Haiti mission trip support and Prayer request for a good friend. Update 5

For those of you that have been following the update from my friend Anthony and his fellow team members from Berean Community Church in Rochester, Michigan. They are all back from Haiti safe and sound!! Anthony sent me this slide show/video that was put together. Please continue to pray for that message and work in Christs name that they did will continue long after they have gone. Enjoy! Great Job and God Bless you all.

Thanks fro Checking in and God Bless >>John

Haiti mission trip support and Prayer request for a good friend. Update 4

Hello everyone. I am 6 days late posting this, but here is an update from my friend Anthony. He leaves this week for Haiti, please keep he and the rest his team in prayer:

Friends and Family,

I am 1 week away from departing for Haiti with a team of 14 from
Berean Community Church from Rochester, Minnesota.

A few tidbits to update everyone:

-Presidential elections are taking place in Haiti today. Please be in  prayer for the country. Amidst the election, former President Jean Aristide has returned to the country after being exiled several years ago. There is speculation by the media that his presence could create unrest in the country. Pray that the country stays calm while we are there.

-Water is Life, an organization that we've partnered with is indeed going to drill three wells – They are bringing in the heavy equipment in September to do the actual drilling. In typical Haiti fashion everything is still a little bit up in the air as to how things will happen. But there is a firm commitment to drill the three wells.

-While we are in Limbe there is some work they need help with: Putting up a chain link fence around the orphanage and there is a cement floor on the compound they need put in. There might be some kitchen remodeling to be done as well.

-Praise the Lord we are at 108% of the funding we need. The Lord will guide how we are to give the extra 8%

-As I have mentioned before and I mentioned at the top of this note, we have a team of 14 people going. I have concerns about a group this size in that sometimes people are tempted to want to do their own thing and stray from the group. Please pray for our team leader Paul and for those in the group - that they will put the group's needs before their own.

-Lastly - there is a girl with dwarfism (achondroplasia - the same type as me) who resides in the town Cap Haitien where our team flies in and out of. I've seen her standing on the sidewalk every time we are on our way out of Haiti. She's been at the same spot both times. Pray that if it is in God's will, He would give me the opportunity to stop and share the joy and good news of the Lord with her. It is very likely that she has never met another little person in her life or if she has, only a few occasions. I want her to know that she is not alone and that she is loved by God. You can pray that God brings me in contact with other little people as well while we're down there ;)

Blessings in Christ!

Anthony

Haiti mission trip support and Prayer request for a good friend. Update 3

Updates and great news from Anthony,

Two weeks from tomorrow - Sunday, March 27, a team of 14 individuals including myself depart for Haiti.

A few tidbits/updates:

We have raised 97 % of our financial goal for the trip. We have $600 left to raise. I trust that God will provide the remaining $600
before we depart on March 27.

This past week, I have had several opportunities to connect with a
co-worker who is from Port Au Prince, Haiti

On Friday, March 4, 7 of us team members had the opportunity to pack food at the Feed My Starving Children warehouse in Eagan, Minnesota (just outside of Minneapolis). Along with 70 other people, we packed over 90 boxes. That amounted to over 20,000 meals - enough to feed 52 kids for a year! It was an awesome time bonding with those whom I will be going to Haiti and we had the opportunity to serve alongside of others we had never met before. Meeting strangers is cool!

We have connected with an organization that builds wells and water
pump systems in Haiti and they have an established relationship with Grace Missions whom we partner with in Limbe, Haiti. I stated in a previous note that we have hopes of building a well / fresh water supply in Ennery where our sister church is located. Praise God that this organization has visited Ennery and knows where our sister church is located. We do not know if a well or fresh water supply will be built while we are in Haiti, but we pray that this is a good start - establishing a relationship with people who know how to build wells in Haiti and who are familiar with the town of Ennery.

Tomorrow is our bi-weekly Haiti missions trip team meeting. We'll be working on skits and reviewing plans for when we arrive in Haiti.
We'll also work on bible verses and sing worship songs in Kreyol the
native Haitian Language.

Please pray for my stamina. Work has been intense and the days/nights have been long. Pray that God sustains me and provides me rest before we depart for Haiti. I have a couple of projects that are due to be delivered while I am in Haiti, but I trust God will put things in the right hands while I am gone. If not - He has other plans for me :)
Regarding the well we have been hoping to build at our sister church in Ennery, Haiti. We received word today that the organization we contacted has funding to begin building the well and our team will have some involvement while we are in Haiti to get things started.

This is HUGE.

Three individuals from our team will have a conference call with the organization building the well on Tuesday - pray that the phone call goes well and we are obedient to God's plans.

It started out as an idea / thought in passing to look into a way to supply clean water to the town where our sister church is located.

Then we thought this would be a good idea to tie in with the message given in John 7:37-38:
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

And now our desire is becoming reality. It is our hope that people come to the well to receive clean drinking water and they will also receive the message of Living Water as told from the bible from our sister church in Ennery.

Thank you for your support!

In Christ,
Anthony

Thank all of you for your support. Please keep this team in your prayers. God Bless >> John

Haiti mission trip support request for a good friend.(Update)

Anthony on a previous trip to Haiti
playing with some children.

Hello all, here is an update from my friend Anthony: 

A few updates/highlights as the team of 14 including myself are 4
weeks away from departing for Haiti

-As of this e-mail we have raised approximately 57% of our financial support goal and this 57% is all outside of our church. We will be inviting members of our church next week in the form of a free will offering to partner with us with financial support. We are trusting that the Lord will provide all that we need and all that He wants us to take with us to give to the people of Haiti.

-We listened to a CD of hymns/worship songs in Creole, the native
language of Haiti. We sang together some of the hymns today and it
went really well.

-We have made a connection with an organization that facilitates the building of clean water supplies in Haiti. They have visited the town of Ennery and are familiar where our sister church is located.
This is exciting because we are being led to giving a message of
living water and encouraging the people in the church to invite others in the community to "come to the Well" What an awesome thing this would be to (1) come to the church to obtain clean drinking water and (2) Receive a message of "Living" Water as given in John 7:38

-This coming Friday, March 4, our team has the opportunity to pack
food for an organization called "Feed My Starving Children" in Eagan, Minnesota (near Minneapolis). Feed My Starving Children prepares boxes of food mixture with rice and vegetables and lots of protein that are easy and safe to transport, simple to make with only boiling water, and culturally acceptable worldwide. They will be sending a shipment to Haiti which will eventually find its way to
Limbe, Haiti and be distributed by the people we partner with from
Grace Missions.

From previous correspondence

- Presidential elections are still set for March 20. We arrive in the
country, the morning of March 28. Things tend to get crazy in a
country like Haiti near/before/after Presidential elections.

-We have thoughts of doing a foot washing while we are in the town of Ennery for the people who come to the church. What an awesome way to reach out as humble servants this would be!

-We are in search of creative yet simple ways to engage kids/children while we are there.

Blessings to you in the name of Jesus!

Anthony


Prayer is the biggest need for our team, but if the Spirit leads to give finances toward this trip, people can send donations to:

Berean Community Church
3157 Kenosha Drive
Rochester, MN 55902

Checks should be made out to Berean Community Church with "Haiti Missions Trip" in the memo line.

Haiti mission trip support request for a good friend.(Date Correction)

Hello everyone! I have a request for prayers, and if you can, monetary support for a good friend who will be making a short-term mission trip to Haiti. Anthony is a great guy, I have known him since we where kids and he has a big heart for serving the Lord! I am getting this out a bit late so a quick response would be great!

Their team of 11 is based out of Berean Community Church in Rochester, MN. They will be leaving March 27, 2011 and returning April 6, 2011. They will be spending time in Ennery and Limbe (home base) for Grace Missions. God willing they will try to serve others in nearby towns. This team is very motivated to serve God and the people of Haiti in the midst of the recent Hurricane fallout and cholera outbreak. Below is from Anthony about their goals:

Anthony on a previous trip to Haiti
playing with some children.

“Our primary purpose in going continues to be the same – to share the good news of Jesus and be a light to others. Whereas some people going on the trip are first timers and don’t know what to expect, I am hoping to accomplish some things that I have not been able to during my last two visits. For example, there is a little person (an “LP”) who lives in the town of Cap Hatien who I would like to visit. Cap Hatien is the town we fly in and out of and I have seen this individual sitting on the sidewalk on both my trips leaving. There is also a park in the town of Limbe where I would like to speak and share the good news of Jesus with others. I have built relationships with people in Haiti during my past two trips and I want to continue to be an encouragement to them.

Clean water supplies are very scarce in Haiti and as such, our team has been hoping and praying about building a well at the church in Limbe or even at our sister church in Ennery. Finally, the bible says in James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Grace missions is already making an impact taking care of orphans. We are hoping somehow make an impact on the lives of the elderly in Haiti.”

They have been asked to raise $1300 and you can participate by praying, donating or both! Part of the money will be given to the people of Haiti who serve them meals during their trip. Please prayerfully consider supporting Anthony and his team. Give as your heart leads you not out of compulsion or necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver! (2 CORINTHIANS 9:7)

Below is a list from Anthony of things to be in prayer about for their team:

• That God's plans would be the mission team's plans.
• The current unrest in Haiti to settle down.
• That God would break us of ourselves and we would seek His leading in sharing the gospel in Haiti.
• Funds and resources for the trip. We have raised 20% of the funds needed for the trip.
• Lord willing, a well could be drilled while we are there in Ennery where our sister church is located - providing clean water to the people of Ennery.
• My strength and stamina. It will be a tough trip for me, but Jesus didn't go to the easy places - He went to the hard places.

Updates here

Prayer is the biggest need for our team, but if the Spirit leads to give finances toward this trip, people can send donations to:

Berean Community Church
3157 Kenosha Drive
Rochester, MN 55902

Checks should be made out to Berean Community Church with "Haiti Missions Trip" in the memo line.