Dear friends,

I read this email the other day and it blessed me, again and I know we have so many new folks reading these, I thought I would send it again. For those of you who have read it before, just push delete, tom

hi from haiti,

Most of you know that life on the mission field is not really fun. Very rewarding, but not fun. Laughter, the way I am used to, doesn't happen.

This and several other things, make life on the mission field very difficult. I worked 25 years in ministry in the states so I have something to compare it to. Daily attacks by satan are the norm, big, small, and everything inbetween. With God's help, you learn to cope. If I had to throw some numbers at you I would say 60% of the days are not great, 30% are really bad and 9% are good. 1% are great.


I don't mean to depress you, not seeking smypathy but feel most missionaries anywhere in the world would tell you this. Just a fact of being here. Doesn't mean I can't have joy in the days that aren't so good, just means they are very tough.

One of the 1% days happened the other day. Many times in my life, things and events have happened that made me say "yes, this is why I exist". This past Thursday was one of those days.

As you know, we sent a team to the Love a Child Mission, run by Bobby and Sherri Burnett, to translate for a team of 27 doctors doing medical work. All 10 we sent I would consider "my sons". 7 of them currently live with me, and the other 3 have in the past. This really was "my team". These are the young men that I have poured my life into, for nearly 11 years.

This was also the FIRST time they had done ministry apart from me for such a stretch. We called this our first mission trip. I dropped them off last Sunday at a pick up point and they went to the Love a Child Mission, which borders the Dominican Republic.

On Monday they and the doctors took a trip in a caravan of about a dozen SUV's and trucks up a river bed to a mountain village. The other 3 days were spent at Love a Child doing a medical clinic. You can check out the pictures at loveachild.com and read all about it.

When pickup day came, Thursday, I was very excited to go pick up my gang. I was supposed to be there by 4 but by noon I was really to roll. I took off to make the hour trip and was there by 1pm. I slipped in the church and saw hundreds of people crowded outside and over 20 work stations in the church/medical clinic.

What a joy to see each of my boys, with a doctor treating people. As I walked around, it was so neat to see each of my boys smile when they saw me. As I passed by, the doctor must have realized who I was because they always stopped and said "is this him, is this Tom?"

Each doctor/nurse warmly greeted me and said "what a boy you have here, what an outstanding young man, thank you so much." I was blown away by the reactions of these professionals. When I slipped in the dental clinic, I saw the doctor down in the patient's mouth pulling a tooth. Bebe had his back to me and was working away. Then he glanced at me and yelled "ohhhhhhhhh." Everyone jumped and I felt bad but he was happy to see me.

For two hours I watched my boys work, doing ministry. It touched me to see young men who were able to give back to God, and their people, for all God had done for them. I was very happy but had no clue the best was yet to come.

A young lady named Ashley came up to me and introduced herself as the director of ALL Joyce Meyer medical teams. She takes teams all over the world, doing clinics in every country you can think of. What she said to me, took my breath away.

Ashley shook my hand and said "Mr Osbeck, I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, this is the best team of translators we have worked with ANY PLACE IN THE WORLD." I stopped breathing. I didn't know what to say. She went on to explain how other translators didn't know english very well, were always sneaking away and really didn't care about the people. They were there for money or free medicine. She explained that my team wasn't just translating, they were doing ministry. She could not stop thanking me and talking about these boys. My heart began to work again after a few minutes but I was in shock.

Finally about 4:30 the clinic ended, we got the church cleaned up and I had to take the boys to the "dorm" to get their bags. Ashley asked me if I could stop back by so the doctors could say good bye. I said sure. We went to get the luggage, the boys had a surprise pot of spaghetti waiting for them which they quickly devoured and then it was back to the church to say good bye. What happened next I will never forget.

We pulled up to the church and one by one my boys filed into the church, as the first one walked through the door, I heard applause, sounding like a thousand people. These doctors, professional men and women from all over the United States were in a circle and applauding the boys as they walked in. They then thanked them for a job well done.

Then Altimae, my praise and worship leader sang a very special song to them. Then one of my boys asked if they could pray for the doctors. My team then raised their hands over the doctors and all at once, out loud, prayed for them. I was watching the doctors and during the song and the prayer, they were all weeping.

When our prayer was finished, the doctors prayed over our boys, we took pictures, lots of hugs, then we were off. I drove home listening to the wonderful stories of my boys, forever touched by this experience.

I know as Christians the only validation we really need is from God. However, to experience this, to know that, yes, we are doing something right, was a huge encouragement. Can't get any better than "the best in the world."

Last note: My oldest son Manel was one of the team. Most of you know he has caused me some major grief in the past couple years. I even lost some financial support because of his actions, people thinking I was not a good leader because of the way I handled things with him.

Well I never gave up. He came home last year after being gone 5 months. Restoration began and he went on this trip. From all reports, he was remarkable. He was even chosen to do some commericals for the Joyce Meyer television show. He came home singing "I am a friend of God" and is a new man. He asked me if he could do this the rest of his life. Pray for Manel. The pull on him from the enemy is great. Pray he will seek God's will for his life.

There you have it, a full report from a very proud poppa/mission director. Our team represented us well. More importantly, they represented God well. Thank you for your large part in making this happen. This is why we do this, to preach the Gospel, to make disciples and TO TEACH THE HAITAINS TO DO THE SAME. This past week, they did the same. Again, thank you for your support of finances and prayer. For some reason, while many missions I know are struggling financially, you have kept the amazing pace going for us and all budgets are being met, and some. Thank you. May God bless you. tominhaiti

Top 5 in the state contest

Minnesota 55
Indiana 33
Michigan 30
Florida 13
California 8

Thanks to all who helped me realize where people are from that are reading these emails. I guess Minnesota is number one, too bad my Tigers beat them 2 out of 3 this week

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