Summer, Summer, Summer

Summer, Summer, Summer 

It has been a busy summer full of teams and camps, but it has been a great and productive time. We are so thankful for all the groups that came and joined us this summer and for their hands and feet as we work together with the Haitian people. 

.In Mid- June, we had a medical team from Tupelo, MS that did mobile clinics and also worked in a permanent clinic in Caberet. They brought so much medication with them which was a huge blessing. They were able to spend a morning at a orphanage doing health checks on the kids and then we were blessed to be able to give a personalized gift bag to each child with new crocks, clothes, and toiletries, ect., sent by a wonderful church in Worland, WY. The kids were very excited!! 

                                                                                                                                                 Later In June, we had a great team from New Work Fellowship join us for a sports camp for about 100 Haitian youth from several youth groups in our area. It was a great week of learning about the armor of God and how to deal with the spiritual battles these kids face every day living here. They also had a great time learning and playing soccer, basketball, and volleyball as part of the camp.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

As the summer progressed, we had more teams and more camps- each unique depending on the team and their mission. Whether doing feeding programs, VBS, work projects, well repair, mechanic work-whatever needed to be done, we find people willing to help.

They are also willing to to share their love with

Chris leading Mens Devotion in the mornings. 

the Haitian people through hugs, smiles, and helping in whatever way necessary.

Sheryl and a team member working at the clinic. 

We are very thankful for all of our volunteers
and all the skills and supplies they bring to us. We couldn't accomplish all that happens here just with the permanent staff we have.

We are also so thankful that we have a new family, Barrett and Carrie Todd and their 4 children joining us next week! The Lord has abundantly blessed their support raising and they are able to come as permanent staff. They spent 3 months with us last fall, so they have an idea of what life is like here.
                                                                  The clinic has been very busy over these past months. As more and more people have moved into the area, we have experienced more patients and unfortunately, more burns.
We have had many helping hands, both Haitian and American, and this has been a great help. there is no way Sheryl could do the work alone.
 Just last week, Chris and David took a team up the mountain to look at a project and on the way down came upon a very serious car accident. The team was able to get the women extricated from the car (it had rolled and they were upside down). They grabbed towels and their own shirts to stem the bleeding and we transported two critically injured women to Doctors without Borders. We know it is never a coincidence that the Lord has us right where we need to be and while we never know how He will use us here in a day, we always want to be ready for whatever that is. Thankfully, the women both knew the Lord and we able to pray with them and for them as we drove to the hospital.

Sheryl seeing a young burned girl for her first visit.

Pray that we will continue strong in all the Lord has for us and we listen to His voice as we work.

School begins in two weeks, and we will have over 300
children back in our 3 schools in the village. Pray for our directors and teachers as they begin a new year-that they concentrate first on the spiritual life of all the children and second on their academics. We want the love of the Lord to shine through in our schools and in all we do here.

We want to share about Franceska,  a clinic volunteer and the daughter of one of our long-time workers. Those of you that have visited the clinic in the last two years would have met 'Cece' as she assists with the patients. She loves medicine and asked to come as a helper and learn all she could as she waited on the Lord for her future. She graduated from Philo (year 13) in 2011 at age 19. This means that she went straight from pre-school through grade 13, never missing a year, passing every one of her national tests in 6th, 9th, 12th, and 13th grade the first-time (even with the earthquake disrupting school for 3 months) and received her diploma. There are very few Haitian young people that achieve this-most of those that do are well into their 20's when they accomplish this goal. In fact, only a small percentage of Haitian ever get this diploma and are prepared to go on to university. 

Franceska was raised by a godly mother and has been in our church in Titanyen her whole life. She is very involved in the youth group at church and she is also involved in our Weekend Barnabas program. She loves the Lord and wants to use the intelligence she has been gifted with to practice medicine and stay in Haiti to minister to her people.  For the past two years, she has volunteered her time as she has been working on trying to get in to a pre-med program here in Haiti. This is a very difficult and very competitive task. Less than 10% of those who apply and take the 3 days of testing are accepted. After two years of not getting in, we encouraged her to look at a nursing program so she can continue with her studies and not lose what she has already learned.  A new international program has opened up in Port where she could earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and she has been accepted to start her pre-requisites there.

We are very excited about this new opportunity for her and ask your prayers as she starts. She will have to take classes through the summer to be ready to start her first year in the fall. We will miss her greatly at the clinic, but we are grateful for this door to open. 

For the first time, we are taking on the sponsorship of helping with a university education. We have assisted several with bible school, but we feel the Lord leading us to assist Cece, so she can get the training she needs. We have told Cece and her mom that it will have to be the Lord that provides. 

Her expenses will be approximately 2600 US for this first year, inexpensive by US standards, but completely out of reach for most Haitians. We are asking for prayer that the Lord would raise up the funds for her. If this is something that speaks to your heart and you would consider giving a one-time gift towards her education, please write and let us know. All gifts will go through the clinic fund at Global Outreach and will be tax-deductible.

Our e-mail is brumfive@gmail.com and we would love to hear from you-even if it is to pass on encouraging notes from those of you that have met her.

Franceska Aspilaire

Working on one of our burned children

The Glamorous Life of a Missionary:





For those of you who may have romanticized the idea that living on a tropical island and sharing the love of Jesus all around in the warmth of tropical breezes, sitting under the shade of the palm trees, and welcoming visitors from the US, is what our life consists of here-you may not have quite the right idea. Or as the Hertz commercial says: "Not Exactly". We have learned from TV that you can put a spin on anything and we can tell you that we live in a tropical paradise in a gated community with an ocean-front view, which is the truth-we do have a gate, we do live on a tropical island, and we can see the ocean from our property (which really does provide us with beautiful sunsets), but most of the time it does not feel like paradise.

There is the reality of ministering to the real needs of people-spiritually, emotionally, and physically, that is often more of a battleground than a paradise. It is hard, dirty, can be discouraging, and draining. Yet, because we are doing what the Lord has called us to do, there is joy in that.

There is nothing glamorous in building a 4-seater outhouse by the new youth auditorium to serve the youth's needs there, or digging worms out of a wound that is infected, or cleaning out the grease traps in the kitchen after the conference is over, but these are necessary things that we had to tackle this week. It is all part of serving 'the least of these' and anyone who is in ministry no matter where you serve, knows that these dirty jobs are part of it. Yet, if that was all we did, we could not last here. Thankfully, we have the wonderful times of sharing an evangelistic film, praying with someone, singing together at the clinic and devotions before starting the day, seeing someone kneel at the altar and give their life to the Lord. We see the smile of the child who receives a lollypop after their treatment is over and the tears have stopped (we even get special hugs sometimes!). We see the joy on faces as water comes from a well the first time, or again after it has been repaired. We share in wonderful times of worship with our Haitian brothers and sisters in the Lord and marvel at their unshakable faith in such adverse circumstances.

We have times of serious teaching and talks-both individually, and in groups, to share the truths of scripture and clear up so many misconceptions of what the Bible says about being a follower of Christ. The ministry we are building with the youth and the emphasis we are developing for building leaders and disciples is exciting. We are excited that this is where the Lord has placed us and He is growing the vision He has given us.

Life in the Clinic

The clinic is a very busy and challenging place these days. Since the earthquake, the population in Titanyen has gone from about 4000 to about 9000 or so and the road into town has more and more 'permanent' communities springing up. This has resulted in more patients every day and more burns. Right now we have 5 severe burns, 4 adults and one child, along with quite a few smaller burns. We are currently treating 4 patients that are epileptics and were burned because they had a seizure and fell into the fire or cooking pot. We are going through many supplies daily and we are so thankful for the Lord's provision in keeping up with all we need, so we can continue to provide care to all those who come.

This little girl is Rosemi. She is 3 years old and burned her back and bottom falling into the cooking pot several weeks ago. She is thankfully healing quickly as her burns were mostly 2nd degree.

Rosemi soaking before we debride her burned bottom

Getting her dressing put on with her mom at her side. She is thankfully very cooperative with us.

Rosemi after treatment with her new 'pillowcase' dress made by a wonderful lady, Carol, from Colorado. These dresses are very easy to get off and on and are great for our burned girls.  We have them in several different sizes and the girls and their mothers are happy to get them.










Thankfully, the Lord always provides the help we need at the clinic. Mme. Frank has worked with me for 7 years now and is a great help. Carrie Todd and her husband Barrett and family are here with us for 3 months to ascertain God's call for them and experience living and working with us here at Global. Please pray for them as they head home in December and seek the Lord for confirmation if they should return permanently. Carrie is a home health aide and has been a great help in the clinic. Her 12-year old daughter Abby has also enjoyed coming to help us.

Carrie Todd,  Mme. Frank, and Sheryl 

Weekend Barnabas

Things are exciting and busy on the compound these days. We are having youth come almost every Saturday afternoon from 3-6 pm for what we are calling Weekend Barnabas as part of our GO Camp Barnabas for worship, teaching, groups games, and sports. This past Sunday, we did a Sunday program for Titanyen youth since it was youth Sunday at our church. We expected about 200 youth and were very surprised when 350 showed up! Another youth group in Titanyen had asked to come and they brought about 60 and we had expected about 150 from our own youth, but everyone invited friends. It was standing room only in the chapel!! It ended with a competitive soccer match between the two churches-lots of fun.

 Our camp director Romil Rene is doing a great job of getting things up and running and he has put in place a committee of 5 solid men to head up the programs. The program is growing so quickly that we will have to slow down the numbers some until we get more leaders in place and the program developed more to accommodate all who want to come. There is no shortage of youth that want to participate! We are in the process of starting to develop a website for the camps. It will be in both English and French, so it will take some time to put it together.

We have a film crew here with us this week that have generously donated their time to come and put together a video of all the programs that Global Outreach Haiti is involved with. They filmed the youth program on Sunday, then the feeding program, burn clinic, and conference center yesterday. They are in the schools today and will also be filming the well-drilling and well repair. We plan to be able to use this as we speak in churches and also to send to churches and ministries that are bringing teams down here or want more information on our ministries here. We are very blessed to have them!

Chris is continuing teaching biblestudy at Titanyen and will be there again this evening to teach. It is one of his highlights to do that. The clinic is staying busy, but not overwhelming and that is a praise also.

Josh is counting down his time here in Haiti. He will be leaving for the States permanently the end of June. He is very involved in many facets of ministry here with us and we will miss him greatly when he leaves. He is our computer tech, our sound man, web designer, worship leader, photographer, interpreter, feeding program assistant, ect., ect., He is planning on doing his senior year in Colorado and then heading to college. Please pray for all of us as we are starting the transition of all that. On an exciting note, our middle son Jordan will graduate from Fort Lewis college the end of this month with a degree in Exercise science. He will be coming to visit us in May after graduation and we are very excited to see him here. Pray for him too as he seeks God's guidance for his future. He very much wants to develop soccer programs for kids and youth-we will see what God has in store. Our oldest son Jonathan and his wife Molly are in the process of an domestic adoption with a christian agency in Georgia. All their paperwork is in and they are in the waiting process to be chosen as parents.We are very excited about the prospect of possibly becoming grandparents in the near future. Pray for this adoption that the Lord will lead in the baby to be placed with them.

 Lots happening with us these days personally and in ministry. We are so thankful  to the Lord as He leads and guides.

Camp Barnabas Youth Camp

Youth Camp Update

We spent some wonderful and crazy 5 days with almost 200 older christian youth over Carnival working with youth groups from churches throughout Haiti. This is a conference that has been happening here for some years, but this is the first year that we as GO partnered with them and worked together on planning and directing the conference. 

Before the camp started, we had to put the basketball hoops up and then we placed two large lights, so people can play after dark and also for security. It was very popular during the camp. We still need to paint the court and place all the lines.

The first night of camp, all the campers circled the chapel to pray for the days ahead and for the Lord to bless their time.

               
                    Praise and worship was a highlight of the camp, especially in the evening service.

Devotions started early every morning before breakfast and then there would be several teaching sessions. The morning would usually close with bible drills between the churches-very competitive.

Chris teaching one of the morning sessions-kids were attentive and he really enjoyed speaking to them. 

 Sunday morning was a special worship service lead by the youth and some leaders. It was a very blessed time with several groups singing special music and interpretive dance with the praise songs.

 Every afternoon (except Sunday) was game time and this was both fun and challenging as Haitians do not know how to play group games, but they learned quickly and and were very competitive. They especially loved the belly bumpers. They also had a soccer tournament between several of the churches.

Josh was able to talk them into all getting together for a group picture. We didn't get them all there, but most are in this picture.

It was an exciting and tiring 5 days. We pray that as these youth go to their homes all over Haiti that they will take the things they learned back to their churches and communities. We also learned things about how we can improve and maximize the time we have during camp.

Change is in the Air

Yesterday, the helicopter for Samaritan's Purse (S.P.) left our compound for the last time. After two years of hosting S.P., they have left our conference center and we now have it back to take up where we left off when the earthquake hit. They still have a small staff living and working at the bottom of our property, but the majority of their staff moved over to their base in the South of Haiti. Their operation has changed from relief to sustainable projects.

Our first conference starts back up next Monday and we are busy refurbishing the conference kitchen and getting it ready to go. It was very heavily used for the last two years, serving over 500 meals/day at the height of the relief effort, so it needed an overhaul. The conference is a Leadership Training conference for pastors and lay-leaders in the churches. This is the same conference that was taking place at the time of the earthquake. We were on day 2 of 5, when the earthquake hit and everything was suspended, so now we are starting again and starting over with the same conference and prayerfully many of the same people.  We are very excited to get back to conferences and we are also gearing up for youth camps.

Our first returning youth camp will start February 17th and bring in about 230 youth during the Carnival and Madi Gras celebrations.  Schools are closed here during that time and the goal is to get these kids away from the raucous parties that happen this time of year and instead focus on their walk with the Lord. The theme this year is Jeremiah 29:11 and we pray that these kids will feel that they DO have a hope and a future in this country when they follow the Lord. We still have work to do to get the camp ready. The site of the helicopter hanger is actually our basketball court and we now have to take down the hanger building, fill holes and redo the floor, and get the poles and hoops up and ready to go. We may not have it all finished, but want to have it usable when they arrive.

We have hired our very first employee for the camps, a Haitian youth director named Romil who has such a heart for evangelism and discipleship. He speaks English well and we feel he will be a good fit for what we want to accomplish. Chris is in process of changing a small S.P. staff house next to our house into a temporary camp office where he and Romil  can work on plans for camps. We are excited for all these changes and ask for your prayers as we move forward with these ministries.