Mission Blog

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Safe Arrival in Port Au Prince

It was freezing last night. Yes — cold in the Dominican Republic. Polo is in the mountains and it was so nice for Darren to allow us to stay at the mission. Seems like God always supplies when we are obedient. I woke up early walked out and saw what a beautiful place it is up in Polo, D.R. We were met by Moiesses and Antonio. Antonio is a local pastor who speaks Spanish, Creole and English. I am glad these plans are not ours. It is so cool how God just orchestrates all things in ways that I can never understand.

There was so much to do today from getting cash exchanged to pesos, purchasing food supplies, getting truck parts, fuel and getting to the border. None of us have ever been to the D.R. and for all this to happen so smoothly truly took an act of God. All this took place in a small coastal town of Barahoma. We were able to buy 20 100lb bags of rice, 10 100lb bags of beans, spaghetti, sauce, oil and canned fish. Once all the supplies were bought we headed across the D.R. to the Haitian border at Jamani.

After about 3 or 4 hours in the back of the truck we finally made to the border. The only resistance we had was with the fuel. We have 6 55gallon drums of gas and diesel. With a prayer and an official looking letter from the states we got through. We were met by Pastor Harry and JoJo to help us get through immigration. Mexico is much harder to cross and to get across. There are a lot of similarities in the chaotic mess though.

Once we arrived at Love a Child where the truck is all our new Dominican brothers helped us unload and reload. What a blessing it was to have them. It was getting dark and a decision had to be made. Do we go in to Port or not. So we asked Harry what we should do and Harry says it is safe and we must go and go now. Chuck and I drove the truck and Dale drove with JoJo. Harry and one of his church members rode on the back of the truck for security. It was dark and I new it was the right thing to do. Harry was willing to risk his life for us so I new that it was safe as possible.

As we approached Port it seemed like business as usual. Lots of cars, vendors and people walking around. As we approached Dottie’s you could see some of the devastation to areas that we are familiar with. WOW! We pulled up to Dottie’s and got through the gate and so far all is well… as I expected. When you know that you know that you know… you know. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

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Safe Arrival to the Dominican Republic

What would any good mission trip be without showing up at 4:30 a.m. for a 6:30 a.m. flight only to be told that the flight was scratched and you have about ten minutes to get on the one about to leave. Praise God for whom all blessings flow, he provided a path.

Once we arrived in the Dominican Republic we were met by a Christian local named Moisses David Cuevas Espinosa who is involved with a ministry all the way on the other side of the country in a town called Polo. The ministry is called Caribbean Ministry directed by a man named Darren Turel. God provided this connection through someone Chuck new.

Once we were picked up, Chuck, Dale Winslette and I took off with Mousses for a 6 hour trip across the country. D. R. is a beautiful place and pales in comparison to our real destination. Crazy how two countries worlds apart share the same island, while one is affected by a massive earthquake and the other is not. I had a great time with our driver because he speaks Spanish and I was able to communicate with him well. Felipe would have been proud. Tomorrow will be a whole new thing.

We will start moving supplies into Haiti by the afternoon. We all know the potential danger in this hot bed situation and do not question God’s call on our lives. Chuck and I have so many friends who are hurting and need help. I thank God for Dale’s heart. I would be lying if I did not continue to think about Kim and the girls. I will be praying that God will give me focus and that He will take care of them no matter what happens. I have no idea what is waiting for us. I just know God will be glorified.

Kenny
GMSM
January 23, 2010

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Leaving For Haiti Today

We are very thankful for the nearly $23,000 provided by supporters of Give Me Shelter Ministries for this trip to Haiti.

Kenny and Brother Chuck of Truth Evangelistic Ministry will fly into the Dominican Republic today, January 22, 2010.  With the help of two other organizations, Love A Child and Caribbean Missions, Kenny and Chuck will cross the border into Haiti  to deliver drums of fuel for generators, and as many rice and beans as we can load in. 

We are visiting all our usual spots — Dottie’s Guest House in Port Au Prince (we won’t be staying, but praise the Lord she and most of the children of the orphanage survived), and up to Z’Orange and Jerusalem churches.  We will provide as much water as we can purchase to all our Brothers and Sisters.  We will fuel the generators to pump the wells too.  These churches you’ve helped build can be an area of relief for many who are fleeing the city for the country.

Needless to say, we need your prayers more than ever on this mission.  It is important for us to return to the people and their churches with whom we’ve become so close and successful in spreading the Gospel in this already impoverished country.  Pray that our supplies and missionaries make it to the Christians who bring so much hope to people in a country where there was little to begin with, and basically none now.

We know that there is hope in any situation through Christ, and it is important to help spread the Word of God to a society who generally does not know Him.  Thank you again for helping us reach out to fellow humans who have nothing like the blessings we have here at home.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

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Dental Clinic in Mexico a Big Success

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. GMSM teamed up with Ft. Walton Beach dentist Dr. Tony Clark, his assistant Scott Shepard, Tony’s sons Logan and Luke and Shaun Ellis and headed down to Mexico for a dental clinic. Scott wrote a great report posted below. It was his first mission, and he was fired up to serve.

We did our first ever clinic in the colonias at Pastor Felipe’s church and a clinic over in Casa Hogar Elim orphanage. What a blessing it was to be able to supply some physical help to some hurting people. Between the colonia and Casa Hogar Elim, Tony and Scott saw more than 60 adults and children with at least 40 tooth extractions, fillings and cleanings.

We hardly scratched the surface on meeting dental needs down here, but praise God we were able to help many in the name of Christ.

With so much happening in Haiti and as our preparation begins to start for our relief effort there, I thank God he allowed us the time to continue the ministry down here. As we were preparing to leave, Felipe told me not to worry about them, that we are fine, Haiti needs us more now than we do, that we should spend this year down there.

It is wonderful to see a guy like Pastor Felipe, who the world sees as insignificant, truly gets it. We should all take a close look at ourselves and have the same wonderful, selfless attitude as Pastor Felipe.

Kenny
GMSM
Jan. 15-18 Mexico dental clinic

—- Report from Scott Shepard —-

Mission teams are departing for the devastation in Haiti as our mission team leaves Mexico this morning; body and soul refreshed by the Holy Spirit. We were blessed with a mission that brought the love of Jesus to both Casa Hogar orphanage and the church of “Mision Bautista Nuevo Camina” in a nearby colonia.

The colonias are Nuevo Laredo neighborhoods of makeshift shelters inhabited by the most impoverished families. Dr. Tony Clark and his family have been supporting the Casa Hogar mission since 1999. Last summer Tony felt a calling to share his blessings as a dentist in Ft Walton Beach, Florida with Mrs. Lupita’s children in the orphanage. The dental ministry has been such a tremendous blessing to Casa Hogar that an outreach mission into the colonias was planned for 2010. With a crew of four and the assistance of many in Nuevo Laredo, Kenny Phillips acted as the liaison for this first trip outside the walls of Casa Hogar. Saturday the mission set up our dental clinic in the sanctuary of Camina Nueva, using pews to seat our patients and a desk chair elevated on cinder blocks to evaluate and treat our patients.

During the day and into the evening, residents of the colonias walked dirt roads to visit “los dentistas” in the church of Nueva Camina. We were blessed to take care of 23 patients, in all removing 28 teeth from people in real pain. Five patients required extensive surgery. In cases like Paulina, who was so badly disabled by tooth decay, ten teeth were removed to ease her pain and prevent a life threatening infection.

Sunday morning our makeshift dental clinic returned to Casa Hogar; where a previous mission team had prepared a much more permanent facility. Medical examination tables, a dental chair and good lighting were only part of our blessings this Sunday. Doctor Tony soon trained several of the children to assist in delivering bottled water and suction from an air compressor and shop-vac during the exams with simple request for “aqua y suctionnes.”

During the morning, we provided very simple dental cleaning, fluoride treatments and cavity evaluation to 48 of the orphanage children. After lunch, we returned to treat those at risk of permanent damage with fillings and in three more cases, teeth that needed to be pulled. While it was heart wrenching for us to remove four teeth from five year old Lupita, she was resting comfortably just a few hours later. A new smile will return in the next few days, a happy sight for the older girls that have seen the sad, sad face of a baby sister crying from the pain of four toothaches. As the children helped break down the backpack dentistry equipment, each one with a toothbrush and toothpaste in their pocket…they repeated our advice frequently. Brush your teeth and pray every night, “todos las noches!”

Father God, thank you so much for Logan and Luke, Doctor Tony’s sons and Mr Shaun Ellis. Their assistance in setting up and putting away the equipment was only surpassed in testimony by their interaction with the children and staff of Casa Hogar. Doctor Tony, your healing gift and discernment to invite me on this trip are living testimony to the power of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May God be with Kenny as he prepares for a relief ministry to our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

In His Name,
Scott Shepard

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Pastor Fani Has Returned Home to the Lord

Pastor Fanilus (“Fani”), the pastor of Jerusalem II Church in Haiti, has completed his work on Earth. He went home to be with the Lord yesterday, January 15, 2010.

Pastor Fani was a great man of God who led many Haitians to Christ through the years. He lived in what most consider a shack, in a world that was full of pain and need. He taught his fellow man that Christ’s redeeming blood was all that is needed by any person throughout the world, regardless of what lot had been cast his or her way.

Pastor Fani has now left the hardships of Haiti and this world, and is rejoicing in Glory today with Christ.

Please keep his wife and child in your prayers, as well as the members of his church.

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Please Help Us in Haiti

Give Me Shelter Ministries is scheduled to arrive in Haiti next Thursday, January 21st.

Please pray that the airport will be open for our mission.

We ask that you pray for all our friends, brothers and sisters in Haiti whom you have helped serve through Give Me Shelter Ministries.

We ask that you prayerfully consider helping us with a financial donation of any size to help us get aid to Pastors Fani, Harry, Dorleon, Winsy and their churches.

ALL money donated to our Haiti missions goes directly to these Christian pastors and their churches. Please search this blog for “Haiti” to see the many trips we’ve made and the Churches we’ve helped build.

We have heard one message from Pastor Harry, that his family is alive, Praise be to God, but his home is destroyed. We do not know the condition of the other pastors. We will report updates here at our blog.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thank you for supporting Give Me Shelter Ministries.

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Return from Christmas Mission to Mexico

To wrap up the trip we visited Casa Hogar Elim and the children that we have formed relationships with. It was a pleasant surprise to see the work that has been done there. The dental clinic is really starting to take shape. Some of the kids were home with their families but we spent some time with the ones who were there. We dropped off a few Christmas gifts and left to start the trip home.
We traveled for several hours and stopped in Houston for the night. After some much needed rest we made the rest of the trek home, saying goodbye to our friends from Louisiana and Alabama. The trip was a great success as we were able to deliver the blankets and food. We also ended up leaving some of the blankets for Felipe to take on a mission trip that he is conducting himself into the mountains of Mexico.
We made some great new relationships with the people from Saraland, Alabama and got the chance to see our friends from Ponchatoula, Louisiana. We truly were able to work as the body of Christ even though we are not all from the same place or background. Continue to be in prayer for the people in Mexico and for Pastor Felipe as he continues his mission.
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Delivering Blankets and Meals in Mexico

Dec. 28 2009 Mexico Christmas Mission
Today was another early start and a great day. God used us in so many ways. Today’s guest bloggers are Jenna and Brent from Saraland, Texas.
Today was our first day doing mission work in Mexico. Before I start with the day, here is a little background for the pre-trip. My sister Becka and I were asked to come with the Bayou Sara group trip three or four days before, and I was reluctant because I did not really know anyone but soon God showed me that I needed to trust him that he was in control and that he knew what he was doing when he pushes people out of their comfort zone. So here I am after our first trip back from Mexico.
The task today was to hand out boxes of food and blankets to the family around the church with Pastor Felipe. One group headed out early this morning and went to the church to start to cook the chicken and then the rest of the group came down later. While we were waiting for all the food to cook I got a chance to play soccer with some of the kids there waiting and I fell in love with a little girl named Rebecca. She was so precious and so happy even though we no where near spoke the same language. She reminded me to have the joy of a child and faith like a child.
Later we handed out the boxes of chicken and other food, along with water and the blankets. Also the children received bags with candy and other things. After we were done with the church, we went around to the surrounding areas and handed out the rest of the boxes and blankets to the families. Throughout the day I had heard stories how in the past God had multiplied food and different things whenever everyone thought they would run out. I had the opportunity to see that today; we still had a ton of food left when we ran out water. Then some men found some more in the back of the trailer. It just reminded me of God’s promise that he would always provide. Throughout the day I was continuously reminded that God provides. Also that only HE can bring the nations together to worship.
The awe struck moment that I had, as well, is that not even five miles across the boarder was poverty while America was right there. I am so excited about tomorrow and to see how God will move. Thank you for your prayers, to Him be the glory.
-Jenna
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What a great day! From start to finish we ministered to over 1000 people. How awesome it is to be used by the Lord to further His kingdom, to be in this place at this time. How easy we have it in the U.S. It’s hard to imagine living in a concrete block building with no water or electricity as a way of life. Our power goes out for an hour and we’re screaming. We waste more water in a week then these people use in a month.
As I surveyed the hundreds of people waiting in line for food and blankets, I asked one of the members on my team, “Why do you think it is that they are the ones living like this and not us?” why do we have it so easy and comfortable while ¾ of the world live in little more than a shack? Why has God placed us in this place at this time? What can we learn and take back and apply to our daily lives?
God has called each of us to be the imitation of Christ—to be salt and light—to be the hands and feet of Jesus, yet so few Christians do anything for Christ outside the four walls of the church—and even then it’s limited to Sunday and Wednesday. We are called to expand the kingdom, not continue to develop a castle. I give all the glory to God and thank him for using Kenny Phillips and Give Me Shelter Ministries to help impact the world in a small way. Get involved in Mexico. Get involved in your community. Bottom line: GET INVOLVED!!!
Brent Allen
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2009 Mexico Christmas Mission

Today, we got up to a chilly morning in Laredo, Texas. Our day would include a bilingual church service, loading and unloading blankets, packing gift bags, and many other exciting events in preparation for our trip across the border as a group tomorrow.
Let us introduce our guest bloggers, Meagan from Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Rachel from Saraland, Alabama, and Gary from Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
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Wow. What a day! I’ll start off by telling everyone what a blessing it has been to be a part of Give Me Shelter Ministries and the mission to Mexico. Today I saw first hand how God uses everything and every part of your life to reach others for him. I also saw three separate churches today merge together and become one body for Christ.
We began our day by attending the service that our host church has. It’s a bilingual service and even though I don’t speak a lick of Spanish it’s just great to be in there listening to God being praised in both Spanish and English.
After the service the real work began. We took blankets over the border to Mexico and a group stayed behind to prepare Christmas and hygienic bags to pass out. We tried to take the trailer full of blankets over the previous night and were turned away at the border. But we had a thousand blankets that needed to get to Mexico so we tried again this morning. We took all the blankets out of the boxes and stuffed (and I mean really stuffed) them in the back of two vans. Many trips were needed to get them all over. I got to go on the second trip across. We were blessed that we breezed through the border with absolutely no trouble.
We unpacked all the blankets that we had taken in that load to Felipe’s church to store until we pass them out tomorrow.
After that we went to three of the previous homes that Kenny and his teams have built. On our way back we hit some traffic. But I love this group because of our key word is “flexibility” and we are definitely flexible when we were stuck at the border for two hours. When we got back we spent the rest of the evening bagging cookies and bread to pass out when we feed the masses tomorrow in Nuevo Laredo. We begin bright and early and prayers are needed.
Meagan
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Finally, after a 17 hour drive in 15-person capacity church vans from Saraland, Alabama, our crew of 16 unique individuals reached our destination of the Primera Iglesias Bautista Church in Laredo, Texas. Coming here, I had no idea of what to expect and of what would be expected of me. But as soon as we arrived after receiving the key to actually get into the Church, I could explicitly see what God was about to bring over the next 4 days.
First thing when we arrived at the Church around 6:30 pm, we began by unloading our trailer of luggage and moving our bags into the Church building that we would be sleeping in. Surprisingly, as soon as we put our stuff down I was energetically greeted by my two newest Fort Walton Beach, Florida friends, Emily and Rachel, and then moved onto meeting the others that would be joining us on the Mexico mission.
Taco Palenque would be the lucky destination that would be graced by our presence for dinner, so after receiving a full meal of one-of-a-kind grilled chicken, rice, and mashed potatoes, we trucked on back to the Church, showered, and went to sleep.
Next morning we woke up at exactly 7:25, got ready for the day, and went to the main Church building for a breakfast of banana bread and chocolate milk… yum. For the next few hours as some of the group went ahead across the border to deliver blankets, I got the task of making gift bags for the children and adults that we will hand out tomorrow. With our professionally organized assembly lines rolling along, we were able to put together hundreds of bags filled with coloring books, toothbrushes and toothpaste, candy, stuffed animals, soap, etc. When the second group returned from Mexico, now it was my turn to cross the border into a world completely different from what I know as my day to day life.
After loading the green van with about 60 blankets, we quickly and easily crossed the border and reached the church in the community of the people that we will be serving. Next we unloaded the blankets, visited for a few minutes, and then began our way to the hour and a half long wait to get back into the US (which provided a good nap time for me).
As soon as we arrived back after enjoying a quick game of Catch Phrase with our new crew, we shoved some Dominoes pizza down our throats and continued onto the next task of filling plastic baggies with cookies and bread that we will hand out tomorrow. After finishing what we thought could never be done, we rested for a while, and now here I am. Looking back on the day now, although I am exhausted and ready for a hot shower, I consider this day extremely successful. We prepared all of the food, supplies, and blankets that we’ll be handing out tomorrow, and now I have a much better idea of what the next couple of days will hold.
I think we can all agree that God’s about to really impact some lives. One of my new acquaintances from Florida told me today how their old youth pastor used to say, its not about what we do and what we bring, but its about the care, love, and kindness we show that’s going to make the biggest impact on the people we will be helping. And this experience not only affects the people that we will be helping, but it equally impacts each of us as we see how fortunate we really are. I don’t know about everyone else, but I know that even in this small amount of days that this is truly an eye-opening experience.
I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, or what may happen, but I know that all of these loving people here that are so willing to do whatever it takes to help others are going to make a huge impact on everyone around. And that’s really the goal, isn’t it? So, tomorrow as we stroll across the border and do what we can for others, all we can do is hope that what we are here for, will help spread God’s influence and kindness to the people who are most in need.
Rachel
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Well, what would be a Mexico mission trip without transportation issues? God did provide, as he always does, safe passage all the way here for the FBC bus and four other vehicles, mostly all pulling trailers full of blankets, cooking supplies and some Christmas and goody bags from a number of different sources.
Long story short around our favorite Texas stop, Bucee’s, we noticed a noisy belt, but did not notice any other apparent issue and then after arriving in Laredo and going to dinner a major serpentine belt had come off and the alternator was no longer functioning because of the lack of the belt. This morning we began the process, thanks mainly to one of our good friends from Saraland, AL, of trying to figure out the possibility of repair and after much “soul-searching” and a couple of visits to our favorite 24-hour Autozone we figured out that a bracket holding the belt and many extraneous crucial engine components had four bolts and three of them were broken.
We were able to replace only one, but were able to crank and
move the bus and then proceed to contacting folks to find a permanent repair situation in the days to come.
We were able to meet throughout the process many interesting individuals, minister to some and some ministered to us, including the Laredo Baptist mission ministerial Association Director who offered his assistance. Thanks for your continued prayers and support throughout this mission and our God is very faithful!
Gary
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Food delivery for Los Fresnos and Nuevo Laredo

Update… the actual number of meals delivered was over 32,000! Praise the Lord!

Dec. 3, 2009 :
God has been so good to GMSM through the involvement that He has allowed us to be in with Feed My Starving Children. This is the 2nd time that they have delivered food for us to be distributed in Mexico. Same as last time the food was dropped off in Los Fresnos, Texas at United in Christ Worldwide Ministry Worldwide, Inc. I flew into the Laredo airport via Ft. Walton Bch. My cool bro Jose Martinez was there to pick me up. On the flight down I sat by a trucker who was headed to Laredo to pick up some trucks to deliver somewhere in the states. I was able to share with him about GMSM and the work across the border. Although he had a different agenda in life he was receptive to what God is allowing us to do.

Once in Laredo and cowboy dude preacher (Jose) lassoed me and my baggage up, we headed out the airport door, once outside I could see why Jose was bundled up. It was freezing cold. He had spent the night out in the colonias at Felipe’s house and said it was very cold. Felipe is blessed to have a roof over his head but there is no insulation or heat whatsoever. The forecast is to get colder and maybe even snow 1 or 2 inches. I know it has to be just miserable out there. With all the new blankets we will be bringing down at Christmas they sure could use them now. We left Laredo and headed east for the 4 hour drive to Los Fresnos to meet up with the food. We stopped on the way for some elote asado “roasted corn”. Good call on a frigid day. I felt like Nacho Libre.

We arrived at the church where the food was dropped off. We are staying at Brother Richards’s house an elder of the church. We went to church for worship and then ate a killer meal that was prepared for us. Tomorrow we will start working the food across the border weather permitting and we are not snowed in (hahaha). My heart is heavy at the thought of how cold the people are. Tomorrows temps in Laredo are a high of mid to upper thirties. Praise God for His sufficient love for us.

Dec. 4, 2009 :
After a fairly good night’s sleep we got up early and loaded the church van and Jose’s truck up with the food boxes from FMSC. The weather was rainy and very cold. We chowed on some breakfast at the church and headed out across the border. The first place we stopped was the men’s drug rehab center in Matamoras. We dropped off 10 boxes of food which will be split with the women’s drug rehab center. That is roughly 1080 meals. The need is so much in this center. It is clean but it is very cold. The next stop was Chihuahua Soup Kitchen which also doubles as a fellowship of believers. We left 7 boxes for their use and we left 7 boxes for the Zacatecus ministry that is interior Mexico. Christ United will take those down soon. We headed a little further deeper into Matamoras where we dropped off 14 boxes for two soup kitchen ministries.

Once we were finished with the food distribution in the city we left south to the island of Mano Deleon where the village of Mesqutal is located. We visited the pastor and his family and left 12 boxes of food to be portioned out to the villagers as needed. It was so brutal cold out there and I know the food will only last a short while. I pray that God will keep the door opened for us to continue a good working relationship with FMSC and more food will be available for us to continue this ministry down here. We will leave about 17 boxes at United in Christ Church for other ministries. A total of 67 seven boxes were distributed in this area of Mexico, which is a possible 14,472 meals, PTL! Tomorrow we will load up the other two and a half pallets of food and head up the border to Nuevo Laredo for our next food delivery adventure.

Dec 5, 2009 :
Once again the weather is very cold. Most people do not associate cold weather with Mexico but along the border they receive the same types of weather that we do. So we loaded up Jose’s truck with the remainder of the food boxes (68 total) and headed towards Nuevo Laredo.

We always anticipate the potential hassle that the border guys can give us. Sometimes they make us pay duty on what we bring across and sometimes they don’t. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the way things are done along the border going into Mexico. I only know that God seems to always work it out for His glory. This crossing was no exception; we made it across without incident and did not have to pay duty on the food, PTL. Most of the food will be distributed out through the Mission Bautista Comino Nuevo Church under the guidance of Pastor Felipe Hernandez. This food will be dispersed through out the colonias. We also took 15 boxes to the boy’s dorm at Casa Hogar Elim orphanage where they operate a feeding house to the local people around the facility. Jose and I spent the night in the colonia where Felipe lives and I preached at his church on Sunday morning. God truly blessed this trip and many families will be touched by the ministry that Feed My Starving Children has and what they are doing throughout the world. I praise God that he has yoked us together.