God-Moments

Day 4 June 19, 2012. 

It was a long day today and the sun was out making it almost unbearable.  While it has been hot the past couple of day, the cloud cover really helped.  The direct sun really saps the energy. 

Today the team split. The roof crew went to work on the roof while another group stayed at the house this morning and broke down twenty 55 pound bags of rice. Each bag when broken down will generate about 50 meals for a 5-6 person family. Along with rice many bags of black beans were also packaged. The goal was to distribute food and clothes this afternoon in the Cipress neighborhood. But as we learn quickly here things are subject to change. 

All of the stuff was on the pick-up truck when we had a flat tire. Around here AAA is not a option so the flat took hours to repair.  Now we have scheduled the delivery for tomorrow. The entire team  worked on the house and we finished one roof and  began the rafters on the second. Erica has become a pro at cutting wood and cranking the generator   

There were dozen of children where we are working.  While we worked on the roof, there was plenty of time to share with the children and the adults.  The team has pulled together very well and we are being blessed.  

Fred Jordan led the devotion tonight.  He brough a hat full of small stones back to the compound and challenged us to find God-moments this week and to take home a stone as a reminder of that moment.  His God-moment today was when a board fell off the roof and hit David in the head (no major injury) but David did sit out for a while.  While David was sitting down with some ice on his bump, the children, as always, gathered around.  David who is a good artist picked up a piece of burnt charcoal and began drawing on a short piece of wood.  The attention the children paid him was amazing.  And as he drew he witnessed to them.  The God-moment was, as David said, that the Lord had to hit him with a 1x6 to remind him what he was really there to do - share the love of Christ.  It reminds us that God is always trying to get us to pay attention and sometimes it can take a tragedy or a simple bump on the head to make us listen.  Our prayer tonight was for Him to make us aware of the God-moments we each have the opportunity to experience each day.

The journey continues so please keep us in your prayers.

Jim Clark

Banana Grove Prayers & Divine Encounters

Day 3 June 18 2012. 

Wow what a day. It started with pancakes, both plain and berry along with bacon and some fruit. We would need the fuel for later. It was very hot today but overcast which was a blessing. Today we were working at Cipress where we did so much work last year. Lots of changes, new security walls, foundation has been dug to build a church building to replace the large tent where services are now held. Several more homes built and occupied and 2 homes ready for roofs and another under construction. We worked today on painting the two houses and were able to get one of the houses framed for the new roof. We should finish the roof on one tomorrow and also get started on the 2nd roof. We had a quick lunch and no siesta today.  Then it was back to the site for 3 more hours, then back to compound. 

Remember on Sunday we shared the church we attended (which is the pastors house) had  bought land to build a formal building on. It was a bananna grove on about 2 acres. This morning as we drove by where the new building will be, folks had started clearing the field.  This is done with machetes and human labor.  At 5PM this afternoon, we participated in the dedication service with songs and prayers.  About 125 gathered and at one point, we split up and went to each corner and prayed that the Lord would bless this site.  We ended in a large circle in the middle of this now-cleared field holding hands and praising God for what He had delivered to this church congregation.  The dedication wrapped up at about 7:00PM.  

We came back to have dinner, devotion and to map out tomorrow.  We will work on the houses but we also have 55 dozen bags of rice to breakdown and we will visit some needy areas and hand those out on Tuesday.  This is a great chance to share God's word.  

Everyone is doing well here.  No injuries or illness.  Today Emily was reunited with a young deaf boy she met last summer.  When he saw here, the look on his face was priceless as was Emily's.  They picked up talking in sign language just like long lost friends.  At the land dedication, a child we all remember, Lovely, went up to David Sloan and called him by name and she told him she had missed him and was glad he came back.  You never know the impact you have on people but today, Emily and David saw firsthand that their being here last year made a tremendous impact on those 2 children, all because God placed it on their hearts to make the first trip last summer.  

Wow!  It is only Monday.

Jim Clark.

A Very Good Day

 June 17 2012. Day 2. Guitton Haiti.

Typically when you are in Haiti, you wake up with a rooster crowing. But he must have been off today so the cows filled in. We had a great breakfast along with opening the day with scripture. We arrived at church at 8:30 and it was a special service.  There were probably 150 people in attendance.  The lady who was a voodo queen and was saved last year was in church! The singing and the preaching was inspiring.  We each introduced ourselves and, since it is Father's Day in the states (Haiti celebrates Father's Day next week), they sang a happy Father's Day son to us dads.  The service ended around 11:30.  We had a short lunch break.  Then we walked 1 1/2 miles to a small village to see the village and an almost-finished church building that has been started and will soon open for worship services.  


Today, it has rained a lot.  It has been torrential at times.  The kids kept on playing soccer outside.  They never stopped.


Our devotion tonight was on allowing God to be in control and us learning how to get our own will out of the way.  Everyone is well and excited to see what tomorrow will bring.  Looks like along with sharing Jesus with folks here, we have a couple of roofs to install tomorrow.  The church here prayed this morning for you in Rock Hill.  Keep praying for us.


God bless and goodnight!
Jim Clark.

The Longest Day

Most of us were up past midnight last night and were back up at 2am so that we could meet the rest of the team at 3am in the church parking lot.  We prayed in together before we left the church parking lot to head to the airport. We were at the international counter at CLT by 4am. We had 26 checked bags for 14 people at $65 a head for a total of $800 plus one excess baggage fee to the tune of $200.  So our total baggage fees were supposed to be over $1000.  United WAIVED our baggage fee.  Having $1000 worth of baggage fees waived by United? Priceless. Blessing number 1

Our 6:10am flight to Newark gave us a nice view of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty as we landed. Not as nice, shuttle bus ride from gate A20 to gate C110. Our 10AM flight to Port-au-Prince landed at 2:15PM. It was 64 degrees leaving Newark and twice that when we landed in Port-au-Prince.  All of our bags arrived intact!  Blessing number 2 

We left Port-au-Prince at 3PM for a 1 1/2  hour bus ride to Guitton. After unpacking all of our food and gear, we grabbed a quick ham sandwich for dinner.  Then had a quick intro to our week from SMI's Jeff Dahl. 

After that, we had a chance for a cool shower and to stretch our before 8PM devotions. During devotions each team member received a personal card from one of the GAs from First Baptist.  WOW!  That made us all feel great.  

Thanks to all the prayers for traveling mercy we are here safe and ready to see what else God has in store for us this week.  Keep praying for us and with us.  The travel to get here is over, but the real journey has just begun.  Rest assured that we will all sleep well tonight.

David Sloan

Haiti 2012

On Saturday, our Haiti team will be meeting at the church office at 3:00am to pack up and leave for the airport. Yes, you heard that correctly - 3:00am. Yes, it's early. Yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, they would love to still be sleeping. But the team knows that comfort, convenience, and the so-called 'necessities' are all optional when the opportunity to take the gospel to the world is the goal.

Please pray for our team as they pack. They will not only be packing clothes and toiletries. They will also be packing all of their food for the week. Charlotte Elliott and Sandy Wilson are shopping and then packing a weeks worth of cans, packages, and boxes on Thursday. Pray that the food will fit in as few bags as possible. The airline baggage fees still have to be paid.

As I sign off, let me include a bit from an email that Charlotte sent to the team earlier today,  

I am excited and hope that you all are too. The physical food will soon be taken care of……..it’s the REAL meal that I am looking forward to. God will lay out a terrific ‘Spiritual Banquet’ for us all! Only our Great and Mighty God could take us to one of the 4 poorest countries in the world, and feed our souls. I am going to be looking for the Voo Doo Princess that got saved last year ( I have a gift for her). My prayer is that God will give each of you a special set of your own stories. I can’t wait to see how he shows off…..

Stay tuned to this site over the next week and catch up on their trip each day.

Grace and Peace
 Jamie

Haiti Team - Day 7

Last night in Haiti.

This is long winded blog so I apologize in advance.

First we want to thank each of you that have followed our journey this week in Haiti. Without your support and prayers we would not have been able to perform the Lord's work.

Today was slightly different. Several of us went back to the school and church to do some work. One of the outreach mission programs going on at the church-school compound is building homes for earthquake victims. The homes are about 200 square feet and 2 rooms. The house we painted today is being given to widow lady with 3 children whose husband died during the quake. Once we finished we had a group prayer in the front room of this house that the family would be blessed and thanking God for allowing us to assist in this ministry. Some of the group remained at the compound and did painting, cleaning, and some general work items that were needed. I will get a little out of sequence now but it will make sense later.

After lunch we went to a local beach called wahoo beach. A very beautiful place with lodging, restaurant, fantastic beaches with plenty of amenities. There were probably about 150 other folks there all performing similar work as us in the area. What struck me here was the huge contrast of what only a few miles could bring. This is a place the average Haitian would never enjoy. Such is this island.

On the way back we stopped at a little village church where the plan was to hand out some rice and clothes. It all started orderly but it did not take long for the pushing and shoving to start. While we were never in immediate danger, because of the tension we stopped the handing out of rice and clothes, boarded the bus and returned to our compound. This brought home the real plight of people who are starving. Today was humanitarian and is needed in addition to evangelism.

Now to get bet to the out of order sequence. Scott and Vickie Blackburn along with their daughter have been part of this week's team. For many years they have been sponsoring a Haitian child. A young girl. When they knew they were coming on this trip they began praying and seeking a way to meet this child. It is very difficult to get anything to happen in this country but through prayer and interpreters and more prayer, they were able to meet this beautiful young Haitian girl today and spend time with her and finally have not only a picture-and-letter relationship. But they were able to hold and hug her and be able to tell her in person how much they loved her. They were able to see first hand how God has not only blessed them but has blessed this child.

There have been many highlights this week and in a few hours we will leave this place and in about 24 hours we will be in our nice homes and air conditioning with plenty of running water with our families who we have missed and love dearly and yes we will be thankful for that. But a part of us will remain here forever. Our ongoing prayer is that God will use what seeds we planted and grow up strong christian leaders to give this country the one thing it needs more than houses, clean water, clothes or even food but the gift of life through Jesus Christ. Amen

Jim Clark, Team Leader

Haiti Team - Day 6

We just wrapped up our nightly devotion which was conducted by Billy Finch. Today we wrapped up some painting at the school. The exiting part was the school and church area we have worked all week was have a good old fashioned revival and the classrooms we cleaned and painted were being used by the families that were here for the revival.

We later went to a tent city that had been built following the earthquake by Samaritans Purse. We handed out bags of rice and clothes to the families. These tent cities were to be temporary but they are not and are filled with the most desperate of the Haitian people. We were very humbled by what we saw. Words cannot capture the despair that is everywhere in this country.

Our medical team again today was called in to service when a local had a major motorcycle wreck and he was brought to this compound for treatment. He had head wounds and possible internal injuries. Our team stabilized as best they could and we transported to a hospital in St.Mark. The missionary staying at this compound told us in Haiti you must pay at the hospital in order to be treated and if he could not offer payment he would not be treated. Very harsh and cold but that is how it works here.

Again another fruitful day. We are all exited about coming home Saturday and look forward to being with our families again. Continue to pray for us and the people of this country.

Jim Clark, Team Leader