Acts 2 in Action

Acts 2  …and they meet together daily to pray, praise, share food, minister to the sick.

Le Pelerin  (the Workers for the Lord)

Please pray for ‘Le Pelerin’ who are a group of 4 people from the Esperanza church.  They pray together 3x/wk at 4am, prayer walk, do deliverance ministry, share food and work together.  (Sound like the book of ACTS?)  they are the potential leaders of the next Alpha course in Esperanza.  Lorena is a leader among them and is a single mom of 5 kids.  I’d like to help her think through job/income.  Please pray for her future because she has a heart for the community.  She is taking on providing water/snack for Alpha and possibly help me lead the discussion questions next week.  ‘Le Pelerin’ also attend Bill Stephenson’s discipleship course, and all 4 will be attending the Alpha conference May 6-11.

Reunion

How wonderful it has been to get to know Lorena in Alpha, a Godly woman who has joy and laughter whenever we see each other.   In this photo I went to Lorena’s house to prayer walk with her in the village. 

I then was overjoyed to discover that the little 3 year old I met in 2007 and have been praying/wondering about all these years is Lorena’s daughter(She is now 10yrs)!  I can see a difference in her from 2007 now that she has a proper home with a roof, clean water, a toilet, and a medical clinic thanks to the Samaritan foundation.

Red Ribbons

When we were prayer walking with Lorena in the village, we saw a little baby having a bath.  She had a red ribbon around her ankle.  When I asked Maria about it, she said it was voodoo.  The mom put it on to protect the baby from curses.  Maria gave us the name of the voodoo ‘spirit’ that the woman is ‘tying the baby to’. 

I turned to the woman and said, “If you want to protect your baby, I know the name of someone stronger than that red ribbon.  I know someone who is stronger and mightier.  You may not know Jesus yet, but He knows you and He loves you.  Jesus knew this baby when she was still in your tummy.  ”  We told her about Jesus, and she immediately sent her daughter to get a knife to cut off the ribbon.  Mike arrived and we prayed and he anointed the baby with oil. 

Pray for baby Ishmaelina.  Maria invited her to come to Alpha to find out about Jesus, and she did show up near the end.  Pray I’ll be able to meet with her some more to tell her about Jesus.

GAT – Global Alpha training Conference advances(May 6-11)-Meet Bill and Debbie Stevenson from Woodbridge, ON who do biblical training with Haitian people.  We are doing the GAT at his church.  Roosevelt is translating alpha material to Creole.  Pray for these missionaries! Pray for GAT details!

Blessings to you!

02/13

Ash Wednesday morning…

In the morning before the kids come out, Mike and I do our devotions together. As you use Shane Claiborne’s ‘common prayer’, I can hear you with my heart saying, “May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.“

I truly feel sustained by your prayers and the prayers of our church family. We are healthy-truly a gift of God!

Last night, my neighbour Belkis arrived home.  Her son passed away at 3am. Pray for us as we try to minister to her in Spanish.  Pray she will feel the Holy Spirit in her heart when she can’t hear our English words.

Our Runnymede small group is looking at ‘waiting’ for God. I think there’s a nugget there to be explored. What is God whispering to us?

Bless you, and Bless God who sustains us, and gives us the privilege of working with him.

Today we start ESL classes with 17 people with each member of our family teaching a small group of 4. I think they’re excited. They expressed concern about not affording the ‘cost’ of the class. No hay necessita dinero, but the ‘cost’ will be for them to ‘teach’ a friend how to speak English. They will bring the notebook and pencil we’ve bought for them with their homework and the homework of their friend. We keep hearing from the workers down here, that people who get something for nothing don’t appreciate it. Something that ‘costs’ or has to ‘be worked for’ is more effective. Well-meaning people have been handing out clothes, shoes, money etc for free and has created a culture of dependence and put people out of business like the tailor in the village, the shoe cobbler, the small tiendas. Instead of working together to get out of poverty using natural resources and God given intellect, skills and cooperation, people just wait for the next plane of Gringos to come down. Short term, 1 week mission trips can do a lot of damage. More on this later. How does God factor into good development work and appropriate practises when being called to go out into all the world?

Ash Wednesday Evening…

We got to the village an hour before our class was supposed to start.  We had arranged with the director, Juan Ovalle, to use the school cafeteria in the morning for ESL classes.  While talking with the people interested in the class, we discovered that the afternoon was better for them since they were in school in the morning.  What we didn’t realize is that the cafeteria is used as a classroom in the afternoon.  We had no space and there were no students to be seen!  We went through the village to find our great recruiter Alesandra & we came across our friend Lukny who was home on a day off.  By the time we were done talking with Lukny, there were more teenagers waiting for us at the top of the village than we could handle!  We went up and talked with them & pared the group down to those who we had talked with Alesandra about.  Juan gave us the use of the school library, which is slightly bigger than the broom closet.  We got the 2pm class going at about 2:45 (and you thought Runnymede time was bad!) Pam did an amazing job of teaching the first English lesson – ABC’s, family, and John 14:6.  The kids and I backed her up in small groups.  The students were typical teenagers, but they really wanted to learn!  We have to admit that we thought that the ESL class was going to be the easiest thing we did & we were all exhausted after it!

After the class we went back to Lukney’s house for a visit, pics of Alesandra I promised Dawn & Ether, a good conversation with Mateo the Jefe (chief) and Fanta purchased from Fifi’s Colmado.  Back down the bumpiest road in the universe to pick up chewy chicken and rice & peas for supper & home again, home again jiggity jig.

First World Problems read by Third World kids

First World Problems read by third world kids.

 Third world kids read out first world problems:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tppYR2ua6w


Real Problems
Belkis doesn't have the 300pesos ($7) for Emily's immunization so she can go to school

 nor the $1000 per month ($25) .  Belkis can't work because of no legal papers.

We're exploring buying her chickens for eggs, a goat for milk, or perhaps start a business of selling chicken cooked on a BBQ.

...so many needs...so many problems...so many solutions out there

pppppppppp

Brother Rob and Helena take DR by storm!

Brother Rob and Niece Helena take DR by storm!

My brother Rob came down from Colorado for a week to teach English and computer skills to some young men(who already are on facebook).  These guys were learning about google docs. Thanks  very much to the laptop donators!  More later…

Helena and Hayley Girls Club– Because I am a Girl

Rob’s daughter, Helena, (1 yr older than Hayley) worked with Hayley with our Girl’s Club (Porque Soy Una Chica-Because I am a Girl).  We normally meet every Wed but with Helena here we had daily crafts, life lesson, and bible verse.

Because I am a Girl

Field Trip  

We took the BIAAG girls club to the beach for food, yellow arm band crafts and shells. 

Ring out the news!

Venite wants to get baptized, but isn’t allowed to until she is married.  Rob brought down rings donated from his church.  Ring out the news!  Now to figure out wedding certificates…. Step by step…

Papers

Rob was talking with these guys about their goals,  getting the papers and tools they need.  He is working with Claire who works with Elio Madonia and the Samaritan foundation to provide passports and working visas.  These papers are vital for these men to provide jobs to feed their families.  Sponsorships for working visas are available through Samaritan Foundation (attention Claire Hodgson Esperanza papers. )  Rob was also teaching ESL using MariAnnes book 'Teaching English through the Bible'.

Planes and Paint

Right off the plane, Rob, Helena and the Wilkins got a plea for help with painting. There was a need for paint up in Chichigua where we all lent a hand.

Sew Good

We would like to support women with sewing skills to earn a living.  I gave Evelyna Hayley’s handbag which she copied and made for me.  I will be asking Evelyna if she’ll teach our girl’s club how to sew.  She did such a good job that Maria is ordering 6 more to sell in her store.

Sew much more to tell later…

thanks to you all for your support.  I keep hearing back from people here that the support they receive is making a difference to our lives.  It feels like such small things that we are doing but small things make a difference.  
May you all feel His pleasure as you partner with Him to make a difference in the lives of others around you. 
 Pam Mike Hayley Benjamin Nicholas.