Segaar-King July Update

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Haiti. In just two days we will be departing Port-au-Prince, bound for Grand Rapids, MI, for our six month home service. Life has passed at a frantic pace the last two weeks as we work hard to finish ministry projects and organize our home for its new residents. We look forward to seeing you all this fall!

Please join us in giving thanks for:
-A successful General Assembly for the CRC of Haiti. Significant events include a formal recognition signed between the CRCNA and the CRC of Haiti.
-A successful week of theological training. We taught a course on interpretation of the Gospels and a course on the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) for 28 young church leaders.
-A family to stay in our home during the six months that we are in the USA. There names are Cornelius and Mandy and they are going to begin a ministry with the Canadian Reformed Church in Port-au-Prince.

Please join us in praying for:
-Patience and strength to finish pressing projects. Both Sharon and Zach are pretty worn out and a little sick. Pray also for a safe and uneventful trip to Michigan.
-Pray that no tropical cyclones will affect Haiti in August through October.
-Pray that our colleagues and Haitian partners will continue our work profitably this fall. Pray especially for the successful completion of the Cayes Jacmel church the first week of August.
Don’t forget to arrange a visit to your church during our upcoming home-service from Aug 3, 2011 to Feb. 10, 2012. We will put you in contact with our scheduler!

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King
Missionaries to Haiti
Christian Reformed World Missions

Esther Turns Two

Some call the twos “terrible” and some called them “terrific.” A few weeks ago we celebrated Esther’s (our youngest) second birthday. Esther enjoyed chocolate cake, time with family, and also a few birthday presents. Unfortunately, Esther’s other two-year-old friends could not come as many of them were traveling on summer vacation. Esther is keeping us especially busy these days as we are trying to pack up to return to Michigan for our six month “home service” (a time set aside for us to visit churches and supporters to report on our work). One of Esther’s favorite two-year-old activities is to get into boxes that we are packing and scatter their contents. While we are back in the US during our home service, we have arranged for another family to live in our home. Please pray for strength and endurance as struggle to finish ministry projects and pack up our home before the plane leaves on August 3.

Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Screws

Twelve thousand five hundred screws. This is a number that we will never forget because it is the number of screws that need to be drilled into the roof of the Cayes Jacmel church. Perhaps for those in the construction trades, that may not seem like a lot, but people unaccustomed to using a drill, it represents a massive challenge. The church construction project, financed by SUN-BEAM International, is the rebuilding is our final rebuilding project in the Jacmel area, an area slammed by the 2010 earthquake. The members of the church were not interested in the concrete slab roof which we normally construct as they are still afraid of another earthquake bringing down the building on their heads. However, when the members and Pastor Andrenord saw the building methods utilized by the building team, they were convinced that they had nothing to worry about. It took an entire week alone to construct the trusses and place the sill-plate (what enables the trusses to be fastened to the wall). Lord willing, the trusses will be bolted on and the tin roof nailed down during the first week of August. Please pray for the safety and efficiency of the Haitian work team during this week.

An Experience to Remember

After literally years of planning, we had the pleasure of receiving a visit from our home church, Fuller Avenue CRC of Grand Rapids, MI. Fuller is a special church for us. Sharon was born and raised in the congregation. Both Zach and Sharon were called and ordained by Fuller in 2005. Sharon's parents still attend the congregation. For Fuller's week-long visit we had prepared a busy itenerary. We were going to visit the Belladere area were Zach and Sharon have worked with the CRC of Haiti on church development projects. We were going to visit Leogane, the site of CRWRC's massive home-construction project. And we were going to do a work project at the Ministry Center. However, a certain gastro-intestinal bug had other plans. One by one, almost all seventeen of the group's members fell ill with a full-blown case of the Haitian quick-weight loss program. Despite the frustration of spending a good portion of its visit sick, the team from Fuller was able to assist with the construction project (building the second story of the Ministry Center's water tower) and a beautification project (planting trees and plants near the entrance of the center). A team member, John Straatsma, remained an extra week to assist with other projects as well. We give thanks to God for protecting the team through this challenging experience. It will certainly be an experience to remember!