5:00 AM…rustling feet and soft voice… “Hello?”... “It’s time” the voice declares? My brain is whirling. Ray says: “Time for what?” It’s time for church. Church members are already in the tent, sitting in the dark, at the front. To get into our church under the tent, you have to come early. Otherwise, your seat is outside. The tent is so great because we can raise the sides and accommodate much larger crowds than a building this size would. We sent the sick team members with Rob in the truck. Jim, Beth, Kelly, Krystle. Whatever this bug is, it has given us fits. This is such a taxing place on ones emotions, and then comes some super bug to ravage our mission. But it has not stopped us. We are forging ahead. The service this morning was a great reminder that these trips are not all about what we get done physically, but as Pastor Don Spachman commented, we are here in answer to somebody’s prayer. These people challenge us at every level, and as we give to them, they faithfully give back. It was amazing to hear the testimonies this morning of people getting saved, people wanting to join the church, people coming back to God. I am so blessed; our team is so blessed to get to witness this, and to be a part of a God’s great work here in Haiti. The team seems to be on the mend physically now. Eyes are bright again. Nurse Lorie, I could have used you this week! Yikes, I hope God never puts me through this again with a team here. Several are here at the Internet store with me this afternoon, had a bit of house jitters. Not used to a Sabbath where you do nothing but worship and rest! All have taken a good nap, and now we ready to go show “Faith Like Potatoes” at the church for all the people. It should be a great time. Thanks to all for your comments and support. As the some have commented, the rest of the trip is going to fly by. There are so many stories to share, and things to say, but for now we have to go. This has been an inspiring day, and watching God work in this ministry and among these people is amazing. Yes, we did get up at 5:00, and we were to church by 7:00…AM that is! I think we will have a Haiti service when I get back home, and it will start at 5:00 am. That would be keeping it real!!! But then I would suffer my own reality, for perhaps no one would show up! Blessing always!
14 comments:
From Linda Hasse
Wow 7:00 for church. That is early but goes to show you how thirsty they are for the word of God.
Alisa,I loved the picture of You and your dad. You look happy and I am sure this is a great time for you both to share. I love you and I am so proud of all you guys are doing. I am sure Lorie would love to go there too. She would be a great nurse there.
I just got back from rock collecting. We went to Lake Michigan, It was in the 60's and beautiful. Still really cold for you I am sure. This week will be in the 40's and 50's. And no snow. Yippie.
I Pray you all get over your sickness. Not a good place to be sick I am sure.
I am sure the people of Hatti are blessing you each day for all you are doing. Peace and Love from Linda.
Wow I am so happy to hear you had so many children come to your kids day. It sounds like every time it gets bigger and bigger. That is wonderful news. I'm so sorry to hear of some of you being ill, my hugs and prayers go out to you. We have enjoyed another great day with a healthy happy Emily and I am so not taking that for granted! I am appreciating every moment, knowing that no struggle that we face is any where near the struggles of the parents and children in Haiti. I am so blessed to have my beautiful daughter with me for every precious moment that I can get! Thank you for showing us all what is truly important. You are all amazing people and I am so proud to have you in my life. Keep up the good work and try to get some rest in there someplace. Safe travels to you. God Bless the people of Haiti.
hey! we all went to kim and steive's last night, we had a blast! then this morning we all went to church. today I have loged 80 min. of P.E! I hove been riding on the bike ALL day. lots of memories come into mind when I go out there! yesterday I raced Grandma'z yard, and got $1.oo (50 c/ a bag. I love you very much and con not wate to see you on thanks giving!!! I love you sooooooo encredably much. Sincerly, Michael.
Oh my goodness! I can't believe all of you are sick! Bla! Please get better soon!
It's such great news that you had so many people come for kids day! I hope you are all having a blast! I'm so proud of you all and all you are doing! You are definitely all ninjas!
:D Here we are getting ready to sing Jingle-Bell Rock to Aunt Donna tomorrow night! Lol! She wanted to hear all of us sing! G is going to play it on the guitar! We are also going to finish The Phantom of the Opera with Gram!
She has never seen it before! Krystle- I can't believe Gram hasn't seen it! It's only one of the best movies in the WORLD and she only has you has a granddaughter! Lol!
We started it before but had to pause because Payton and Alexis came over for a little bit! After that Gram took a nap and me and Mike went to play at the park!
Then we ate dinner and never got to watching the movie till now! Lo1! :D
Payton and Alexis were so cute though! we had a blast, but they didn't stay long!
We had leftover night for dinner! It was really good! I was telling Gram how I love i because you can take all your favorite meals and add them into one! Hehe! :D I LOVE my food!
But do you know what is really awful Krystle? We stopped the movie five seconds before "All I Ask of You" was about to start! It's been haunting me since we paused! Lol! Me and Mike had fun at the park, and there was a really cute cat there! It's Gram's neighbors cat! She was really adorable!
Grandpa- Gram misses you horribly! We were actually joking at dinner about dieing Grams hair! Lol! She thought that was funny!
Mom- I've been getting all your hugs! I love em so much! :D I miss you more than you know and I can't wait to see you again! It does stink though that we are going to have to wait till Thanksgiving! At least we have the web-cam! :D
We haven't talked to Dad lots today but I think he's doing good!
Everyone- I think it is just awful that you are all sick! If I was there I would give you all big bear hugs and give you ice-cream! Lol! Get better soon!
I hope you all sleep very-uber-super-good tonight! Love you lots and lots... and lots! :D
xoxo Ria
Hi my lovelies! Oh how I miss you all so much! I could go into great detail about how badly I would love to give you all a huge hug right now! Specially that mama of mine. ;]
Mommy, I love you so much. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you. Not only did you make it to Haiti, but you have successfully been there for this long! Long enough for me to crave your hugs like pumpkin pies and knee socks! I'm praying hard for you every day and thinking of you always! You are my bestest buddy... You're my person. :] Me and Gram are learning Christmas songs together for Thanksgiving! Right now we are working on Jingle Bell rock. I'm getting better at it, but for some reason every time I have to switch to D7, it takes me a million years. And it's not even a hard chord! *Facepalm!* Hehe!
My love!, Oh how I miss you! I bought hangers for the tramper yesterday! We have so many clothes and it seemed like we had nowhere to put them... So I bought hangers. :D Aren't I brilliant!? Also, I think you should know I have not had one ounce of my Halloween candy. Perhaps I'm just saving it till when I'm reunited with my favorite human being again. ;] I also have not painted my toenails yet! Oy! I saw Manise at church this morning... She looked stunning! She was wearing these gorgeous brown shoes and this pretty light and dark brown top and a beautiful brown skirt. You would have loved it! And last night we got to go over to Stevie and Whit's house for 2 hours. Basically we you tubed scar from the lion king singing in a chipmunk voice, da yoopers; and then watched a video that me, jen and michael filmed one night when we were operating on ZERO sleep (or it felt like it anyway. :p). And then we played some games. I missed you and Kelly!
Kelly, I think you might find it humorous that when we were filming that video... It basically ended with a flying calculator... And my lip letting out a gushy red substance.... Lol! ALL on video! I can't wait to show it to you! But you can only see part of it because I was so tired I said what I got you for Christmas in it. Doy!
Grandpa, I miss you bunches! We are loving being with Gram so much! Today we decided we are going to dye her hair auburn. Hehe! I'm kidding! Actually I tried to convince her to let me dye her hair with temp. stuff. But then she just told me that she already had some brown underneath her hair. :] I LOVE your wifey! Oh and right now we are watching the Phantom of the Opera... She said you wouldn't like it very much. But we are enjoying it thoroughly (mama, I remembered how to spell it finally... thoroughly. Tho - roughly. Haha!). Oh! And Michael and Gram got most of the leaves picked up! We found out that the little building place in the middle of all the few streets near you is giving away free trash bags for you guys! Gram found that very exciting!
Everyone else, I love you guys soooo much. I'm so proud of all of you. I really am. I don't know how you are all doing emotionally right now, but I'm praying for strength for you. I'm praying that you can keep getting through the sickness and that you guys can keep pressing on. You are incredible! Hugs and Kisses times a million gazillion.......... trillion!
Love G! Smmooooooooch!
Dear Jack and Team- Glad the four of you are better- Jim, Beth Jo, K and K. 400 kids was great! Can't believe the rain showers! How did ladies meeting go if you had it already? Is there one more childrens' service? Was there a movie night or youth service today? What color is the house painted? Naromie must be thrilled, Ray. Great preaching today. All being nice to our kids. Kids tired but doing ok. 8am is our goal to start school. Marie praying hard and often for all of you. Many ask about you. I love these kids. Maybe I'll just keep them. Got your hug this morning Jack. Made me cry a little! Guess I miss you lots! Lots to share with you Lynn. What mothers you Girls are. Alisa- the girls and Daloris looked good and happy. What a homecoming you'll all get. Hugs and love for all. Especially you Jack. Love DJ
P.S. Excellent posts Kel.
Ps. 91
Hey ya'll!! I miss you all so much! it's been a crazy day, though probably nothing you haven't gone through since you've been there!
Alexis and Payton came over today after a church and a long walk (yes mama! I have been walking, even if grandmas jam is killing me physically...at least i will have my phone bill paid! =] i am actually not doing that bad =]) (it was weird being t church with just Gram! i am used to all my favorite people being there with me!)
Jake, from church, bought us lil' Caesar's pizza for lunch! Crazy bread included! It was very good! We ate while we watched the first half of The Phantom of the Opera! (Krystle i had you in mind the whole time! Promise me you will watch it again with me when you come home!? i don't think i could stand it if we didn't! oh and James S. is getting very anxious about you being sick! He wanted me to tell you to get better. He said he would tell you himself but because he's a fictitious character is would be a little hard so he had me send on the message. *no its not weird that i talk to fictitious characters!* No Private concerts with David. Couldn't bare to listen to him without you!)
We paused the wonderful movie to clean up and take a walk and we will be finishing it here soon. I am dreading school tomorrow... It hasn't been easy. We actually eat breakfast and lunch while we are here and it is throwing off our schedule!! I can't stand hearing you are all sick! It makes me so sad! Glad the painting is going well! You couldn't have picked a better time to have my Mom go with ya!!! We went over to Stevie and Whitney's last night for just a couple hours. Gram recently had us call Dad about that. She was worried we were seeing them too much! =] Haha!
Got really tired the other night and made a ten minute home video/ journal that resulted in flying calculators and Julia having a bloody lip... it was fun (and no Julia isn't seriously injured. It didn't bleed THAT bad! =])
No allergy issues unless you count me sneezing a thousand times from the cats, but Julia is alive in that regards. She hasn't had a problem since she realized she was allergic to communion! =] I have read two books already and am on a third. And speaking of books I have been writing more of mine. Mostly in my head but some on paper. I found myself the other day a little behind on school cause i wanted to add in a little thing and it resulted in writing a pages worth and then i had to pry myself away from my open word document and focus on algebra again BLACH! I know Krystle is sympathizing with me currently!
Loves you all! Sending hugs and kisses your way! Glad you got to talk to Dad, Mama! you should have heard the relief in his voice when he told us! He misses you badly! =]
Byes!
Jenni
Hi all! Praying for healing, filling with holy spirit and a joyus heart for all who are weary and heavy burdened. May God continue to open your hearts and eyes to all you've been blessed to be a part of by serving Him. Through all the challenges we face in life and this trip His hand is upon us! Thanks for sharing your journey. I look forward to hearing more!
O.K! So I would like to take a moment because I feel like I've been writing more about what's going on here than other stuff to!
Krytle- Oh my goodness I miss you! I am so proud of you and all you are doing! Please get better soon! I can't even imagine how horrible and frustrating it must to be sick right now, especially after all you've put into getting there! I bet all you sick peoples feel it! But I'm so proud of you that you are there and have done so much to help everyone! You are definitely my favorite person in the world! I'm sure you'll get better soon! Keep on fighting! Rememba- You'ze a ninja! lol!
Mama- I'm so proud of you! You've come So incredibly far on your journey and you are doing such a great job! I bet all the little girls and boys just love you! You are always so loving and you find the positive in things even when you aren't feeling very positive yourself! You are so good at loving people just where they are that it's amazing! Keep up the good work!
Aunt Bethy- I'm so sorry you are sick too now! I know it must royally stink! I know you'll get through it though! I can' wait till you get back! You better be ready to be attacked with hugs! I'll need lots of em! Lo! You always give good hugs!
Grandpa- I miss you tuns and hope you are doing great to! It feels kinda funny in your house without you here! It felt weird at church without you all there! It's weird how you get used to having certain people at certain places and everything feels weird and awkward when they aren't there! I can't wait for you all to get back!
Kelly- I'm SO glad you're better now! Uncle Kell must be very happy to have his ox back! Lol! It will be very exiting when you get back because you and G put on quite the show~ SLAP! OW! SLAP! OW! Hug? ok! SLAP! OW! Lol! But I'm really glad you are better especially now that more people are getting sick! Keep up the good work!
Uncle Kell- I've been loving the posts! I don't know how you find time to it everything in AND write on here! I'm glad you do though! It lets me feel just a little bit closer to you all! :D You are all doing a great job on the well! I'm so proud of you all! Keep up your ninja drilling! Lol!
Alisa and Jim- I saw your girls today! They are so cute! They are missing you lots! It was fun to hear them talk about talking to you guys! I think it really made them happy to hear from you! And Jim- I hope that you aren't getting sick too! If it is allergies I hope they go away quickly!
I love you all and I'm so proud of you! Keep working together as a team and I know you'll be able to do anything!
xoxo Ria
I think about the number of americans that would actually go to church if they didn't have to get up at ohhh lets say 8 or 9-ish.
Yet there are peole in this world that get up at 5-ish because they want to and feel privaleged to go to church. I wisht that I could say I have that much dedication and urge to want to get up that early and go worship. There's something about going to church in Haiti that I can not even put into words. They holy spirit is so present there and the God's people are actually worshiping because they want to not because they have to. After experiencing church in Haiti it made me make sure that I was worshiping for the right reasons. Here is your joke of the day....
A blonde, brunette and redhead passed away in a car accident.
They arrive at the pearly gates and they are told they will be told a joke every 10 steps and they must make it up 100 steps. If they laugh they will not able to get in.
The brunette went up 30 steps and laughed. The redhead went up 50 steps and laughed. The blonde got up all the way to the top and then started laughing hysterically.
When asked "Why did you laugh when you got to the top?" The blonde replied, "I just got the first joke!"
Hello Haiti Team,
What a blessing to sit at my computer this morning and read about what God has been doing in the days you have been in Haiti this trip. I continue to pray this morning for the healing of the entire team. The people of Haiti have been an inspiration to you and you are passing that inspiration on to us by your commitment and faithfulness even in such challenging conditions. You are our heroes. My mother-in-law was always reluctant to say she was "proud" of anyone, because she was concerned about the sin of pride, so she'd say she was "humbly" proud. Know we are humbly proud of all of you. May God continue to bless and give you strength to complete this part of the mission.
Hi All,
I'm sure you had another hectic but wonderful day in Haiti. Church services must have been a joy to experience, even in the wee hours of the morning. All those beautiful people gathered for one purpose, without any other agenda, but to praise God and give him glory. I'm sure it was overwhelming to watch.
We had an awesome weekend here too. Indian Summer was back with lots of sun and temps in the 60's. The girls played outside most of the day on Saturday. They rode bikes in the morning, then we went to 4 play grounds in the afternoon. Grandma was whipped! We all slept good that night. Sunday was church, then we visited Grandma Great, took her to lunch, then over to Darlene's to see the kids. It was a great day.
We all miss you so much, but are doing good and can't wait to see you soon. Take care, especially those who got the bug. Ray, I love you! Deloris
From Linda
The girls loved to talk to you both. We had quite a talk afterwards. They sure can't wait to see you.
Your time is winding up and I am sure all of your family are excited to see you all. I know I am. I hope you have gotten done what you wanted to get done there for this trip. I am sure there is so much elso to do that it is a never ending job. God bless you all and hope your last day is a good one.
Travel safely and looking forward to seeing you Alisa and Jim when you are home.
Love to you all.... Linda
I hope you all get the rest you need when you get back to the states. If this persists I would definately see your Dr!! We've had alot of this flu at the hospital-they say its a persistant bug. I wish I could have been there to hold some hands, but you are all in my heart. I would love to get my nursing hands on some of those little ones!! Take care all, much love to you all.
Lorie (Hasse) Johnson
hydrate...vit c....vit D3...hydrate!! (and Dr visit)
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