Sunday, December 14, 2008
Don't Die Before Monday
Jesus in Haiti Ministries
December 14th, 2008
JiHM UPDATE Sunday night, December 14th
FRIDAY MOVIE NIGHT: On Friday nights I take the boys, 10 of them and we show a movie in the village. I also take the grill and they sell hotdogs to make some money. It is really fun teaching them about business and how to organize and do something like this. This past Friday, we had over 200 teens and children come to the movie. This really is a big operation bringing the generator, seating, sound equipment, grill and so much more. What a great night we had. Some of the time I would stand off in a dark corner and just watch. Watch the people enjoying the movie, watch my boys, as the people would come in, flirting with the girls, tussling with the guys and just having fun. I once heard it said, "I will preach the Gospel always, and sometimes use words if need be". Ministry is preaching, preaching is being Jesus to people and seeing my boys do this, warmed my heart.
RICARDO: As you know, Ricardo is the little boy, somewhere between 7-11 years old that I brought home from the garbage dump. We know he is really slow mentally and didn't know why. He can only count to 4, sometimes and if you ask him a question he can't process it, only says yes or now, can't choose. I have Altimae teaching him everyday to get him ready for school. We thought January but now think probably not until next fall. In talking to him, Ricardo told Altimae that his mom's boyfriend used to hit him with a stick in the head all the time. I wonder if that did damage. However, this is the most loving, happy little boy I have ever met and we all love him so.
HELP NEEDED: You know Daniel made it big translating dreams so if you can figure this out, let me know what it means will ya? I had a dream I had a sidewalk cyber café with 3 computers. Haitians were lined up to use them. A white man walked up and said in anger "looks like you need more computers". My reply to him was "hey, I have 3 more than you do", as he walked away. Later in the dream there were 4 teens playing on a computer game, sitting around a table. One was standing. I said "we only have this Ohio state chair, would you like to use it. At that moment I heard the heat come on in the furnace, and woke up. That heat coming on was actually our power. We had slept the night with no power in the houses and at 8am, (yes I was still sleeping) city power came on, the humming of the fans woke me up, but in my dream I thought it was the heat ducts coming to life. I know some of you creative people will tell me exactly what this dream means.
CHRISTMAS: Last year we received 150 shoeboxes full of toys and supplies from Samaritans purse for our school kids and orphans. This year that number was 80, just enough to cover our school kids. Last Tuesday I said to our board chairman that we needed about 500 dollars so we could go out and buy 100, $5 gifts for the orphans. Nothing more was said. Two days later, someone he didn't know and I had only met once emailed me saying "we are sending $450 for the orphans so you can buy them $5 gifts. Wow, isn't God something, you would think He knew what I needed and when. So this money and others that some of you have sent was taken to town Friday and nearly 100 gifts were bought, nice items the kids will love. It was funny, Ricardo was with me and I wanted to know if a boy would like certain things so I would ask Ricardo if he liked the item. At one point with two full shopping carts, I heard a little boy ask Ricardo if all the toys were for him, which he smiled and said "yes". I had to explain that they were for other children, not him.
SHOE BOXES: Speaking of the above said shoeboxes, we have been trying for 4 days to get them out of customs. Tomorrow is supposed to be go day, with us paying the customs taxes and getting the toys. Pray we can afford the taxes and bring home the shoeboxes.
DON'T DIE: I cashed a check Friday at the big French grocery store and by mistake put Monday's date. The lady said "yikes, you put the wrong date, please don't die before Monday so we can get our money". She then told me a story of someone who put the wrong day, died and the spouse stopped payment. I promised her I wouldn't die before Monday and figured if I broke that promise, what could she do, sue me. Only 4 more hours.
CHURCH LAST NIGHT: To me church is a place where you experience God. Last night this happened on another level. Two weeks ago our pastor and staff decided that I would be in charge of "PR" for the church. I told the pastor that I would get them in, he needed to feed and care for them. That week we had had 186 people.
My first week, reaching into my bag of tricks to "lure" people to church, we had 225. This past Saturday I pulled out all the stops. Every December we have our own version of American Idol, singing Christian songs of course. Saturday night we brought the final 5 singers. During church they each sang. It was awesome, I had goosebumps it was so exciting, There was electricity in the air as these very talented young people sang. We had 3 judges from other churches doing the judging. Next Saturday the final two face off and the congregation gets to vote the winner.
We also gave away 20 gift bags of rice/oil. We had registration tables out front and then drew 20 names from the registrations. I told the folks when I drew their name they had to stand, wave their hands and yell "wooooooooooooooo". That was funny and they did it.
With the singing contest and the gift bags, we had a jam packed church, over 400 people with some having to stand outside. We better get our 700 seat church down quick, we are going to need it.
One thing that touched me more than anything was that the spirit of God that was so present. At one point there were 3 young men on stage, leading the praise and worship time. I realized these were 3 young men whom I have poured my life into. Jony my son and Roger and Altimae who are the nanny's for my boys (if you know the male term, please let me know). To see these 3 giving their lives to do ministry, was such a blessing. Last night at home after church, we had our grill out and we were all sitting around the table and I got everyone quiet. It just so happened that Roger, Altimae and Jony were sitting next to each other. I reminded the boys how blessed we were to have these 3 men of God in our home, at our table. They all agreed. This week my goal is 500 for the contest finale.
I get thumped when I talk about numbers but guess what, for some reason Jesus mentioned how many he had, 5000, 3000, etc. so numbers were important to him. I was told once that God punished David in the Old Testament for counting his people so I should not. I did get a kick out of that. I believe this with all my heart, the more people in the building mean more people hearing the Gospel, more people hearing the Gospel means more people coming to know our Savior. It is about numbers, it is about fighting satan for the mind, body and soul of every person in our area. I hope you are doing the same.
During the service as I stood there praising God, in the midst of hundreds of like minded believers, I was so in awe of God. I remembered thinking "I don't really care if I die before Monday or not". "If Heaven is better than this, and we know it is, then I'm ready to make that trip.
I hope you understand if you don't hear much from me the last couple weeks of the year. I will be taking a couple weeks off from "program ministry" and will enjoy being at home, relaxing with friends who are coming and family. Just because you don't hear from me doesn't mean ministry isn't happening. People will still get fed, medical needs met and much more. As always, please keep me and our staff in your prayers as we continue to be Jesus in Haiti. Do the same where you live will ya?
Thank you for your support
Tom Osbeck
Executive Director
Jesus in Haiti Ministries
For Contributions:
Jesus in Haiti Ministries, Inc. Suite 155 10214 Chestnut Plaza Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46814
December 14th, 2008
JiHM UPDATE Sunday night, December 14th
FRIDAY MOVIE NIGHT: On Friday nights I take the boys, 10 of them and we show a movie in the village. I also take the grill and they sell hotdogs to make some money. It is really fun teaching them about business and how to organize and do something like this. This past Friday, we had over 200 teens and children come to the movie. This really is a big operation bringing the generator, seating, sound equipment, grill and so much more. What a great night we had. Some of the time I would stand off in a dark corner and just watch. Watch the people enjoying the movie, watch my boys, as the people would come in, flirting with the girls, tussling with the guys and just having fun. I once heard it said, "I will preach the Gospel always, and sometimes use words if need be". Ministry is preaching, preaching is being Jesus to people and seeing my boys do this, warmed my heart.
RICARDO: As you know, Ricardo is the little boy, somewhere between 7-11 years old that I brought home from the garbage dump. We know he is really slow mentally and didn't know why. He can only count to 4, sometimes and if you ask him a question he can't process it, only says yes or now, can't choose. I have Altimae teaching him everyday to get him ready for school. We thought January but now think probably not until next fall. In talking to him, Ricardo told Altimae that his mom's boyfriend used to hit him with a stick in the head all the time. I wonder if that did damage. However, this is the most loving, happy little boy I have ever met and we all love him so.
HELP NEEDED: You know Daniel made it big translating dreams so if you can figure this out, let me know what it means will ya? I had a dream I had a sidewalk cyber café with 3 computers. Haitians were lined up to use them. A white man walked up and said in anger "looks like you need more computers". My reply to him was "hey, I have 3 more than you do", as he walked away. Later in the dream there were 4 teens playing on a computer game, sitting around a table. One was standing. I said "we only have this Ohio state chair, would you like to use it. At that moment I heard the heat come on in the furnace, and woke up. That heat coming on was actually our power. We had slept the night with no power in the houses and at 8am, (yes I was still sleeping) city power came on, the humming of the fans woke me up, but in my dream I thought it was the heat ducts coming to life. I know some of you creative people will tell me exactly what this dream means.
CHRISTMAS: Last year we received 150 shoeboxes full of toys and supplies from Samaritans purse for our school kids and orphans. This year that number was 80, just enough to cover our school kids. Last Tuesday I said to our board chairman that we needed about 500 dollars so we could go out and buy 100, $5 gifts for the orphans. Nothing more was said. Two days later, someone he didn't know and I had only met once emailed me saying "we are sending $450 for the orphans so you can buy them $5 gifts. Wow, isn't God something, you would think He knew what I needed and when. So this money and others that some of you have sent was taken to town Friday and nearly 100 gifts were bought, nice items the kids will love. It was funny, Ricardo was with me and I wanted to know if a boy would like certain things so I would ask Ricardo if he liked the item. At one point with two full shopping carts, I heard a little boy ask Ricardo if all the toys were for him, which he smiled and said "yes". I had to explain that they were for other children, not him.
SHOE BOXES: Speaking of the above said shoeboxes, we have been trying for 4 days to get them out of customs. Tomorrow is supposed to be go day, with us paying the customs taxes and getting the toys. Pray we can afford the taxes and bring home the shoeboxes.
DON'T DIE: I cashed a check Friday at the big French grocery store and by mistake put Monday's date. The lady said "yikes, you put the wrong date, please don't die before Monday so we can get our money". She then told me a story of someone who put the wrong day, died and the spouse stopped payment. I promised her I wouldn't die before Monday and figured if I broke that promise, what could she do, sue me. Only 4 more hours.
CHURCH LAST NIGHT: To me church is a place where you experience God. Last night this happened on another level. Two weeks ago our pastor and staff decided that I would be in charge of "PR" for the church. I told the pastor that I would get them in, he needed to feed and care for them. That week we had had 186 people.
My first week, reaching into my bag of tricks to "lure" people to church, we had 225. This past Saturday I pulled out all the stops. Every December we have our own version of American Idol, singing Christian songs of course. Saturday night we brought the final 5 singers. During church they each sang. It was awesome, I had goosebumps it was so exciting, There was electricity in the air as these very talented young people sang. We had 3 judges from other churches doing the judging. Next Saturday the final two face off and the congregation gets to vote the winner.
We also gave away 20 gift bags of rice/oil. We had registration tables out front and then drew 20 names from the registrations. I told the folks when I drew their name they had to stand, wave their hands and yell "wooooooooooooooo". That was funny and they did it.
With the singing contest and the gift bags, we had a jam packed church, over 400 people with some having to stand outside. We better get our 700 seat church down quick, we are going to need it.
One thing that touched me more than anything was that the spirit of God that was so present. At one point there were 3 young men on stage, leading the praise and worship time. I realized these were 3 young men whom I have poured my life into. Jony my son and Roger and Altimae who are the nanny's for my boys (if you know the male term, please let me know). To see these 3 giving their lives to do ministry, was such a blessing. Last night at home after church, we had our grill out and we were all sitting around the table and I got everyone quiet. It just so happened that Roger, Altimae and Jony were sitting next to each other. I reminded the boys how blessed we were to have these 3 men of God in our home, at our table. They all agreed. This week my goal is 500 for the contest finale.
I get thumped when I talk about numbers but guess what, for some reason Jesus mentioned how many he had, 5000, 3000, etc. so numbers were important to him. I was told once that God punished David in the Old Testament for counting his people so I should not. I did get a kick out of that. I believe this with all my heart, the more people in the building mean more people hearing the Gospel, more people hearing the Gospel means more people coming to know our Savior. It is about numbers, it is about fighting satan for the mind, body and soul of every person in our area. I hope you are doing the same.
During the service as I stood there praising God, in the midst of hundreds of like minded believers, I was so in awe of God. I remembered thinking "I don't really care if I die before Monday or not". "If Heaven is better than this, and we know it is, then I'm ready to make that trip.
I hope you understand if you don't hear much from me the last couple weeks of the year. I will be taking a couple weeks off from "program ministry" and will enjoy being at home, relaxing with friends who are coming and family. Just because you don't hear from me doesn't mean ministry isn't happening. People will still get fed, medical needs met and much more. As always, please keep me and our staff in your prayers as we continue to be Jesus in Haiti. Do the same where you live will ya?
Thank you for your support
Tom Osbeck
Executive Director
Jesus in Haiti Ministries
For Contributions:
Jesus in Haiti Ministries, Inc. Suite 155 10214 Chestnut Plaza Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46814
# posted by Tom Osbeck @ 9:00 PM 
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