August Activities
It’s been a busy month in Haiti! August brought us a great weekend of celebrating our village values of love, honesty, responsibility and obedience with all of our kids and staff. We taught about the importance of these values, awarded children and staff who exhibit these characteristics.
We also celebrated with dances and singing performed by the kids. The weekend ended with a pizza party Saturday night and a church service on campus on Sunday morning. During this month we also had some fun outings for our kids, unpacked and distributed school supplies & shoes from amazing supporters of Hands and Feet Project (HAFP). We have seen great progress on campus maintenance and improvement projects, too.
Unfortunately August also brought us several named storms (Hurricane Elsa, Tropical Storm Fred and Tropical Depression Grace) that resulted in local flooding with tropical depression Grace. There was also a significant magnitude 7.2 earthquake and dozens of aftershocks. We also faced challenges with fuel shortages and power outages in our area. Thankfully, there were no injuries from the storms or earthquakes to anyone affiliated with HAFP or with our friends and neighbors. We are also thankful that the transition of power has been peaceful so far after the assassination of the president. Some of our leadership team, staff and kids provided supplies and participated in earthquake relief efforts in an area near the epicenter earlier this week.
Visiting Rochester
We got to experience a 4th named storm, Henri, and the 24 hours of rain it brought as we had an extended layover in New York City on our way up to Rochester, New York. We will be in Rochester for a few weeks to visit with friends and family, to see a few doctors, share about the amazing work that HAFP is doing, and to have a little downtime.
Panera Open House!
For those in the Rochester area, we’re having an open house at Panera in Penfield on Friday, August 27th from 4-7pm. We’d love it if you’re able to stop by and say hello! Facebook users – you can let us know you’re coming on our Facebook event page.
Prayers and Thanks
We had a meeting with some of our leadership team today and heard about a variety of health issues and challenges that our coworkers and their families are going through. Please keep us, our coworkers and all those affiliated with our ministry in your prayers as we continue to share the gospel and encourage people to move forward on their faith journey. We’re blessed to be a part of the Hands and Feet Project ministry and to have such amazing partners that help us all to be successful. We pray that you are blessed for your prayers, financial support, and encouragement of what we do. Thank you for partnering with us!
Here’s a verse to reflect on. This came up several times in the last few days!
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV