Nothing Can Separate Us

In prayer time this morning with our boys at home (we have three young men that live with us besides our kids), we read Romans 8, the magnificent chapter that Paul lays out the whole foundation for our hope and salvation, the anticipation of deliverance on the day that God's glory will be reveal. He asks a fundamental question of our faith, "What then shall we say about these wonderful things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can accuse us? Who can condemn us?" And then shares the most beautiful answer: No one! Nothing, not anything can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus! This is a marvelous promise!

I am constantly encouraged and challenged by the Haitians' faith, simple faith. Their utter depence on God flows from their undeniable recognition that they really can do nothing apart from God. He is their daily bread, their excellent doctor, their companion and protection. He is this for me too, as I live and work alongside the Haitians. God is doing something extraordinary in the midst of our church and, because I have close interaction with the women, I would say He is especially moving among them. We meet every Monday afternoon to pray, to share, to learn and to encourage one another. It is so rewarding that the women are taking initiative to reach out to one another, to be vulnerable and open and to truly seek the Lord with a fresh touch of His Holy Spirit. Last night our meeting lasted into the dark, which is not always good cause the women have to walk home, but they just did not want to leave. Neither did I. It was beautiful. We worshipped and prayed for one another. Then we began to encourage and exhort one another. One older woman's husband recently passed away, so the others were consoling her with the comforting words that Jesus is her companion, provider, protector and everything. Another young woman recently lost her first baby, which has caused a sadness in her, but a deeper desire to seek the Lord. The ladies gathered around her with words of life and nourishment, sharing testimonies of their own struggles and challenges with miscarriages, handicapped and sick children and how God has faithfully provided for them and strengthened their faith through it all. Another woman just found out her daughter has severe scoliosis, yet she is not discouraged or faint-hearted. These women amaze me. Actually, all women, world-wide, amaze me with their tenacity, resilience and will to overcome and survive, especially those who live in such harsh or primitive conditions as in third-world or war-torn countries, or in places of oppression. It brings to light even greater those beautiful verses in Romans 8. Nothing can separate us, not life or death, nor angels or demons, nor persecution... from the love of Christ.

Our meeting then took a fun turn, considering that today is Valentine's Day, a day of love, and the women were eager to talk about how they could better serve, or surprise their husbands with a little lovin'! They were giddy and joyful as they shared together, the older, wiser ones giving insightful counsel to the younger. Then we began to share how we feel God is changing our church, our hearts, growing us as a family and revealing Himself in powerful ways. One woman shared a vision God had given her of the church being full of angels and thick with God's presence. Another women shared how God has been speaking to her and she challenged the other ladies to be obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit by sharing of how God used her to bless a man by faith who was ill and a week later he came back to her to testify of how her gesture brought God's complete healing in his body! We ended with a thrill of planning for some outreach and events, since Mardi Gras is coming up. This time of year is full of all kinds of carnality and we want to gather the young people especially into the church and out of the streets, to be drawn closer to Heaven and further from Hell. We are planning for three days of services and activities for the church and youth that I anticipate to be even more inspiring yet.

Friends, God is amazing, at work and ever drawing us closer to that Heavenly glory that awaits us, the promise of our inheritance and rights as His dearly beloved children. I am blessed to be serving such an amazing, loving God... and to be surrounded by such incredible women of faith.

Happy Valentines Day. Take the opportunity to show this amazing love of Christ with others today.

Incredible People and an Incredible God

The internet problem got solved. After some investigation, I found there we lots more people than had permission using the internet who had somehow got the password. So, I changed it and, voila! It works like a dream now.

The Prosser team headed home yesterday. We are missing them already. Even though the Nelson team is still her andworkinghard, it seems so quiet! The dining area is not as full at meal times, which makes the Nelson guys happy cause that. Eansless cleanup. But we had such great fellowship time with Pastor Rod and his team. The teenagers on the team really stepped up to the work and showed great attitudes and leadership abilities. Check out their team blog that they kept while here. They accomplish a lot of work and the scope of what these two teams have been involved with has been very broad, from pouring concrete on the home rebuilding houses and the tech school to cleaning and sorting in the medical clinic, to ministry with the kids and church. I think overall, their experience has been verry positive. We also had three of our new US board members here as a part of the Prosser, WA team- Randy Fox, Gerry and Lea Santo. They make a great addition to our board!

Chris and Cathy have been a tremendous blessing to us, working very well with the teams and learning to really move with the flow of things. They are keeping up a great blog that you can check out at Chris & Cathy's Excellent Adventure. They are workinghard to build relationships with the staff and teams alike, practicing their Creole faithfully and getting into the rythm of the projects. When we go to the beach, Chris disappears under water into another worldp and brings up amazing photos of his travels!

Roy and Olive Ralph are an incredible asset to have with us here too. Man, are we blessed or what?! They are here with us ntil theendofMay and workinghard to get the tech school moving. For the last week they prepared withthe team and Haitian workers to pour the cement slabs and started on it Thursday. Roy had rented an electric troweling machine to smooth the concrete, but half way through smoothing the first pour, the belt broke. So all the male hands got on deck pretty quick to try to get the rest of the concrete smooth before it hardened. Unfortunately, they didn't get it all cause it got too hard and too dark, but it will be tiled over anyhow. They were all late for the Thursday night service, but that surely did not hinder the move of the Holy Spirit! The service was so anointed, powerful worship and an altar call for healing prayer. I felt the need for it myself and went forward. As soon as I lifted my hands to the Lord, a flood of tears flowed out. God lifted all the burdens. It is amazing to me how quickly burdens pile on when we are going about our normal business. Daily, we need that refreshing touch and infillng of the Holy Spirit, to be full of His grace and ability. All too often, we get caught up in all that we feel we have to do in a day and by the end, we flop into bed exhausted only to start all over again the next day. But God gives us this beautiful promise that His mercis a new Every Morning! I love that and I need it. We all do, to be able to accomplish all God calls us to. The whole church on Thursday night was swept up in His refreshing presence and in worship. The atmosphere was electrifying!

Well, it's Saturday now. The beach awaits me, inviting me in to rest in God's bounty.

Power and Problems of the Like

Ok, so there are some days when things just don't seem to go right. I've learned in Haiti to expect such days. In fact, it doesn't always make it a bad day, just...different than planned. Since Friday morning I have been trying to get a newsletter sent out and still have had no success. In October we cut the city power because we were paying so much. But this made us have to rely solely on the deisel generator. That's not a bad thing, but requires more controlling since gas has to be purchased regularly and in large amounts for it to be worthwhile. We also have to keep a close eye on what is and is not plugged in when the generator is shut off, as we soon learned that our backup of battery banks are very worn and tired ( they've been serving for six years). So if we don't unplug and turn off a lot of the large items right away, the inverter switches off soon after the generator. To compound the problem, we now have lots of projects on the go and lots of charge drawing power. We finally purchased 24 new batteries to be installed, but they are not yet installed. So over the weekend the power was an issue and we have not been able to get on the internet much. I'm hoping we can get those batteries installed very soon.

Problems don't seem to bother me as much now. I've learned to go with the flow. It is very entertaining though watching as teams have to learn through this process, as in Haiti there are always problems that arise. This present team have some pretty good attitudes and are good problem solvers. It's all an adventure, this life of ours. Everyday of it.

Remembering Haiti Today

Today was an extremely significant day, for many reasons. January 12, 2012... two year anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed more than 1/2 million homes and killed 300,000 people in Haiti. That fateful day changed the future and the landscape of the country. In the past two years we have seen so many changes happen and it seems that Haiti has finally started to get back on her feet again. The government with Martelly as the new president leading, has made some strides to improve the situation for its people. The cleanup and rebuilding has started to take shape and beautify the towns.

For Haiti ARISE, today was significant. The work and scope of ministry we have taken on has enlarged to encompass so much more than what we had before the earthquake and we are seeing the fulfillment of a dream that was birthed in our hearts 12 years ago. This number, 12, speaks with deep meaning. (As I am sure some of you know, the study of numbers and their significance is intriguing to me.) 12 is the number of completeness, fullness, accomplishment- it is a perfect number. It also represents the numbre of organization and government- the 12 tribes of Isreal, the 12 corners of the new Jerusalem, the 12 apostles... It also represents a number of multiplication. Where 7 being a perfect number =3+4, 12 is multiplied perfection =3x4.

Last night we had an even bigger celebration service than the New Year's service we had. We held it on the new property and had invited people all over the community. There was well over 800 people there. Some said there was up to 1500, and many new people, that have never come to our church. The purpose of the service was two-fold: to remember January 12, the day Haiti was forever changed by the earthquake, and to dedicate our new South Campus property to the Lord before any construction starts there. We finished the wall and get this- it has 12 corners! If even just one of those corners would have been omitted, we would not have a perfect property! So, a significant day indeed- celebrated on January 12, the year 2012 on the new property that has 12 corners, and this year marks 12 years since the vision for Haiti ARISE was birthed in our hearts. Pastor Rod Stutzman from Prosser, WA preached and prophesied a powerful message from Genesis 2:12- OH MY GOSH, even the numbers of the passage- first book, second chapter (makes 12), the 12th verse. The open service started with a handful of people.He spoke prophetically about the rivers that flowed out of the garden of Eden, each signifying a specific point: Increase, Bursting Forth, Rapid, Fruitfulness. He declared that this year, God is going to bring HIS increase (multiplication), to overflowing, rapidly and produce much fruit, both for Haiti and for Haiti ARISE. We believe it and claim it! God's Word is true through and through. After Pastor Rod spoke, Pastor Jim Reimer from Nelson, BC spoke and gave a compelling altar call. Loads of people came forward to accept Christ. I was amazed myself. It is as the prophetic word was already coming to pass! I also felt God speaking to me that with this land, we were entering into a new area, even though it is so close to ur current campus. But this new area is open, accessible and in a place where many more people can hear. Of course, they are curious too, after all the land disputes and Haiti ARISE finally gaining the victory, to see what we are all about.

The biggest highlight for me though, was receiving an email right at 12 noon from a dear friend that we have been praying to find God for a long time. He shared that God finally found him! I was so elated, I ran outside, up and down the property rejoicing! God is so amazing!!

New Year Comes in With a Bang!

What a fabulous new year! I believe this is going to be a great year, a year of accomplishment, fulfillment and God's promises coming to fruition! We flew back into Haiti Dec 31st, just in time for our New Years Eve party with the church. And boy, was it a party! We had a great time celebrating all that God has done. The church committees- cooking crew, setup crew, sound crew etc, worked all day getting set up. At 6pm the festivities started with a great feast and then moved into a lively service at 8pm that lasted to 2:30am. We had praise, praise and more praise, worship, dancing, a great message from Pastor Ed Allan, and more praise! Right at midnight we brought the New Year in with loud, lifted voices in prayer and praise, followed by more dancing and praise. It was such a great party! We raised the roof, and the dust! In this picture I captured, it looked to me like the Holy Spirit was all over the place!

We then handed out gifts that people in Canada and US purchased through our online gift catalogue to honor their loved ones and to give to someone here in Haiti. Well, give we did! First, as a church body, we bought gifts for our leaders and honored them for their years of service to the church and community. Then, Sister Leah (a great woman of God in our church) and I distributed the gift catalogue gifts, things like Bibles (which were the most prized gift), baby packs, food bundles, rice, tools, trees, even goats and chickens. There were even two bicycles! The people were incredibly happy and blessed! I think just about everyone got a gift. And it was such a joy to share together right at the New Year! I smiled so much my face hurt.

We did not have Sunday morning service, as you can imagine everyone slept in til the afternoon. But we did have a service and planning meeting for our Pastor's Conference at 4pm on January 1st. We got all the committees motivated again to get ready for the conference- some were already on their feet in preparations. We have the hospitality committee to help lodge pastors that would be visiting from other towns, such as Port Au Prince, Les Cayes, Jacmel, Leogane. We have the transportation committee, who is responsible to pick up chairs, tables, and large cooking pots from church members who have given them to be used during the conference. We have the set up and clean up committee, who are in charge of making the yard and church clean and beautiful. We have the kitchen and welcoming committee, who do all the cooking of three meals a day for the three days of conference, including the slaughter of a cow. We have the registration committee- pretty self-explanatory. And of course, we have the worship team and sound committee, who I happen to be a part of since we are recording the sessions for CD's and DVD video, as well as getting the notes ready for the sessions. Oh, I don't want to forget the translation committee- they translated all the notes Monday, which took six guys, five dictionaries and a girl typist.

Today was the first day of our conference with about 150 pastors. There are not as many this year, since last year we only had a local seminar and motivating pastors to come now, when there are Earthquake Anniversary activities planned is challenging. At any rate, we had a great first day. Ed Allan, from Leduc, Alberta, spoke two sessions in the morning on Strategic Vision and Cathy Bergquist shared in the afternoon about Leading Your Marriage and Family Strategically and with Vision (can you see the theme here?) Chris and Cathy Bergquist will be with us here for 3 months serving as Team Hosts and Project Managers. Chris is a retired geologist and Cathy used to run her own travel agency. We are having a good time with them already. You can follow their blog at: Chris and Cathy's Excellent Adventure.

The kids are glad to be back. While we had a great time with our stay in Canada, and it was not that cold, they were all sick with fevers and coughs from the climate change. So they are recovering and Asher is happy to be back with his buddies.  Jan 10th we have two teams arriving from Prosser, WA and Nelson, BC. You can follow their blog soon. Roy Ralph is also returning to help us with engineering on the tech school building. Until next week...

A Traditional Merry Christmas

It has been a wonderful time for our family for the holidays, having a relaxing time and getting together with friends. We have enjoyed a traditional Christmas this year in Canada. Christmas Eve we attended a beautiful service, singing Christmas hymns and carols, and visiting with dear friends from Eastside City Church, our home church in Calgary, before heading over to James and Michele Roberts' home for hot apple cider and fellowship. When we got back home, we read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke with the kids, then each prayed, telling Jesus Happy Birthday and giving thanks for the gifts He has given us! Ariana prayed first, with her little jabber, then Jasmine- she sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Jesus. Then Miesha prayed and thanked God for dying for us and for giving her a brother and sisters. Asher thanked God for his friends in Haiti and his cousins here. Marc and I closed in prayer. We are so grateful for the miracle God gave us this season. Jesus, came as a babe, to identify with His creation and open the way of salvation.

Christmas morning, the kids all piled in our bed around 8am. "Wake up, mom and dad, it's Christmas!" Oh, it seemed so early. Just 10 more minutes, kids. We finally rolled out of bed, with all four kids rolling out after us. They trampled quickly down the stairs eager to open gifts. Each of the kids bought one present for another, and one for Marc and I. They were so cute, cause they all saw each other's gifts before opening them, but they still acted surprised. They told each other what they wanted and they stood in the checkout lines next to each other to buy them, pretending not to see each other. Marc and I both got perfume from the kids. After opening the presents, we had a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs and ham. Then the kids played contentedly all morning and into the afternoon with their new toys. Marc had nap on the couch and I started on Christmas dinner- my first time making turkey dinner. James and Michele planned to come over with their four kids after they went to serve the homeless a Christmas brunch that day. They called us around noon and I had not put the turkey in yet. Somehow I miss calculated how many hours it would take and thought it would only be 2hours for an 18 lbs. turkey. James corrected my mathematical errors, so I got busy and got that turkey in the oven! They arrived around 5pm. All the vegetables were ready, but the turkey took another 2 hours. It was all good though. We enjoyed a relaxing evening, played board games and listened to Christmas music. It has been a wonderful Christmas this year just with our little family.

This week we will gather up all our things again and get ready to head back to Haiti, to all the busyness and to all of our wonderful friends there.

Christmas Bustle Makes Time Fly

Wow, I can't believe I have not posted anything for almost 3 weeks! Sorry everyone. I am sure though with all of the Christmas bustle and end of the year wrapping up (excuse the pun), you have all been busy too, writing your own Christmas letters, sending cards and busy shopping. I hope in it all we don't overlook the real reason we are celebrating this season.

In Haiti, we had an amazing Christmas celebration party with our staff the Friday before we headed out to come back to snowy Canada. After Geanne, Marilyn, Wade and I busted our tails to get all of our year end reports done in the office, we closed up everything Friday so we could enjoy our last day with the staff. It was well worth it, relaxing the beautiful Caribbean Sea in the morning and then having a wonderful party in the evening at the campus. Our staff all had a really great time. We also had our last "goat and Coke" with Wade and Marilyn, our missionary couple who were with us for the two months here, serving as our team hosts. They were awesome and we hope to have them back again soon. The time went by so fast, it was like it had just started and it was already done. So much was accomplished these last two months, I am still amazed at all of God's wondrous works.

This whole concept of time always gets me thinking, especially when the year is coming to a close again. It is a time to reflect and recognize all that God has done in the year. It's also a reminder of just how fast time goes by and challenges me to constantly seek God to know if we are really using each moment as He would have us. Any day could be our last. Any year could be an end. I want to be sure that we run our race well. I am also reminded that time is really of no essence to God. The way He sees time is completely contrary to our concept of it. He created and owns it, and is ultimately in control. If He wanted to, He could make the sun stand still, which we know that such an event was actually recorded (and scientifically proven) in the Bible. And since He owns each day and plans in such a way that His will will come to pass no matter what, it can actually bring us some peace, if we choose to rest in it and surrender to the leading of His will. I think this has been a major lesson for me this fall.

For so many of us, since we are bound by time, it seems to become the measure of what we are able to attain and accomplish. At times it proves to be a cruel taskmaster, especially since the enemy of our souls knows our weaknesses and tries to convince us that we are bound by its guilt when we fail to finish tasks that we set for ourselves in the frame we expect to have them done. This enemy does not want us to experience God's rest in His will. But when we do remember that God is ultimately in control and surrender our strivings, we are swept up by God's humbling grace and faithfulness. He will accomplish all He sets out to do, and in His perfect timing. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." I can definitely see this as I look back over the year 2011. I stand in awe of God's faithful deeds and humbled that we would be allowed to be used by Him... us, just ordinary people. We are no scholars, no mathematician or doctor, nor are we amazing builders or spectacular leaders. But HE sure is and we have the privilege of being His servants!

Through the numerous trials and battles we have faced this year, some major tests of faith, God has proven victorious. He has taught us to let go and allow Him to move. And in the process, to love and forgive, to give to those who have shown hate, jealousy and spite. This was the example He set for us, at the whole reason to pause this season to remember. Jesus came, as a babe, lowly, meek and mild. He did not come in as a glorious king, with sword in hand. He rather came to serve, to love and to seek and save those who were lost. Let's all remember this Christmas, this is our example and our calling too. Honorats on the way home from their last day of school for 2011.

We are back in Canada for now to enjoy the holiday season and rest with our family. The kids are having a blast, glad to not have to go to school for a few weeks. We had a great Christmas Celebration party with lots of Haiti ARISE friends last Thursday. It is a nice change of scenery to be in the snow and be surrounded with lights and Christmas hymns. It is a time when the testimony of Christ is made known. Bless you all!

- P.S.- stay tuned to our video center. There will be an update video posted shortly so you can have a look at what God has done!

A Fresh Week, A Fresh Start

Last week was incredibly exhausting emotionally. By Saturday I hit my limit and broke down in tears at the end of the day. I felt God speaking to me all week to rest in Him and I just kept trying to push myself, to the point that I knew I was being disobedient by the end of the week. With Geanne out of the office, Marilyn and I worked so hard to get all the accounting current and balanced. I was in the office until 10pm Friday night to get it done. Saturday morning I felt strongly that God was telling me to just stay home, not to venture into the office and just enjoy the day with the kids. But we spent every last penny that was in the office and I felt I had to get to the bank... So to the office I went... And worked all morning, waiting for my transportation to the bank, which did not come until after 1pm. Thinking the bank was open til 3pm, we headed out only to find it closed at 1pm. I was tired, frustrated and my shoulders were so tense I just wanted to get home and lay down. The whole way home from Petit Goave, I felt God gently chastising me. We normally would go to the beach in the afternoon, but the funeral for the girl from our school, who was killed by the loose live power line this week, was being held at 3pm. All the school kids grades 1-5, mine included, were to be at the campus by 2pm, in uniform to attend the funeral. I had to go. Ceres made four trips with the white van (a 15-passenger), with it stuffed with kids, at least 40 each trip. The funeral was full of people. This young girl, only days from her 9th birthday, had a very respected reputation in town, top in her class and in the school, admired and loved by neighbors and family. It was very hard. The mother was not even present, she was so grieved. When the casket was being carried out, the wailing of mourning began, some women coming completely undone, collapsing on the floor. There was a parade of cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles that followed the hearse. All of our students representing our school joined the entourage til the point where the family home was. The cars continued to the grave site. Our student unloaded at the family home to go honor the mother. One by one, a line of 200 kids in uniform went on the porch, kissed her cheek and then filed out. When I came up and realized who the mother was and saw her tears, this broke me. I was numb the rest of the evening until I returned back to the campus where I finally let it all out.

Sunday marked a new day, a fresh start. A favorite verse of mine in the Psalms says, "Though sorrow may last for the night, joy comes in the morning." We held church under the mango trees, as we are rebuilding the temporary shelter of the church, making it more solid and presentable. We've laid all plywood flooring and turned it's direction to make it longer and wider. It is looking amazing and the church people have been eager to come out and work together to see it done. it should be done by next Sunday. Yesterday though was beautiful, refreshing out in the open, and Wade's sermon, highlighting Jesus' sermon on the mount from Matthew 5-7 was so appropriate for the setting. After church we went to the beach and relaxed. In the evening we took the team to a restaurant in town called Mondy's. We like to call it our goat and coke stop, cause they make excellent fried goat and sell coke in the old fashioned bottles. But they don't have a menu to choose from, you basically get whatever they have to serve. We we all hoping for goat, but out of all 11 of us, for some reason, I was the only one that lucked out to get it- Marc and Wade were pretty jealous. :) After dinner we watched Digicel Stars, the Haitian equivalent to American Idol- one of our church musicians, Kelly, is in the finals, the last top three. He did a great job! After we had a nice stroll through town. Just the small changes of scenery can really help clear your mind and spirit. I repented to the Lord for not listening so well, and pushing to do things my own way. I learned a good lesson, that submission is for our own good. God wanted me to rest in Him so I would not be stressed, tired and frustrated. He loves us and wants the best for us. He knows what we need to do and He can help us do it in His strength and in His timing. Oh, why am I so... human?

So today is a new week. The joy of the Lord is my strength. And... Geanne is back in the office. I was so happy to see her, I gave her a big hug. She does so much around here. the team has had their own fair share of challenges and set backs this past week, with the last corner of the wall. We need your prayers, for this week to go smooth and that God would give us success to completely close the wall. You can read their Team Blog to hear what's happening with them. It's been a great group.

Photo Update

I promised some pictures. There are so many more I could share, but here is a glimpse. I will get some more posted tomorrow! The clinic has been painted, electric installed, doors hung and septic has been dug. The grass has even been planted in between the two buildings. The cupboards are left to hang, toilets and sinks to be installed and the ground to be smoothed out front. It's looking good!

You can see why we need this facility to be done. This was a pre and post natal teaching class we held while the medical team was here. There were over 130 ladies with their babies!

High Highs and Low Lows

Life sometimes takes us on unexpected turns and twists, thrusting us up towards the heavens and then suddenly plunging us to the depths of the grave. The last two days have been such. Yesterday was a more than perfect day. We arrived at church early, to help set up for a visiting choir that was making their way out to Grand-Goave from Port Au Prince. The bus had gone out early morning, making two trips back and forth, unloading the 40-member group. The women were dressed in white with red belts and red hi-heels, the men dressed in black suits with red bow ties. At the start of the day, I was not feeling so well, so I did not join the Sunday School class. I rather helped set up the chairs, make sure they were all clean and that there was enough space on the stage. The main service started with great worship led by our very anointed worship leader, Marc Eddy. I felt thirsty, as a deer pants for water, so the psalmist says in chapter 42. Then the choir was invited to share their pieces. They arranged themselves in clusters on the stage and began to raise their voices together, first gently like an evening breeze, then ever rising with fervency. Their voices rang out so pure, in perfect harmonies and melody that I felt I was drawn into the heavens. I could see myself before His throne, with angels and saints all around, raising our praises and hands to God Almighty! I was so moved with the presence of the Holy Spirit strongly. The whole church was mesmerized, in awe of the power of the worship.

Yet in the midst of this day's perfection, Marc came forward to appeal the church to pray for a special young boy, Roosevelt, who has a sever heart condition. He has been a patient of our clinics and we have been working hard for over a year trying to arrange for heart surgery, yet to no avail. In recent weeks, his situation has turned very grave and at every turn it seems that man cannot help. Hospitals don't do the kind of surgery he needs here, we can't get him the proper access to travel elsewhere for it, and now his abdomen is severely bloated with fluid due to his heart not functioning properly, causing doctors to now say he is no longer a candidate for surgery. He is too far gone. There is only one place left to turn, to the One who made Roosevelt's heart in the first place, the one who can make it function properly again. His mom was in the congregation and when Marc asked for the boy, she reported that he can no longer walk, he is in so much pain. We all with one cry went before God, imploring of Him for a miracle for this young boy. My heart wrenched as I poured out tears before God. Please, heal the boy, Lord! Please.

The choir came back up again at the end of the service. The powerful presence of the Lord was so rich and pure, thick and tangible. Everyone was aware of it. It was a sacred service. The rest of the service I was so undone. I cried more tears in those 3 hours of service than I have in a long time. It was realization of God's awesome presence, an intense sense of gratitude for His unfailing love and amazing mercy on our lives, the revelation of how broken our world is and how perfect yet gracious our God and King is. The rest of the songs the choir sung were so amazing, so resounding, it seemed as though the tin roof was going to blow off the shelter. At the beginning of service I felt I was drawn up to Heaven. At the end of the service, it was as though they were pulling Heaven down to meet us right where we were! Incredible!

That afternoon, we went for Geanne's engagement party, Geanne & Wilchide's engagement. They even match!which was also such a joy and testament to God's great faithfulness to these two young people who have wholeheartedly given themselves to Him. They had invited all the parents and family to listen as they shared their desire to commit their lives to one another and invite counsel from their loved ones. It was beautiful. An amazing example too of a pure relationship. They even wore matching clothes. Marc and I left there so blessed and honored to support such an upstanding young couple in their endeavor to start a relationship together. They plan to marry next Dec 2012. It was a perfect day.

Today seemed to be a normal day of office work and another work team arriving. Then news came to us that one of our school children was killed this afternoon. A huge blow. Another young life snuffed out like a wick. Just 10 years old, in the class after Asher's. She was on her way to her aunt's house on her bike and she got caught on a loose hanging electrical wire that someone had attached to the main city line. It electrocuted her and killed her instantly. Marc found the mother by her child still lying in the street, in deep sobs. He prayed with her, and returned here with a very heavy heart.

The roller coaster, we can never determine it's next sudden jolt. This one thing I know. Jesus said "Let the little children come to me, for such as these does the Kingdom of Heaven belong." Yesterday, I tasted and almost tangibly felt God's Heavenly presence, making me ever more desire to be with Him. Today, a dear child is sitting in His lap.