Missionary-Blogs 6

The Great Feast of Aught-Nine ('09)

tl7inhaiti@yahoo.com (T & T Livesay) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:56:00 -0800

The stinkin mosquitoes are at their all time worst right now. Which is saying a lot. Last night at the dreadfully early hour of 11:00 something, we lost power. For the night. EDH failed to bail us out of our dilemma.

It is cooler, and that is a wonderful thing - you can lay without a fan and not be totally soaked in sweat ... but once we lost power we were feasting material for the aforementioned horrible disease carrying beasts. Despite valiant efforts on Troy's part to rid our abode of them, the air is still thick with the little blood-sucking devils.

We have a car battery in our closet charged and ready to go. (Don't you?) One fan can run off of the car battery for more than a few hours. Noah and Hope were the first to join us right around midnight - huddling in front of that fan.

At about 2am Isaac and Paige came in too. (Make that six people sharing one fan.) At 3am Jeronne came upstairs to sleep with Lydia who she heard awake and calling for rescue from the bugs. (Those of us with the fan never heard Lydie.) Phoebe & Annie managed to sleep on and off through the night in their own beds.

At 4am the car battery system failed us. From 4am to 6am it was a mosquito free-for-all. We ALL woke up crabby this morning. No exceptions. At 6am, when we were all bleary eyed but on our feet, of course EDH returned.

Not a good night.

Unless you were a mosquito.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:09:34 -0800

Mom and her younger sister

This little cutie turned 80 years old today!

Happy birthday, Mom.

Overlooking PAP on date weekend

tl7inhaiti@yahoo.com (T & T Livesay) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Above, the Palace, the Port, the airport runway, all visible.

Below, a cute guy - also visible.

More than 1,000 YouTube hits on Genesis, Jonah, and Ruth

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:43:17 -0800

Just did some quick addition and found that our Bible translation video on YouTube has been getting attention. Genesis, Jonah and Ruth have been broken into 103 segments for YouTube publication, and the total hits for all of them is well over 1,000. Jonah chapter 1 was top with 294 hits. Second was Genesis 1:1-5 with 110. Take a look yourself at http://www.youtube.com/user/vibideaf.

Four Year Blogiversary

tl7inhaiti@yahoo.com (T & T Livesay) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:15:00 -0800

Fun weekend - parents left the kids - parents still totally dig each other - Kids did fine, despite dramatic goodbyes and tears and yelling "I love you I llllooooovvveee you - Daaadddy Moooooommmmyyyy" as we tried desperately to remove them from our legs - all is well now, the family is reunited with no plans for separation for many many months

Stopped by area hotel to pick up suitcase full of goodies from the Rumo family and friends ...very fun, thank you very much to all who made it happen!

Busy Week Ahead:

Team from Austin led by A.Ivey arrives Monday - bring on the manpris (capris for men worn by rock star hipsters such as Aaron Ivey)
Adoptive Dad (and friend) arrives Thursday for long weekend in Haiti
Thursday we will come as close as possible to a traditional American-type Thanksgiving meal hosted by the Buxman Family in our neighborhood - Bringing Jeronne for Haitian feedback and critique of American-style celebration :)
Celebrating Annie's second birthday Thursday ~ Prayers for her Mom and Dad and brothers in Minnesota

Troy's computer that I dropped and damaged is returning home, and just days shy of Troy's head implosion. Phew.

22 donations came in today toward the Women's Program Emergency Transport Vehicle - we are so thankful to each of the donors and we humbly ask all who have not given to consider helping us have a big week this week. We could use a Thanksgiving week boost!

We started this blog four years ago this week. So much has changed about us since this began- some good, some bad - some up for debate ... The people we've met along the way have been the greatest encouragement to us. We thank you for that! It's fun to have you along on this crazy ride.

Membership, Indians & Mom!

Ben & Ruth — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:48:00 -0800

Sorry for the bit of a hiatus with posting everyone! I think some times we just need a break! But the good news is we hope the 'break' is OVER! Let the posting begin.

Membership:Our church here back East here has 'church membership' and seeing as how Ruth & I think of Park Street Baptist church as our 'East Cost' home church we wanted to become members. It was a fun little ceremony in that we get to go upfront and everyone gives us the 'Right hand of fellowship' hand shake!

Indians

Ruth really enjoys giving the girls craft projects to do and the girls talk about Indians a lot so Ruth decided to 'make them Indians'! The girls had a lot of fun running around with their head bans & underwear with the new code names "Screaming Eagle" & "Running Horse".

Mom

As for "Mom" we are excited and blessed to have my (Ben) out for a week visit from Arizona! She is really enjoying getting to meet our new baby girl. Tomorrow we are excited to celebrate my Mom's birthday and I hope to post pictures of the day then.

It's 8:00 pm here and I'm exhausted & going to bed!

Ta'ta for now,
~Ben

Jetlag Continues

ColoradoColumbine — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:33:00 -0800

I'll post more sometime in the next day or two. Mel and I are both having one of the worst times ever trying to get over jetlag this time. I wake up every morning between 2 and 3 and have a hard time getting back to sleep. Mel crashes around 7 pm and can barely keep his eyes open.

We'll go up to my parents after church this afternoon. Haven't seen my mom and dad yet as they haven't come down to Colorado Springs and we haven't been up there. Will also try and see Mel's Dad and Patty later this coming week.

We did go up to Woodland Park yesterday to see how we'd do with the altitude and it was ok. Went to the park and had a picnic lunch with Kara, John and Stirling. Then I pushed him in a swing while he counted up to 100. Then we counted up to 100 together (me saying every other number - he thought that was funny). Then he sang the song that teaches kids how to spell the names of the colors and numbers (but he only knows O N E and part of T W O right now). All of this in a snow covered playground, with lots of puddles and ice.

In fact, the lake in the park is covered with ice and a group of teens were out playing on it - and at least 2 of them went in. A basketball had rolled over to a weak area and one of the girls went over for it. The water is only waist deep, but none-the-less all we could think was - STUPID TEENAGERS! The wind was quite brisk and by the time it was over, there were 4 kids wet in varying degrees of wetness, shivering and laughing and sitting on a wall in the sun trying to warm each other up. Was I ever that crazy? It's so long ago now that I have a hard time remembering, but I can assure you that NO, I would never have done that! Oh my.

So, now I'll put the computer away, go iron my shirt and get ready to go to church. I sure hope I can sleep better tonight - or maybe I should say LONGER tonight. And Mel, too! This walking around in a fog is really no fun. :)

The life of a missionary

Ben & Ruth — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:43:00 -0800

This is an update of some friends of ours working in a tribe in Indonesia. We though you might enjoy reading it.

So, how was your week? Our went something like this...

Maret returned and he is doing GREAT!!! He was out shooting his bow and arrow with all his buddies yesterday! PTL

A virus is making its rounds through the village the older people are having a hard time and don't seem to be able to kick it. We are on week 2 and it is still going strong.

Obet is super sick. We have started him on TB meds after consulting with the nurse in town on day 3 of taking the meds he slammed the door when we came.

Matias shot himself in the toe with his pellet gun so came to get that out.

Beceba is coughing up blood and has lost tons of weight so I started her on TB meds.

Maxi cut himself with his machette and his leg is super swollen.

Salinkon and Aboltangi from T2 were extremely ill from maybe TB and the virus.

Sally came with a gangrene infection on his thumb. That is the weirdest thing I have seen.

Karella came last week with a swollen lymph in her groin so we gave her some meds but this week she decided to slice it open with bamboo so now she has a huge infected sore.

Yohanis is sick with pneumonia.

Those were just the big things that came outside of our medical clinic this week. We have become really good at giving shots. Most of the things are getting better but talk about a busy week! Please pray for the health of these people and wisdom, strength and energy as we offer medical care while learning language so that one day we can present the gospel in their language and they can be saved.

So what do you think? What to be a missionary?

Reconciled Children

the Harers — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:17:00 -0800

Last weekend we packed up and headed out to Atlixco for a “Reconciled Children Retreat.” It was situated in a villa area and led by Phil, Deene, Diego and Claudia from Medellín, Colombia. Here are a few bullet points and photos of what turned out to be a very beneficial weekend for us.

* “When you think, ‘I can do it on my own; I can be independent from God’, you believe the greatest lie of your life.”

* “Accepting the truth about my real state is the beginning of my freedom.”

* The cross not only frees us from the penalty of our sins and the power of sin in us, but also from the past sins against us that have mis-shaped our lives.

* “As long as we fail to leave something at the cross, we won’t have embraced the cross.”

* “Healing takes place when we meet with Jesus at the cross and exchange our sorrow and sin for his forgiveness, mercy and truth.” J. Williams

Our House

Deene - Phil

A great place for small group discussion

Last Evening Together

The Cross was central to the teaching

The table was set for a feast

Press Release - World’s oldest ocean-going passenger ship to stop sailing

noreply@blogger.com (Shirley) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:49:00 -0800

This is about my floating home....

Mosbach, GERMANY – 20 November, 2009

The ministry of OM’s ship Doulos will come to an end on 31st December 2009.

Doulos is the world’s oldest ocean-going passenger ship, now 95 years old, with the hull built in 1914, just two years after Titanic. In spite of the all year round maintenance that has taken place, the amount of steel replacement and other repairs needed for her to continue sailing are overwhelming. The ship is presently in Singapore and has been undergoing the annual period of dry dock and surveys.

Early indications are that the work would cost over €10 million and take five months to complete. The OM Ships executive leadership team and board believes that is not appropriate to invest resources of this scale into the ship, since Doulos would have a limited ministry future.

Chief Executive Officer of OM Ships International, Peter Nicoll, said, “The outcome of this is that Doulos will not be able to continue in ministry. This is not what any of us wanted, and has serious consequences for everyone on board, those about to join and for ports we planned to visit.”

“We are committed to operating safe ships and complying with the requirements of our classification society, RINA, as well as the International Safety Management requirements for ships,” affirms Peter Nicoll. “We have been praying that God would use this five-year ‘special survey’ to give us a clear picture of the way forward for Doulos and that He has done.”

The well-being of the 280 crew and staff onboard is of paramount importance. Each person will receive the guidance and support they need to decide what their next steps should be. Some are close to the end of their period of service, while others joined as recently as September.

Keeping the ship compliant with the highest marine standards has been a real challenge over the years. It is a remarkable testimony to the professionalism and dedication of the non-profit organisation’s technical personnel that the ship has continued to meet marine requirements until now.

CEO Peter Nicoll stated, “We recognise God’s faithfulness through these 32 years of wonderful service of the ‘servant’—Doulos—as an outstanding OM ministry, through more than 600 port visits in over 100 countries. Many lives have been transformed, both visitors and those who have served on board.

We are also deeply grateful to our partners around the world who have supported the ship in ministry through the years. Please continue to pray with us as we work on present challenges and seek the Lord for the future.

With Logos Hope now active and exciting ministry taking place, we are investigating possible options to charter another ship in the interim and have already begun working on the Doulos replacement project. Contributions should be given through your local OM office and designated ‘Doulos Project’.

Ken Miller
Director of Communications
OM Ships International

__________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT OM SHIPS INTERNATIONAL

OM Ships International (OMSI) exists to bring knowledge, help and hope to the people of the world. OMSI pioneered the concept of using ships to transport literature, humanitarian aid and people resources. The ships are well known for their work providing educational and Christian literature in ports around the world. OMSI began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement, OM International. The crew and staff of 500, including professional seafarers, are all non-salaried volunteers. With over 70 different nationalities represented, the onboard communities are a fascinating expression of cross-cultural living and understanding that reflect the church around the world. Crewmembers are unified by their faith and goal to share God’s love as they serve in port communities. The ships remain in port for several weeks and open to thousands of visitors every day.
Over one million visitors come on board each year to browse the hallmark of the ships—a large floating book fair with 6,000 titles in stock, including books for university studies, professional and career interests, history, science, economics, language learning, hobbies, novels, children's stories, biographies, dictionaries, atlases and a wide variety of Christian resources, including Bibles, study materials and books on Christian living.

The ships also bring aid and relief to needy people and places around the world. Crewmembers go ashore to provide medical aid, help construct schools, orphanages and homes, and give gifts of food, clothing and books. Teams also visit hospitals, orphanages and prisons to share God’s compassion and love.

Since 1970, more than 40 million people have visited the ships during more than 1,350 port visits in 158 nations.OMSI’s operational costs are met by sponsorship of onboard personnel, general donations and gifts, reductions and waivers of fees by civic and port authorities, book sales, and corporate support in each port of call.

Doulos and her sister ship Logos Hope are operated on behalf of OMSI by GBA Ships e.V. (formerly Good Books for All), a private, non-profit, entity registered in Germany.

Internet: www.omships.org