We have arrived in the lovely guest house at the
Children of Israel Orphanage and are thinking of all
you! Thanks for praying for us...it was a long long
travel day, but we are here! All of our luggage did not
make it but we are confident that tomorrow, it will.
Those we love become only more precious to us in a place
like this. God keep you!
Sue
Sent January 9, 2007 - Settling in and Having Some Fun
Family and Friends-
I am grateful for another chance to write to you
tonight! We are resting a bit while we wait for dinner,
which smells delicious! We will have fried chicken and
(the best!) this great grapefruit-juice-like drink which
is so refreshing.
Today was wonderful--it is so clear that God is here
with us and that he is at work in small and great ways
in this place.
We had devotions, led by Tracy this morning (she had us
singing "Jesus Loves Me"). A great start to our day and
then we spent a couple hours practicing for our
Children's Ministry. Songs we are singing with lots of
motions and three skits, written by Karen Cassidy
("Daniel and the Lions Den", "Prodigal Son" and "Jumping
for Joy").
We got to tour Vetivere, a perfume factory here in Les
Cayes. They make a very expensive oil from Vetivere
roots which goes into expensive French perfume. 1.5 tons
of the root make 2 gallons of the oil. The owner of the
factory gave us the tour and was proud to tell us that
they employ 100 people directly, but with all the
farmers, they keep 27,000 families surviving. Awesome!
God works through people like this man in this poor
country.
We had 60-70 children come for our Children's Ministry
today. It was a complete joy to sing the Word and act
the Word with them! You would love to see John Hughes
jumping sky high in the air to the delight of the
children, and Dave Cascio acting as a blind man. All of
us "acting like fools" for the Gospel. Such fun!!!
For our building projects, we are waiting for some
supplies, but John, Dan, Ethan and Jason tore apart a
large bureau to use the wood for a start. They are
anxious to get what they feel is some "real work" done.
Our luggage has made to somewhere here in Les Cayes (all
of it, we think!) and we will have it sometime this
evening. God is good.
As always, the best part is all the hugging and
wrestling and playing with the kids at both orphanages.
They love it and so do we!! Kim and Chuck have gotten
some good time with their kids, too.
We miss our loved ones! We love you so much. Please know
that this distance cannot really keep us apart in the
ways that matter most. The reunions will be sweet.
One of the things shared at last night's debriefing time
by several was a palpable sense that people are praying
for us back home. We can absolutely feel it—and it means
everything, so keep it up!
Mesi ("Thank you!")-
Sue
Sent January 12, 2007 - A Quick Update and Off to Ile La
Vache
All is well and God is oh-so-good in Les Cayes (and
in Buffalo!).
Sorry it has been a while--no way to get an email off
until now and this one has to be quick. We're catching
the boat for Ile La Vache in a few minutes.
Highlights:
- Tour of SEED Ministries. Hope lives there.
- Dave Cascio singing a song he wrote and the Haitian
young people singing along. Precious.
- Dan and his crew completing the shelves and hanging
bars for the girls--they raced to hang their things.
Gotta go! WE LOVE YOU AND ARE PRAYING FOR YOU.
Thanks for praying for us.
Sue
Sent January 12, 2007 (evening) - The Day at Ile La Vache
Friends and Loved Ones-
I am sitting at Nora's desk, just after (another)
delicious supper. We are so well taken care of here.
Today was Ile La Vache day--that means we got on two
boats at the wharf somewhere around 8:30am and
returned to that same wharf by 5:00pm. In between we
boated across the beautiful Caribbean. An
unbelievable time was had at a beautiful sand bar
where we laughed and played in the water. It is so
hard to miss God in this place--and how ironic that
is. The water was like it is on the
commercials...aqua, clear, and lovely. We found some
starfish and other sea life.
When we got to Ile La Vache, there were people
waiting to greet us. We hiked the hill to our sister
church and sang and did a skit for the community
gathered there. The signs of poverty were all around
us. It was hard not to cry when the lay pastor and
several lay people stood to thank us publicly for
praying for them and asked us to continue to do so.
They said, "you must think of us as your daughter.
Please tell the people in New York." And so we do!
We tell you that God is using you to touch the
people here in ways you would be humbled to know.
Karen has learned two songs in Creole and she led
the whole group in singing those. They all (kids and
adults) laughed and laughed at our lions in the
Daniel and the Lions Den skit. Amy Mahl got to meet
Antwone (sp?), who she and Dan are sponsoring to go
to school. It turns out that he is Leon (Nora's
husband)'s younger brother! We have been very
blessed by Lionel--our translator. We hear him and
others singing the songs we taught them. Humbling!
Tonight we are exhausted from the sun and so much
emotion. We were good about using sunscreen and
still most of us are sunburned. Sleep will be
wonderful tonight.
The guys are working on the cabinet in the girls
orphanage tonight and will be working at the boys
orphanage tomorrow. We found out tonight that
Leonie's daughter Yelline will be arriving with her
infant son tomorrow---exciting!!
We pray for you all the time and sense that you are
praying for us. Thank you so much!!!!!! Please know
that you are making a difference in this place--God
is so so good. All the time!
In His Light,
Sue
Sent January 13, 2007 - A Sad Moment... And a Day at the
Beach
It is great to be able to write to you again...
It's a beautiful day in Haiti. Our morning has
been a slow paced one. Lots of playing with the
kids and running around. We brought balloons
which they loved playing with. The guys are
working at the boys orphanage...
Dave Cascio had an opportunity today to minister
to an extremely malnourished baby brought to the
orphanage for help. The man who brought her
found her alone and crying. Her cry is so weak
and she is blind. We gave them some of the baby
formula we brought with us as well as some drops
for her eyes and some baby vitamins. The kind
man wanted the orphanage to keep her...very very
hard. We remind ourselves that God loves her
even more than we do. When I mentioned how said
i was about it to Leonie, she said "Ah yes,
every day they come."
The kids are buzzing with excitement about going
to the beach. They only get to go when mission
teams come and it hasn't worked out the last two
times. Their eyes light up when we say "neiger"
(swimming).
Not sure if we'll get another email off, but if
not, we are well and thinking of you and praying
for you. Thank you for praying for us!
