Archive for the ‘Day to Day’ Category

Tyler, BuReh, Say Day Paw and I picked up 360 rolls of fabric on Saturday.  This fabric is earmarked for the Heartline Sewing School in Haiti.  Sheila has been keeping in touch with me and will soon have a large shipment of fabric going to Haiti.

This fabric provides women in Haiti with the resources they need to create beautiful purses which they sell to earn a living.

If you would like to see the purses or even schedule a purse party check out Haitian Creations.

Please keep our families in your prayers.  There is nothing easy in Haiti and even those who we have so earnestly blessed just seem to be attacked continuously.  Take Job for instance.  We thought by now he would be running his business with money in the bank, but that has not been the case.  It seems that every week there is a major problem.  Just a few weeks ago his brakes let go and he hit another vehicle.  Not only did he need his brakes repaired, but he also had to pay the other driver for damage.  I have asked Matthew to go and talk to Job.  I encouraged him to suggest to Job that he sit in his vehicle every morning before he starts his day and ask the Lord to protect him and his vehicle from harm, to thank Him for the vehicle, and just simply worship God before anything else.

There is some praise in all of this as well.  Job has been an outstanding person from the moment we have met him.  There is nothing that we ask of him that he doesn’t graciously do.  I have asked him to help our other families and it is always a yes.  This last incident, one of our other families were able to help him.  Mr Previlus told me that he knew how to repair vehicles and so I asked him to help Job with his brakes.  Mr Previlus went right to Job and repaired his brakes saving us lots of money.  I am so blessed when I see our families willing to help each other out.  They are not all willing, but these two guys sure are.   This meant more to me than I can say.

Venise had a baby girl.  She is about 1 month old.  She and her husband Mr Previlus are working hard to solve their families financial problems.  Mr Previlus would like for us to help him buy a vehicle so he could be a driver.  I am reluctant because of the trials I have seen Job face.  I realize that buying a vehicle at any price could end up being a $10,000. proposition.  That’s more money than we have.  But they are eager to work and are talking about their future.  This is all good.

Hyppolite is trying to change what he does for work.  He is thinking about buying shoes in bulk and selling them.  I have asked him to prepare some information for us and he is working on that now.

Please pray for our families that God would bless them with ideas and opportunities that will allow them to provide for their families adequately.  Thank you.

Although I haven’t had the time to blog I have still been running the office and doing the essential things.  Last week we sent almost 1000 pounds of medical supplies to Three Angels.  We also sent funds for the following:

Smith $50.00 to buy clothes and shoes for church and home.

Matthew was sent food.

Job Lira was sent $85.00 for brakes

Matthew was sent $125.00 for materials related to taking the SAT’s.

Job Lira was sent $250.00 to repair a vehicle he hit.

Hyppolite was sent $316.00 for his children’s school tuition.

$25.00 was sent to Venise for baby supplies

Food was sent to the Previlus family.

Needs Provided

The last few days have been very busy for our families.

Money wires have been sent to Job to retrieve his truck from the repair shop ($700.00), to get his license which was lost in the earthquake ($151.00), and to purchase a battery ($118.00).  Job and I talked extensively about the financial plan that Tyler and I asked for him to follow.  We have asked him to tithe on his earnings first and then take whatever is left over and split it in half; half he can spend and half goes in the bank.  Job understands that he really needs to get to a place where he is on his own.  The goal is to get $1000.00 US in the bank as quickly as possible and to keep adding to it, so that he is able to go to the bank for school funds for his daughter, truck repairs, and rent.

Job really likes this plan and assured me that he will follow it.  For now HM’s will still be there to assist Job if something beyond his ability occurs, but we are very excited to think that our first family will be saying goodbye soon.  Goodbye means we really did the right thing; we assisted him to not need us anymore.

Tomorrow Jean and Venise will be sent the rest of their rent money for the year ($340.00).  We were able to secure their place with little over half down and the landlord said he would wait a few weeks for the rest.  Tomorrow it will be paid in full.

The following food has been sent to Jean and Venise; 1 Gal Oil, 25 lbs Pinto Beans,55 lbs Rice, 1 Case Sardines, 24 Spaghetti, 12 Sports Drinks (Total $133.00)  The sports drinks are for Venise to give her the extra calories she needs to produce breast milk.

We also sent Matthew food: 1 Gal Oil, 25 lbs Pinto Beans, 27 lbs Rice, 1 Case Sardines, 24 Spaghetti ($99.00).

An Updated Needs List

• Rebecca’s School tuition is still a priority ($443.03).  I am going to ask Matthew to check on it today.  My goal is to have it paid so she can attend as soon as school opens again in January.
• Shipment for Three Angel’s.  We have over a thousand pounds of medical supplies ready to go, also I have inquired as to their readiness to receive orphanage supplies as we have about 500 pounds of those.  Because our shipping company is trying to give us a super low price I want to send everything I can.   Our original estimate for the 1,100 pounds of medical supplies was $310.00 with the possibility of an liftgate charge on the other side, so between $310.00 and $400.00.  This is about 1/3 of what we would usually get charged, so I am very hopeful to get to use this opportunity to it’s fullest.

This is the end of a really long needs list that we have been trying to provide for.  We are already starting discussions on how to help our families become self sufficient and independent.  I will try to convey those discussions to everyone and truly hope that you will respond with ideas you might have.  Thank you.

Matthew sent me some photos of the home that Homebound Missions has provided for his family.  I am posting them so that you can see how your money has been spent on their behalf.  You will notice that their life is very meager, but compared to the tent city they have moved from it is great blessing.

Baby Jean Grace Djoody is welcomed by her family.  Matthew tells me that they named her Grace because she is the last baby in the family.

Yesterday, Venise gave birth to a lovely baby girl.  Matthew called to let me know that mom and baby are doing just fine.  Homebound Missions will send a small amount of money to Venise so that she can get some baby items.

I am so thankful to know that mom and baby are well.  Please stand with us in prayer for this family as we continue to walk along side them with Jesus and His answer for them.

I mentioned in the Homebound Missions December Newsletter that we would like to put together a group of people  for idea jammin.  This could be a group that communicates via e-mail and so it doesn’t have to take time away from family and other resposibilities, or it could just be by random people who comment to the blog concerning the ideas we have for our families.  Home- schoolers, teen-agers I would love your input.  This could be a real interesting missions project for you.  If you are interested, Contact me.

Let The Jammin Begin

Of our 6 families, 3 have no jobs at all.  If you remember, Job has a vehicle and as soon as it is out of the repair shop he is good to go. Hyppolite has a job as a vendor, though it does not provide enough for them to live and pay for the children’s school.  Both of these families may need us from time to time, but for now we are going to concentrate on the families completely without work.  If ideas should come along to assist Hyppolite or Job we are happy to discuss them.  Matthew is presently studying for SAT’s and so we will wait on him as well.

The Families:

Jean and Venise: I have learned recently that Jean has his license.  This is great news as he can work as a driver.  This would mean, HM’s purchasing him a used vehicle.  As we have learned with Job this is not a quick fix.  Job’s vehicle has cost us a lot of money and he isn’t yet self sufficient.  An interesting and helpful note about Jean is that he told me his is also able to do car repairs.  This is obviously an important skill to have as a driver.  Repairs are costly.

We also have an idea for Venise, but it is riddled with problems.  Venise was selling used clothing that we were sending her when she moved towards Cap Haitien and she was doing very well.  The issue is, how do we get the clothes to her now that she is in Port-au-Prince?  Customs is out of the question as they will charge us more than the clothes are worth, plus steal half of them.  Matthew and I discussed people taking them down for us, but who, how, when?

Obenson: I have learned that Obenson also has his license.  Again, a vehicle could be an answer.  He also has a wife that is interested in working with him, or working also.  I will ask more about what Idora might be able to do.

Mimose: We are starting at the beginning with Mimose.  Though she has acquired some crafting skills from the Heartline Sewing Program I do not know if her crafts are marketable, or even how we would market them.  As you know, we have recently learned that Mimose stopped going to sewing school.

I will try to get more information from the families.  As you may have heard rioting is going on in Haiti and this has made it difficult for Matthew to get to the cyber cafe.  Please excuse the delay in getting more information.  Please remember to pray for Haiti.

I look forward to your input and ideas and thank you for your efforts

The Lord has been so faithful, and we continue to be thankful for all He is doing in the lives of our families.  The very task of updating the needs list is because He has so faithfully provided for the needs of our last list.

Needs Provided:

Obenson’s family has a home.

Jean and Venise and their family have a home.

Matthew is studying for his SAT’s

Food sent to each family.

Updated needs:

Rebecca’s school tuition ($443.00 US)

Job’s vehicle repairs ($700.00 US)

Medical shipment to Three Angel’s ($310.00 – $400.00 to ship 28 boxes at 1,100 pounds)

Job’s license ($151.88 US)

Cassandra’s school tuition ($291.00 US)

(Note: If we can pay for Job’s vehicle repairs he is back in business and can provide for his own house repairs, which is why I am not posting that need.  However, if we can pay for Cassandra’s school this would be very helpful.)

This is the end of the list, hurray.  After these needs are met we are free to change our focus towards the parents.

We are not going to pay any school tuitions beyond Rebecca and Cassandra’s as it is just too late in the year.  Instead, our focus is going to be on the parents and getting them working towards self sufficiency.

Tyler and I would love any ideas you might have to offer.  This is our most challenging task, and though we have many ideas they are all riddled with obstacles.  We would really like to form a task force of sorts for presenting these ideas and getting feedback.  We may even use this blog to create that forum.  If you have any ideas we would love to hear them.

A donation has been made to pay for Matthew to attend SAT classes.  He is hopeful to take his exam soon and to do well.  This is a first step in him becoming eligible to apply for and attend college here in the US.

Today we sent food to all of our families, as we had received word that they are without food.

Here is what we sent:

1 gallon oil

25 lbs pinto beans

55 lbs rice

50 cans Sardines

24 packages spaghetti

This comes to $114.00 for each family.  This food will last them several weeks.