March 12, 2012
Here we are 2 1/2 months after packing up and leaving our life as we knew it in Tennessee. We have been adjusting to many changes that have come with this move and transition. It is a thrill to be living day by day, moment by moment, waiting on the Lord and being flexible.
We live in an instant society here in America. It is sometimes difficult to be on a slower pace, but that is what mission's work requires. Life needs to slow down and be flexible. "Roll with the punches" if you will, while trying to plan ahead and cast the vision. This year is a year of changes for us and our work with Samaritan Air and ultimately with the people groups of Haiti. Our first order of business that we wanted to accomplish in arriving here in South Florida was to prepare the Jet Ranger for service in Haiti and consider all options for a Hangar in the country of Haiti. Well, both of these items are underway. John is working on the helicopter, working out all the "bugs" as they arise. It will continue to be flown here in the US throughout this year to make sure it is ready to leave the comforts of America and head to Haiti where parts will not be so readily available. So the helicopter, like us, is in a year of transition. :)
The hangar is our first order of business in the actual country of Haiti. We had several ideas coming down to Florida of what the hangar might be and what our best options were. BUT, as we have been here and establishing relationships, we have realized that God has been working perfectly on those details. Recently we met a couple who are missionaries with New Life and are destined to return to Haiti this May to live and begin building their mission organization's compound there. They are building near a hospital training facility in Haiti. It is near the city of Meribalais. It is a great central location to put our first helicopter and amazing that it will be located within miles of a hospital training facility where we can transport the wounded and sick. There are still lots of details to finalize, but our newly made connection with this couple and their mission organization is looking like a "match made in Heaven".
They are very interested in building a Hangar and living quarters for Samaritan Air on their compound! So pray with us for the details to fall in line and that the hands of Satan will be bound so he may not rise against this endeavor. Pray for protection of this couple and their transition to Haiti and the beginning of the building process.
Our next immediate job as it relates to Samaritan Air is to do a deputation (Support raising) trip to Tennessee this Spring. We are working on those details as I type. We came down at 20%, but have found ourselves quickly falling to 10% of our required monthly support level we need. We have been blessed and well taken care of by God with a contract job with a local agriculture company. This job is a way God is using to take care of us through this year as we raise the needed funds to do our work in Haiti fulltime. So we will be speaking to some church congregations as well as a small group/community group or two if we can. If you are interested in us sharing our work with you, let us know and we can schedule a time while we will be in Tennessee.
In my last blog I referred to Pahokee, FL and Belle Glade, FL as "little Haiti". I am so amazed that we are so disconnected with the rest of world living out here. We can't even make a phone call from our home without dropping it!!! Funny, but it is preparing us to leave it all behind and follow wherever He leads! We may not be able to make phone call like we thought, but we are still here via internet. We don't want to get a home phone yet due to this home being a "temporary-short term" home we are renting. How short term you ask? We are not sure.
You can be in prayer with us on this matter over the next 3 months. Our boys' schooling is what is holding up our semi-permanent roots here. We are seeking the best options for our boys. After visiting public schools and private schools around here (some up to 40 miles away), we feel there are two private schools that are the best fit. Because this is our choice, we are not asking our monthly support to be raised to compensate for that. Instead, I am looking at teaching to offset that cost.
So our prayer request is for God's perfect will/hand picked school for the boys and a hand picked teaching job for me. One school is 10 minutes from our home here. The other school is 40 minutes away. So if the further school is what God has for us, we move. If the school out here opens up, we talk to our landlords about a long term rental situation. It is expensive to live here in South Florida, but are so thankful that the support we have to raise is so much LOWER than if we were to live in Haiti. Having the mission organization planted here and the convenience of flying to Haiti from here, our cost of living is so much lower that if we were permanently stationed in Haiti. That is a praise as we know the state of our economy. Our call to serve Haiti is to impact those over there with our hands and talents because Jesus loves them as much as He loves us, and we choose to help them until they can help themselves!!! The beauty of this for us is the "crew" of partners that join us. It is all of our work! WE are your hands and feet. We need a crew to fly, so you are just as important as those of us on the ground and in the trenches.
THANK YOU TO THOSE THAT partner with us financially each month and pray regularly for us. We are doing well and the work is getting done!
Prayer requests:
The Hangar to be built in Haiti
John's trip into Haiti (March)
The boys' schooling for the Fall.
Monthly support to raise
Praise Items:
Provisions!!! God is so good, all the time
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