Communion

Praises:  we are all much better!  Stomach virus went around the family for about 3 weeks

Nicky took me out for my 39th birthday-  we got to have a date!

It has been a little cooler these past few days- only mid 90's

Prayers:  Nicky has been working really hard getting the very large gates up- continue to pray for safety and strength as he works out in the hot sun

Wisdom and guidance for me as I homeschool.  I truly enjoy it but somedays are exhausting, especially with teams here to take care of.

The kids will never forget this communion a few Sundays ago at church!  We went to one of our local churches that Dave Heady was preaching at.  This isn't out of the ordinary since a team is here.

At the end of the service we participated in communion which the kids have done before but this time as they picked up the "grape juice" I could see both kids bring the liquid to their noses and then an expression I have seen many times came across their faces.

But neither commented or protested.  At the appointed time we all drank the juice.  I am actually proud of my kids for their reactions, they both made the face of disgust but they didn't verbalize or make any comment that proved their dislike.  Luckily we were seated behind the pulpit so the congregation could not see us entirely.

Ellie was sitting beside me.  Very discretely she leaned over to me and said "what was that stuff."  I informed her that that was wine.  In turn she matter of factly said "Now I know wine tastes nasty!"

A team member was really brave.

My Birthday date!

Setting up the gates

Our new member of the family.  She was intended to be a shop cat , to catch mice and rats, but I don't think the kids are going to part with her. And at the point I have seen rats bigger than she is.

A rare night that the wind died down enough to make a little fire and we made s'mores.  

Back Home

Prayers:  I am not whining but it has been extremely hot here the last few days- today the high has          been 110 degrees

Continue to pray for our family as a whole.  We can get so busy that we don't take time as a family.

Praises:  I am not saying we have enough help but we have more families/ staff helping ease the work loads thru middle of Sept

5 good wells were drilled, bring fresh, clean water to lots of people.  

I don't say this enough,  I am so proud of my husband!  He loves The Lord and has a passion for being the man God wants him to be!

Many days he was leaving the house at 6:30 am to travel more than an hour to work with Curt King a well driller with Healing Hands International.  They were blessed with 5 good, clean wells and one dry hole.

Getting to the last area they drilled was tricky. This was a really steep road.  As they reached the top people were cheering at their arrival. Unfortunately, even to 300 ft was dry.  As they were packing up to go back down the mountain a rainstorm came making the trip more difficult. 

The kids enjoyed playing and spending time with friends and family while we were in the States. But we were all glad to get back home. The lady that runs our conference center kitchen had her grand kids here for a few weeks.  They come every summer. They are such good kids! They speak a little English so it is great to see Xander and Ellie learning and practicing more creole with them.

Most of the time I had anywhere from 9-15 kids at one time. They loved riding bicycles and playing with tennis rackets. The girls loved to help me bake cookies and cakes.

My main job last week was to get receipts turned in and get caught up on sending out thank you notes. I hand wrote 54 in 3 days.  We had a team leaving on Saturday so they needed to go with them back to the states.

We started school Monday.  I was so ready to get back into somewhat of a routine.

We were also encouraged by family, the Turner's, that were here for 10 days on a mission trip.  They are fellow Global Outreach missionaries from Costa Rica.

this well produced over 30 gallon a minute

men watching us drill as most women work in the markets everyday

hard to drink water in front of all these people when we couldnt find water as we drove up the mountain they were cheering with such excitement

this was steeper than it looks to get a few miles up and back down with a 4 cylinder truck with 22,000 lbs and a rain storm coming back down 

people stop for a minute to watch the drilling carrying such loads on their heads

a market we drilled in with over 5,000 people in it 2 days a week

being boys

being girls

The Last Three Months

Prayer requests:
                          We can get our conference center booked
                           We are able to bring glory to God through our actions and words


Praises:        We have received all the things we shipped down in March
                    We have been making intentional family time
                    We got our Visa's (permis)!!


The end of January we were blessed by another ministry organization as well, by lending us a teacher, a painter and a mechanic for a week.  The teacher gave Kristie a much needed break for the week and the painter and mechanic helped cross off a lot on Nicky's to do list.

Our visiting teams have been doing construction, working on dorms on the compound, building a new church, and doing some welding and generator work, along with bringing a much needed welder and supplies.

Another ministry we partner with brought down a professional painter to do much needed painting on our volunteers quarters.

A team of three from our home church, FBC Hendersonville, came in April.  We were blessed by them helping us start a carport for our house, helping teach the kids (while Kristie painted), and did lots of photography for upcoming gran moun and teacher sponsorship.  What an encouragement to have friends come and work along side you!

Helping start our carport

Visiting our kindergarten

Gran moun feeding program

Xander learning to weld

Our boom lift arrived!!

One team had asked us weeks before if we had any personal supply needs and they went above and beyond in blessing all of us missionaries on the compound, especially the kids, 42 suit cases.  It was like Christmas time.  Just being blessed with the everyday items like ziplock bags, honey, and candy/ snacks.

During the egg hunt

The most recent team was here over Easter.  They brought in lots of supplies along with candy and plastic eggs for all the kids on the compound and other missionary families to enjoy an egg hunt before bible study.

The kids were all smiles after receiving their prizes.

 We love having teams who work selflessly to invest in God' s kingdom.  Teams have worked ministering to our gran moun (old people),  patients in the burn clinic, kids in the schools, building a new church, drilling and repairing wells, and encouraging us. Without teams we couldn't get much done behind the scenes, bringing in parts and supplies keeping us going when things are broken. And the people we get to meet and have relationships with that continue, especially if teams come back year after year.

We continue to pray for more missionaries to come full or part time to minister alongside us keeping our compound maintained and running well.

The kindergarden girls love playing with Ellie's hair.

Brian and Carla Tyndale were here for 2 weeks doing revivals

More loads heading up the mountain.

A load getting ready to go the new church building site.

A son dedicating this new church to his deceased father.

Our mission built a church 1 1/2 hours up the mountain in a place overwhelmed by voodoo. Forty-two truck loads of materials and water were taken to get it done.  This kept Nicky busy repairing trucks and tires along with everything else going. This church was dedicated to a young father of 3 young kids that lost his life in a accident.  He came to Haiti years ago with Global on a team and that started his love for Haiti.  This man's parents, younger brother, and 12 yr old son came to dedicate the church.  It was a sweet ceremony, so many Haitians hungry for God 's word.

A new church built in a place overwhelmed by voodoo.

Youth Dorms being built

A team member being baptized  in the pool, not all our ministry is to Haitians

Fun in the Kitchen!

Well drilling a mile from the compound.

Xander hard at work.

That boom lift can't get here soon enough.

It's here!!  Nicky has used it almost everyday since it arrived.

Welding a dozer that was working on the new soccer fields for a new ministry her on the compound

Youth leaders conference.

Fighting fires next to our compound.

January

A quick blog, Kristie is teaching the girls how to bake.

We are praying before drilling a new well in a new village for clean water. There is not a clean well for miles of this place.  They have to walk to our compound or buy water to get it.  Pray we hit good water , as we are drilling close to 2 dry holes we drilled here last year. 

By the time I posted this we broke the cable and the drill was left in the hole, but  we were able to retrieve it and we will try again as soon as I get caught up. 

We are starting a new church building in the mountains this week, in a village that's the voodoo capital in the area.  Satan will be and is fighting us hard in this place, dedicated to satan, as we build this place of worship. This is our local church that has bought the land and planting this church, so glad to see the church growing here! Keep praying hard for us in this, he won't give up easy. 

Took this picture as I dumped the 3rd load of materials just before dark Thursday, don't like driving down the mountain after dark, but sometimes we run out of daylight.

Pray for us as we have 5 building projects going on, and needing to hire a welder full time to keep up with the building of trusses, gates, and maintenance, and we are down to 1 good welding machine as 2 are broken.