Recently, I had the privilege to visit a church, that by all practical standards could be labeled “at the ends of the earth.”  A team from Beaverton, Oregon wanted to see the church and visit the people.  I wanted to go along since it was one of the churches that we had not seen yet. Pastor Guy was our guide, and he told us right before that we would drive for 2 hours and walk for 1 hour.  His comments were made nonchalantly and we took them as such.  After all, how bad can a 1 hour walk be?  The road to get to Mirebalais, where we parked the car, was one of the better roads I’ve seen in Haiti.  It was newly paved in many parts and turned out to be a smooth ride.  We were all thinking, “this isn’t bad at all.”  Once we were in the town of Mirebalais, the roads were dirt and gravel, bumpy and treacherous, but still none of us thought this was a preview of what was coming.

We parked the car at the end of the road and the Pastor of Las Cahobas, Rev. Success St. Louis, and his school teacher were waiting to accompany us up the hill.  As I looked up I saw a very high hill in the background and asked if that was where the church was.  Pastor Guy’s comment to me was, “don’t look up.”  Of course I wondered why he would say a thing like that.  We began the trek up and after 5 – 10 minutes, why he said not to look up.  The trail was wide enough for one person to walk carefully.  There were lots of stationary and loose rocks in the path.  The worst part was it was straight up!  Everyone in the hiking party was panting ans sweating after 10 minutes and had to stop and rest.  As we trekked on, we noticed the mountain people, old and young alike, walking up and down the mountains, some in flip-flops and some carrying wood or produce on their heads, which is customary in Haiti.  I was in awe of these strong, resilient Haitians

Eventually, some of our party left me and I slowly made my way uphill, persevering to the end.  When I reached the top with Jim, one of our team, and the Haitian school teacher, children and members of the church were there to greet us with big smiles and songs, and give us water to drink.

Las Cahobas Foursquare Church

The church is an open air, tin roof structure with a dirt floor.  The weekend before we visited, Pastor Guy was their guest speaker for the weekend to celebrate their 4 year anniversary as a church.  That weekend, he performed 2 weddings and 6 baby dedications, and on Sunday, preached to a crowd of 150 people.  He, along with a team from his church, evangelized this area over 4 years ago and led 30 people to Christ. This strong, growing church was started shortly after that.

In the US we would say these people are ‘poor as dirt’, but in reality they are rich in everything that matters.  They love God’s Word and believe in its life transforming power, and they have a community of deep relationships there on that mountaintop, where many of them have been for generations.

We plan to send teams up there (good hikers) to help the people with medical clinics, clean water, education, and more adequate church accommodations.  Pastor St Louis told us he is praying that someday, he could have a permanent medical clinic to serve the mountain community.  We can all pray with him for that!

our family & friends

The hike down was much worse that the hike up, but there were no regrets when I reached the bottom as I remembered the command Jesus gave to “go into all the world.”  I feel honored that I would go to a far away mountaintop to people I never knew and now know them as my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I will return, and hope to take many others on a hike “to the ends of the earth.”

Debbie,  FaithWorks Haiti

I finally figured how to get this blog back up and running, so Hi again and welcome back to our adventure in Haiti.  We’ve been super busy, but blessed by all that God us doing.  Teams coming and going.  SO much work and ministry getting done.  Last week our Medical Team saw over 750 patients and led more than 100 to the Lord!  We started vitamin treatment for the camp children during the medical clinic and were trying to figure a way to continue without the clinic when someone came up with the bright idea “why don’t we serve them a meal and give them their vitamins before dinner” – sounds easy, but when over 200 kids showed up we really had to hustle, but we did get them dinner, and they did take their vitamins, so I guess we’ll try it again this week.

Dinner with Debbie

We’re doing well.  Not as hot as we expected with all the rain, so we’re getting stronger for the adventure ahead.  Still healing from the minor surgery I had at home, but most days I don’t even notice it.  Debbie took a hike to one of our more remote churches – LasCaobas, but I’ll let her tell that story on the next blog.  Thanks for all your prayers.  Don’t think we could make it without knowing you’re praying.  love & hugs  John

Hi Family and Friends,
Today was an exciting day in Haiti and in the Foursquare Church.
A team of 10 is here that originates from the Eastern District, but has people from as far west as Oklahoma. Today was their first day on the job; half of them went to the church to work with some of the Haitian workers and the other half drove over to Petion-ville to work on Pastor Roseinel’s house. He is the associate pastor, assisting Pastor Guy at L’egliz Evangelique Quadragulaire (Foursquare).

working together

Pastor Roseinel’s house was destroyed during the earthquake. Foursquare Relief helped him clear the property of debris and hire some Haitian masons to partially erect some outside walls for a new home. Presently, his family of six, lives in a tent on the foundation of the house.  I had the privilege of tagging along to take a few pictures and act as John’s “ambassador” to work through details with Pastor.
The team arrived and they jumped into work alongside 2 Haitian workers laying block. Roseinel was thrilled.
Progress on these types of projects can be seen quickly, because they are simple and small. The house is only 3 rooms plus a tiny bathroom. Imagine a walk in linen closet.
The wall went up in record time. Clifford, a union mason from Oklahoma, never stopped working, and the other guys were right there with him, plugging along, block after block.
The team leader, Scott and I chatted with Roseinel about details of where to put the kitchen, living  and eating areas, which are all together.
I wondered if he would know what a breakfast bar was, so we took a stab at it and tried to explain. At first he didn’t understand, and Scott decided to sketch it out for him. As he drew, I attempted to expand on the benefits of “bars”.  That was a difficult sell.
As Scott finished the drawing and showed it to Roseinel, a light went on, and
Pastor Roseinel had an “aha” moment. He was so excited that he could have a breakfast bar.  He began to exclaim in his broken English,”oh, I can study my Bible right there, my girls can do their homework there, they can eat snacks there. Oh, I love you Debbie, I love you Scott!”
It makes my heart hurt, even as I write this. To think that something so simple could bring so much joy to a grown man is unbelievable in the world I come from. I’ve never really stopped to thank the Lord for my breakfast bar.  Thank you, Lord from the bottom of my heart.
As the day progressed and the Haitian and US team laid the first blocks for the bar, it was time to wrap it up and head home. Roseinel said he wanted to keep this a secret from his wife, who was at work, as a housekeeper, so she would be surprised, but he said to Scott and me to make sure we did not forget the plan.
We all returned home with a deep sense of humility and joy for the awesome privilege of helping this precious family.

The Team - Pastor Roseinel on left with a big smile

I’ll keep you posted on the progress and be sure to send you pictures of the finished product.
Spread the word that there is a blog from Base Camp that gets posted several times a week and includes perspectives from Base Camp and team members. It’s foursquarehaiti.wordpress.com
Thank you for all your support and prayers. It means so much.
And thank you US Foursquare Church! Your super generous giving to FMI has enabled all of us to do these kinds of wonderful things for our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much.  We’re doing this together.
I love you all
Debbie

Hi friends and family,
Time is flying by, and I apologize for not keeping you up to date.

We had a great weekend with Jonathan Hall,from Foursquare Missions.  As always, he encouraged us all with his energetic enthusiasm.  He flew into Haiti just for a quick overnighter on his way to a convention in Brazil. Thank you Jonathan. That meant so much.

John and I have been in Jacmel for the last 2 days. We crossed a lot of rough terrain to get there, and it’s right on the water. We visited an orphanage with 32 kids while there.

Pastors Steve and Kim Cecil invited us to go with them, because their church, Journey Foursquare of Madison, Wisconsin, along with several other Foursquare churches, support this orphanage. The people of these churches have given sacrificially over the past 2 years to feed and clothe these children, visit them and build structures to house them. I never cease to be amazed at the dire poverty we see the Haitians experience. Although, the Cecils and their partners have spent around $30,000 in the past 2 years to improve the conditions at Faith Orphanage in Jacmel, there is still so much to do. They were out of rice on Tuesday, and that means that basically, they will be out of rice until someone buys it for them. Pastor Emelie , his wife and family take care of these orphans with very little means of feeding them and taking care of their basic needs.  It was such an honor to visit with Pastors Steve and Kim and encourage them in the good work they are leading and giving vision to, We were able to assess the urgent need, and the best part is, we had the funds available through the Foursquare Haiti Relief & Compassion to buy 4 big bags of rice, oil and some other supplies. We committed, on behalf of Foursquare Haiti Relief, ongoing aid to Faith Orphanage, as we receive containers of food and supplies. Thank you so much for your prayers and generosity.

John & Debbie

Happy Easter family and friends,

Elysha, Debbie, and Donna and English Class

It’s been a busy and blessed week here in Haiti.
Elizabeth and Donna arrived on Wednesday. They had to jump right in to a busy array of events, as we had to go immediately to meet Pastor Guy in Petion-ville to do banking and other errands. It was hours before we got them home to recuperate from their trip. Welcome to Haiti, ladies.
There were services each night this past week in honor of Holy Week. On Good Friday, the whole city was shut down and everything was closed.
Saturday morning, Elysha, Elizabeth and Donna came with me to the English class. It was packed with 47 people. We taught them “Old McDonald” which they thought was hilarious. We had pictures from the internet of farm animals that they see everyday on the streets and in the field right by the church. The ladies came up and helped them learn “Jesus loves Me” using sign language, and they learned John 3:16. The Haitians are interested learners. It’ such a joy to teach them.

We headed to the orphanage after class. Elysha, Donna and Elizabeth made up goody bags for the children which they enjoyed immensely. We joined the kids in singing and dancing. They are quite the entertainers.

Elysha passing out treats at the Orphanage

The kids colored from the coloring books the ladies brought, and Elysha painted the older girls’ nails.

One family of 3 siblings came to the orphanage after the earthquake. Their mom was killed, and their dad lost his leg. It wasn’t clear to me whether or not the dad will be able to care for them in the future. The youngest is about 3, and he received wounds on his head, in the earthquake, from falling cement blocks.  Donna and I are already planning a “shop day” when we can go and administer some medical TLC to the children. Another nurse, from Chile, will be coming in about 2 weeks.

Today, Resurrection Day, the service began at 6:45 AM.  You know that I’m not a morning person:) but today I was. The service was packed. I’m sure there were over 300 people there. The three ladies again so lovingly prepared bags of candy for the children, and we passed them out right after the kids sang some special Easter songs.

Debbie and the kids

Pastor Guy told them to prepare 60, so they did. You guessed it. There were at least 80 kids there. I quickly sent Chad back to the house . I still had a duffel bag full of candy donated by the grace-filled congregation at Cornerstone in Phoenix. After the service, we gave it out and everyone was happy.
Things are happening at an exponential rate now. Here are some of the cool things that have transpired this week:
Tom Isenhart, (Chad’s dad), has arranged for 250,000 meals to be shipped in a container from “Feed My Starving Children”, at $0.029 a meal.
This will enable us to provide a lunch program to all the children in Foursquare schools and orphanages, and beyond. This is huge!

A bigger generator and a new refrigerator were purchased for the Base Camp. (Lack of electricity is not a problem anymore.   We now have fans and “frozen” ice). This makes us all happy:)
Chad figured out how to operate the water purifier from “Doc in a Box” based out of AZ. It makes Chlorine out of salt using electricity. We’re trying to figure out how to use it effectively for the most people. They cost $1000, if anyone is looking to donate:)
The foundation for the church security wall is now dug on three sides and the foundation stones are being put in place.
There will be no room at the inn this month. Three different groups are coming beginning this Thursday. There’s much work to do, and they plan to work right along side the Haitians.  Jonathan Hall, Director of Foursquare Missions, is coming on Saturday on his way to Brazil. It will be an honor to host him.  You can hear how fast things are happening.
God is on the move, and He’s always faithful.

Love from Haiti

John & Debbie

Pray Haiti!

Hey everyone, it’s Elysha. I’m just putting up some pictures for John and Debbie. Sorry we haven’t been able to put up many pictures. Our internet has been very difficult! I’ve found it faster to put up pictures without captions. So we have some from church services, our temporary structure and John preaching. Enjoy what we can get up here! More to come soon.

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Dear Friends,

The Haiti adventure continues. It can be summed up by saying, “Things are looking up”. Praise God.

I sit here writing from the Home Base thanking Him “for all His benefits” A fan is helping to cool off the kitchen and I have a cold drink with “safe” ice. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Isn’t it amazing how thankful we become for the little things when they are not at our fingertips?

Elysha arrived from Arizona Thursday afternoon. She’s here to help us put the house together , do some communications and computer work for us and enjoy the Haitian church. I think she’s having fun and is finding the people warm, friendly and sincere. She was a big help this morning in class and the young people liked her. Thank you Elysha for bringing much needed supplies to the front lines. You’ll go home with a lot less than you came with.

This morning we had 32 people in the English class. We had a little six year old boy named Rafael and one older pastor, probably is his seventies. The rest were young people in their twenties. I know they understand what the church is because when I taught them the word “church” I explained “not the building” and they answered me “no, the people” The word for church in Kreyol is “legliz.” The class soaks up everything that is taught, and many of them raise their hands to try the new words or phrases I’m teaching .

I explain concepts in Kreyol as best I can and they start laughing. Pastor Rosenel who is in the class said “oh, they are laughing because they are so happy you are speaking Kreyol.” Uh-huh. I bet

Here’s a recap of all the great things that have been accomplished this week.

-Received the new (truck) emergency relief vehicle on Thursday.

-Began work on the temporary church structure, to be completed next week

-Bought a Haitian stove and cooked on it for the first time last night. (Up to now we’ve cooked over charcoal 3 or 4 times)

-Hired Haitian workers to level the meeting area for services

-Gave a much needed tent to our night watchman, Antoine, and his mom

-Began English classes for enthusiastic learners.

-Went shopping for the first time for much needed house wares to house teams

-Welcomed Elysha to Haiti

Have a great weekend everybody.

Lots of love from Haiti,

Debbie

Hi dear ones,

It was a busy weekend in Haiti  for us at the Base Camp.  Sunday morning, we walked to church at 6 :55. That’s in the morning . Pastor Guy had told us to come at 7:00 AM, so we were there on time only to find  a couple hundred people already singing and joyfully praising the Lord. It’s funny, because they are meeting outside, and as you walk up,  the leader’s back is to you and  everybody can see you coming. The church had been there since 6AM! Here come the Americans-John, Debbie and Chad. I guess Pastor Guy told us 7:00 because he thought it would be too early for us. There is still a big cultural and language gap, even though we all love each other a lot.  People continued to arrive for the next 30 minutes in vehicles loaded down with more than capacity. The service was great. I’m still amazed at how clean and dressed up they look  given that many of them have no homes left and are living in tents. Pastor Guy told us that the culture here is that when people are together to hear God’s Word, they want to honor Him by looking their best. We could learn some things from the Haitians.

The youth meets on Sunday afternoon. We had no plans to go, but a couple of the teenage girls  came over and asked us to go. This group of teenagers have no musical instruments and no frills. They sit outside under the tin awning. Almost every one of them stood up at the podium and shared a scripture, a joke or a song. One young lady sang a solo that was beautiful. One read a story with an ethical and moral question posed to the rest of them about marriage, and they discussed it. They have a cheer that they  yell that says “plu wo, plu for, plu lwen”. It means ‘Push higher, push stronger and push farther’. They asked me to begin teaching them English tomorrow. Even though I have no curriculum, no classroom and almost no strength (there’s no electricity right now), I can’t resist teenagers who are hungry to learn. So, tomorrow our class begins at 4PM. Praise the Lord!

Today a disaster relief vehicle was purchased. Praise God again. We don’t have it yet because of banking technicalities, but we will by Wednesday. This truck will enable us to pick up relief food and medicines from agencies that want to work with us like Samaritan’s Purse, Jewish Renaissance Hospital, Food for the Hungry, and Convoy of Hope. Medical, construction and compassion teams can be picked up and delivered to the airport and a variety of other tasks can be done by the church for the community. This is a wonderful blessing.

John and Chad have  made a plan for a temporary structure for the church to meet in until it is rebuilt. It’s a large wood frame with metal roofing. There will be hooks on the sides to hang tarps to shield them from rain and sun. It will cost about $2500. The pastor, leaders, Haitian workers , John and Chad will work alongside each other to get it done. Pastor Guy is very excited about it. There’s a chance we will meet in it by Sunday!

I sat with our young  Haitian driver and interpreter today while the guys were on the church grounds  planning. Roberto is 23, a member of the church and married. I began asking him questions, and he told me that he had worked for Hotel Montana at the front desk.( That’s the hotel where so many Americans and foreigners died.) It was a very good job. He happened to not be on duty at the time of the earthquake. He told me about all the friends he had lost, and we both began to cry.  I felt so incredibly broken that a terrific man like this would face that kind of trauma and  heartache, and at such a young age. Then he told me that  he had one friend, not a Christian, whom he worked with, that always tried to get him to go out and “play”. He said this friend would ask him why he wanted to be married when he could have all the women he wanted. Roberto told his friend, “I am a Christian. I am married because I love my wife and this is what God wants for us.” He had many talks with his friend. Roberto carries within himself a regret that he did not do enough to bring his friend to Christ. I gently led him to that place of knowing that the guilt is not from His loving heavenly Father and affirming what he already knew. If you sinned in any way, Jesus has already paid for that. I count it a privilege to serve God’s people.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19

Love and Blessings from Haiti,

Debbie

Hi friends and family,

It’s so good to be able to contact you again. We have felt a little disconnected with the world this past week. We moved into the base team house on Monday, the 15th. An hour later a team of 6  mission team leaders arrived from the US.  The house was dirty and unorganized, so you can imagine how chaotic it was. They all pitched in famously , and along with the help of a sweet Haitian lady from the church, the house is taking shape. They experienced with us the heat and almost no electricity all week. To say the least we all bonded:) One night we had no electricity. If you’ve ever been camping, you know how dark it is . The team brought flashlights that wrapped around their  heads like coal miners. It was hilarious, but sooo hot. When the fans worked, we were all so thankful. It’s always interesting how these kinds of situations make you so deeply grateful for the small things we take for granted.

I guess some of you have heard that it was a miracle that we got this house. The owner was definite about not renting it without a signed agreement to buy it. In prayer, the Lord told John to be patient, and we prayed for the Lord to work in the man and affirmed to the Lord that we knew He would provide. The next day we came to speak with the man, but he was not home, so a group of us prayed outside the gate. Several hours later, the owner  called Pastor Guy  and said that he had changed his mind. He now would rent it to us with no strings attached. Praise God ! The Lord knew we needed that to remind us not to be thinking we could do any of this in our own strength.

The team from the US had their eyes opened this week, their faith renewed and their commitment  to help Haiti solidified.

On Tuesday,  they went out for the day in a rented van with a driver” to “see the sights”, and did they ever? They had an agenda to accomplish several stops, but basically all they did was drive around in traffic all day . They realized how difficult it is  to move around here, breathing in diesel fumes and pollution . One team member likened what she saw to the slums of Nairobi, made worse by the devastation caused by the earthquake. Wednesday , we went to an orphanage run by Sister Inez Joseph, a wonderful woman of God who is a close friend of Pastor Guy Tomas and the Foursquare Church of Haiti. It was very heart wrenching to see the conditions the children and care givers live in. Several of us broke down and wept. Their septic tank has not been emptied in 2 years. We were given $500 by a sweet couple at The Rock in Anaheim and asked to use it for someone in Haiti. When we asked Pastor Inez how much it would cost to have the septic emptied, she said $500. We will give her the money tomorrow when we see her.  Praise God for His provision and for speaking to His people. Thursday was filled with other activities, praying with Pastor Guy and Pastor Inez and some government officials.  It was so good to see Haitian officials calling on the Lord and worshiping together. Our Team Leaders were very blessed by what God arranged for them while they were here.  They will now go home and give their churches and districts a report of what they’ve seen and heard and mobilize teams into action.

We are working to make this home a working, functioning and Spirit led Base Camp. Everyday a little more is accomplished to that end.

The greatest part of all this is working with God’s family in Haiti. Pastor Guy is the national leader and pastor of the church here in Port au Prince. The national church building sustained significant damage. It is unsafe to meet in, so we meet outside under tarps. Last Sunday, we sat on cement blocks , not even under the tarps, because there wasn’t enough room. This man is a joy to work with. He never complains, he is always faith filled , he has much God- given influence  and he is strongly anointed. We feel so honored to be serving with someone like this.

Please pray for:

1. Pastor Guy and his family: strength, peace wisdom and endurance

2. Health for John and me, especially for our lungs and digestive health

3. A vehicle for the base camp . This will enable us to drive with windows up, pick up teams at airport, haul supplies and to meet  the  needs of delivering food supplies to the church for distribution. Right now, the church distributes food to 700-800 people a week with Foursquare Relief money given by the loving people of the US churches.

4. Chad Isenhart , a great young man  on our base camp team. Healing from headaches. He has worked so hard this past week, and we’re asking and believing God to use Him greatly .

5. The family of God in Haiti need so much. Homes, food, schools to begin again, and endurance to run the race that they are in.

6. The nation of Haiti: that God will turn despair into hope. Pour out Your Spirit on Haiti, Lord.

“and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the cross”.  Heb 12:1-2

Love and Blessings to you all,

Pastor John and Debbie

We arrived in PaP (Port au Prince) on Wed and hit the ground running.  P Guy picked us up and we went to visit the church members in their prayer meeting.  THEY PRAY!  We then met with the owner of the house we were hoping to rent, but all was not as expected.  Instead of renting to us, he would only let us rent IF we signed a purchase agreement.  That was not happening, so we told him we would pray about it.  WE DID!  On Thurs we drove to every place P Guy could think of that could house us and team members. NOTHING!  God told us to be patient, so we switched focus and went about other things we had to do.  A little distracting with a team coming in Mon.  While we were doing other errands that afternoon, the owner called P Guy and said he had “been thinking about it”  interpreted: God was speaking to him, and he said he had changed his mind.  Now he was willing to rent to us with no strings attached and threw in a few extras as well, and we could buy it if and when we were ready (good prayer point – 3000+ sq ft house across from the Natl church for $200k – a few bigger givers, Lord)  God is good!  Fri we signed the rental agreement and paid for a year.  We move in on Mon, just before our first team arrives.  Today P Guy is buying food that the church will package for delivery to the displaced families on Sun after church.  We’ll get a chance to visit most of the families.  When I figure out how to put pictures into the blog, you’ll have a lot to look at as well.  Keep Praying!  1. Rains to be delayed.  2. Short & long term housing solutions for displaced families.  3. Protection for P Guy and leaders as well as the Base Camp team.  4. headaches to go away from all the diesel fumes, bumpy roads, cramped spaces, traffic.  5. Vehicles for P Guy and the Base Camp team – they say none are available because they have been taken by foreign agencies – not acceptable!  Thank you all for praying.  Don’t stop now!  I assure you, NOTHING gets done here without prayer. I will add pictures to the blog as soon as I figure that out.  Blessings to you all

John & Debbie