Martensville / Weyburn Team

We are pleased to welcome this very energetic team from Martensville, Weyburn, SK and Noah from Rocky Mountain House, AB.
The arrival of this ream is extra special as our son, Alex has joined them.  We will have lots of fun together!

Youth Conference Speakers

Along with Chris Girvin from Innisfail, AB, we have speakers for the conference from Leduc and Grande Prairie, AB.  We welcomed Pastor Ed and Pastor Travis along with a few others from their churches to check out what is happening at Haiti ARISE.

Generations Church, Grande Prairie, AB

Daystar Church, Leduc, AB

This Week.....

Our weeks are fairly full --  not just for us personally, but for all those involved at Haiti ARISE.  It is only Thursday, but so much has happened.  Here are a few pictures.....

Lots of food is being prepared for the Youth Conference
'fresh beef'

'fresh bread'

'fresh fish' - caught by Marc

Walking the new pulpit up the mountain to the Children's Church

Roof pour at the Tech School Mechanics/Welding building

Easter Sunday Celebration

We had a wonderful resurrection celebration today.  The church was full and we had lots of singing, worship and communion.  It was very special.

Children's Choir

Men's Group

Ladies Group

Welcome, Innisfail Alliance Team

This past week, we welcomed 'home' Chris & Rebecca and their daughter, Gabrielle.  Three years ago, they spent 10 months here hosting teams and teaching English.  This is the first time they have been back together and their daughter's first trip to Haiti!
Chris is now the Youth Pastor for the Innisfail Alliance Church (Alberta) and they were able to bring a couple from their church with them -- Jon & Jen.
Rebecca oversees the child sponsorship program for Haiti ARISE.  She is planning on doing updates on the sponsored children and older students and finding more kids that need sponsored.

Welcome, Crossroads Team

We welcomed this team from Red Deer, AB yesterday.  They arrived quite tired after having two mornings of 3 a.m. wake up times!  They come with many skills and talents and are a lot of fun, too!

Sunday School Progam

This past Sunday evening, the Sunday School put on a wonderful program of skits and songs. Some of the gifts purchased from the online gift catalogue were presented to people of all ages who have memorized scripture from their SS lessons during this past year.

Skit by the Young Teen class

Young people with gifts of school supplies
for scripture memorization

Four from the Senior's class competing - who has the
most verses on the 'tip of their tongue'?!

Tapion Children's Church

I have written about Tapion in other posts and on facebook.  It is a unique church that has been meeting every Sunday afternoon for nine years.  Jhony and Roseline faithfully show up every week and 75 to 100 kids show up as well.  This is a pole church with a dirt floor and wood benches.  It is located about 15 minutes up the highway from Haiti ARISE.  We park along the side of the road and walk up the side of the mountain to get to it.  The children that come are from the mountains on both sides of the highway.  They are very poor, but they know scripture and songs by heart and have a thirst for Jesus.  When teams come and decide to visit Tapion, they prepare a story and some songs and sometimes send them home with a treat.
The last teams that were here decided to do some much needed repairs on this little church.  A donation had been made previously for this purpose, so they have started some upgrades.
It is a very humbling experience to attend this church and to share a little about the love of Jesus with them.

New Life.....

It is a special time when members of teams decide during their experience in Haiti that it is time for them to make a public declaration of their faith by being baptized in the ocean.  It is a time of celebrating new life.  On the way to the beach for a baptism the other day, we passed a mama goat who had just given birth to two little ones.  She was still cleaning them off and the babies' legs were wobbly as they were struggling to stand.  The timing was unique as this was also 'new life'.  It is also a reminder that it is Easter season when Christ paid the ultimate price so that we all could have new life.

New little family

Ben baptized by his Pastor and Dad

Renae baptized with Keith & Andrea

Graduation Day

Haiti ARISE has had the blessing of having Laurens & Louisa here to teach a ten week course on basic soil science and gardening.  Their graduation day was March 31 with 75 students completing the class.  One of the students in the class is a pastor in the mountains.  He said that the people in his area only eat beans and rice because they did not know if their soil was good to grow in and they did not have seeds or the basic knowledge.  He is now going to help get 10 garden plots going in his area. Also, one of the students in the class is Christophe, who is the gardener for Haiti ARISE.  He is so pleased to have a certificate in the area that he is so passionate in. 

The Class

Christophe

Marc giving remarks - he happens to be one of the graduates, too!

Louisa,  Laurens and Joany (their translator)

 

Community Visits

The highlight of being here is going out into the community to visit our neighbors.  We either go on our own, or when teams are here, we take them out.  We often take small gifts and toys to give them after a visit. We encourage them and share God's love with them, however, we leave feeling blessed by them. 

One of the many little faces!

Marcella - she is not longer mobile enough to get to church so we
went to visit her and pray with her.  We were truly blessed by her!

This fellow's wife sent down a couple pairs of slippers to give to someone
who did not have shoes and who had difficulty walking.

March Ends as it Began!

The last day of the month, we welcomed two teams......from Kalispell, Montana and from Rocky Mountain House, AB.

New Covenant Team, Montana

Rocky Mountain House Alliance Team