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

Dear friends, Sunday night

I had maybe one of the greatest days today, of 2010. As you know I have been slowing getting my running legs back as I prepare physically and mentally to go back to Haiti.

This morning through a "God" chain of events, I was invited to an all black church, a baptist church called "Beams of Heaven" located in the hood. A church which just recently got electricity. A simple church, with wonderful people, Godly people, real beams from Heaven.

There was something so simple and genuine about this old, Baptist church. We spent the first hour or so, just praying, singing, Bible reading, then a wonderful Heavenly choir.

I was then asked to share about Haiti. These folks found out about Haiti when a donor of ours was mailing some of our Jesus in Haiti t-shirts. The assistant pastor is the post master and we connected that way. They sold several hundred dollars of t-shirts to benefit our ministry.

Two and a half hours after the start, we were done, and I was ready to go back to Haiti, now. I was refreshed, blessed and not stressed. The pastor gave a stirring sermon from Acts on rejoicing in spite of all we endure. They are planning a mission's trip to Haiti this fall. Pray for Beams of Heaven Baptist church, they are fighting the fight in a very tough place, with very few resources, earthly ones that is.

Our friends the Neal's, the Hassey's, and Jeanty's were all there, then we got treated to Wendy's so it was a great day.

Very exciting news: I just received news that 150 tents are in, and Roger and Claudy will be picking them up in the morning. My first temptation was to have them wait until I get back to pass out, but how dumb is that? These folks are sleeping outside. Roger has a list of 150 families, and the tents go out before Wednesday. Thank you for making this possible with your sacrificial gifts during this tough period. 150 families or well over 1000 people will have homes, and what a thrill that is.

These tents will be temporary, probably a few months, until we get the houses rebuilt. There is a plan in place for this.

I go back to Haiti next Monday, the 3rd. I have a big week with the grandkids, and I am being taken to see my beloved Tigers play Wednesday.

I will let you in on a secret, Minnesota is having an email drive, getting everyone to send emails to put them in first, in the name of fairness, I needed to let you know that so Indiana and Michigan, better fire it up. Thing is, anyone from any state with many friends could rise from the ashes, get 60 people to vote, and your state could win. I told you first prize was free health care for your whole state. Second prize is a NO expense paid trip for everyone in your state, to Haiti. How's that?

There you have it, a full Sunday report. My body is feeling great, my back is almost healed and I am preparing to go back, can't wait. 7 days. tom

p.s. Minnesota is running a power play. They have organized and I received about 25 emails all from Minnesotans just yesterday. The state that produced the great governor Jesse Ventura and congressman Al Franken have kicked it up a notch.

I have given New Jersey and everyone else a shot and our state location contest is winding down. You have just one more week to make your vote count. Here is the update.

The Hoosier state has come through................... 27
Minnesota close in 2nd..................................... 25
Wolverine state............................................... 23
Sunshine state................................................ 11
California, the left coast................................... 7
Washington, state of....................................... 6
Texas, guess the Bush family didn't vote............ 5
Ohio, so sad, how could one state fall so fast..... 4
The battle of the Carolina's.............................. 2
Maryland and Alabama each............................ 2

With one, single, lone vote, one family representing the whole state...Kansas, New Mexico, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon, North Dakota, Iowa, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and New York.

Internationally.........Canada, Scotland, Israel and Venezuela.

23 states, 6 countries

Odd fact...The big 3, MN, MI and IN have 75 votes, everyone else 56.

Maybe if I had told you the prize, you might have all voted. The winning state, yes everyone in the state gets free health care coverage. This is being sponsored by your congressmen and women.

All is well with me. Thursday I had my first 24 hour stretch, pain free and good sleep. Thanks to God and your prayers, I think I am on the mend. Ministry in Haiti is going full speed. Jony and David started a new, fun thing. They are taking the portable generator to the dump and villages and cutting hair for free and getting a huge response.

If you didn't read that devotional in the last email, go back and read. It is powerful. I love the part, the people who put the most pressure on you, need you the most. Several other great lines that we can't forget...

That is all, New Jersey, Utah, South Dakota, Alaska......last chance....Tom

Hi from O HI O, Wednesday afternoon

Midweek update

Health: I am experiencing what everyone said I would. I have been here 9 days and am still very tired, frequent headaches, very sore back and knees. In other words, I know somewhat the feeling of being hit by a Mack truck, and surviving.

Victory at the Bible Church: This past Sunday we had a full tent and 5 people experienced demon possession during church. The staff handled it gently and well I am sure. These kinds of things go in spurts it seems. We have now had several in the past few weeks. What better place for it to happen, than in God's house? Sort of like having a heart attack in the hospital.

New fund raising idea: I was thinking, if someone had the contacts, I would do some product endorsing to raise money for our ministry. For example, is there any better pizza in the world than....Papa John's? What about the smooth, refreshing taste of a cold Pepsi? And Wal-Mart, wow, they have everything. And Family Christian Book Store...what a thrill to browse and find such inspiring music, books, etc......

I have to admit, I am an addict. I am addicted to Bibles. Yesterday I bought my 9th bible over the past 10 years. I have Max Lucado's study bible, the Quest, the good old King James Version, John Maxwell's leadership bible, the Learning Bible and others. Number 9 was the New Joyce Meyer Study Bible, wow it has great insights.

Some of you will say, "what in tarnation is the purpose of 9 Bibles?" Like I say, it's an addiction, I need help. In my defense, I use them all. I love to read different versions, learn from the author's commentaries and each Bible brings out something different to a passage.

My boyz: I always get a kick out my older boys, all 17 of them. When I am gone they email me telling me how much they miss me and love me. When I am there I yell at them, I discipline them, I am the bad guy most of the time. I would think they would enjoy the warden being gone but they sure cry the blues. Last night I was talking to Matthew online and he said "I miss you so much, I am sad until you get back." My reply was; "why, don't you enjoy the break from me getting on your case?" He said "no, I love you and want you back here today." They are a special bunch.

Grandkids: Little ones don't understand words like: mentally tired, physically drained, decompression.................they just know that grandpa is here and it is time to have fun. I have tried to balance getting rest with enjoying them. Every night they get a story and we play with our glow sticks. They have already asked me to never leave. Little six week old Noah is getting used to me, and not crying when I hold him, as much.

So sorry: I know several of you in Indiana/Ohio and other states have asked if I could come for one reason or another and I would love to. I am humbled that you would want me. However, I have been directed by the board (and I agree) that I need rest. I read a devotional from a dear friend's daily devotional that I want to share with you. It was powerful and just what I needed:

The fewer virgins there are the more valuable a virgin becomes. The less honest men and women there are the more valuable an honest person becomes. The less people there are who say no to what's dirty, what's destructive, what's negative, the more your worth increases. Maybe you've been tempted to cave in. You've got combat fatigue; there's heavy pressure. Don't do it. Not only is Jesus counting on you, but the very people, who are pressuring you, desperately need for you to stand firm, or their only light goes out. Because you're Jesus' personal representative in a dark place, in many ways you aren't like everybody else. But you love them unconditionally. You make them feel important, and doing the right thing without condemning them. You keep doing all of that, and you're going to be, whether they admit it or not, one of the most important people in their life. Because people like you are rare and very, very valuable.

Isn't that good? What hit me was, if my light goes out, so does the light of others who are counting on my light to shine. That applies to us all. May God bless you, tom

hi from Ohio, Friday Night
Greetings from Cincinnati! I arrived here Tuesday evening and have had a very slow, restful week. I mistakenly told someone "I have been decomposing all week" when I meant decompressing. LOL! (I didn't actually laugh out loud, that was you doing the lol!)

Today I went to the doctor to find out about my bruised kidney/cracked ribs/sore back. What I found out was I had some fractured ribs, 3 of them which were "floating" out of place. The good doc put them back in place and immediately I felt better, praise God.

I did buy a book I have been reading called Leading on Empty which is what I have been doing and it is a very good book for any of you leaders in my position.

Little Noah, a month old, is so sweet. He just stares at me. 2 and half year old Jayden is on me nonstop and of course Calvin and Kaylyn love Grandpa being here. Marco and Deanna want to know every detail of the past few months so they are hearing it.

Tomorrow and Sunday I am going to do something I haven't done in years. The NBA playoffs start and there are 4 games on tomorrow so from 2pm to midnight, Marco and I are going to watch basketball, order pizza and rest. Two days of this with of course church Sunday morning. I don't have this luxury in Haiti.

Also someone is driving to Cincy to take me to Detroit to see my beloved Tigers play. Too bad they play a weak team from Minnesota, the triplets, or twins or something.

I am hearing great reports from the boys and my staff. The biggest problem they are dealing with is Haiti has NO GASOLINE. Thankfully we have 2 months worth of diesel but gasoline we don't keep much on hand. We only use gasoline for the church generator so I told them to guard the 15 gallons or so we have closely. We use about 3 gallons per week so hopefully there will be enough until they get gas back.

The staff is well prepared to keep ministry going while I am gone and is a good test for them. They need to be able to do it on their own and are well trained and very capable. Please continue to pray for Victory Bible Church, Grace Emmanuel School; our New Roads dump ministry, our new Light House Children's home and my home.

On a very thankful note, we have made ministry budget for the past couple months. Thank you so much for your part in this. I will give you the final update on States competition. Did add a couple new states but still have about 25 we have NOT heard from. I knew we would get none from New Jersey because nothing good comes from that state but thought the rest would be checking in. Well, you still have time.

Take care and may God bless you all real good. tominheaven aka ohio

HI Sunday PM at 7:30

Wow, what a week, what a day and since I have nothing else to do, I will give you final update on what is happening here, and our State contest.

Where ya from? What an intense battle between the big 3 up until this point between my home state of Indiana, my birth state of Michigan and my adopted state of Minnesota. After a big lead by Minnesota, the Hoosier folks came through to take the lead. Here are the totals. The question is, after the big 3, who is number 4? Can you guess without looking?

Indiana- 22
Michigan- 19
Minnesota- 17
Florida- 7
Washington state and California tied with- 5
Ohio- 4
Texas- 3 (thought everything was bigger in Texas)
With 2 votes- Alabama, Iowa and Canada

(Speaking of Canada, how do they beat anyone? They are like the attic for the United States. You forget it is there but when you go up there, you see some pretty neat stuff)

And with one vote each:
North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, New York, Israel, Scotland, Maryland, North Dakota, and Venezuela.
There you have it, you can only vote once, voting is still open until the end of the month, how do you like that? Five countries represented and 19 states....where are the other 31 states? Nobody from New England, what about Tennessee?

Final church: We had 925 people at church today and a wonderful service. We also had our 2nd baby dedication of 8 children. I gave a goodbye letting them know I was leaving for a couple weeks. I told them I was going to the states, but not going home. Home is right here in Haiti and I will miss my church family so much.

My family: The boys are sad to see me go but school starts tomorrow so that will keep them very busy. I miss two birthdays, Dearson and Manel, and am sad to miss them but will make it up to them. I have good leadership here at the house with Roger and Altimae plus the two women. Also 4 of our older boys have been put in position of leadership so things will be well covered. We will have a family meeting in a few minutes and go over last minute items.
Ministry house: As I told you, we rented a big house for groups. At first this was called the guest house, but as God is speaking to me, we are being led to use this for ministry when groups are not here. For example, neighborhood youth group in the yard, weekend staff retreat with staff, girl's leaders, Bible studies and much more.

A wonderful group of 20 from Kings Baptist in Florida just spent the week at our ministry house and they just loved it. What a great place for a group. We have beds for 22 there right now and could double that.

We have about 15 groups already scheduled for the rest of the year which leaves lots of weeks left. Please contact Linda Neal at heart4haiti@gmail.com and get on the schedule. No group is too small, and we can probably go to 30 or more if need be so come on down, see what God is doing, and assist us in this ministry and be Jesus in Haiti, for a week.

Leaving on a jet plane: Yes, at 6am Claudy takes me to American Airlines and by 9am I am on my way to the sunshine state, the Lord willing. The board has put me in a hotel to stay one night to get some rest before hitting the ground running in Ohio. I am so excited for the hotel and the AC and maybe even......................room service.

Of course I leave with mixed emotions, 30 or so kids who call me dad are left behind. A staff I love and trust so much, and a church family of over 900. Thrilled to be going home, anxious already to come back, figure that one out.

Final thought: This morning I got to church at 8am for a brief staff meeting before I leave. We finished by 8:30 and the staff was getting ready for Sunday School. A grocer that I know owed me some money from a cashed check and I knew he would be closed before I got there after church. I thought, I could buzz over, get the money and be back for church at 10. However I thought, this is not good, missing Sunday School to go get money, on a Sunday. But I did it, wasn't sure why.

After the 30 minute trip to pick up the money, it was on the way back, passing the garbage dump I saw 3 young men frantically waving me down. They said they missed the truck bringing the people to our church, and just prayed for God to provide a way there, although they had money...................and up drove Tom. They were so happy. I gave them a ride to church and we had a great talk all the way there. God knew.

There you have it, a partial report. By the way, my dear Christian friend from Venezuela said "viva la Hugo Chavez" as a joke, telling me I better not put that in my mass email, which of course, I won't. Good night all, I will keep you updated as reports come to me and may even have my staff send an update or two. Keep the love coming at me, to those around you, and to our God above. tominhaiti, soon to be tominthegoodoleusa.

hi,

Wow, I have recieved a hundred emails letting me know what territory you are from and so far...................nothing from Ohio or Indiana. The race is between the Wolverine state and the land of 10,000 lakes. Add Washington, Colorado, Vancouver, Florida, Maryland, Texas and Iowa and that is about it. Oh, my friends from Scotland and Isreal. Indiana is my so called "home state" but it is my state of birth that is coming through for me. I await the rest of you..............................tominhaiti

ps- I was not born in Minnesota

Hi from Haiti Wednesday morning



I trust you all had a great Holy weekend as we celebrated what God did for us. As has become the new normal, we have been very busy. Here is an update:

Easter Weekend: We had a 4 service weekend which drew over 3000 people to our mission. Friday night was our biggest crowd as we showed the movie "the Passion of the Christ", followed by a Saturday service, Easter Sunday morning and a wonderful time Sunday night of praise and worship, special music and a drama. It was a wonderful 16 hours or so of honoring our Lord. Sunday morning during an alter call for prayer, 2 young women became demon possessed and we dealt with that during the service. This freaks some people out, but not me. I am thrilled that these women come and can gain Victory, at Victory Bible church. This is one of the reasons we exist

The Lighthouse: Our new Children's Home is doing really well. Our director Anderson and wife Mona are really bonding with these kids and becoming their parents, real quick. They still attend their old church but on Sunday morning we pick the kids up to go with us. Last Sunday we were really late and Anderson called me and said "Hey, where are my kids?"

New Guest house: This past week we rented a house, just a couple blocks from our mission home. This new guest house is where YOU will stay when you come. It is set up so that, when mission teams visit, their funds will pay the rent and for the total operation of the property. Ministry funds will not be used for this house. It is a huge, beautiful place and you will love it.

Our first team, from Kings Baptist in Florida came Monday and these 20 folks are staying there. They brought 40 suitcases of stuff to help stock the house with everything from dishes and toasters to plumbing and such. This house will allow us to have more visitors, larger groups without disrupting life for the houseful that I have.

The really neat thing is, they can walk across the street to the Lighthouse and hang with our kids. Or they can hang out at our house with our boys or be at their guest house. They eat breakfast at home, lunch on the road and supper at my home, with our family. This is working out really, really great.

Please contact Linda Neal at heart4haiti@gmail.com and set up a trip to come see and assist in what God is doing here, in Haiti.

No April fools: Thank you for the nearly 200 emails I received, all but 2 being very supportive of this fun thing. To the 2, and probably more that did not complain, I do apologize if I offended you. I was told by one dear supporter that they would not support me any longer because I wasted 10 minutes of their life and they would find a missionary that was more trustworthy.

That hurts to know that I offended anyone, certainly not the intent. I guess the only downside I see of a yearly April fool's joke is.............if I were to die on this day, and you got an email saying this, there would be a lot of chuckles and "yeah right, good one".

Grace Emmanuel School: Our school has been up and running and we are excited to get things back to as-normal-as-possible under the current conditions of Haiti.

Water, water everywhere: We are within hours of having clean, fresh water at our mission, as much as we want. A wonderful group of folks from Touch Global are working on piping the water from our well to a 1000 gallon tank, then hooking up a solar pump as well as a filtering system. We are hoping and praying to have our own water for church this weekend. What a blessing from God and we are so thankful. You just don't know what water will mean to us.

120 and counting: As I type this, I am in my final 120 hours before getting a break in the Queen City of Cincinnati, Ohio, with my daughter, son-in-law and grand kids. I have lots to do to prepare but feel really good about where my staff is and their ability to keep this going while I am gone. If anything, I am worried they might not need me back.

My grand kids are very excited, asking everyday if "today is the day". Will someone alert Burger King to buy some extra beef for the next couple weeks?

New Roads: We are so excited that the folks at the dump are eating a hot meal every day. Okay, not every day, twice we have had a glitch in our system of getting them supplies but we provided them with MRE's or sandwiches so they have not missed a meal, since we started this program last month.

Your support: I so wish I could write every one of you to thank you for your continued support. We could not do ministry so effectively without your sacrificial giving. People are hearing the gospel daily, disciples are being made daily and over 500 people are eating every day, people who can't care for themselves.................are being cared for by God, via you. Thank you on their behalf.

Closing: That's it, a partial report of a very busy time. Thank you for your prayers. My ribs are feeling much better this morning for the first time since I injured them. Looks like the grand kids might get their jungle gym after all. Keep the emails coming, even if I don't get to answer them all, I so enjoy your humor, your love and your wonderful words of encouragement. ASSIGNMENT: I would like to know how many states receive my email so, send me an email, putting your state in the subject line and I will give you update on how many states I heard from. Also, if you are out of the country, that would be a bonus to know what other countries are connected to us. I am waiting.

tominhaiti

Dear friends,

Yesterday was one of those days you would like to forget. We had a mass food distribution at our mission and to say it was not a successful would be putting it mildly.

We had given out tickets and over 300 families were to show up to get their food. What we didn't expect were over 800 to show up. Our guards only allowed the people with tickets to come into our mission.

This left us with over 500 people crowded at our gate. At some point in the morning it became very unruly. They began to chant "we want our food, we want our food". Well this ticked me off a bit because I didn't feel it was their food and had no right to chant this.

The morning went on and things only got worse. The crowd was so hostile and so unruly that we could not let the people leave, who we had given food to. We had to hoist them down by rope in the rear of the mission with their food, so they could sneak home.

Near noon rocks started to fly over the wall towards us. This upset some off our staff and with my blessing...we began to toss them back. We didn't intend to hurt anyone but some faces did get in the way and several injuries were reported in the crowd outside the wall.

Very troublesome were a group of ladies with babies chanting and throwing rocks. One of my staff thought it "cute" to begin to throw jars of baby food at them, since they wanted their food so badly. The women didn't like this and became even more upset.

The police finally showed up, tear gas was used and the crowd was dispersed. They even allowed me to fire the tear gas, kind of to show the people who was the boss.

We clearly won the day, and it was kind of a good feeling seeing the people limp home, hurt and bruised. We showed them they could not mess with us.

We only had about 40 injuries and only 6 of these were children. We don't believe any of the injuries will cause a loss of life.

After the melee we fired up the grill and had a really nice cookout. We then drove through the village eating our food chanting 'we're number one, we're number one!"

This proved to be a mistake as they bum rushed our caravan again, mostly by women and old people chanting "down with Tom, down with Tom!"

This time the swat team was called in. They began to fire their weapons and order was restored. The mayor then showed up and whipped out a piece of paper and began to read, he said "I declare this day APRIL FIRST to be April fool's day, a day to fool all Americans."



Okay, did I get you, tell the truth, at what point in the story did you realize this was a "fun email?". I apologize if I "got you" but this is a time honored tradition for me. The response I always get is biggest of the year and it is fun to see who I get and who I don't.

It began with my first one about 7 years ago, me telling how I met a 16 year old Dominican girl and got married. That was followed by Cuba invading Haiti with tanks.

Last year if you remember it was the donkey who came into our church, died and we had to chop it up with machete to carry out.

There are people, okay 2, that do not like my doing this and I respectfully apologize. We can disagree what a joke is. Know this, ONLY ON THIS DAY, APRIL FIRST WILL I EVER FOOL YOU OR SAY SOMETHING THAT IS NOT 100% TRUE. You never ever have to worry or think about this the other 364 days. Simply a joke.

So, you must email me and tell me:

A- I was ready for it, didn't fall for it

B- You had me until.............

C- I fell hook line and sinker you no good...........................

I will tell you, the one thing this annual email does is bring out the mean side in some of you. I have been called some pretty nasty names by those of you who claim to be my friend. I made this year a very mild, soft one, since so many hundred of you are new.

So, although I am told the calendar does not say April fool's day, I still celebrate. It does not say "Tom's birthday" on May 23rd but we still celebrate that. No I don't celebrate fools. I celebrate the sense of humor that God gave us and the fun we can have as Christians. Enjoy your day, only 12 more days until my vacation, and I am counting the hours, tominhaiti