Better than the Day Before
An old favorite song comes to mind today - "Every day with you Lord is sweeter than the day before." This has been my experience in Haiti. Each day I'm like a little child on Christmas morning. What will YOU bring to us today, LORD? How can I serve YOU today? Whose life can I touch? It's an exciting life, for sure!
Lex and I love being back in Haiti. We really hit the ground running with plenty of work to do before the start of our Christian Leadership Academy on January 3rd. We arrived on January 1st and welcomed Pastor Rex Holt and part of the Francis family from Nashville on the 2nd. Pastor Dan Lee joined us on the 3rd, as Pastor Rex opened the event at our Thozin campus.
Friday and Saturday we held 4 services per day, concluding the event this morning with our morning worship service. We are so grateful for the sacrifices these men made to be here for so many leaders from throughout the country. And we thank God for each participant, trusting HIM to speak to each one through the preaching that they heard.
Did you notice how pretty the church looked? Well, that's because Luc Sony's wedding happened just before the conference opened. Luc has been a part of MOHI for many years and has put much effort into the ministry to children at the church. Congratulations to the happy couple!
This morning, Pastor Dan Lee shared a message that really hit home with me. Let me share a few of my notes with you that I will be chewing on all week...
Focus creates desire. Desire unfulfilled turns to torment and motivates us to do whatever we can to accomplish our desire. If it's not of God, we end up in trouble.
Temptation has a voice. Which voice controls your choices?
James speaks of two kinds of wisdom - from above and below. Determine to pay attention to above!
Everything I need to know, I can find in Christ. It's called revelation!
If you come to God, HE will come to you!
Do you treasure God's Word? When we treasure HIS precious gifts to us (rather than tossing them aside as useless) it encourages Him to continue sharing precious gifts with us.
God rewards anyone who diligently seeks Him. (Prayer!)
Questions about my notes? Listen to the message for yourself on the Facebook Live video!
We also had a couple of baby/child dedications this morning. Sweet girls!
In the midst of all this, we also had the finals for the youth Christmas soccer tournament. It was great fun on the field and the final four teams enjoyed a meal at the end of the final match.
Last night we welcomed a Bless Back Worldwide team to the missionary compound. The team is comprised of several medical professionals, as well as a group of students from Charlotte Christian School. We're excited to have Kaylah and Liz return with the students. They were a part of the teacher's seminar last June. It was fun to watch teachers react to seeing them. Very exciting!!!
Lex and I met almost thirty years ago at New Missions in Leogane, Haiti. That mission was started by the late Pastor George DeTellis and his wife, Jeanne. Today several of their children run the different aspects of New Missions. Charlie DeTellis and his wife, Rachel spend the most time on the ground here in Haiti. The DeTellis family is so precious to us and we are honored to call Charlie and Rachel our friends.
This past week Charlie blew us away, as he came out with a truck load of Christmas Shoe Boxes to share with us. We will be busy this week handing them out to students and some of our neighborhood friends. We are grateful to the DeTellis family, New Missions, and all those who have so generously supported them over the years.
We've really enjoyed having Dan Francis and three of his children (Savannah, McKayla, and Daniel) here with us.. Dan is a nurse and was able to help some people with wound care and such. He and his kids served in several other capacities, as well (maintenance, children's activities...). I was really impressed with the starfish that Dan and Daniel brought in from the ocean. Here's McKayla holding it.
McKayla was sure to put the star fish back in the ocean. Maybe when YOU come for a visit you'll find it! I love being at MOHI with teams. We finish up a great week and then another great week begins. The next week began today with lots of fun with kids from the neighborhood!
And with the arrival of our new friends, Jonathan, David, Jon, and Myles from Impact Productions in Tulsa, OK. Yep, it's going to be another great week!
Today begins Twenty-One days of prayer for me. Please know that you are always a part of those prayers. Thank you for being a part of the impact MOHI is making in Haiti!
