Prayer Request

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings.  We would like to ask you to pray for our family as both Zach and Sharon have contracted Chikengunya Fever (a mosquito-born viral infection)  which has reached epidemic proportions in Port-au-Prince.  Not only does it cause fatigue and fever, it also causes extreme muscle and joint pain making it impossible to move around and even painful to breathe!  Although we know that this fever will not be the end of us, it is making life very hard. Pray that the symptoms will diminish so that we can carry on with life and work.

God's Plans and Ours

A new graduate from level 1 training.

TLT graduates stand up with fellow trainers at the end of our three-day event.

Singing and devotions are an important part of a TLT training week.

Some people think planning is a luxury.  Life is so chaotic and unpredictable, you are lucky to make it to the end of the day.  For many Haitians, most of whom are self-employed (market vendors, tradespeople, etc.) or unemployed, time is not at a premium (though money certainly is).  That is one of the reasons why planning is not often practiced in Haiti.  Yet, we know that our God values planning.  That is why God told the people of Israel through the hand of Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you..."  God intricately planned this universe so everything works according to its appointed schedule.  And "in the fullness of time" (i.e., planning), God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to deliver his people from sin and death and to accomplish the prophecies planned millennia before through the prophets and patriarchs.  Timothy Leadership Training is one of our most effective tools to teach our Haitian ministry partners the value of planning and doing.  Only after the completion of two four-to-six-month ministry plans can participants graduate from the first level TLT.  Last week we had three days of Timothy Leadership Training where 105 participants from all over Haiti received encouragement and coaching to plan their ministries with the Holy Spirit.  We heard a report about a group of young men who planned a trip into the mountains to evangelize during the Mardi Gras holiday.  God blessed their plan such that 12 people received Christ as Saviour and hundreds of sick and suffering received personal visits and prayer by the young men who were part of the evangelism group.  In addition, the group organized special services with churches in the area where it was working.  In a country where very little is ever planned, the Holy Spirit used these six young men and the Timothy Leadership Training process to do great things for the Kingdom of God.

A group of six TLT participants planned a week of evangelism in a remote part of Haiti.

The TLT evangelism group prays at home of an acquaintance.

The TLT evangelism group talks with a Haitian Voodoo practitioner who was marching through the streets on the Mardi Gras holiday.

"For Me, to Live is Christ and to Die is Gain"--The Life and Death of George Knoop

George Knoop, an elder at Quisqueya Chapel in Delmas, Haiti

These words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21 seem so out of place in a world where everyone is trying to avoid growing old and dying.  However, the true Christian perspective is to embrace both life and death.  Yesterday (May 13), at around 3:00 p.m., an elder of the congregation where we are members (Quisqueya Chapel), George Knoop, was attacked and stabbed repeatedly in his home in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince.  George remained conscious long enough to call for help.  A group of our fellow missionaries arrived to find George bleeding profusely and in need to emergency treatment.  Unfortunately George succumbed to his wounds shortly after arriving at the hospital.  While nothing is certain, there is a high likelihood that this was not a crime of opportunity, but premeditated murder.
George, a native of the Chicago area, was a warm, deeply spiritual man of prayer who was seventy-four years-old.  George worked for a mail-forwarding service that many Haiti missionaries use, Missionary Flights International.  He was deeply involved in the discipleship of young men and the teaching and practice of the discipline of prayer.  We met George many years ago during his first visit to Haiti.  His deep trust in God and his complete dedication to mission left an impression that we will never forget.  While George lived life with Christ to the full, we have no doubt that, in the end, he was equally passionate to receive his eternal reward.  How we wish that George could have received this reward quietly, surrounded by his friends and family instead of so brutally.  Pray for George's family and friends as they grieve and hope.  Pray also that his murderer will repent and accept responsibility for his actions.