ON LOCATION The Jewelers' Screwdriver by John Kuhns Having been on several previous mission trips to Haiti you learn not only to plan in advance, but to be flexible. Most trips have several adjustments made to schedules and projects due to unseen supply issues, weather conditions, and external problems that just simply happen. Our Haiti trip for November looked like it was going to be the same. Even before we left word came that the well at 70 Palms was not functioning and the biggest goal we had on this trip was the baptism of the kids. There was no doubt that Satan was at work. As the trip got closer, we anticipate other potential problems based on past experiences and the goals we had planned. In doing so, you also knew that not only was God with us at all times, our prayer warriors had our back! Our November trip was truly blessed, from beginning to end. I'll just list some of the blessings that I witnessed on this trip. The baptism was planned for Sunday night. A couple leaders purchased a water tank, and cut the top off. This served as our Baptismal. Thanks for a lot of rain the previous three days, the raised storage tank at 70 Palms had just enough water to complete the baptism. Electricity is on a grid, and you really never know when you will have a couple hours of power. Storms were approaching as the evening progressed, coming closer by the minute. The electricity, randomly supplied by the city, stayed on the entire time, and just as we got into the bus, it began to rain. The team and the kids all made it safely back to Hope Village before the brunt of the storm hit. Before our trip, the team prayed for the broken well and water for the pending baptism. I spoke of the success with the baptism above, but now the rest of the story. On our last day in Haiti, we noticed a leak in the water supply between the well pump, storage tank, and the main water line at Hope Village. The leaks were in two plastic fittings, one was an elbow going into the main structure. Since the elbow was right where the pipe entered the building, it would necessitate replacing the entire section going through the wall as well as the manifold. When removing the soffet on the building to get access, the pipe broke at the elbow, a clean break meaning we could fix everything on the outside of the wall and not on the inside. This cut our work in half. While we were fixing this problem, the final touches were being completed on a new pump for the well at 70 Palms. It worked and the pressure was so good, it blew out some of the fittings on that water line. The extra parts we saved for not having to go through the wall at Hope Village was enough to fix the line at 70 Palms. We prayed for water and were blessed again. Debbie (a team member), was trying to fix a sewing machine and asked me if there was a small jewelers' screw driver she could use. I said no, sorry but all the screw drivers we had were much bigger. A little later I was working on the inside of a bus that we were preparing to use. I was removing some interior luggage racks when something fell and landed next to my foot. It was a small jewelers' screwdriver! Thanks for your support and prayers! Prayers DO work! Mission xperience December 2014
Transcript
ON LOCATIONThe Jewelers' Screwdriver
by John Kuhns
Having been on several previous mission trips to Haiti you learn not only to plan in advance, but to be flexible. Mosttrips have several adjustments made to schedules and projects due to unseen supply issues, weather conditions,and external problems that just simply happen. Our Haiti trip for November looked like it was going to be the same.Even before we left word came that the well at 70 Palms was not functioning and the biggest goal we had on thistrip was the baptism of the kids. There was no doubt that Satan was at work. As the trip got closer, we anticipateother potential problems based on past experiences and the goals we had planned. In doing so, you also knewthat not only was God with us at all times, our prayer warriors had our back!
Our November trip was truly blessed, from beginning to end. I'll just list some of the blessings that I witnessed onthis trip.
The baptism was planned for Sunday night. A couple leaders purchased a water tank, and cutthe top off. This served as our Baptismal. Thanks for a lot of rain the previous three days, theraised storage tank at 70 Palms had just enough water to complete the baptism. Electricity ison a grid, and you really never know when you will have a couple hours of power. Storms wereapproaching as the evening progressed, coming closer by the minute.The electricity, randomly supplied by the city, stayed on the entire time,
and just as we got into the bus, it began to rain. The team and the kids all made it safelyback to Hope Village before the brunt of the storm hit.
Before our trip, the team prayed for the broken well and water for the pending baptism. Ispoke of the success with the baptism above, but now the rest of the story. On our last dayin Haiti, we noticed a leak in the water supply between the well pump, storage tank, andthe main water line at Hope Village. The leaks were in two plastic fittings, one was an elbowgoing into the main structure. Since the elbow was right where the pipe entered the building, it would necessitatereplacing the entire section going through the wall as well as the manifold. When removing the soffet on the building
to get access, the pipe broke at the elbow, a clean break meaning we could fix everythingon the outside of the wall and not on the inside. This cut our work in half. While we werefixing this problem, the final touches were being completed on a new pump for the wellat 70 Palms. It worked and the pressure was so good, it blew out some of the fittings onthat water line. The extra parts we saved for not having to go through the wall at HopeVillage was enough to fix the line at 70 Palms. We prayed for water and were blessedagain.
Debbie (a team member), was trying to fix a sewing machine and asked me if there was a small jewelers' screwdriver she could use. I said no, sorry but all the screw drivers we had were much bigger. A little later I was workingon the inside of a bus that we were preparing to use. I was removing some interior luggage racks when somethingfell and landed next to my foot. It was a small jewelers' screwdriver!
Thanks for your support and prayers! Prayers DO work!
Missionxperience
December 2014
We are so excited that you are part of what God is doing at Mission Experience (ME). God has profoundly pro-vided for this ministry in the last eight months in ways beyond what we could imagine. I personally want to
thank the family of Colorado churches who joined us right from the start and believed in what God was doing.Thank you to my family at The Experience church who believed when their pastor said God was about to change ourlives and embraced it. Thank you to Concordia Lutheran church in Lakewood; your relationship has blessed me be-yond measure. Thank you to Pinecrest Community Church in Parker who have become amazing partners in ministry.Thank you to Concordia Lutheran church in Steamboat Springs, you have been a second church family to me and myfamily over the years. Thank you Peace with Christ in Aurora, your support and encouragement over the years hasbeen astounding. Also a special thanks to all the new churches who have joined us since May in this journey. Wecould not do it without any of you. (ME already has partner churches in the US and Canada)
The message of Christmas is that God has invaded our world by becoming man as Jesus Christ in the flesh. Johnwrote it this way, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14). This is now our calling asservants of Jesus. We are called to continue representing Jesus in the flesh to this world in our own neighborhoods,in our countries and into the entire world; for us especially, into the Island nation of Haiti. What we are doing in Haitiis not just building projects, we are building the kingdom of God. When you share in this ministry you are making aprofound impact in our kid’s lives, in the lives of the children in Jonas’ school, and in the lives of those we reach outto. You are also reminding them that the God of the universe has not forgotten them. I remember one pastor tellingme years ago in Haiti, that most of the nation turned to Voodoo because they believed God hated them. He saidthat when they compared the wealth of America to the poverty of Haiti, they concluded that “God must love Americaand hate Haiti.” Wow! This is where you and I come in. Each month we are there as a message of hope for thiscountry. A visible message that God has not forgotten them. We are the living epistles (as Paul writes in Romans 11)carrying the message that God has not given up on these people. So, I invite you once again, to join us on one ofour trips next year to build, to minister, to teach, but more profoundly to remind these blessed people that God caresfor and loves them.
Re-visioning for 2015 - I am so excited to share with you our new ministry direction for 2015. We are goingto continue to build as God provides the money for Seventy Palms, but we now have enough cottages for the kids tomove over there and for more of our old friends (children) to come back and join us. God has burdened our heartsthat we need to start the career centers for our teens now - not later when we have the buildings. When our childrenmove over to Seventy Palms in the beginning part of the year, we will turn Hope Village temporarily into the industrialcenter. We are going to open a sewing store, rebuild the welding and carpentry shops and another business or two.When this is all set up, we will need people to come and teach our children these skills and trades, then also teachbusiness classes. If you have a desire to teach business or have the skills to teach a trade let us know. We wouldlove to have you come, teach and mentor our kids. Come be part of the miracles God is doing in Haiti.
Mark August 1st on your calendar, we are having a huge fundraiser on that day. Our goal is to build 52teams to summit the fifty-two 14,000 ft. peaks in Colorado on one day and pray at the top - all together via cellphones. There are mountains in Colorado you can drive up, some you can hike up and others that you would haveto be part of a technical climbing team. Each person will pay a registration fee to participate. This has never beendone before in history, but we are going to be doing it on August 1st 2015. Be on the l k-out! More info to come...
Have a blessed Christmas,
Pastor Mike
Feb 11-16 Ministry
Mar 21-28 Const/Ministry
Apr 6-10 Closed
May 16-23 Const/Ministry
Jun 6-13 Property Maint./Ministry
Jun 25-29 Ministry
Jul OPEN
Aug OPEN
Sep 5-12 Const/Ministry
Oct 10-17 Ministry
Nov 2-9 Const/Ministry
Dec 29-1/2 Ministry
Please send your contributions to:
Mission Experience11245 Tamarron Court, Parker, CO 80138
You can also use:Bill Pay OR PayPal: http://the-experience.org/ministries/missions/
EDUCATION FUND~Separate from sponsorship fund~
We have received enough funding to get all 14 through schooluntil the end of the 2015 session.
The Lord has blessed us with all that we need for this school year.Thank you for your generous gifts!
YEAR END is upon us!!** It is time to budget for 2015 **
Please let us know your pledges for next yearso we can budget accordingly.
Sponsorship and care for the 14 young men and womenis still a priority.
There are two ways to sponsor a child:1) Full sponsorship is $120/month per child2) Partial sponsorship is $40/month this is three peoplesponsoring one child for full sponsorship to be achieved.
Daina is one of three girls at HopeVillage. She is outgoing and enthusias-tic, eager to both learn and assist in anyway possible.
Daina enjoys helping on sewing proj-ects and cooking. She is also talentedin art and has a beautiful voice forsinging. She sings at all services andhas done so for years.
Daina
As we celebrate the joy of Jesus’s birth and the true meaning of Christmas, I want to share with you the tremen-dous joy, love, and kindness I see in our kids as they portray so many of the things that Jesus portrayed to his fol-lowers during his life on earth.
The joy that they have is awe-worthy. Whether it’s sports, board games or putting a puzzle together, they radiatepure joy. The most amazing event that happened this past trip was our kids’ baptism. To see the joy on their facesas they were baptized and as they proclaimed what Jesus means to them was truly amazing. Here are kids thathave very few material things but are very rich in the joy of the Lord and they radiate that joy to everyone aroundthem.
The love that they share is incredible. They don’t care what you look like, if you are sweaty or if you have mud allover you, they love you with all of their being. They love you for you. It is so incredible to watch how in tune thesekids are to the Holy Spirit and how they would instinctively show love to a missionary at the exact time when thatmissionary needed some love.
The kindness that they share is astonishing. They go out of their way to make you feel at home and want you toknow how grateful they are for the sacrifices that everyone makes to come to Haiti. On the last night of our trip inNovember, the kids were able to share with the team their hearts about how appreciative they are for each one ofus and thanked us for all we do for them. It was so humbling to feel the kindness of their hearts.
As God continues to heal them from their past, he fills the holes in their broken hearts and makes thatpart of their heart stronger as they become more and more like Jesus. Through all of the obstacles,disappointments, heart aches and grief they have experienced, it is amazing to see how God hasenriched their lives and healed them. It is amazing.
Goats ~ $75/ea.
Goal:Raise goats for
milk, cheese and meat and to sell to the community.
Seeds ~ $5/bag
Goal:Raise vegetables
and fruits for food and also to sell to the community.
