Only God: Reaching the Capital City

There are moments in this ministry/life that are, without a doubt, God. God in action, God's fingerprints all over  - and nothing that we could have done ourselves. Beginning to broadcast in Port-au-Prince is one of those moments. All GOD. ALL God.

Here's how it all came together:

God worked in the lives of these four men - Pastor Ronel Mésidor (Haiti Baptist Convention/West department director), lawyer Osney Fevry, founder/owner of Radio Sentinelle 93.9 FM, Rev. Emmanuel Pierre, General Secretary of the Haiti Baptist Convention, and Storly (Michel, Director of Radio-Télé 4VEH, in case you're visiting this blog for the first time and don't know who Storly is :). The Lord gave each of these leaders a personal testimony, a public ministry and a desire to minister to people through media across the capital city and beyond. He also placed Pastor Bade, who served at 4VEH until he moved to Port-au-Prince to pastor a church a few years ago, as a key connection for this new partnership.

God also gave these men a desire to work together. And so this three-way partnership was born, with the Haiti Baptist Convention providing the location for studios, Radio Sentinelle providing the frequency and antenna to broadcast, and 4VEH providing most of the daily programming. As we celebrated at the service of inauguration at First Baptist Church of Port-au-Prince, the tone was one of giving glory to God, praise for all He has done, and dedicating this new partnership to the Lord.

The Baptist Convention presented Storly (4VEH) with a Plaque of Honour for
the inauguration of this new partnership FM station. In other words, it's a big deal.
(I think Lawyer Fevry received a medal for the same reason). 

Incidentally, these partners are not just leaders of other ministries, they are listeners, they have been and continue to be blessed by 4VEH. How do I know that? Because they've told us. Not just in private, but publicly, on the air. And one particular testimony [that I'm writing up for the 65th Anniversary publication (collection of stories of impact) that I'm working on] is very powerful, as God comforts one man walking through a 'valley of the shadow of death'.

Here's his story:

Rev. Emmanuel Pierre, General Secretary of the Haiti Baptist Convention, was kidnapped from his home in Cap-Haïtien a few years ago. He was later released, unharmed, and shared a powerful testimony of how God met him at a moment of great need—through Radio 4VEH.

Emmanuel was struggling to breathe. The kidnappers covered his head, and forced him to wear headphones, with the radio playing loud to distract and confuse him. 

Little did they know that God was there, and the radio was playing 4VEH. God spoke to Emmanuel in a powerful, personal way, bringing him peace in the midst of this great trial. He shared this testimony on the air, giving glory to God for watching over him.

After lunch, next stop was the studio space provided by the Baptist Convention (within their school/children's home complex in Delmas). Another partner will be helping to complete work here, and then, the studios will be able to receive guests, and broadcast local programs from here. The team did a great job, with balloons, ribbons, and celebratory juice, to welcome the 4VEH team, and officially declare this FM station open.  

The ribbon-cutting.

Here's to a great partnership to reach the capital city!

 

Hannah enjoyed the balloons. 

Dedicating the station to the Lord. 

Then we left the studio site to drive up the mountain to the antenna site, which is a tourist spot in Port-au-Prince called Boutilliers, where you get a great view of the city from the lookout. Great place for antennas too. Unfortunately whoever was navigating decided it would be fun to drive straight through the busy Petion-Ville market. Having lived not too far from here for six months, I'd been stuck in that craziness before. It still is not fun :)

All the TV, radio, cellphone towers in the capital city are basically in this same spot. 

And at the base of the tower are small rooms from which to operate whatever equipment goes with the towers, 

We spent several hours after (three hours in) church (and lunch) in that small room. It was dark by the time we left. Had I known we'd be there so long, I'd have grabbed snacks, drinks, to keep us (especially the girls) going. But I didn't know :(

So what do the non-techies do while the techies are connecting, fixing, tuning and who knows whatever else they have to do to get sound to travel through the air (from 4VEH in Cap to this antenna site in Port)?

We looked out the window at the hazy view of the city, and the white-like-crunched-up-paper mountains on the other side. 

And we sat and inwardly groaned....how...much...longer?

There was dancing, of course (though it looks more like fighting...)

When the chatting and joking paused, more sitting and inward groaning...

And a few big smiles.

And by the time the job was done, 4VEH was on the air in Port on 93.9 FM, and we were all excited! Even more so when listeners from Port started to call in to the live shows - now we know people are listening in the capital. Incidentally, the set-up needed to be finished the next morning before we drove 7+ hours back to Cap-Haitien, a journey which ended in the dark, 13 miles from destination, with a broken clutch, doing the final 13 miles in 2nd gear. Completely exhausting, but mission accomplished - and just a few hours to rest before our church team from Columbus arrived for a week! 

We're Back

After eight weeks at 4VEH in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, we are back to home base in Indiana. Back from the front-lines of daily broadcast ministry life and outreach in communities in need, to the front-lines of sharing the ministry with communities of supporters for me, and back to strategic leadership from a distance, networking with other like-minded ministries, and to translating and recording programs for Storly.

With more than a week under our belts, we've emerged from the fog of switching back to life in another foreign-but-familiar place. The girls are into their second week of school (I know for all you fellow Brits out there especially, that sounds so wrong, right? Your kids have probably just started their summer hols...so enjoy!).

Among the things we brought back are more than 7,000 photos that I took, and am in the process of culling, editing, cataloging (they're not all good or usable) - and many of these will show up in future communications for 4VEH, Resounding Hope and our own ministry letters, and yes, on this blog.

Here's just a few photos for now:

Last ride in the cattle truck, heading to Cap-Haitien airport for our flight out. 

The highlight of the trip for me, worshiping with new believers at a church planted
earlier this year at what felt like the top of the world (and the 2 1/2 hour hike it took to
get there was so worth it). More on that big adventure coming. 

The view over Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city and home to about 2.5 million
people - from the antenna site where 4VEH is now broadcasting, in partnership with
Radio Sentinelle 93.9 FM and the Haiti Baptist Convention. We were there to get
the station set up and on the air. 

And while our team from Community Church of Columbus was sharing the Gospel
with this sweet one's family, she was busy doing laundry. I pray she'll grow up in better
surroundings, both physically and spiritually, through what she and her family hear
as they listen to the solar radio we left with them. 

That's all for now! Thank you for praying for us, encouraging us, coming and working alongside us, and for financially supporting us in ministry. Blessings to you today!

Celebrating 65 Years

Time's flying here. We've been here at Radio-Télé 4VEH (notice the new "Télé" in the name, yes, TV!) in Cap-Haitien for more than five weeks, less than three weeks left. How did that happen? We've been busy, with not much energy left to blog, and not much cooperation from the internet to post much either. But today, so far, so good, so, here's the beginnings of a catch-up.

We arrived during the middle of 65th Anniversary week. I got called to go and meet a sweet lady who brought her donation to 4VEH for the anniversary. She wrote a note saying: "Thank you God for this radio, it's my university for life, it's listening to 4VEH I've learned everything in life". Bless her!

The girls did great during the 65th Anniversary thanksgiving service at 1st Baptist Church of Cap-Haitien, trying to sing along here. OMS field director Brett (on the right of this pic) was translating for the visiting team from Florida, in to help with the campus electrical project - and he needed a prod in the ribs from time to time to stay awake (he's a busy guy!).

A listener gave these lovely cakes. One of them ended up with us, yum!

Storly was, well, gorgeous - and did a fantastic job, as did the whole 4VEH team. Am proud of them all! Storly made two big announcements - the launch of 4VEH TV on a local Cap-Haitien channel (Channel 11), and the launch of 4VEH in Port-au-Prince, thanks to a new partnership between 4VEH, Radio Sentinelle 93.9 FM and the Haiti Baptist Convention. Both are big news, big answers to prayer. More on that later. 

Key leaders from the evangelical community took part in the service too, and called Storly a visionary (which is true!) for leading the station into these two new areas, TV and into the capital city. As always, great to see and hear the support expressed for 4VEH, great to hear leaders encouraging everyone to be part of supporting the ministry in prayer and financially, great to hear the pride expressed in 4VEH.

And great to see the banners I designed back in Columbus were doing their job!

In the afternoon, the 4VEH family - staff, family and special friends of the ministry - celebrated together at a banquet held in the 4VEH auditorium (upstairs in the radio station). A jazz band did a great job!

 

It was fantastic to see these two big cheeses together! Storly and Gaudin Charles, the only Haitians to have held the position of Station Manager at 4VEH. Both well-known and -loved voices on the air too. Gaudin, who works from his home in Florida, (representing 4VEH among the Haitian community there, and producing radio programs for 4VEH) was the special preacher for the anniversary service. I had the pleasure of interviewing him on video too - he has some great stories about how 4VEH touches people's lives. He's worked at 4VEH for 50 years! And though we've worked together for a number of years, we've never been at the station at the same time. 

The third 'launch' at the anniversary was the new Parole Vivante Living Word bible drama CD (produced in 1960s, still on the air, just released on CD). Here Gaudin, who was one of the voices on Parole Vivante, explains how they made some of the sound effects, clang, bang, clack.... 

One of the projects I'm working on is building repairs, renovations and remodeling, especially the 'public spaces' of the building, including the auditorium. The radio station, though called the 'new building' is now 15 years old, and has served the ministry well. But now it's time for maintenance, repairs, and updates to make it more functional, more attractive, and more inspiring. 

The auditorium in particular is well used by the public - hundreds of people use it every week for weddings (sometimes two or three weddings a day!), conferences, and church services and celebrations. So as we've been using the auditorium, I've been taking special note of how it is used. Though we're still working on putting the official project together to raise funds and book teams to come in and help fix, repaint, re-carpet, we've made some progress already. You'll see some pictures of the progress soon!

Yum!

May Update: Multi-Coloured Pens, Projects & a Medal

It's been a while! 

I usually think that pre-Christmas season is the busiest work time for me, with it being the biggest fundraising season. But no. Busiest time of year is right now. So, sorry if you've missed us in the blogosphere! Hopefully, we're friends on Facebook so you know we're still alive.  

Here's why this is busy season: 

• Radio 4VEH's 65th Anniversary is 2 June. The anniversary is always a major event in Haiti and in Haitian communities in the USA. This year is a big one. So, the staff at the station, Storly and me here in Indiana, and our Haitian representatives in the USA are all busy preparing events, materials and special radio programs. I've been creating, designing, producing brochures and banners, as well as the design for a new CD. More on that later. All in Creole or French or some combination of the two.

• The ministry has expanded beyond radio, and so there's a minor name change and re-branding we're working on. Been re-designing logos, letterhead, etc, all in multiple languages. 

• I'm finalizing a fundraising appeal for the station, ahead of the usual trend in the nonprofit world of lower donations during the summer months. Got a great story to share, and am getting these materials prepared for use in a mailing, online, and to send to our partners (OMS offices in various countries, as well as other organizations who support the station).

• We're putting together projects for various needs at the station, including repairs and remodeling for the building which is now 15 years old; upgrading computer and broadcast equipment; replacing air conditioning throughout the building (mission-critical when it's 100 degrees outside!). Lots of details needed, costs for everything need to be figured out (including 'is it better or even possible to buy it in Haiti or buy in USA, ship to Haiti, and try and estimate shipping and customs charges'....yeh, fun.) And then I need to package all the info in a way that a donor will be inspired and excited to help get the job done. Need another marketing writer! 

• And we leave in two weeks' time to spend the summer in Haiti. So, there's packing, relocating my office (ok, just temporarily, but still thinking through what I might need there, and what I need to hand over to someone else while I'm gone from here), there are major deliveries arriving from Amazon (I always hope it's something for me, but nope - usually some cables, piece of equipment, office supplies, or other things we need to take down to the station). There's things to take care of (dental stuff, medical stuff, house stuff, end-of-school-year stuff). 

• And then there are our girls - two weeks left in school. The day after school's out, we head to the airport. They've been desperate to start packing, and now need serious monitoring so they don't just pack a suitcase full of stuffed animals :)

I've just finished one project, sent it to the printers. So, am taking a little breather with you (and a cup of afternoon tea, of course). Here's a few photos from the last few weeks: 

A gorgeous trip to local state park, Brown County, during Mum's visit at Easter.

For those of you who think Esther is the quiet one,
just check out that expression on her cheeky little face :)

Mum had bronchitis for the first few days here. So it was even more special
to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine once she recovered. 

Happy in sunglasses. 

Me and my mama.  

Weeeeeeeee!

Gorgeous!

Lots of printing of works-in-progress recently. This one is the new CD, the first in a series of Bible dramas written by Rachael Picazo, called Parole Vivante, translated into Creole and produced and aired on 4VEH during the 1960's (and still on the air, and much-loved by listeners of all ages). It's all about going in a Time Machine back to biblical times and hearing the stories unfold. Storly's been working on improving the quality of the audio (which was originally recorded on reel-to-reel), I did the design work. We'll have the CDs in our hands in Haiti for the Anniversary week ($10 a piece, if you're interested. Would make a great gift for any Haitian friends!). 

Esther wasn't too happy that I 'borrowed' her fantastic multi-coloured pen for editing the fundraising appeal I'm working on. But it brought a little more joy to the tough discipline of 'slash and burn' editing of your own stuff.  

Two weeks left in school. How is that possible? They start 2nd and 4th grades first week of August. 

Taken on (American) Mother's Day. These two are growing up quickly!

And the final photo for now. 

I finished my first-half marathon on May 2, the IndyMini. And LOVED it! More details in another post. For now, a BIG THANK YOU for all the support and encouragement! Seriously, I really appreciate it! 

My inspiration for running for 13.1 miles? Getting more Resounding Hope solar radios tuned to Radio 4VEH to bless families in Haiti every day. As founder of the Resounding Hope initiative, I know these radios are making a huge difference in people's lives in Haiti - reaching people with the Gospel, helping believers grow in their faith, building up the church and serving the people of Haiti in Jesus' name. With the help of generous friends, we exceeded my fundraising goal, raising a total of $4,410, to sponsor 73.5 radios (a donation of $30 will make it 74 radios, if you're interested. You can donate securely on my fundraising page: http://org.grouprev.com/katesrunforresoundinghope).

Thankfully, blisters have now healed and I'm preparing for running in Haiti's heat. Should be interesting! 

Well, cup of tea's finished. Back to it. Blessings to you wherever you are!