Monthly Archives: June 2014

June 11, 2014 · 7:49 am

Finally Heading Home…

Our bags are all packed….The house is cleaned out. We will make our final trip to the mini-storage tomorrow, finish up last minute errands, and around midnight Wednesday night, we will be headed to Birmingham to catch the first flight out to Haiti. Ahhhh…..my heart flutters just thinking about it!!

IMG_0699

Living room at the FBC mission house where we have spent a good part of the last year. We are so grateful to have had this place to stay while in the states. It has been so comfortable, and a comfort for Tony to know we were safe and secure. We will miss this place.

IMG_0698

Six very heavy suitcases ranging from about 55 to 70 pounds. Whew! Tomorrow is going to be interesting….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even while I type this post, Tony is texting me updates on a mother in the clinic in labor. She’s 19, it’s her first baby, and she is scared. I send a text, “Remind her to breathe slowly..respire dousman.” As if he needs me to remind him. “Okay,” he texts back. “Be sure to explain to her what to expect. It’s her first time. She’s scared,” I text. “Wi (yes)” he texts back. “Tell Vladimir to massage her feet with lotion and sing to her,” I text….nothing. I know good and well Vladimir isn’t going to massage her feet and sing to her. That’s my job! …and I can’t wait to be there to do it too. I can’t wait for the hugs and laughter of the children in the orphanage as they pile on one another wrapping their arms around me and pulling me down to their height. I can’t wait to walk around the village to each house saying, “Bon swa!” to all of my neighbors, exchanging kisses on the cheeks, and listening as they tell me the latest news. The children will all run into their houses to get their report cards to show me because the last time I was there they were taking final exams, and they will want to show me what their final grades were. Home….

home

Our “front yard” in Haiti! Thanks to the McCall’s we have flowers!! Can’t wait to see them!

IMG_7253

Our livingroom in Haiti…it’s where we put our feet up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s where my heart is. It’s where I sink into my couch at the end of a full day of loving on people and sharing the love of Jesus. It’s where God has placed us for this time in our lives, and we are loving every minute of it.

These last 20 months have been both challenging and a blessing. It has not been easy to be away from my husband and the ministry we both were called to. It has not been easy moving from place to place, living out of suitcases and boxes, and being dependent on the generosity of others. It has not been easy flying back and forth to see my honey and all of our Haitian brothers and sisters in our little village. It always seemed like just about the time I would be getting settled back in and my Creole was flowing well, it was time to pack back up and leave. I have stared longingly at those mountains through tearful eyes many, many times as we rumble along the rock road to the airport. On the other hand, I have had special times too. Over these past 20 months I have spent such precious time with my Jacob, watching him develop and mature into a fine young man. I have been awed by my Jonathan watching him grow and become a godly husband and teacher.

IMG_0500

Oh how this mama loves her sweet boys.

I have worked feverishly on ministry needs as well as senior parent things while here and have enjoyed every hectic minute of it. It has been a full year, and God has held us when we’ve cried, He has picked us up when we have fallen, He has comforted us when we were afraid, He has protected us from danger, and He has provided for all of our needs. We have rejoiced over answered prayer for healing, gained a daughter, and celebrated a graduation. God has been so good, and my heart is completely full just thinking about it.

IMG_8587

Celebrating the marriage of Jonathan and Katelyn

IMG_8530

Tony praying over Jacob in the ER after his auto accident

IMG_0015

Celebrating Jacob’s high school graduation.

Now my mind turns to friends. I was just thinking last night, as Jonathan & Katelyn, Jacob &  Madison, and I went to eat and spend a wonderful evening with friends, that God has gifted us with so many absolutely amazing friends through this journey. Even while I type this, the faces of people dear to me begin to flash across my memory, and I cannot hold back the tears because I feel so richly blessed. We feel God’s love in such a powerful way through the love that is shown to us through each and every friendship He has placed in our lives. We could not have made it through these 20 months without God’s using you to support us in so many ways. There are just SO MANY of you, and I wish I could tell each and every one of you how very special you are to me and to Tony right now. Since that is not possible, I am asking God to speak to our friends as they read these words and let them know and FEEL the love we have for them. It is impossible for me to express in words how you all make us feel. Words are not adequate, but I ask my Father to bless you in return for your love, loyalty, and kindness, and I hope that you know how much we love you.  Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for checking on us. Thank you for helping us through difficult times and celebrating with us in joyful times. God has used you to bless us.

IMG_5501

Even though the boys are squinting, it’s one of my favorite pictures. It was taken on the mountain road to Thoman

Now, as Jacob and I return to Haiti for the summer, please pray for safe travels, continued rest and healing for Jacob’s ankle, protection from sickness, ease in settling back into our home, and precious, precious catch up time with Tony and our Hope Center family. Please pray for Jonathan and Katelyn as they continue to seek the Lord in growing their marriage and moving them down the path of service upon which He wants them to serve. Please pray for our families as they love and support us from afar. And please pray for our ministry, that GOD would be glorified, people would come to know the joy of knowing our Savior, and that our community would grow and thrive and prosper just as God has intended. We look forward to reporting many more exciting adventures and blessings in the days ahead. Thank you for being a part of this ministry with us. It is truly an honor to serve with you.

Blessings!

Mickie

2 Comments

Filed under Haiti

Tagged as , , , , ,

Aside

Committing Our Plans to the Lord

On June 12th, Jacob and I will be returning to Haiti, and I already have a list as long as my arm of projects I want to tackle once I get moved back. Of course, our ministry is not our own; it’s God’s, and being such, it requires the input and contribution of many people to accomplish all of the things God wants us to accomplish at Hope Center. We are just excited to be able to be a part of what God’s up to!

Throughout the year, I have been able to post needs that we have had there, and every single time, within minutes, God has moved someone to meet those needs, and they have followed through with making it happen. I am so amazed at how God does that! Just last week, I asked if anyone wanted to purchase boots for our security guards at Hope Center, and within 24 hours, all six pairs of boots had been ordered! Amazing! God is faithful!

IMG_0679

 

So today I have debated about whether or not I should make a list of upcoming projects and needs, or focus on just one. As I have prayed about writing this post, I have come to the conclusion that I will focus on the one God has placed heaviest on my heart, then I will briefly list other things coming up in case God wants to begin moving people to pray about becoming involved in the other projects. Every time I do post a need, however, I want to remind people that I do not post these things with the expectation of every single person taking part in every single project. Yes, God wants to use everyone to do His work, but He moves some individuals one way and others another way, and through it all, things get taken care of through the individuals He moves to be used in individual ways. Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” That is what I do when I tell people about projects we are working on. I pray about needs, wait for the Holy Spirit to burden my heart then give me the voice to put it out there. Every time we have done this, God has moved people to respond, and it absolutely blows my mind every single time! Hallelujah! 

commit

Okay, so here’s the most immediate need: Most of you are probably familiar with our friend, Johnny. Not long after we moved to Haiti, we met Johnny, and God placed a burden upon our hearts to minister to him. He had been hanging out at Hope Center a lot, and he was incessantly making requests for things. Tony and I finally decided we needed to reach out to Johnny. We invited his mother over to talk with her about offering Johnny a little part-time job of helping us keep Hope Center clean, and we also wanted to talk with her about sponsoring Johnny in school. We felt like it was important for Johnny to learn to earn his own money to buy things he needs instead of asking people for things all the time. We also felt like Johnny needed incentive to stay in school, so we could help him with that by paying for his school. We asked his mom to take us to his school to meet his principal, and from there, God began meeting the needs of hundreds of children as people began giving to help send more children of our village to this same school.

Johnny getting ready to head to school.

Johnny getting ready to head to school.

Since that time, Johnny has continued to work at Hope Center. Tony is pretty much the only male influence Johnny has in his life because his father, who is voodoo priest, is not in the picture, and Johnny’s mother relies heavily on him to help her with the other children in their household. It has been both a challenge and a joy to watch him grow and develop over these two years. Last summer Johnny accepted Christ, and although he often struggles because of outside influence, he continues to mature as we pour into him and pray for him as well as his family. Recently, Tony felt led to ask Johnny to show him where he lives. It occurred to Tony that after all this time, Johnny has never mentioned us seeing where he lived. So Tony asked Johnny to tell him where he lives. One day, after finishing clinic early, Tony decided to pay Johnny a visit at his house. When Tony arrived there, he found Johnny covered in mud from helping a neighbor build his own house out of sticks and clay. Johnny took Tony over to his house, and this is what he found…

Johnny's house 3

Johnny in front of his house.

Johnny's house 2

Missing door and roof on Johnny’s house

Johnny, his mother, and four more children live in a three-room house, but only one of the rooms has a roof. There should be four doors on the house, but two of the doors are missing. The one room that does have a roof has many holes and open spaces in it, so when it rains, even though they have a roof, everything in their house pretty much gets soaked. Seeing this absolutely broke Tony’s heart. He immediately sent me pictures of what he saw and said that he would like to talk to Jacques to get a quote on how much it would cost to fix Johnny’s house. Jacques came to look at it and estimated the cost of repairs to be $1500. Of course, we do not personally have this kind of money, but our Father owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps 50:10), and we know that He can provide these funds in no time. The next step was to discuss the project with our CEO, Stan Buckley, to get his approval to raise the funds. Of course, Stan immediately said, “Sure! Let’s do it!”

So now is the time to voice the need. Our prayer is that God will lead enough people to participate in this effort to raise a minimum of $1500 to fix Johnny’s house. Any funds we raise in excess, we will use them to purchase beans, rice, and oil to help feed his family. What we need you to do now is to PRAY. Pray and ask God if He wants to use you in this effort. Again,  I want to reiterate that not everyone that reads this is expected to participate. God already knows who He wants to use in this project, and who He wants to use in other projects. Our job is simply to pray and ask Him to burden our hearts and move us to respond. That’s what He has done with Tony and me in every single project we have started, and every time He has been faithful to provide. It’s always miraculous how He brings it all about!

If you are indeed burdened to participate in this project, please send your tax-deductible contribution to But God Ministries and designate it to “Johnny’s House.” The website is http://www.butgodministries.com and there is a link there that says, “Donate.”  From there, you will first be asked to create an account if this is the first time you have given. Once you do so, you will see a screen that looks like this:

GIVE TO JOHNNY'S HOUSE

Designate it to General Budget, but in the comment box, put JOHNNY’S HOUSE as you see on the example. Finish filling out the form and click “Submit” and that will lead you through the rest of the process. Of course, you can also send in a check and write on the memo line “JOHNNY’S HOUSE” as well and it will do the same thing. The address to send checks is BGM, 1440 N. State St., Jackson, MS 39202. We look forward to seeing God work in this effort, and as always HE WILL BE GLORIFIED.

As promised, I said I would mention other upcoming projects as well. This is certainly not a complete list, as God is always leading us to start new projects, but these are some things you can be praying about:

July – School Tuition & School Needs Drive for Village Children (school begins in October)

August – Textbook Orders for New English Classes (classes begin in October or November)

August – Re-Order School T-Shirts (just need two church sponsors to place the order)

August-September – Backpack and Tennis Shoe Drive for School Children

Ongoing – Chicken Coups and Laying Hens for “Houses on the Hill”

Ongoing – House building (groups are always raising funds to build more houses for people in the village)

Ongoing – Thoman Hope Center II (designation already on drop down list on website)

As always, we are so very thankful for your prayers and support as you join us in all of these efforts. We consider ourselves part of a big team of believers who work together being used by God to bless others in amazing ways. We have thoroughly enjoyed having you as a part of this team! 🙂 We look forward to reporting many great things to come as God continues to use us all to bless our village one heart at a time.

God Bless You!!

Mickie

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment

June 5, 2014 · 7:00 pm