We are quickly approaching the end of March 2022. How time flies. Linda and I continued to trade places for the first part of 2022. I was fortunate to be in the US to watch the Super Bowl. That was a treat for me. I was also able to see Maliya on her birthday. Linda was able to be with the kids for New Years and Valentines. As we finish March, I am in the US and will be here for a while. We are, like everyone, struggling with the inflation. We have decided that I will stay in the US for a while and find a job. Please pray that God guides us and brings me to the right job.
I worry about Linda being alone in Haiti. She rarely leaves the house without a dog in the car. That is comforting, but not ideal. The security situation in Haiti continues to be bad. Kidnappings are commonplace and no one is immune. There are many videos circulating within Haiti, showing kidnappings and attempted kidnappings. The government recently released a statement indicating that some kidnappers now have police uniforms and cars. They documented what to look for if the police are on the street asking you to stop. Things like, are they wearing police issued boots or tennis shoes, are they next to a police car, and does it have the police plates on it?...not things we would typically think to check. When someone with a gun is telling me to stop, I am usually looking at their face or the gun, not his shoes. This has created a lot of fear in the general population. There was recently a crew of people working on the road that we live on. It is a dead end road and we are the last house. I walked up to the top of the road, about 100yards, to see if I could get through with the pickup. I was stopped twice by neighbors to ask if I was not concerned about being kidnapped if I was walking on the street. I think this indicates the level of concern in Haiti right now. There seems to be more police activity recently. I have heard of more arrests of gang members. Hopefully this trend will continue. Please pray for the security situation in Haiti.
Please pray for Agape Flights. As you might have seen on Linda's Facebook page, they had a plane burned by protesters the last week of March. The current belief is that the protesters were looking for a commercial plane (believing that the commercial airlines have the main roads blocked to make money on flights). The protesters apparently stole this plane, rolled it out of the airport onto the street, and burned it in protest. There were no injuries to Agape personnel reported. This is a stark reminder of the frustration the population feels. Please pray for peace and for Agape Flights.
Our seeds arrived, thank you Hope Seeds. We ordered 250 family packs of seeds. Each packet contains a variety of seeds for a family garden. We have distributed about 40 packets down in the area we live, gave Leanne 5 packets for her family and neighbors, and sent the remaining packets to Sonis. They are planning to do a gardening class with the school students in Sonis. We hope to see a bumper crop from this project, and lives touched through this.
As mentioned in the last post, gymnastics has been struggling. Many of our students have sent messages that they would like to come to gymnastics, but are unable due to insecurity. While in the US, Linda was able to secure dates for the gymnastics competition and setup a week gymnastics camp. Now, she is working on paperwork for visas and other things. Please pray that the students will be safe and able to prepare for and go to the US for this competition.
We feel very blessed to be serving in Haiti and able to bring gymnastics to Haitian kids. We ask that you pray for the security situation in Haiti, pray for our family, pray for hearts to be touched for God, and prayerfully consider helping us with what we feel God is calling us to do.
God Bless
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