30 April 2012
flight issues
Matt, Lucner, Vilmer and Maria's flight, after departing Fort Lauderdale this morning, had some problems and after an hour had to return to Fort Lauderdale. They are still waiting in Fort Lauderdale now (the airline into Haiti is VERY small and doesn't have any "back up planes") and hoping to still come in today... we're starting to wonder, though.
Very thankful for their safety...but going a bit crazy here during finals week, graduation week, financial and course registration week, EBS board meetings week...and the entire administration (and Daddy!) isn't here. Whew! Fanfan, Belony and I are trying to wear a lot of hats and hold down the fort!
Please be praying for all involved and for a good safe flight later today!!
Very thankful for their safety...but going a bit crazy here during finals week, graduation week, financial and course registration week, EBS board meetings week...and the entire administration (and Daddy!) isn't here. Whew! Fanfan, Belony and I are trying to wear a lot of hats and hold down the fort!
Please be praying for all involved and for a good safe flight later today!!
28 April 2012
CONGRATS!
This morning, Matt graduated with his masters in Biblical Literature and Vilmer and Lucner with their Masters of Divinity! We are so proud :) The girls and I celebrated from a distance today, but we are SO glad that several good friends and family were able to be there...Thanks Daddy, Chris, Martin, Dr. Bill...
Meanwhile, Aunt Elisa is here helping me hold down the fort, which has been OH-SO appreciated! AND, she, Aunt Mia and Deb made us these GORGEOUS new couch and chair cushion covers. We've had the same ones since we move to Haiti five year ago, and they were...NASTY. These new ones are SO beautiful, and custom made. THANK YOU girls SO MUCH! From a woman who can't sew a button on, I am so impressed and grateful!!
The guys will be home Monday, Lord willing!
27 April 2012
becoming bel
I thought the bushes looked fine. Very...natural. Lots of flowers, lots of leaves, and I've gotten used to ducking around them each time I come in or out of the house. That's how I like them!
But Edlin would NOT let up today. First, he came and said the house was looking rather led. You might remember from a few blogs ago that he's callin' my house Ugly.
I smiled brightly and shrugged. But a few hours later he was back, asking if I had any "giant scissor things" with which he could surprise Pastor Matt in his absence and trim up.
"Nope," I said again. "No giant scissor things. It's not that bad! When Matt comes back, I'll have him trim."
But not an hour later, Edlin sprinted back to the door, noting that he had some free time and literally taking me by the hand to our neighbors house, and pointed to a violent looking pair of giant scissor things propped against the door with an almost heavenly glow of predestination.
I couldn't say no.
"I will make it SO bel!" Edlin gushed excitedly.
Just a few days ago, I watched a different friend prepare for graduation by entirely annihilating a full wall of blossoms in the name of "making it bel."
I couldn't say no, but I couldn't watch, either. The kids and I went to see 2nd year students beat 3rd year in the big end-of-the-year soccer match, and I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes off the house, reminding myself that they were just flowers.
Oh man. OH man. It's bad. So so bad.
The beautiful arch of blossoms framing my door is all over our front yard, and instead dozens of leafy stakes are standing 4 feet tall around my door, just high enough to avoid being an impalement hazard for the kids.
Everything is gone. Every beautiful red bloom, every creative spray of green--seeking out it's own path, every wild curve of life.
"Ta-dah!" Edlin said, beaming. "Now, in a few months, it will be just BEAUTIFUL."
"Thanks..." I smiled faintly as he bounded off, as satisfied of a grim reaper as ever there was :)
What about by Wednesday, I couldn't help thinking, when the EBS board comes to stay with us? What about by Saturday, when graduation is being held in our yard? What about Monday, when Matt gets home and sees this!?
Still, I couldn't help but laugh with Kerline and Naomi later this afternoon when they shrugged at my distress and sweetly suggested I try watering it every day and see :)
It seems cliche, but as I cleaned up the yard in the dark tonight after I got the girls down for bed, I asked the Lord to show me something from this silly incident, and He is.
So often, I think my life looks just fine. Yeah, there might be some holiness lacking or some shortcomings in my attitude, and sure, I might be pursing my own wild path, but--it's "natural." That's just "me"! "That's the way God made me" I've heard from others and from myself so many times.
But I realized tonight that that's no excuse. That doesn't mean God wants to leave us wild and natural. Doesn't mean that God doesn't have something far better in store. Something more beautiful.
Don't get me wrong...God's pruning does not often FEEL beautiful or LOOK beautiful...at least not at first. But His plans for us--to give us a hope and a future, to be righteous as He is righteous, to live set apart in a world that is consumed with itself, to be in RIGHT relationship with Himself--will have beautiful results.
We've known quite a few people in our lives who have walked away from the Lord when the trimming started, much as I did today. We like Him loving us, we like Him making us, but the reality is that we don't much mind who we are, we are comfortable in our sin and lostness, and when it comes down to it, pruning is painful and leaves you feeling ugly. No thanks.
Not only is is it painful when we let God point out and cut back places of ourselves that aren't of Him, but it can be shameful, just as I will be embarrassed on Wednesday when our house guests come. I definitely didn't want anyone seeing our yard looking like this, and there is nothing I can do to fix it.
The pruning WAS painful--though I admit--necessary, and the immediate result is embarrassing and impossible to hide, but I know Edlin is right. In a few months, it WILL be beautiful. Disciplined, full of fruitful blossoms, shaped...Beautiful.
Is God sending/allowing some Edlins in our lives today? Reminders that our free, natural self is far from the beauty that He desires our lives to be? Reminders that our attitudes, our desires, our spending, our hobbies, our speech, our focuses...have some pruning to be done? Some shaping?
I'm asking (OK, I'm TRYING to ask) the Lord to show me those wayward branches in my life, and to prune them.
I'm praying for strength and courage to ask the Lord to chop away. To grab some--if need be--scary looking giant scissor things and go at my life. It may mean some ugly days. Some wounded pride. Some unexpected results.
Ok, it WILL mean some ugly days and wounded pride. I know of one relationship right of the bat that God's been asking me to let Him work on for a while now and I've been clinging to my own undomesticated way.
But if our eyes are set on things above and not on earthly things, on future beauty and bright hope for the distance, on being His and not our own, then we can welcome, even ASK for, the pruning.
At the end of the day, I want to look like I'm always being shaped by Him...not like natural Stacey.
Even if it makes natural Stacey look like, well...this.
I smiled brightly and shrugged. But a few hours later he was back, asking if I had any "giant scissor things" with which he could surprise Pastor Matt in his absence and trim up.
"Nope," I said again. "No giant scissor things. It's not that bad! When Matt comes back, I'll have him trim."
But not an hour later, Edlin sprinted back to the door, noting that he had some free time and literally taking me by the hand to our neighbors house, and pointed to a violent looking pair of giant scissor things propped against the door with an almost heavenly glow of predestination.
I couldn't say no.
"I will make it SO bel!" Edlin gushed excitedly.
Just a few days ago, I watched a different friend prepare for graduation by entirely annihilating a full wall of blossoms in the name of "making it bel."
I couldn't say no, but I couldn't watch, either. The kids and I went to see 2nd year students beat 3rd year in the big end-of-the-year soccer match, and I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes off the house, reminding myself that they were just flowers.
Oh man. OH man. It's bad. So so bad.
The beautiful arch of blossoms framing my door is all over our front yard, and instead dozens of leafy stakes are standing 4 feet tall around my door, just high enough to avoid being an impalement hazard for the kids.
Everything is gone. Every beautiful red bloom, every creative spray of green--seeking out it's own path, every wild curve of life.
"Ta-dah!" Edlin said, beaming. "Now, in a few months, it will be just BEAUTIFUL."
"Thanks..." I smiled faintly as he bounded off, as satisfied of a grim reaper as ever there was :)
What about by Wednesday, I couldn't help thinking, when the EBS board comes to stay with us? What about by Saturday, when graduation is being held in our yard? What about Monday, when Matt gets home and sees this!?
Still, I couldn't help but laugh with Kerline and Naomi later this afternoon when they shrugged at my distress and sweetly suggested I try watering it every day and see :)
It seems cliche, but as I cleaned up the yard in the dark tonight after I got the girls down for bed, I asked the Lord to show me something from this silly incident, and He is.
So often, I think my life looks just fine. Yeah, there might be some holiness lacking or some shortcomings in my attitude, and sure, I might be pursing my own wild path, but--it's "natural." That's just "me"! "That's the way God made me" I've heard from others and from myself so many times.
But I realized tonight that that's no excuse. That doesn't mean God wants to leave us wild and natural. Doesn't mean that God doesn't have something far better in store. Something more beautiful.
Don't get me wrong...God's pruning does not often FEEL beautiful or LOOK beautiful...at least not at first. But His plans for us--to give us a hope and a future, to be righteous as He is righteous, to live set apart in a world that is consumed with itself, to be in RIGHT relationship with Himself--will have beautiful results.
We've known quite a few people in our lives who have walked away from the Lord when the trimming started, much as I did today. We like Him loving us, we like Him making us, but the reality is that we don't much mind who we are, we are comfortable in our sin and lostness, and when it comes down to it, pruning is painful and leaves you feeling ugly. No thanks.
Not only is is it painful when we let God point out and cut back places of ourselves that aren't of Him, but it can be shameful, just as I will be embarrassed on Wednesday when our house guests come. I definitely didn't want anyone seeing our yard looking like this, and there is nothing I can do to fix it.
The pruning WAS painful--though I admit--necessary, and the immediate result is embarrassing and impossible to hide, but I know Edlin is right. In a few months, it WILL be beautiful. Disciplined, full of fruitful blossoms, shaped...Beautiful.
Is God sending/allowing some Edlins in our lives today? Reminders that our free, natural self is far from the beauty that He desires our lives to be? Reminders that our attitudes, our desires, our spending, our hobbies, our speech, our focuses...have some pruning to be done? Some shaping?
I'm asking (OK, I'm TRYING to ask) the Lord to show me those wayward branches in my life, and to prune them.
I'm praying for strength and courage to ask the Lord to chop away. To grab some--if need be--scary looking giant scissor things and go at my life. It may mean some ugly days. Some wounded pride. Some unexpected results.
Ok, it WILL mean some ugly days and wounded pride. I know of one relationship right of the bat that God's been asking me to let Him work on for a while now and I've been clinging to my own undomesticated way.
But if our eyes are set on things above and not on earthly things, on future beauty and bright hope for the distance, on being His and not our own, then we can welcome, even ASK for, the pruning.
At the end of the day, I want to look like I'm always being shaped by Him...not like natural Stacey.
Even if it makes natural Stacey look like, well...this.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit,
He takes away;
and every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,
for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15
24 April 2012
students
The same jokes this first year class was giving each other four years ago...
were the SAME jokes they were ragging each other with today! I can't believe these students are about to graduate! The above photo has dwindled down to 10 over the years, but they have truly grown as men, as brothers, as pastors and we pray, as servants.
I always get all choked up and motherly this time of the year. Most of these guys might be older than me, but working alongside of them these past years and seeing their ministries and walks with Christ deepen has me so proud. As with every graduating class, they are ready to be done with tests and studying, but hesitant to leave the unique family and community they've been a part of this past four years.
They're not the only ones moving on! Sofia is off, darting from person to person and taking up to 8 or 9 steps to get from one place or another. She still wants a finger or skirt hem to keep her confident, but I'm having to face that my little baby isn't so little anymore!
We were blessed Sunday to be able to drive the hour to Giselaine's church and to be a part of the worship service there.
Both Sofia and Lily know Giselaine as "Granny"...she spoils them, brings them treats, pushes them on the tire swing, and dotes on them. Sofie was quite content to hang with Granny most of the service, and didn't mind one bit being an active part of the "announcements."
Matt had the privilege of preaching, and it was just all around a blessing to be a part of His Body in Grison-Guarde.
School with Lily has been going a lot better...As soon as Sofie is down for her nap we get to work, and with tons of patience, changing it up, and the occasional jelly bean, Lily's able to focus and work through lessons a lot better than she could at the beginning.
As we've been working on the m, s and a sounds, she realized today that she could use the "L-I-L-Y" she already knows and the new "M-S-A" to write Aunt "Lisa", which excited her to no end!
So thankful that from beginning to end there is so much learning, growing and maturing to be done in Him. His Word is truly new every day and this walk with Him one that never need grow stagnant!
22 April 2012
Rules the Day
Our video about life and ministry in Haiti for this summer is almost finished. I just needed one more photo...something to do with light. Sofie was up what seemed 100 times last night, so finally around 5:30 I just got up...and decided to climb the antenna tower and get some shots of the sun rising.
I got up there too early. But I wasn't going to come down and go back up, so I hung out for a while, suspended in the ever lightening sky. There are not a lot of completely silent moments in my life anymore, and even though I could see neighbors wakening and starting fires all around, no one even knew I was there...totally still.
Birds flew by right at eye level, and looking down at the towering mango trees and at the places that God has called us to teach and to share His Word, I felt incredibly blessed.
My thoughts drifted to Linda, a young woman who is dying in a small house, now tiny, right below me. Maybe she's dying of AIDS. Maybe it's some form of cancer. She doesn't know, and the doctors told her there was nothing they could do, so for 6 months, she's been lying in bed. Just dying.
A few days ago, with Matt, Junior, Rosie, Leandre and Augustin sitting around her, she asked Jesus to be HER Jesus. Overcome to the point of streaming tears over her sins-now-pardoned, Linda's smile has turned sweet. Deep. Sincere.
When we visited again yesterday, she seemed unaware of the horrific shape of her earthly body. Unable to even lift her head, her skin is pulled tightly over each bone, her elbow, wrist and knee joints seeming huge compared to the rest of the body.
Laying unmoving our whole visit, Linda grinned and grinned, seemingly uninterested in her physical life. She smiled at the girls. Talked to us about the Bible her limp hand was resting on. Introduced me to her son, Frantz, who is almost 12...though she is just 25.
I prayed for Linda, snapping shots from time to time. Thanked God for her joy and the way it is quite subconsciously touching me, just as the warmth of the sun started penetrating my skin almost the moment its head appeared. Thanked God for another day in this world, and for the day we won't be in it anymore. Thanked God for sleeping friends below, for our families. Thanked God for you.
Thanked God for awakening the sun and pulling it up over the mountains, reminding the world again Who rules the heavens...Who rules the earth...Who rules the tides of the world and of life...Thanked God for reminding me Who rules my life, and for ruling it.
19 April 2012
worthy
Yesterday we were driving home from Bible Study when Lily took note of the large red and blue flags waving over the voodoo temple that marks the beginning of Saccanville.
"Look, Mom!" she pointed excitedly. "Look at the pretty flags! Why are they waving?"
"To give God glory, my dear," immediately popped out of my mouth, before I even dwelt on the truth of the statement.
The answer I always give to visitors who ask the same question is a bit of an explanation about the use of flags in voodoo to signify which demon spirits are present when, along with a bit of the history of voodoo in Saccanville.
But yesterday I believe the Lord put a deeper truth on my tongue.
They do wave for His glory.
Something doesn't have to be intended for His glory to be such. Something doesn't have to be credited to Him for Him to receive credit. Something doesn't have to be intended for good to be used for good.
If it is true that we were ALL made for His glory and that the earth was made for His glory, then it can be true that flags intended to wave for Satan can blow in the breeze for His pleasure.
...then it can be true that children born to become mighty witchdoctors can instead preach the Gospel boldly without fear, to His glory. You know, like Junior.
...then it can be true that painful things I don't understand, nor ever will, can bring unseen glory to His name. Like our friend's miraculous could-not-happen pregnancy that ended three months too soon as her baby girl died in her arms yesterday.
...then it can be true that scary things, like our friend Bud having a terrible fall this morning, can bring praise to His name and glory unknown. (He's ok...kindof.)
...then it can be true that a place like Haiti can be a beautiful ointment for His feet, that a little village of hard, self focused people can bring a sacrifice of praise, that a frail, fallen, foreign woman on even her worst days can be a sweet aroma unto Him.
Praise the Lord for that!
"To give God Glory, my dear."
Worthy are You
Our Lord and Our God
to receive Glory and Honor and Power
for You created all things
and because of You they exist
Rev 4:11
18 April 2012
comin' your way...
These next months are shaping up to be busy ones! There's a good chance we're going to be in your corner of the world this summer, and if so, we would LOVE to see you.
This is from our first speaking days, when we shared our "predestination" for Haiti :) As kids, Matt was always dirty, and I was always cold!
Here's a list of where we'll be sharing pictures, stories and the Gospel formally this summer...Click on any date/place to be directed to the web-site, where you can find times, directions, etc.
MAY 14 - JUNE 7 Matt: Nottingham, England Stacey, Lily and Sofia: Columbus, OH (what??? update on this soon!)
***We're also looking at a possible Canada run, so for our Maple Leaf family, stay tuned!
We're leaving our Haiti Home this summer to try to get as close to you as possible! Even if one of these churches is not your home church, we'd LOVE to have you drive a ways and come hear and see a bit about life and ministry in Haiti, and we'd LOVE some time to catch up with you! 
You are more than welcome to join us at any event, or jot us an email and see if we can catch up with you some other time/place.
15 April 2012
help for the journey
When we first moved to Haiti in 2007, we were 23, teaching classes at EBS, learning the language and the culture of Haiti and blessed to be a part of what God was doing. Maybe you followed those first blogs!
Suddenly, our five year term is drawing to a close, Lily and Sofie are playing in two languages, we are living in a culture that feels like home, and we are working alongside and leading Emmaus staff and students in training and taking the Gospel throughout Haiti.
We didn't come to Haiti until we were fully funded, and for five years, thanks to His provision through many of YOU, we have not had to personally support raise. At ALL. Thank you.
However, with our fifth year drawing to a close, two additional Ayars, increased field costs and inflation, we are no longer fully funded.
We need your help.
The vision God put on our hearts when we first came to Haiti to help Emmaus Biblical Seminary become an independent, faithful, nationally-led and blossoming training center has not changed.
In the last five years, EBS has moved to its new campus, is almost entirely Haitian led and staffed, is teaching a curriculum that is vital for the Haitian church, and is truly equipping and empowering Haitian leaders to faithfully interpret and teach the Gospel.
God continues to help us teach the Gospel HERE:
So that it can be preached HERE:
Making a difference HERE.
In the last five years, EBS has moved to its new campus, is almost entirely Haitian led and staffed, is teaching a curriculum that is vital for the Haitian church, and is truly equipping and empowering Haitian leaders to faithfully interpret and teach the Gospel.
God continues to help us teach the Gospel HERE:
And HERE:
And HERE:
The work is not yet done, and we feel renewed, passionate and confident about His continued call on our lives to be a part of His work in Haiti through EBS.
It is with JOY that we continue to see the fulfillment of the specific purpose for which we were created and born again.
Will you continue--or start--to join us?
We need your continued partnership, and an additional $2000 US per month, to continue ministering in Haiti!
Pray. Think. Talk.
We need your help for the journey, and as challenging as it is for us to ask, it is with joy that we invite you to share in the sweet work of building and strengthening His kingdom in Haiti.
However you feel led to give is exactly what we need. He knows your needs and ours and we trust Him fully to provide for us each!
THANK YOU!
We are so grateful for your help, and continue to stand on His faithfulness and provision through you!
We are so grateful for your help, and continue to stand on His faithfulness and provision through you!
or mail checks and a note of your partnership intent (one-time, monthly, annually) to:
OMS
PO Box A
Greenwood, IN 46142
AYARS 802336
We're hitting the road this summer to share testimonies of what He's doing here in Haiti through US (by His grace) and through YOU (by His grace).
We'll post that calendar here in a few days...
ANY questions or comments, PLEASE email! staceyhaiti@gmail.com
We'll post that calendar here in a few days...
ANY questions or comments, PLEASE email! staceyhaiti@gmail.com
13 April 2012
my led camera
Yesterday, we ended up with a jam-packed truck in the rain to go see Gertha and baby Thalia, who just turned 6 months old! OH MAN, she is ADORABLE. I've never seen such a young one with so much hair!
Lily ADORES Thalia (I wish she was so motherly with her own sister :)
...and Thalia adores Lily.
Try as I might, it is impossible to get my sisters to pose smiling. Smiling is "led" (ugly) and there's just nothing I can do to change their minds. The ladies also hated this group of pix because they said "the lighting makes us look black."
When I said that makes absolutely NO sense, and that there is NO way any camera in any lighting was going to NOT make them look black, I got everyone laughing, which gave me this picture, which everyone hates even more. Led smiling.
I don't pretend to understand this culture :) My own culture has me baffled half the time!
But I am grateful for a fun day, a great/crazy evening with 14 around the dinner table and to see Gertha, laughing, walking, and feeling good! Praise the Lord.
Another praise for prayer: This morning at 7, eight students left with a medical team and Dr. Rodney for a village about 3 hours from here to do a long weekend of medical treatment and evangelism. Every patient the doctors and nurses see will then spend time with one of the students, being prayed for and having the Gospel shared with them.
I was almost sick with envy this morning when they pulled out...That is the EXACT kind of thing I most love to do (and I know Cammie was green with me), but the little ones aren't quite ready for three full days without mom.
However, Junior took my camera with him and we'll be praying fervently throughout the weekend for lots of seeds to be planted, for the healing hands of Jesus to touch bodies AND hearts, and for this awesome kingdom building opportunity!
11 April 2012
Random Catch-Ups!
Did Sam and Cammie make it?
Yes they did! Sam, Cammie, Gideon, Azariah and Abigail are quickly fitting back into the landscape of Emmaus Biblical Seminary, enjoying cool-ish weather and trying to get settled in. Lily is in some kind of kid heaven, and from the moment she wakes up to the bedtime hour is asking, "Can I go play with my friends?" Thanks for your continued prayers while their family transitions! You can follow their blog here.
How is Gertha doing?
Better. She is out of the hospital and staying with her sisters. Her incision is looking better, though she is still not able to walk around or lift anything at all. She has another appointment on the 16th. However, it seems that she is indeed on the road to recovery, and we are so thankful for this and for all your prayers! Micheline, Lily, Noel, Sofie and I are planning to go see her tomorrow afternoon.
How was Easter?
Matt preached at a sunrise service at 6:30 Sunday morning, and then we enjoyed a great concert at a church down the road Sunday evening. Lily dyed eggs and ate lots of candy, though she was far more interested in Barbie and Ken's reenactment of the resurrection story, complete with Jesus being buried in a cement block until God raised Him up and a popsicle stick angel with pink feathers rolled away the rock. She was SO enthralled, and I can't wait to continue watching her grow in love and understanding of her Savior.
The students had fantastic Easters, most leading various services...all night prayer services, days of fasting and worship, foot-washing services, communion services, praise services and Easter day services. Junior, Jodenel and Blaise spent two days leading a conference on "Go Into All The World : Global Evangelism" from materials that they put together, and it was packed out with over 200 participants and tons of great discussion and brainstorming.
Several students are now preparing to go with a current medical team to the mountains to do a three day mobile medical clinic. The students plan to work alongside, sharing the gospel with each patient.
Is Matt ever going to be done with his Masters?
YES! He is finishing the last stretch now, and is then required back at Wesley in Jackson for a final session and for graduation on April 28th! I (praise the Lord!) have dear Maria and Elisa coming for that solo stretch and to help us prepare for hosting the EBS board and wives for their meetings here starting on May 2nd.
How is Women's Bible Study?
Oh man! It is SO good! There are so many good conversations, Godly transformations and sisterly encouragement and sharpening happening during this 90 minutes each Wednesday, I can hardly stand it. Next week we finish Philippians, and I've just been SO incredibly blessed to be a part of this holy time.
As we were reading in Phil. 4 today, one of my sisters burst out, "That is me! I do that! Oh, He is convicting my spirit!" No one comforted her and told her her sin was ok. And no one condemned or judged her, either. Instead, we prayed with her, and prayed together that our spirits would be so anxious for Him and soft to Him that He would convict us each to Holy living with His Word.
Growing alongside of these women is such a joy, and I usually forget I'm even leading it. It's just as it should be!
If I haven't mentioned it lately, His Word is just such a good, complete and perfect thing.
What are you guys working on lately?
Matt is teaching several courses right now, and I'm still teaching English five mornings a week. We've both been working a ton on EBS's new website (reveal coming soon!) and it's almost finished! We're getting ready for graduation and board meetings, and I've been spending a lot of time on our speaking presentations for this summer...creating a short movie ("short" means 8000 hours to create), collecting pictures, working on mailings, etc. (Summer tour schedule coming soon!)
Matt's still leading missionary Bible study through John, and also re-joined the OMS Haiti field committee last week. We've been getting ready for Sam and Cam, holding Sofie's hand while she's charging around the house, working with Lily on the fruits of the Spirit and trying to get laundry dry in the last five days of rain!
Life continues to be very full, very dependent on Him, and very sweet!
Anything else you want to know?
Yes they did! Sam, Cammie, Gideon, Azariah and Abigail are quickly fitting back into the landscape of Emmaus Biblical Seminary, enjoying cool-ish weather and trying to get settled in. Lily is in some kind of kid heaven, and from the moment she wakes up to the bedtime hour is asking, "Can I go play with my friends?" Thanks for your continued prayers while their family transitions! You can follow their blog here.
How is Gertha doing?
Better. She is out of the hospital and staying with her sisters. Her incision is looking better, though she is still not able to walk around or lift anything at all. She has another appointment on the 16th. However, it seems that she is indeed on the road to recovery, and we are so thankful for this and for all your prayers! Micheline, Lily, Noel, Sofie and I are planning to go see her tomorrow afternoon.
How was Easter?
Matt preached at a sunrise service at 6:30 Sunday morning, and then we enjoyed a great concert at a church down the road Sunday evening. Lily dyed eggs and ate lots of candy, though she was far more interested in Barbie and Ken's reenactment of the resurrection story, complete with Jesus being buried in a cement block until God raised Him up and a popsicle stick angel with pink feathers rolled away the rock. She was SO enthralled, and I can't wait to continue watching her grow in love and understanding of her Savior.
The students had fantastic Easters, most leading various services...all night prayer services, days of fasting and worship, foot-washing services, communion services, praise services and Easter day services. Junior, Jodenel and Blaise spent two days leading a conference on "Go Into All The World : Global Evangelism" from materials that they put together, and it was packed out with over 200 participants and tons of great discussion and brainstorming.
Several students are now preparing to go with a current medical team to the mountains to do a three day mobile medical clinic. The students plan to work alongside, sharing the gospel with each patient.
Is Matt ever going to be done with his Masters?
YES! He is finishing the last stretch now, and is then required back at Wesley in Jackson for a final session and for graduation on April 28th! I (praise the Lord!) have dear Maria and Elisa coming for that solo stretch and to help us prepare for hosting the EBS board and wives for their meetings here starting on May 2nd.
How is Women's Bible Study?
Oh man! It is SO good! There are so many good conversations, Godly transformations and sisterly encouragement and sharpening happening during this 90 minutes each Wednesday, I can hardly stand it. Next week we finish Philippians, and I've just been SO incredibly blessed to be a part of this holy time.
As we were reading in Phil. 4 today, one of my sisters burst out, "That is me! I do that! Oh, He is convicting my spirit!" No one comforted her and told her her sin was ok. And no one condemned or judged her, either. Instead, we prayed with her, and prayed together that our spirits would be so anxious for Him and soft to Him that He would convict us each to Holy living with His Word.
Growing alongside of these women is such a joy, and I usually forget I'm even leading it. It's just as it should be!
If I haven't mentioned it lately, His Word is just such a good, complete and perfect thing.
What are you guys working on lately?
Matt is teaching several courses right now, and I'm still teaching English five mornings a week. We've both been working a ton on EBS's new website (reveal coming soon!) and it's almost finished! We're getting ready for graduation and board meetings, and I've been spending a lot of time on our speaking presentations for this summer...creating a short movie ("short" means 8000 hours to create), collecting pictures, working on mailings, etc. (Summer tour schedule coming soon!)
Matt's still leading missionary Bible study through John, and also re-joined the OMS Haiti field committee last week. We've been getting ready for Sam and Cam, holding Sofie's hand while she's charging around the house, working with Lily on the fruits of the Spirit and trying to get laundry dry in the last five days of rain!
Life continues to be very full, very dependent on Him, and very sweet!
Anything else you want to know?
09 April 2012
Inn for a Penny
What we DID get was that Dodo and Bubba were all about doing whatever they could to help us, which in the end was a thousand little things every day.
It's one thing to ask someone what you can do to help. But when they respond, "Come to Haiti, live with us for 6 weeks every semester, and take care of all the physical needs of total strangers, sometimes totally 10 or 12 at a time, with very limited resources available to you"...that's when you right-mindedly say, "Uh, no thanks, but I'll be praying!"
From offering a cup of cool water to strangers, to washing their dirty clothes, from preparing a feast that a toddler manages to mostly squash into the tile floor to feeding and caring for an ornery dog not their own...Dodo and Bubba ran "The Penny Inn" like our Lord Jesus...like servants.
Much of it was done just out of their love for Matt and I and for the girls who adore them, and man, we will always be touched deeply by that greatest showing of love, laying their lives down on our behalf!
I hope and pray that God is able to use Matt's and my "retirement" one day for His glory in a similarly powerful way!
THANK YOU, Dodo and Bubba! We love you!
Meanwhile, Sam, Cammie, Gideon, Azariah and Abigail move in on Tuesday morning, another great thing done out of someone's love for God and for us...we are blessed! Lily can't wait to have more friends next door, though she has told me several times that she "might be a little bit shy, like God made me, ok?" and we can't wait to have the help, not only physically, but all of the help that living in community as His body provides!
Please pray with us for both of these dear families and the transitions they are now in!
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