Friday, December 5, 2014

Mini Catch-Up

On my, what a lot of stuff to catch you up on! Here's a start:

Firstly, if the last thing you heard about us was from our last post (The Joys of International Travel) where I was stuck for three days in Miami on my way to Haiti, then rest assured, I did make it to Haiti eventually. The trip did not go as we had planned, but God was present and active - it was a good trip. More on that later.

Our team had some good conversations with people
as we went door-to-door in Kayemit and Kraze Zo. 
My team! These guys from Findlay E-Free Church in northern Ohio
were fantastic. Flexible, humble, willing to serve, honest, enthusiastic
 and God worked through them. It was a joy to serve alongside them. 
Secondly, with all our travels and times apart recently, our family is now enjoying being together, even on 8+ hour car trips to places like Iowa (for a weekend Missions conference where we were speakers). Last week was (American) Thanksgiving, a holiday we've come to appreciate. It's really not all about the food, unlike our first impressions, but at its heart is all about giving thanks (who'd have thought). Giving thanks to God. Which of course is a God-ordained ongoing attitude, not just a once-a-year thing. Still, it's good to get a day off to give thanks (and eat Roasted Ham with Pears & Cranberries, à la Martha Stewart).

Now, our Christmas tree is up. The Radio 4VEH fundraising appeal (with a Matching Gift Challenge) is written, mailed and launched online. At the moment, Storly's reading and recording through the Old Testament in Haitian Creole (to complete the whole Bible in audio format, in partnership with the Bible Society). He's currently in the book of Isaiah, fitting for this time of year considering what Isaiah says about the coming of the Messiah. Pray for Storly, would you, it's a huge job to record the Old Testament, but what a resource it's going to be when it's done, making the whole Bible available to people who can't read or have no Bible of their own.

He's also working on a new system (to replace the now outdated satellite system) to send the 4VEH signal from the radio station to other partner stations in Haiti, and to the US where our friends at WFRN in Elkhart, Indiana, put it online so Haitians can listen around the world via the streaming on our 4VEH website, via Apps like Tune-In and in a few countries by phone. He'll be traveling north early tomorrow to meet up with one of the WFRN guys, and then getting the new equipment sent into Haiti for a quick install. So many listeners in the States have been asking why can't they hear 4VEH online. With special programming coming up next week for Bible Week, and then the Christmas programs, we want listeners to be able to find 4VEH online again.

So for the rest of the month, we'll be home (in theory). Celebrating Esther's 7th birthday next weekend. Celebrating Advent and the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

Oh yeh!