Friends and Family, I am sorry this update is LONG overdue! I apologize, I will put some more pictures in the next update, we haven’t had a lot of time to take pictures of what’s been going on lately. We have been staying extremely busy with our teams back to back since June 2nd. Praise the Lord that we’re almost done with this crazy hectic summer. Our last team leaves September 3rd, so after that, we will be back to normal. PLUS our kids go back to school the first week in September too- so we’re excited about having some time to rest and relax in the mornings :-).
Andrew has been driving the Deuce and a half into Port au Prince each Saturday to drop a team off and pick another one up. The Deuce works really well for picking teams up- we’ve added a tarp to the top (to provide some shade or rain protection) and a luggage rack. While he’s in PAP, our intern (Lauren) and myself (along with some of the kids) clean the guest house and make all the beds for the upcoming team. Our hardest part this summer has been coming up with enough projects for our teams to help us with. A lot of them have been helping us paint our barrier wall (on the inside), making us a basketball court, making some clotheslines, organizing our depot and food storage, as well as other miscellaneous cleaning and organizing projects. A lot of our teams have also come in with VBS-like material and have done lots of lessons, crafts and games with the kids. They have also started digging out the foundation up at our Ikondo (mountain) property. We have about 20-30 workers on a given day up there clearing it out to get it ready to pour the foundation! (More pictures to follow in the next update.)
As some of you might have seen on Facebook, this past Friday one of our 6-year-old girls from Jacmel went to be with Jesus. They were taking a trip to the beach (like any other day) with some of the kids and a big wave came and swept her away. By the time they realized she was not in with the rest of group- it was too late, they were unable to find her. They did find her body several miles down the beach Sunday afternoon. Our heart breaks for those in Jacmel who are grieving the loss of this sweet little girl. But we can also rejoice in knowing that she is with our Lord right now and in a far better place. So today we (the Sutton’s) unfortunately, have our first funeral to attend here in Haiti. Please be praying for those who were close to Junette and that God of all comfort would give them His peace that passes all understanding. Please pray for Junette’s extended family too that is now grieving too. Pray that they would turn to Christ and come to know Him in a personal way.
As soon as we heard the news, we immediately told our kids (and team) and had them start to pray for those over in Jacmel. Pastor Manyol led us in a time of prayer, song and reading of the Scripture. It was a sweet moment to see him step up like that and lead our kids. After that, Andrew and I sat down with half of the kids (one-on-one) and had a conversation about where they are spiritually. We shared with them James 4:14 (life is like a vapor, here one minute and gone the next.) It was pretty encouraging to sit down with them and find that each one professes to be a believer. On the other hand, the discouraging thing is that you’re just not sure how genuine it is, or if they’re just saying that to make us happy. We tried to explain that there’s a difference between knowing Christ in your head (along with all the church answers) and knowing Christ in a personal and intimate way. In that same conversation, we then, encouraged them to be reading the Scriptures daily and to be praying to God. When I was talking to our kids, it reminded me a little bit of the Bible belt- where a lot of people know the right things to say, but when it comes to living it out- it’s not real and authentic. Anyways, we are hoping to sit down with the rest of the kids sometime this week to find out where they are spiritually. If you could be praying for us as we have these conversations that they would be genuine and that we could really dig into the heart of the matter, that would be awesome! Pray that God would change their hearts in a way that only He can do and that He would change them from the inside out. Thank you so much!!
Much love,
~ The Sutton's
|
No comments:
Post a Comment