over being a part of His plan.

...for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first came to believe...

Yesterday afternoon, two men came through the front door. They had just come from Port. They had NOTHING. No food. No money. No bags. No ties. No shiny shoes. One thing only: a paper, an ID, a phone number of seminaries destroyed in Port-au-Prince...and stories that only time will reveal.

"Can we come?" they asked, previous classmates. "We heard on the radio we could come. You understand? We have nothing. Nothing. No home, no future, no money. Can we come?"

...The night is almost gone, and the day is near...

So this morning, I had two new faces in class. Our students have a new type of mission field...what happened in Port has come to live among us, come to study among us.

After first hour, there were two more men in the hall. Same thing: no ties, no jackets, no books, just them. We put them in a class, interviews scheduled for this afternoon.

By chapel today, there were six. After chapel, we had to go find more chairs to put in the "Doctrine of Holiness" class.

...Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of Light...

We are now 40, Day 2.

This isn't about growing numbers. This is about God not being finished.

This isn't about the earthquake. It is about what HE is BUILDING.

The excitement of what is happening is that on Tuesday, the same day that another four small ones died, this time at this Cap-Haitien school, millions of Haitians marched through the streets that would have been wild with Mardi-Gras partying, carrying banners marked with His praise, praying as they walked.

...let us behave well, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy...

The excitement of what is happening is that people across Haiti are gathering HERE, in our literal front yard, to learn how to better and more faithfully take God's Word to their people. God has called them, called them to Himself and to His people. They are obeying, in the midst of a unimaginably difficult time, they are obeying.

The excitement of what is happening is that their people are asking for It. They have nothing. No clothes. No food. No money. No shiny shoes. But they are asking for HIM.

(Live on faithfulness to God in Haiti...Praise the Lord.)

...but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:11-14

I am clapping for God.

Many of you are such an integral part in Matt and I having the privilege to be in the midst of what He's doing here. THANK YOU. Life is hot, life is hard, life is without Dairy Queen, and there is much to be done and much courage and perseverance and wisdom is needed...and we are having A BLAST. Seeing Him at work amongst His Haitian people continues to be one of the greatest joys of our lives.

I KNOW I keep asking. You are probably getting tired of that. But we need you, and I just can't stand letting you miss the opportunity of being a part of this. We've got six new students from Port-au-Prince. We've got 35 others from across Haiti. That is today, day 2. We don't just want to feed and house them. We want to EQUIP them to GIVE the Jesus that their own people are searching for.

Please, do ONE thing. Commit to praying about aligning with one of the men or women of Emmaus Biblical Seminary. Pray for Emmaus, pray for Haiti, ask the Lord how He wants to use you. If after that, you sense that it is NOT here, NOT with EBS, NOT in this way or in this time or in this place, then DON'T. Praise the Lord, He has a different plan for you, a different way to use you in His vast kingdom!

But if you feel led to be involved, please DO. Worry not about your tomorrow, about what you will eat or drink or wear or have, but about following after God's heart for you. Trust Him to provide, and email me: staceyhaiti@gmail.com. I will introduce you to a student that needs your help studying and carrying and delivering His Word.

I promise not to ask again! The need is just SO great, and the harvest just SO beautiful!

We love you!

another miracle

Yesterday morning was not a high place. I'd been sick all weekend. I was exhausted Monday morning, and Lily woke up early, I fell back to sleep eventually, and slept through to 6:30, missing the large majority of my time with the Lord. Out of grouchiness and selfishness and a lasting tiff from the night before, I immediately spat out at Matt for not having woken me, and for therefore causing my lack of time with the Lord.

"But wait, what is for breakfast? The guys are coming in 20 minutes!" Matt said as I huffed into the guest bedroom with my Bible.

"GIVE ME FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH THE LORD!" I literally roared by now, livid, mostly with myself and totally overwhelmed by the upcoming day and week, and shut the door behind me, sinking to the floor.

I KNEW I was completely and totally in the wrong state of mind, with the wrong heart and had treated Matt entirely wrong...my heart was full of grouchiness and busyness and I could even taste the bitterness in my mouth. And I knew I couldn't even begin to handle the week ahead, much less the morning ahead. What I didn't know was how in the world I could compose myself, have a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, in fifteen minutes.

"LORD," I literally wailed, "I don't know how. I don't know how you possibly could, but MEET me. Give me a new spirit, somehow, in fifteen minutes! PLEASE!"

Immediately, He gently led my mind to some evangelism I had been doing in Sakenville the week before. At one particular house, I was overjoyed to find the group in the yard already talking about some people who had been spared in Port-au-Prince.

It was a rather rough group of men, with one woman and several children. Yet my heart celebrated when I heard one man say, "Wow, only God could do that! He can do what He wants. He is so powerful!" and then everyone in the yard celebrated and agreed heartily.

"Yes, Praise the Lord!" I said, realizing I wouldn't need to discuss the Gospel message here. "So you are all Christians, then, huh? Christ-followers?"

"Oh, No!" the group quickly replied. "No, no. We're not Christians."

"Ooookkk, so, you know He is God, and you believe that, and you know that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins?"

"Oh, yes, yes. We know."

"Buuuuutttt, you're not Christians?"

"Right."

"Well, do you WANT to be Christ-followers, since He is powerful, and does that which only HE can do?"

Everyone looked at each other quite openly and the oldest man said, quite friendly, "No thanks."

"WHY?" I asked, befuddled, thinking of the verse Romans 10:9 that says "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

"Because we don't want Him to be our LORD, you know? We don't want to follow any rules or anything, don't want to change stuff, you know."

As I sat there in the guest room, thinking about this experience He had brought so clearly to my mind, He spoke SO clearly in the stillness of my heart.

Stacey, the log in your own eye! You couldn't understand how they could declare Me, but not WANT me. They wanted My power, but not My desires, not My heart.

But YOU say that I AM your Lord, that I AM in control of your life, your heart, your emotions, your speech... but LOOK!

You say I am your Lord, but you want to hold onto your anger, your emotions, your rights. You want to feel angry, want to act emotionally, want to blame others, want to come up with excuses, want what you want.

Do you want me enough to die to yourself and be filled with what I want for you?

Immediately, hot, humble tears came, and immediately, the bitterness and resentment and grouchiness and irritation and stress melted away. I left that room to start breakfast an entirely new woman. My tense shoulders and balled fists softened, and He replaced all the ugliness and selfishness of me with Himself.

In fifteen minutes.

I praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, that He is a God that communicates with us and changes us, as ONLY He can, if only we are anxious for it. What He did in that room and in my heart, I believe, was every bit the miracle He did for the man that lived 4 weeks under a building after the earthquake. What He wants to do in those men that declare Him is every bit a miracle.

He didn't just save us. Miracle over. He seeks to transform us, every moment...

Our speech, our emotions, our actions,

our time, our money, our habits,

our families, our thoughts, our jobs,

our conversations, our intentions, our daily living...

...whatever is in them that is of us, He's ready to replace, beautifully and to our great freedom.

Praise the Lord for His ever working hand.

***UPDATE: Emmaus Biblical Seminary starts classes again TOMORROW (we are SO excited to have the guys back!)

A prospective new Director for EBS is also coming tomorrow (again, really excited),

AND one of our students and one of our staff members left today for Diquini, the area of Port-au-Prince where Matt and two other staff members and a dozen students worked for 3 weeks, bringing by His grace over 600 to become Christ-followers. They will be working there until Friday to set up a plan, and Lord willing begin a 6 month period of church planting and leadership-raising (AHHHH! Excited).

Please be praying!!!, and please consider joining Emmaus Biblical Seminary in the training of Haitian pastors, evangelists, missionaries and Christian leaders to bring people in Haiti to Christ, and to disciple them strongly in the Word of God. We need your help to do this! Check out what you can do...

big dreams, big prayers

This morning I received an email from Marilyn S’s sister (a missionary here with OMS for 40 years), reminding me of something I hadn’t thought of.

“It’s so ENCOURAGING to see/hear how God is moving in a mighty way in Haiti, bringing “beauty from ashes” – IN HIS TIME. Your reports have brought tears of joy to our eyes many times – mingled with tears for the suffering of the Haitian people.

It puts all the years of many missionaries & Haitian believers patiently plowing, planting, cultivating, watering, feeding & praying (sometimes with discouraging setbacks) into perspective – just a brief moment from God’s point of view! You’ve been blessed to see firsthand what many missionaries and Haitian believers and friends of Haiti have been hoping and yearning and praying for for a lifetime!"

Just this past Friday, a group of fellow-believers were here, crowded onto our couch and talking about all that they are hearing and seeing. Though they have sought the Lord for years, they clearly just never expected to see their fellow country-men turn from their ways and seek Him.

They had never even thought to pray that Mardi Gras celebrations would be replaced by days of prayer…it just couldn’t happen.

And yet for 3 days now, we have heard loud songs of praise ringing out in Sakenville, the two Christian churches boldly broadcasting a God that has been waiting and waiting and waiting for His people. And since the day after the earthquake, we have heard NO voodoo drums, in an area that we frequently fell asleep to the pounding and chanting of demonic ceremonies.

They had never thought about having a Christian leader, as that president after president has been a “different driver, same bus” polluted by corruption, brutality, dishonesty and partnerships with gangs and far worse, with Satan.

And yet for over a week now, we have heard claims that Port-au-Prince is demanding a Christian leader, a God-follower to lead Haiti in an entirely different direction.

The area of Diquini had never thought of, or even desired, a church. Now, after only three weeks of seminary students and staff doing one-on-one evangelism there, over 500 men, women and children have become Christians, all begging for feeding. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that it was our dream that a seminary student from Port-au-Prince (we thought, one that would be coming in the next weeks) would return to Diquini one day to begin a church.

Yesterday, our one and only current student from Port-au-Prince answered the call to go, even though it means falling behind in school, and Tuesday he leaves with three others to begin house churches, discipleship and leadership training throughout the mountaintop of Diquini.

Our friends had never thought about masses of their countrymen ASKING for the Lord, and instead had continued to pray that they might bring one here, another there, to His throne throughout years of evangelism and Godly-testimony.

And yet this morning a student came to our door, unsure of the details, but claiming that he received a phone call this morning from Port-au-Prince that thousands, perhaps TENS of thousands of people received an invitation to make God THEIR God last night during a huge prayer service that had taken the place of Mardi Gras. (more details as I find them).

They had never prayed for these things, never dreamed of these things, and honestly, neither had we. And yet, as Linda reminded me this morning, for dozens and dozens of YEARS, so many people have dreamed and prayed and worked and died and hoped and evangelized and lived for such things.

And today, I am seeing it.

Might we all dream bigger dreams, family, pray bigger prayers, lift bigger hopes, before our Bigger God.

For He who is able to turn decades of prayers and planting and a month of horror, death and sorrow into beauty and LIFE is able to do far more than we had every dreamed or prayed or hoped.

Here is an email that an engineer consultant for Port-au-Prince Christian Radio sent to his friends…

I think that I will remember this day as one of the most significant in my life, not because of what I did, but for it's meaning. In fact, what I did today was insignificant, and may have even distracted from me fully engaging in the day.

Today was the one month anniversary of the great Haitian earthquake.

About 3 days ago the Haitian president announced that there would be 3 days of holiday from work for the purpose of fasting and prayer. This is absolutely historic. If you have ever been in Haiti as a visitor or missionary, could you ever have imagined such a pronouncement? Could you image such an announcement from the U.S. president.

This morning I saw a young Haitian-American woman, the leader of a work team, crying because the Americans could not understand the incredible importance of this day and wanted to go about business as usual. Remember, it was only about 6 years ago that a former Haitian president called the nation to come together to rededicate the nation to Satan.

This was not "a minute of silence for the deceased" or something as equally insignificant. Whatever the president might have originally intended, this because a real commitment for the Haitian people. As I sit here this evening, I can hear the preaching coming from a nearby church. Services have been going on all day. Let me tell you what I saw and felt today.

Peniel and I had planned an inspection trip up to the Artibonite Valley today. Right or Wrong, I don't really know, but since it was the only opportunity, we went ahead with the trip. As we left the guest house about 7:30 am, we were met by throngs of well dressed people headed to various churches. The sounds of Christian music and worship filled the air everywhere. The next observation was that there was NO traffic.

Port-au-Prince streets are always clogged and overflowing with bumper to bumper traffic. This morning there were only a few vehicles on the roads, a few small buses (tap taps), some UN and military vehicles, and a few private cars. We had clear sailing through town. The same was true of foot traffic. Usually the streets are clogged also with people walking. Today there were only a few and many of them dressed for church. The only place that there were traffic blocks was in front of several churches where the congregations had overflowed the buildings, and the yards and had moved out into the streets as well.

The next observation was that EVERYTHING was closed! We could not find even one business or gas station open. There were no intercity buses running. Whereas the sidewalks are usually overflowing with millions of street venders, we only saw a few here and there. The huge outdoor market near the wharf where thousands work each day and spread out to cover most of the street, was EMPTY.

Where were all the people? They were in churches and makeshift meeting sites. Every church (except a JW church) had services going on, almost always overflowing into the streets. Beside broken down churches, services were taking place outside. In homeless camps, there were services. Everywhere the nation was gathered to worship and pray. No, I did not see any voodoo, Islamic, or Buddhist services. This scene was repeated in every town and hamlet that we passed during the day.

Tonight, Pastor Ignace, who is sharing the room with me, asked this question: "Can people still say that Haiti is a voodoo country?"

What has been happening and is continuing to happen in Haiti did not happen because of the earthquake. It has been happening because the Haitian people know how to pray. This is a tremendous outpouring of God's power as the result of prayer. Twenty years ago I started praying for the Gospel to change the Haitian culture. I think that I am seeing God do that work.

The only sadness that I feel today is for our own nation. While a nation that has long been under Satan's domination is turning to God with total commitment, our nation, founded on Godly values has rejected God and rapidly trying to forget that his name even exists. Let us pray for revival.

Jerry

(all photos from the road between Cap and Port)

Happy Valentine's Day!

baby, it's cold outside...

...where YOU are, of course. It's gorgeous and downright HOT here! :) Wanted to share some of the beauty of the day with you.

Cammie returned from Port-au-Prince yesterday afternoon, so we had one more wonderful evening with her (and the community that kept coming to see her :) before she returned to snowy Colorado today. So thankful, so thankful, for good friends! Being so far from all of our family and most of our good friends makes us so greatly appreciate a few precious hours of actual "face time" with a dear friend. We always need encouraged towards Christ!

Then today I came down with what everyone else seems to have had, and am feeling awful. I have so many blogs working in my heart and head as the Lord speaks and shows Himself to me in quiet, and vibrant, ways. So thankful that He is a god that communicates with His children. PROMISE a better blog tomorrow!

Poinsettia's grow behind our house year-round, so if anyone is looking for a discount poinsettia supplier for next year's church Christmas decor... :)

AH, not sure if we could love this sweet cheeked, grass/flower/bug/dog-food/stick/rock-eating baby any more...

Thank you, from the depths of our being, for all of your prayers...How much we need them and count on His presence and the presence of your prayers.