the day.

It was busy.  Add in packing, cooking, and preparing for the next three days, and here it was in pictures:

First, Lily took her final exams, then we picked her up early and headed for the hotel...I love when she and Sofie hold hands all by themselves :)

Picking up friends along the way, we took Mona, Edlin, Myolene, Granny and MaCodo to lunch to thank them for the thousands of lunches THEY served this semester.

Because we are totally out of time to pick a different day for Micheline, Gertha and Noel, they came too, and we added in our big "Thank you for all YOUR help this year" at the same time.  Multitasking.  

I don't know.  She's working on tree climbing :)

After I confronted them about not smiling (they know me!) in our family picture, I made Noel, Micheline and Gertha pose with me again :)

All the conversation, as always, was hilariously cross-cultural :)  Everyone is so ready for a break, that everyone was a bit giddy...really fun!

As soon as we got home, Lily's teacher came to visit...to say good-bye.  We had a great visit and I am just so thankful for both Madame Nata and Madame Rose and the patience, love and care they have shown Lily!

And here is our beautiful road I told you about!  Walking to visit neighbors...Saying Goodbye to people face-to-face is very important in this culture.  EVERY summer when we return there are a slew of people who come to tell us that we did NOT say goodbye, and how upsetting that was.  We're TRYING to get everyone this time :)

Roselore just delivered her fifth a week ago, and we needed to visit Lisline before leaving!

Sofie and her baby obsession continue...seriously, she goes NUTS over them.

I love this picture.  It's SO hot and stuffy, and so dark in the little mud hut that is their home, and there are so many children in that little room, including mine, and everyone was just happy.  Those moments are hard to capture...

 This little girl in the pink dress is Roselore's fourth, and the little girl in the back half-hiding is one of her twins.

Dr. Cooper comes in today, prayer meeting is at our house, Lily is finishing her final exams as we speak, we have a few more good-byes to do in the village, one last kid-movie night with our neighbors, and a lot of printing, folding, arranging and planning in the middle!  Praise the Lord!

Introducing...

Baby Wudens!

Yeah, it was Baby Wudlin.  But they decided yesterday that it was TOO close to Wudson (their other son.)  So now it's Wudens.   Yeah, I don't get it either.  

But frankly, I don't care what his name is.  He is ADORABLE.

The serious, professional family photo, Micheline, Benito and Baby W.  

So I made them laugh...and they will tell me this is ugly.  

But I like it anyway.  

Another miracle!

Micheline

You might remember our first Christmas in Haiti, the Christmas that Hershneice died.  She was Misheline's third child of four, and while a diagnosis was never really made, she had some kind of cancer that filled her stomach and starved her body.  

Micheline's husband had been gone for four years, working (or trying to) in the Dominican, was not able to come home for the funeral, and was gone another four years still.  

About 10 months ago, he finally retuned, and about 8 months ago, Micheline announced, rather depressed and overwhelmed, that they were pregnant.

While I know what a financial burden another child can be, it was too late to do anything about that, and so we encouraged Micheline instead that perhaps God was giving her a baby in her advanced years (she's 45) to bring her great joy in the continued shadow of losing Hershneice. 

On Friday, Lily, Sofie, Gertha, baby Thaliya, Noel and I headed to her house to see how she was, and found her still huge, still waiting for the new baby to come!  

After MUCH convincing that it was NOT a sin, NOR playing God to take guesses at when the baby would be born, Gertha secured the 19th as her guess, and was only off by a day!

We haven't met him yet, but yesterday (Tuesday) morning at 7:30, God did indeed give Micheline and Benito another little miracle.  Wudson, their son pictured in the first picture, wanted to name him Wudlin, after himself, and Benito has agreed!

Very thankful for a healthy baby, a healthy Micheline, a good delivery at her home, and can't WAIT to see them tomorrow!

just a few comments

1) We love when YOU comment!  Most times when I hit "Publish Post", I have no idea who's reading, what you think, if I am making any sense, if any of this matters to anyone, what is happening in your life, what the Lord is teaching you, anyone else's perspective, etc...  


When you comment, it turns my sharing into a conversation, and I love that!  Thank you for all the comments and emails from the recent Konpech blog.  Please leave comments when you have them!


2)  Oh crud.  Just to clarify, all I was talking about there was the fact that we now have yet ANOTHER dog--a baby,  whimper all night, there-is-NO-vet, Lily-will-not-put-it-down, I-just-stepped-in-another-piddle-puddle, Boone-stop-eating-the-puppy-- dog.  We did NOT need another needy little girl in our lives right now, and yet there was nothing I could do to say "no", so...meet Ella.  Who is also, of course, adorable.

3) Oh Crud was NOT at all talking about Konpech.  It was indeed a completely different evangelistic experience, but the Lord continues to really be speaking to my heart about Konpech and I am not in any way discouraged.  Neither is Junior.  

God's been patient with me, He loves the people of Konpech, He's given us a continued burden for sharing the Gospel with them, so...we will continue.

Since returning from there Tuesday, many Christians in the community have felt that they must share with me the foolishness of our efforts.  I have been well informed the past three days that the people of Konpech are the people of Satan and therefore beyond redemption, that we should NOT go there, should NOT "risk our lives" by trotting on that Satanic earth, absolutely should not touch anyone from Konpech, and was even instructed yesterday by concerned friends to immediately kill Ella, the "dog of Satan", to burn the body, and to be sure to keep it FAR from my children for fear that demons might attack them through the dog.

Yep.  Extra Extra: Those crazy missionaries living in Saccanville now have a dog-of-Satan playing with their small children.

Instead of being immensely frustrated and discouraged by this kind of a response from 'the church', I am instead trying (I say "trying" because it is taking great effort not to be discouraged here!) to use these as a great teachable moments.

If we live in fear of a 1-pound dog because we believe Satan lives in it and has power over us...how are we any different from those who follow Satan?   Can fear exist in our lives if Perfect Love has been Lorded?  Has Christ who is in us overcome the world, or has He not?  

Did Christ touch the sinners, the prostitutes, the lepers, the demon possessed, or did He not?  Do "Christian, small, everyday" sins create less of a gap between ourselves and a Holy God than "Satanic, big" sins?  Did Jesus die less for others than He did for me?

Is it an option to avoid telling BAD people about Jesus and to only share Jesus with GOOD people?  Is it at all Biblical in any way/shape/form to refuse to talk to, visit or heaven-forbid TOUCH a person that who lives in darkness rather than Light?  Didn't He touch me?  When I was still His enemy?

DO WE KNOW AND LOVE GOD IF WE REFUSE TO KNOW AND LOVE OTHERS, even "the least of these"?

Oh, the need for Jesus--TRUE, real, dirty, touchy, CRAZY Jesus--is all around us.  All around us, family.  Not just in Konpech, and not just in Saccanville, either.  The need for Him is no greater in our corner of His world than yours.

It is soo great.  Oh Lord, use me.

(that was a long comment.)

4) Babies are not birds.  I had the totally awesome experience on Wednesday to translate for Deb as she shared with 10-weeks-pregnant Micheline imagines of how a baby is grows inside mom.  Mish, mother of 4, had never seen such a thing, had no idea about what a growing embryo baby looks like, and was beyond thrilled.  Suddenly this little one that she REALLY didn't want inside her is a miracle.  

She also thinks a 5 week old developing embryo baby looks like a baby bird.  So do I.

It was so fun, in fact, that yesterday 8 women joined us while Deb shared a bit more about what the Bible says about children and helped us work through some cultural debates that "be fruitful and multiply" (which of course in the Creole Bible is translated: make many, MANY children) means that it is wrong to control or limit in any way how many children you have, even if you cannot care for 10 children, and even if those 10 children will be hungry.  

We got into all kinds of good things, talked a bit about natural and free family planning methods, and it was so great to be able to be a part of that and to discuss many "unspoken" issues, and to be able to reflect together on the real point of it all : bringing God glory.

I also greatly expanded my Creole vocabulary bank.

We finished with a video on babies from conception to birth, and it was a blast to watch everyone's faces and to hear at the end complete silence, and then praises to the Lord.  "I didn't know it was a miracle.  It is a miracle!"

5) Baby birds are really cute nonetheless.  We've been watching these little hummingbird guys since they were eggs, and finally yesterday, they took off.  

6) Sick of Sick.  Illness just continues to penetrate our family, the visiting professors and the students.  I've been sick now since Feb. 24th, and cannot seem to recover, and since yesterday have seemed to be sick all over again...coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, aches...yuck.  Please keep praying for all of us and for the girls, especially, who have also been sick for a long time.

It's an extra challenge to be patient, energetic, loving, intentional, organized, meeting the needs of my girls and my family, caring, gracious and giving when I'm hacking away and clouded.  Anybody have any ideas?  

I hope you know that we love you...God never took away His passion for our same-culture family when He gave us His passion for another.

I've got friends.

There are two things I detest about being sick:  One, feeling so awful that it's hard to think about anything else.  Two, needing help.


I'm a missionary, but I'm also from the White family.  


That means that I am here to help.  And that I don't need any myself.  


I have been sick since Friday.  When I woke up this morning still feeling unbearably terrible, I was in tears with disappointment and frustration.  I still have little voice, my head is pounding, my throat still aches, I have a major sinus migraine and my nose is raw from constant blowing.  (oh yeah.  I'm beautiful these days.)


And as you probably know, Sofie isn't content and sleepy all day because I feel like I'd like to be hit by a truck.  Lily doesn't want to sit quietly in her room, looking at books.  They want, and need, Mommy: friend, healer, cook, cleaner, playmate, feeder, snuggler, chaser, reader, teacher, entertainer Mommy.  I've still had a lot of classes to teach.  Today was still payday to prepare.  Everybody's still gotta eat!


I headed to class at 7:30 grouchy, and by 9:30 I did something we White's never do: quit.  I just couldn't grade papers, sort payroll, meet with students and process invoices anymore.  But I also couldn't go home and get jumped on and spilled on and fussied.  


My head hurt so badly that I had to squint walking home, but I snuck around to the back door, hoping to make it to the bedroom without the girls seeing me.  Gertha and Micheline were supposed to work until 11, so I could lay down for a good hour without encroaching on them.


"MOMMY!" screamed Lily and Sofie started to cry the moment she saw me..."Ma-Ma!"


And you know what?  Gertha and Micheline helped me.  I didn't even ask them to.  They saw how much I was struggling, swooped the girls up and happily took them to the cafeteria to eat fried chicken and to ride on the food cart "tap-tap".  


I woke up feeling even more congested when they returned at 11:15.  I fed the baby and put her down, only to realize that my women's Bible study was at the door, to begin NOW.  


"Oh, my goodness," I apologized, trying to figure out how I could possibly lead.  


"What are you doing up?" Granny asked immediately, pushing past me into the house and pointing down the hall.  "Go to bed!"


"But I want to study..." I said weakly.  


"What?  Go to bed!" Jezula demanded.  "We'll do it on our own!"  She came right in, grabbed Bibles and hymnals off our bookshelf and headed for the porch.  


"Lily!" Gertha asked.  "Wanna watch Dora?"


I fell asleep to the sweet sound of friends singing praise on the porch and Lily responding happily to all of Dora's questions, the first time I remembered today how Great and Beautiful He is.  


My seven friends met without me (hip-hip-hooray for having a Bible study that is not dependent on me!), and Noel came and sat on the bed with me before leaving, putting her cool long hand on my head and praying for me.    


Micheline and Gertha fed Lily lunch and stayed an extra two hours until Matt came home to help with Sofia.


My head in a painful, stuffy fog, I didn't learn much today.  But I did realize that I have friends...real ones.  


And I realized that by being so helpful, helpful, helpful all the time and refusing to be helped or ask for help might just be keeping friends from getting to love me the way I am always getting to love them.


I wish it hadn't taken 5 days of feeling terrible to realize it.  I commit to allow love once I get better...and until then, too.


Let someone love you today!

one of the crazies

WHEW.  What. A. Day.

At any given moment today, there was one screaming-bloody-murder or teary-whiny-fussy infant or toddler, someone at the door, a ringing phone, bread or a pot pie or a roast in the oven, a student that needed help...man...it was just a crazy, GO GO GO relentless day.  I am SO thankful Dad is here, or you would have found me in a corner crying by noon!  My brain was so numb just from working in two languages literally every moment today that I found myself talking to dad in Creole this evening and confused about why he was just staring at me.

However, now that it is over and I'm literally falling asleep at my desk, there were a LOT of GREAT things today...

Maxi, Dad and Abel, a dear relationship that has formed over the years.  Very thankful for these men, for the unity they have in Christ, and for an unexpected and powerful "break-through" conversation I was able to have with Abel this evening.

 Friends.  Shayla, Kerline and Max are three of my best friends, not "in Haiti," but in life right now.  I'm so thankful for these three, and this afternoon was particularly blessed by the way a very fussy, tired, dad-sick, stuffy Lily transformed into her joyful, gleeful self just a few minutes after their arrival.  I can be myself with these friends, they are real with me, they love our girls, and having them in our lives greatly improves our lives.

 Baby Gertha.  While she still hasn't been given a name, 'Baby Gertha' is just beautiful and wonderfully healthy and such a joy.  Gertha was just beaming that first-time-new-mom smile this morning, and I am so grateful to see this little miracle unfold.

 Lily had a blast with baby Gertha, too, though she was very discouraged that Sofia and baby Gertha didn't hit it off better, because apparently they are "suppose to be friends!"

 More friends.  Noel and Micheline went with us this morning to visit Gertha (and insisted that fussy Sofie was fussy Sofie because she was too hot, and therefore took off her clothes, all the while bundling Baby Gertha.)  These three women are a great joy and encouragement to me, and time with them is good time.  So grateful for these true and transparent relationships.  Plus, we could not have made the steep hike to Gertha's house with Lily, Sofie, and three boxes of baby clothes and diapers without their help :)

Also, praise the Lord, Dodo and Bubba (Dorothy and John McC.) arrived safely today and are sound asleep next door...YAY for friends next door!

End of the day...Matt is doing well in Jackson, we've had sweet time with dad/grandpa, we have help, I've been especially touched by the transforming power relationship has in our lives, and I am richly blessed this evening to realize that in the midst of a million tasks and people today, a handful of His children that I came to minister to minister instead to me...on the good days and on the crazies!

everything but

Saturday, Micheline, her newly returned-to-Haiti-after-5-years-trying-to-find-work husband and their 3 biological and 2 live-in-orphaned children came for lunch.

From before I could say “help me!” in Creole till now, Micheline has been a faithful, gentle, sacrificial friend…teaching me how to cut a papaya, how to make guava juice, how to get that darn coconut open, how to fix banan (plantain), how to do laundry without a dryer, how to buy stuff at the market, helping me with the language, answering a million questions about culture, helping me with my girls and house, making working at the Seminary possible, and generally, being an all around fantastic friend.

Best, Micheline knows Who Jesus Is and gives Him to me all the time. 

For years she has swept around a pile of shoes unparalleled in her own bursting home.  Washed our clothes with a machine unimagined for her own dirty mountain.  Cut open fruit that she rarely touches for her own family, played with Lily with toys never had by her own kiddos.  Mopped our tile then swept her dirt, worn my old clothes when I thought they were completely worn out, dusted our tv without a current of electricity in her own home.

Micheline has never acted like any of that was all that important.  She’s always been crazy with sharing her gratitude over a job with which to support her family while her husband was away, and while dozens of others in her community sit at home, her children have been in school. 

So after all this time, it never occurred to me that when her family came for lunch, her seven year-old son    Wudson was whispering in her ear about the kitchen sink.

Before they left, she quickly bowed into the kitchen holding his hand, and I watched from the family room while she showed him how to turn it on and turn it off.  With sheer delight and completely mesmerized, Wudson watched the stream of water charge out, then stop, charge, then stop again.  Enthralled, he grabbed his little sister's hand and drug her to the sink as well, showing her running water.

He wasn't jealous or irritated or frustrated over the millions of gallons of water he must have pumped and carried home in his life.  Just thrilled.  It had honestly never occurred to me that over five years of rinsing dishes with me, Micheline's children had never even seen running water.  I didn't tell him the water could come out hot, too.

I know this isn't the kind of water that matters.  

But it still broke my heart.

praises

I had a post ready for yesterday, but there's a few blessings and items for prayer I'd like to share first...

The Lord is not letting me forget how many beautiful things are unfolding each day, as well!

Yesterday we had a family of good friends visit us, and upon arriving, they thanked us heartily for a loan we had given them months ago (and entirely forgotten about.)  Apparently, they had promised that they would return the money the first week of September, so they came to return it.

"So you're in your new house then?" I asked excitedly.

"No, no where close," they said, with smiles.  "Our budget was totally off.  We spent what we had budgeted, but there are no floors, no roof, and no doors."

"Well," I asked, "then why didn't you use this money to finish it?"

"Because we promised you we would return your loan on this week.  And we knew it would take four months to make the money to pay you back.  So four months ago we stopped the work on the house completely so we could save up these 4 months to pay you back."

I felt terrible and so touched all at the same time.  We have loaned thousands of dollars in the last 5 years, and very rarely have seen one returned.  And here's a family who has no home, who was now sitting in our beautiful home, that we didn't have to wait one day for, much less years, and they were paying us back.

"Because we said we would.  And the Bible tells us to do what we say we will do.  So we did!" they shrugged again when they could see how baffled I was.

What touched me most was that while this family of four has no home, and their new home is no where CLOSE to being finished, and they have NO plan of how TO finish it, they were full of joy in their trust for the Lord.  FULL of joy.

What a joy and great reminder for me not just claim joy, but to truly have and share it despite all circumstances.

Lily and Kinderlee, playing in her "kid house".

Not two minutes after they left, a few great young men and women from the seminary and the community came over for a while, and I was blessed again to see a true love for the Lord exude in how they carry themselves, treat each other and us and in how they speak.

Today, Micheline's family, recently reunited with Micheline's husband after almost 5 years of him living in Turks and Caicos, are coming over for lunch, so Lily will have more friends to play with.  There are few people on earth as genuine, joyful and servant hearted as Micheline...being with her is always a joy.

Micheline and her children, just a few weeks before Hershniece (far right) passed away.  Her husband left Haiti before Hershniece got sick, and just returned last week, 4 years later.

Also, our one new student who was very sick returned yesterday, and Matt is finally feeling better...thanking the Lord for healing.

For your prayers...

Uncle Don and Aunt Brenda lost their dad this past week.
My grandfather had a pacemaker put in on Wednesday (dad's dad).
My grandparents had a huge move this week (mom's parents).
Belony is still suffering with a lot of stomach and back pain, and will be heading to Milo hospital monday.
Elizay has surgery scheduled for Wednesday.

lily's dance

When things got rough, I can still here my mom say, "Common' guys.  We all know that the Lord hasn't brought us this far to abandon us now!"

How true it still is, as I am reminded that if the Lord has called Matt and I to Haiti and to this work, and if He has continued to do so and to provide, then there is  NO CHANCE that He's not also going to provide for Lily.  He intricately knows her heart, her needs and her perspective, and He reminded me this morning that He can, and WILL take care of HER in Haiti, too.  

There is a church in Plaine-du-Nord (the same Voodoo area I just wrote about a few days ago) that we have always loved to visit.  We don't have any staff or students there, and it's not associated with OMS in any way, but it's Micheline's church and we have always found a very earnest, passionate and seemingly healthy group of believers there.  

Over the past months, we've been saddened to hear Micheline share about how the pastor, boldly speaking out against members of the church who are practicing Christianity on Sunday mornings and openly practicing Voodoo in the evenings, was being driven out of the church.  Finally, he was asked by the church committee (with many of it's members being these problem people) to leave.

He was forced out the end of June, and a large number of people from the church, including Micheline and her family, were forced to leave as well if they were not willing to "tolerate" leadership worshipping whomever they chose, whenever they chose (and even tolerate the church yard as a place for Voodoo ceremonies on Saturday evenings.)

She's been visibly discouraged over this after spending her whole life in this church, and so this morning we drove out to her sister Elsie's home, where these "homeless" believers have been meeting, to encourage them and worship with them.

We found over 40 people huddled in Elsie's living room and spilling out onto her dirt porch, and we threaded our way through the sardined crowd to our obligatory seats of honor at the front.  Church building or no church building, time of joy or time of pain, there was no stopping this group from lifting their voices in passionate praise to the Lord.  

There were about a dozen children all packed to the front of the room with us, and in light of Friday's community/Lily disaster, I kept a close eye out for her emotions.  She was given a little woven chair like everyone else, and plopped down, happy to be like all the other kids.  

The seating was hot and crowded, the worship was loud and animated, the preaching was long and passionate (and Biblical and humble and great, by the way), but Lily was completely unfazed.  SO unfazed, in fact, that about 6 songs in, I noticed a lot of the children looking at her and grinning, and I looked down to see her dancing.  

Not ballet-twirling or dancing like any of her kid DVDs, but watching the other children closely and dancing just as they were to the music, sway then rigid to the left, stomp-clap, sway than rigid to the right, stomp-clap.  

It may have been no big thing, but it was a mother's answered prayer to see her, just a few days past traumatized, at ease, grinning, having fun, and completely ignoring her mother.  She didn't want to leave when the service ended (which following a 2+ hour service, is unheard of!), and actually left and walked out to the car with the other children, again, ignoring mother.

She's going to be ok.  

There will be rough moments in this very foreign culture for our children, as there still are for Matt and I.  There will be tears, as there still are for Matt and I.  But today she saw and enjoyed some of the beauty of a passionate, worshiping, community oriented people, whom He loves, on her own...and was content.

settling for bed sheet security

When we were little, my sister had a theory that no amount of common sense could steer her away from.  As long as she had a sheet covering her, there was no bad man, no monster, no scary dream that could touch her.

No matter how hot it was, she had that sheet tucked up under her chin to keep her safe, and made it  a habit to never let her toe peek out or her arm dangle dangerously outside.  As she got older, we would laugh about that almighty sheet, which somehow gave her peace of mind though it had no power to protect her.

Yesterday evening, with John and Dorothy gone with the truck, Matt nine hours away, and no electricity, I felt like my little sister without a sheet.  Somehow, I had gotten comfortable with the idea that lights equal security.  Having Matt in the other room.  Having students living next door.  Having a vehicle to flee in, if necessary.

And being on the compound entirely alone with Lily last night in the pitch dark had me wrestling with fear.  If we had had lights, I wouldn't have thought twice.  But feeling my way through the house for a match and a candle had me checking all the locks, checking all the rooms for lurking strangers, thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong.   Somehow along the way, I have put my security in light bulbs, a tiny little inanimate object that couldn't possibly keep me safe from a mosquito, much less a break in or emergency.

Lily couldn't sleep due to the intense heat and swarming mosquitos, and as I laid on the floor next to her bed, singing her songs, I realized how my situation came dangerously close to the travesty spoken about in Romans 1, that I have been teaching my second year class.

"For even though they KNEW God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator!"  

Far be it from me to exchange the protection of an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful Creator for the foolish speculation that a lightbulb, or my husband, or a vehicle, or a baseball bat...a thin sheet...could protect me!

As I thought through this with my mind, God absolutely brought a verse that I haven't thought about in years to my heart: "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?"  Psalm 27:1.

My LIGHT.  That was all I wanted last night:  Light, and Salvation from not just harm, but fear.  And in the same moment He gave me the verse that I had mindlessly memorized as a child, He gave me that, too.  I truly believed, with my whole heart, that HE was my Light and my salvation, the stronghold of my life, and immediately, the fear was gone.  I scooped up tossing, itching Lily and walked out into the night, no longer cowering in the false security of four block walls.

The night air was twenty times cooler than the still air inside, and the quarter moon shown so brightly that His light illuminated our path.  She fell asleep as we walked, pointing her chubby finger at the "MOON!" and "Twinkle Twinkles!" (stars).

You might think that I credit far too much as being miracles.  I tell you about miracles every week, and maybe that doesn't seem possible to you.  But what God did last night for me was a miracle.

I had a heart and a spirit of fear.  I sat in the dark afraid and alone, and in a mater of minutes, where NOTHING changed, He spoke to my heart and changed EVERYTHING.  Even if He had come down in the form of an angel and fixed the generator last night, I would not have had the same joy, peace, and protection that I had last night basking in the Light of His Salvation.

What are your bedsheets today?  Maybe, like me, you don't even know that they are there!

I am so thankful that He allowed all my comforts to be stripped away last night so that I could realize where I had been relying on creation, when I COULD be relying on the Almighty Creator!

Matt and the group arrived safely yesterday after only 9 hours on the road, and just in time for a bit of rest and then a large service last night.  Over 100 people came, and the staff and students did an awesome job leading and ministering to those dear ones.  Matt had the opportunity to preach, and fifteen people stayed afterwards to talk to the Emmaus community about receiving the God of Matt's sermon in their lives.

When I spoke to Matt last night, he was overflowing with Hallelujah's, grateful for the direct and beautiful way that God had brought them to the right place at the right time for the right reason, and brimming with pride at how the Emmaus community had displayed passion, humility, and servant leadership to the homeless and still devastated group of His creation in Diquini.  These next days promise to be exciting!

Thank you for your continued prayers!  Today, Gertha, Micheline, Lily and I are going out for our bi-annual, "when Matt goes on a missions trip the girls go out to lunch" luncheon at La Kay.  God has blessed me so constantly through these two beautiful woman, and I always come away from time with them grateful for the family God has gifted me.