Dolphins, Deacons and Destinations

With a busy schedule it is not always easy to find time to post to the blog.  But that does not mean there are not interesting events happening in our lives here in Haiti.  We want to thank you again for your prayers as we move into the summer schedule here in Haiti.  It is a busy time with teams arriving and the churches busy with various events.  Below are some of the highlights of our last two weeks.

A couple weeks ago we had a couple visiting us here in Haiti to help teach and visit the churches in Port-au-Prince and Lagonav.  Karl and I crossed on the ferry to begin a two-day teaching seminar and got great pictures and video of a not uncommon sight - dolphins following the boat and playing in the wake.  It has been a while since I have seen dolphins on the crossing.  They followed the boat for about 10 minutes, jumping, spinning and swimming very quickly.  Everyone on the boat was excited to see these creatures.

On Lagonav we spent a couple days training leaders from the seven churches.  Karl taught on 1-2 Samuel and I reviewed some materials on deacons in the church.  As always there were lots of good questions and are are thankful for the 25 or so men who came.  The seminar ended on Saturday afternoon and we spent a good portion of Sunday traveling to three different churches to worship and preach.  We were warmly welcomed at each location.

Not only did we meet with deacons from the Lagonav churches but we also had a deacon from the OPC church in Bradenton, FL visit us last week.  There were lots of little and big jobs to do around the house.  Some of them needed some expert advice and skill so Matt agreed to come and spend a week with us working through the list.  The boys have also helped along with some Haitian friends we hired to do some digging.  As the Committee moves toward purchasing the property we can finally look at fixing some problems we have lived with for five years.  At left Elijah drills holes in the overflow pipe for the kitchen septic.

There have been plenty of destinations during the last few weeks.  Heather and the rest of the family were thankful for a chance to visit downtown Port-au-Prince and see both the destruction of the earthquake and the rebuilding that is slowly taking place.  The tent city in front of the National Palace is gone.  But the broken building still stands as a reminder of what happened in Port-au-Prince over two years ago.  We are thankful that our ultimate destination is heaven and that while we cannot repair all the buildings we can preach a gospel that brings wholeness to the lives of those who trust in Jesus.