Seeking Team Members

"Sympathy is no substitute for action" ~David Livingstone

Missionary to Africa

We are actively seeking team members for Feb 10-17th.  This will be a combination work/medical team with hopefully a beach day. We are seeking both skilled and unskilled team members. Anyone with a willingness to simply serve others is encouraged to join the team!

The main way we get supplies into the country and complete projects is through team members. Please consider joining a team! There are a range of projects from counting pills in the pharmacy to weighing babies in the clinic or doing manual labor helping with various building projects.

Airfare on JetBlue is actually incredibly low. They have just began flying back into Haiti through New York. Flights that used to cost $800 or $900 from Oregon are now under $600, so it is an excellent time to join. Team members from other parts of the country are also encouraged to join a team. If you are not in a city where JetBlue flies, we can work out the details.

Please spread the word to anyone you know! This could be an excellent opportunity for High School students to complete their service hours or their senior project. I have a sample fundraiser letter that team members can distribute to raise support. Please don't let funds stop you from joining a team!

Over the years, we have never had the funds for all the mission teams, often until the last minute. A missionary friend of mine asked me about our support raising and where we were at and I remember saying, "um...well...we're nowhere near where we had hoped to be" and her reply was that "Our God is a just-in-time God". That is very much the truth! If God calls, He provides the way, but it will take dedicated prayer and usually a great deal of personal commitment and work.

Here's a few ways we've raised funds over the years:

Sending out 100+ letters asking for prayer support and financial support
I would say on average we bring in about 1/2 through donations from friends/family
Keep in mind that if the total cost is $1500, you only need 15 people to come along side and commit to $100 or 30 people to support you at $50 or a combination of $100 donations and $20 donations. 

Spread the News on Social Media
Let people know what you are doing and post continual updates on your newsfeed or blog. You can also start a fundraising event on CrowdRise, YouCaring, etc. These are free sites where people can directly donate and the site will track your goal and percentage you have raised so far. I have had success sometimes with these sites and other times I have had limited success. 

Braiding hair for a donation of $50-75/piece
If you know how to braid African-American hair, let me know because I can connect with people in certain areas that have adopted kids and are always looking for people to braid their children's hair and LOVE to have the funds go to a good cause.

Garage Sales or Rummage Sales
I have seen some team members raise their entire support and even over $3K in a weekend garage sale. It's a lot of work and we personally haven't had as much success with this, but if you have people donating items that are worth money and you are advertising the reason for the sale, often you can raise the entire funds you need this way. 

Selling things on Craigslist, Amazon, Ebay
We literally have gone through the house for years and sold off things to pay for the trips. We also let people know that we are seeking donations in order to sell them to pay for the trip. The person can get a tax write-off for donating and it's proceeds go to a very good cause. Selling college text books used to be profitable, but I think currently any kind of baby item seems to sell well. If someone has a bouncy seat, crib, playpen, furniture, or various other item that you can sell on craigslist, a few higher dollar items can go a long ways.

Babysitting, Landscaping, Tutoring, Pet Sitting, House Sitting, etc.
Let people know what you are doing and ask for side jobs. A range of home skills can earn money quickly. I have one team member that earns most of her funds from pet sitting. She has a regular job, but on the side she pet sits and puts all of that money aside for mission work. Our kids have always had to raise their own support and have done various side jobs to earn the money. Just about anything you plug away at will eventually earn your support as long as you are dedicated to putting that money aside for the trip. Always tithe off the top. If you're short on funds, always start giving more to other people.  I do also think it is important to take a small percentage to do something fun such as after I earn $300 in wages from side jobs, I will take $20 and go the movie with my friends to help encourage you to move forward. 

Home Parties- Jewelry, Candle, etc.
Various home parties have options where you can take a percentage of proceeds from the home party and put towards your project. I have a friend that sells $5 jewelry that is really amazing (I believe it's called Paparatzi) and you can mark up the jewelry for fundraising events and pretty easily make significant money. I had a home party and easily made a couple hundred dollars. 

Dinner Events/Fundraiser
Spaghetti dinners or other events at a church where you can show a power point about what you are doing and request a donation can be successful. Spaghetti is relatively inexpensive to serve and you can have a recommended $5 or $10 a plate amount. You want people to come, so sometimes a lower suggested donation can be beneficial. You can then show a video (there are many videos about MTM already on YouTube) and you can ask for additional prayer support as well as financial support. 

My biggest recommendation though is to gather a prayer team of 5 or 6 people that are committed to praying for your trip (and for the team). Then develop a plan which incorporates raising support in various ways such as 1/3 from gifts/donations, 1/3 from personal funds (selling your own stuff), 1/3 from side jobs. If we break it down into sections it becomes more manageable and we also don't have all our eggs in one basket.

Never think of a specific event as not being a success even if you do not raise a specific amount of $$. We have had times where we haven't raised much money, but years later people have come to me and talked about the event and it lead them to join a team or led them to give financial support later on. Our primary should always be to seek the will of God and gather those to pray! 

Please contact me for more details: linda@aafcs.net or HaitiMissionaries@gmail.com or my home number here in Haiti (local US number) is 503-648-5260 or you can text me on Pinger: 503-395-0510

Merry Christmas from the Sheppard Family

Us Sheppards had a fantastic Christmas!

Thank you everyone who provided presents for Mom to bring from the States. Banks Christian, thank you for the neat clothes, the girly dolls, and the manly toy helicopters. Amanda and the Domer family- thanks for spending the whole day shopping! Danalyza, thank you for the board games and the treats. Aimee, the kids really enjoy those coloring books. And for all the others who have provided for our family- Thank you!! The kids really appreciate all the wonderful gifts:)

This is the first Christmas we have spent someplace warm. The entire week leading up to Christmas, I was thinking Mele Kalikimaka and then I was dreaming of a White Christmas. I felt sad and glad at the same time. I missed the "Christmas" feeling that magical snow may greet me when I wake, but I was glad I didn't have to bundle-up just to keep warm in the house. Yes, even though we don't usually get very much snow in Oregon, I miss the chance of snow.

Meet Romeo: The newest addition to the Sheppard Family. Julia, has been asking for a bunny for a couple of years now. When Julia told her wish to a friend here in Haiti, her friend said he could help her get one. That wish came true one week ago. A bunny with grey, black, and white fur is what Julia's friend got her. Julia named the bunny Romeo. He is very cute with huge ears and big feet. He loves mash potatoes just like Julia. The bond couldn't be stronger!

Christmas Eve, everyone went to bed early. For some reason, kids believe you when you say, "Christmas comes sooner the sooner you go to sleep." Can you believe that Steevenson and Jordan decided to go to bed and were already asleep by 6:00? Of course, the parents stayed up and stuffed the stockings. I'm sure they had fun. Who doesn't enjoy staying up 'til two placing gifts into fancy socks, then getting back up at six? If you don't think that's fun, you're missing out.

On Christmas, we kept it very American. Mom "smuggled" in a turkey and ham, some summer sausages and cheese, as well as some cranberry sauce and candied yams. I'm sure TSA thought Mom was crazy. Anyway, we listened to Christmas K-Love via the internet, opened stockings and presents, and then we had a feast. We had been preparing this for some time. This means we pulled out all the stops.

Afterwards, the Charles family stopped by and gave the girls a beauty basket, the guys a shoe-shine basket, and boardgames for everyone to share. Best of all, they gave us the gift of packaged snow all the way from the midwest.

Sometimes, dreams do come true :)

~DWS

P.S. Mom made a great video with pictures of our Christmas. Please check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOOfkFIXdY

Seeking Prayers for a Vehicle

We are seeking a vehicle and would LOVE prayer support! We need a vehicle for transportation of our family of 13 and also for hauling building materials and team members. Vehicles are incredibly expensive in Haiti, but the issues with customs and inability of importing a vehicle without it potentially getting held in customs leaves us in a position to have to pay exorbitant prices locally.

Another challenge is the inability of getting parts or repair work on vehicles. We have spoken to the ministry and various missionaries who have advised us to be very cautious buying a used vehicle here due to inability to repair the vehicle and just how damaging the terrain is on a vehicles. So.....for the first time in our lives we are praying about a new vehicle (which we have never owned before). It appears the most reasonable good quality vehicle that has the potential to haul what we need it to haul is the Kia 2700 4x4 truck which sells for $26,500. We hope to put a rack in the back where the kids (and team members) could hang on and also have plenty of room for various building supplies, medical supplies, rice, beans, etc.

Please join us in prayer regarding the details of purchasing this vehicle. We have designated $15,000 of our personal funds for this vehicle (we recently sold our farm house in Oregon- praise God!!), but need to raise the remaining $11,500 to buy the vehicle.

If you would like to help us in this endeavor, please 1. Pray 2. Ask others to Pray 3. Consider Donating

Tax deductible donations need to be post marked by January 1st for them to count on 2103 taxes. Checks can be mailed to:

The Chance to Dream

8105 Carlisle Place

Arlington, WA 98223

Donations can be made online at:           http://www.thechancetodream.com/#!donate

Please make sure to mark your donation for Haiti truck. It would also help us to better track our donations by sending me an email: linda@aafcs.net or Haitimissionaries@gmail.com

Thank you and God Bless,

The Sheppard Family

Christmas Baking

The Christmas baking has begun! We've made various cookies, fudge, and peppermint bark to give to friends. The kids have enjoyed planning what to make and eating anything that looks even slightly damaged to them. :)

Thank you Dayspring fellowship church as well as Amanda, Aimee, Danalyza, and the Domer family for sending all the baking supplies and presents! We made the gingerbread cookies below with the little mini M&M's you sent. 

We brought in some amazing bowls from Cash & Carry. They get used daily for all kinds of baking needs. 

David figured out how to make peppermint bark. It's interesting because we looked up various recipes on the internet and it showed white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, candy canes, and various other items that we did not have.  

                                                  

                 

We would then google how to make those various items from scratch. David has found out that making peppermint candy is really easy with mostly just sugar, water, peppermint, and red food coloring. 

The kids also put together a gingerbread train that was sent to us. It was a little smashed up in the luggage, but we were able to piece it back together. We then gave it to LiAnn for her kids. She says the kids really loved it! 

Naomi is always wanting to help in the kitchen. She was trying to help David make the cinnamon rolls, but mostly she just wanted to taste the icing. 

We've begun baking pies as well. We'll make a couple more tomorrow as well. Everyone is very excited for the turkey and ham that we brought in from the states. Always funny to watch the airport security inspect a frozen turkey as we carry it on the plane!

Snicker doodles are also a big hit. We've been playing around with baking with lard and how to adapt recipes. Seems not many people use lard anymore. When we lived on the mini farm in Cherry Grove years ago, we would render our own fat and use lard all the time for baking and soap making. It's been fun to revive those skills.

Cooking in Haiti

We're having an amazing time cooking in Haiti. Actually, David is doing a lot of the baking. We brought our Joy of Cooking cookbook and David tries out something new everyday. Ron built a kitchen island for me for Christmas. It's funny because for years we had considered popping out our kitchen in Oregon. People would come over and see our tiny kitchen with our large family and we would all talk about how "maybe someday" we would have a bigger kitchen mostly because the bulk of our family time seems to revolve around preparing to eat, eating, thinking about eating, talking about eating, and dreaming about eating. Hence the weight watchers issues.

But...whenever we came into some money with our tax return, there seemed to always be more pressing family needs such as medical expenses or paying for the next adoption. It is amazing how the Lord works though. When we give up the "dream" of a large kitchen with an island, we then move to Haiti and the Lord simply provides it in the least expected circumstances. It is a huge blessing with the various bug issues we have here. The ability to hang our kitchen pans and utensils help to keep the bugs off of them.  The bugs like the dark cupboard drawers- yuck!

We've been blessed to meet an amazing missionary couple that help people learn trades. Part of what they do is help people start baking businesses. Because of that, they go monthly to buy large quantities of baking supplies and we are able to get in on that order.

We buy over 100 pounds of flour a month, plus sugar, oats, lard, and yeast. We've gotten pretty good at making pizza, bread, rolls, donuts, cookies, pancakes, biscuits & gravy, and Haitian oatmeal. It is really good!

Happy 20th Birthday Kenneth

Thirteen years ago, a sweet young man joined our family through the miracle of adoption. He was seven at the time. Now, that sweet little boy is a handsome 20 year old man.

Yes, we've had our tests and trials; but Kenneth always made the most of the situation and put a smile on everyone's face.

Kenneth on left in red cap ~
many years ago in Washington DC

Kenneth holding his baby sister (Naomi)

He did some funny things on our numerous cross country road trips. I remember one year he fell flat on his face at a gas station in Colorado.

He has difficulty with elevation. He's now living on the coast in Oregon, so hopefully he won't have that problem. 

We are very proud of Kenneth! He is now living and working at Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center. He loves the Lord and is passionate about serving others. What more could we ask for? 

Happy Birthday Kenneth! We love you!!

Family Christmas Letter...and Lack of Mail Service

Family Christmas Letter

We have finally posted our family Christmas letter on the blog. It is up in the tabs section at the top of the page. If your last name is towards the beginning of the alphabet, you may actually have gotten a card from us. Otherwise, I'll send the rest towards the middle of January. I did not have a chance to get them all addressed and we have no way to mail at this point from Haiti. When the next team comes in, I'll try to send them out with that group.

Mail Service

People have asked us about mailing us items or even us receiving just regular mail. At this point, the only way we can get mail is if team members carry the mail in for us. There is not actually public mail service in Haiti. We don't even have an actual address and I've never seen anything that resembles a mail system. There apparently is a place the other side of the airport where you can pay for a PO box, but it is not very consistent and is too far for us to travel on a regular basis.

We are looking into joining a cooperative mission organization where you pay a membership and then also volunteer to sort mail. Apparently mail could then be sent to Florida and then it is brought in on a relatively regular basis. I would still say that it is unlikely that packages could come in this way. We'll look into this more and keep everyone updated.

For now, mail can be sent to our po box in Oregon:

Sheppard
PO Box 102
Hillsboro OR 97123

Joseph then can gather the mail and send to a traveling team member. He will also be traveling to Haiti the middle of January and can bring in mail at that time.

To Market to Market...

Market Day

Today is market day. We went into Petionville to buy fruit. On Tuesdays we buy vegetables at a market near us, but Friday is the day to get fruit in Port-au-Prince. The market here is always hot and crowded. Getting to the market is quite an experience. It can be an all day adventure.

An amazing lady, LiAnne, helps us to barter for food. She has the right skin tone in order to get a better price and she speaks the language. David though came along (since school is on break for Christmas) and is now pretty much a translator for us as well. It is amazing how much easier it is for the kids to pick up a new language than for us to acquire this skill.

Goats on a Tap Tap

One of the most interesting things in Haiti is watching what and how various things are being transported. All kinds of bagays (almost sounds like "bad guys") are transported to and from the market. I remember years ago hearing the word bagay over and over again and asking what it means. Apparently it just means "thing", but it is used frequently because Creole has a pretty limited vocabulary. Many things actually do not even have a name. They are simply a '"thing". So, people are always referring to that "thing" or this "thing", but if you do not know the context, you have absolutely no idea what thing they are referring to.

Local transportation is typically by tap tap. Usually people recognize tap taps as the bright colored little trucks, but tap taps can actually be just about anything with 4 wheels that hopefully gets you from point A to point B. This costs around 15 Gourdes (less then 50 cents US).

Of course, if you are transporting your goats or sheep to market, you would pay a small fee per animal as well. We have literally seen hundreds of sheep alive tied upside down on the outside of tap tap and then also crammed in the back of the truck as well. It's quite impressive!

Gourdes (Goo-dz) vs. Haitian Dollars (Doo-laz) vs. US Dollars (A-merry-cane)

The money system is interesting as well. They have Haitian gourdes (goo-dz) that exchange at 43 to 1 US Dollar. But they also equate things based on Haitian dollars. The confusing part of this is that there are actually no Haitian dollars. For example, when LiAnn went to buy fruit, she asked for 500 dollars which is 2500 gourdes. It's an odd system. Everything is referenced in dollars which is approximately 8 Haitian dollars to 1 US dollar or 5 gourdes to 1 Haitian dollar. But again, it's confusing because the only actual currency they have is the gourdes. So, if they give you a price in dollars you have to calculate how many gourdes that is (once you've clarified that it's not in US dollars) and then pay them in gourdes. I'm not exactly sure why they created the Haitian dollar at all, but we are practicing our math skills by using this system. Just one of the many interesting things we are learning!

Challenges on the Mission Field

Sorry for the lack of updates! Some friends have contacted us asking how we are doing and why we haven't posted. Thank you so much for your concern and thoughtfulness! We are doing good. There has been some challenges - upon challenges, upon challenges, BUT we are thankful to be here. Haiti is home to us now!

I believe when we are walking with the Lord, Satan will try alter us from that path and tear us down in a range of ways. And to tell the truth, sometimes I think we give Satan a pretty easy job. Sometimes it's not all that difficult to get us distracted from the path we are walking. We can get sidetracked and our energy and focus can get consumed by details, but we're told in Ephesians 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,  and having done all, to stand firm. 

These challenges have been a good thing. Originally we had every intention of getting on a consistent schedule with devotions with the family, but life just got ahead of us. Yes, the kids were doing scripture in the day with homeschooling and we of course went to church on Sundays, but we were struggling to find the balance with all the details of getting settled. I was often at the guest house with teams one week and then Ron was at the guest house with teams alternating weeks.  In the evenings when we were actually all together,  frankly sometimes we were just tired and wanted to send everyone to bed and go to bed ourselves. Thankfully though, we then had this amazing group of teens stay with us. So, even before these challenges really came on strong, we had begun consistently doing devotions every evening as a family. That has been HUGE in keeping our faith and keeping us strong.

Some of the challenges have been minor: fire was coming out of our electrical sockets. We almost lost David's keyboard that amazingly made it here in our checked bags. Which reminds me, please keep a piano in prayer for our family. Maybe we can come across a missionary family that is moving out of the country and has a used piano for sale. :)

There is something wrong with a range of details in this amazing house that we live in. It is a HUGE house (well, I guess not incredibly huge for the size of our family), but not in our wildest imagination did we think we would ever live in a house this size or type in Haiti. We LOVE the home, but the unbelievably expensive inverter system works only certain things and there are all these limitations we are simply not accustomed to in the States. We do have electricity through much of the house on that battery system, but not when fire starts shooting out of the sockets. Ron has disconnected that particular socket, so we'll see what else can be done. We also discovered (through Naomi being zapped onto the floor) that we do not have grounded electricity.

I was touching something metal and had my arms in water actually and Naomi was touching something and then grabbed onto my leg and proceeded to cry saying, "It got me, it got me"....I thought she was talking about a bug (which she can tend to over react about), so I was looking around on the ground for the cockroach, ant, centipede, lizard, or whatever else may be "getting her". Since I didn't find anything, I went back to what I was doing after assuring her that everything is just fine, but I was wrong. She proceeded to run up to me again and that time it got both of us and knocked her right onto the ground.

So, since we do not have regular electricity, but do have this battery system, we have learned to function for the most part with what we have. We also do not have running water in the home, but when/if the city power turns on, then our pump works and we actually have water for a short period of time. So, in the evening, if we hear the pump turn on, we know the city power has kicked in. That evening, I proceeded to hear the pump, jump up, put on my head lamp on, and head out to the back where we have an amazing appliance that we have used all of maybe 5 times. It is hard to believe, but we have an actual Washing Machine!!

It really is the most amazing thing, but it mostly is amazing for it's washing ability (because honestly it doesn't do a very good job), but because of how it can spin the clothes really dry. That way when we hang them on the line, they do not take 2 or 3 days to dry. So, many times we actually hand wash the clothes in the day down by the water source and then put them in the washing machine just to spin them in the evening if the power kicks on. Then the next day we hang them on the line and do that whole process all over again.

That evening though, I actually attempted to do a load of wash with water in the washing machine, but something was amiss (something was banging against the wall of the washer), so I stopped the machine and was digging around in the washer trying to find out who may have left a screwdriver in the pocket or whatever it was that was hitting the wall of the washer. We have an extension cord that goes out back to plug the washer in and I had my hands in the water when we were zapped good.

But...I think I am sidetracked. The electrical issues are really not major challenges on the mission field. They just are details that can occupy our time. There are so many details that really consume a TON of time. The logistics of getting anything done is unbelievable. I literally spent over 3 hours watching ants crawl in a line at the doctors office on the 2nd day that we went to try to get our medical certificate to obtain residency in Haiti. On the second day (first day the doctor never came), we were told to come at 9 and the doctor may show up at 10 or 11, but put our name on the list. By 1:30, we were still sitting there. My phone had gone dead, so I could no longer respond to emails. I sat there in that office waiting area and it really felt like I was in a movie or something. We're sitting in this waiting area that has metal bars on all the windows (which is common everywhere in Haiti- even in our own home) and then outside the windows there is a concrete wall with razor wire around the top and a guard with a machine gun walking around outside. I began to look at their batteries and noticed they have 16 batteries running their system just like we do. That must be the standard I suppose. I wondered without a guard if someone would steel those batteries because I know they cost thousands of dollars.

Then I wondered about the people that came and went (a different doctor was actually there seeing children), so I talked to different children as they were waiting or crying or peeing on the floor. But...the last 3 hours I probably just watched millions of ants in a line going back and forth and wondered where are they going and how come they aren't carrying any food and why does every once in a while one turn around and go back the other direction. They all march in a line and they pass each other, but one must say to another something because once every hour or so one will turn and go back the other way. It's the oddest thing. And I realized though that maybe this is what it means to be a missionary: we are actually forced to slow down and just BE. This is challenging for someone from the states that runs 100 miles an hour in 10 (or more) different directions, but it is where the Lord has most definitely called us.

There have been other challenges from details of working with other believers to having to find another chair for my dissertation. Praise the Lord, I have a new chair now and can finally move forward once again. We have had a range of illnesses in the home and even currently I am sick and Christelle is sick, but thankfully all the others that have been sick are just fine. I guess with so many of us, we are bound to have someone sick most all the time. There have been financial challenges that have come with stepping out in faith, but not fully knowing how exactly it will all work out, but we feel blessed on that end as well. Even though we do not know how exactly it will work every month, God is good and we greatly appreciate those back home that are supporting us! We have certainly experienced some trials and struggles, but we stand in the knowledge that God is good all the time. We cannot let these details distract us from the work the Lord has called us to do. A verse in one of my favorite books of the bible reminds us:  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect. Romans 12:2 (ESV)

We pray daily to know God's will and follow His path instead of our own. Thank you for all your prayers and support. I will try to keep everyone updated on a more regular basis. We cannot call at this time because some of the logistical challenges seems to have caused some issues with our phone's ability to operate through our internet.

Thankful for Many Things

We are thankful for many things here in Haiti. Somehow, thankfulness takes on a whole new meaning in this lifestyle. It is tough to see the distinct contrast between the upper class (which is a very small percentage of the population) and the lower class (which is the vast majority of the population). There are now many things available in Haiti. In fact, almost anything you can imagine can in fact be purchased in Haiti- for a premium. 

This tide is $2110 Gourdes which is equal to $49 US Dollars (depending on the current 43/1 exchange rate). Unbelievable! As we were walking to the church and school, I saw a young girl that looked to be around 6 years old selling laundry detergent. She could in fact have been much older because many of the children are older then they look due to years of malnutrition and their small size. We have seen this process of a person placing very small amounts of various items on their head in a tub and walking around town selling them. 

The other day, I saw another lady dividing up laundry detergent into tiny little bags. She had a relatively small bag of dry laundry soap and was literally dividing it into 1-2 teaspoons of soap in order to sell. This is how life is in Haiti. People may hope to have enough money to buy 1-2 teaspoons of soap for that day in order to wash clothes for their entire family for the whole week. They do not go to Costco and buy enough soap for a number of months. They only have enough money to buy what they would use right then that day (if they are so fortunate). With prices that are so far out of reach, it is even more understandable that people are living a moment by moment existence. 

We hope to make an impact in Haiti and assist in bringing God's hope to a population in need!