update #4- from Foz!

Hello Friends and Family,

It feels like just yesterday we were sending you our last email and then again so much has happened. I want to thank all of you for the words and scriptures that you have received from God and then shared with all of us they have really hit home.

We did split the team in half this week Josh and Abbi took half of the team to a mountain village. While Katey and I took the other half of the team to Carrefour to work with a mission that completly crumbled in the earthquake.

The mountain village was a great time of building relationship with the people doing some work projects, and playing with the children. They ate some very interesting food mostly involving goats, that sounded like a true cultural experience and a great exercise in watching your face when you eat! The team apparently loved goats so much that they decided to buy one and bring it back with them. The unfolding of the story as I am told is they heard three goats bleating in the mornings one was deep, one was high pitched and the third sounds like a baby being tortured, I know this because that is the one that they wanted! So when I called to check on them Josh said that they were on their way down the mountain with a goat, I said we need to find it a new home. They agreed I asked the pastor that we are working with and he said,"No problem, we kill it and have it for dinner." HAHA Cam, Stefan, Joachim, and Hannah are the partners in owning the goat and they said the pastor would have to wait to kill the goat until they left. So for the next week we have Henny as our mascot. The pastor in the mountain village told our team the last night they were there that they had been praying for years that missionaries would come and spend time with them, it is so awesome that we got to be an answer to their prayers. God is moving.

The rest of us have been spending our tme in Carrefour the mission that I mentioned earlier had a clinic, a school and a church building at their main location. They had several other schools and clinics in several areas of Haiti. Everything was destroyed, praise God there were no people in any of their buildings, but they did loose a few staff and students during the earthquake that were in their own homes. We have worked been clearing the rubble where the school and clinic once stood, it is very hard and taxing work. We will not get to see this site cleared but we get to be a part of it. The other night the pastor shared with us his story, how he first started following Jesus when he was 28. He then spent 14 years studying in the US, and then has been building his ministry this mission for the past 27 years. Everything that he built up in 27 years was destroyed in under a minute, and still he says,"I praise the name of God. Still I have no complaint with God." He is rebuilding now almost 30 years older but he still has the same vision zeal and trust in God. He is an amazing man and we are honored to work with him.

This weekend we are going 6 hours south to visit with some orphans that were sent from Port au Prince after the earthquake. There are some beautiful waterfalls that we will get to go to with them and then Monday morning we will come back to Carrefour to work with the pastor of the mission and continue removing rubble for him. Then of Friday we leave for Saint Marc, and we will spend the last two weeks of our trip there. It will be over in the blink of an eye. I am not sure I am ready for that. The people here have become very dear to us. As I write this email at an internet cafe I hear our students standing outside the door lovingly explaining to a man Jesus' love for him and the reason we came to Haiti. The people here want truth.

As always thank you for reading and for praying for us on this trip. We have not experienced any voodoo really in Haiti but I know that satan is at work to divide and discoucourage us please pray that we will continue to be open and honest with eachother in our struggles, it is not easy here. Please pray that satan would have no room in our relationships with our contacts either, there have been some struggles in this area and all we can really do is ask God to vendicate us. As we humble ourselves and choose love I pray that our new friends will too. Please pray for safe travels and a great impactful last week with YWAM PaP.

Much Love

Foster and the Haiti Team

Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. Ecc. 7:3

As I was praying and trying to wrap my mind around what Foster and his team are seeing and dealing with I came across this VODcast from Pastor Mark Driscoll who visited Haiti days after the earthquake hit. He and several other pastors were there to offer help and support to the body of Messiah in Haiti in whatever ways they could. It is so eye opening to understand on a much more personal level what happened there and what the YWAM team is dealing with the effects of on this ministry trip.

I'd really encourage you to watch this sermon with video footage and interviews from Haiti. It has given me a greater connection to my Christian brothers and sisters in Haiti and has pushed me to pray even more for them.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/special/32-hours-the-church-in-haiti

Love!

Update #3 This time from Josh!

HEY YOU! HEY YOU! HEY YOU! (a greeting from the local kids as we drive by),



Wow, week three… which at times felt like week seven and other times like day seven. Either way, we were busy and having a blast.

After a relaxed weekend involving a trip to the market Saturday and a trip to church and dominos pizza on Sunday, which seemed to reenergize the team, Monday we headed down to Leogane (lay-oh-gone) for some good, hard, manual labor. We continued to tear down walls, cut re-bar, move bricks, and shovel rubble at a school/clinic there. The work has been very tough and hot, but the whole team has rocked out with their socks out.

Tuesday we went to a tent city that we hadn’t yet visited where we prayed with the leaders of the community and for the community as a whole. Walking past family after family as we made our way through the maze of tents I really felt as if we were just being seen as tourists until one of the leaders said, “You guys being here with us means so much, you just showing up means a lot. Our government and police only show up when they want to try to kick us out and tell us that we have to leave.” Very encouraging that just our presence here is a good thing and makes a difference. While walking through the tents we came across a 99 year old woman and another woman who was 115. The sad thing is that the 115 year old woman was given a food card which was stolen from her… pretty hard thing to hear.

Wednesday we headed back to Leogane for more hard labor. It really is amazing to see how much can be done when a group of about 30 people work their butts off. There is a LONG way to go, but a huge dent has been placed in this project. NOICE! NOICE! NOICE! That’s for Murph, Big Country, and Jebberdooski.

Thursday morning we drove about an hour up the beautiful mountains where we then hiked about an hour into the beautiful mountains to a village in the Furcy region. When I say beautiful, I mean absolutely breathtaking. We had lunch and then did a few dramas and testimonies, hung out with kids and pulled out the Art for the Nations bags. You can tell Lisa that they’ve been a huge hit here, even though the kids seem to enjoy giving the artwork back to us when they’re done… not yet sure what that’s about. The village we visited will be where Abbi and I are taking half the team and staying from Monday to Thursday, so it should be a good time of building relationship for ourselves and YWAM P.A.P.

Our final work day of last week was at the spot that Foster and Katey will be leading the other half of the team next week, a city called Carrefore, which is right outside of Leogane. We began the hard work of removing the rubble where the school, church, and clinic buildings had all completely collapsed. Seeing before pictures made the whole thing seem so surreal. There is A LOT of work to be done there, but a huge dent was done on Friday and spending all next week there will no doubt be productive.

After a crazy week, Foster, Katey, Abbi and I sat down to do a mid-debrief with the students. I was once again reminded of how much I hate meetings… loved the snacks and time with the students, but a different team every hour from 11am-7pm meetings is just insane. haha Very productive and encouraging though, the students shared what we as leaders have been feeling and discussing: things are going amazing and God is moving in some sweet ways in us and through us.

So, we love ya, mean it, and hope ya see it… orevwa,

Josh, Foster, Abbi, Katey, and 23 fantastically awesome blessings/hooligans.

Prayer requests:

1) Foster’s salvation

2) Good health. The diarrhea seems to be long gone and we don’t want to see or hear about it again. The students seem to enjoy sharing about bowel movements more than Jacob Green.

3) Safety during work times, lots of heavy lifting, cutting, smashing and crashing. (Good rhyme).

4) Focus. Students are mentioning homesickness and it is strongly affecting some of them

5)There is a gas crisis here, if the ship does not come soon then ministry will be difficult and life will slow to a hault for the Haitian people

Sara Groves "Love Is Still A Worthy Cause" Story

This interview reminded me a lot of what our Haiti Team is working so hard to do plus it's just an amazing story that God is the one who is working through us to change lives & we are just as needy & destitute as the Haitians, spiritually speaking.

Nice Shorts.

Just wanted to post this photo of two of the team leaders and to remind you to be praying for the team!
And for Foster's fashion choices.

Thanks to Matthew Puschell for the photos...

more of life in haiti

Worth a Thousand Words...

Update #2!

Hello Friends and Family,

Well the second week as has gone by just as quickly as the first. Not as much manual labor this week but the days are still very full and rewarding. The rainy season is upon us, mostly in the evenings and so it does not interfere with ministry which is awesome but it makes us all a muddy mess, everyone is doing a great job dealing with it all though and I am very proud of them.

Before I update all of you on what happened this week there is one thing that I realized I forgot about in my last email. Our first Saturday here we were able to go to a private beach for the day, and while we were there we had a baptism service in the Caribbean. Josh, Jenny, Brad, Alli, Laura, Lisa, Thomas, and Ethan were the ones that were baptized and yes most of were all about back flip baptisms like on Jesus Freaks, it was an amazing time with the team and an honor to baptize my friends and share in this awesome expression of their faith.

This week started off with a bang and I mean a literal one Josh, Katey, Abbi, and I were meeting in the orphanages outdoor dining hall and heard a loud bang! It scared us half to death, we thought either the armed guards finally shot one of the dogs that wont stop barking or something very large fell down and serious damage had been done. Josh and i went to investigate Katey and Abbi huddled together for safety and then a Haitian orphanage worked walked up laughing hysterically with a mango in his hand, pointing to the tin roof to let us know what really happened.

Easter Sunday we were invited to the Brazilian Armies UN base for worship and communion. It was incredible to spend Easter with men who are trained soldiers, and they worship God with incredible zeal and invite the Holy Spirit to fill the room. We were also able to share some testimonies and do the Forgiveness drama while we were with them, what an amazing opportunity.

For the first half of the week we were able to go door to door and talk to people that have made their homes in the park across from the palace. We were able to let them vent their frustrations, and share their stories. We offered them our prayers and every home that we visited we gave them a bible. It really makes you realize how precious God's word is when people who do not know when the next time they will eat receive a Bible hold it to their heart and say thank you this is my life. Other teams came back from the tents and told stories of people accepting Christ for the first time, and really seeing that they need him. Josh, Joachim, and Roxanne were praying for a woman's hand, it was stiff and she could not open and close it, they prayed and it was fine! The word spread and people came to be prayed for and 25 people were healed from: headaches, there was a one year old little girl that could hardly breathe, she was wheezing and her mother said that she had a chronic cough Roxanne prayed for her twice and the her breathing was perfect! The mother was amazed and grateful, and those are just a few of the 25 miracles that our Jesus did that day. When the time was over our guys were high fiving and telling everyone it was not us it was Jesus, they looked at their translator and said, "Wasn't that amazing?" and he very nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, God is good!" It was an incredible experience, one that none of us will soon forget. I have never been so encouraged by someone else's faith.

That was what most of us did for the first half of the week, Brad, Raphael and Thomas had the opportunity to fly into the mountains with a German pilot from Samaritan Air. They took some aireal photos for Red Cross and then were dropped at an orphanage in the mountains to play with children and build some shelves. The orphanage is run by a 65 year old American woman and two other Haitian women, they care for 21 young children mostly all under the age of 4. It blesses the woman to have men come in an spend time with the children and to have conversations in English.

The second half of the week when we were all back together again, our contact and the leader of YWAM Port Au Prince felt that we needed to slow down as a minsitry, regroup and ask God for direction. So we took two days and we prayed for the growth and direction of their base here. It was an honor for us to get to partner with them in this prayer time, all the students sought God and came back with incredible words and got to see that if you don't stop and make sure God is the center of your ministry then you are missing it. I was so proud of our team and their devotion to seeking God and hearing His voice. In the evenings we went to a different tent city and shared testimonies and dramas, after the YWAM PaP guys lead worship. We also were given bags of ramdom food and toiletriesand stuffed them in our backpacks, and went to certain tents of people who were not receiving as much as other people. We asked to come in and pray for them and then we would slip them a bag of food, if people saw us giving the food to some and not to others it could start a riot, so yes we were like Robin Hood. In this one tent city there are over 7,800 people.

There is so much going on here, and the work that needs to be done is a constant reminder to me of how small I am and how big God is. I know that he can and will continue to bring hope to the people of Haiti and i am honored that we get to be a small part of such a huge effort. Please pray that as the rains come we would continue to have great attitudes and adapt to the mud and puddles. Also please when you pray for us meditate on 1 Thessalonians 2:8 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."


Thanks for reading


Much Love


Foster and the Haiti Team

Prirated Photos from the YWAMers

I got these photos from Matthew one of the DTSers facebook page. I thought those of you who don't have facebook would enjoy getting to see first hand what the team is up to!

Tent Cities

Update #1!

Hi All,

My name is Kate and I am Foster Miller's sister. I am going to be blogging the email updates he's going to be sending home weekly (Lord willing) for those of you who weren't able to get on the email list. The internet is not the best over there so it is easier to ask people to check a blog than to try to add them to the already large mailing list. Here's the email Foster sent this weekend... Enjoy!

Bonjou from Haiti,

We arrived safely in Port Au Prince on Tuesday. For such a short trip I cannot beleive how many trials we faced. The airlines charged for our bags in Denver as well as in Florida, something that my travel agent failed to tell me even though I asked several times if we would have to pay for our baggage at all! We made it thourgh though and God was so faithful they let us carry on several of the bags, and then they gate checked them for free. We got out of the airport and went straight to the orphanage we are all staying in, yes thats right we are all staying together, no splitting the team! That very same evening we went to our first ministry time at the clinic next to the police station right across the road from the president's palace. I heard a pastor explaining his experience coming to P A P and as he said that as he was leaving the airport an american soldier said get ready to see devastation of a biblical porportion, and that is no exageration. All of the pictures and news footage that I saw did not prepare me or do justice for all that I have seen here. We spent a few hours our first night worshipping with the people, the team danced with them, held their children and did their best to listen to their stories.

For the first week of ministry we did split into two groups daily and went out to help and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Haiti. Josh and Abbi spent the first week going out to an orphanage and helping finish tear down their school building so that they can rebuild. Lisa told a story the second day of working about digging and finding several items that suggest there was no schedule for demolition but it then became real to her that this was a building people were using when the earthquake hit. They dug and they found a school book and a journal then they came upon a bible and one of the Haitian workers picked it up, dusted it off and then placed it in his pocket and gave the pocket a few taps as if to show that it was special to him and it would not go unread.

The rest of the team went with Katey and I to Citi Soleil which is a giant tent city in an area that took some of the hardest hits from the earthquake. We did a lot of work in this city. The first day of full ministry we were told there would be some children so bring crafts, we brought one art for the nations bag, and a soccer ball for I would say at least 300 children, and got multiplied crayons and paper like bread and fish. It was a great time and we continued to build relationship with the children there for the entire week. Also in Citi Soleil we built the famous hoop tents that have been made available for displaced families to live in and they are to last the people 2 years at least. They are fairly easy to build and our team has gotten very good at it, but first you drive the four foot blunt stick into the ground to support the tent, that part is very taxing and the sun here is brutal. It is all worth it though because four families have homes now that did not last week.

We have spent time with other tent communities and done some feeding ministry, there is a tent city down the street that sometimes we are able to just run things down to as well. The leader of YWAM Port Au Prince is an incredible man of God and it is an honor to be a part of the ministry that they are doing here . As far as the spiritual climate here we are seeing hope creep up through the cracks of despair, people are in the streets selling things, and starting to get back to life. I have not seen any signs of voodoo, none of us have had any bad dreams, and the unity God has given us we are keeping it! Next week we are doing some door to door ministry in small groups with translators with the people living on the lawn of the presidential palace.

Please pray for continued unity, that we would continue to make God our foundation everyday, and for healing from sunburns! Also that we would have incredible conversations with the people next week.


Much love


Foster and the Haiti Team

Thanks so much for reading this and for praying for the team of leaders and students and the people of Haiti.

Love,
Kate