Wow! Great News! The forty foot container AND the backhoe are sailing on the Monarch Queen over the ocean waters on their way to us in Haiti! We are so excited about all of this and everyone who worked so hard to make it possible! You will definitely see pictures as those things arrive at our property. Please pray that it would arrive in Haiti on Monday, Lord willing and that we would be able to get it out a lot quicker than the first container. God is good...all the time!

We continue to find challenges in ministry and tons of opportunities to serve. We hope that is an indication that we are doing something right. If the devil would go to so much trouble to discourage us in the work then hopefully that means he is feeling that our work is a threat to his plan to keep everyone from discovering how wonderful Jesus is!

It seems the week has gone by quickly and Shaina, Wilckly and I are wondering what we have done. We decided to start with thinking of what we did each day.

SUNDAY - Went to participate in the first day of a new church that is now part of our ministry. The new location is called Katipin. A man called Pakonte which means either, don't count on me or I don't count, decided he needed the Lord to change his life. The next thing we know he has helped our preacher, Pasteur Jilmiste, find a piece of open ground to rent. They cleared the land during the week and put up a few bamboo poles, hung some blankets and sheets for walls and shade from the sun and made a few makeshift benches of very short sticks with narrow pieces of wood laid across them. It seems there were several people of the area, very anxious to have a place to worship that wasn't several miles walk from their home. So, because a man who doesn't count to the world decided he wanted to count for Jesus, a new chuch exists at Katipin, the Berea Christian church of Katipin.

I know, I know. You are thinking this is all wrong. There was no strategic planning. There was no one to scout out the area to see how many are unchurched. There was no committee to decide what the pews would be made of or if they would be the padded kind or the chairs that hook together and can be moved in case of big events and extra space needed by removing them. There was no pulpit committee to chose the preacher they wanted or felt would best minister in this situation. This was raw, plain and simple. There was a need for a church where this man could worship with the body of believers. He took the initiative. He set about to find a way to make it happen. Blessing Hearts International was able to provide the preacher who would be committed to sharing with this congregation and helping these people grow spiritually.

We arrived late of course, because they told us we could drive to it. After about an hour of driving down a narrowing cow path to the point that it was impossible for the truck to pass... we turned around. We backtracked and we were not happy. Arriving at the main road the preacher told us that it was just a little farther off the beaten path which we were not willing to go down at this point. The preacher was sick at the thought of preparing for us to be there and this being the very first Sunday and we weren't even going to show up. He said whatever you decide Pasteur Wilckly, it's okay by me. Wilckly and I looked at each other and I said, " Well, we've come this far and they are waiting for us." We drove a little off the beaten path and parked the truck. We got out and we started to walk. They told us it wasn't far and there was no way I believed that. They said it was only about 15 minutes walk to the church. We had brought boxes of food to share with them. We also had a huge box with a tarp in it for them to cover the church. Two men carried it a short distance. Then one of them stopped and put the huge box on top of his head and carried it down the narrow path. We followed them, backpacks in tow and our own meal in our bag in case the short distance turned out to be an eternity away, which has been known to happen. I was losing faith quickly that we would even get there in 15 hours when a group of people, dressed in their Sunday best, appeared on the horizon, running to meet us and greet us and tell us not much further. It did end up to be only about 15 minutes walk from where we parked the truck, to my ultimate relief.

Arriving at the "church" location there were around a 100 people jammed as close together on those little makeshift benches as they could get. We worshipped and praised our God together. There behind Haiti's mountains, I was so blessed. Blessed because a man who didn't count for anything in this world had made a decision to count for the Lord. God bless Pakonte. Help him grow into a wonderful Christian leader. Of course seeing so many precious children, Shaina and I began asking them where they attend school. There were probably 4o children and not one of them told us that they attended school, NOT EVEN ONE! Do we need a school at Katipin? YES, we do. Please be praying for this to become a reality. Please pray that we would be able to open a school at Katipin. Pray that you would be able to sponsor a child so that he or she would be able to attend school in September, for the first time ever! You can make that difference in a child's life in Haiti through us, through Blessing Hearts International. Pray about it.

We came so close to turning around and going back home without ever arriving at Patipin. It seems the Lord had other things in mind. Praise God for the church at Patipin. Praise God we didn't turn around. Praise God for men like Pakonte.

NOW, THAT WAS ONLY SUNDAY!.....need I say more???