Mission Blog

It’s funny how a little break from the action can really rest the soul, mind and body. I should try that more often down here. We rented a van to go up to the mountains with the team and Harry. The destination was the Haiti Baptist Mission founded around 1947. An incredible drive and a beautiful area. It is due south of Port au Prince way up at the top of a mountain range in an area called Fermathe. The temps are at least 20 degrees lower up there so it was a nice change from the hot, hot heat down in Tabarre. Starting tomorrow the team will be lead by Pastor Brent and they will do some final touches around the school and help Pastor Harry with some things that need to be done at the church. I will return eraly to attend to some personal stuff. I am so fortunate to have Brent as part of GMSM. He is a seasoned vet in the mission field and very comfortable with team work. Plus Brent and Daniel both know the game down here. Harry will also guide them every step of the way. I’ve never been in a position to have some one take the helm and I am excited for them. Over the years we have gotten the situation so dialed in down here that we have many people looking after us. The whole team is comfortable with the change and it allows me a certain freedom that I have not had in the past. I would not leave this in any other hands but Brent Allen. Please continue to pray for the team as they approach the last two days. They are a wonderful team. God always gives us good teams to work with and it makes a big differance on how the trip goes. Brent will be the guest blogger and picture taker for the next two days. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

Strange day in Haiti today. Once again the team worked great and the Haitian help came out strong. They completed the third and final coat by lunch. I say they because I spent the entire day putting out fires with Harry and the school director Myrva. I’m not sure I accomplished much on my end but at least the school is pink. There will be some other touch up painting to do on Friday and I’m hoping the Lord will fill in the next two days for us. I had no idea that we would have the extra help come to paint. A blessing I’m sure but it knocked us out of work. I’m sure God has His plan. I will say I think Ashley gets the MVP award for the best all around hard worker. Haiti always seems to be a place where what you see is not always what you get. It can be tough to navigate physically and spiritually through all the unknowns. There can also be many disappointments. I should be used to it but apparently I’m not. We have to continue to pray that God has us right where he wants us and that we have to continually gave this ministry to Him. I think I will take the team up to the Baptist Mission tomorrow for some R&R, it will be fun. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

We got brushes and rollers wet today. God gave us an incredible day to paint. Nice cool wind, clear skies and great fellowship. One thing I can tell you for sure is Daniels 13 year old daughter Ashley worked like crazy today. She must really like painting because she picked up all the slack for us slackers. Something else so cool was we had about 10 people show up to help us paint the school. It was such a blessing to see folks come out and be a part of what we were doing. They too worked so hard today. We had four of our school staff, two of Harrys cousins, several church members and one of our students help out. I really thought we would be tight on time to finish the three coat process in our week here but we got two coats inside and outside of the school today. We will paint the third coat tomorrow. We will finish with no problem which means we will have to find some other stuff to do to keep the team going. We will be able to have some free time soHarry and I can show them some local stuff. I never anticipated the help we got today. That’s a great testimony to the kind of leader Harry is to his church and community. People really to respect him and that to is a cool testimony to his Christian walk. We bought lunch for all the workers and ourselves and after we all chowed down we got back to it. Totally amazing how much work got done today. I don’t know why it surprises me when Gods hand is in it. We got back to the guest house showered and had another fabulous meal at Mon Chez Moi guest house. Sem the owner is so kind to me and our teams. He really takes good care of us. We are so blessed to have Harry and Sem here in Haiti. They make life easy for us in a very hard country. I say this all the time, without Harry we would be totally lost here in Haiti. What a blessing and dear friend he is. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

As I sit here to write this I realize I’ve made a terrible mistake. I left my adaptor for my camera memory stick that fits the iPad at home. I am freaking out at the possibility of not being able to send pics with the blogs. The pics yesterday came from saved pictures I already had. I have plenty of pics from church today but have no way to send them. BUMMER !!!! I will post the church pics later when I get home. The rest of the trip I will use the iPad to take pictures and we should be ok. Anyway it was a good day at the church and all though the services are long and hot, I think the team enjoyed it. We saw Harrys wife and daughter and visited with the congregation. We all shared a word of encouragement with the church at Harrys request. Once church was over we went to my favorite hole in the wall restaurant. Cheap but great food. We took Harrys family with us and really did enjoy the fellowship. From there it was back to the guest house for chill time. Tomorrow we paint. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. It feels like way to long since I’ve been back in Haiti. The last trip down and was a short trip so I am very excited to be in my second home with my second family. Like all trips down here, this will be special. The team will be painting our school. For many years the walls were just concrete and cinder block. GMSM finally was able to come up with the funds to plaster the walls inside and outside of the school. The Haitian workers along with Pastor Harry have worked very hard the last three weeks to make sure the walls were ready for the team. The team is represented by two local churches in the panhandle. From First Baptist Church of Fort Walton Beach, FL is Charles Wimberly and myself. Charles and I have been serving together for many years in the mission fields both stateside and international. I went to Madagascar with him on my very first mission trip. The trip that totally changed my life.The second church is First Baptist Church of Gulf Breeze, FL. They are represented by Brent Allen, Daniel Johnston and Ashley Johnston. This is the second trip to Haiti with GMSM for both Brent and Daniel. Brent also serves on the board for GMSM. As always Harry was on time to meet us at the airport and Sem drove us to our watering hole for the week. Sem has such a nice guest house and he treats us very good. We had our first killer meal here and all went to bed early. Tomorrow we will go to worship at Harrys church. I am looking forward to the fellowship.

Kenny
GMSM

I awoke to the same sounds that always awake me in Haiti. Last night I was presented the task of making a decision. I guess that’s one of the perks for being the “leader”. Since we were in a private plane we had the flexibility to do what we want. With that said some of the guys were willing to cut the trip short so we could get on back. The decision was left up to me that if there was nothing pressing then let’s head back but if stuff needed to be done then we stay. I did have a few things to do but it was nothing that Harry could not take care of. So I submitted to the wishes and made plans to cut out of here a day early.. We first took a quick flight over the mountains to Jacmel where one day we will be doing some outreach ministry. It’s a beautiful place and always a treat to visit. It only took us ten minutes to get there by plane. It usually takes us two and a half hours to get there by public transportation. We headed back to Port to do the paper work to get out of Dodge. I went over some last minute instructions for Harry and left it all in his hands. He is totally dependable and we have no worries with him. This was an incredibly short trip but I did accomplish for the most part what I set out to do. And that was to introduce Beachside Community Church, Fort Walton Beach, FL. to the Evangelical Baptist School of Trinity in hopes of casting our net further out to reach new and more partners. As Harry always says,”God knows”. Another great thing that happened was that Pilot Steve Merritt had gotten twenty seven refurbished lap tops from Capital One and gave us ten for the school. The other seventeen went somewhere else in Haiti. So big, big props to Bahamas Habitat. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. It was a good trip fruitful trip.

Kenny
GMSM

Harry and I getting ready to board the Aztec headed to Jacmel.

The Jacmel airport.

The beaches of Jacmel.

The mountains from the air going south to the coast.

Harry the co- pilot. Yeah right !

After a great meal and a good nights sleep at the guest house, we woke up to the usual sounds of roosters, dogs, goats or whatever happened to be hanging out beyond the walls of Mon Chez Moi. I gathered the troops for todays mission. Harry and Rony the taptap driver came and took us to the school. This was a special day because as I said in an earlier blog this is a trip that was about two years in the making. Today Shaun will see the school and the things that the Lord has allowed us to do. Once we got to the school the crew met the teachers and the staff. We were greeted with welcome songs from the kids and these guys got to see the school in full operation from classes, P.E. to lunch and then back to classes. After a few hours we took the team over to the construction site of Harrys house. The roof was put on it last month and we are inching closer to a complete project. All we lack is finishing and money to finish it. From there we grabbed some grub at a local hole in the wall and headed back to the guest house. Tomorrow will be a new day and we may be headed to the Jacmel on the south coast. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

P.E. Students can’t live by work alone.

Washing their hands before lunch.

The lunch line.

Giving thanks while the class clown looks on.

hard to learn when your stomach is flat. Lunchtime.

The lunch ladies preparing lunch for the kids. As you can see we are still cooking outside. Please pray that one day we would have a small kitchen so prepare the lunches. It will cost around $6000.00 to construct using Haitian labor and bosses. I’m just saying………

Larry, Steve, Shaun and Pastor Harry stand in front of the school.

The new roof on Harrys house.

A big praise from God whom all blessings flow. We made it to Haiti via Eleuthera in the twin engine Aztec in one piece. I really did not think we wouldn’t. It was an incredible journey and I am really stoked to have been able to take this trek with these guys. It’s probably not for the faint of heart but I totally dug it. There were times that I felt fairly vulnerable. The day started with breakfast at the camp and we got to see the teams assemble for their duties of the day. Seems that the Bahamas Methodist Habitat is mainly a construction mission that ministers to the island through home repairs. They have other things happening but that seems to be the main focus which is something I can totally relate to. From there we took the plane to the north side of the island for fuel. While the plane was getting juiced up we took a cab and a boat to a community to see the children’s home and a church built by some local women. Both were very impressive to say the least. We back tracked to the plane, took off and headed to Haiti. What an awesome flight to say the least. This would not be everyone’s cup of tea but for me I see great possibilities for GMSM with this. Once we got to Haiti and did all the stuff you gotta do with private planes, we headed to my home away from home, MonChez Moi guest house. Harry was there waiting on us with his usual smile and all is well. We had a fabulous meal, as always and I think the crew is stoked so far. Tomorrow we check out the school and Harrys house project. I can’t wait to see the new roof.

Kenny
GMSM

This is a trip that is about two years in the making. As we move forward in the adventures set before us it is exciting to see how God puts pieces of the puzzle together. For the longest time Shaun Ellis and I have tried to get to Haiti. The dots have finally been connected. Shaun who is the lead pastor at Beachside Community Church and one of his staff, Larry Holmes has joined GMSM on a trip down to the school so they can see the students, teachers and the progress we’ve made the past two years. We also have a gentleman whose name is Steve from North Carolina. He is a pilot and has a mission called Bahama Habitat. They have flown many missions to the Bahamas and Haiti since the earth quake. They have several private planes that serve both areas. He is also connected with a mission in Eleuthera , Bahamas called Bahama Methodist Habitat. This is where we will spend the night on the first leg of our trip. The aviation mission group has donated a 6 passenger, twin engine plane to Beachside to use between Haiti and Mexico. So GMSM gets to do the shake down flight. Wow what a flight it was. We left Destin airport and topped off fuel in Orlando and then flew straight to Eleuthera. Once we landed in Eleuthera we parked the plane and went through customs. Steve drove us around a little bit and then we went to the mission to settle in. I’ve always wanted to go to Eleuthera and here I am. The surf is good on this island during the winter time. When we get up we will go to North Eleuthera to fuel up, visit a children’s home and then head on over to Haiti. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

The crew Kenny, Shaun, Larry and Steve.

Bahama beauty.

Today was an all day affair at the house. The work is coming along nicely and I do believe by the end of next week the roof will be ready for concrete. Two of the pitches have been framed in and we started putting plywood on them today. I am always amazed at how these guys do the things they do. All the lumber is cut with machetes or a small hand saw. As the boss was framing in the pitches he used only the machete to make ALL his cuts. Totally blew me away. When it came to the plywood they used a handsaws to make ALL cuts. I am glad I was not the cut man. All I could think of is Dennis and I back home trying to do our remodeling this way. I can see us now pulling into someone’s drive way with a hammer in one hand and a machete in the other. That would go over real well I’m sure. Anyway the roof is going better than I expected. I guess you really have to be here to appreciate it. Hard, hard work. The last three days I’ve been using mottos for transportation. This is a whole adventure in it self. I would certainly say there is a fair amount of danger to it. But it is cheap and quick. It just gets to expensive to hire private tap taps. As I’m riding on these things I often think, dude your almost 55 and your not superman anymore. You are pretty much at the mercy of the driver too. Nothing between you and the concrete, moving metal and the other 300 million motorcycles. The only advantage I have is that Harry gets me the “good ” drivers and they do take it a little easier when I’m on the back. So far God has taken care of me and I don’t mean to tempt Him but at times there is no other choice. One day He will bless us with a vehicle down here. Until then, in Haiti do as the Haitians do. Do what you gotta do to make it work. Once Harrys house is finished and we get some wheels our expenses will go way down. These are two things that I  continually pray for. It’s all His timing. No complaints, I am stoked at what He is doing through GMSM.Today is the last day and I already miss it and I haven’t left yet. I don’t know….. I just feel like I belong. Why this place I’ll never know I just know that’s where God has led me. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Kenny, GMSM