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...