I can’t believe December is here already. It makes it harder to wrap my head around when it’s still so warm here.
I’ve seen posts about snowboarding back in PA, and that seems so far away right now. My prayers are with the new Snowboarders for Christ chapter that will be shredding at 7 Springs.
I’ve had so much to be thankful for this year, that I cannot hope to put it all into words.
As Jamie and I sat down for Thanksgiving, we realized what a crazy year it has been. And, we realized how hard it is to keep track of time right now when we sat down to Thanksgiving a week early. Oops 🙂
But I am incredibly blessed by this wife God has been gracious enough to grant me.
And we are blessed by all the support we have received from our families, from churches, and especially from those of you who keep up with what we are doing down here.
Please continue to pray for us.
This year brought some exciting things for the ministry as well.
I’ve been able to build relationships with Sonlight Power Ministries, who do solar power worldwide, and having been using this as a ministry for over 12 years. Allen and I are now going to keep in contact and I will continue to provide support for his 80+ installations here in Haiti.
The project with Dr. Jay (Missions International of America) is going well, and they are have 10 containers in place to use for their guest house/conference center.
Last time I was there (about 3 weeks ago), marked the first time someone slept in the containers, and they should be ready for groups before the next time Jay brings a team down.
Additionally, it’s been great to work with Ken Peters, a canadian who also fulfills many “handyman” roles here in Haiti. We work together in leading worship at church, and have found that we work well together on job sites too. Ken and his wife Maria are also joining up with another ministry here in town, and that is very exciting to see their new direction as directors of a children’s center.
Also, Jamie and I are well settled into our house, and we got the lease renewed for another year, and got things started on the land adjacent to our house. We haven’t gotten any containers on the land yet, but that is a work in progress and I hope to have them on before the end of the year.
As far as work with others goes, I have a contract drawn up and may have another solar installation to put in shortly. This one is for a haitian woman, and may start a line of contruction for private individuals. My hope with these is to use them as training opportunities for Gayly, Waly, and others that wish to learn from what I am doing.
Finally, I have received word of a tremendous blessing in the form of a new pickup truck. A 2002 F150 has been donated to F1, and hopefully will ship sometime in January. There is no doubt in my mind that this was an answer to prayer.
I was talking with Pastor Lex and Renee is Grand Goave about a month ago. I was telling them I wanted to ship some solar panels into Haiti, and they responded that the easiest way to do that would be to ship them inside a vehicle. I was feeling cynical at the time and responded, “that’s great, but I don’t exactly have people lined up to donate me a truck.” If I’m honest, I was speaking out of jealousy, as I had seen that happen for other organizations in the past, but didn’t expect it to happen for me. The following Sunday, at church here in Jacmel, we were reading through James and hit the passage that says “you have not, because you ask not”, and I was convicted and started praying that IF God wanted me to ship stuff, HE would provide a way to do it. Just a couple days later, my parents told me about this truck that was being donated. God does great things.
This will still have some hurdles to clear, such as gathering tools and materials, purchasing a pallet of solar panels, and figuring out all the shipping details. I will likely come home to help pack it before it comes as well, but this was a HUGE step.
For those that are interested, I will make a “wish list” available on request. You probably know I don’t like asking for stuff publicly, so you will have to ask my parents or I for a copy of this list if you want to participate.
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Now, I want to share a bit with you in transparency.
I am struggling right now. Mostly, I struggle because life has fallen into a routine. I don’t want to be complacent. I don’t want to get lazy. Mostly, I struggle because I see that there is something more that God is calling me to, calling us, as His people, to.
I have been challenged lately in my mind that I need to focus on His work, and not get distracted by what I think I ought to do if it is not from Him. Make sense?
Hopefully it does. Well, right now, I know that feeling, but I don’t know how it applies.
I find myself dragging my feet slightly as I search to sort out what are His plans, and what are My plans. Please pray for wisdom for Jamie and I in this regard.
More than anything, I long to see God working in mighty ways, bringing revival here, in the US, and all over the world, and I am just struggling to figure out which facets of what I am doing with F1 are beneficial to this purpose, and what may need to be “pruned” in order to produce more fruit.
I also hope this prayer would extend beyond us, and be something you can pray for yourself, your church, and your sphere of influence. Thank you for keeping up with what God is doing here.
God Bless you.
