Welcome Home, Uganda Team!

The Uganda team arrived home this evening. It was a long, hard journey just to get home, not to mention everything they saw and experienced in the past 11 days. "Re-entry" can be a hard time for missionary and family. Please pray for them and their families in the coming days.

On our way...

We will be leaving in a short while... It is surely a bittersweet moment. These folks are amazing but we are all looking forward to getting back to our families! Our flight leaves at midnight here (4PM Florida time) and then we will be back in Ocala around 7PM on Sunday night. What an awesome privilege this has been. Thanks for joining with us through your prayers and encouragement. The Children's Home blog was updated again last night. It tells an awesome story.

See you soon

Ken, Bobby and Kevin

Final day

Today is our final day here in our ministry area. We saw a young couple come to faith in Christ on Wednesday. The ministry that is happening here through Hines Ugandan Ministries is wonderful. It has been a blessing to spend time with these sweet believers.

We will say our goodbyes tomorrow and drive to the airport in Entebbe. Our plan leaves just after midnight for us - around 4PM for our families in Florida. We will arrive in Florida Sunday night. We are all excited to see our families.

Thanks for your prayers - God has been faithful to answer them.

Incredible Day

Wow... God is doing an incredible work here. Check out the children's home blog for the pictures and stories that we updated just a little while ago. Thanks for your prayers - God is answering your prayers. Please also pray for our families... we miss them so much.

Uganda Blog Updated

We are finding that the updates from FBCH are going well. Check out the latest news at http://fbchinternationalchildcare.blogspot.com/search/label/Uganda

Uganda Blog

Attached below are some pictures from the Uganda team that have been posted on the FBCH blog. You can also read that blog for the team leader's updates. The address is http://fbchinternationalchildcare.blogspot.com/

An incredible Monday...

We have just completed an incredible work day here in Uganda. God has allowed us to be a part of some incredible ministry as we served several families in this community. We helped work on a house of a very poor widow who is raising several children. The team also went to several houses taking food and clothing. We all commented on how wonderful these sweet folks are as they accept help. They recognize where the help is coming from (God)and that they can not do this by themselves. There are so many houses full of children that are being raised by single parents or grandparents. The AIDS pandemic has had a devastating impact on their lives.

Our power situation here has been limited - sometimes we are actually running on a generator and other times we have no electricity. So... I'll try again later to upload some pictures.

Thanks for praying - God has allowed us to be a great part of His work to the widows and orphans in Uganda.

Home Sweet Home

The Peru team arrived home tonight around 7:30 pm. Thank you for praying for them and their families!

Back In Lima

The team made it back to Lima from Cabana today. Their phones are not working to place calls so we are thankful for text messaging!

Arrived in Kamonkoli

Our team has arrived at our destination. We will now head to an orientation and then I will post some more about our day. These children have already captured our hearts... :)

In Uganda

Our team arrived safely last night in Uganda. We drove about an hour into Kampala and stayed in a hotel. We got to bed around 1 in the morning. God has been so very good already - all of that travel without any problems. Most of our team looks like they are adjusting well to the time change. We are actually 8 hours in front of Florida time.

Please pray for us today as we continue the travel to the orphanage. It will be another long day. I will post again soon.

We continue to pray for our Peru team, too. It is amazing to read about what God is doing in Cabana.

Kevin

In Uganda

Kevin, Ken and Bobby all made it to Uganda safe and sound but tired. By the morning here in FL, they maybe will be at the orphanage. Stay tuned :)

We are in London

We are getting ready for our flight to Uganda. We have been up the entire night. Thanks for praying. We will post as soon as we can tomorrow. We will be there in about 9 hours. Everyone is doing great.

Tuesday, Wednesday in Cabana

We had a busy Tuesday in Cabana. Got to meet with quite a few people. The 2 highlights of the day were meeting with two ladies on separate occasions. The first lady was in the clinic where we discussed a relationship with God for 2 hours. She was hearing something different than what she had in the past and it was neat to see God working in her. We met with a shop owner later in the day for about an hour and a half again discussing a relationship with God and how it comes by faith and not our works. Again, God is working in her. The people seem to be wrestling with the truth from the Bible and that is great.

Today we started out early again and found a few men unloading adobe bricks from a truck for a house/bookstore. We asked if we could help and they didn´t want us to because they were concerned we´d get dirty. We insisted. I´ll post more later.

Ok, sorry for the abrupt end yesterday ... my time on the computer was up:) The men let us help unload the truck. It was a great experience to work with them in an assembly line. We did get dirty too:) We felt that yesterday should be a work day, and not being able to get in touch with one of the believers to see if we could help him, we decided to walk outside of town and see if we could find anyone who wouldn´t mind some help. About 30 minutes outside town we found a lad sowing in a field and she let us join in. We pulled weeds and tilled the soil (with 2 small pick-axes). After the first field was done she invited us to her second:) That one proved tougher as it hasn´t been churned up as much by the bull and plow. We then had lunch with her an another lady she was working with. Before eating, the main lady just started praying and you could hear the thankfulness in her voice. They gave us almost all the food they had to eat - just amazing. We shared some of our food with them too. They spoke Quechuan so it was difficult to communicate, but the main lady said she wished someone would come and teach them from the Bible - we really wished we could.

Thanks for praying for us and supporting us. God is working here and we´ve enjoyed being a part of it.

We leave on the trip back to Lima at 2AM tomorrow - please pray specifically for that trip as it is quite intense.

uganda team in miami

Well it feels like another country but it is only Miami. We are about to meet our team and check in. Our flight leaves around 5. Please pray for all to go smoothly.

And Now to Uganda

Kevin Kite, Bobby Peebles and Ken DeMoliner left this morning for an orphanage in Uganda. They will be traveling with a team from the Florida Baptist Children's Homes. Please pray for their mission and for their families.

Our first day in Cabana

Yesterday was a great first day in Cabana. After a tough combi ride, we got some lunch and rest and then we "hit the streets". Talked with a nurse who the summer missionaries spent time with. She invited us to the clinic and we will head there today. Met some ladies at the shop where you buy combi tickets and both are interested in coming to the Bible studies. Spent time getting some updates on the Bible study group. Met with 2 last night for a great discussion on baptism and other topics. Will be meeting each night this week. Got up early this morning and walked through the town. Met quite a few people, one will come to the Bible study tonight. Got a warm welcome from a former town leader who was very encouraging, even said that we should use the town auditorium and gather a lot of people. He said that the people of Cabana are going to listen and decide.

That`s all for now.

Yes, we made it safely to Peru, though we had an interesting start to our journey yesterday with a flat on the turnpike. It was a good team-building exercise and worked perfectly. Have taken today to get rested and prepared to make the long trek to Cabana. Look forward to posting more when we get there. For now, we need to make a quick return trip to pick up some water we forgot at a stop.

In Lima

Just heard from the team and they are in Lima. They head out tonight on a bus to Cabana!

And They're Off to Peru

The November mission team left this morning from Ocala and are headed to Cabana, Peru. Please pray for David Ripple, Cameron Ripple, Jewell Dye and Adam Suydam as they spend the next 8 days with the people of Cabana.

Home...

We made it into Ocala about 3:15PM today. Thanks to Howard Lawson for picking up us this afternoon. Thanks also to each of you who prayed for us and left comments during the trip. You made a difference. Please continue to pray for Chris, Erica, Juan and Miranda as they spend the next 8 weeks in Cabana.

DELTA...

Well... Delta continues to use their flight plan abilities to help us become more flexible! Our flight here in Lima is delayed an hour which will cause us to miss our connection in Atlanta. We will now leave at 1:20AM but at this point it just does not matter - it is way past our bedtime.

God has been very faithful to us in allowing us to be on this trip and we will adjust - not like we have any other options!

We made it to Lima!

We left Cabana at 2AM and made the long journey back to Lima. We got to our hotel around 5PM after riding in a Combi (combination bus/van), a very fast drivng station wagon, three buses and finally a taxi.

Every mission trip is great and every one is different in what you see God doing. The tendencey is to compare but that is really an fruitless effort. Each trip to Peru has built on the previous trip. The fruit that is beginning to grow in Cabana is a result of the previous 6 teams and the 2009 summer missionaries faithful obedience to Christ. (Yes, I know this sentence needed apostophes but this keyboard is a spanish keyboard and I can not make that key work!)

In the book of Acts you will read about the early church finding favor with the people. We are beginning to see that happen in Cabana as the people of the village are realizing that we really do care about them with a genuine love. Yesterday we were walking back to the hostal when some folks that we do not know yelled "amigos" and then gave us a bag of potatoes. A few moments later another lady gave us a bag of fruit. They call us "missionaries" and seem to be pleased with what they have witnessed and experienced.

We all know that only God can get the glory for such a testimony. Only he can work in the hearts of people who do not easily trust in such a way that they begin reaching out in friendship to strangers. Most of the time our communication is without words unless we have a translator with us.

We had our second Bible study last night with Manuel and Louisa. It was encouraging to see how they recalled the earlier lesson and even asked questions that showed they are processing what has been shared with them.

What a blessing to see how the summer missionaries have jumped right into the village and immediately made an impact. It was a blessing to see how David Jacola and Kelly Pajar (from the 2009 Summer Missionary Team)encouraged the 2010 team to have a sense of urgency. Their insight added with the relaationships they have in Cabana have propelled the 2010 team right into action.

Please continue to pray for our friends in Cabana. My heart is encouraged by what we witnessed in these recent days. God is at work.

Our plane leaves at midnight tomorrow so please pray that we continue to have a trip without any problems. We have travelled very far in a short amount of time and this guy is really feeling it... See you soon.

Kevin and Jacob Kite and David Jacola

We gave all we had today...

I am not sure how you say exhausted in Spanish but I think our body language communicates that we are whipped. We got up early this morning and had our quiet times up on the mountain. We got back expecting to meet Sixto so that we could help him in his field.

During our trips to Peru we have learned never to have expectations about the day but rather to be very flexible. When we got ready to leave to hostel for Sixto’s house his daughter Marina arrived to let us know that the plans had changed. The community was having a work day up on the mountain building some type of wall. Instead of building a relationship with Sixto we instead built relationships with about 50 different people as we served alongside them throughout the day.

We worked helping them build a wall that serves as a boundary between Cabana and Andamarca – the neighboring village. We had wondered in the past about how long it must have taken them to construct the thousands of similar walls that separate the fields. We now have a better understanding of how hard these people work. We built a 3 to 4 foot fence that is composed of all sized rocks and boulders. We carried, rolled and pushed rocks all day long. The fence we worked on is at least one-quarter of a mile long. It was amazing to see how everyone works together.

We are grateful that God gave us such an opportunity. We left the hostel at 8AM and returned around 5PM. We decided to walk home so that we could all be together and there would be a chance to catch a ride with a van. We saw such a van whose driver said that they would return so we went ahead and started walking. And we walked. And we walked so more. About 5 miles later we were back at the hostel. But, as always, God had a reason. About 2 ½ miles from Cabana we caught up with a Quechua woman who was carrying a load of sticks and another load of potatoes. She was also walking with a small cane. Our summer missionaries carried her bags for the remainder of her trip home. We could not have a conversation with her other than learning her name is Modista. She only speaks Quechua. However, David Jacola summed up the experience with the following, “you know we can’t even talk to her but through our actions we are showing her the love of Jesus. She knows we are missionaries. Now she knows that we care.” One day we will be able to talk to her through someone who can speak Quechua and Spanish.

Tomorrow is our last day in Cabana. We will be leaving the summer missionaries late tomorrow night. Please pray that God gives us wisdom to help them – they are a special team. Did I mention that we are tired? It is 7:15 PM here and we are all ready for bed!  I will try to post more in the morning. Thanks for all of the encouragement you have sent our way.

To the fields!

We are leaving this morning to help Sixto in his field. We are not sure what type of work we will be doing but we are praying that God helps us to build a relationship with Sixto. We will have a long walk up the mountain so please join us in praying that God gives us strength. I asked one of our summer missionaries last night if she was going to let a 60 or 70 year old man beat her up the mountain. In all reality – he will beat us all!

It is colder this morning. 54 degrees in our room and 42 outside. My fingers are getting numb trying to type!

We had a great breakthrough last night – our first Bible Study with a small group. Our small group is two but we will all meet again on Wednesday night in Manuel’s house. This is amazing! Manuel is not a believer – yet – but he has come a long, long way since our first visit in 2008. Louisa is the lady that was baptized during our trip in September 2009. They have some friends that they will be inviting. Please pray for them to have courage!

Here is a picture of Chris helping Manuel rebuild a hut here in the hostel. Manuel even invited Chris to his house to eat lunch. These summer missionaries are doing an incredible job of jumping right in – God is going to use them in some awesome ways this summer.

Thank you for all of your prayers and comments. We appreciate you joining us on this journey to Peru.

Early Monday Beginnings...

There are some skeptics in the world today who believe God no longer creates miracles to point to Himself. For all of the skeptics I would like to provide proof from this morning that God still works miracles.

On our first morning here we woke up before 6AM and all of the members of our team (besides me) are under 30. Most of them probably were not aware that there was such a time in a day.

One of the greatest challenges in connecting with the people here in Cabana revolves around the fact that they are an agricultural-based community. They are in their fields before it becomes daylight and in the bed when it becomes dark.

We are challenging our summer missionaries to adjust to the culture in order to reach the culture. They did it this morning and God honored it as we walked through the fields and the community. We met a new friend named Sixto who owns a field “very far” from town. At 7AM he had already been to his field and was returning to his house for breakfast. We walked to his house and he then invited us in to meet his daughter, Marina. We will meet Sixto at 8AM tomorrow to spend the day with him in his field. We are praying that this will begin a friendship to reach their family.

So there were two miracles today – one in getting us out of bed so early and the other in us being invited into Sixto’s house. We will be praying for another one tomorrow – that we adjust to the altitude enough to actually be able to work hard with Sixto.

We have been blessed with some wonderful summer missionaries. Miranda, Erica, Chris and Juan are going to spend two months here in Cabana. They have already proven to be young adults who have a deep walk with the Lord and a desire to share that love with others. Please pray that they adjust quickly to the climate and culture and that they live with a sense of urgency while they are here.

Thanks for your prayers and comments. The comments are being shared with the team and they encourage us all tremendously.

We are in Cabana!

Wow… that is one long bus trip! We left Lima last night at 7:30 and got into Cabana this morning at 9:45. Everyone made the trip fine – just pretty tired and woozy from the curves and climb. It will take us a couple of days to get used to the altitude.

It has already been great to see some of our friends here. I will post more tonight – we will spend the rest of the day getting settled into the hostel.

in Lima

We are in Lima. Got to the hotel about 2:30 in the morning. Surprised to find out that our bus tickets have already been purchased so we are all set to go tonight at 7PM for the 15 hour bus trip. Thanks for your praying! We will try to post more later but now we are trying to get all of our supplies ready.

Hanging out on the Atlanta runway!

We are now delayed by 2 hours because of a storm. Howard Lawson told us something wonderful as he dropped us off at the Orlando airport. Delta stands for Doesn't ever leave the airport! Thanks, Howie!!! :). Praying to stay patient and focused...

Heading to Peru

We are now sitting in the Orlando International Airport awaiting the call to get on the plane. We got checked in very, very easily and we have all of our bags with us at the moment to carry on the plane. We only checked one bag with snacks, books and Bibles in it but all of our clothes and other necessary items are right here with us! Jacob and I are packed in one back pack for 10 days!

Thanks for joining with us on this journey to help the summer missionaries get started in Cabana for the summer. We will do our best to post something every day but some of the days will make it impossible to stop and get on the computer.

If you get a chance - send us a note on the comment section. You will never believe how encouraging it is to hear from family and friends when you are on a mission trip. Well... here is the first call.

Peru Summer Team

Kevin, Jacob and David left for Peru this morning. They will be meeting up with a summer missionary team and escorting them to Cabana. There they will introduce the team to our friends in the village and help them understand our strategy for reaching the people-group that resides in Cabana and its annexes. Please pray for our team as they travel today through next Saturday and for the college students that will be spending the next 2 months in Cabana.

Sunday

I am thanking and praising God for the way he used the FBC Ocala missions team in Alaska for the past 10 days! God blessed us with good weather, willing hearts, and healthy bodies to accomplish what he had planned for this team. While here we worked hard, prayed, enjoyed fellowship, laughed, shared testimonies and on our last full day at the camp got to meet and work with a great group of hard working teens and adults from local Baptist churches who came out to the camp for a clean up day, the first one in camp history! As I sit here in the dining hall in the middle of the night writing this blog reflecting on our time here in Alaska, I got to see in my life how when I make myself available to God and step out in faith for Him to use me for his will He will take me as I am with my weaknesses and faults and use me for His glory. I will never forget this mission trip and give thanks to God for the friendships in Christ that I made here and the humble part we contributed to the ministries at Laverne Griffin Youth Recreation Camp. God is sending me home with alot more than what I brought to Alaska. Yours in Christ Ken

The Amazing Journey

It's hard to believe this is the last night of an amazing journey. What started as only a vague utterance to go on a Missions trip if it was ever to Alaska or Hawaii has culminated in a life changing experience. We often shy away from opportunites to serve, because we fear our ability is insufficient. What I have found, is that God is not as concerned with our ability as He is about our availability. I have had the opportunity this week to build a much needed deck yet I am not a carpenter, I have split wood for the needs of another family, yet I am not a logger, I have replaced basketball goals for youth campers, and yet I am not an engineer. I simply gave what I had, which was my availability, and God with His ability finished wonderfully. My challenge to all, who read this humble blog, is to step out and take the amazing journey that God will create when we take ourselves out of the equation and put the service to others in. I have been truly blessed.

Mark Immel

I hardly know where to begin. I've been in Alaska for six full days now and have several observations. I knew coming on this mission trip to the woods outside Wasilla AK would be interesting and perhaps enlightening, but I didn't quite figure on this. I'd been to Alaska a few years ago on one of those vacation cruise trips and saw the beautiful “commercial” side of things for almost two weeks via the tour-guided coach rides, the scenic doubledecker train rides and the smooth-sailing Inland Passageway cruise ship ride down to Vancouver. Very scenic, entertaining, and educational was the entire deal. What I didn't experience then was the “real” Alaska. What I'm seeing now is a truly different world. This place is beautiful overall (especially now because we literally have seen the place turn green this week right before our eyes as it's just now turning spring up here), but also very unattractive in places. Lots of shacks, lots of junk, the local folks can appear poor and scraggly, and many of the vehicles are rolling pieces of junk. Yet, attending Big Lake Baptist Sunday service was awesome...the people, the pastor, the message, the music were all wonderful. But more than that is where we are and who we're with...the LaVerne Griffin Youth Recreation Camp and Sherry and Walter Chastain (camp directors) and the Pam and George Lorenz family. I can't describe what these folks do and how they make you feel and the job they're doing here for HIM. This place is so full of love and concern and peace and caring! It sure makes you feel good being around here with these people and with our mission team. We've worked HARD (anyone who sees or uses the deck dock we built has to be impressed) (and each cabin and building has been thoroughly cleaned top to bottom, inside and out) all week to help prepare this camp for all the summer activity which is close at hand. Yet this Camp Family works hard ALL the time especially sharing their faith and the Word...quality examples indeed. I'm proud to be with this team, it's been a joy working together, getting to know each other, lending a helping hand, praying together, and sharing together...it's been fun and enjoyable. Beyond that, we've been so impressed with the work the camp staff performs, we've decided to support them more and if possible come back to help again. It's a special place with extra special people...and I'm really glad I was able to be a part of this mission trip.
MIKE McGINNIS

The Beauty And The Beast

Within the beauty of Alaska, lies a beast...97% of the population is unchurched. The suicide rate is 9 times higher than the national average. Fetal alcohol syndrome, alcoholism, sexual abuse,incest and poverty is not a stranger to the beautiful scenery of Alaska. The camp here, supplies a way to help many children who live in these deplorable conditions. As just an example, Grace Works helps kids from low income families of Anchorage to attend camp for free, nourishing them with the love of Jesus and also with food they sometimes don't get very much of at home. This past summer 29 were saved, one young girl dedicated her life to missions and 4 were baptized in the lake. It has been our privilege to be able to clean up the camp and build a new deck that many little feet will be walking over. We will be able to leave here knowing that we have helped to bring many closer to the glory of God...Rachel DeMoliner

The FlipSide

Hello Ocala Family!

So, I guess its my turn to take a wack at this blog :) I'm not going to write about how beautiful Alaska is, or the views we've seen of how wonderful our God really is.. But coming here, even I was kinda thinking "Alaska?.. being a missions trip?" I mean when someone says the word "missions" my mind goes straight to Haiti, Peru, Africa.. and I think that's how most people are. But once I got a chance to see the "Real" Alaska it really changes your point of view. All you ever see about Alaska is the cruises, how wonderful a vacation you can have. Don't get me wrong, you can have that, too.. but just driving to the camp you see homelessness, people living in shacks with no running water, poverty... I mean this is major stuff. People can really take what they've been blessed with for granted. As I'm sitting here listening to people talk about stories in Alaska and even at camp, you really start to understand how God works. As we are cleaning cabins, doing yardwork, building docks, etc., I have to think, these cabins are going to hold children this summer who maybe never had the chance to go to summer camp. Some kids even show up with only the clothes they have on. Doing yardwork, in just a few short months people will be doing bible studies on that lawn, playing games with children. Even building the dock, just this morning the men were talking about how almost every child that comes here, their feet will touch that dock. God's mission field isn't just halfway around the world... it's right here in our own country, and that's what really opened my eyes. God is great and His love is really showing on this campus. I can't wait to share all the stories with everyone back home.

A person who is full refuses honey, But even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

-Proverbs 27:7

-Kourtlyn

Greetings FBC Family,
I have been sitting at the computer for the past hour, trying to write about our day. As I am trying to put something together, I started listening to the team sharing stories. There was a common theme to their stories...their love for Miss Lois. She takes it to heart, our motto "Be the Church". For our missions trip, she made over 200 "Good News" bracelets. The camp will give them out to the children this summer. She is a hard worker, making sure the campers will have clean cabins for their arrival. She loves Jesus with all her heart, her soul, and her mind. And she lives her life so others will have that same opportunity. It is a privilege to serve Christ with our FBC Missions Team. I am thankful for the example Miss Lois has set. We are all watching her "Be the Church". Yours in Christ Kim

Kennis and Hannah cleaning tables in the dining room

James, Andy, Elizabeth and Kourtlyn

Friday, Our First Workday at the Camp

Kim and George cleaning up in the kitchen

Work projects on the first day

Lois, Pat and Rachel Getting ready to spring clean the cabins

George and Pam Lorenz

George, Mark and Ken Preparing the footing for the new deck

Lois getting the window sparkling clean

Andy, Elizabeth and Kourtlyn landscaping in front of the dining hall

Lumber for the deck

Great day---Our team is now complete. Although it was a long day for Mike, he is attempting to adjust to the weather change, time change, and sunlight that seems to last all day and all night. We were able to share fellowship with Pam and George as we reconnected with them as we enjoyed the beautiful Alaska scenery while waiting for Mike. The team is looking forward to Sunday School and worship with Lorenz's and the Chastain's tomorrow. Thank you for all your prayers. We are feeling your support and love. In Christ, Pat

Mike has landed!

Mike M. reached Anchorage this evening and has met up with the rest of the Alaska team. Praise God for safe travel for Mike today!

First Day in Alaska

After a full day of travelling and a good nights sleep, our first day in Alaska started with breakfast, devotions, testimonies and prayer. We give thanks to our Lord for providing safe travel, fellowship with our extended family here at the camp and to be here on mission getting the camp ready for the summer. Today were able to get 12 cabins cleaned and footings and framing done for a new deck that is replacing one that had seen one too many Alaska winters. Please pray for safe travel for Mike McGinnis who will be leaving Ocala at 4:00 am tomorrow morning to join us on mission.

Go!

The Alaska Mission Team left yesterday morning and arrived safely in Anchorage last night at 7:20 local time (11:20 FL time). Please pray for them today, that their adjustment to the time change is smooth. Stay tuned for details and pics of their adventure at the Laverne Griffin Youth Recreation Camp in Wasilla, AK!

Get Ready, Get Set...

The Alaska Mission Team is preparing to leave later this week for the Laverne Griffin Youth Recreation Camp. This team of 9 will spend 10 days at the camp helping prepare the facilities for the upcoming summer season. Stay tuned for details, photos and testimonies of how God is working in Wasilla, AK.

Coming Home!

Kevin and the team began the trip home from Haiti yesterday. They made it to the Dominican Republic last night and left for the airport at 5 this morning. Please pray for safe travel as they make their way home. Thank you!

The Long Run

The needs here are simply incredible and trying to even imagine how to tackle the need can be overwhelming. The conditions of Haiti prior to the earthquake presented enough challenges as it was. It is just difficult to grasp what the people of Haiti endure.

It has been interesting to watch the teams that are coming into serve. It does not take long to distinguish between the seasoned mission workers and those that are somewhat new in serving in this type of environment.

The seasoned worker is coming in and seeking out ways to serve. They do not have any preconceived idea of what it will take for the job to be done. They have prepared what they know and have so that they can be ready for a host of situations. If conditions are different than they had anticipated then they simply adjust. The conditions or opportunities are not going to dictate their attitude or their desire to help.

The newer worker comes in and is emotionally charged because of the overwhelming poverty and destruction that is all around them. They see multiple systems that are struggling to function with an organization that they are used to in the United States. They want to do more so they immediately began looking for opportunities "oustide the box" to help. At the same time, many of these folks lose the big picture perspective. They get critical when they get tired and they go home with a heavy burden that they should have done more.

In the big picture, God has called us all to do our part. No one government, organization, church or individual is going to meet the need of Haiti. It really is in the hands of God. I am convinced that they only hope for Haiti is for God to reach down and do a supernatural work that will redeem this country.

As I get ready to go home in the next couple of days, I am praying that God helps me keep the big picture perspective. There is a freedom in realizing that the need is too large for me and that I can only be faithful to God's calling.

I am thankful for your prayers and for having such an incredible family and church at home that allows me to serve in this way.

Pictures from Haiti

A National Holiday - Praying and Fasting

Can you imagine this happening in the United States. The Haitians marked one month since the earthquake with a 3 day emphasis on prayer and fasting. It was incredible to watch our Hatian friends pray and plead with God to help their country.

I continue to be encouraged by a new friend named Hubert. He is a translator who has spent quite a bit of time with our team. He has nothing if you considered possessions important. His home - which was very small - crumbled in the earthquake. I watched him yesterday with a sense of awe as a young boy walked up to his car window and asked for food or water by knocking on his window. Hubert had one bottle of water and it was half empty. He did not hesitate to roll down his window and give the boy his water.

Last night after we completed our work, Hubert took three of us to his home. His family has relocated to live with his wife's family - 2 hours out of town. He was proud of what his home used to be. It was not much bigger than what most of us have for a garage. He pointed out what used to be his yard "where my kids used to play." It was about the size of a small bedroom. He pointed to a house about 30 yards away and informed us that his brother and all of his family were killed in that house during the earthquake. He had 3 children. A total of nine bodies are still in that building.

Today we were able to help take Hubert to see his family. It had been about 2 1/2 weeks since they left Port-au-Prince. He had been keeping a few items hidden in hopes that he could get them to his family. He later told us that this was very important so that his wife's family understood that he was not going to leave them alone but instead he would keep taking care of them.

Hubert has a wife and 6 children. They live in a house that is about the size of my office. He told us today that they are grateful for what they have and that they are going to be okay because they knew that God had kept them alive.

Here is the really difficult part for me: Hubert's story could be told over and over again and different names could be used each time. These people have experienced an incredible tragedy. Here is the really impossible part for me: not many of those people would have a faith like Hubert's. He will survive and his family will move forward because He know who holds his future. For the other, I am not so sure. The days ahead are going to be remarkably difficult.

There is so much work to be done in Haiti. We have such a great opportunity to impact the future of this spiritually and economically struggling people. Let's continue to pray that God gives us all wisdom, courage and strength to respond.

Rain this morning...

Imagine the hardest rain that you have witnessed and we are probably experiencing something similar this morning. We are in a building with a tin roof and it is so loud that a person not used to the noise would have a very difficult time sleeping.

This morning, though, my heart breaks for the people in this area who are living on the edge of a street in a makeshift tent. Estimates are given from hundreds of thousands to over a million that are homeless. Others estimate that at least 200,000 of the people living in the streets or in their yards are simply afraid of their homes that are in safe enough conditions that they could sleep inside. They are scared. They see broken concrete all around them and then see cracks in their homes. Many times these are just surface cracks but it does not matter to them. They are scared. I am wondering this morning how they are responding to the rain. Will God use the rain to push them towards their home. Can you imagine a fear so strong that you would live your family in a pouring rain that has no been going on for about 30 minutes? If you can imagine that then you can catch a glimpse of what we are finding here in Haiti.

Last night we had an experience that also puts things into perspective here in Haiti. We heard a dog squeal - much like you would when a dog gets injured really bad. I went outside to investigate and noticed over the back wall of our compound a group of people circled around something. It was the dog. Later that night that same group of people had a Voodoo service directly behind us. This was a group who had mixed Catholic teachings with Voodoo. Our enemy is real and the people here are caught in his grasp.

I've been thinking about Ephesians 6 for the past few hours. Our battle is not with what we are able to see here with our eyes, feel with our hears or touch with our hands. Our battle is a supernatural one that we need to fight on our knees. I am thankful for your prayers. They are more than appreciated for the people of Haiti - they are necessary. If we don't see unity from all believers in the long-term response then it will be a futile battle.

Our teams are doing an awesome work...

It has been incredible to watch our teams give themselves away through medical teams, building assessment teams and even a team that is attempting to drill a well in one of the hardest hit areas.

A team from Oklahoma, Alabama and Georgia are working together to bring water to a community. They are using equipment that they brought in suitcases to drill a well. Today they worked all day to drill... 16 feet. They can drill up to 60 feet with this device. Please pray for them as they work.

The need here is simply overwhelming. There is absolutely no hope for this country - unless they realize that they can have everlasting, abundant life through a relationship with Jesus. Government cannot fix the problems of Haiti. Social work will not love them out of this tough life. Their only hope is Jesus.

I did finally receive my bag on Sunday afternoon. Thanks for praying. It showed up at the airport in time to travel to Haiti with the next team. It has been great to have my gear and my food. Clean clothes have also been a nice feature!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Tough day in Haiti

Wow... I just can't describe in words what I saw today. Poverty, desperate fear and broken houses were everywhere. I will update in the morning and try to upload some pictures. We have some incredible teams here who are doing a great job. Our teams have already seen over 6000 patients and administered over 11,000 Scripts. 72 people have come to know Christ over the past 8 days.

In Haiti

We left Santo Domingo at 4:30 this morning and arrived at our location in Haiti around 12:30PM. It was a long, bumpy drive (imagine the roads in Peru) that came to a crawl (imagine rush hour in Atlanta) once we arrived in Port-au-Prince. The building that we are staying in is owned by the Florida Baptist Convention. It is used to give support to 964 churches that work with the convention.

Part of our team is driving around the city at this point. Our vehicle can not hold all of our team so some of us stayed behind.

It is amazing to see the devastation and at the same moment see so many believers working to share the love of Jesus with the people of Haiti. There is a medical clinic being conducted here at our building. They helped over a hundred people by lunch time and had the privilege of leading 10 of them to have a relationship with Jesus.

Thank you for all of your prayers. I still do not have my luggage - it did not arrive with today's flight. American Airlines simply does not know where the bag is - but God does and if He wants me to have it then it will show up. If not - I have much more in my little bag than many people here in Haiti have to call all of their belongings.

Bagless...

Well... I do have a bag. My small backpack that I carried onto the plane. My big pack with all of my clothes, food and all other important things are somewhere between Orlando and the Dominican Republic.

I met some neat folks from the states as a result of losing my bag. A group called Operation Smile had a team member lose his bag, too. We worked for about an hour to see if we could trace our bag (no success) and then they gave me a ride from the airport to our hotel. That was huge - a 30 minute ride would have cost me about $50. I also would have had to trust a taxi driver to get me to a hotel that I had no clue how to locate other than an address. God worked that out...

Our team is leaving here in at 4:30AM. Our time here is 1 hour ahead of Eastern time. So... I am heading to Haiti for 2 weeks without clothes, snacks or my toothbrush. :)

We have a medical team coming behind us at some point. We will find out tomorrow a little more. Terry Henderson, our Disaster Relief leader, said that this is our first glitch that we will have to work through. Glad I could help us get to work.

We travel about 8 hours today into Port-au-Prince. That is actually where we will be staying.

Thanks for your prayers. You may want to pray for my team members as they will now have a team member who will stink and have bad breath, too!

On a serious note, tomorrow really begins a hard journey. Please pray that God gives us His strength, grace and wisdom as we enter into the earthquake zone. Pray that we have opportunities to share the love of Jesus in word and action.

Headin' to Haiti

I am about to leave the airport for the Domincan Republic where I will join the efforts of the Florida Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board. Our Incident Command team will drive into Haiti on Friday. Please be praying for all of the logistics of getting into the country (transportation, etc.) and for our team to join God's activity in Haiti.

I will do my very best to send updates about our efforts through this blog. Your prayers are certainly cherished...