| |
 |
| |
Dear
Friends in Christ, |
|
The
Lord has blessed our family with many challenges
and blessings this month. As some of you
remember, this month is the 2-year anniversary
of Shelby going Home. We all still deeply
grieve her being gone, yet we look forward
to joining her in Heaven one day. |
|
Our
son Kenny had hoped to do a hike in Haiti
in her memory for quite some time. He wanted
it to be in the mountains south of Port-au-Prince
where he and Shelby had talked about hiking
together one day. After a lot of last minute
decisions and planning, the Lord brought
everything and everyone together allowing
the hike to happen this month. |
|
Kenny,
Sara, and Micah flew to Port-au-Prince Haiti
and met with our friend and board member,
John Leininger. John and Micah then boarded
another plane and flew to Cayes and then
drove on to Joli Guibert. There they installed
some much needed water tanks and were also
able to participate in a medical clinic. |
|
While
John and Micah were in Joli Guibert, Sara
and Kenny had 3 fun days of V.B.S. at the
two schools in Port-au-Prince. They were
joined on the last day by three friends,
Joel Wean, Cody Carnett, and Rainer Park.
The school children were so happy to have
our group there and just loved the songs,
crafts, verses, stories and all the attention.
V.B.S at Pastor Mark's school was pretty crowded
with 150 children packed in a small room.
It was so hot and the children's faces were
dripping with sweat, but this didn't stop
them from having fun singing their hearts
out and joining in the activities. Even through
the discomforts, the school children were
for the most part very well behaved and kept
as much order as possible. |
|
Please
continue to keep the two schools in your
prayers. Both are struggling right now as
many of the children can't afford to pay
the very small amount to attend the schools,
but they are still given admittance. This
causes a problem because there is no money
to pay the teachers who of course need money
to provide for their families. O.S.M. sponsors
a feeding program for both schools, but for
the many other financial needs the schools
are on their own. |
|
The second
week in Haiti was spent hiking the beautiful
mountains near Jacmel. Sara, Kenny, Joel, Cody,
and Rainer flew from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel
meeting John Leininger, Micah, David Bustin,
Dinel and Anthony (Haitian pastors) and 5 other
young men from Cayes. David Bustin grew up
in the mountains where the hike took place
and has spent most of his life in Haiti. What
a blessing it was to have him as the guide
on this trip. He took Kenneth hiking in the
same mountains 12 years ago when we lived in
Haiti. David knows so many of the people out
there and is very much loved by them.
|
|
The
hike was an incredible adventure, very fun,
but physically and mentally challenging as
well. Words or even pictures cannot adequately
describe the experience of the trip or the
beauty of God's creations in the mountains.
A truck drove the team of hikers 3
hours into the mountains to an elevation
of 6,000'. From there the group went on foot
as the road eventually ended. They hiked
four days straight, covering about 60 miles
total. They crossed many beautiful, rugged
mountains and passed through several villages
along the way. Personal food, bedding and
camping gear, along with medical supplies,
were carried in backpacks. The group was
grateful to have help from several Haitians
in carrying these packs. There were
many streams and waterfalls along the way
which provided the group with drinking water
after being filtered. It rained two days
while on the hike. The showers soaked everyone
and the mountainsides, making it very slippery
and dangerous on the steep areas. The last
day was the most challenging and memorable.
The morning was spent doing a small clinic
at the village where they stayed the previous
night. Since it was such late notice they
didn't get a huge crowd, but still the medicines
they brought ran out pretty fast. After the
clinic the group headed out for the last
stretch of the hike. It rained a lot that
day and everyone was wet and tired. The grand
finale was crossing the river which was flowing
strong from all the rain; they forded it
20 times in the dark before reaching their
final destination at 10:00pm. The next
day was spent in Marbial at the old compound
where David Bustin grew up. Here the group
took a day to relax, walk around, and play
in the river, which felt great after several
days without a nice shower. |
|
The
Haitian mountain people were very kind, giving
the team their best in food and lodging.
They were just overjoyed to have a group
of Americans come to their villages. At many
places where the group would stop to rest,
a crowd of curious Haitians would show up
to just look and watch. David Bustin told
us that the last white people they saw were
Kenneth and he, 12 years ago. Several asked
about Kenneth and said that they thought
they had lost contact with us forever. They
were all so sweet and welcoming. Many of
the village children had never seen foreigners,
so some of them were scared of the 'white
people' and their cameras. It didn't take
long for them to warm up, especially after
showing them images of themselves in
the screens of the digital cameras. They
would look and a big smile would spread out
on their faces as they would laugh and point
at themselves on the little screen, then
they would want to do it again. |
|
On
the top of one of the mountains, Kenny took
the opportunity to carve Shelby's name in
an old tree. It was his way of remembering
and honoring her, as this is exactly the
sort of thing she loved to do in Haiti. Even
though she is no longer here with us, the
spirit of Christ which she walked out in
our family, will forever impact each of us
strongly. |
|
Sara
and Kenny made a short trip to Mexico the
beginning of this month. They had some good
rain showers while there which flooded the
colonia making it quite a sight. Sara stayed
busy sewing with the ladies in the Dorcas
House. This year the ladies in Nava have
sewn over 100 dresses and skirts, about 40
of them for the Jamestown Quadricentennial
Celebration this June. Kenny spent his time
helping Pastor Santos on the ranches and
at the church. This month was the Juan 3:16
Church's 7th anniversary. The brothers and
sisters from the church were painting and
cleaning the church, getting it ready for
a big 'fiesta'. It's hard to believe the
church is already 7 years old. We were sorry
to miss the celebration this year, but we
needed to hurry back home for the Haiti trip. |
|
Again
the Lord has blessed our family beyond words;
He is such an awesome God. We pray that this
newsletter is a blessing for you and your
families. We are very grateful for the Lord's
protection this month through all the adventures.
Thank you so very much for your prayers and
for allowing our family to minister Christ
in the way He has directed us. May each of
you know Him and His love over you. |
|
|
Blessings
in Christ, |
|
The
Kennedy Family |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
