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We received this word from Cluster Leader Greg Helman today:
“Pastor Gayle Ruble has returned to his home as of Tuesday, October 25th and will be recuperating for about 6 weeks. He is praising the Lord that he is in no pain and has been blessed greatly. Please continue to keep him, his family and the Macedonia UB Church in your prayers.”
A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Here is her report for Sunday, October 23.
Joan Sider
On Sunday, we were up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast–one hour earlier than usual. This was so we could attend 7:00 a.m. church–we were a little late.
The service at Delmas 33 is somewhat more formal than the other churches. I think Pastor Richard is patterning it more like his Paris church. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. We enjoyed the service. Bob and Jordan shared their faith stories and Bob, Kelly, and Jordan sang. They were a blessing.
It was good to hear Pastor Richard preach on Nehemiah. He stressed that we need to be very concerned about the work of the Lord. You must put your whole heart into service. There is always opposition, but you persevere. All have something to contribute–attend church, visit people, pray for people, etc. He invited those who wanted to publicly demonstrate their willingness to work in greater ways for God. I think there were about 25 who indicated this by coming to the front.
Following church, we came home for a brief time, had lunch, and then set off for Mission of Hope. This is where Kara-Lynn was for 6 months and will remain for another week there. Rachel, the gal we see usually when we visit, was with us and together with Kara-Lynn, told us about this expanding ministry. They have about 50 orphans who are there all the time. Then on school days, 2000 children come. They are fed daily, too. About 1000 attend the church on Sundays.
They have a clinic which at some point will become a full service hospital. They have helped to build 3-room homes for people for some of their staff and for some of the displaced earthquake people. In a village nearby, many volunteers come to help build homes. One of the streets has been named ‘Fraser Way’ in memory of John Fraser who was so instrumental in bringing lots of teams to MOH to build.
Leaving MOH, we went on to a new church in Archaeia pastored by Masilllon Jean-Jacques. I first met him at the convention in August. He and his church have been on probation for the past year, and will soon be received into membership of the UB church family here in Haiti. He is a great young man–father of 3 children with another on the way. He is in his last year of law as well.
The service was fantastic. We enjoyed it so much. Kelly and Margie shared their faith journeys and two songs were sung by Bob, Kelly, and Jordan. The people knew them and sang along. It was so wonderful to hear.
Pastor Richard was the guest speaker, and he spoke on faith. With God, all things are possible when we have faith.
The people all wanted to greet us at the end–hugs, kisses, and handshakes. We were so excited about the warmth and response of these people. I’ve been coming for a long time, and I believe this is the first place where we have been made to feel so welcome. No one was in a hurry to get home, that’s for sure.
We felt it was a fitting conclusion to our ministry here this week. God has blessed. We are humbled and grateful that He uses us. But lest you think it is just us blessing the Haitians, it is a two way street–they really bless us. Their welcome, their powerful worship and earnest praying, give us reason to pause.
On the way home, our first time driving in the dark on this trip, we dropped Kara-Lynn back at MOH. We wanted her to stay with the team for as long as possible.
Please pray for Kara-Lynn as she continues to seek direction for her future–should she or should she not be at MOH.
When we got home, we had a late supper and then most soon went to bed.
Have I told you lately that this is a hot, hot, hot place! October is definitely not the time for a team to come. The humidity has been high with temperatures in the high 90s and even 100.
We are partnering with IN Network to begin ministry in Turkey. We received the following from Rody Rodeheaver of IN Network regarding the recent earthquake. If you would like to help, gifts can also be sent to Global Ministries, and we’ll forward 100% to IN Network.–Jeff Bleijerveld
Rody Rodeheaver
As you saw in the news and heard on Mission Network News, there was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake Sunday that struck the city of Van and the town, Ercis, located in the northeastern part of Turkey. News reports are reporting a death toll of around 300 with another 1,300 injured; over 950 buildings are demolished.
A health services building along with part of the hospital collapsed and the injured were being treated in the hospital’s garden. Two make-shift tent hospitals were being erected on Sunday. Rescuers and survivors are contending with near-freezing temperatures and some people are burning wood from collapsed buildings for warmth.
Behnan shared with me that there is a new Protestant church of about 150 people in the city of Van, and miraculously the church structures were unharmed in the earthquake. The church leadership is not only reaching out to their own people affected by the quake, but are organizing efforts to meet the tremendous needs throughout the area. People are in need of blankets, drinking water, food, and clothing. I.N. Turkey will be working side by side with the pastor and congregation to get the staples needed to the people in that area.
International Needs USA will be working through our staff in Turkey to provide funds to purchase needed items like blankets, clothes and food for the people most affected in this terrible disaster.
A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Here is her report for Friday, October 21.
Joan Sider
We had very heavy rain again last night. The streets are filled with large deep puddles in many places, especially around where Pastor Oliam Richard lives. The water is rushing down the canals built along the sides of many roads.
Outside our gated community, these waterways have overflowed and dirt has been banked up to try and contain the water so it isn’t across the road. When driving, since you can’t see the depth of the holes, our driver must be very careful. He is amazing! His van is pretty new, so he is very careful not to do anything that might harm it.
Our day has been a leisurely one. While our breakfast time was still 7 am, we didn’t have to rush to load the van and go off to a clinic. We went to a metal craft works place to look and purchase some unique art pieces. The metal used comes from sheet metal and old metal barrels which they cut by hand and straighten–it was truly amazing. There were many different pieces in all sizes with quite intricate designs. I think most of us bought something there.
Then we headed for the store to purchase things like coffee, vanilla, etc.
We have one suitcase in which we will load all of our purchases. It will be our only piece of checked luggage since our personal items/clothing came in our hand luggage. We are grateful for this suitcase because most of us couldn’t cram one more thing into the carry-on pieces.
Gaston then took us on a tour of downtown Port au Prince. Michel was with us and it helped a lot to have him explain various things. We learned that after the earthquake there were about a million people living in tents in PauP–now there are 250,000. Of course, some people are in tents in others part of the country, so they are not in this count.
We passed the jail and in spite of the damage, there are 5000 people in it. You might remember that at the time of the quake, many prisoners (about 70%) escaped–the guards having run for their lives. They caught and returned some, but since the quake, obviously new prisoners have been sent to this downtown jail. By the way, did I tell you the jail was built for only 700 inmates? They sleep in 4-hour shifts so everyone has a chance to lay down.
We passed by the terminals where various goods are brought for the various stores and vendors–fruit, vegetables, clothing, animals. You name it, we saw it.
The palace looks very much the same–but we did note that at the back, work is being done to clear the rubble and bring down existing damaged buildings. We’ve never seen the back side of the palace before.
Those of us who have been to Haiti before and travelled downtown, have noticed that there has been much effort in clearing the rubble and rebuilding. Being a Saturday, it was a hub of activity with many traffic hold-ups.
We came home to a delicious pork dinner.
We rested for a short time and then prepared to go to our Delmas 33 church for a wedding. We sat in the balcony and enjoyed this experience so much. Another time, a team had witnessed a wedding down in the south. This was so different. It was happy and joyful. While I couldn’t understand the message Pastor Richard gave, those who could were very impressed with his instructions and guiding principles given to the couple. Audrey had an extra quilt along, so that was given to the bride and groom.
Getting home from church was interesting. Many people are out on a Saturday night, both in vehicles and on the street. When we were almost to our gate entrance, we noticed cars turning around and coming back. The reason was that a tractor trailer was blocking the road–it wasn’t a deliberate act, but somehow he could not get straightened out. We took a very long way around to get to where we needed to be. Wherever we drove, there were rough roads and much water.
We had a light supper, had our debriefing “God moments” time, and prayed for Kara-Lynn. She has many important decisions to make over the next few days. We ask you to pray also–that she will have the mind of Christ for her future.
I’ll send this now–the pics from today will come later. I haven’t begun to download any cameras–that takes a while and then choosing pics will also.
We have received this word from Cluster Leader Greg Helman: “Pastor Gayle Ruble of Macedonia UB Church in Greencastle went through a four by-pass operation on his heart Friday, October 21st in Harrisburg and is recovering well. Please continue to keep him and his family in your prayers as a part of the UB family.”
Global Ministries director Jeff Bleijerveld (right) and Bishop Brian Magnus of the UB Church in Canada are on their way to the Philippines. They leave today, October 24, 2011, and will return October 31. They will attend the Philippines National Conference. Brian is chairman of the UB International Executive Committee.
Participants in the Canadian medical trip to Haiti. Top row: Kelly Chafe, Kara-Lynn Ferguson, Audrey Fiederlein. Middle row: Dr. Athus, Margie Blackler, Kerry Walsh. Bottom row: Joan Sider, Jordan Jackson, Bob Chafe.
A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Here’s a nice collage of the participants.
Joan Sider, from the Toronto UB church, is sending daily reports for the team. You can read her reports on UBCentral from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Donna Delik, UB endorsed staff in Poland (sent October 16)
We are very thankful for the Hong Kong Chinese mission team that has come to minister with us in Poland. We have done meetings in different places like school, church, and community center meetings, and got very positive response. Rev. Chan from Zion Church (my home church) has presented the gospel very clearly with the teaching of Taoism and Chinese character. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in people hearts.
One more day to go and I will take the team to Krakow. After the service this afternoon, Arek left to see his parents, as his father’s condition is getting very critical.
We will appreciate your prayers:
A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here is her report for Thursday, October 20.
Joan Sider
We’ve have had another terrific day. We were in Siebert, about 45 minutes from Port au Prince. It was really a short distance from here, but the roads, along with the traffic, made it impossible to travel quickly. If any of us have a need for a chiropractor–we don’t anymore.
The clinic went really well. Dr. Athus organized the set-up and 127 patients seen in four hours.
When we arrived, we first encountered a woman holding a very young baby–three days. Sadly, her mother died in childbirth, leaving her four other children with the father and the father’s sister. The sister is 8 months pregnant herself–her first child. It broke our hearts to think of this little one. Could you pray for this family?
Another great moment was when a lady received Jesus. This is a first for us. So pray especially for her.
We all remarked tonight how the atmosphere of this church was caring, loving, open, and receptive. We felt a bond with them immediately.
I need to update you on some health issues. Audrey’s leg is healing nicely, Margie’s voice has returned pretty well, and Kelly’s rash is lessening and being helped by something the doctor recommended.
The rest of us are doing just great!!!
Have I mentioned yet that it is hot! We have felt the heat all week, but today, it was exceedingly warm. We aren’t complaining, mind you–but just felt you ought to know. Someone has remarked that it will be cooler when we get home–and we’ll likely be complaining about that!
The meals have been very tasty. We eat twice a day–breakfast and mid-afternoon. That seems to be very satisfying.
This trip has been different from others in that we have not attended any services yet. We are not sad about this, because each evening we have quite a bit of prep for the next day. Everyone pitches in and helps.
That’s it for now. We are so grateful for your continuing prayers and support of our ministry. Don’t stop now.
The United Brethren History Course is a requirement for ministerial licensing in the United Brethren denomination. However, people who just want to learn more about United Brethren history are free to take the course.
The course is held in regional settings. One will be held next week, October 27-28, in Chambersburg, Pa. Another will be held at the end of November in Flint, Mich.
Date: November 28-29, 2011
Location: Richfield Road UB church in Flint, Mich.
Address: 6259 Richfield Road, Flint, Mich. 48506
Phone: (810) 736-7890
