Pastors' Seminar Going Strong

A message from David (internet is still causing trouble, but it will not stop the blog!) - 

We are busy, but everything is going great! Each day we start out by visiting schools and so far we have been to MPCA, Lanzac, and Chardene.  Herb was able to visit one of his students he sponsors. Then at one point Lynn looks at me and says "I think that is the girl we sponsor." We asked her name and sure enough it was her, so he was able to visit with her.  I have a great picture of her, but I can't send it thanks to our internet problems.

The rest of our time is spent at the conference, which starts at 3pm and ends at 8:30 pm.  Each pastor then teaches 5 times each night. The translators are amazing and are keeping up with the Americans really well.  We added to our numbers and had close to 300 participants tonight.   There has been amazing conversations about church, theology and our relationship with Jesus.  I will send a quick update tomorrow and then I'll have your husbands home on Friday!   Everyone is feeling great despite working and sweating hard!   

Blessings

Keep praying for us,

David

Pastors Seminar

Hi everyone this is Tracy Rath and I am posting here from Findlay because they are having internet problems at the Mission Center so they have been unable to post.

David said the Pastors' Seminar is going great. With at least 200 in attendance, the first day of the seminar has been wonderful and God is being lifted up.  Continue to pray for the rest of the seminar.  They send everyone their love!

Leadership 3

Today we attended the student and adult leaders graduation.  It was a great time of celebration with their closest friends and family.  Over 130 adults and students received certificates for completing the programs.  2 years ago they started learning about the importance of leadership and today they started their next journey... giving their leadership away to others.  Thank you to all who prayed for our leadership, we are excited to see them grow.  The rest of the afternoon we hung out the mission center and enjoyed some downtime.  Tomorrow we are excited to visit St Marc's church.   We are both doing well though.  Thanks for your prayers!

Leadership 2

Hi friends and family, just wanted to let you all know we are doing well.  Internet was down for most of the day.  Yesterday we visited 2 schools, Chardene and Dupin.  Jacob was able to meet 2 of his church's sponsor kids (pictures to come soon).  In the evening we attended the student leaders last gathering before they graduate.  It was a great time of celebration and prayer.  Today we will be attending that graduation.  Hope you are all doing well back home!

Leadership 1

Hello family and friends!  Sorry for not posting sooner, we had slower internet last night.  Yesterday we traveled to 2 of Mission Possible's schools; Lahatte and St Marc's.  We met with the directors, secretaries, and community agents to hear their stories, to see what they're excited about, and to learn about their concerns.  We also did a teamwork activity with some of the students called the Magic Carpet Game.  They were confused with the directions at first, but once they understood, they seemed to really enjoy the short activity.  Later that evening, we had many of our leaders come to the Mission Center for dinner and to learn about John Maxwell's 5 Levels of Leadership.  It was a great time of fellowship.  Please continue to pray for us as we travel to more schools today.  Pictures to come soon!

Our Final Thoughts!

The topic for this blog is for each person to describe their day in one sentence!

Deb (AKA “Ultra Blanc”, “Silver Fox”) was a “gazelle” going up the mountain to Degeance and she got to see her sponsored child, Adeline!

Jean (AKA “Mary Jean”, “Worker Bee Beast”) had PTSD episodes as she inventoried all the dental equipment with flashbacks of 135 tooth extractions this week from ages 3-adult.

Pam spent the day sitting in the waiting room at Pierre Payen with some of our students, some chickens and lizards.

Rene got baptized in Haiti again…. this time with urine.

Vanessa’s audiology office included students, a translator, chickens and a dog.

Crystal and Josh found out that the Pierre Payen hospital is looking for a pharmacist and a businessman…. Hmmmm?

Jameson spent his day talking about belly aches, headaches, and diarrhea… oh my!!

Kem finally got initiated into the group by squatting and peeing in a hole, and thanks “Mean Girl” for being able to get back up.

Joey adopted a Haitian dog.

Kathe was the first one on the truck today after almost being left behind yesterday due to being at “Walmart.”

Kelly got to meet her sponsor student today… no thanks to Kathe or Deb!

Bahi started her morning by getting slapped in the face by Kathe trying to get off her bed.

Sharon had a time-out and was punished by spending the day by the beautiful ocean at the Mission Center.

Emily drowned 10 fruit flies in a student’s ear with a water pik.

Sam was able to join us today because Jameson did NOT lock him in their room!

Ciera wanted to adopt a student… but settled for drinking out of a coconut.

*Sorry for the lack of pictures again... wifi is too slow!*

Friday at MPCA!

We spent Friday at MPCA and it was a great day. Since it is such a big school, we were strategic in how we saw the students. We were fortunate enough to see the sick students, and I think Lydie (our dentist) reported that nearly FORTY teeth were pulled today. WOW! It has been a busy week, but such a great one. Our team got a chance to actually spend time playing and interacting with our students today in a non-medical way, which was refreshing. Tonight we spent time together sharing about how we all ended up here; it was fun to hear the different paths we took & details that had to line up in order for each of us to be here in Haiti serving together. We know that it was all God and that we were hand-picked by Him alone. Pastor Herve shared how he has been involved in different aspects over the last 30-ish years, and it was neat for the team to hear his heart and his vision for this ministry. We concluded the evening by praying over both Pastor Herve and Ruth, as they are each field leaders in Haiti & the Dominican Republic. It has been pouring rain all night, so once we were finished we each had to make a quick dash back to the dining area from the gazebo, some of us losing flip flops along the way! This team has been a blast, always finding new reasons to laugh together and encourage each other. What a blessing. :) 

Vanessa with one of the students that she fitted with a hearing aid. So neat!

Pam giving the dickens to the MPCA students.... just kidding. :)

The students loved Kathe!

Josh looked out for his new little friend today!

The Community Agents gathered together for the final time this trip.

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