Mission Blog

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I know that all blessings come from God, but I must admit that I don’t understand all blessings or recognize all blessings at times. We are constantly put through many trials in Haiti and today was no exception. If I lived in this country for 100 years I would still be considered an outsider. Praise God that I have Harry by my side to help me understand the Haitian culture. I guess we are really a whole lot different from each other in many ways. Trust should be gained by earning it, and sometimes I am too trusting in that I usually allow someone to burn me before I make a true character judgment. It breaks my heart to have to feel like we must continually prove ourselves, but on the flipside I understand and respect the leadership on the ground at the orphanage.

Today was a slow day all plans were changed, welcome to Haiti! That’s the way it goes sometimes. It was a good day to do “gut checks” and rest.

I thank God that GMSM has partners who do see the bigger picture that God has for us here in Haiti. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Kenny

GMSM

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God knows all things and does all things. He did provide me with a good night’s sleep and today would prove that I needed it! Fede took us to Mirebalais to the World Vision office to meet with one of the field personnel who is involved in all operations in the Central Plateau area of Peligre and surrounding areas. Although it was a short unannounced visit it did open a door for Fede and I to make an appointment to meet with him.

We were going to go and meet the bank dude but the bank was closed so we went to a small restaurant and ate some rice and beans. Fede went and bought a few supplies for the orphanage, he went alone so that the price of things would not jack up because of the blancs (us). We headed back to Peligre to find refuge from the heat only to find that there was none to be found.

After much fellowship, I got my shower and Harry and I walked to the dam to use the phone and have some much needed conversation about GMSM, Savon Blonde Baptist Church and Peligre School of Hope and Harry’s personal issues with the house he is trying to build for his family. God only knows how much I truly love this man and his family and how much I want to help them. After about two hours we walked back in the dark to the orphanage to find Curt in his new element playing with the kids. He is normally clicking away at his camera so it was nice to see him without it around his neck. He was doing a skit about David and Goliath and the kids were digging it! My brother Bob was leading the children in some songs and all were blessed. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Kenny

GMSM

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Fede arrived right on time, when he says something you can always depend on him to keep his promise. I told Kelly that Fede was coming to the guest house at 7:00 a.m. and she said “you mean he might be here by 8:00, I know Haitian time” Wrong! 6:45 and he was here as promised.

Fede hired a tap-tap to take us to the deli-mart to buy groceries and then take us up to Peligre. We had such a pleasant stay at God’s Planet Guest House. Joe, Kelly and the children were a blessing to us. We prayed with them and then took off for the adventure that God has laid before us. The warriors that God has placed with me are hand picked by Him and all will be blessed through Him. After the groceries were bought we headed up the mountain. We stopped in Mirebalais to buy food for the orphanage and got the local rip-off of foreigners, which really angered Fede. Unfortunately, Haitians look at blancs as bundles of money not help. We took our rip-off graciously and headed off to Peligre.

Once we arrived I felt like I was at home, we re-grouped got our chum organized and began the long process of getting caught up on Peligre School of Hope stuff. The latrine that IUMC has sponsored is almost complete and the shower floors have been re-worked to drain better, although it is still slow. The Haitian do the best they can under the circumstances they live in and that is all we can expect. If you want perfect drainage stay home and pay a plumber 125.00 an hour….it is Haiti no matter how you look at it. Praise God for our partnership with IUMC!

It rained like crazy tonight which stopped us from going to the cell phone spot by the dam. Darlene, Fede’s wife treated us to a wonderful Haitian meal of chicken and pikliz. After more rain and a lot of conversation we called it a night. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Kenny

GMSM

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Praise God from whom all blessing flow! I had a really good nights sleep, with God all things are possible! Most know that a good night’s sleep in Haiti is hard to come by. The only thing that we have planned today is to exchange some money (drug deal style) and go to Harry’s revival tonight.

Harry picked us up around 8:30 or so and we met the money dude at the restaurant to make the exchange. Once the deal went down, we went by Harry’s property to show Curt and Bob the vision that Harry has for a house. God has laid this on my heart and I know we will eventually find a way to raise the money to turn this vision into a reality. Harry is such a beautiful patient man. We picked up Harry’s wife and went back to the restaurant and had a great meal of fried turkey, plantains, macaroni, rice and sauce. More food than we could eat and it only cost five dollars per plate including a drink. With full bellies we took off to Harry’s church where we stayed the rest of the day. We did stop and buy eight bags of rice for Harry’s church.

It is always a joy for me to introduce people to places that are dear to me and Harry’s church and property are two of those places. Tomorrow we will go to Peligre another one of those places. We hung out in the heat at the church where Bob would eventually lead in worship, I would preach and Curt would take pictures. It was a beautiful service as always and I was stoked to be able to speak from Harry’s pulpit. After the service we got back to the guest house where Joe and Kelly had prepared a great meal that included my favorite Haitian dish picklees. All three of us were about maxed out, after eating Curt and I took count of our goudes. I then headed off to bed for what I hoped would be another good night.

Kenny

GMSM

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I’m not sure if I ever really get used to the same old gig of getting to Pensacola at 5:30 a.m. to get checked in. This trip is special though because I am going with 3 people who have never gone to Haiti with me before. Bob Browning of FBCFWB and Curt Meadows from Destin are traveling with me. We are supposed to hook up with Chuck Grueber from MN in Port Au Prince.

Normal trip as always PNS/Miami and PAP, even the baggage claim at PAP went smoothly. Bob has never been here before and I always love to see how people react when they first get to Haiti. We collected our chum, met up with Harry my dear Haitian brother, got in a tap-tap and headed toward God’s Planet Guest House. When we arrived we were met by Joe and Kelley and their six kids. This family is here for 11 weeks to run the guest house.

We dropped our stuff off at the guest house and headed back to the air port to get Chuck. When we got there he was no where to be found. We found out that his flight from Fort Lauderdale had been cancelled. We then had to find a cyber café to check and see if I had any messages. Sure enough he was stuck in Ft. Lauderdale and eventually was not able to get a flight to Haiti until Tuesday. So he decided to go back to MN. God knows all and I guess it was not the time.

When we arrived back at the guest house they were cooking chicken on the grill for supper. So, while we were waiting Curt, aka “David Copperfield” put on a magic show for the kids that brought much joy, curiosity and laughter. I love to see people take time to recognize opportunities to minister. Bob and I talked to the proprietors and got to know then a little bit. I really enjoyed this time here, these are really sweet people. Tomorrow should be awesome as everyday in Haiti has the chance to be. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Kenny

GMSM

 

Thanks to everyone who responded to a need for water that we were told about shortly before we left for Haiti. With your help we purchased and delivered much needed water to the children in the school and orphanage in Peligre. Continue reading “Thank you from Haiti!”

The 3rd Annual Give Me Shelter Ministries Golf Tournament was another great event to raise money for the missions in Haiti and Mexico.  Thank you to our golfers, sponsors and volunteers!  See you next year!

Continue reading “Thank You Golfers!”

While we had a smaller turnout this year, the players still had a wonderful day of softball and almost $900 was raised for Give Me Shelter Ministries.   Continue reading “2011 Softball Tourney a Big Success!”

We are in Haiti June 19 – 25 delivering water to the orphanage and school in Peligre, Haiti. Please help us purchase as much water as possible!

Kenny will be in Haiti for a week starting Sunday, June 19.  He has 3 volunteers joining him to take water to the orphanage in Peligre.  They have NO potable water at this point.

Please visit our website for reports from the mission trip. Continue reading “Urgent Need in Haiti THIS WEEK”