lovely time

Our dear friends at NorthRidge sent us to the beach today, which was EXACTLY what we all needed today.  

No power problems.  No internet problems.  No phones, no cooking, no classes.  

It. was. great.

just time to play

time to talk

time with friends

 time to explore

 time to REST.

On the way home we passed the banana man and pulled back into real life...

...which after a day away, feels like a good thing again!

THANK YOU, NorthRidge, for taking us out...from Kansas.  Lovely to be loved.

a beautiful new year

BARON - part 2

With all of the internet and power issues we've been having, Emily's just now getting part two of the story together from Junior and our students trip to Baron this summer!  LOVE IT!  

If you never read part one, start there!

I have a bunch of really powerful videos to share with you from that time, as well, but...needless to say, it would be more likely that you would come and SEE Baron before a video would actually upload right now...even many of these pictures, just carried over from Emily's blog, won't finish loading...I'm sorry!

NONETHELESS...

Read on...and enjoy!

The team of 9 left for Baron in a tap tap- singing, talking, joking, laughing... 

When they arrived at the point where they couldn’t go any further in a vehicle, they unloaded and reloaded the supplies on horses to be taken up to Baron.  

The Road to Baron...

Junior pointed out the mountain they would climb and they could hardly believe it!  Throughout the difficult hike, he continued to remind them about Luke 9:23 and denying themselves!  They almost lost belongings along the way, everyone was hot and tired and overwhelmed, but they continued on together... all the water they brought with them was gone when they arrived... they were spent!

As they came into Baron, they realized that the people were preparing a meal for them- which was such a huge blessing after a LONG hike!  They spent time putting up the tents and getting settled in, but they were all very thirsty.  Praise God that Junior came with the portable water systems so that they could drink the water once they retrieved it.  

They then walked to get the water from a very small spring that is 20-30 minutes away from the village (the only “drinking” water for the entire village at that time).  

He also showed them the area where they would hike to bathe and wash clothes- a ravine where everyone in the village goes and where the animals drink.  It was NOT a good place… and another LONG hike!

The Water Project Begins...

After that Junior said it was time to go and visit the place where God told him to put the hand pump.  They walked over to an area of grass where Junior said God told him to dig.  Everyone told him that there wasn’t water there... but they jumped right in and began to dig anyway.  

As they dug deeper and deeper they found mud... 

and then deeper and deeper they found water!  There was so much more work to be done in the coming days... but knowing that God had led them to THIS spot and provided water to a community SO in need was awesome... God is faithful!!! 

Food in Baron...

When they got back from digging the hole, they found that they had killed a hog for them for dinner (NOT a common meal for any of the students!)  They ate the meal of pork and rice and continued to eat that meat the next few days.  For breakfast they had coffee and cassava (a flat bread that is made out of manyok- a root that grows here in Haiti) and for lunch they had pork and rice.  In Luke 10 Jesus told His disciples to eat what was offered to them... and they were doing the same thing.  [In fact, after a week of eating the same pork (in a place without refrigeration), they questioned whether or not it was safe... but they continued to eat and be thankful... and God took care of them. No one got sick- praise the Lord!    After a while they killed a goat and they went through the same process as with the pig... and yet God continued to keep them well and healthy!]  They also ate LOTS of pineapple and grilled corn (both were plentiful at that time- and really good!)

Sleeping in Baron...

Sleeping was another “interesting” and challenging part of the trip.  The first night the guys slept in the big tent set up inside of a school building and the girls slept in the tent outside.

On the second night there was a group of people called “Gapot”- voodoo people who were trying to harm them.  During the night, several of them came by the girls tent and began making loud noises and hovering outside.  The girls prayed and called out to the guys for help... and they disappeared.  The guys knew that they needed to forget about the big tent and set up the other small tent outside next to the girls tent.  

The next night another person came by and tried to harm them too... but God protected them. Not only was the spiritual warfare difficult but the ground was so hard that it was very uncomfortable to sleep.  But they continued to remind themselves of their purpose.  It was ALL worth it!

Just BEING in Baron...

As soon as they arrived, everyone on the team wanted to know what the plan was for each day and they kept asking Junior.  But he wanted to leave the agenda planning to God.  He knew that this trip was not about DOING for God but about BEING with God.  He told them that they were to ask God each day what HE wanted them to do.  They started each morning at 6am with group devotions and prayer time. 

They began with a discussion of who has the highest priority in their lives- and these verses were the main focus of their trip to Bahon- Luke 9:23 (deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Christ) and Mark 3:14 (Jesus appointed 12 disciples to be WITH Him so that He might SEND them out to preach).  They left the plan to Jesus-  through being with Him they would know what He wanted them to do!   

Like Paul said in 1 Timothy about being vessels that are clean and ready to be used whenever God wants to use you.  Each day Junior went over what it means to be a Christian (Galatians 2:20- it is not us that lives but Christ who lives in us!)  and that we can do NOTHING apart from Christ.  He encouraged them to go spend time with God alone each day- a rendezvous with God- to hear from Him and to know what He wants them to do.  This made a HUGE impact on the lives of those who went on the trip.  He asked them what the cross meant for them... they all shared things like- the symbol of salvation, the suffering of Christ, the symbol of trials and persecution- but Junior reminded them that the cross has five parts: (and he wanted to be sure that I shared this with YOU too!)

*the foot of the cross- at the bottom of the vertical post- is the WORD- God came down to man and gave them His Word and we are to be rooted in it. 

*the center of the cross- which is CHRIST. Through Him we have reconciliation with God and free access to Him 

*the top of the vertical post of the cross- is PRAYER. Our relationship with Christ provides us the opportunity to have a direct line to God through prayer. Prayer is SO very important.

*the right side of the horizontal post-is FELLOWSHIP with believers and showing love to others is a necessary part of our walk with the Lord.

*the left side is WITNESSING to others about Christ through our words and our actions. 

If we have a relationship with Christ- through prayer and the Word (the vertical) it will be lived out in our actions- through witnessing and fellowship (the horizontal).  
(These ideas are taken from the book Master Life).  

The beauty of this trip was that this team of students, alongside of Junior and Ezekiel, were able to live out all of these aspects of the Cross.  They were in the Word, spending an extended amount of time in prayer and fellowship, seeking people to witness to and share Christ's love with... what an amazing opportunity.

we do

I think we're all pretty much giving up on internet and power ever working well again.
So. Incredibly. Frustrating.

So we are moving on.

Carol is coming tomorrow!!  She is our CFO here at Emmaus and a dear friend, serving graciously and tireless, helping me continually, always patient...ah, we just can't wait to have her help and friendship these next few weeks!

Classes have started really well, and we're so thankful to have Chris here!

These last few days have been incredibly full, but we're had several powerful moments of recognizing the Lord's hand at work in different circumstances...reminding us that above all, our job is to stay as close to Him as we can...listening for His voice, trusting that HE knows the big picture and the heart, and follow after His voice--when we get it and when we don't.

Praise the Lord for His powerful presence in our lives...without His leading and His strength, I can't even IMAGINE where things would be on our own.

As always, the bottom line of each hurdle, move and stepping out is : Do you trust Me?

Every time we do, we see that God knows exactly what He is doing.

Victories

Our struggle continues to not be against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces...and so at the same time, our victories continue to not be those of this world, but spiritual.  Wouldn't have it any. other. way.

Junior preached on the armor of God at Belo's church on Sunday, and I am so thankful that God has given us EVERY thing that we need to FIGHT against sin, to FIGHT against darkness, to FIGHT against Satan.

He shared about a time he chopped off a boa constrictor's head (bear with me).  "His head was off.  I knew he was going to die.  There was no turning the situation around.  Yet, for several minutes after his head was off, the huge body of the boa continued to writhe and plunge at me."

June compared it to our battle with Satan.  It IS finished.  Jesus has already conquered, we have already found victory, death could not hold him, we have complete victory in Jesus.

And yet, though we KNOW all of this, Satan continues to writhe and plunge at our lives, still seeking to destroy and kill.  It is easy to allow the enemy to win those battles by giving way to worry, defeat, depression, sin and quitting...

WE CANNOT!  

He has already won, and we must not weep and cower under our hardships like those who have no Hope!  We must continue to fight the battles before us with the joy and knowledge and determination of those who have victory in the power of His blood!

Because Christ has defeated Satan, WE can only be defeated by the enemy by our choice...by living and working by our own power for our own motives with our own strategies on our own strength.

Ain't nobody got time for that 'round here, and I challenge you to join us as victorious warriors of a battle that is ALREADY FINISHED.

Wow, that was not what I set out to share today.  

OK, updates. They are many, they are beautiful (mostly) and they are being shared for His Glory and with great Faith that the Living God is at work!

1) He who calls us is Faithful. --1 Thess. 5:24

Thanks to almost 20 donors world-wide, every penny that we asked for as urgent needs a week ago has been given.  Praise the Lord!

We needed $3000 for our generator issues, and a beautiful someone gave $5000.  While we continue to struggle with many power issues and nothing has been resolved yet, we have the money to run the generator extra because of this, and have been able to order EVERY part we have needed.  

We needed $10,000 for start-up costs, and as of this morning, the whole $10,00 has been given and much of it has been used to purchase food, fuel, propane and internet parts also fried in the storm.

We even needed one last sponsor for one last student, Louis Claudin, for last school year, and last night, a woman emailed saying it was covered.

You know how?  They needed a new roof, and the labor was going to cost $1500.  Their men's Bible study group did all the labor for free, and choose Louis to receive the pay in their place.  I mean, do you have goosebumps like I do?  How creative and beautiful is that?  

THANK YOU for your prayers and help!  We stand in awe that this huge mountain of need is leveled.  

2) Devoted to Prayer. --Romans 12:12

This year our staff is getting together every Monday morning before classes for a repeat of our beautiful prayer time during staff retreat.  What an AWEsome dedication of the new school year that was yesterday morning, and I continue to be so thankful for the hearts our staff have to please Him.

3) The imprint of the nails.  --John 20:25

While power-washing a roof on Friday, Phil slipped, putting a nail through his foot.  While blood streaming down the roof and the pain he is still in today isn't beautiful, he could have fallen...he could have not had his tetanus, and it could have been worse.  We are so thankful for Phil and our whole maintenance, yard, electrical staff...and thankful for the way the Lord continues to protect them while they are at work doing jobs rendered much harder by the lack of a Lowe's, tools, and emergency care :)

4) Give attention to exhortation and teaching. --1 Tim. 4:13

Yesterday began our first day in the classrooms at EBS!  What a joy to finally, after much prep and support raising, traveling, paperwork and interviews, to finally be DOING what Emmaus does best...disciple into a Biblical worldview by teaching and living a Biblical worldview.  One of our visiting professors, Dr. Chris, didn't make it in quite in time, so Matt started out Systematic Theology with second and third year...

and Junior started in on Missiology with first and fourth year!

Add in a fantastic kick-off chapel service about the equipping of Emmaus and the filling of the Holy Spirit...yeah.  It's an exciting new year at Emmaus with 54 (and counting) students and great days ahead!

5) We who had sweet fellowship together walked in the house of God. --Psalm 55:14

While the Weavers are only able to join us for about four weeks this semester, it is still good to have them for a time, and the times of fellowship and prayer our team continues to share are of great encouragement and blessing to Matt and I.

So thankful to be fighting TOGETHER

and to have beautiful family such as these...

...getting together around the world to be praying for us and for Emmaus!  What a great joy and enforcement as we all persevere!

We continue to have major complicated power issues, major complicated internet issues (that are exasperating us to no end!) and major work on our plates...but it with joy that we continue to report and hear and see and know Him FAITHFUL.

Thank you for standing with us!

staff retreat and a new year...

While we were confident that having staff retreat at our house this year would help save money and build intimacy with our team of twenty-five...I've got to admit come Friday night, I wasn't so sure it was a good idea.  What if everyone was upset that we couldn't afford to take them to the restaurant in town?  What if no one liked our American food?  What if everyone was disappointed?

I did everything I could.  Asked Noel to come watch the kids.  Asked Gertha to come help me make lunch.  Asked Emily to make pizza and coleslaw to go with the baked spaghetti.  Made the cookies the day before.  Made more than I thought we'd need.  Bought three cases of Cokes and Tampicos.  Mopped and prayed.  

And as soon as our family started arriving, I knew it was going to be ok.  They're fabulous.  We were together.  It would be good.

It wasn't good.  It was GREAT.

We started with lots of worship and hymns, Matt shared a devotional, went through some business, had lots of snacks, brought in all the fans, and ended with an hour of prayer that was fabulous.  

Each department sat in the middle, shared prayer requests, Matt encouraged each person who had anything that needed forgiven or any apologies needed to do so, and then one person would lead the group prayer for that group while everyone else prayed for them softly.  It was AWESOME.  

Powerful, meaningful, intimate, transforming.

Don't get me wrong.  It was a lot of work, but serving this special group of men and woman as we all head into a new year together was SO sweet.  

And I don't know why I was worried about the food :)  Two pizzas, 3 heaping 9x13's of baked spaghetti, six dozen cookies, a huge bowl of coleslaw and two cases of Coke and Sprite...check!

So thankful for the men and women God has hemmed into the Emmaus family, so thankful for an amazing day together on Saturday, so thankful that He continues to WORK and SHOW UP and be present in the concerns that we have.  So thankful for a fantastic student retreat, for joyful reunion with our students, for new classes beginning tomorrow, for continual prayer, for His continual presence.

Update for the many asking...

the power situation is complicated and pretty much the same.

No power when the generator is off, running the generator as little as possible, hot nights.

HUGE shout out tonight to one of our visitors, Bob, who is paying to run the generator all night tonight!  Our first night in weeks with power...  whoo-hoo!