Dear family and friends, (For some of you some of this information may be ‘old’ but I am unable to send each one a new update separately.)

Praise the Lord, I was able to talk with Tony last evening for a few minutes before the phone line went dead. Tony called me about an hour ago (at 0710 ) and we were able to talk for about 20 minutes. He is in good spirits but is exhausted. Last night was the first time he slept in his own bed. The apartment building is not damaged either, all the things like the blender, coffee machine, water filter container all stayed in their place on the counter! The gas line to the stove has a leak, so Tony can not cook in the house. He still has enough food for several weeks in the house. Haitian friends are now coming to him for money and food. If he continues to give it away, like I know he will, it will soon run out. Now you can buy some rice and food on the streets if you have money. He has about $450  in the house.  I will be able to wire money to him via Western Union when it is up and running. They will waive the usual fees for now. Continue reading update from Haiti (Jan 15)

The following is an email from Mary DeKoter. They are not presently together, Mary was in the US when the earthquake struck. Mary shares some news from Tony and the school!

I finally had an email from someone at the school that had a message from Tony. Phones are not always working at the moment. He is busy setting up a command centre at the school for all the activity that is going on there. The entire school campus is intact! Praise the Lord!

Most buildings all around the school are either down or badly damaged. The following list include some of the activity that will go on at the school for the next few weeks.

• There will be temporary surgery rooms in the chapel
• The basketball court will be used as a trauma centre
• The snack shop will be able to cook for those who are on campus
• The soccer fields house many national workers from the school staff, most have lost or had their homes damaged
• The kingergarten playground has all the children camped there from Three Angels orphanage

Thank you for your continued prayers, God has blessed us so richly, We pray that you are blessed too, Mary

As you know, Tony and Mary DeKoter live and work in Haiti with Quisqueya Christian School (QCS) in Port au Prince. We have word that Tony is ok, Mary is in the States right now. The following comments were made by Els Vervloet who works at QCS. Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers.

After 5 hours outside we are now inside our house, it looks like the aftershocks are getting less. As we are getting more information about collapsed or badly damaged buildings, wounded people, trapped people and people being killed by this earthquake. my heart aches. Poor Haiti, poor poor Haiti. it seems that the Carrefour area and downtown are hit the hardest, although Petion Ville and Delmas area are in bad shape also. Walls, Small buildings, big and high buildings, What will we see when daylight comes in the morning? i was reminded by Eric Dolce about Psalm 46 God is our Refuge and Strength, an ever-present help in trouble. THOUGH THE EARTH GIVE WAY, AND THE MOUNTAINS FALL INTO THE HEART OF THE SEA. For those asking about QCS, I have talked to one of my co-workers who was still at school when the first big earthquake hit, no one was injured, no damage to the school. There were still several students at that time, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Fortunately there were several teachers there to comfort them and pray with them. Please continue to pray that the after shocks will stop, that looting will not happen, that people who are trapped under concrete will be rescued.

The story of Chuck, the homeless man who collects treasures in his shopping cart, continues. Here is the next part of the story. Each week I will add a new chapter to the story, with the hope that we can become treasure-seekers like him. Please note, this is told as if it is a true story, but it is not!

I saw the homeless man a few days later, and this time I had some time to chat with him.

‘Hey, remember me? We talked about your treasures a few days ago.’

‘I remember’, he said, smiling. Continue reading Chuck’s story (Part 2)

Last Sunday I began the story of Chuck, the homeless man who collects treasures in his shopping cart. Below is part 1 of this story. Each week I will add a new chapter to the story, with the hope that we can become treasure-seekers like him.

I saw him downtown pushing a grocery cart loaded with stuff, junk really. I wasn’t going to say anything to him, but as I passed by, he looked at me and asked, ‘Scuse me sir, do you have the time?’

I noticed then that he was adjusting the time on a clock in his hands. ‘Its 3:30′, I answered, seeing the time on the town hall clock tower down the street. That’s all I was going to say, but what he said next caught my attention.

‘Thanks sir. I want to remember the exact moment God gave me the time of day’, and he set the clock to 3:30.

Intrigued, though still hesitant to talk with him, I asked, ‘ah, how did He do that?’

And so began a conversation I’ll never forget. Continue reading Chuck’s story (Part 1)

For those interested in knowing where I am, you can check the link here.
Though I am not really a church planter, these nice church planting people let me into their club for the week. Of course, you have to be a certain kind of person to be a real church planter; I could probably not survive the boot camp.
But this is where my desire to do church in a completely different kind of way can be stoked.

Dorothy Pearce is another Jesus-follower that inspires me. Valerie and I met her a few years ago while visiting with Tony and Mary in Haiti. She runs Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue in Port Au Prince, Haiti. This is how her blog describes her work:

A Christian children’s home in Port au Prince Haiti, sometimes called an orphanage but really more of a last hope for poor families. We take malnourished infants into our home, nurse them back to health and return them to their families. We help families learn how to parent better and provide food and medical care for our staff, children and their families. We strive to serve and honor God in all that we do, obeying His commands to love and share with others. Jesus is Lord!

Valerie and I had the opportunity to be with the children there at the time, and it has left a lasting impact on our hearts. Thanks to email updates, we are aware of the joys and challenges that continue for her in her work there, and the opportunities and needs that we can pray about. Check out her blog and, if you feel so led, and are able, please support this effort in any way you can – our prayers are important! Allow Jesus to use your heart and your hands to bless Dorothy and the children!

Hola, there is a young boy living with us who’s name is Luis Batez. He is 14 years old and has been given an amazing opportunity to go to school. The government has offered him a scholarship in which they will pay for half of the cost of his school. The only problem is his family cannot afford the other half. His little brother was in and out of the hospital and his family was already struggling to feed themselves, that is why he moved in with us. To get a job in Mexico that can provide for your family, having an education is crucial. The factories will not hire anybody unless they have the equivalent of a high school diploma. The total cost that is left after the scholarship is 100$ for the whole year plus school supplies. Because I know Luis personally and have seen his desire to learn in school but also his passion to learn more about God and continually read the bible, I would love for us as a community to be able to give him the opportunity to go to school. I hope that you will prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you do with your tithes and donations and consider helping sending him to school.

There are many more kids like Luis here in our community and any amount donated will be a huge blessing. We as the Tapias family living here in Mexico have already sent one boy to school and he started his first day of school. However we have only paid for his school. He still needs a uniform by the end of the week or he will be sent home. If there is one that you would specifically like to help you can let me know. These are pictures of both boys. I hope that you prayerfully consider helping these kids go to school. Please contact me at tsennema@hotmail.com.

God Bless, Tim

We got word yesterday, Tim is coming home! Next week Saturday, August 29th. We are so looking forward to seeing him again! Lots of things to pray about still, work and school and transportation and adjusting to life back in Canada and… but he’s coming home!

Hola
Hello from Juarez. This week we had the opportunity to go down to the Sierra Mountains. It is in the southern part of the state. It is pretty much unsettled except by the Tarahumara Indians which is exactly who we were going to visit. God was incredibly evident throughout the whole trip even leaving Juarez. Because of all the drug violence they have been very picky about who they let past the 30 kilometer border, especially Americans. We were pulled over and searched but let through, then we also got pulled over at the military checkpoint and they let us pass no questions asked.

After about 7 hours of driving we pulled of the highway and onto a dirt road. It had rained heavily before we got there and about 30 minutes down the road we had to cross a flooded river. Some people passed by and said there was no way we could cross ahead or even the river without 4 wheel drive. But we braved the river anyways at one point the river was above our lights on the van but praise the Lord we made it across. We only blew one tire before we reached the valley where they lived.

When we got there they were overjoyed to see us, mostly because we brought 15 Tarahumaras with us. We got there and had a service with them, it was amazing to hear the persecution they go through for the Lord. Being dragged out of there homes in the middle of the night, having their land stolen, and their stuff broken and vandalized by there own people. It made me understand more how little we actually sacrifice for God and how blessed we are to live in the countries we live in. They still don’t have a bible translated in their language so we all shared verses the touched us somehow and then had it translated from English to Spanish to Tarahumara. It took a long time but they have no concept of time and were just overjoyed to hear more of what the bible says. The service lasted almost 5 hours but nobody noticed. I also noticed how blessed we are and how sad it is that we take the bible for granted and listening to its powerful and God inspired words has become a chore for some people.

We also helped with work. We helped them pull weeds in there corn fields and transport things from one side of the valley to the other which was so much easier with the vans. God also made himself evident on the way out because we couldnt leave the valley if it rained because the roads would have been way to muddy and impossible for anybody to drive on. That night the darkest clouds I’ve seen in a long time came and we prayed hard that they wouldnt rain and it rained everywhere around us but not where we were. On the way back we only got stuck once and had one more flat tire but we made it home alive. Our vans took a beating but God allowed us to get home.

In the end we were all touched and in awe of Gods amazing power. We also learned so much about where our relationships with God were lacking. We were humbled and amazed. Thank you for your prayer support we couldnt have done anything without prayer and your support
God Bless, Tim