Caribbean Candor

Rob ~ Praying for Missionaries @ Starbucks!

2008-10-21T07:19:00.001-05:00

Today, I was working on my computer at Starbucks. I had Chris Tomlin's latest piped through my head phones, negating the distractions of my fellow patrons. For whatever reason, my attention was drawn to the title of a novel on the shelf next to me... The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. I have not read the book and really have no idea what it is about, but it got me thinking... It got me praying, right there in Starbucks...

Missionaries on the field are always "racing in the rain". Everyday.

You may have heard RMI missionary Billy Moses singing the song he wrote upon arriving on the field, "Everything is Broken"... Same idea, "racing in the rain". A perfect metaphor, at least in my mind.

Their experience and existence necessitates our prayers. They are truly on the battlefield, dealing with the stresses of life in a third world context that we in the comforts of our home simply cannot fathom. Lack of finances, both personal and ministry are a constant burden carried. Relational strain, just like we encounter, within the context of team mates and colleagues from other agencies is of constant concern. Lack of spiritual input (church, small group, SS class, friends, even from books) has them weak and weary. Fellowship with others in general is limited at best. The absence of the felicities of life that we all enjoy must be disheartening (consider having no ice cream!). Equipment is always broken and in need of repair, with no Home Depot around the corner. The constant strain from the surrounding pain and despair must be overwhelming. The desire to help others, but a limited capacity to do so must wear them out. Time away from the family while traveling is the norm. This is only the genesis of their struggle.... They are stretched beyond their capacities. They are "racing in the rain".

Will you pray with me for our RMI Missionaries? For Billy and Debbie Moses? For Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin? For Jenn Rogan?

Rob

Lake Mirogoane & Travel

2008-10-21T07:06:00.001-05:00

Well, the new lake that formed back in September with all the hurricanes that came through is still a lake and it is still there. It is right in the middle of the road and has caused so much trouble for everyone. I hear stories of all the chaos going on in that area. It is where the road comes to an end and no one has anywhere to go except to wait on the next boat going across either to Port or headed out our way. I can imagine the mass confusion going on.

We have had trouble with getting fuel out here in Cayes where we live. We have cut back the hours on the generator in order to preserve fuel here on the mission center and we don't drive the motorcycles or vehicles unless we absolutely have to. We combine trips to town to get supplies for several families in order to preserve. We think about what we are doing before we do it in order to be as efficient as we can and as good stewards as we can with what we have to work with. I have to ask myself....why don't we do this all the time?

In this day and age of extremely high prices and very little for your dollar, why aren't we conserving in every area that we can? Why do we wait for a crisis to look for ways that we can cut back? Sure I look for a bargain here and there, but when I want to use my 4 wheeler, I don't think twice about jumping on it and running to the store or over to the office or someone's home. I could use my feet just as easily and the exercise would do me good.

Well, we did get some fuel in on Saturday, enough to last 30 days if we are careful. I don't know when the road will be open to Port and things will start flowing smoothly again. Things move at a snails pace around here in that area. It seems to take forever to get something repaired/restored. This was major as the lake isn't moving...the road has to be moved.

We will keep you updated as the progress continues.

Monday September 29, 2008 ~ Hope For Kidz at Boyer

2008-10-03T20:51:00.001-05:00

This morning Benson Joseph, our RMI HFKz representative, came out on a motorcycle to help translate for the children in the Boyer School. The children were so happy to meet their new Sister Church and sing some songs for them. The school director talked with the team and shared a little about the children and what they do in the school. It was a good time for all.

Later in the afternoon after lunch, we went up the road a piece to visit one of the other churches in the district. We did another prayer walk and met many people in the community.

This evening the deacons of Boyer Church met with the leadership from Church on the Cape and shared prayer needs.

During the deacons meeting, one of Pastor Sony's (Boyer Church Pastor) children taught some of the team members how to play a Haitian card game. I was asked to explain the rules which stretched my Creole vocabulary and it was a lot of fun. We all went away knowing a lot more than when we started. I have tried many times to play this particular game with my girls and have never been able to beat them. I now understand the rules very well and will look forward to trying my hand with them again.

September 28, 2008 ~ Sunday Morning at Boyer

2008-10-03T20:44:00.001-05:00

The Sunday morning service was full of praise and worship as the Boyer Church in Haiti and the Leaders from Church on the Cape came together for the first time. It was the first of many firsts this week and the beginning of a wonderful relationship based in Jesus Christ our Lord. The service consisted of greetings from each of the team members, greetings from the RMI Staff and lots of singing and praising. I realized just how long the service was when Billy & I went up to give our greeting and I greeted the church with "Good Afternoon" instead of "Good Morning"...yes, it was just after 12:00pm and the message was still yet to be given. It was a good time of beginnings and the team enjoyed getting to know their new Haitian brothers and sisters.

After a wonderful lunch and a short rest we went on a prayer walk through the village. We prayed for sick people and for the community, that many would come to know Christ as their Lord & Savior. We also invited everyone to come to the service tonight to see the Jesus film and hear the Gospel.

Later in the evening service, there were about 350 people who came to see the film and hear the message. It was a great time of fellowship and another first for Boyer Church.

1st day at Boyer ~ Saturday Sept. 27th, 2008

2008-10-03T20:40:00.001-05:00

Well, we arrived at Boyer about 4:00pm this afternoon. A group from the Boyer church along with the Pastor came and met us about 1/4 mile from the church and we walked in together. There were a couple of drums and the Haitian people were singing praise songs as we walked on into town together. It was exciting to see people from two very different cultures come together and show their love for one another even though none of them had ever met. We had a short greeting from both the Haitian Pastor and the US Pastor. Billy, Gary & Pastor Jean Chery (Our RMI Liason Pastor) greeted the church. We spent a little time finding our rooms where we would sleep and getting settled in and then we were served a wonderful meal. We ate goat, rice, fried plantain, carrots, potatoes and avocado. We had fresh squeezed orange juice to drink. It was a great meal and a wonderful welcome for the US team. We are relaxing tonight and preparing for church tomorrow where we will get to meet the rest of the body of Boyer church.

Church on the Cape

2008-09-27T08:20:00.001-05:00

We are headed out to a new sister church today. The US church is from Wilmington NC and they are going to their sister church in Boyer Haiti.
We are excited about their visit and are looking forward to many years with them as they begin this wonderful adventure.

We will be out in the countryside so we won't have Internet. I will be doing posts about the trip, but they won't be on the blog until we return next week.

The girls are staying here at the mission center with Josette (our nanny). I am sure they will have a blast as they usually do. Hopefully they will get some of their school work done.

Y'all have fun now!

HOT & HUMID!!!

2008-09-17T07:30:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems that the storms have slowed a bit and the sun is shining. YIPPEE!!! Things are finally beginning to dry out. There were about 3 weeks there that we thought we were going to float away. After Hanna left, we had Ike to deal with. Ike dumped buckets and buckets of water on us and just added insult to injury. It has been a very wet month. What we call the "rainy season" won't really be here for a couple more weeks, but I am hoping that we have had it early. We will see what lies ahead.

The heat here has been...well let me just say HOT!!! The humidity has been horrendous. You have a thick layer of sweat on your body all the time and you just can't get away from it. This happens if you are just sitting still not doing anything. If you get up and move around in anyway, the sweat just starts pouring. It amazes me how many showers I can take in one day and still be hot and sweaty. Cooler weather is on its way, but not for a little while. We will see what October holds in the way of rain and then things will begin to cool down some for the winter. I am really hoping that the rains have already come and we are finished with that for a while, but I am not counting on it.

More to come.....

Hanna Leaves Haiti!!!

2008-09-03T07:57:00.002-05:00

Well, it is nice and quiet here this morning. The sun is shining and it seems that the rain has finally stopped. Yesterday was quite a different story. The rain was just coming so hard and fast and it seemed it would never end. We took a drive and this is what we found.

This is the valley just across the road from the RMI office on the mission center. One of our staff members house is down there in the middle of it. If you have been to Haiti on a team, chances are you have passed this area.

This is the road to the mission center after you turn off the main road from the airport.

Here is the riverbed that runs along the road from the airport into town. This river is usually dry or has very little water in it. It is about 15 - 20 feet deep and was up over the road before we took this picture.

These are a couple of homes that are in the area here and they aren't the worst that we saw.

Some of our staff members had 3-5 feet of water in their homes yesterday. Billy is at the office this morning, working on a relief plan to see how we can help them and the Sister Churches. We hope to have some reports coming in today of the Sister Churches and how they have been affected. With all of the flooding over the last few weeks with Fay, Gustav and now Hanna, it has made travel and communication difficult. We will post information as soon as it comes in.

Please pray for our Haitian brothers and sisters as they are trying to clean up and please pray for us as we plan the best way to help them.

Billy & Debbie

Waiting for Gustav to Pass!

2008-08-26T19:37:00.003-05:00

We have boarded up, tied things down, stocked our houses and are ready....but nothing is happening. It seems that maybe we have been spared at least here in our area. We are seeing reports of flooding but only from the Dominican Republic. We haven't heard anything about Haiti at all. The Weather Channel shows the storm to be right on top of us, but it is cloudy and calm outside, actually very nice weather. Stormpulse.com shows the eye to be 38 miles to the east of us moving NW at 7mph. So, who knows if we are going to get anything at all. We have had a few showers this afternoon, but only short ones and just enough rain to get things wet. There has been very little wind, not enough to really even mention it. So, we wait and pray that there has been little flooding and that we will be spared. We will blog as more develops but there just isn't much to tell you at this point.
Waiting for Gustav to pass!

As We Wait For Gustav!

2008-08-25T13:45:00.004-05:00

Well, Tropical Storm Gustav is headed our way. We run to the television everytime there is an update as Gustav continues to strengthen and is predicted to become a hurricane before it crosses over us sometime tomorrow. We are making preparations and getting ready for the storm.

We have been watching this little storm over the last few days, but over the course of today it has gotten very close to us very quickly and is not so little anymore. Yesterday it was moving west and appeared as though it would pass south of us however it has made a turn to the north west and the "cone" has us right in the center of the path. For those of you that don't know where we are exactly, look for Les Cayes on the map. On http://www.stormpulse.com/ you can see it very easily and it shows right where we are and where they think the storm will go.

We ask for your prayers as we prepare and especially for the Haitians as they aren't usually able to prepare for these things. We have informed everyone that we can and are working to help prepare as much as possible. From here on out we are in God's hands and we pray for protection and minor damage. Flooding is a huge issue and with such little vegetation here in Haiti, this causes all kinds of problems.

We will keep updates going on here as well as the RMI blogspot at rminethaiti.blogspot.com as long as we have electricity and internet service. When the storm hits we very well could lose our ability for communication for a time. We will be in touch with the Florida office if we lose all communication and you can feel free to call them for updates if you don't hear from us. The Florida office number is 239-368-8390. Our hope is that it doesn't come to this point, however we want to be prepared as much as possible. We would rather be "over prepared" than "under prepared".

We have already heard from some of you via email and we are grateful for your thoughtfulness and your prayers.

As we wait and rest in the Lord and what He has for us in the hours and days to come, we lean on Him for our comfort and peace.
The Moses Family

Lime Squeezing Time!

2008-08-18T17:31:00.006-05:00

Anywhere you go in my house or yard these days you smell limes. There are limes everywhere or at least the smell of them. Key limes are something that we use to make juice. Any of you who have been here probably recall drinking lime juice at some point during your visit. We love it and we serve it to teams when they are here. Our visitors usually say something like, "Wow, that juice is really good"! It is very good and there is alot of preparation that goes into making this juice. At this time of year, limes are very plentiful and not too expensive. Every year, we spend a couple of weeks buying limes by the sack full, preparing them for later use with teams. Right now we are in the midst of that lime squeezing time. All the limes are washed, cut in half and each half is squeezed by hand. The concentrated juice is then put into containers and frozen to be used when needed. This is a very tedious job and one that requires lots of hands working together to make it happen. I wanted to share with you a little glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes when we aren't hosting teams. This lime squeezing time is only one of the many things that we try to get caught up on when we are having a break from teams. It is usually an event where we all come together and everyone gets their hands in on the limes in some way. Our girls are usually out there helping too. They enjoy getting involved and helping the ladies out. This year we are doing 6 bags of limes and each bag weighs about 40 lbs. Wow! Now that is alot of limes!

Outback was Outstanding!

2008-08-04T14:58:00.015-05:00

Our first team after returning to Haiti has come and gone. It was "Outstanding", as the team leader would say. We had a wonderful time out in Les Irois Haiti.

This team was what Harper E Free Church called a "rogue team", because it was planned outside of their regular sister church visits. The team members consisted of 5 married couples and the main project was a marriage seminar. Other events were done like a HFK's meeting, a youth meeting and a Ladies Tea.

We also walked 2 miles up the mountain to visit a satellite church in Jorge, but the main focus of the trip was the marriage seminar. When Billy and I visited Harper church in Washington state back in March of this year, we were not sure how this kind of seminar would go in Haiti as we had not handled this kind of project before. We have done leadership seminars, youth seminars, ladies seminars, but the marriage seminar was new for us. We were concerned about many different things but our main concern was that the teaching be fruitful and with the cultural differences, we just didn't know if that was possible. We were also a little concerned as to what it might "stir up" in the marriages of the leadership at Les Irois church and the surrounding satellite churches. We didn't know if they would be open with us or receive the teaching well. There was some concern that they wouldn't openly share their struggles especially with their spouses sitting in the same room with them. Well, God knew what He was doing when he put this team together. It was an amazing time. Pastor John Edgecomb, of Harper E Free Church did an outstanding job of putting together material for the marriage seminar. Billy and I worked together to tweek it to meet the culture here. Benjamin (our head translator) was instrumental in translating the material where it could be understood culturally and yet not lose any of the value in it. And God showed up! Doesn't He always! Sometimes I wonder why we doubt HIM! If we just take the steps He will direct our paths and that is what this team did. We worked together to make sure that all bases were covered as best as they could be and then we prayed and turned it over to Father God.

The first day of the seminar went very well. Pastor John gave his teaching and then we broke up into small groups. We wanted to seperate the men and women and see if they would open up to us about some of their struggles. Our team of Americans began by sharing some of the struggles they have in their marriages hoping to set the example. I just about fell off my chair when these Haitian men & women started opening up. They shared their struggles and were very open about wanting to work to find solutions. I was just amazed at how God worked in them. They were open to trying to work on their own behavior instead of trying to change their husbands or wives. What was even more amazing that first day was that the mens group talked longer than the womens group. They say that women have 10,000 words per day and men only have 2,500, well that was not the case during this particular session.
On the 2nd day of the seminar, the direction we were going was changed by a question that was asked by one of the Haitian pastors. Pastor John Edgecomb felt led to "go with it", so as a team that is what we did. The question was, "what do you do when one of you feel called to ministry and the other one does not?". Pastor John looked at Billy and I and asked us if we would be willing to share our testimony about how we were called into full time ministry. We shared with the whole group how we struggled with one being called and the other not and how God changed my heart after a season of prayer. Amazingly, one of the other couples on the US team had a similar testimony with a very different outcome, one that took them out of full time ministry in the church. They shared their testimony right after ours. Both testimonies being shared back to back like that gave the Leadership two great examples of how God works differently in our lives and what He might be calling one couple to do, might not be what His desire is for the other couple. These examples are just a couple of the ways that God worked in the lives of these people during this seminar. The church at Les Irois is excited to take this teaching to the leadership and others in their church congregations.
At the end of the 2nd day of seminars, every couple present, Americans and Haitians renewed our wedding vows. We started with Pastor John Edgecomb leading the renewing of vows between the Pastor of the Les Irois Church and then he in turn lead Pastor John and his wife Cyndee in the renewing of their vows. After they were done, then the rest of us couples did a group renewing of our vows with the American pastor saying them in English and the Haitian pastor saying them in Creole. I don't believe the Haitians had ever seen anything like this before, at least not at this particular church. It was awesome to see and everyone celebrated with wedding cake after the last kiss. I have to say that our staff were tickled at Billy and I renewing our vows. They hooped and hollered and were teasing us about our kiss.

As a special bonus for the Haitian church, the US church came with 10 beautiful wedding dresses for the church to loan to couples when they get married. This is very important to the Haitian people. They want to be dressed beautifully for this most important day!

The team had a couple of days to decompress both at Zanglais at the Retreat Center and here at the Mission Center before leaving early Friday morning. Our family got up together and accompanied them to the airport. Yes all 4 of us got up at 5am. There were lots of tears as we said our goodbyes and the Harper team got on the plane. They have since arrived home safely and are sharing the stories of how their trip went with family and friends.
Pastor John Edgecomb shared with Billy and I how special it was for us to be a part of the team and even told us that they considered the rogue team 2008 to be 6 couples not 5, as it had originally started out. It touched our hearts to get so connected to not only our American team but also the Haitian people in Les Irois. This was a great homecoming for us and an Outstanding trip.

Going Outback!

2008-07-24T11:15:00.002-05:00

Our first team arrives tomorrow and we are going out in to the country with them. Billy, myself, Gary and the staff will be pulling out at 6am tomorrow to drive across the mountains to meet them in Jeremie. Benjamin and Jenn will be flying to Port at 7am to pick up the team. Benjamin will fly with the team to Jeremie and meet us. Jenn will be flying back to Cayes with the daughter of one of the couples on the team. The daughter, Amy Jo will be staying on the mission center with Savana. They have met several times and are about the same age.
I wanted to let you all know that we will be out of pocket until next Friday when our team leaves. So you won't be hearing anything from us before then.
Please pray for us as we travel over rough roads tomorrow and pray for the team as they are already on their way here. They are coming all the way from Seattle, Washington and their sister church is the furthest from the mission center. Pray for the safety of the team and for the arrival of all their luggage.
We will be in touch next weekend to give you an update on our trip.
Debbie

2008-07-19T14:13:00.005-05:00

Our arrival into Haiti went very smoothly. Our flight from Ft. Lauderdale left on time and was uneventful. All of our luggage came without any problems and Serge & Wilfred (two of our RMI Staff) were at the airport in Port au Prince to greet us. They took us over to the little airport to catch our incountry flight to Cayes and then they headed out by truck with our luggage.

Our flight was about an hour late leaving Port but when we arrived at the airport in Cayes we found Jules, Sam, Benjamin, Meverd and Gary with smiles and hugs for everyone. It was such a welcome sight to see all of them. Of course I cried as I greeted each of my brothers in Christ. We loaded up together to head to our house where Caline & Josette, our house ladies, were anxiously awaiting our arrival. It was such a sweet reunion with all of our wonderful friends here. We have missed them so much. It is amazing how connected we get to the people who are a part of our lives on a daily basis.

The ladies who work in our home, had prepared one of our favorite Haitian meals and we all sat down together to eat and share our experiences over the last 9 months. After eating, it was a pretty constant flow of people all afternoon dropping by to welcome us back.

In the evening, we went to Gary & Marilyn McLaughlin's (RMI Missionaries) home for fun and fellowship. The Ferris and Vroomans (two couples who are friends of ours) were there too and we really enjoyed getting reconnected with them. We made alot of friends while we were in the states and were grateful to have them, however we missed our friends here very much and are grateful to be back with them all.

The girls, Savana and McKenna have also reconnected with most of their friends. So it is tree climbing, 4 wheelers, swimming, getting dirty and just plain ole fun for them. They are both so happy to finally be home.

Now the unpacking and settling in begins!

more to come later.....

Deb

Mixed Emotions and Safe Travel!

2008-07-14T14:41:00.003-05:00

Well, the last week has been one full of stress and very high emotions. The mixture of happiness about going home to Haiti and the sadness of leaving our wonderful friends in Columbia. The last days in Columbia held lots of tears as we all realized that our time was coming to an end. Savana was trying to squeeze in every moment she could with her friends. McKenna and Randi (her friend at our apartments) were inseperable for about 96 hours (literally). Billy and I were trying to be responsible and get everything done that needed to be, and yet we were struggling too with the sadness of leaving. Normally when we come home on furlough, we are stateside for about 6 weeks. It is long enough to get some visiting done with friends and supporters, spend some much needed family time, do a bit of shopping which includes oogling over all the "stuff" that is available, and enjoy a few movies, but not long enough to get really connected. This time was very different; we were involved in school; learning and teaching, had a couple of different visits with family, were able to be a part of my brothers wedding, visited some sister churches and became connected to a wonderful church family and made friends, LOTS OF THEM!!!
Our emotions are still pretty mixed. As Savana said earlier, "the sadness of leaving our Columbia family is very raw" and yet we are all counting the days until Friday when we fly home to Haiti.
Our trip down yesterday from South Carolina to Florida was fairly easy. We went to Sunday School for one last time with our church family at Shandon Baptist and then we hit the road. We had 10 long hours of driving ahead of us, but everything went very well. The ugly old van held up through the trip even though we had it loaded down to maximum capacity. Praise the Lord that we didn't have any problems as that was a very big concern. The van was so full that we had to rent a car to carry two of us as there wasn't room in the van for everyone to ride. We arrived at our hotel in Ft. Pierce, Florida and unloaded our eight suitcases. Once we got everything in the room, all 4 of us and the dog, we couldn't move. It was either lay on the bed or stand in one spot. Billy and I looked at each other and knew that there was no way that we could do this for 4 days. It was midnight and we were all exhausted. So....we went to the front desk and asked if they could put us in 2 adjoining rooms. They couldn't do that last night, but they were able to accomodate us this morning. Thank you again Father God for providing for our needs.
This morning we all got up and had breakfast and then made the drive over to Missionary Flights International (MFI); they will be flying all of our cargo into Haiti. We unloaded the trusty old van and it breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice to reconnect with our friends there as we haven't seen any of them since we flew with them into Haiti in 2005. We returned our rental car and took Taki to the vet for her health certificate. She passed with flying colors and is all set for her re-entry. She even has "doggie downers" to make her trip very peaceful. We headed back to the hotel and were ready for some pool time and a short break from the work but God had other plans. Storms started rolling in just as we walked outside to the pool. We decided that maybe we all need a little afternoon repo (nap in creole). So, we are all resting and catching our breath. This evening we will make our first outing to Walmart & Sams for shopping. Our next couple of days will hold just that, shopping, packing and taking things to MFI.
More to come later...
Debbie

Just a big wimp!

2008-07-08T15:46:00.004-05:00

If you know me any at all, you probably know that I am very afraid of having my teeth worked on. As a child, I had to have alot of dental work done and none of it was good.

I have this one tooth that has been a "pain", in more ways than one, for the last couple of years. I have nursed it along and avoided having anything done, but knew that eventually I was going to have to have it pulled. I was simply afraid to go to the dentist and get it taken care of. I told Billy about a week ago that there is no way that I am going to find the courage to make an appointment before we leave for Haiti so I asked him to make an appointment and take me there to make sure that it gets done before we go back to the field. I didn't want another year of "nursing" and I was simply tired of the pain. Well, my wonderful husband did just what I asked him to and I have been dreading today for about a week now.

Dental services have come a long way in the last 25 years or so. I have been to the dentist many times as an adult, however the thoughts that are stuck in my mind are always those of terror, fear and pain. I have also seen my kiddos sitting in the chair and they have survived quite well. You would think that I would have overcome this incredible fear.

I was so keyed up this morning that I was trembling. I was quiet and very much withdrawn while getting ready. I knew what was going on with me, but I just could not seem to shake this fear. Billy & the girls were very supportive and tried to give me encouragement. Yet, when I sat down in that chair, I was sweating and shaking believing that this was going to be very painful and traumatic. They numbed me up with a few shots in my gum and cheek. The nurse was very sweet and tried her best to give me some comfort. When the dentist came in he sat down and talked with me for a bit. He asked about my tooth of course, but then he started talking about our ministry and what we are doing in Haiti. He just kept talking to me about that while he started looking and poking around my tooth. He told me I was going to feel a little pressure and maybe hear some noise, but would feel no pain. Then he continued to talk about Haiti and his church and what he has heard about Haiti. He poked & prodded for about 3 minutes on my tooth and then he sat back down and continued with his conversation about ministry. I couldn't talk much as I was all numbed up on one side and he had stuffed my mouth with cotton, but it was fun to listen to his interest in ministry. Then he said, "well, you did good, thanks for sharing what you do in Haiti and may God bless you and your family. It truly is a calling to go and do something like what you are doing". He handed me a prescription for pain medicine and then stood up, patted my arm and turned to leave the room. I said, "are we done?" He turned around and chuckled and said "yes, we are done. Let me know if you have any problems, but I don't think you will." I didn't even realize that he had pulled the tooth out. Yes, there was lots of pressure and he had mentioned that the tooth was very large, but I had no idea that it was that easy and painless.

The numbing is now gone, but surprisingly I have very little pain. It is more soreness than anything. I didn't get the pain prescription filled because I hoped that advil or motrin would take care of it and it seems to be working.

I am hoping that writing this will help me to remember what an uneventful time I had at the dentist.

Debbie

Days of Craziness!

2008-07-07T12:10:00.003-05:00

When we come to the states for a visit, the last 2 weeks always seem to be the craziest. Well, we are in that 2 week window and the craziness has begun. Our little apartment that we have lived in for the last 6 months looks like a cyclone hit it. We have boxes everywhere, things we are donating to Goodwill, books we are donating to the Library and stuff that we are shipping to Haiti and other places throughout the USA. It is overwhelming to tackle all of this stuff, but we have done it so many times before, it almost comes natural. That is a scary thought!
We have made our hotel reservations for next week in Florida and MFI is ready to receive our shipment for Haiti. We are hoping that we have a buyer for the van and can take care of that before leaving South Carolina.
The girls have been a great help to us in getting things sorted out. Between sorting and packing they are still managing to make plans to spend a little extra time with their South Carolina friends. Billy and I are finding time as well, our Sunday School department is having a drop in for us on Thursday evening. We feel so honored and blessed that they have thought of us in this way.
Sometimes I wish that I could be like Samantha on "Bewitched". Knowing that the show was only makebelieve and yet wishing that I could just wiggle my nose and "poof" it would all be done.

and the craziness goes on.....
Debbie

Preparing for our Return to Haiti!

2008-07-05T10:43:00.003-05:00

Wow! It is hard to believe that 9 full months have passed since we arrived in the USA. We have been so busy that it really hasn't seemed so long and yet is seems like forever.

We are in the midst of packing things to return to Haiti, shipping winter stuff to our parents in Texas and last minute visits with new friends that we have made here in South Carolina.

We have this old van that we have been driving while stateside and it is just plain ugly. It has been a good vehicle for us though. It has gotten us from place to place and kept us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so we can't complain. Over the last week or two we have been smelling the radiator when we go out somewhere. Billy took it in this morning to see what the problem is as it is obvious that something is leaking. Unfortunately, we found that the radiator has a leak. We were hoping for a hose or something simple. What is so interesting about this is that we have not had any problems with this van during our stay here. It has been a great vehicle and it just amazes me how God provided something to drive and it has done us well. Now, as we are returning to Haiti, little problems are creeping up. It shows me that God provides our needs exactly according to His will. Exactly what we needed for the exact amount of time that we needed it.

We leave Columbia on Sunday morning, July 13th. We have decided that we will attend Sunday School and then head out to Ft. Pierce, Florida afterwards. Our Sunday School department has become such a part of our everyday lives and it will be difficult to say goodbye to these wonderful friends. We asked them to keep us on their weekly prayer updates that are done by email. Their response was, "you can run, but you can't hide". We are so thankful that God placed these very special people in our lives. We love them so much and will miss them greatly.

Debbie

McKenna is home from Church Camp!

2008-07-04T12:33:00.006-05:00

McKenna finally got to attend church camp. This was a first for her as it usually doesn't work out with our furlough times. She went to the Georgia Baptist Convention Center with Shandon Baptist, the church we have been attending while in South Carolina.

Camp Kid Jam was "AWESOME", she said. She is singing songs about how big and strong and loud God's love is for all of us. She learned about putting others first. The favorite thing she did was the Photography class. She made a really good friend in that class and would say to her "hello, my fellow, yellow friend". Their group was the yellow team. She lost her voice while there and is still squeaking even after a good nights rest.

When she got home yesterday we told her how much we missed her while she was away. Her response was "well, I didn't really miss y'all that much, but I did a little bit". She must have had a great time.

Headlights

2008-07-01T11:04:00.006-05:00

Over the past month or so we have been trying to figure out what our plans would be for our return to Haiti.

Several years ago we were at an RMI seminar and a speaker compared our walk with God to driving a car at night. He said you can only drive as far as your headlights show you. You cannot see any farther down the road than that. This has been the case with us. God has revealed a little more.

We will head back to Haiti on July 18^th. We will spend some time getting settled in and then my current job of “Field Administrator” will be broadened to take on some added responsibilities. The job of “Coordinator with the U.S. Sister Churches” will be a part of my job description and my responsibilities from Haiti. As a result, I not be able to go out with as many teams as I used to. The exact details of the job are still beyond the headlights but the details we can see are that I will be in contact with the U.S. churches before the trip for scheduling, paperwork, and projects. I will also be in contact after the trips to see how the trip went as well as what we in RMI can do to make the trip better.

Debbie will continue to do the departments bookkeeping as well as overseeing the Hospitality for our visitors. RMI is changing to a new accounting software that will be more tailored to what we do. Debbie will finally get the chance for some training and will be better equipped to handle the bookkeeping in Haiti.

Whirlwind Update!

2008-05-26T19:06:00.002-05:00

When we first left Haiti on this adventure to the USA, it was my desire to keep our blog updated throughout our journey. Little did I know what a whirlwind it would be. I wasn't really prepared mentally for the inundating of studying, learning & massive amounts of knowledge that we were about to venture into and I simply went into a tailspin. The dust has now settled; my hope is to be on here with regular updates ...now that I can see :)

Our journey has been a very exciting, eventful time. We were in Georgia for the fall and beginning of winter. That was a time of intense learning and growing. We made lots of friends and were showered with love from New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville, GA. We were able to experience going from summer to fall and on into winter for the first time in 6 years. It was very exciting to experience these changes in season. We didn't realize how much we had missed it until it was upon us. We desperately wanted it to snow so the girls could experience that, but somehow the snow seemed to always be about 2 weeks either behind us or in front of us. We continued to hope but with no expectation. McKenna has never seen snow and Savana hasn't seen it since she was about 6. One of the good things was they didn't know or remember what they were missing.

We have had many travels in the past few months. In March, we went to Washington state to visit Harper E Free church, an RMI Sister Church. Secretly, we were all hoping for snow, but we didn't get our hopes up. It was rainy alot of the time we were there, but a very special family, Jeremy & Sherri Schintz, took us up into the mountains and we got to see about 20 feet of snow. They had snow saucers and a sled and we all had a blast. YEAH, it finally happened. We didn't get to see snow fall, but we did play in what was on the ground until we were all throughly soaked. We returned to Columbia with only a few days until our next trip to Texas for spring break. We did laundry and repacked our bags and hit the road. The girls and I drove because we were staying a full week. Billy flew because he only had a few days. The road trip with the girls was a blast. We took Taki, our mini daschund, on the road with us. We laughed and giggled and had so much fun. It was a great adventure for just us girls. We even put makeup on Taki and took her picture. She was a real road dawg!!!

April slowed down a bit but not too much. We tried to focus on school work and a full schedule of just normal routine. We have become very involved in the church we are attending here, Shandon Baptist and we are at every event that is offered. The girls are involved in the youth group and children's activities and we have a wonderful Sunday School class. We have made many friends and will miss them when our adventure comes to an end here in South Carolina.

In May the travels started again with another trip to Texas for my brothers wedding. We were able to attend all the events that are involved in a wedding and also got to reconnect with family, friends and many of our supporters. It seems there is never enough time to see everyone that we want to see. In June we traveled to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to visit 3 of our Sister Churches. It was good to see everyone up there.

I guess that will be all for now. There is so much to share, but I will save it for another day. May you bless someone in your path today and may you be blessed.

Debbie Moses

back to reality

2008-05-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I always seem to start my messages off with the same statement. "It's been awhile since I have posted." This time we have a fairly good reason. With our family being uprooted and moved across 2 states, that we knew nothing about, the blog kind of got lost. Also God gave me a brain that has worked well for about 51 years. However, for the last 3 months it has been focused mainly on school and very little else. I apologize.
One of my personal big praises is that I have finished this semester with a 3.5 grade point average. Before I came to Columbia International University, I really didn't even understand how a GPA works. I'm not sure I do now, but they tell me a 3.5is good. Thanks Lord that my grey matter seems to be hitting on all cylinders.
Deb and I started this adventure with training in spiritual warfare, spiritual direction, and leadership. This all happened in the Atlanta area. We followed this up with moving to Columbia where I took a semester of bible school, Deb and I both worked on some other spiritual direction courses at night.
We are now in the process of trying to raise funds and determine when we can return to Haiti.
RMI has had many changes in structure, some of which will affect us. Please continue to check back here for further developments.

Georgia on my Mind!

2007-11-19T14:47:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've updated. Sorry about that.

Our first 2 weeks in Georgia was a very good time of spiritual growth, understanding and training. I went there with the understanding that we were going to be learning alot, but didn’t realize the depth of that. I discovered that I have had a lot of fear in my life. Fear of failure has governed how I have lived my life. I have always been very slow to make a commitment because of fear that I would not be able to do the task I was asked to do up to the standards of the person that asked me. I have always had a need to be accepted and if I didn’t do a job well enough then I wouldn’t be accepted. Being hard on myself has just been a way of life. I have struggled with not being happy with my performance, or the way I look, or anything really. So, in my own mind, I have never been able to do anything that was "good enough". The first 2 weeks showed me that all of this was a lie. They helped me to remember that I am a child of God, I am saved by Christ, and I have the Holy Spirit living in me. They also showed me how I have authority over these feelings and the ability to get rid of them and replace them with the truth that is God’s word. Everything was backed up with scripture. God’s word is very plain that negative emotions do not come from God and that we don’t have to believe the lies that the enemy tries to tell us daily to try to separate us from God’s love and blessings.

I now have many tools to use to fight the negative emotions and lies that the enemy tries to feed me. Tools that are in a thing they call the “walkout”. This is simply walking out of the old way of thinking and into a new way that is the renewing of our minds with God’s word.

Blessings in Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
Billy Moses

Exciting News

2007-09-25T06:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Family, Friends & Supporters,

We want to share with you an exciting opportunity! RMI leadership wants us, as the Haiti Field Director, to have the best resources to better serve the US churches, national church leaders and the RMI missionaries, and to this end, they have requested that we come off the field for 3 months in 2007 and a college semester in 2008 returning to Haiti in late spring. The goal is to get professional training to provide us with additional tools to enhance our leadership skills. The RMI leadership is designing a program for our professional and personal enrichment which will include personal mentoring, a series of seminars including spiritual transformation, leadership development, lay counseling training and formal Bible and theology education courses.

We are working with the RMI leadership to put in place a good plan of action to cover the successful operation of the field in our absence. We have good national and missionary staff that can step into the gap and feel confident that our responsibilities will be able to be fulfilled while we take this hiatus.

There are many details being worked out at this writing. At this point, it looks like we’ll be leaving Haiti on October 3rd, 2007 to begin this training. The girls will be coming with us, of course, bringing their school work with them. It will mean some travel for us, much study, hard work, and a lot of faith. It’s a new adventure - one that we are very excited about and feel ready for. It is a huge step of faith as well. We will need your continued financial support more than ever during these months. The seminars and Bible college training are costly as well as there will be travel and living expenses to cover. Equally, we earnestly desire your prayers for us! We want to make the most of this opportunity. Pray that the Lord would bring the myriad of details into place, that He would give us peace of mind and clarity of thought as we prepare to leave.

Here is our schedule as we see it now:

October 3, 2007 ~ Depart Haiti headed to Florida
October 4, 2007 ~ Leave Florida and head for Texas
October 8, 2007 ~ Arrive in Texas – Savana & McKenna will be staying with family until the end of October. This will give us an opportunity to get the first two weeks of training done and get settled into being “students” again.
October 10, 2007 ~ Billy & Debbie leave Texas and drive to Atlanta, Georgia
October 14-28, 2007 ~ First two weeks of training
October 28 ~ Savana & McKenna fly to Atlanta to join Billy & Deb
October 30 – Nov. 16 ~ Next 3 weeks of training
November 17 - 25 ~ Thanksgiving break we will be with friends in Cape May, New Jersey
November 26 – Dec. 14 ~ Last 3 weeks of training in Georgia
Dec. 18 - ? ~ Travel to Dallas, Texas for Christmas with family
January ? ~ Begin classes at Columbia International University (CIU) in Columbia, South Carolina
Late May ~ Return to Haiti

A note from the RMI Vice President of International Development:

It is respectfully requested that inquiries concerning other communication with Billy and Debbie regarding their response, progress or frustration level be limited to their immediate supervisor and the RMI President. They need to remain isolated from all outside distractions from family (except children), friends, and fellow workers, superiors in mission and church as much as possible for maximum impact to be accomplished. This is especially true from October 14 through December 18, 2007. All must recognize that participants will be fully engaged from morning until night with classes, meetings and home assignments that require full concentration. The week of October 14-20, it is critical that no contacts should transpire from any source or originate from them to the outside unless it is brief regarding their children. They should plan in advance not to be producing blogs, be responding to email, sending email or receiving incoming calls about work on the field or about anything else, unless from the President of RMI from October 14 through October 29. From October 30-December 18, extremely limited communication to or from Billy and Debbie must be observed. We do not believe this to be necessary during the semester planned at CIU. They will be able to breathe from November 17 through November 25 for Thanksgiving break and later for a Christmas break. Some assignments will need to be accomplished over these holidays.

This legalistic sounding statement is full of love even though it appears to be written by a hard nosed lawyer sitting on nails. I apologize for legalistic language but believe this is such an important venture for Billy and Debbie and an expensive investment that every care must be taken to assure their success.

Rolling Right Along!

2007-09-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy time here in Haiti. With teams coming on a regular basis, school starting and hurricanes threatening, we have been hopping! We have a couple of weeks with no teams here, so hopefully we can get things to a mild roar before we start up again mid September.
The girls have gotten off to a great start in school. We have made a few adjustments to make things work better for us, just a fine tuning kind of thing. Homeschooling is different and the girls realize that it will take a bit of getting used to. They really are enjoying the school room. It is pretty awesome to get on the futon to do their reading work or just enjoy a book. They spend a lot of time in there even when they aren't doing school work. We are very glad that it has become not only a place to learn but also a place to have fun. We aren't quite finished yet with the decor, but we don't have much left. The shelves need to go in and we have some things to hang on the walls. Right now, we are stocking our art supplies and laying out the fun things we want to do this year. I think it is going to be a great year!
We had 2 teams in August. Our first team was from Lake Oswego, Oregon and went to Les Anglais Haiti. They had a great time visiting their sister church. Savana had a friend here visiting from Florida and they went out with the team. It was great fun for both of them. The rivers were really high and they did a lot of waiting on the road for the rivers to go down, but all in all they had a great time. The 2nd team was from Seattle, Washington area and they went to Les Irois Haiti. This team comes the farthest in the US and goes the farthest in Haiti. Are they just crazy or did it just happen to work out this way? They had a great time and we got to meet many new people on the team and reconnect with some good friends too.
Coming up, we have a work team coming to help with the RMI facilities here and at Zanglais. We have a long list of "honey do's" for them, so I don't think we will have any trouble keeping them busy. We are really looking forward to their visit as this is the team that came and did all the renovations to our home in summer 2006 before we moved in. They are all great friends and we have a great time of fellowship with this group of guys who so graciously serve us and RMI down here in Haiti.
The same day the work team leaves, our next team arrives. This team is coming from Skuykill Valley, Pennsylvania and going to Camp Perrin Haiti. During all of this, we have a small team at the Guesthouse for a few days and then a large retreat at the Zanglais Retreat Center. The time will go very quickly and take us right into October.
Wow! Before we know it the holidays will be right around the corner.
I guess that about catches us up for now!

I will leave you with a verse that has been on my heart for the last several days;
Proverbs 20:19 He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,Therefore do not associate with a gossip.
It is amazing how quickly we can get sucked into "gossip". Often people come saying they are "concerned" about someone else and ask if you know anything. Friends, this is gossip. If a person is truly concerned for that "someone else", they will go directly to them and ask if/how they can help. Be aware and don't let satan get hold of you in this way. It is one of his favorite ways to cause dissension and strife among people.

Have a great week loving and glorifying the Lord! Think vertically not horizontally!

Deb Moses

HUrricane Dean

2007-08-20T07:19:00.000-05:00

Many people have called or sent emails to us asking if we are ok.

We are doing great! Dean got about 100 miles from us. The hurricane force winds extended out about 60 miles so we were spared by about 40 miles. We had some leaves and branches down and a little rain. Other than that, big bad Dean didn't do much. I think his focus is on the Yucatan.

Don't worry, we don't take these things lightly. We boarded up the house, got extra water, and were ready! We haven't been hit by a big one yet, but we prepare for them anyway!

If the good Lord wills, and the creek...

2007-08-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone has heard that phrase. "If the good Lord wills and the creek don't rise."

We were able to witness that up close and personal on our recent trip out to a little church in Les Anglais. We left on Saturday at about 11 a.m. and arrived after noon on the following Sunday. It is only a 40 mile trip. Now normally this little journey would take about 4 hours. In America, this trip would take about 40 minutes but in Haiti, road conditions let us average about 10 miles an hour. However as we traveled along the south coast of Haiti we came to several flooded rivers. Each one got deeper than the last. We would wait at each river until we felt the water level had descended enough to make it across. Don't ask how we knew, that is something that is discussed at length with our Haitian staff and then a decision is made. However, when we arrived at the river outside of the town of Port a Piment, we saw many big trucks and buses parked and many people milling around with nothing to do. We had heard all day that the Port a Piment river was really bad. However when we got there we were surprised to see that it was deeper than our trucks. The river is past the town of Port a Piment so we were able to return to the church there and they graciously offered to put us up for the night. There was a lot of praying going on that night as we listened to the rain hit the tin roof of the building where we slept. The next day we left and drove to the river and saw that it was still very high and the trucks and buses were still there. In Haiti when something like this happens, there is a festive feeling in the air. People are sitting together or standing together talking and joking, there are vendors moving through the crowd selling homemade donuts or meat pies and other goodies, there is music playing and there is a steady stream of people going to look at the river. We joined this group and talked with several people, snacked a little bit, looked at the river and took naps, all for about 2-3 hours. Finally the river had descended enough for us to cross. We went one at a time and all four of our vehicle crossed the river successfully. There was a lot of cheering and excitement as we prepared for the rest of our journey to the town of Les Anglais. God is sovereign and he also did away with that old saying. So now I guess we should say, "if the good Lord wills it in spite of the rising creek"!

What to write?

2007-08-11T06:37:00.000-05:00

We are supposed to keep these blogs updated regularly. But sometimes our life here in Haiti is just as much of a grind as someone's in the states. I feel like there is not much to write about. However if I am focusing on God, my life is much better than I might think. So I thought I would count my blessings this morning.

I have a beautiful wife that I love. God has given her a heart to serve like very few others I've seen. In a country like Haiti where everything is me, me, me...that is refreshing. Debbie is becoming a Proverbs 31 woman. She would probably argue that there is no way. That she is a sinner and that she is sometimes selfish. But I am here to tell you that she is a wonderful person who puts her kids and her husband and many others before herself all the time. I will be headed out to the country later today, and though I am excited about the team who are here, I will miss Deb greatly. I really know what it means to be joined to my wife to the point where 2 become 1. When I head out to a village I feel as if part of me is left behind.

My daughter Savana will be going out with us again today as we head for Les Anglais on the south coast of Haiti. Sammie, as we call her, has been going with me on several sister church trips and is a real blessing. It has been fun to watch her develop into a young woman of God. We still have our times when I wonder what is going on in her head, why would she do this or that, how could she be so selfish? Then I realize, she is still 13! But then I can think of her at Celebrate Freedom with her hands raised in worship, or I find her bible where she has been reading, or I see her fun attitude, or the way she helps a team member to talk to some Haitian kid, or her sense of humor when she gives a greeting in perfect Creole...and I am proud she is my daughter. Plus she is gorgeous...what's a father to do? Thank you Lord for your work in her life!

The last 2 nights my daughter McKenna has crawled into our bed and spent the night. She is such a blessing! I think back to how when she was born and the nurses gave her to me. I was amazed that Deb and I had such a beautiful daughter. I remember singing to her a song called (I changed the words) "Little Miss McKenna what ya gonna be?" McKenna is almost 9 years old. She is so beautiful and I lover her so. I will miss her almost as much as I miss Deb while we are out at Les Anglais. She will be the first one to come running and jump into my arms when we return. She also is very interested in following God's will. We have a team coming in September to do some work here on the mission center for us. While here we plan to have a day at Zanglais retreat center. We have a plan to go to the beach while there and have a baptismal service for McKenna. What a joy it will be to baptise my daughter.

Our boys are in the states carrying on with their lives. Jake is in Texas going to school and working. He has become a young man, seeking his way in a crazy environment that is Texas. Ryan is in California which is an even crazier environment than Texas. He is trying to figure out what he is going to do when he grows up. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up too. That always brings a song line to mind, "I'm growing older but not up". I will be praying for them that whatever they does, they do it for God's glory.

Some other blessings we have are parents that love us, friends and family all over the U.S., a nice place to live, fairly regular power, good access to the Internet, a telephone, good food and water, and a God that loves us and forgives us so much that He sent His son to die for us!

It's kind of funny that when I started this post I didn't really know what I was gonna write. But as you start counting and listing God's blessings you can go on for a long, long time.

I will finish this post with one last thing. God has given me a little talent to play the guitar and sing. I am learning more and more as I practice how to use that talent to to praise and worship Him. It has really been helpfl during my quiet time with the Lord as I now am able to focus on Him as I play. I love you Lord and I want to do everything I do for you.

1 Cor. 10:31

Getting Ready for School!

2007-07-26T06:34:00.000-05:00

We have a short break from teams for about 2 weeks. That doesn't mean that we don't have lots of work to do, it just means that our form or mode of work changes. Billy & I still have lots of office work to do and when teams aren't here that is when we do most of our "catching up" with the office work. What did we ever do before internet and email. I don't remember how we all communicated.
Anyway, one of the things that we are doing during our short break from teams is getting the schoolroom ready for the girls. Both Savana and McKenna will be homeschooled this year. This reason is two-fold. McKenna's teacher is not returning to the school so we were in a position to already do something for her so we decided that we would just do them both. The other reason is that Savana is really wanting to be more involved in the ministry side of things down here. Doing homeschool will provide her the freedom to do that.
Our homeschool room is just about finished. We have painted it red/white/blue and we are calling it our Texas room. The girls will be using Abeka DVD program and I will be "assisting" as the program is designed with minimal activity from the parent. I have set up a desk in the school room for myself so I can be in there especially in the beginning as we are getting things moving.
When the schoolroom is finished I will post a picture on here so you can see. It is very colorful and fun and will be a nice place to work. We have put the futon in there and the TV is still in there. They can have a quiet, comfortable reading place or their desks with computers to work.
This summer, God provided the funds for us to buy each of the girls a laptop for their school work. They will benefit greatly from this as they can take their school work with them wherever they are. This will allow for travel that wasn' possible before.
I am so thankful that God gave us two girls who are very self motivated and are eager to learn. It will be exciting to see how the year goes for all of us.
School starts at the Moses house on August 20th, so please be praying as we step out on this new adventure.

THE NEW TRUCK IS HERE!!!!!

2007-07-10T16:40:00.000-05:00

Back in January our Board of Directors graciously dug deep into their own pockets to provide the Haiti Mission Field with a new truck. The truck was paid for at that time but had not arrived in the country. It finally arrived in the country, but then the Customs Department had to do their song and dance. To make a long story short, it was finally ready for delivery on Tuesday, July 10, 2007.

Our administrator, Jules Gedna, flew to Port-au-Prince today to pick it up. He arrived at our house today with an ear to ear smile. God has been good to keep our vehicles on the road, but that has been an expensive road too. This new blessing will take some of the load off of our other trucks.

Please pray that God will continue to bless us as we pursue his will!

Praise God!!!!

Moses in Texas etc.

2007-06-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

It was pointed out last night that we haven't updated in several months. Arggg! Call me lazy! We had 3 back to back teams in March and I guess that kinda messed us up. We were fairly whipped! But then again that is no excuse. Our teams went well and we had a great time of learning and hosting.

We have been in the states now since May 10th. We spent some time in Lafayette, Louisiana with Trinity Bible Church. Those are some great people. We had a blast! We stayed in a little cabin on the back side of a horse farm. Now some may say that our hosts wanted to hide us where no one would have to see us. However I believe they were just giving us some privacy as well as an opportunity to "hang out". We got to attend church on Sunday morning and had a Haiti night that evening. We also had a Saturday night feast of crawdads. We enjoyed some rabbit stew (only the slow rabbits make the stew), and great fellowship. While there, our 8 year old daughter had some extensive dental work done. Thanks Dr. Nichols for all you help. The girls enjoyed riding horses too. Even dear old dad managed a run around the farm on horseback without falling off. All in all we had a great time. Thanks so much to Bill and Mary, Bob and Karen, and Larry and Kay. Y'all were great!

From there we went to East Texas to visit with the "cuz". We had a Haiti night there also as well as some good food and fellowship. (mmmm keep the catfish coming) As an extra treat, 2 of our parents (Bill & Barbara) came to stay with us at "Cuzzin Alan's".

We have had some great family time and extended family time too. And for the last 2 Sundays we have had the privilege of worshipping in 2 different churches that we are involved with here in the Dallas area. Crossroads Bible Church, and Farmers Branch Church.

Our oldest daughter Savana had the opportunity to go with the Crossroads group to Mexico where they built 4 houses in 4 days. She came back all a bubble with the excitement of new friends and experiances. We are very proud of her and the growth she experienced during her mission trip.

This past Sunday we were asked to speak at The Farmers Branch Church. This was especially exciting to us as we have sveral supporters from that church, as well as church support. However, this was the first time we have ever been asked to share about Haiti in the church.

Debbie and I will be in the Dallas area for another week. We travel to florida on the 18th to work in the RMI office before returning to Haiti on June 25th.

Our first team for the summer season arrives on June 29th. They are a new church from the Carolinas. Please pray for us as we begin this season hitting the ground running.

Long Serviecs

2007-03-19T11:10:00.000-05:00

Good Monday morning,
I heard from our team out in Anse a Veau yesterday. They had a great day and were excited that they had set a new record for the longest church service in the history of the Baptist Church in Anse a Veau. They started about 8:30 am yesterday morning with a baptismal service and ended yesterday afternoon about 12:30 pm. The Haitian people are unbelievable in that they will go to a church service and stay, and stay, and stay. They will sing to the Lord, dance before the Lord, Preach and scream, and finally sleep (or maybe they are deep in prayer). In our churches in America, we would be outraged at the thought of spending more than one or one and a half hours in a church service. We have our precious Dallas Cowboys to rush home and see at noon. Or maybe we have to go meet our friends at the lake in the off-season. It is amazing that we try to get all our spiritual food on one day in one hour. The Haitians life is much more desperate than ours, as a result, it is much more dependant on God. They don't even need a fancy PowerPoint to remind them of the words to the latest praise song. They have been singing praises all their lives.
I think we all need to take some time to spiritually feed ourselves today so that we don't starve from only an hour of feeding on Sunday morning. Maybe we'll find out that we want to eat all the time. That ain't gluttony!

WE'RE BACK!

2007-03-15T21:20:00.000-05:00

It is soooo goood to be back home!!!!! We had a wonderful time in the town of Picot. The conditions were great! Pastor Calixte has done a wonderful job of remodeling, cleaning up, and painting. He as earned the respect and love of the church membership.

We visited the 4 satellite churches in the area and had a sort of town meeting at each. The people there described what they do and what their problems and concerns are. The U.S. team is from Lafayette, Louisiana. The gathered a lot of info and will begin to process it to help them decide how best to equip the people of Picot to solve their own problems.

This is something I would like all the sister churches to do. That is, to find ways to enable the Haitians to find Haitian solutions to Haitian problems.

The picture above is the children of Picot as they greeted us upon our arrival. I wish I had a picture of the whole area, but this will have to do.

Headless Chicken

2007-03-01T18:45:00.000-06:00

Debbie and I are about to go just a little crazy here trying to prepare for 3 teams in 3 weeks. That means we have to do all the planning and executing in the first week. However we have a great and willing staff bring success from our effort. We made the decision today to send our administrator and his assistant to Port a Prince to pick up the team. That is normally my job and as a result I lose a whole day. Praise God for the small and large blessings!

Our first team is a group from Southern New Jersey. The are the same group that did such a marvelous job on our house last May. We will be traveling on the south coast to the town of Port a Piment. While there we plan to paint the church and a couple of new school rooms.

The second group is from Lafayette, Louisiana. We are planning on doing hygiene, business, and community development seminars. We will travel to the town of Picot which is in the foothills of the mountains that we see every morning from our house.

The last team is from the north of New Jersey and will go out to the town of Anse a Veau. We will be painting a satellite church in the area.

Please pray for us that we don't "loose our heads" too often during this next month and that we are able to relax and enjoy these teams. As an added bonus, Debbie will be going out with me to 2 of these churches.

Cluck Cluck!

Wednesday wrapup

2007-02-28T19:18:00.000-06:00

As I sit out under the gazebo I am thinking of the time we have had in the last several days. Dan Shoemaker, the RMI President and Frank Fry, the RMI Vice President in charge of International Developement have been here for a week now. They arrived last week to attend and help facilitate a retreat we had in Jacmel, Haiti. We had 3 wonderful days in a beautiful setting learning about God's love. I had the opportunity to provide music for our worship. It was exhausting for Deb and I, as wehad planned it and worked to make it happen. However it was a rewarding time also.

Coming back to the mission center was a time of reflection and meetings, meeting, and more meetings. We had some good info and training as well as counciling during those meetings. Some good decisions were made although they will be difficult to carry out. With God's help it will be done though.

We have 3 teams coming up in the bext 3 weeks. It promises to be a tough time, but I believe it will also be an opportunity for good growth. 3 back to back teams is a scary process, but I believe it will a good time as the teams are dedicated though sometimes difficult. James tells us to be thanksful when we have difficult times cause that is a time for growth. (Billy's version)

Lord help me to grow during these next few weeks.

Please continue to pray for us!

Dan and Frank leave tomorrow morning at 6am and I am sorry to see them go but am grateful for the time we spent together. Bon voyage é nawe pita!

Byenvini

2007-02-28T06:48:00.000-06:00

Byenvini,

This mean welcome in Kreyol which is the local language here in Haiti where we live. We? Yes we. My wife Debbie and I have been living and serving in the Caribbean on the south coast of Haiti for 5 years now with our 2 daughters, Savana and McKenna. That is why this blog spot is called Caribbean Candor. We will be sharing what is going on in our lives here in Haiti as we continue to serve our Lord Jesus Christ through 2 of His his ministries called the "Sister Church Program" and the "Hope for Kids Program" through a missions organization called Reciprocal Ministries Internation. Also we will try to give this spot a human feel by sharing thoughts on what is going on with our family.

I will try to update this spot often, however there will be gaps in time as I go out to different churches in the country. This is because many of these churches have no water electricity or (can you believe it?) internet!!!! However I will try to update when I return and give a little report on my time andeyò. (andeyò = out in the country) I will also try to incude some Kreyol words so Haitian enthusiasts can pick up a few words from time to time.

We are excited that our son , Ryan has moved down here and is helping us in ministry also. He has been here since October and though is still struggling sometimes with the language and culture, he has adapted well and is meeting new friends and enjoying his time here.

I would ask that you always pray for us for focus on God's will as well as our ability to function in a strange yet beautiful culture and country.

Mesi Anpil (thanks so much)
Byenvini,
Billy