Category: Archived Posts – 2007-2016

A very hard day today. Of course every day is hard in Haiti. Had a killer breakfast that would help jump start the day that God had in store for us.

We started tearing the old metal roof to prepare for the new metal. This is so cool. This is something God laid on my heart about a year ago. George has helped Truth Ministries out so much and he has always been so kind to me. He told me a need and God just said “Hey dude do it”. He needed a new roof over his depot. I spoke with Chuck about this and we were in agreement so here we are.

As we began to tear the roof off, a prayer need came out of the clinic that Carol Ann runs in this tiny village of Sentrain. There was a breech birth about to happen. About a half hour later word came that not only was it a breech birth but also it was twins. Siamese twins at that. They were joined at the stomach. Can you imagine this going on in a place where specialized help is very far away? Carol Ann has delivered 100’s of babies but this was a first. The babies did not make it and it was a bummer of a scene.

Will’s daughter Brittany wanted to work in the clinic today with the baby deliveries. Fifteen years old and this was her first time ever to be exposed to this type of stuff, never the less what she just witnessed. Trust me when you volunteer for clinic work you are right in the middle of it all. It really upset her. This is Tuff stuff! The life that these babies were going to live would have been extremely hard. It is hard when you’re healthy.

Well, these little children are in the arms of Jesus and they never saw sin. God new what he was doing. At least the mother is OK. A short time later another birth took place and all went well. Brittany got to hold the new born little boy. God gives and He takes away. Hard to understand that sometimes but He does know what is going on and how to deal with it.

We got the first half of the roof pulled off and the new metal put on. We could not have done it without the help of a young Haitian man named Ilsonet. Will met this dude a while back and he wanted to help us. Praise God he did. This roof is sketchy at best. I am beat. Noche, noche.

We left Dottie’s guest house this morning and headed to the airport to MAF, Mission Aviation Fellowship to catch a bush plane up to Mole St. Nichol. It is about a forty five minute flight from Port Au Prince. From there we will travel to Sentrain where George and Carol Ann Truelove live and serve.

Once up in the air the view was incredible. I have always wanted to head up this way and it is so cool that God gave me a chance. Bush planes are always so sketchy feeling, in a good way though. Kind of like dropping into a big wave over a shallow reef.

Once we approached the air strip at Mole St. Nichol — or “landing dirt road” I should say — we were greeted by George Truelove. Mole is a coastal town with beautiful clear water. Not really sure what goes on there but I am sure fishing is a big part of it.

After driving through Mole we headed to Marerouge and then on to Sentrain. Once we arrived in Sentrain we got settled in at the guest house, had lunch and chilled. I walked around a bit and talked to a few locals and snapped off a few shots. It is much different up here. I can feel I am close to the coast.

We scoped out the work for the roof and continued to relax for the rest of the afternoon. George and Carol Ann run a medical clinic that encompasses so much more than I know about. I will find out more tomorrow. Wow! When it gets dark up here it gets dark. God is so awesome!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. We did get a good night sleep even though it was very hot. We got up early and headed up the mountain to the village of Z’Orange. This is an exciting day for me because we will see Pastor Fanilus (the pastor that was in a very bad accident) and hopefully John Wesley the voodoo priest that I have made an incredible friendship with. When we arrived in the village the first thing we did was go to church. I love worship in Haiti. It always seems so pure and lets face it God wants a pure and holy people. In the first chapter of Isaiah God tells us that he is tired of the empty sacrifices that we offer. Wow! During the church service I saw Pastor and Sister Fani in the service. After church I had a chance to spend some time with this couple that I have grown to love so much. They are staying in the village and have not got back up to the mountain. I can tell that he is still struggling a lot and is no where near himself. They are so ready to get back to their village where they are needed but it is such a long and hard walk up the mountain and he is just not up to it. We must continue to pray that God will continue to heal him. I just know that God has got beautiful plans for this family. I also saw Yolene, John Wesley’s wife in church. I also spent some time with her. She and John are back together living with her mother way up on a mountain. Their baby is sick so we helped her with some money to get the child to the doctor. At this time John was no where to be seen. Praise God his wife has found the truth. After lunch we went around the village and looked at a few projects that are under way through TRUTH Ministries. I thank God daily that he has allowed GMSM to yoke up with this ministry. This was only a day trip to the village and as we were leaving John Wesley walked up. It was good to see him but it will be better to see him when he seeks out the truth and surrenders his life to Christ. Tomorrow we leave for Mole St. Nicholi and a new journey.

Always an adventure when flying with Spirit. “Who?” you say, yep that says it all… el cheapo.

We meet at the Truth office at 3:00 and drove to Pensacola. This is the first time we have flown out of P’Cola and it saved us about $400.00 so that is very cool with me. The savings can go towards another effort in Haiti or Mexico. It is always a drawn out day and we arrived in PAP (Port Au Prince) around 5:00 pm. We made it but the luggage and supplies did not, another first. Can you say flexibility? I sure can, we have no other choice.

All we have is what we got off the plane with. Hope the stuff comes in tomorrow because we fly north on Monday morning. You know what though, what we have with us now is a lot more than most people in Haiti. We are still so blessed even in times when we may think we have it bad. GMSM is here in Haiti with Chuck Martindale, Will Tiller and his daughter Brittany. So cool that a 15 year old would choose to spend some of her summer vacation serving the Lord in a hot, desolate area of the world where most people have forgotten. Is that not what it is all about? Serve and not self serve.

We head to Z’Orange to spend the day in the village and visit pastor Fani before we take off up North. Look forward to seeing our friends in the village; I hope I see John Wesley.

Leave in the morning for Haiti at 6:00 am from Pcola. A new journey for the Lord. I talked to a very good bud of mine today and we talked about the journey. We always tend to look for the destination. The way we get there is really the most important part. In the beginning of the Bible God shows us his redemptive plan and at the end he helps us see the destination. How we get there, the journey is the real stuff.

Dear Church,

I have recently returned from three weeks in Mexico where God continues to do beautiful things. GMSM was down in Mexico from the 12th of June through the 4th of July. The first week Give Me Shelter Ministries partnered up with FBC of Gulf Breeze FL, their youth group, youth pastor and adult leaders. This is an awesome group of really grounded students and adults; we were able to introduce them to the Colonias and the orphanage.

This group was an answer to a prayer that had been on my heart for a long time, they pioneered the first VBS out in the Colonias where we build the houses. That was so way cool and God was so all over it! They also did VBS at Casa Hogar Elim Orphanage. So many seeds were planted that allowed for a plentiful harvest.

The second week was spent realizing that another prayer had been answered. We had been praying and trying to get food down to several areas in Mexico. GMSM had been working with an organization called Feed My Starving Children. This organization ships food all over the entire globe. The food is free of charge; you just have to pay for the shipping. God is so gracious in that he allowed us to work with these guys. The food was shipped to Los Fresnos, Texas. I drove up from Nuevo Laredo with missionary Ray White to meet the truck. Before we even got to the church where the food was being delivered God had provided someone to pay the $640.00 shipping fee. How totally awesome was that! We really did not have all the funds to pay for the shipping we just knew that this was something God was putting together, so he provided, Amen! We worked half the food over to Matamoras and the rest we took back to Nuevo Laredo. After getting the food in the proper hands the rest of the week was spent preparing for the arrival of another church group.

FBC of Ft. Walton Bch. Fl also partnered up with GMSM to work in the Colonias and at the orphanage. We built one house in the Colonias, continued VBS at Pastor Felipes church, loved on kids in the orphanage and had a food distribution in Blanco Navidad, one of the poorest Colonias. Though it was tough at times God met all our concerns and needs. Please continue to pray for me and my family. I will be leaving for Haiti on the 25th of this month for a week. We will be pulling maintenance on a missionary’s house up in the North West part of the island.

Please pray that God will continue to provide for GMSM as we strive to seek Gods will in this ministry.

Hebrews 6:10

Kenny Phillips founder/director
Give Me Shelter Ministries, Inc.
www.givemeshelterministries.org
850-496-7398
PO Box 864
Shalimar. FL 32579

I make no apologies but the last two days were difficult and crucial. I am just now tying up the loose ends. Sometimes I can be my worse obstacle. Wednesday the 1st proved to be a critical day for the new home that we were building. It has been so very hot that we had to take many breaks to cool off. We worked very late on this day and I new that Thursday the final day, we would be cutting it very close time wise.

Most times getting a task done may not be as important as building relationships but this was a situation that meant having a roof over ones head or not. I know what we all were going home, so this was and always will be a no-brainer for me. We will complete the job.

Wednesday night we lost two of our crew. They felt that they needed to leave early, so come Thursday morning they were gone. You could say that may have put us in a desperate situation but God did what He always does when we walk in his will. I prayed that God would stop the sun for a while and I am almost sure He did. It seemed as though time had stopped for a while.

This day went smoother than the rest, the work seemed light, the weather was cooler and with help from Jose who helped with the roof and many of the youths helping hands we actually got done early. This day is always the celebration day for this particular mission trip. We delivered about 250 food boxes to the colonia Blanco Navidad, finished up VBS, cooked lunch at Felipe’s church, finished the house and had the house dedication ceremony. It is always such a joy to see the keys handed over to the new owners. Raul and Tomasa were very stoked and so were we. After the house dedication we ate the fellowship meal with Felipe’s family at the sacred Polo Buenavista. Tomorrow we pack up and clean the host church and head towards Houston and then on to FWB, FL. It will be good to get home. It was good being with the family the last week down hear. What a great three weeks it has been. What an adventure. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGERS: Emily, Mary and Mike!

Just a quick note to let everyone know what a true blessing it has been to be involved with Give Me Shelter Ministries and Kenny Phillips. But you know it’s not about Kenny Phillips it is about the mission that has been set on his life. We are working on a home for one family in the Columbian Colonials where people mostly are without power or running water. What little bit that we are doing for them and how appreciative they are for it, to see what and how the they live we are so blessed. But through all of the famish and despair there is Great Hope. This trip has touched my heart and through all the hard work and major heat I’m truly grateful God has put me here at this place at this time.
Mike

Well, this morning at breakfast I was sitting with about 6 kids shouting “hambre” about what seemed like 1000 times. I knew that meant hungry, so I couldn’t understand why they weren’t starting to eat. I tried in my best Spanish to communicate, but of course that didn’t work out. They just sat there for probably 10 minutes talking to each other until one stood up to say the blessing for the food. After that, I realized that as hungry as they were they waited to pray before they even touched their plates. That really spoke a lot to me and I was definitely blessed watching that happen.

It was a great start to an awesome day followed by a crazy water fight with everyone. It was just a water balloon toss, and then it turned into a water balloon fight. Since the craft today was water bottles, every little hand held a bottle filled up with water. It completely went downhill from there, but it was all worth it. I was soaked from my head down to my shoes. I could have very well been the wettest one today and also the one that took the longest to dry.

We got past the border easier today than yesterday, thank God for that! Today was for sure an experience, and I hope and pray we go back to the orphanage this week. I’m excited for the colonials tomorrow and Thursday especially the chicken place! Lights are out in 30 minutes and I am super overtired. Goodnight!
<3, Mary (G-Baby) Hellllloooooooooo bloggers. Today was an incredible day at the orphanage. We had to stop at the border and get off again, but God was watching out FOR SURE because it didn’t take long at all. thanks for all your prayers 🙂 we arrived at the orphanage, played with the kids, and started VBS after they had finished breakfast. My biggest blessing of the day came at breakfast. Gladys is a girl who is probably 15 years old and extremely disabled. before breakfast started, i helped mi amiga Juanita set the tables for the kids. then all the kids rushed in at the sound of the breakfast bell, and Brenda wheeled Gladys in on her wheelchair and put it in front of one of the air conditioning units. All the kids were scarfing down breakfast when i saw the look on Gladys’s face- she loves to eat and noone had brought her anything! She can’t really talk either, which makes it difficult. but i went to the kitchen and got a plate for Gladys and went over and just fed her breakfast….I’m not saying this for my own benefit at all- Gladys continued to show me true joy. She’s sitting in front of me, just two years younger, and spends every day of her life in the heat, sitting in a wheelchair, but she has more joy than anyone i know. She may not express it verbally, but the look on her face speaks louder than words ever could. And when she reached over and grabbed my hand (which is difficult because of her condition), my heart absolutely melted. We are so blessed….im speechless beyond that point. The rest of the day was awesome as well- we did a puppet show for the kids, they were muchhh more focused during the Bible story, and they loved making water bottles during arts & crafts. But perhaps the highlight of the day was what started as a water balloon toss. It ended up a full-fledged water war. and the kids definitely won. that occurred around 11 and my pants are still wet as I’m writing this right now. Combining water bottle crafts and water balloons on the same idea was a bad idea. A bunch of the kids left for school at once. we took some of the food boxes over to Felipe’s church, went back to the orphanage to pick up the rest of our gear & gang, and headed across the border. now im here, typing my note, while the others are showering because i stole the first shower yesterday 🙂 Mrs. Deindi is fixing Thai food for us tonight! and Leah is joining the fellowship and sleepover 🙂 lots of PTLs! But i better go get cleaned up for dinner and then worship. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon we’ll get to go feed the homeless with Randy!
Emily

Today was brutally hot once again but praise God He allowed us to carry on and get some things accomplished. It is always so cool to see these little projects come together. It is also really neat to have the gentleman who will own the home hanging out and getting all excited at every board nailed.

The compressor really gave us a hard time and slowed us down quiet a bit. We had to hand drive a lot, kind of like the old Amish way. Everyone is working according to their abilities and all is falling into place. We got most of the walls together and stood up even with the setbacks. It will be hot for the entire time and fluids are a must. We will have to really stay on task if we are to complete the house by Thursday afternoon.

I love this. Besides being in the water I am in my elements and am grateful God has allowed me to be a part of what he is doing around the world.

Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGER: Sarah!

Finally back at the orphanage, it had been one longgggg day. haha, I don’t know what I’m going to do without seeing the kids almost everyday when I get back home. But hopefully I’ll be back in a month or so. Kenny’s planning something, and since Em and I are his new secretaries, we have to stick around and show him on track and updated. and of course teach him some more Lady GaGa. 😉

First thing this morning, we ate and then loaded all the VBS supplies and about 60 food boxes onto the bus. Group effffort. We headed to the border and made it through the US entrance, but stopped by the border guards of Mexico. Deja Vu? Anyway, they said we came down the wrong lane or something like that; the same lane we have been using every year, butttt with Philippians 2:14 in the back of our head, we followed the guard patiently into the “right” lane.

Once we were in the right lane, the bus was stopped, and alll of us had to get off with our bags to get them x-rayed. Of course, they were wondering why the heck we had 60 Styrofoam boxes all over the bus, so we had to explain the food that we would be delivering later this week. Thirty something minutes later, we arrived at Casa Hogar Elim. Seeing there smiles never gets old. We did VBS, where we played a hilarious game of pass the hula hoop, made cross necklaces, and put on a puppet show. One of the puppets was a dog from the orphanage. I guess Raul and Hector wanted to join in, so they got behind the stage and moved him around. Those boys are trouble 🙂

I have to say though, my favorite part of VBS was girl time. We painted the girls nails, and gave them manicures/pedicures. I got my nails painted about 9 different times, with about 25 different colors. Right now, I have my nails painted, four orange, and three green… only six done. I think that style might just catch on, eventually. We ran out of nail polish remover, so there is no possible way for me to take it off.

At about 4, we headed over to the Colombia bridge again to avoid waiting in bumper to bumper traffffic. PTL, there wasn’t a line. At all. But we got stopped, again. Philippians 2:14!!! This time we had to get off the bus and wait for it to get x-rayed. Yes, the bus. We were told it could take “between 5 minutes to a couple of hours.” So we waited in the familiar lounge, sprawled out over the floor, playing the name game, and reading old magazines for about an hour and a half. Good times.

After getting back on the bus, we headed straight to the church for showers and dinnnner. I’m amazed about how no one complained today, either times, about getting stopped. I mean, on the way back we were all hott, tired, and hungry, but not a single person complained or fussed. PTL.

At the church we ate dinner and then went into worship. We watched the infamous Looossss Sientoooo Tori video, and then Matt sang a few songs. After worship was desert, which then led me straight here. I’m past curfew already, once again. Anyway, we came up with a new game today… WAY better than the dart game. And if you know what the dart game is, trust me, this is so much better…

Much <3,
Gates

The heat is brutal. Today we started the house out in the colonia for Tomasa and Raul Benitto. They are members of pastor Felipe’s church. We spent about 2 hours at Home depot gathering lumber and Chucks plumbing supplies before we headed off across the border. We did not get to the new home site till 11:00. We were making sure that the temp was at least 106 degrees before we got started. Real mission work ya know. It has been crazy hot. We got a fairly good start on the floor system with just a couple of small stretches, like trying to keep it square. As long as it’s in the bubble…..right. All is good though. God will take care of the details. Tomorrow we will stand up some walls and see some good progress. God has put together a great group for the house. A bud from home and some buds from Ponchatoula,La. The rest of the team stayed at the church today and will hit the orphanage hard in the morning. Gary and Chuck are heading up the plumbing duties at Casa Hogar Elim. Praise God, good day. Can not wait till tomorrow. Gonna be HOT!

Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGERS: Sarah and Emily!

Happy Sunday!
Today was awesome. I got a GREAT night’s sleep, even if it was on a flat air matress. i was with my gates so what difference does it make? 🙂 I woke up early and got ready and had a nice long quiet time before breakfast. Then i ate some cereal (special k! I’m so glad brandon let me pick out the cereal…) and a banana. you really wanted to know that. After breakfast I read philipians 2 to the group. each morning we have a different person lead a devotion for the day, and today was my day. after that we played hearts, speed and brushed our teeth. I was on the construction crew today, so we hung out awhile until Kenny and his helpers finished buying the lumber supplies. The rest of the group went to church in the sanctuary here at PIB and i honestly have no idea what they did all day after that. But as for the constuction crew, we went and got to work laying the floor at the house. In the meantime, Mr. Chuck and Mr. Gary started working on the plumbing. funn…hm. We got a lot of work done and headed back across the border around 5. Showered up for dinner while the rest of the group was at church; we got here too late to enter the service. Brisket for dinner….with a large salad 🙂 and then had some amazing worship time. Kenny talked about Jonah and Matthew Brown played my favorite worship songs ever. Our Lord is so amazing. this group is full of so many different individuals, but we share the one common thread that matters, and this unites us as one body. Can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of this week!
Night!
Emily

Oh Happy Day, I’ll never be the sameeeeeee, forever I am changed.

Feliz Domingo! Today was amazing, as usual. But I have a lot to do tonight with helping Kenny with the GMSM website. (Em did it last night, so it’s my turn!) Anyway, I’ll give you a run through of the day: woke up. got ready. breakfast. played card games. taught Lydia card tricks. church. more card games. lunchhhhhhhhh. worked on planning for tomorrow. changed. shot basketball. called kyle. siesta, on accident. saw abel! church again. dinner. hungout with abel. played drums, piano, and sang with em :). went exploring with the girls. played catch phrase. worship. hungout a little. now writing this noteeee, and listening to matt brown be amazing on the keyboard, again.

Tomorrrow we areeee going to the orphanage/ colonials again. I’ll probably be at the construction site later this week.

Mcuh<3,
Gates