Sorry about my absence for a couple of days.  I was having problems with my Internet server. 

Anyway, the Conference last week concluded in an awesome manner!  Six people were baptised and 15 new converts were welcomed into God's family.  We had invited several churches to this event so it was absolutely packed.  Pray with us that the people of Metayer will hear and accept God's Word so that this area will be claimed for Christ!

This 4 day event which was organised and provided food to those who came from some distance to partipate in cost us about $1000.  I consider it money well spent.

The theme of the meetings was  "Christ Is Coming Soon".

The government has announced the schools must open March 1.  How this will be accomplished in severely damaged areas was not revealed.  Dariol's has been open about 8 days now, The kids have been slow in returning, enjoying the vacation I suppose.

Our great need now is rain, so please pray that we will get some.  It would not help to have famine on top of everything else that has happened.

My body aches as I write this entry, but if I keep this increase in activity up I should be in shape before long.  The church in Metayer where we are having the Conference is on a plain on top of  a mountain. These mountains are getting annoying.  Anyway, it was an hour long hike to get there.  The church of Dariol turned out in full as well as some other churches who came to support the meetings.  Although the structure is large it was full to overflowing. 

The service was basically a praise/worship one.  The message was very good.  We all have an appointment before us, either with glory or shame, depending one who you support Jesus or Sartan.  All those who don't fall into the Jesus camp automatically belong to Satan whether they like it or not.  Their future is grim.  But joy is awaiting those who have an appointment with Jesus!

They will have lectures and evangelism teams fanning out into the community during the day.  The evening is reserved for services.  Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures. I will be preaching Sunday morning. Please pray for the success of this endeavor!

We are excited down here as the moment for our 4 day Bible/Evangelism Conference here  in Metayer has arrived.  It is our way of inaugurating the new structure which will serve as a meeting place for this new group of believers.

The theme of course will be that it is time to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour!

Hear one, hear all what the pastors, priests and so called prophets of the New World Order, the would be purveyors of a  "new Age of Enlightenment" are saying:
                                   All Religions are True
                                   All Roads lead to God
                  Let us cast off the shackles of the past and forge
                           a new religion in our own image

                               BUT WHAT DOES GOD SAY?????
                            READ:  JEREMIAH 5:30,  jEREMIAH 6:16
                                            Isaiah 43:8-13
                                               Isaiah 5:20 
                                              John 8:23-25
                                                 JOHN 14:6
                                                  Acts 4:12
                                              Romans 10:9-13

                                  Let those who have ears to hear, listen
                                         and eyes to see with, see
                                      and brains to think with, obey

         

What a wonderful series of messages we have been getting during this National Fast/Prayer time which the President of Haiti proclaimed because of the earthquake disaster of 12 January over the last 3 days.  The participation has been awesome.  People are coming forward to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

How I wish these passages and messages would be preached from the pulpits of churches in the USA!!!!!

Read Jeremiah 18:1-17, 2 Chronicles 7:14
Submit and serve God and be blessed, resist and disobey God and be cursed.  Your "democratic" principles and your "pursuit of happiness" have led you down the by-paths of deception where you shall encounter grave consequences.  Proverbs 14:12, 16:25   Turn back to the ancient paths...

Psalm 16:11, Isaiah 1:18-21, 5:20, 30:21, 35:8, 42:16, 43:25, 44:22, 46:9, 55:7-8.

John 14:6  this way is JESUS!!!!

Starting this Thursday the newly planted Church at Metayer will start a 4 day period of Evangelism and Conference.  It will inaugurate the structure and hopefully be a blessing to the people of this community.

A lot of us were wondering if we were going to have a repeat of last month's earthquake.  For this reason today, during the first day of a 3 day fast proclaimed by the government of Haiti (miracles DO happen)there was almost standing room only in the church.  I suspect it was like this all over Haiti.  And of these there were mostly young people.

You simply can't imagine the immensity of this event when you consider that every year at this time the  Mardi Gras celebration took place.  This shows that God does have a sense of humor, and He always has the last laugh!  So take that, Satan.  Satan's party was spoiled so that God could receive glory!!!

It's been a few nights since the last tremor was felt so everyone (including me) has been sleeping better.  Could things be getting back to normal?  Remember I mentioned that the part of the fault that is still intact and liable to give way is actually under PaP--It was Leogane's fault which caused all the destruction.  PaP's is yet to come...  Add to that an unpleasant weather forecast of a very active hurricane season to come this summer,,,  we are all ready for the Rapture, believe me! 

The fast started at 6am and lasted til noon.  It will meet again at 6pm and finish at 8pm.  And this for three days!  I do think Americans should have a try at this as well, it might solve alot of YOUR problems also-- Prayer works!!  What about it, President Obama?

Yesterday, the weekly fast/prayer service was very well attended.  I am impressed with the numbers of young people coming to the Lord at this moment.  We are in need of funds for Bibles and hymnals for these kids.  The time went by quickly as we lost ourselves in God's presence. 

As I said in my blog entry yesterday the President of Haiti has called for a national fast/prayer period of 3 days to repent and seek God's forgiveness and help. WOW!!!  Last month at this time (pre-earthquake) this would have been unthinkable.  But it is for this very reason that God punishes man, inorder to turn him around and bring about spiritual change.  We see this time and time again in the Old Testament.  Israel was frequently punished for its disobedience and rebellion.

Perhaps yesterday's blog entry seemed harsh, but just look in the Bible and you will see that man's wickedness brings retribution.  God seeks to correct His errant creatures to bring them back to Himself for their good.  Call it tough love.  Its not the negligent, spoiling kind of love that so many parents practise today and which end up creating selfish, unruly children.

Such events serve as an opportunity for Christians to manifest their love and compassion for others through action and timely service which then brings glory to God and shows Christianity to be the best and true religion.

What I am writing could be upsetting to some of you, but I assure you everyone is devastated by the loss of life and suffering which earthquake has wrought in Port au Prince and its suburbs.  Almost everyone has lost one or more family members.  But to understand feelings deep down in the heart of the Haitian peasant you'd have to been here quite some time because relations between the capital and countryside have a complex side.

Port au Prince was the seat of wealth and power in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The difference in wealth is so remarkable that Port au Prince is called the Republic of Port au Prince as she operates in a different mode from the rest of the country.  She used to be as a bloated wicked queen who looked disdainfully down at her subjects while throwing a bone from time to time to the masses while she herself feasted on the best the country had to offer.  Transparency International voted Haiti the most corrupt country on the planet, and the center of that corruption was Port au Prince,  

Peasants in the countryside have long suffered from the greed of the politicians and bureaucrats that sucked everything into the capital like a vortex. Everything  is centralized and you had to go to Port au Prince to organise anything.  How happy they were everytime a hurricane or calamity struck-- that meant more aid money to skim off before it ever reached those in need.  From the top to the lower echelons each bureaucrat would take "his share" until very little reached the people it was meant to help.

People from PaP had a richer life style and could always be identified by a sleek, wellfed appearance, whereas people from  the countryside hve a haggard, worn appearance.  People from PaP ate mainly rice and other 'foreign" foods whereas the diet of the peasant is quite different.  Rice is the most expensive of the foods available.

The peasant diet consists mainly of corn meal, millet, plantain, yams, potatoes and other tuber like plants (when available).  When dry spells occur in the countryside and crops fail things are difficult  but PaP took little notice. When hurricanes ravaged the countryside destroying and killing PaP took little notice.  Hunger in the countryside is chronic and it causes anemia and malnutition. What irony now that the heretofore wellfed city dwellers of PaP find themselves in the same position as their country cousins.

As a city,  as a system could PaP possibly gotten what has been coming to it.  Biblically we could say "as ye sow, so shall ye reap'  or in modern terms "what goes around, comes around".

Now the President of Haiti has decreed a 3 day fast/prayer observance this week.  Prayer IS greatly needed, but if those in power don't repent, and there is no change in the hearts of the rich will these prayers be answered?  

Saturday night wasn't so great.  At 1:39 I awoke and looked at my watch and and then closed my eyes again.  Not another minute passed before I felt a couple of good jolts.  It was strong enough for the guy on the bottom floor to rush for the door.  I stayed in bed but then couldn't get back to sleep.  I was going to get up early anyway at 3:30am so as to prepare for my trek up Dubois Mountain on Sunday morning.  I had delayed my visit from last week as I had had a malaria attack and thought to recover first.

The plan was for me to meet up with Pastor Francol at 4am so we could make the climb before the sun came out with all of its heat.  Dubois is where we have planted a new church now about 2 years ago.  The response of the people there to hearing the Good News was so great that we had to start a church so that they could be taught and trained in the Word.  There are about 150 people now attending there.  The great thing is that the majority are young people.

Well, it took about an hour to get to Dubois and I only had to make 2 stops to rest.  This is great when I consider how out of shape I am.  I kept reciting Phillipians 4:13 along the way.  It was exciting to see the zeal and interest of the kids as I preached on Psalm 16 and related it to the great earthquake which had happened.  Psalm 46:1 also was applied.  After communion and a child presentation, we decided to hike further up the mountain so as to view a sight well worth the misery it caused me.  The earthquake had brought down the side of a nearby mountain.  This mountain was chiefly what appeared to be very white chalk.  It covered the spring down below so that the people have to go to another site to get water.  It was by God's grace that no people lived in that area.

I'm paying for my efforts of yesterday as my body aches all over.  But it was worth it to fellowship with those people and to share God's Word with them.  Truly I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me!

Wednesday night was the first night I slept in my bed since 12 January.  All was well until I was awakened at midnight exact by a "jerk" that I realized was a large tremor.  I was so tired I just said to myself "whatever..." and went back to sleep  although somewhat fitfully.  Last night I didn't feel anything so if there was a tremor I slept through it.

I've gotten used to sleeping with my glasses on at night.  I'm so nearsighted that I was thinking I might not be able to find them in the dark if I had to leave in a hurry.  At least I'm not sleeping in my daytime clothes as I had been for a number of days.  In short, inspite of the fact that occasional tremors are still occurring the general tendency is to slowly move back into what was a routine.

I'm so back off the beaten path here in Dariol that we have seen no foreigners, American or otherwise, except for the helicopters that pass overhead from time to time.  I have heard that there are a lot of Marines here.

So that you don't think our work here is boring,  yesterday I and the church committee had to intervene in an "emergency" situation.  The nurse in the clinic had an emotional outburst as she has been  pursued by a young man in the church whose attentions she wasn't interested in.  Apparently a gift she had given to the guy for his graduation was burned outside as a retaliation. Lots of noise- kind of like a bad Italian movie occurred.  Well, when that crisis was resolved it was discovered that our pharmacist was selling some medicine on the side (in the clinic) as an attempt at a free enterprise initiative to make extra income--I was not pleased.  Having dealt with that possible economic disaster I was able to relax finally. 

Thanks for your prayers and support!  Keep it up!!!

Yesterday was a red letter day as I was able to get to the Radio Station for a meeting with the staff.  What a great bunch of believers they are !  We don't have funds to compensate them for the service they render, so they operate on a voluteer basis. It is our hope that one day they will be blessed for their efforts.

I was able to check out the building firsthand and there appears to have been little damage from the earthquake although there were other buildings in the area which were affected.

I left my house at 7am and didn't get there until 8:30 as the roads have gotten worse (if that is possible).  The station is perched high on a mountaintop.  This also enables its signal to have a far reaching effect.

The meeting lasted until noon.  I was able to get back to Dariol by 2:30pm.  The mountain road offers some breathtaking views .  One could see the areas where there had been landslides from the hurricaine season of 2008.

Please continue to pray for us and our Haitian co-workers during these distressing times.  Funds are always appreciated so that we can continue to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ here in this troubled country.  God bless you for your support and prayers.  I've been working in Haiti almost half of my life as I came here in 1982 when I was 29 yrs old and am soon to be 57.

I was reading a TIME article on the internet that stated the geology of the area around Port au Prince is still very dangerous.  The focus of the earthquake of 12 January was actually Leogane, a town 25 miles to the west of PaP.  It was absolutely flattened.  The part of that fault that runs under PaP  has yet to "erupt".  That means that a "time-bomb" is under PaP and can go off in the not so distant future.  Its awesome to think an even worse event is looming ahead for these poor people.  The article said that the capital should be moved to the north up the coast to St. Mark which is away from the danger zone.

When I shared this news with the people assembled at the prayer/fast meeting this morning there was silence.  They also had a hard time imagining a worse scenario than what they had already experienced.

But to counter this bad news we showed from the Bible how GOD is sovereign and nothing can happen without His approval.  We looked at Jeremiah 18:1-12 which is a very good passage to note.  God leaves it up to us to obey and be blessed or to rebel and be punished.  There is hope-- IF there is a change of heart among the people and they return to serve and obey GOD once more, then the catastrophe of GOD's wrath can be averted.

Many people were up at arms at Pat Robertson's statement about Haiti's voodoo past having an influence on its present suffering.  Ask any Haitian and they will tell you the same thing.  Haitians READ their Bibles unlike liberals in the US.  They see that there are repercussions for our actions before GOD.  Israel learned this the hard way.  And the US government should consider this as well.

The churches swelled with worshippers yesterday.  Everytime I think of my Mom's church which is almost made up entirely of retired people, with only 5 kids, I shudder to think what is coming on the US.  Down the street from my Mom's church,  Central United Methodist Church in downtown Bellevue, Pa.  closed its doors due to "lack of interest" on the part of townspeople. 

Right now there is much talk here of how despite the horrible event in PAP there are still thieves,rapists and cheating occurring in the midst of the rubble and carnage.  Will man's heart not change even after witnessing such horrors?

Yes, pray for Haiti.  But also pray for the world as we seem to be entering the period known as the "time of sorrows" leading up to Christ's return.  Read matthew chapter 24.  Also reflect on 2 Corinthians 13:5.