Wiebe's Corner Quoting on Prayer

Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this - always obey such an impulse.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Lasstic Janurary 2013 Progress

From across the US & Canada our folks are starting to stream back to Haiti. Sam has been working there all summer, Jerome, Morgan, and Jalen arrived within the last week or so, and have been at work setting up the compound, and generally getting ready for this year’s work. The AC has been fixed on the DMax, new tires are ordered, the (new to us) quad has been rebuilt, and we’re mostly ready to go (more on that later).

In case there are those of you who haven’t been informed, water was turned into the project in February 2012. The system mostly worked during the year, with some startup pains, until the double blow of Hurricane Isaac & Hurricane Sandy that took us out of commission. Our task is to repair this damage, and strengthen for future threats.

We have rented the same house in Fond Parisien that we’ve had the last several years. This will be our first year without Raymond formally involved, although he was not on site last year because of his surgery. This year he plans to be off west building a bridge, and of course we wish him the very best at that. Quite a few volunteers from previous years will be there, and we’ll be welcoming new folks as well.

After initial setup, our first task will be to further assess the dam VS bedrock situation. A large amount of backfill prom previous years has washed away, and this gives us the chance to anchor all or most of the dam down to bedrock. With the help of the excavator, we’ll be probing to see how far we have to go. We anticipate about 175 yards of concrete will be poured to accomplish this, with about 5 tons of steel to be placed and tied. While this is going on, a second team will be repairing the limited damage to the canal, and we will also be revamping our gate/control layout to streamline that part of it.

A lot of time was spent during the summer and fall mapping and drafting the distribution area, and that project is complete. A total of 1419 gardens are being supplied with water, and each one has been mapped, drafted, calculated, and a “Sètifika Dlo” (water certificate) prepared. Each garden is cross referenced to our field notes, the district it resides in, and the map sheet & grid on which it is currently shown. As we continue to establish the local Water Committee and the operating budget, each landowner will receive his formal certificate as he pays his annual dues for water. In 2013 the fee will be about $35 USD per acre, or about $14 for the average size garden. It is our goal to have this completely set up and organized by the time water flows again, which we hope will be happening by the end of February.

Since we don’t have Raymond working with us this year, we also don’t have his tools and equipment. Last fall we made up an exhaustive list of what we needed to acquire for this year, as well as adding the routine consumables. This was all assembled in Pennsylvania near to CAM’s HQ, carefully packed into a container together with some items for Raymond and Keith Toews, and delivered to CAM. Due to circumstances seemingly beyond our control, they have delayed shipment several times, and it’s still sitting in their yard! Since it takes about 4 weeks to make the transit and clear customs, we will likely be half done by the time it arrives. We’re starting to take some alternate measures, but not everything has been resolved at this time. The current promise is to ship in two days (Wednesday), so we’ll see what happens.

Right now our funding is about 75% of our budget, so we’ve come a long ways, and our goal is almost in sight. As long as ya’ll keep supporting us in prayer, and with volunteers and funds, we’ll keep working.

Kevin Bronson

Are You A Prayer Warrior?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing

I have been more and more impressed with the power of prayer. Why wouldn't you pray? We are such weak beggarly beings and yet we have a heavenly father and creator that is interested in our praise and requests. I have nothing to boast of but know that I am very needy. Alot of things I do not understand, but I do believe in prayer. When a plane is to make a tragic descent to the ground, its passengers resort to prayer if there is but any time to do so. There is so much to pray for. If you chronically complain about the way the country is run, and about the Media, your neighbors, or crime waves----it means you have a duty, yes a duty to pray to God about these things. No point being self righteous about it--you have power to pray about it. When you read a true story pray for the people. I remember reading a book of short stories. One left you hanging. One about about a poor Indian girl that was forced to prostitute to provide for her dying family. It touched my heart that I wanted to pray for her. In the next reprints they had to update the story to record that miracles had happened in her life. I believe readers were moved to prayer and it made a difference.
I love the people that I meet, but know that only the Holy Spirit can really make the difference in their lives. That means pray for them. As you drive away take off your hat and pray. When you pass out tracts pray. When you get out of bed-- Pray. Before you sleep-- pray. Any troubles---pray.
And then stop and think of how merciful God has been towards  you-- pray Thanks.
We do not need to recite prayers and think we will be heard for our ritual---We are here to put our hearts into it and make a difference. Christ is our intercessor and as we want to be more like Him it does us good to intercess for our family, neighbors, and national leaders. I have scratched my head and wondered if there is any Christian out there that has recieved the New Birth that has not been prayed for in some way.... JT

Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

 

1 Timothy 2:1-2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

 

Post Hurricane Sandy---Lasstic Haiti Canal/Dam Project

A Little Overdue, but still Ongoing

November 2012

 

 

 

Several of us traveled to Haiti in mid October to review the damage caused by Hurricane Isaac that passed over Haiti in late August. In general, the whole country took a medium beating from the storm, with some roads washed out, crops ruined, houses damaged, etc. The roads leading to our project had some damage as well, although by the time we arrived the road department had repaired the main road. The side road that leads through several villages to our site had been repaired enough by locals that we were able to get through in low range 4X4 with a spotter guiding us through the rough parts.

What we found wasn't a surprise to us, because it had been described to us by several visitors just after the storm. The canal has some damage, with about 15' of the wall broken away in one point, and some erosion undercutting the floor. One of our control gates has broken away (parts of it were found about 3 1/2 miles downstream). We found large rocks, some as big as basketballs, that had washed over the control gates, and partially filled the canal beyond. We estimate that 50 yards of debris were washed over the top of the ±4' high gates - it's hard to imagine the turbulent water required to move that size of rocks over that high of a wall. The gates are pretty scarred, but still very usable. We expect the canal repairs can be done in a week or less, and in doing so, we will reinforce some areas for future storm resistance.

The erosion at the dam site is more spectacular. What we call the dam is really a retaining wall that crosses the river just downstream of the entrance to the canal. During construction we were able to locate bedrock on the river bank nearest the canal, and a knob about 2/3 of the way across the riverbed to anchor the dam to, but in between those two bedrock points we dug down about 12' with the excavator, and didn't hit anything solid. We decided that that 12' was about the maximum depth that we could open and dewater a hole for construction, so without bedrock in between we built a dam to span the river. It is 18' high, and when it was finished we backfilled it, which raised the level of the river bed and created a waterfall. The height of the dam is such that water runs around the end of it until the desired high water level in the canal, at which time excess water spills over the dam. To reduce erosion, we piled many tons of boulders at the base of the dam to form a splash pad. We moved in all the big rocks from the canyon below -everything we could dig up and move in with a Cat 320 excavator.

Based on the water mark evidence on the canal walls, it looks like the water came over the dam 4 ' to 5' deep. The entire boulder field was washed away, and not to be seen anywhere in the river bed downstream. It appears that once the erosion protection was gone, the falling water undercut the dam until the backfill from the upstream side started washing under the dam, and about 2/3 of the backfill placed in 2011 was gone. The stream ran just under the dam in two places, with about 2' of clearance in the deepest channel.

We spent a number of hours poking, prodding, measuring, debating, and calculating. By the end of three days, we had come up with a proposed soil stabilization method, a way to re-backfill the dam, and plans for repairing the canal and other miscellaneous damage, including to the two fountains we had placed in several nearby villages. We also spent some time in Port au Prince determining the availability and pricing of materials, we looked for another vehicle to purchase, and made general plans.

As we left the country October 24th, all eyes were starting to look south, where another hurricane was quickly forming. When Sandy crossed over Cuba as a Category 2 hurricane, the storm was big enough that is was raining all the way from Venezuela to Florida, and was certainly raining hard in most of Haiti. According to most of the people we have had contact with there, it was the worst rainfall event in many years. At our congregation in Oriani, it rained for 43 hours straight, during which time they received about 2.5' of water! Houses, crops, roads, bridges, and people's hopes were washed away all around the country. We all have heard about and seen the immense damage caused when Sandy hit New York - at which time it was "only" a Category 1 hurricane. Can anybody imagine the damage if it was a Cat 2 when it hit?

When our local inspectors finally were able to hike back into the canyon to inspect (much more road damage than before), they were all concerned that this storm might have been the water that broke the dam, but to their amazement they found the riverbed was scoured down to bedrock for some distance both upstream and downstream from the dam, I mean bridge. It is now "high and dry" with enough clearance underneath to drive heavy equipment through! The water was still rushing down the channel, but the opening down to bedrock is about 45' wide at the top, 25' wide at the bottom, and about 15' high.

We have enough data points from 500' upstream of the dam to about 3/4 of a mile below the dam to calculate the average change in river bottom to be about 18'. This means that in this 3/4 mile area, 18' deep X the average riverbed width, approximately 500,000 yards of material were washed away. And it didn't just was around the next corner - 3 1/2 miles downstream the river bed is down about 4', and along the way it widened the river about 75' through one village for about 1/2 mile, washing away to within about 3' of the nearest house, and made sundry other adjustments to the landscaping! This rock was deposited after the river slowed down as it widens out into the farming valley another mile or so downstream. Some of it washed an additional 2 - 2 1/2 miles and buried a few fields that were getting irrigation water from our system.

We don’t view the altered landscape at our dam site as a huge disaster, but rather it's really a blessing. We had debated the idea of excavating down until we found solid rock, but had ruled it out as to much overburden to move with the equipment, time, and space we had available With the bedrock exposed, we can construct under the dam/bridge down to it, and eliminate the problem of future erosion. We estimate it will take an additional 170 yards of concrete, and increase the height of the dam to 33'. I have been working with local engineering firm to come up with a plan to anchor this larger structure to the bedrock. Since we still have our rock drill there, we will drill anchor holes into the bedrock as part of that plan.

With our options narrowed down to just one feasible way to repair the damage, our plans have been advancing. Nobody involved thinks we should stop working now, so we plan to resume our work in mid January. Most of the same core team will return, and we expect construction to last somewhere from six to eight weeks. We have been assembling tools and supplies on the east coast, and that container should ship any day.

As most of you know, an old Haiti hand Raymond Withers has been helping us in the past. We have used a lot of his machinery, tools, vehicles, and expertise on this project. Last year he was laid up in Texas recovering from a surgery, but we had his dozer, pickup, quad, welder/generator, misc tools, and his hired man helping on our project! This year he plans to be building a bridge about five hrs drive to the west, and of course will be using all of his resources there. We are faced with ramping up our current transportation fleet of one pickup to at least one more vehicle, and at least one quad/ATV. We found and purchased a 1999 Arctic Cat quad; Sam has gone over it stem to stern, and almost $2000 worth of parts has shipped by air to rebuild it. That seems like a LOT of money to spend on a machine that is that old, but it has one major thing going for it - it's in the country with all the taxes paid! It is incredibly difficult and time consuming to import any motorized piece of equipment into Haiti, and we felt that this one was the most time, cost, and stress effective way to go. It's also the only utility/work quad I have ever seen for sale in Haiti - mostly we see sport type machines that the really rich people use for toys. The above mentioned container has a welder, cutting torch, shop tools, tires, and other stuff needed on board, as well as some supplies for some of the other mission efforts of the church in Haiti.

 

As mentioned above, some of our previous workers plan to return, but at this time we still have openings for mechanics, equipment operators, and concrete contractors, as well as general help. If you have an interest in putting in some time, contact Roger Jantz or Kevin Bronson for details on the openings and skills we're looking for.

In additional to the canal re-building project, we have also been forming a Water Committee to manager the distribution of water, and to maintain the canals in the valley. Slightly over 1200 farms receive water, and they have agreed to pay for the water to fund system maintenance and improvement, and asked us to provide that information. The agreed upon rates are based on the area of each farm, so we are mapping and calculating the area as part of this process. We have committed to having this mapping done, and issuing a "water rights certificate" for each farm when we return in early January. The CPS Unit in Haiti did the mapping field work in May of this year as one of their last major projects before the Unit closed. All that is left to do is the drafting & calculations, which have proven to be quite time consuming. If somebody with AutoCAD drafting experience has some time to volunteer for this project, it would be much appreciated. Please contact Kevin Bronson for details.

Wiebe's Corner Quotes DL Mayfield

What do you make of this?:

By DL Mayfield (an excerpt)

"But when God speaks and writes about the poor, he envisioned us seeing real faces, knowing real people, he never meant for it to be an abstract. And that is where we have gone awry, my friends, and this is where the word has become evil.

When we don’t know the poor, that is when they become the Other; easy to categorize, easy to help, easy to fix, easy to forget. When we only see them in short bursts, when we never truly live in their context, when we only get fleeting glimpses from our safe perch. It is not the language that is the problem here; in fact, when we try to sanitize it (the economically unstable, the financially depressed, low-income) it only serves to create safe and sanitized boundaries. But in the words of the Bible, the human condition is found. When we read the words “the poor,” we are expected to feel something. If you don’t, then this is a grave problem. For us, the term is one to be bandied about, argued over, molded into whatever best serves our purposes. But for people living in poverty, it is another story. We would do right to remember what the majority world already knows: beyond being theological or evoking imagery, poverty kills people. It ends lives, changes them irrevocably, fills them with suffering. According to Scripture, the poor are never to be pitied; but they are to be taken care of, to be at the forefront of our minds just as they are in the eyes of God."

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

People, I got to tell you I just read this book and it really impressed me. We went to Canada for Christmas and I borrowed this book for outload reading on the way home. It was good. I was a little wary that it was another holocaust book which leaves me too exhausted emotionally by the time I finish. This one rather challenged me that God is waiting for us to quite running on our own steam and rather trust him to direct our lives, through thick and thin. As a Christian I feel I have hardly lived----so many times I have not trusted God enough....
  This book tells of a dutch family that lived there lives for others in a watch shop in Harlaam. By the time WW2 came they just opened their doors a little further to include exiled Jews. They took the people others were too scared to help. Ones that coughed or looked too Jewish. It was hardly a secret to anybody in town what they were doing, but since they had helped everyone in need for so long nobody reported them. In fact they were amazed how involved they had become.
Eventually someone betrayed them and the two spinister sisters and their elderly father were hauled into prison for helping Jews and taking part in the Dutch Resistance. A man had asked for help and though they suspected him they could not say no lest he really needed help. The two ladies were sent to jail, labor camps and finally a concentration camp in Germany. Death stared them in the face everyday. They thanked God that could still use them in the darkest times to tell others about God. In the end the book brings you to the ultimate tests of love, devotion, and the key---forgivness. For God to forgive you must forgive others----even those that betray you or use you. What a test! And know it is only God's grace that will help you through.

I could not help myself but read a "Tramp for the Lord" the sequel. I have a Kindle that read this to me commuting to work. Do yourself a favor and read some books about testimonies of others and challenge yourself whether you are really open to see that God has a way through your "tough times".

Dumas Tract Meeting 2012

Was a great success except 41% of the Southeast congregations were not repesented. It was harvest time so I suppose many could not make it for that reason. Anyways it was a good meeting. Jeff Boese from Pincher Creek was flown down to give us talks on his experience in New England. As soon as I get the minutes I will share tips and stats that would interest the tract workers that read here. I am working on a quarterly newsletter that I send in the mail to the Southeast tract workers to keep up enthusiasm. My experiment with Op-Noah has been a mixed success. Most active tract workers don't seem to have internet so I end up missing contact with the core interest group I would like to connect with. As a result you may hear less from me here. I will rather post here international letter excerpts and portions from my newsletters if that project takes off. I have restocked my work truck with plastic covered tracts and am working at outreach in rural Alabama where I can as a fence worker.


As for my involvement in Haiti, I have to edit and fill in more on the book and I am also experimenting with growing bamboo for timber and erosion control on my place in Alabama. Hopefully I can get my hairless sheep on pasture before winter as well. I want to use the manure from the calves and sheep for fertilizer for my small future greenhouse that I have been preparing for. I have finished my bamboo porch and am just about finished with a bamboo wall on my yard. I am trying to get familar with working with the material, so that hopefully I can use it to the benefit somewhere here or abroad.......

 

Eye for an Eye in Paraguay

Justice has taken a new twist here in the 2nd Department of San Pedro, Paraguay. A little over a week ago Claudalina’s (our Land lord Hipolito’s wife) brother-in-law was killed by several knife stabs to his heart. He had been cheating on his wife and the husband of the woman he had been with several times had warned him to get out of the community or he would be killed. He was warned several times the way I understand and at last the threat was completed and he was stabbed to death.
 
Less than two weeks later Hipolito talked to a man that works at the Public Office that takes care of death certificates and other such official paper work. The official told Hipolito (is there any privacy laws in Paraguay?) that three more murders of the same nature have taken place since. One other jealous husband had killed a man that had been with his wife and left his body near the highway close to 6 mil. Two other husbands paid other men to do the murdering for them and got rid of the men that they thought needed to die.
 
Hipolito and I talked a little of what the Bible says regarding “and eye for an eye”. This was the way in the old testament but now we are in the new dispensation. I was inspired to see what the Bible said regarding revenge and the “new law” of love....
 
Exo 21:24  Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Exo 21:25  Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Exo 21:26  And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
Exo 21:27  And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
 
1Jn 2:7  Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
1Jn 2:8  Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
1Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
 
Joh 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
 
Please remember us and the People of Paraguay in your prayers,
missionaries in Paraguay

Wiebe Quotes: Devotion

The gap between a holy God and mortal man is beyond words. If we should put forth enormous effort to climb the highest mountains, we would there discover that we are not much closer to the nearest star. The closer we come to the light, the more we discover our lack. Yet we also receive a vision of God's grace and mercy. Consecrated souls are humble, and they tremble at God's word…
…A heart that is given to God will always be given to prayer, always feel a need of Him, and ever desire to worship Him. Our highest purpose on earth is to honor the living God. It is not enough to be a devoted or dedicated person, but we must be devoted to God. May our spirits reach out to God so we may say with David, "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land" (Ps. 143:6).
Dedicating My Temple
Lesson 3 - September 16, 2012
Adult & Youth Sunday School Lessons

Haiti Clinic Moves Beyond Isaac Storm

Sept 12, 2012
We have been constantly amazed by the way God has been opening doors, and working, and providing for us here. The clinic has been running very well lately and is steadily getting busier and busier. We love being here and everyday is a gift from God. We feel blessed to have good clinic workers, and that things run so smoothly. We love the people here and admire them so much. There is something so incredibly beautiful about these people and their strength of character that is an inspiration just to watch them and interact with them. Many times I marvel at the emotional, spiritual, and physical beauty of the simple (yet incredibly complex) package of a mountain woman with a baby in her arms. It’s like... WOW!
There are so many things to write about and tell you that I feel inadequate. Actually... we feel inadequate many times here. We can treat and heal many of this community’s sicknesses and problems, but the social and emotional problems we run into are almost beyond us at times. Like how should we council a teenage mother (a rape victim) who brings a baby to us and wants us to take it because her father hates the child so much that he threw him on the ground and tried to kill him by stomping? How do we comfort a church sister who one week finds out she is HIV positive (likely from the dentist who has pulled 4 of her teeth in the last yr and doesn’t bother to use new needles, grrrrrr!!!!), and then the next week comes to the clinic all battered up because her former boyfriend tries to kill her for not coming back to him? How do we comfort parents who take their sick baby to the witchdoctor and then the next day she dies from the potions and ignorance of the wicked charlatan? To show these people love and point them to a loving and caring Jesus is the best answer we have for them. Prayer is a wonderful thing. For example... Monday was an extremely busy day where I was running hither and yon... to keep the clinic flowing smoothly, the workers building the new clinic, Minister Nason was up for several visits in the area that he felt I should be in on, and then sooo many others needing my attention and help all day long too, that I was running all day trying to keep ahead of the Mack truck on my tail. I was stressed to the max. Then as darkness was coming and yet another man standing in our yard asking us to come visit his wife who had a new baby... I felt I had had about enough. But I told Candace “lets go!” So we walked across several hills to his house. His name is Dewdew. He is 25 and his wife is 20, they have 3 children. His 6x11ft house was barely standing on the edge of a cliff. The tropical storm Isaac from 2 weeks ago had taken his whole roof off so it is now covered with a holey tarp (not holy). The mud packed rock walls had softened in the 14 inch rain and 70 mph wind and one wall had fallen into the house... landing on the bed the four of them were hiding under. As we went into the darkness of the place we were honoured to realise that they were inviting us here to “name the baby”, and bless their home with a prayer. I told them the Bible story of Daniel, his steadfastness in prayer to God which resulted in him being thrown to the lions, and then how the angel protected him. I then pronounced his name to be “Daniel”. We prayed together, leaving encouragement for them to come to the clinic for treatment for several of their family’s issues, and I left there feeling like my stressful day was changed into a happy blessing.
Our nurse Heather, from Alberta, has been doing an awesome job, and she cheerfully goes thru her days duties. She’s been here 5 months and she is learning the Creole language fairly well. She has a full time translator at work yet. She and Ozias are very busy stitching wounds, dealing with burns, diagnosing all kinds of normal and strange illnesses, doing prenatal classes, delivering babies, etc. The clinic is open 5 days a week but often there is things to do on the other 2 days if we are around. About the only way to give Heather a break is to send/take her away for a day or so. Recently a newborn came in with a knee bent backwards. Just like this link... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1297692/Blue-Peter-doctor-fixed-newborns-twisted-leg-sticky-tape-wood.html .  Heather is trying the Ponseti style treatment to correct it. I told her that if this works like we think it will... her whole time here in Haiti would have been worth it on this child alone, preventing the child from being a cripple the rest of her life! Honestly, there would have likely been no other place the family could have, or would have, ever gone to for help. I could tell you lots of stories! We really could use an ultrasound machine. If anybody knows of a good machine available, please let me know.
Our ambulance has been a great service to this community. We try to get patient’s families to cover most of the gas money for a 6-8 hour round trip to a hospital and back. That has worked well for the most part. We feel very blessed and are very grateful to Jeff Hageman for providing the vehicle and also for providing a mechanic who comes around on a maintenance and repair schedule. This mechanic is John, an American living and missionarying  in the DR. John and his lovely Dominican wife just spent a few days with us doing some servicing on the 1982 Pinzgauer Ambulance. It’s in tiptop shape again.
We as a family went back to Ontario for 2 weeks in Aug. We enjoyed meeting friends and family again and stocking up on a few things. We were unable to take our 2 yr old foster daughter Ketli to Canada with us so we were very happy to get back to her happy little self again. She is such little heater in our house. Helps keep our house warm and filled with love. The night we got back to Haiti was the night Storm Isaac hit Haiti. Alot of houses are damaged, and gardens too. The wind blew 50-80 mph for most of the night. We spent a week cleaning up our trees and yard, but we had no house damage. We are happy to tell you that our son Cam (13yrs, in 8th grade) was baptised here 2 weeks ago together with 7 Haitians. Christina, Cam and Chase are all back in school as of today. Our new school teacher Sallie Minninger is from Wisconsin and is a real winner. She has been with us less than 2 weeks and is already a good fit in our family. Missionaries Dallas and Linda Koehn have spent their year here and are now gone back to Kansas. We miss them and the mission house is empty, which is very sad. We also miss our oldest son Trev (almost 20yrs old - YIKES!!!) who is living and working in United Center KS for the time being. Nurse Heather is living with us now and with Miss Sallie and our son Zack (soon 18) and the Chadek CSI youth boys often here, our table is often surrounded by happy laughing youth. Right now Sam Willhite from Walnut Hill Florida is also with us for a week or so, helping out on the new clinic.
The church here is in serious need of a full time missionary leader. The congregation is courageous and in good spiritual health overall, but this is a large congregation already and there are challenges in their relatively new Christian lives that they need a pastor to help us with. We don’t always understand Gods will or why there is no one to fill the spot as of yet.
Our new clinic is almost done the construction phase. The rock front is being jointed and the exterior is being painted. There is still lots to do... floor tile, interior paint, plumbing, electrical, counters and shelving etc, before we can move in. We (or I should say ‘this community” ) has been incredibly blessed by generous funders that have taken this project into their hearts and out of their wallets. There has been other times too where it is amazing how God provides... like the day we had a child who needed a surgery that would cost 500 dollars. A couple hours later I got an email from a stranger back home.  They said their child had died and they had 500 dollars left in the memorial fund, and that they wanted to donate it to our clinic to help some child. THAT was a God moment. Thank You!
Today I was impressed with this verse from Joshua 22:5. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Key word for me was “cleave”. Am I “cleaving unto Him”? I need to, I want to. And I want to walk in all His ways. Pray for us that we can do just that.

Love to you all, and may you have a fabulous day.


Keith Toews
Administrator- Confidence Health Center
Oriani, Haiti
(011) 509-3783-9058