help!

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 4:16

"A God Perspective" has been my prayer the last several days in light of every circumstance, from playing with the babies to receiving news to preparing finances or for class...How does God see this?  What is His perspective?  What does He want mine to be?


It seems simple, but man, it has really been revolutionizing my thought and heart life these past few days!  I have even been surprised several times by my very-different-than-usual response to several situations, feeling far more grounded and joyful in Him as I work (and it is) to be like Him.

As we draw boldly to His throne this week, we need your help!

...prayers...

We thought we had a generator problem...then thought it was an inverter problem....then thought it was a pump problem...and realized this morning that we actually think there is a major water leak.  Somewhere.  This leak could be causing all of our other problems.  Please be praying for Matt and Maxi as they try to find the underground source of the problem, and as they try to fix it.   Big project.

Internet...We're having some big issues (don't think the water leak is at fault here :) that's Matt's working to remedy...please pray the Lord will supernaturally help with his understanding of the whole thing and to fix it.

Staff...several of our staff are currently dealing with a lot of hard things.  The school year in Haiti begins October 10th, and paying for children and grandchildren to attend is a major stress on many.  One of our staff lost his cousin this week to a violent beating.

Lucner, Vilmer and Matt leave on Monday for Jackson for their final two-week intensive residency for their master's.  Please be praying for their travels, for their time, and for their families in their absence (especially for Lucner, whose wife is expecting their first child ANY day).

...support...


Bibles
While most of Emmaus' administration is in the States the next two weeks, EBS is taking a fall break.  Because this break does not coincide with any major events in the life of the church, like Christmas or Easter, our students are "extra" available to participate in special ministry, which was great news to Belony!

The first week he will be leading a group of students in helping past-graduate Yolene.  Yolene has a huge three day weekend of evangelism and services planned for her area and church, and has asked Emmaus to help.  Students will be working alongside of church leadership to go out with church members to spread the Gospel (and to train people on how to do this), and will be leading services in the evening to help His children walk deeper with Him.  

The second week, students and Belony will be working with Civil, fourth year student who has recently started a church in a zone called Breda.  As a new church plant, there is a lot of work and training to be done, as well as continued evangelism in the area.  

Everyone is really excited about both of these works, and so I wasn't surprised when a common need came up...BIBLES.  Where the Gospel is preached, there is need for the Gospel to be HAD.  At $8 US a Bible, obtaining God's Word is no easy task in Haiti.  We would love for the students to be equipped with some Bibles to place in the hands of new (and old) believers, but currently have no Bible money.

If you're interested, email me (staceyhaiti@gmail.com).  Pray about it...If you feel led to be a part of all that we're expecting Him to do over this fall break, this is such a tangible need.  $8.  One Bible.  $40.  Five Bibles.  We'll go to town on Friday and buy however many Bibles we have the money for and send them out with Belony.  Thank you!

Contacts
Finally, we have several staff members who are very ready to begin doing their masters, helping Emmaus in it's accreditation process, helping bring better, more qualified teaching to our classrooms, and helping greatly in the formation of men and women for Him in Haiti.

Vilmer, Guenson, Matt, Bryan and Lucner have all been either students or professors at Wesley...now we're looking for another sister seminary!

However, the program that Vilmer and Lucner have been doing through Wesley Biblical Seminary is no longer available.  We have been looking far and wide for a seminary who has an on-line program (with a limited amount of Stateside work being required) that is willing to partner with Emmaus to educate some of our staff!  So far, nothing is working out!   If you have possible contacts or information regarding a continued education institution that may be interested in this kind of a relationship and ministry here in Haiti, please contact Matt!  This is a major step in "working ourselves out of a job" at Emmaus and a major priority for us and for Emmaus...we need help!

"What are you like?" and some things that excite us

First year homework assignment...write 10 complete sentences about what you are like:

I have a big head.  
I like the pity.
I am very fragile.
I'm a very cool man.
I am not fatter than other people.
I am beauteous.  And genius.
I am the best young man in my area.
I am like a comedian.
I am some smart.
I'm jolly.
I am phlegmatic.  (someone is using their dictionary)
I am very nice.  Or good looking.
I love hygiene.  


I kept cracking up while grading (which is not usually the case...I hate grading papers!!)

Despite all of the difficult battles we and the Seminary seem to be going through right now, there are a lot of great things going on, too.

We are really excited about some of the students we have right now, both new students in first year and a lot of our returning students who are just growing and maturing in their walks with the Lord, with each other, and in ministry.  It is exciting to be, for example, in chapel with the guys, and realize that the 60 men and women you are praising with are working in 60 different places in 60 different ministries with literally thousands of people.  Every day.  Every weekend.

The ministry of the seminary is multiplied daily, and that is exciting!

We're are really excited about a lot of events coming up...Matt's parents come on Friday, bringing some meds that Sofie is in dire need of...Praise the Lord for the timing and for our doctor friend in the States helping to make this possible!  Matt, Lucner and Vilmer go to Mississippi for a 2 week residency in October, which is always like a spiritual administrative retreat for them.

During this 2 week break, the students have all kinds of ministry plans brewing. My dad is coming in October.  Dodo and Bubba come to help in October.  We have four great visiting professors coming the end of October, and 2 more coming in mid-November.  Two great friends coming in November...The Office Season 8 starts this week :)...the list goes on!    

But most exciting?  I can honestly say "HIM."  You would think that His steady faithfulness and unwavering love would become a boring "same-old"... but it's just the opposite.   His new mercies every morning and the daily ways His faithfulness is revealed continue to bless, surprise and delight us.  At the end of the days, difficult and great alike, He Is, and He is all that remains.

That's exciting.

lots of beautiful feet

How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? 

And how will they hear without a preacher?

How will they preach unless they are sent?

It is just as it is written,

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!"

Romans 10:14

Whew...there has been so much going on that I've been hard-pressed to not leave anything out. Most exciting thing about this week happens today: 

It was a 3rd year evangelistic outing to "Of the Mangoes"

Then, it was a huge burden for a pastor to plant a church in the area.

Then, it was Civil's vision for water, and Living Water.

Then, it was a collection plate, $90 raised.

Then, a community recognition that poor Christian men sacrificially did what a wealthy witch doctor never thought to.

TODAY completes the exciting whirlwind, and marks the beginning of a long journey:

Eight students and Civil will lead the first Bible study around that dripping well, unceasingly preaching the whole gospel to men and women who have never heard.  

The first service: today.  SO EXCITING.  

Please be praying!  While everything has happened quite rapidly these last days, today marks the beginning of a long and difficult journey of bringing transformation and redemption and new life to an entire community that has been dead, and celebrated it, for a LONG TIME.  "Of the Mangoes" is deeply rooted in Satan and lostness, and planting the Gospel in this dry and thirsty land will be hard work.   His work.  We covet your prayers.

Matt and I have fought so much about who gets to go and who has to stay home with Lily that I think we might just make it a family event :)

WE NEED YOUR HELP.  Two of our own, Lucner and Paul, have been teaching these students, ministering alongside of them.  They have been able to guide these men and women to a deeper walk with the Lord much in part to their continued education.  As they've worked through their Master's degree with Matt, they have been able to bring alive so much more of the Gospel, able to teach the Scriptures in a more accurate and relevant way.

And now it's time for them to go to Jackson, Mississippi for their mandatory 2 weeks residency...and Emmaus, who is working to keep food on the table (literally :) and pay the staff and run the generator, currently has NO money in their continued education account.  

Met Luke?  Know Paul?  Pray for a student?  Believe in what Emmaus is doing?  Wished you could do something more?  We need you help here....Jump over to the Emmaus Biblical Seminary site here and check it out...

They need SENT, and we need help sending them.  Thank you for  being a family we can always come to.  If you don't feel led to help in this way or can't right now, please be praying for these two and for this need.  Lucner's wedding is the second week in November, and Paul's 5th child is due the same time, just two weeks after their return!  Whew!

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!

the joy of family and of His voice

Our family has safely arrived and we've enjoyed two very warm and full days together...I just LOVE Dad and Lisa! And obviously, so does Lily! Yesterday she got to "ride" a motorcycle with her buddy Gideon and Grandpa, and today got to visit some friends with Aunt Lee.

Lisa and Dad have also gotten to spend some good time with me in the classroom, maintaining relationships with students from previous visits and meeting my new first year class. Lisa and I always get abundant comments about being "twins", and my Dad about being such a "beau garcon"...good looking guy! Sharing our lives and work with them is always such a mighty blessing.

Meanwhile, Matt has been enjoying some really powerful moments in Jackson, Mississippi. There have been "Bible people" and godly men and women from around the globe there, taking part in a conference that is a part of their master's studies, and Matt has been feeling the Lord closely...We both praise the Lord for meeting him in such a special way and for the way He is shaping and refining and directing Matt's heart.

Please pray that we might be anxious and determined to be 'worthy of the calling' and have our eyes looking only to hand of our Master...

(1 Thess. 2:12, Ps. 123, Acts 5)

Brothers and more to come...

The goal of our instruction is LOVE

from a pure heart and a

good conscience and a

sincere faith.

1 Timothy 1:5

And THAT would be these three! These are three of our fellow professors at Emmaus Biblical Seminary, and they are also working to receive their Master's Degree from Wesley Biblical Seminary using the same online program Matt is using. More than all of that, they continue to be three Godly men that we can count on--for good advice, for cultural explanations, for strong leadership, Biblical sermons, holy conversations, laughter and to be faithful and bold in the Lord.

Luke, Bright and Paul have pure hearts, good consciences and sincere faiths, and we continue to be honored that the Lord has us working alongside of men such as these. They are the men that we had prayed for in coming to Haiti: Godly leaders, clearly chosen by God, who are committed and capable to train Haitian men and women in Christ! When we leave Haiti, and I mean this in the best way possible, it will be because of these three men and those like them.

October 4th, they leave with Matt for their 2nd residency session at Wesley in Jackson, Mississippi. Together, these four are learning more about the Bible and simultaneously teaching more of the Bible, preaching more of the Bible and (praise the Lord!) looking more and more like Christ each week that passes. THANK YOU, Wesley Biblical Seminary, and SO many of you, for making it possible for Matt, Paul, Bright and Luke to do this!

Meanwhile, first session is already over at Emmaus and we jump into session 2 tomorrow. My first year guys are finally beginning to warm up, laughing uncontrollably today (and thus NOT saving face) when one mustached associate pastor-student answered, "Yes, yes I AM a woman!" with much conviction.

I have a beautiful testimony to share with you regarding a third year student (Petit, Lori!), an awesome report on Matt's "Monday's In Town" class from this week, and reports of some new ministries up and coming! Stay tuned...

With ALL our hope fixed firmly on the living God...