More Baptisms

Sunday we went into the mountain to a small stone church that we love to go to. It is a long ways and the road is not good, washed out and very rough with big rocks and holes. After the service we went down to the river to baptize some of the people,  It was rainy and windy and cold but it was fun.  In the first picture you will see some of  the people who were baptized. The water was very cold and hard to stand in. But Mark and Rey did an awesome job.  It was a time of joy and laughter and changed lives.

the bottom picture is people  who had walked a long way to be baptized.  Amazing people and a wonderful day. 

Boulevard Ministry (Long)

There is so much to tell you about these children.  The boulevard was made over to look nice for when "important" people come in they are driven in on this street with shops that the normal people cannot afford to shop at. I is along the sea and you will see the ledge that holds the sea back in some of the pictures. The sea is dirty and horrible and words cannot convey the filth in the sea yet these children swim in it daily with no clothes.  We were  praying and singing along the sea edge an I sat down and a little 3 yr old boy came walking towards me totally no clothes and his sister came behind him and I motioned her to come and sit by me.  She did and before long there was a line of children sitting on both sides of me.  The girl with us had a guitar and she asked them what songs they knew. They only knew "not good" songs so she taught them songs about Jesus and put steps to them so the children would remember them.  These children were in dirty old clothes. They are from squatters familes that have absolutely nothing so Mark and one of our team members (Ford) went back to the apt and got clothes to give to them.  And we were able to get them flip flops because what they were wearing was either to big or too small and all worn out and hard for them to even keep on. And someone had sent us a big bag of hard candy and we put it into snack bags and stapled them shut because snack/sandwich bags here are poorly made. 

The top picture is of or team member Jen teaching them songs, the second is only part of the children that came to sit with me.  the 3rd is a picture of a little boy that picked out a pair of Bermuda shorts and a shirt and was so excited that he went behind a palm tree and changed his clothes but he had never had clothes like that so he put them on backwards. The other boys started to tease him and I said no.  So he went back and changed his clothes right. The last picture is of a little girl who had nothing and there she is with her dress and her bag of candy.  There is so much more to tell you and show you but I have to stop.  Thank you to women who send clothes and etc for the children. You are awesome and these children and women need them. We were able to give some of the mothers clothes too.

It was a dark day and yet a very bright day of joy. The wind was so strong it was hard to hold the camera still 

Baptism in the middle of the storm

These girls wanted to be baptized and the strorm and the raging waves would not stop them.  It was hard to stand in the rushing waves but they did it and Mark and Lourdes who helped were amazing and our adopted daughter and the pastor of that church played worship music  The wind was horrible and then the rains started.  But what a wonderful day.

Update on the blind mother and daughter

Well this is a hard one for me.  If you have been following our adventure you know that we met this blind Mama and her daughter last year and have been trying to make sure they have food. At that time they lived by the road and were being raped and abused almost every night and so we asked a friend to build them a shelter. He did and we thought that would help. But when we take them food her family and others steal it all from them and the side of the hut has been kicked in and our friend built them a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom and put plywood around it but someone stole the plywood. The Lord told me one day that we needed to go see them.  We had given a man we trusted 50 kg of rice and plastic gallon bags to take rice to them once a week because he lived near them.  Well, it just didn't happen that way. The rice should have lasted up to 3 months for them. And every time we asked the man and his wife how the mother and her daughter were doing he would say they are good.  When the Lord told me we had to go see them we went the next day. It is quite a long ways and when we got there they had been eating leaves to stay alive and the mother was so weak she couldn't stand so we brought them back with us for a couple of days (we would have loved it to be permanent but they have trouble being around men and so it is a gradual process. ) We go get them every week for a couple of days and make sure they are fed and cleaned up and to give them a couple nights of sleep because the men are always trying to break into that hut at night.  I could go on but I thought they were born blind but it seems someone threw hot ashes in the Mama's eyes and she is bent over from abuse and we thought she was about 45-50 years old. She is only 35 and her life has been horrible , the little girl is blind because some one beat her so bad that it damaged her eyes.  We have let them to the Lord and broke off the idol dedication but we need to bring them to live with us.  The Mama wants a hut of her own and that is another reason we need some land.  She would have a place of their own but still we could care for them and watch over them.  We want to have them with us so we can put the girl in a school for the blind.   I am sorry I went on so long,  the Lord knew what He was doing when He sent us here.  These people are so beautiful and when they look at you with their big brown eyes  you just can't help but fall in love with them.  We have a lot of people to reach yet and I know that the Lord will make a way.  I better not write anymore or I will wear you out. But pray for our people here.  They tease us because they say we are not American because we have the same kising kising -heart they do LOL  We are Mama and Papa to so many here and giving up our home and everything to come here was so worth it and we would do it all again.

This is a little church we went to and when I say little it is an understatement, it is just rock and dirt floor  and open windows and a tree stalk every once in a while to hold up the tarp covering.  It is probably half the size of front rooms in the U.S . They managed to get over 40 people in there and some were standing outside looking through the slots in the wall.  We could not even move to get to the people especially the young people to pray very much. You see one of our little team members in the pink praying for a young girl and in the back of the picture one of our male team members praying for a young man.  I could not even move because the people were packed in so tight and I am about 5'1/2 to 5'2 and the tarp ceiling was just a little above my head.  Our team member in pink is shorter than I am so she was able to stand and pray.  It was an amazing time and we loved it.  The humidity on this island is about 85-90+ everyday and we were so thankful it was not a thunder/lightning heavy rain day LOL

This is one of the better village churches we go to. It has cement floors and we have just finished speaking about the Lord and were ministering to the people.  We love the Pastor's there and they have a heart for the Word of God and their people.

I should have put this with the other picture. Here he is with some sunglasses on. These little children are heart stealers.  We want the best for all of them and sometimes as we leave a village it takes days to recover from what we see and the diseased mouths and the ragged clothes they wear and no underpants or anything.  When you go to touch some of them they jerk away because they have been so abused both physically and sexually.  We are praying for some land so we can build an orphanage and also a home for girls who otherwise will end up in the sex trade and for older people who are just tossed aside because the families can't or won't take care of them anymore. Also a training center for those who accept Jesus and need to know more about Him and have a call to preach or minister .   

This little guy is enjoying his little car.  We love being able to take the children toys and new clothes.  Some one sent us a box of Cheerio's and we divided the box into small snack bags and gave each child one and they had never seen Cheerio's and they were so happy. We love to take Tootsie Pops and watch the children smile so big when they figure out what it is.  Even the parents want one. We cannot get them here on this island but sometimes someone will mail us a bag.  Like I said before this is over a 50% poverty island and 80-90 % rape, sodomy, incest of children as young as 2-3 years old and up and teens. I could go on more about the conditions here but it is so sad.  We try to reach as many as we can with the message of hope and that there is someone who loves them and does not want this to happen to them.  Jesus is their hope and salvation.

Praying for little boy in a village

Isn't this little guy adorable. This was up in the mountain where it wasn't the safest for us to go being American but we were asked to go and we will be going back soon to take some clothes and necessities to these people.  Most of these people have been dedicated to idols and still practice that.  We told them about Jesus and two men got up and left because I believe if they stayed and their wives accepted Jesus that they would not be happy about it.  But all the rest stood and received Jesus and we prayed for each one of them and then they brought their children forward for us to pray for and break off the idol dedication that was put on each child.  We are anxious to go back and do follow up with them and teach them more about what Jesus did for them.

Street Minstry

We were doing street ministry and in the first picture we found a Mama with 3 small children living in a hut and 2 of our small team of 5 prayed with her and her children. 

The second picture is also of street ministry and this woman was having a hard time when 2 of our team came across her and prayed for her and told her about the Lord who would be with her and heal her heart and save her.