Digger the Dog finds Strength

Here is the story that I will tell to the 2-6 and 7-12 year olds. This Friday the groups will be together and we will start the feeding program again. Some children will relate as I tell the story of a Haiti child going through the earthquake, through the eyes of our lovable character Digger the Dog. My plan is to bring him back several times throughout the year. Showing the way God is there to help the children through the trama of this Earthquake. This story is that God is our Strength.

Good morning boys and girls.

This morning I would like to tell you a story.
The character in today’s story is about a 7-year-old dog.
His name is Digger.

(How many here today are 7 yrs old)
(What is our character?-dog)
(The dogs name is?-Digger)

First lets see how strong you are. Show me you muscles (have a fun game with them)
==========
Digger had 5 brothers and 3 sisters
(How many brothers and sisters do you have?)
Digger was also the youngest in the family, and the smallest.

Digger loved his family a lot, even though they teased him for being so small.
Now Digger was not that strong for his size.
He worked hard to get water every morning for his family.
It was a lot of work, but he managed to bring the water home without spilling one drop.

He liked to sing his favorite song as he worked.
(Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, I am weak, but He is strong, mmmmm…)

You see Digger knew who Jesus was, his mom always taught him to love God.
This song reminded Digger that even though he is small, and weak, Jesus is strong.

He liked to pray for his brothers and sisters to.
Many did not want Jesus in their life.
=========
One night he was playing with his friends
(do you like spending time with your friends)
He was so tired from playing he decided to finally go home to bed.

Every morning his mother would remind him.
“Digger. No matter how your brothers treat you, act the way Jesus would act.
He will give you strength to love your family.
Today Digger’s mom was already gone to the market when he climbed out of bed.

“Digger you lazy dog get up” “Digger. DIGGER!”
Digger opened his eyes.
“What, hmm”
Eric his oldest brother said, “I’m thirsty. Get up baby and get to work.”
Digger had no father, so Eric provided for the family, and gave the orders,
which Digger had to follow or he would get the belt.
(does that happen to you sometimes?)

It was the afternoon and the sun was hot.
But he still needed to go get water for the day.
He picked up his bucket and began to walk.

But this morning he did not want to sing.
He was mad at his brother.
(do you get mad when people are not nice to you)

“I’m not lazy,” he said. “And I’m not a baby either!” “I don’t like you Eric. I wish you weren’t my brother.”
(was Digger acting nice?-No)
(What is his brother name?-Eric)
(What did he say about Eric?-I wish you weren’t my brother)

“Its so hot”. Digger said. “I need to stop and rest. Eric can wait for his water.”
He decided to take a rest under some shade.

He then remembered what is mother told him every morning.
“Digger. No matter how your brother treats you, act the way Jesus would act.”

It was getting late so in no time he filled his water bucket and headed home.
=====
Suddenly the ground began to shake. “What’s happening?” he cried.
He froze and couldn’t move. Digger did not like the way he was feeling.
All he could do was watch as people ran screaming.
He watched in horror as homes fell around him.

In seconds it was over but it felt like hours to him.
He dropped his bucket and began to run home.
“Mommy. MOMMY! Where are you mommy I’m scared!”

Digger did not like what he saw or heard. He did not understand what was happening.
He began to sing (I am weak but He is strong.)
(Who is strong?-Jesus)
++++++
That day Eric, Diggers older brother died, and all his sisters. They even lost their home.

Digger started to ask questions!
“Why do we have no home? Where will we sleep?”
“What will we eat mummy?”
“Why did Eric have to die mommy?
I killed Eric because I wished we was not my brother?”

Then he remembered he dropped his water bucket. “Mommy, what will we drink?”
“Are you mad at me? Does Jesus hate us?”
I’m scared to go back to school. The ground might shake and the school might fall on me!”

Digger had many questions.
Digger’s mom sat and listened to him quietly. She was very sad to.
She finally said, “Digger. What’s your favorite song?”
Digger replied “Jesus loves me”
“And what else does the song say”
he answered quietly “When I am weak HE is STRONG!”

“You are right Digger. Psalms 28:7 says, “The Lord is my strength, I will put my trust in Him.”
“Erik was strong. Did he trust in God mommy?”
“Yes he did Digger. That’s why we can miss him but we don’t need to be sad.”
“One day we will see Eric again in Heaven.”
“God has a plan for all of us.”

“Digger.”
“Yes Mommy.”
“Repeat after me, The Lord is my strength. I will put my trust in Him.”
“Let’s ask God to give us strength.

Let’s pray
(Pray with children)

In His Service,

Re-establishing the Church Family

Today the second service was held since the earthquake. Praise God for the 150 or so little ones that were able to attend. Psalms 28:7 says "The Lord is my strength and my sheild my heart trusts in him and I and helped." It is still far from the 2,000 children the week before the devistating distruction. The bottom has fallen out from under the church. Families have scattered accross the contry side, but God our safty net will never leave those that serve Him. The goal is now to slowly rebuild the number that attend in the next few months.

Construction will continue with the brick walls that protect the home, as well as trying to complete the first faze of the new site "La Forteresse". We are trying to get back to a normal routien as much as possible under these trying cercimstances.

In His Service,

GAIN Global aid Network

Saterday and Monday myself and several youth and team leaders attenden a seminar taught by George F. Rhoades and his colleague Patricia.

For myself, it was a refresher from what was taught in my "Family Abuse and Violence" course. On Saterday, George spoke on the signs of trama. He shared how age and gender play a role in how a person responds to trama. Patrica showed us ways to councel people, by asking open-ended questions. On Monady we shared our experiences with eachother. I believe that helped all of us not just myself, because we heard how others are going through similar feelings.

Thank you George and Patricia for coming to Haiti and sharing your knowlege with us. And a special thanks to Keskia Chaple for hosting this event and providing us lunch.

In His Service,

Aftershocks

At 6 am Wednesday morning there was another 6.1 aftershock that once again struck Haiti 56 kilometers from Port-au-Prince.

More buildings colapsed bring more death and fear to the area. Some buildings were sturdy, but many where struck by the first wave of aftershocks weekening thier foundationsone week ago.

vrs build your life on the Lord Jesus Chirst

Than you for all your prayers. He is keeping a watchful eye on this area of Delmas where we minister. Continue to pray for those that have lost loved ones and everything they owned.

If you would like to help with immidiate needs such as water and food,medical supplies and temporary shelter, and future needs like perminate shelter and homes please donate any funds to ERDO. Emergency Relieve and Development Overseas. visit www.paoc.org/missions/emergency-relief. Thank you for those who have already done so.

in His Service,

God Supplies

The medical team of 21 staff, from Florida arrived late last night. This morning they are sorting through the medical supplies that they brought with them.

They also brought along water, fuel, and food. God has supplied our basic needs. We can now begin to outreach to our church families with the rice, and money and medical supplies they brought.
We visited the hospital where they would work, and the site was almost unberible. Many people, mainly children, were put aside to recove from sergeries. All that I could see, had at least one limb amputated or broke, including head injuries. One child at the end of the day lay in pain because they had run out of pain medication.

Haiti was in need before the earthquake. Now the land seems to cry out from the dead burried under the rubble. Please continue to pray.

In His service,

Rebuilding Walls

Thanks be to God our home is still standing. However the walls surrounding the compound need to be rebuilt. Many bandits run the streets at night, and when the hope of the people fail, and food and water become scarce riots will brake out.

Praise be to God for He is suppling our basic needs such as food, drinking water, wash water, and gas for the generator, as well as security."

"And our God shall supply all our needs". Philippians 4:19

In His Service,

Haiti's Earth Quake Sets Prisoners Free

Praise God the prisoners have been set free!

For almost two years Louise has ministered at the Penitentiary and Juvenile prison for over 45 inmates twice a week. This ministry is no more. The earth quake that has devastated Haiti has also resulted in prisoners being killed by the collapsed walls or shot, but many more were set free.

This photo shows a vehicle damaged by falling debris, which was used to escort people to prison.

It brings us great joy to know that the prayers for thier release have been answered. At least 50% of the inmates were taked off the street for no apparent reason. Some are held for three years without seeing a judge, or even being convicted of any crime. We feel that God has delivered them just like he did for Paul and Silas (Acts 16:16-40).

In His Service,

CCP - Child Care Plus Haiti

Dear Sponsor(s),

Many of you are concerned about the situation here, and if your sponsored children are safe. we don't know the full extent of the situation, but we can tell you this; many of the familieshave fled to the country. Because of fear from falling buildings, others sleep in groups at campsites scattered throughout the city. This causes another problem. Many of the campsites have been raided from bandits that scour the streets at night.

As far as we know, three of our people have died. One being Gandy who was our Assistant Pastor. As well as Dynise Renard who was in the sponsor program.

Devastation has struck our area. Much of the city is in blackout. As a result the stores that are still standing are closed in fear or riots. We are having trouble to secure our basic needs such as water and food, and power for communication. This means we have now way of feeding our children.

Your prayers are needed now more than ever for the situation here. When we learn more of what has happened to our children we will let you know.

In His Service,

Haiti's Earthquake

I have arrived safely back in Haiti. Praise God. Thank you all for your concerns and PRAYERS. I was with the Charbonneau's at a PAOC missions cofference in the Dominican Republic. I will try to give you a quick update on the situation here. We were blessed to find a tap tap that took us right to our door. The street was empty. so praise God he supplied our needs and we did not have to walk after dark.

All photos are taken by me, so yes what you see is real! Devistation has struck. Its like God's hands have been removed from the capital of Haiti. We heard about the earth quake through the news. As always they seem to exaggerate how bad the situation really is. Don't take me wrong IT IS BAD HERE for many of the Haitians. God's hand has been in the area where we are in Delmas. It's as if He placed cupped hands over our area as a shielded bubble.

We came back to Haiti as soon as we could by bus, to be a little comfort and support for those of our church family. I could not see much of what happened as it was dark when we arrived. But speaking with the youth, devestation has struck all around. In fact there continues to be tremors a few which I personally have felt myself. Many people are missing, many have fleed to the country in hopes to recieve some kind of comfort in the fact that they have escaped tragedy. Others are still unaccounted for and still many Haitians are buried under rubble.

We have lost a few of our children, and perhaps many more. Only time will tell. One of our young adults, his name was Gandy, a 26 year old, 3 year bible collage student was one of those who died. He was at his school called "Ministere Pecheurs d'Hommes" on the main floor. We will grieve the loss greatly as he has helped pastor Michel with many responibilities at the church here. Assnique, was also in the same building, but was on top of the schools floor and some how escaped. She has no injuries, but is very saken up.

Many of the youth were grateful to see us return. It seems to be of some kind of comfort to them knowing we stay to help even in unsafe conditions.

I am spending the night sleeping next door with a group of youth from the church, under the stars. The Charb's sleep in the truck. The house seems to be standing safe. However, the block fence walls that protect the compound are distroyed. Since it is safe I will start sleeping inside.

The last few days we have been cleaning and trying to find food and water. Today we had a youth service, over 200 were in attendace a surprisingly low number. The service was held outside on the street. There was no children's church, as parents are too afraid to let them stray to far from thier sight. The words in this photo say it all " Jesus Delivers" Pray that the Haitians turn to God for thier deliverence of all things.

Many helicopters still fly overhead. Please continue to pray. Especially for the weeks that lay ahead. The streets in many areas seem to have a ghost like feel. Many people gather at what they call "camp sites" for the night scattered through out the city. In the morning, they disperse to continue to look for their loved ones. Hope is slowly starting to fade. i believe the next few weeks will be the quiet before the storm, before riots brake out from lack of food, water, and hope.
Will try to keep in touch as the days go by on what the situation is near us.

Ed was thought to have been missing, but has come back from a trip off a small island of Haiti. He is safe. A medical team from the DR will arive here to help us on Tuesday. If you wish to donate funds, or medical supplies please contact me onn how to do so, or visit my web site http://www.journeyoflove.ca/

In His Service,