Hello everyone at Chapel Rock!

Well today, we met with the children from the children’s home and that was very fun. The children sang for us and danced for us which we very much enjoyed. After that, we sang some songs for them with motions and I think they all liked that, then we played some games outside, after the games we served lunch and gave them gifts and then it was time for them to leave. Then it was our shopping time, interesting and fun at the same time. I think everyone got something that they wanted and maybe a little more! And of course we had lunch somewhere in there as well. We had a little free time today which was very nice because we haven’t had much of that! We got to meet some of the sponsor kids again today and we got to meet our other child that our sunday school class sponsors that we did not meet the other two days. His mother invited us to go to their house, so we walked to their home and when we got there we were quite surprised by what we saw. It was very sad, and Nick took some good pictures to share when we get back and we are hoping to do more for the family in the near future because their situation is so bad. I think when I got here I was pretty shell-shocked at everything I saw everywhere around me and I was just trying to wrap my brain around it all and I still am. I know God is working here and I am so grateful for that, but at the same time there is just so much that breaks my heart everywhere I look. One thing that hit me the hardest was when we walked in to the tent cities and Emma had me feel the tents and it must have been at least 20 degrees hotter or more than it is outside and it is HOT outside. I had tears come down my face and my knees buckled at that moment because it just hit me so hard. All I could think was where do they go for relief and I don’t have a good answer for that. I have to figure out how to deal with that, I do understand that God knows the big picture and I don’t and that’s how I deal with it, but it’s heart breaking at the same time.Okay, leaving on a good note it is a beautiful country and there are many beautiful people here and I am so, so glad that I was fortunate enough to have this experience and I hope that in saying what I said I did not bring anyone down because there are still many good things happening as well.

Love you all,

Kelley Kearney

Hey everyone!

Well, today is Friday, and what a day it was. God is all over this place and yes HE IS VERY GOOD.We started off by going back to a little church in a surrounding (Jeanty) area. We were at this church the other night and what a blessing it was. Today we went back and graded the ground around the church and laid gravel for the walk path around the church building.

Next, we came back to Lifeline to do toddler nutrition. The children were precious, as always! The parents seemed to be very appreciative of the things that were offered to them.

Scott and I recruited to do some mechanical work here on the compound while others sorted shoes and clothes and then handed them out to some of the children. Then we prepared some songs for the Lifeline Christian Church and went to a musical concert at the church. There were a lot of local young people who were very talented in music both vocally and instrumentally. We ended up dancing the evening away, and what a joyful event it was!

My stay here so far has been so incredible I can’t really put it into words. The people and culture are more than we can wrap our minds around. God has challenged me in so many ways and stretched my heart for these people in lots of ways. Anyone that has seen the beauty in these people and has not been moved does not have an open heart, God is in this place and He is working through us to do great things. Yes, we are all tired by the end of the day but our hearts are richly filled with God’s love.

In Christ, Paul Wallace

Greetings to everyone from the beautiful, hot, glorious country of Haiti!

Day 4 started with our nearly 7:00 pancake breakfast (meals here are wonderful!). We then divided into 2 groups to participate in a couple of special ministries that Lifeline provides for Grand Goave. One group visited the tent cities and distributed peanut butter to the very needy & hungry people who are found there. The other group set out with hands full of “layettes,” which are bags full of supplies for new-born babies, such as clothes and diapers, which were distributed to mothers who had babies in the past 6 months. A few people then helped distribute food to and pray with the pregnant ladies in the area. After lunch, we participated in the infant nutrition program, where we provided food for growing hungry babies and prayed with the families.

We also did a lot of work on the Lifeline compound. Many students pulled weeds and did various types of yard work. Paul Wallace provided his plumbing skills to fix the washer & dryer, Scott Crawford did some electrical work on one of the light poles, and Nick, Scott & Jake Boodt did an awesome job of fixing a copier!

Next came the basketball game. Wow, what to say about that? The girls here at Lifeline just formed a team and started learning about basketball two weeks ago. And our girls, well, they are gifted in many areas… not sure if basketball is one of those gifts. 🙂 But it was definitely a fun, scrappy game to watch! The guys were involved in the most intense street basketball game I’ve seen in a long time. One of the Haitians is nicknamed Kobe–just to give you a visual. Our guys did a great job keeping up with them, and Fred can rest assured that his coaching skills stuck with Danny after all these years! They had a great time, and definitely “let” the Haitians win. You know, it’s their country and all…

Devotions tonight involved a wonderful discussion about learning to allow our hearts to break for the things that break the Lord’s heart. What burdens us for His Kingdom? The students are definitely being stretched, and the Lord is working in mighty ways on their hearts to show them a larger picture of His Kingdom, other than the one they see in suburban Indianapolis. As their hearts are breaking, we can see the Lord stepping in to repair those hearts for His glory. I’m excited to see where He takes each of them in their lives!

That’s a summary of the day. But I would also like to give some reflection (stay with me). We all saw the news after the earthquake & have heard about the tent cities set up all over Haiti, but today was a day to actually live, breathe, and experience that hardship. As we walked through one tent city (I say one because there are hundreds of them around), a few of us stopped to stick our heads inside a tent. As I sit here on this computer, feeling the sweat on my back even after the sun has gone down, I know that I will sleep tonight in an uncomfortable 80 degrees, and I feel a grumble coming on. But I can’t even begin to describe the intense heat that emanated from that tent. The only comparison is the feeling I get when I open the door to my oven and feel the rush of heat so strong & intense that it makes me eyes water. As I grumble about the heat, I also know that I have a fan by my bed, ice-cold clean water at my disposal, and a cool shower. These people have nowhere to go for relief. That is their life. Every day. Talk about having your heart-break for God’s people! When Christ spoke about caring for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the hungry, He wasn’t speaking metaphorically. This has to be what He meant. These people are all of those things, and we were faced with the reality of our place in life as wealthy Christians in relation to the poorest of the poor. There is no way to have that experience and come away unmoved. It is one thing to see the news of a huge devastating event, and feel sadness for the victims. It is an entirely different feeling to look the victim in the eye and know that he or she is a child of God that is in desperate need of help. But where do we begin? I pray that God will work in each of the 26 lives here and show us ways to live out His commandments to love our neighbors, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked.

I am so appreciative of the way that Lifeline has organized our trip for us so that the students have an opportunity to participate in so many of the different ministries provided here in Haiti. They are getting the chance to see what it’s like to plant a mission in a community, then reach out in so many ways that transform the community in the name of Jesus. The apostle Paul spread the Gospel in the early church by planting churches within cities, then allowing those cities to minister to their own people. It’s been awesome to see Lifeline use the Haitian people and the Haitian culture to win Haitians to Christ. And our students have the privilege of being a small part of that.

I can’t say enough about how incredible this group of students is. They have showing leadership skills, hard work, teamwork, and love in so many wonderful ways! I haven’t heard any whining, complaining, and have not seen any disputes between students. I have marveled at their willingness to jump in there and do whatever is asked of them! They are all using the spiritual gifts God has given them to work as a team for His glory. To all the parents reading this… thank you for trusting us with your precious child and allowing us to be blessed by having them here this week. I have truly enjoyed the time spent with all of them.

Sorry for such a long post! As most of you probably know by now, I tend to be slightly verbose! 😉 We thank you for your continued prayers as we head into the last half of our time here! Please continue to pray for continued strength as we tire, continued good health as we push our bodies harder than we are used to, and continued joy in our hearts.

Love to you all,

Vicki Crawford

Hello all!

First, let me say thank you so much for your continued prayers-know they are being felt! Today we went back to the build to continue working on the house. We worked alongside Haitians to lay block. Almost all the block was finished by the time we left today and the glory is that we will be able to see it to completion before we leave. Our devotion today was about how Nehemiah 3-4 speaks about how it takes everyone (or as I like to say, “village”). We had a great discussion about how we are such a diverse group and how that has worked so well. Just as in the case of Nehemiah, we needed everyone and we most definitely needed this exact group of people here to do the job God has sent us to do. All of the students and leaders alike are so ready to just go and do whatever it is that God has for us at that time. Everyone is healthy and happy. Haiti and the people here are just beautiful!

Tomorrow we will be able to go out witnessing in the tent cities and I know that will be such a gift to all of us. Then, we will be playing basketball with the girls’ basketball team here at the school (“we” meaning the kids–not me!). It has already been more than I could have ever dreamed of. I know God will continue to bless both the Haitians and us even more as the week goes on.

All our love,

Becky Crow

Building day!  This was our first day to go out to the site where we will be building the house for our sponsor child.  We started the day with an early breakfast.  Everyone came in with lots of energy and excitement for what was to come for the rest of the day.  Before we head to the building site, we spent some time in devotions and prayer as a group.  We continued our focus on the life of Nehemiah and how he faced great fear, but through it continued to trust in what God was doing.  From there we hopped in the trucks and head to the site.

Driving to the site was a continued reminder of how the earthquake was affecting the people of Haiti.  When we arrived, a crew of men met us that we would be working with and we were instructed watch what they did.  From there we started to assist them moving gravel, sand and blocks.  It was tiring work, but we continued to take breaks and encourage each other through it all.  Just before we left for lunch we started laying the concrete foundation.  We took an hour for lunch and got right back at it.  We spend the rest of the afternoon finishing the foundation.  It was amazing to see what can do if we allow Him to use us.  We have a very special God and you can see why God chose us to be here.

We went straight from building to visiting with the sponsor children of the church.  This was very special time because we were able to give them the gifts of their sponsors.  They were all very excited and we loved having the opportunity to spend time with them.  Following our visits, we had dinner then went to visit a local church.  Jeanty church just recently built a new church, which was sponsored by Chapel Rock.  The experience of being there was so amazing.  The passion that the members had for God was incredible.  You could just feel the spirit of God working through this church.  They were very thankful for all our church was able to provide and to be able to thank us in person.  Many of the members came to us in person to express their thanks and to get to know us.  We finished the day with our time of devotion.  We took this time to reflect on how God has changed our worlds, just like he changed Nehemiah’s.  We had a few give their testimony and were encouraged with some words from Philippians 2:1-11.  God gave us the greatest picture of humility through Christ and we were encouraged to do the same with how we live our lives.  Day two was such a success and a day that challenged us in how we think about our live/how we live.  Thank you all for your prayers and God bless!

In Him,

Rob Coonfield
Galatians 2:20