Kevin's Frontline Update from Haiti Via Blackberry

Time for another update. This one will not be as adrenaline laden as some
in the past, but from our standpoint that's a good thing. Somebody around
the house a few days ago commented that they have had all the excitement
they could handle.

Conditions are changing rapidly. We were deep in medical evacuations at
the last update. By the end of last week, the number of untreated patients
coming in dropped dramatically; we were mostly seeing people coming in for
bandage changes etc. Field hospitals have been set up by many different aid
groups, and they are doing surgeries on site. Nurses are still being
brought in for post op care. The days of cowboy medicine by Leatherman are
fast coming to an end.

Large amounts of aid MUST be pouring in. We see convoys from the DR daily.
I would guess a C5 Galaxy lands every hour. It would appear that the aid
sending countries are better at getting it here than they are with
distribution. The street price of food is climbing steadily, and is now
over double BQ. We see many hungry (I mean severe hunger) daily, and
starvation for many of them cannot be far away. Many of the ruins and piles
of rubble are being stripped of any recyclables or salvageable materials
that can be exchanged for food. This demo/salvage is being done at great
personal risk, especially with the continued tremors.

The distribution problem can be illustrated with the tent situation. We
have been looking to build and/or buy some tents to distribute. We have
been told they are available at the UN compound. Some of our group have
been there several times. They have registered, so now they would be
allowed to apply to receive tents from the large pile sitting there.
Several days later, we have decided that it will be unlikely that any tents
will be forthcoming, and will proceed for now on our own, and have ordered
some from Canada. And the tents continue to lay in piles on the UN
compound.

Loren, Raymond, and I have taken a couple days to go back to the mountains
and tie up the loose ends so we can shut our project down until next year.
We have a rented excavator and the CSI backhoe, and we are trying to decide
if we can put them, and the scarce and precious fuel needed to run them, to
better use cleaning up and reopening roads, cleaning up piles of rubble,
etc, so that some rebuilding of lives and infrastructure can begin.

We have found our supply containers in the port at Miragaone, and we are
making every effort to retrieve them. we have not cleared Customs yet (see
below).

We are also investigating doing site work for tent cities for CDR. Many
1000s are living under tents built from bed sheets etc in open areas, such
as parks and soccer fields. It may be years before they can all have 'real'
housing, so aid groups are putting up better tents. Rainy season is only
6-8 weeks away. CDR has asked me to handle the survey & site design /
layout, for simple drainage and latrines.

Along the way, we have been able to take food and supplies to 2 orphanages
whose facilities were damaged. There are likely others in need as well. We
are keeping our eyes open for other ways to help individuals in need.

We spent today driving around the Cazeau congregation looking at the
seriously damaged and un-liveable houses. We were looking for ways to get
the excavator in through the winding narrow streets to demo them. After
spending as almost as much as an hour on several of the houses, we think
that we could salvage many of them.

We are using the criteria "Could this be made as good as it was BQ". This
would certainly cost less than demolish and rebuilding them. These brethren
are looking to us to help determine if their houses, which represent in
most cases their life's income and only asset, must be destroyed, or if
they are worth the effort to try to save.

We ask ourselves "If we do what we are considering, would we move our own
family into this house?" The answer is at best a hesitant "yes", and
sometimes "no". What if we spend a bunch of money, effort, and time on a
building, and then another quake takes it down, likely with loss of life?

We were at one site where the house is flat, and the family of 4 lives in
a compact station wagon that was damaged but mostly intact. The sister was
cheerfully combing her little girl's hair, sitting in the passenger seat.
Another young couple lives under several sheets in a makeshift tent.

A 'big picture' problem is that the Central Government is more or less
wiped out. The Palace (Capitol Building), Legislature, and main government
dept office building, are all beyond repair. Some of the gov officials,
including Sen. Lambert, are injured, and others were killed. Judges,
policemen, town councils, etc are the same. (On a village level, enough
officials survived that the locals can operate).

This problems spreads through the entire economy. There are vehicles on
several car lots, but even if you can come up with the cash to buy one, you
can't register it, because the dept of motor vehicles or whatever is
defunct. We can't clear customs with our containers, because there is no
officials in the head office to sign off on them. I have heard that all the
adoption paperwork that was started has been destroyed, and the list goes
on and on.

A few banks have started to open, with long lines. Even those who had
money couldn't get to it for many days, but hopefully that will start to
ease soon.

Work continues on turning the FP church into CDR headquarters. The dorms
are about built, and we worked on wiring them yesterday. They were supposed
to pour concrete for the showers and laundry today, the kitchen is under
construction, and some CDR brethren are working on the plumbing. It should
be ready for use within a week.

We are doing quite well in our house of +/- 1600 sq ft. We average about
20 at mealtime, with a recent high of 29. We have lights, gravity water
from a tank on the roof that feeds our sinks and two bathrooms/showers, and
enough cooks to have an amazing variety of meals. We have three couples,
one with children and a schoolteacher, one CSI board member, and 4 of us
'singles' in permanent residence; the rest are transients and sleep in the
gallery (porch), or in a local motel.

There is no doubt that what we have experienced has affected us all
emotionally. The continued aftershocks keep us jumpy, and unknown rumbles
cause us jitters. I get choked up emotionally, and sometimes cry a little
over things that would not normally affect me that way, and I see some of
the same emotions in the others. We have group devotions every morning, and
they seem to center around these topics, so that must be where individual's
personal study and meditations are taking them. I sense a real need and
desire in everyone's heart to know if being here is happenstance, or if we
were sent to the country 'for such a time as this'.

Continue to pray for us that we may accept the things we cannot change,
the courage, energy, supplies, equipment, knowledge, and security to tackle
the things we can change, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Kevin Bronson
Fond Parisien, Haiti
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Witnessing To the Evil Around Us

I know you will probably raise an eyebrow at this article, but it needs to be shared. Are you ready to witness even to those people you can't imagine would be interested in Christ. Think of the roughest types, bikers, satanists, witches, and you name it. Why? Why not? Jesus loves them as much as he loves you. He came to heal those that need him. Alot of those people have been so tormented by their master by sins and lies that it is time for a break through. It amazes me how the media pokes at the fact that Haiti is riddled with Voodoo. Be not fooled it is here to. It is bigger than you want to imagine.
We are so materialistic in Western culture that it is hard for us to accept that spirits are at work overtime. We say yeah we believe in a devil, etc. If you really believed in the spirit world you would be spending alot more time on your knees. The media, evolution, world religions, Communism, and the Occult world have a lot in common: They preach anti-Christ. Even counterfiet Christian religious groups like Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and even elements of the High Churches like the Catholic Church, twist the message of Christ. The destructive drug culture is also in the same work to undermine and destroy. Dysfunctional famalies and confused sexual orientation leave kids numb to really know what is their role in life. Abuse of women and children is part of the agenda. But wait.........the good news is that there is an answer....their is something you can do.....It is share the Hope that lieth within you. Share the Blessings of Jesus Christ! Where there is darkness, grace can much more abound. As it gets darker his light shines brighter!
The secret is to exercise your faith and love. If you are satisfied with living only a reaction orientated, passive Christian life- you might be in for a rough climb. The joy in the journey is when you see the power of the Lord work through you and touch others around you. How unworthy that we can actually mirror the Heavenly light even into the darkest places. Think of saving one soul from the brink of a eternal life in Hell. Watch that person turn from darkness to light. It is amazing! You only have to be willing to allow the Lord to use you. It is so simple that a child can do it. In fact sometimes you didn't even think you did anything.
First thing is get right with God. Anything Lord needs to be your prayer. 2. Learn to love all people no matter their culture or creed. 3. Realize your weakness as a sinner, without Christ. 4. Study the Word to learn more of the nature of your Savior. 5.Pray for Vision to see things the way God sees them. Pray for Compassion in the Home and to those you meet. 5. Exercise what you learnt with your neighbors and contacts. The next thing you know is that you never know what is around the corner for you to do.
I was raised intially in a rock and roll world. As a kid I seen abuse, perverted stuff, and heart break. I don't regret it. It has helped me to relate with others. I am very sensitive to the spirits around. I sense them in people and when they come to tempt me and even when I read books. I have had spirits living inside me as a teen. They handicapped my life in many areas until they were expelled by the Word of God and prayer. They left violently and I thought I was losing my mind, but later after hearing other testimonies I realized what had happened. I had so much baggage and depression that I tried to replace it with Bible study and Christian songs. As a vacuum was created I filled with good things and tried to starve myself from evil. It wasn't easy but it is neccessary to Christian Life. That is why I like to be careful not to always feed on the media, etc.
You can pray for Peace, but that is only the beginning. As you start the filling process it is quite natural to start putting it into practise. If you want to keep love and peace you must give it to others. It is a chain reaction. The Bible comes alive and God takes you on a journey of people and experiences that show you how He really is. His love becomes real. You are touched by others difficulties. You see things you never seen before.
I just read a book about a couple that were deep into the Occult and how they found Christ. It was note on one of his checks to the Church of Satan. The bank teller wrote that she would pray for him in Jesus name. His unearthly power and appetites left him. Slowly he was led away from darkness into light as a result of some ones willingness to pray. I try to make it habit to pray for those I meet in the day. If I see someone in distress or upset or any other scenerio, I try to make a point to pray for them. You can't talk to everyone, but you can pray. I don't feel it has to be a works thing, but the fact is that spirits are on everyones doorstep at work. Some people do not realize the source of the attacks in their life. When you pray it is like a flash of light cuts through the darkness. You do it because you love them and you want to make a difference. If the Lord allows an opportunity to witness outloud, praise the Lord, but a lot of the real witnessing is also done through prayer. Just like Abraham's intercession for Lot in Sodom. Let us to be willing to reach out in the power of prayer to those around us and just see if it won't make a difference.

Lasstic Ship Containers are In Port!

Dear GNIF Friends:

Everyone knows what happened to Haiti. It seems like it really made people stop and think. A big reason is because Haiti basically had no infrastructure before January 12, 2010. The bigger reason is because at least 3 million people will never be the same. Tens of thousands of that number lost their lives in an instant. Whats happened after that day? Shock. Aftershocks, 52 to be exact. By January 24, at least 52 aftershocks have hit that were a 4.5 or greater. Another type of shock, is what people are experiencing now, what is left of their life.

Raymond is friends with a Haitian Senator as some of you may know. He did survive, but not without some injury(broken leg?). The Hatian government is shut down, birth records are destroyed, adoption records(what were in the process) and the judge that signed them is dead. The land records have also vanished! No records of property lines only adds to the confusion.

All the houses that have been destroyed need to be demo'd to build new ones. People are starting to do demo work by hand, which is very difficult and very dangerous. Since all land records are gone, surveying will need to be done also. GNIF could keep two crews going, one to do the site prep for the tent cities and one on the demo work. This would mean equipment rental, fuel, living cost, etc. On their way to the canyon the other day there were lots of boulders on the roads, it would be a job just to clear those off, and lots of other road and drainage clean up, if we want to do it.

Lastic Canyon Project - A native brother whose business is importing trucks from the US, and is very familiar with the port area was hired to go there and check on our shipment. Sure enough, our ship came in! The Senator is negotiating the duty and taxes. They are finding trucks to haul the containers and hope to have them available by sometime early next week.
In wanting to be as transparent as possible, there will be a financial update next week. Reg has gone to his Uncle's funeral in Alberta this weekend, so when he gets back we will update you on that. Thanks.

--
Good News International Foundation
Associate Writer - Daniel Jantz

Don't Hate the Player Hate the Game

I used to hear this statement from the fellows I worked with. Three guys over the space of three years. I worked with each one at different times for at least six months or a year or more. They all had something in common. They were all playboys, and yet they all feared Hell in one degree or another.
One was an ex-gangbanger that watched his buddy get shot in front of him at a party. He knew a little about God from attending Bible school and enjoyed hearing about the Bible. I loved him like a brother. He memorized my number and would call me through the years when he wanted to talk. He was a hard worker, but moved from place to place, because he knew his days were numbered- so the Spirit of fear told him. His main vice is that he just had to walk in town and as if he had a charm women fell into his arms. I seen it just eating lunch with him and the next thing we knew we had someones phone number which I luckily threw away. Good guy, but he was bound by spirits that would’t let him go.
The guy before him was one of our brethren. His old friends kept contact with him. Finally he could not resist. He fell away in a cloud of dark music, drugs, and a lying spirit. He also was smooth and a very likeable guy. He just couldn’t break the chains that bound him. He has spent a lot of time in prison, giving him time to reconsider, but those chains are heavy.
The other fellow was a good friend. He would do the sign of the cross when passing a Catholic Church. He was scared of the “inferno”, but that didn’t stop him from filling his trunk with bad magazines, and enjoying an evil eye. He also liked to look at foreign magazines depicting a lot of gore. You would see him with a classy girl friend, but when I would drop him off at his house a neighbor lady was waving him to her apartment to "pass the time", and he would look at me and head off to the slaughter until his girlfriend found out and he started fearing for his life.
Three extremely likeable guys. We can’t help but love them. How do we view them. Can we see even though they made the choices they are bound tight. In these situations I pray that the chains be loosened so they can escape. Two of them in prison- One of them running scared. They taught me a lesson “Don’t hate the player, Hate the Game".- More will be said latter…..

Too Poor Even To Help???

Dear GNIF Friends:

Nicholas Kristof wrote the article below that was found in todays Modesto Bee, a local paper for central California.



On my blog, a woman named Mona pointed to Haitian corruption and declared: "I won't send money because I know what will happen to it." Another attributed Haiti's poverty to "the low IQ of the 9 million people there," and added: "It is all very sad and cannot be fixed."

"Giving money to Haiti and other third-world countries is like throwing money in the toilet," another commenter said. Not everyone is so frank, but the subtext of much of the discussion of Haiti is despair about both Haiti and foreign aid.

Americans have also responded with a huge outpouring of assistance, including more than $22 million raised by Red Cross from text messages alone. But for those with doubts, let's have a frank discussion of Haiti's problems:



Why is Haiti so poor? Is it because Haitians are dimwitted or can't get their act together?

Haiti isn't impoverished because the devil got his due; it's impoverished partly because of debts due. France imposed a huge debt that strangled Haiti. And when foreigners weren't looting Haiti, its own rulers were.

The greatest predation was the deforestation of Haiti, so that only 2 percent of the country is forested today. Some trees have been — and continue to be — cut by local peasants, but many were destroyed either by foreigners or to pay off debts to foreigners.

Last year, I drove across the island of Hispaniola, and it was surreal: You traverse what in places is a Haitian moonscape until you reach the border with the Dominican Republic — and jungle.

Without trees, Haiti lost its topsoil through erosion, crippling agriculture.

To visit Haiti is to know that its problem isn't its people.

They are its treasure — smart, industrious and hospitable — and Haitians tend to be successful in the United States (and everywhere but in Haiti).

• Can our billions in aid to Haitians accomplish anything? First, don't exaggerate how much we give or they get.

Haiti ranks 42nd among poor countries in worldwide aid received per person ($103 in 2008, more than one-quarter of which comes from the United States). David Roodman of the Center for Global Development calculates that in 2008, official American aid to Haiti amounted to 92 cents per American.

The United States gives more to Haiti than any other country. But it ranks 11th in per capita giving.

As for whether aid promotes economic growth, that's a bitter and unresolved argument. But even the leading critics of aid — William Easterly, a New York University economist, and Dambisa Moyo, a banker turned author — believe in assisting Haiti after the earthquake. "I think we have a moral imperative," Moyo told me. "I do believe the international community should act."

• So, is Haiti hopeless? Is Bill O'Reilly right? He said: "Once again, we will do more than anyone else on the planet, and one year from today Haiti will be just as bad as it is right now." No, he's not right. And this is the most pernicious myth of all.

Haiti in recent years has been much better managed under President Rene Preval and has shown signs of being on the mend.

Far more than most other impoverished countries — particularly those in Africa — Haiti could plausibly turn itself around. It has an excellent geographic location, there are no regional wars, and it could boom if it could just export to the American market. A report for the United Nations by a prominent British economist, Paul Collier, outlined the best strategy for Haiti: building garment factories. That idea (sweatshops!) may sound horrific to Americans. But it's a strategy that has worked for other countries, such as Bangladesh, and Haitians in the slums would tell you that their most fervent wish is for jobs.

As we help Haitians rebuild, let's dispatch not only aid workers, but also business investors. And let's challenge the myth that because Haiti has been poor, it always will be.



Read more: http://www.modbee.com/opinion/national/story/1017977.html#ixzz0dMuzcjLM

--
Good News International Foundation
Associate Writer - Daniel Jantz

GOOD NEWS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION LASSTIC REPORT

Dear GNIF Friends,

Here's another picture of earth shaken Haiti. The initial emergency medical work there is coming to a close, as Kevin put it "the cowboy medicine with my leatherman is fast coming to a close" and the runs into the D.R. have stopped as a result. But of course the clinics are still running wide open with lots of "re-work", patients that need more care and follow ups after initial surgeries etc. CDR has 4 nurses that are currently working at a medical clinic called Double Harvest with more on the way. They are working 12 hrs on/off and staying at a motel now, but will stay at our church in Fond Parisien when work to build bunks is completed there. Supposedly 500 orphans are to be delivered to Double Harvest tomorrow! In a country that had so many homeless children pre-earthquake its almost impossible to imagine.....

The rented GNIF house is staying full at an average of 20 people, including a teacher, CSI, CDR and GNIF! Apparently they are making good use of the laundry area and the porch for sleeping quarters!

Yesterday, some went to church in Fond Michelle. This is the poorest congregation in Haiti and it has only gotten worse. Many of the young people had left and went to Port au Prince where there was job opportunity and sent money back to their parents/family. But now the tables have turned and they now came back home for help! After church they went to the deacon's house for lunch. In the conversation he quietly admitted that they were getting desperate for the basic needs to provide to all the extra family that has returned home.

There are thousand living in tents everywhere. Some places there could be 10,000+ people living side by side with approximately 8' x 8' of space to defend! CDR is currently working on getting tents set up to provide shelter, but as you can imagine everyone wants one at the same time! Security is always an issue, with so many, so desperate.

All food convoys driving from D.R. are escorted by the U.N. soldiers. Because distributing aid is very slow on the ground the sky is full of helicopters dropping food and supplies. One aid group, Operation Blessing, is sending a ship with about 700 truck loads of food, from the ship they will deliver with a helicopter. They have asked us for help in the distribution of all this food and US Army Rangers have offered protection!

The ship has still not appeared on the GNIF radar. Its not surprising since all ships bringing in aid take priority at this time. The roads to the port are really broken up and travel in that area is really risky. So, we will continue this almost familiar "see what happens next" scenario.

GNIF is considering what humanitarian capacity we can fill right now. Clean up is needed everywhere! Buildings, roads, drainage ditches, the list goes on! Some volunteers could stay at the church where they are now building sleeping quarters. With the Lastic Canyon Project on hold at this time, we want to shift our focus on the earthquake relief. We need your prayers and thoughts on where GNIF shoud be in this new effort. We know you want to help in this disaster, so there will be another update tomorrow (01/26/10).


Good News International Foundation
This letter was written by Daniel Jantz of Ballico CA

RACE, BROTHERHOOD, AND THE CHURCH

The reason I brought up this subject at all is that Deacon Lib was cutting my hair Friday evening and we got talking... For one he is full blooded Maya. They are of short stature. He is an educated, ex-military man with electrical experience. That is his trade. When he works at Spanish Lookout he can tell them a simple procedure. They look at his stature and Maya features and try to seek a second opinion. He naturally would have a tendency to get upset, especially since he is one of the only government licensed electrician on this side of Belize. He lets them play their game and waits it out. That is one of his biggest hurdles in landing the jobs that pay. He is waiting for more government codes to put all the jack leg competition out of business.
Race has become quite a mediocre subject to me as time goes by. I think less and less of it. The only time it gets to me is when one constantly has to tell you what color a man is for their story to make sense. That gets old. America tries to stereotype everybody to the point where you have to talk about Mexicans, Blacks, Whites, and Chinese like they all think and act exactly alike in there type.
My experience has taught me that racial problems stem from ignorance and the refusal of not wanting to look at the other side of the coin. Selfishness and covetousness can also be a factor. “Those people stand in the way of my prosperity and happiness“. “They are taking away our jobs.” “They make me sick the way they live.” If they would just go out there and work maybe then I could tolerate them” People with a low self esteem also like to take an advantage of putting some one else lower to lift themselves higher. (These are the militant ones.) Our feelings show in different ways and are natural.
Compassion teaches us to look at the other side of the story. A lot of people in this world are happy just to have a fraction of what you own or earn. There is an increasing amount of people growing up that haven’t experienced developmental love that you have been blessed with and instead have been rejected or abused as a child. Unless you have been in their shoes you have little idea how emotionally damaging it is. It becomes a challenge to overcome even the simplest tasks. It takes years even after conversion to overcome this kind of trauma never mind if your not even open to God. A lot instead turn to alcohol, drugs, and immorality and this only complicates their problems. Living in a ghetto is also a depressing, life sapping affair that chains you to a hopeless way of life that will not let you go. Unless you, as a Christian, are willing to see the other side of the coin you’ll suffer prejudice. It’s as natural as carnality and human nature. It needs to be nailed to the cross just the same if we are to carry the light of Christ in us.
Anyways Lib and I decided God made a variety of races and cultures to teach man about love, patience, and acceptance which is able to cross boundaries and overcome differences. Being raised in Nazareth, Jesus knew all about these pressures. They had the Samaritans, Jews, Greeks, Romans, and various other so called heathens rubbing shoulders on a daily basis. Their Galilean accent was a joke to the Jews from Judea. What good can come out of Nazareth? They make it just about sound ghetto, if it wasn’t. Though Christ’s message was to the Jew first he had compassion on the Gentiles and complimented their faith in him. It is a test of the Church to cross cultural boundaries with the true love of Christ.
Even opposite personalities compliment each other. When a Christian works with another man that he can’t get along with, he will do well to find out all that man’s good points and try to focus on appreciating them. That holds true on any social level. God made differences to test us and give us the challenge of overcoming those differences. That’s the beauty of being submissive to one another in the brotherhood. The Spirit of Communion embodies this principal. There will be differences to overcome, but its workable. We have just to wash one another’s feet.
Marriage is also one of the biggest examples of harmony and selfless giving. Books can be written on this subject. I appreciate the leading of God that has been allowing all the recent intercultural and interracial weddings that have been taking place in the church. It is a sign of maturity. It is a true gauge that our faith is open for all to partake. It shows that the love of God is able to melt away differences to make a stronger alloy. It is not just a family affair. We as a people shouldn’t have to be worried about marrying too close a relations by accident.
We are all trying to get to heaven. There is many challenges that we will face that are guaranteed to tax our resources to the outmost. So, why wouldn’t you want to have a group of counselors and supporters that can see all the sides of the coin. The more the better. The spiritual activity level in the Church and the love of the brotherhood is directly related. There is a gold mine before us in the form of our brotherhood; let us develop one another to our best potential appreciating our differing talents. The radiance that comes forth from this spiritual relationship will draw lonely souls from all walks of life. Let us draw in our ranks and reach out to all that thirst for true fellowship.

J.L.T. 3.2008

Realignment

Since the church is my family, I have really been investi-gating the “drift” theory. As I traveled since conference I have asked the question, “What is the drift?” I would get different answers. Sometimes I would get the impression that there is a transition taking place and it wasn’t necessarily clear where it is going but then when I think of the greatness of God and His promises I have to admit that whatever happens God always has a way for His people. The gates of hell shall not prevail. No matter how dark it will get God’s grace will always shine brighter, because “where sin abounds grace much more abounds.” I really like to look at the challenges of the day as a great realignment. There comes a time on your car, especially after some hard bumps that your front steering tires need to be realigned. We in the Church need to be sure that we are aligned with Christ. If we are aligned in Christian life we can’t help but wear right and we won‘t be dog trailing. We need inspiration and zeal lined up like sighting up a gun. If you don’t have the bead of truth in your sights of inspiration your going to miss heaven.
A realignment has little to do with the cries of liberalism vs. conservatism. We spend so much time stereotyping people and situations that we miss the point and nothing gets done. I have lived in conservative and liberal settings in the Church and realized that both miss the mark if Christ is not the main focal point. Whatever we think we are we need to be in the middle with an open ear to the Holy Spirit. It is not hard to outwardly live a standard of church tradition and ethics, but it is not worth the price of dwarfing your children’s spiritual growth and understanding. I want my family to be motivated in their Christian life because they know the Lord and His blessings. Then they can not but help the church. Often there is a question of defining Mr. Worldliness. He is such a slippery fish that you can hardly say you got him and he is slipping away. However if you’re prayerful and desire His Word and meditate on it you are going to recognize it for what it is. The word says “prove all things” for a reason. We have the Brethren as a safety to help us when we are not trying to be honest with ourselves. The real question is whether we are bearing the cross of Christ. What kind of cross did he bear. It was a cross of humility, self-sacrifice, and service. Each of us also have a cross to bear. We like to get self absorbed and jump into a hole and pull on one another for this and that well humanity is marching by. We need to be alive bearing the cross by helping others where we expect nothing in return. Since my job is in the service field my heart is touched by the little deeds of kindness people do like giving just a smile or a glass of water. A Christian should be able to be spotted by the small things he does for the sake of others. We need to bear the cross of prayer for our neighbors and everyone that the Spirit impresses on our hearts. The fact is that a lot of the cross is a burden on the heart. An invalid’s sighs and prayers to the throne of Grace can show as much zeal as anyone else. I have stood amazed in my youth at the bed of dying friends or family only to see them on fire and concerned for others.
When we see our brothers and sisters we should think we are staring into a treasure chest. Everyone has a talent to offer to the effort. We need to help everyone develop their gifts so we can all be more efficient for the Lord’s work. Moreover it gives each a sense of purpose and desire to succeed. Everyone is either active, passive, or a detriment to the effort. If you are in the last two it should be hoped that you are in transition to being active. Other wise you are not carrying your weight. We are a team. The timely assist or pass at the right time is what wins the game. There is no excuse. The true Church is most likely as close to heaven as we are going to get in this life, so we better make the best of it. Anyone can speak ill of someone or some program. In such a situation ask your self: What am I going to do about it? A prayer, a personal visit, or a helping hand is in place. Anything short of that you have no grounds to talk about somebody else’s lack. Imagine a man complaining about the ills of society and yet how many second miles is he willing to run to help someone else. If the answer is none-he himself is just another ill. If we see a lack in the church should we not humbly offer the little that we have to make it work. We should be instant in and out of season.
We need to take a leap of faith. Just like diving off a high rock or bridge. Often in a group of daring fellows one goes and the rest will follow, but in what we are talking about the stakes are so much greater.
When you crack down youth for their recreation activities and attitudes you better have a healthy alternative that they can channel their energies. That said they should be led by example. So how are you aligned?

Lasstic Operation Members on CNN

Kevin Bronson and Raymond Withers happened to catch the Media's eyes on one of their "deliveries". It is a couple days old, but for those interested.
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/20/pkg.obrien.haiti.orphans.cnn

Lasstic Update: Post Earthquake Developments

Here Is the Lasstic Report:

Dear GNIF Friends:
Well its past time for an update! As you may have noticed, this is coming from a new email address. Reg Bronson has been doing a great job, but increasingly busy. As GNIF has found out with the Haiti project, if you volunteer you never know what you'll be doing! So I am assisting him in keeping all of our wonderful supporters informed. Its quite a challenge to keep in contact with the GNIF crew in Haiti, part of the reason for a delayed update.

Now, for some information from GNIF Haiti. They have continued transporting earthquake victims across the border into the D.R. It seems like the supply of these injured is endless!

The economy is basically shut down. Very few businesses open, no jobs, no selling, no buying, no money. Fuel supply is getting very low. Convoys of aid is coming in, but little is seen on the streets. What is seen on the streets, is soldiers, everywhere!

Damage to our native brethren is quite extensive. They are living under sheets with sticks propping them up. A few have tents. They have exhausted all of their resources. They are very discouraged, with food prices doubling in the last week.

Raymond and Loren are working on the Lastic Canyon project. They are trying to get the road ready for the arrival of the containers. As of yet we have not received up-to-date info on the arrival of the ship, but Kevin and Raymond were going to be at the port when it arrived. They are also working on the logistics of moving the containers either to the job site or secured storage.

Now what?! That phrase has been used a few times lately, but its still a question that needs answers. GNIF house is at capacity with 21 people from CSI and CDR. We are currently looking for housing that would house more volunteers. Where should our involvement be? In demolition and clean up, road reconstruction, food distribution or return to the Lastic Canyon project? We need your input. At this point we are waiting for information concerning the arrival of the ship, and current conditons there.

To the volunteers: We understand how you feel. Its frustrating to stand on the sidelines here and not do anything when so much needs to be done! Hopefully we will have direction in the next 24 hours. We need your prayers for direction in the coming days.
Attached is a flyer that can be used for public display or in any way you choose. We can't be afraid to ask for help!! We want to thank everybody for their support and interest. It is amazing the goodwill we have experienced at GNIF!

PS - If there are any problems with your friends or family not getting this email or if your name is wrong, please let us know.

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Good News International Foundation
Associate Writer - Daniel Jantz