The Good New Breakdown

My sweet Italian Friend from church asked me for a breakdown of what I still have left to raise. So this morning I sat down and worked out how many people I still need on my support team depending on how much they give.

Okay here is how it breaks down...

I still need $2800 a month.


2 people giving $1400 a month
5 people giving $560 a month
10 people giving $280 a month
28 people giving $100 a month
56 people giving $50 a month
100 people giving $28 a month

I tend to be a glass half full type of person, so when I look at this I see that out of the 1,000's and 1,000's of people who are part of God's family I only need to find less than 100 to support me!

Like I said in my last news letter, I am sooooo ready to go to Rome, to join God in the work he is doing there. So if you would like to join my support team, and have a part in the Kingdom Building work in Rome please please let me know. If you have a group of friends who may like to support me lets have a party and I will come share with them about how they can be involved.

Thanks to all of you who have already started giving, to those who lift me up in prayer each day! Your support means so much to me, and having you share in this ministry is one of the most awesome parts of support raising, and missions.

A little bit of Haiti at Home

Of all the things I brought home from Haiti, the thing I cherish most is a hand written recipe for Haitian Rice and Beans. This was by far my favorite of all the delicious meals that Rosita our cook made for us, so I of course begged her for the recipe. She being the sweetest woman obliged but with apologies because it is in French.

"No worries" I told her, I will just get a friend to translate. And I did. Thanks to my good friend, and faithful blog reader and supporter, George Walter! (Thanks, George)
The problem is that some important parts of the recipe were missing, and there was going to need to be a fair amount of educated guessing, to get close. But, after some hard work and even a bit of prayer and one call to Haiti I got it right!


And now I have it available for you, enjoy.



Rosita's Red Beans and Rice (with a little bit of improvisation)
Feeds about 10

Ingredients:

3 cups of white rice - picked over and washed
1/2 cup of dried red beans
Chicken and Veggie Bouillon Cubes (amount may vary, but feel lucky, cause this was what I discovered was missing when I called Haiti)
Water
1/4 cup of cooking oil
1/4lb of diced bacon
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 stalk of leeks finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 soup spoon worth of butter

Process:

1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil
2. Add Bouillon Cubes which ever you like, I added equal parts veggie and chicken
3. Add 1/2 cup of red beans and allow to sit and boil for about least 2 hours. (no need to pre-soak the beans)
4. Rinse off your rice and if you are in Haiti, pick out anything that might not belong, like mouse droppings or rocks. Measure out your 3 cups and set aside for later.
5. In a large skillet or frying pan fry your cubed bacon, in the cooking oil if you like (not sure where the 1/4 cup of cooking oil was to go, but this seemed like the only place.) while that is frying, chop up your veggies and then add them to the bacon and oil, allow to simmer all together in the hot oil. Then remove the majority of the oil leaving just enough for flavor.
6. When your red beans are soft to bite through, about 2 hours, you can pour them and the red broth into your skillet and add your 3 cups of rice.
7. I found I needed more liquid so I made more broth and added it as well, just enough to cover the rice and beans and veggies and bacon. Then cover with a lid, reduce heat to low and allow it to simmer until all the liquid is gone and rice is tender.
8. Add a spoon of butter.
9. Salt to taste.
10. Serve to those you love.

Last Night

It is my last night in Haiti, and it is hard to wrap my mind and heart around leaving. I am ready to go home in many ways, but I think much of my heart will linger here for quite sometime. As it should.

Today was a day of passing on information and helping paint the bunk houses. But more importantly it was a day of goodbyes to a lot of lovely people.

Rosita, Marco, Roman, Miguel, and Meglan. Not easy goodbyes I will miss them all. They are an integral part of the ministry and life here at the Haitian Queen.

Please pray for tomorrow. I leave here at the house at 6am, the airport is a series of check points and security checks, I need to be on a plane at 10:20am Haiti time. Then I fly to Ft. Lauderdale, then wait for 6 hours then on to Dallas for 2hours then home! 11:30 pm CA time

Thanks again for all your love and support!

Answered Prayer and Completed Tasks

It is a pretty calm day here at the Haitian Queen, aside from our director forgetting his passport and wallet on the floor when he left for the airport early this morning and people having to go catch up to him at the Airport. Thankfully it all worked out. I am taking advantage of the slow time, to catch up on a few things and to take it easy as I am on day 9 or 10 of being sick.

I did manage to get the bunk houses set up for the 8 people arriving this afternoon, hanging bed nets and moving air mattresses out. Here are some pictures of how great the bunk houses are looking right now...





The addition of the bunk houses continues to draw the attention of the neighbors, one newly wed couple have even stopped by to get the directions, and find out what supplies they would need to make their own. We have more roofers coming on Sunday so we hope to get the tarp roof on the girls replaced with a metal one soon! But with the addition of the window tarps that Rick conjured up and the tar to patch the leaks in the tin they have stayed dry!

Other good things is that our 3 day kids club was a success, the first day there were 4 of us leading 75 or so kids and the rest of the time it was 3 of us and more kids. But even with a huge language barrier, limited equipment, i.e. a few balls, a bit of sidewalk chalk and a rope, and bandannas we managed to keep them not only entertained but share the love of Jesus with them and they with us.

I never ever want to hear someone complain about a VBS program, or budget or lack of staff. 75-85 kids 6months-15years in one room and under a tiny tarp for 2-3hours a day in 3 languages, with no budget means with the same goal accomplished as any other VBS except after and during Earthquakes and aftershocks, means I am pretty sure we make life much more complicated than it needs to be at home.

Thank you for all your prayers and support! Looking forward to coming home on Tuesday and sharing with you more in person about life and God here in Haiti.

Looking up

I am happy to report that things here in Haiti are improving. As we drove through PAP these last two days it was evident that the heaps of garbage that had covered the streets and water ways are being cleared away! Even in front of the major market where I had witnessed some of the worst unsanitary disturbingly awful conditions the piles are almost non existent now! Praise God!

One or maybe more of the humanitarian organizations are paying locals to clean up the city and that program seems to be working! There are groups of Haitians in blue shirts and yellow shirts clearing trash, sweeping streets and even beginning to clear rubble. It is drastically different from this time last week.

The big machines have also finally come, and you can see them moving piles of concrete and and demolishing buildings that are ready to topple.

All of this is a huge answer to many, many prayers!

Our driver commented today that the streets were never clean before the earthquake, so it is even an improvement from what used to be!

Some more ways you can pray:

1. We finished our 2nd of 3 kids clubs this week. They are going well, but we are tired. I have been sick for 7 days and am pretty worn out.
2. Pray for our translators at the kids club they to are tired.
3. We are getting a heap load of new people, pray for transitions and the safety of those coming and going.
4. Praise that all those who have left have made it home safely! (I think, ROB?)
5. Our cargo is supposed to arrive in Cap Haitian anytime, please pray that God works a miracle and we can get the trucks and stuff that is on that boat out of Hawk and get them safely down here.
6. I am trying to come home the 9th, I think I have my ticket, but my itinerary never showed up in my email. :O( this was a 2 hour process, pray that it works.


Thank you for all your prayers for Haiti, for the teams here and for me. We all greatly appreciate it.

Jesus Loves These Little Children

This morning we were up early again, and I had time to open my Bible before we loaded into the truck to drive to Delmas 19,Cite Militaire, an Orphanage we could not locate up near Delmas 105 and to Carrefour to grab some things When I opened my Bible this is the passage I turned too...

Matthew 18

1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Fitting, no?

15th Day in Haiti

Today I said goodbyes to 8 of my teammates, which means there is no one left here who was here when I arrived. Not an easy goodbye, but like one of them said at dinner last night, "we will be friends forever bonded by this experience." (something like that.)

It is true, when you spend 2 weeks with people in this kind of extreme environment it is something you will never forget. I have not shared much about my team, because it is hard to sum them up but I love and miss everyone who has served here at the Haitian Queen.



These four guys;Lenny, Dave, Dale and Pete along with Rob in the top picture will always be in my mind my 5 Haitian Dad's. Their love of God and their joy got me through all of the hardest days. I loved when they would as my friend Brittany says, "belly laugh" late at night in their bunks like little boys at summer camp, or gathered around in the yard or at the table. They work harder than any guys I have ever met with not one pity party or complaint. I will miss them terribly.




Linda, Mike and Barb, welcomed me with open arms and encouraged me daily to use my gifts, they too will be missed around here. All have left their mark here in Haiti and at the Haitian Queen.