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February 12, 2008
Dear Friends and Family, |
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Cullie's Mom (she suffered her fourth stroke) will be released from the
rehab center tomor-row, Wednesday. Cullie talked with her by phone this
afternoon and she seemed to be doing well. Her right arm and leg motor
skills are a little slow but she is progressing. A couple days ago while
Cullie's Mom was in the hospital, Cullie's Dad went off the deep end because
he could not find her and the family could not reason with him. He had to
be admitted to the hospital and is being evaluated. Please continue to pray
for each of them and also for the family as they make decisions. |
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In our last email we mentioned Cullie would be making a trip to Cuba. He
has returned and, from Sandy's point of view, he is as excited about Cuba as
he was about Haiti after his first trip in 1998. Cullie had continual
opportunities to share Christ with his Haitian traveling com-panions. As
they traveled through the streets of Santiago he spoke as often as he could
about the Lord to every Cuban with whom he could make conversation. It
seemed that of those who understood English most of them knew the Lord. The
highlight of his six days was being able to spend time with Pastor Elmer
Lavastida. He was born in Cuba, came to Haiti with his father at a very
young age where his father founded a mission organization in Haiti and a few
years later returned to Cuba. His father served the Lord in Cuba until he
passed away at the age of 105. We met Elmer in 2003; he had come back to
Haiti for the first time since he had been here with his father over 50
years earlier. A fellow missionary in the pro-vince gave him our number to
call because he needed a place to stay for one night before departing for
Cuba. He called; we housed him, enjoyed good fellowship, traded contact infor-
mation and took him to the airport the next day. |
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Five years later the
group of Haitian men Cullie cycles with planned a retreat to Cuba. Pastor
Elmer's name came to our minds so we called Harvest International for
updated contact infor-mation. With Elmer's address in hand the first day in
Cuba Cullie was able to find his house only four blocks from the hotel. It
was a sweet, sweet time in the Lord. Cullie was able to fellowship with
Elmer almost everyday and attend the Sunday evening service at the church he
pastors, Second Baptist Church of Santiago, Cuba. Elmer asked Cullie to
give his testimony where he was able to encourage the people in the Lord.
Words cannot express the love and emotions that were shared in that time in
Cuba. As I, Cullie, looked at Cuba and the believers who live there, I had
to look at my own life. The picture I saw was their joy comes from the
Lord. For me, a North American, my joy comes from the Lord (and all the
freedom and con-veniences I have in life). The freedom and conveniences tend
to take our focus off of God. We thank the Lord for the call on our lives
and for bringing us to serve Him in Haiti. |
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We thank you for your prayers
and support of this ministry which opened the door for this trip to Cuba. Only God knows what lies ahead for all of us. We want to encourage you to
exercise your joy in the Lord, don't be distracted by the freedom,
conveniences and stuff this world has to offer. No, you don't have to go to
Cuba or Haiti but just ask God to draw you closer to Him and use you in His
service. He will bless you beyond measure. |
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Thank you, again, for your prayers for Cullie's trip and for Sandy and David
protection while he was away. Cullie's lower back has been doing well and
the soreness in his neck is at a tolerable level, Praise the Lord. Please
continue to pray for the people of Haiti, we have known for several months
that 'the pot is starting to boil' again and the people are dissatisfied
with the government. We have not had rain in three or four months, our
cisterns at our home are almost dry; we rely on the rain. God knows our
needs, He has always been faithful. We thank the Lord for His patience with
us as we go through life's journey. |
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In His Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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June 12, 2008
Dear Friends, |
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We pray all is well with you and your family. How very thankful we are for God’s hand of protection on us as we have traveled up and down the mountain during this last month. It has been raining here almost everyday for over a month, this is normal for this time of year. We have been helping a family up in the mountains making repairs on there house. Six people live in a 9 by 12 foot, single room. When we were visiting we could see the sunlight coming through the rusted holes in the tin roof. We measured the roof, purchased the material, constructed/assembled the roof on the ground and with a little help from some friends we lifted it up and set it on top of the house. The Wilner Mesilus family is very thankful that God met their need. The father is a school teacher, the mother sells produce on the roadside, there home is about four miles above us in the mountains. |
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| In between working on cars/trucks there is always something to repair or help with at the Fragneauville Christian Church in Port-au-Prince. The church pews were falling apart from termites and damp conditions. Cullie has been making steel supports/legs to reinforce the seats and also securing the ends of the pews to the seats. We took our shop vacuum and gave the pews a major cleaning. The church is grateful for the repairs and we are grateful for the energy and tools that enable us to do the work. We live in a country with limited resources and abilities. |
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Thank you for your prayers and support for this ministry. Our prayer is that God finds us faithful and obedient to His will.
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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July 19, 2008
Dear Friends & Family, |
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| Just the other day while Cullie was working on someone’s car he overheard David playing in the yard above saying, “one, two, three, four, ready or not, here I come”. Those words, "ready or not," stuck in Cullie’s mind, his thoughts immediately turned to Jesus' return. Are you seeing the signs of His return? 2 Timothy 3:1-5: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–having a form of godliness but denying its power." |
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The 24th chapter of Matthew is Jesus speaking of the end of the age. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars . . . |
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nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Jesus tells us in verse 42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Through the simple words of a child, David, God spoke to us. Our prayer is that each of you is aware of the times and looking for Christ’s return. |
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If you proclaim to know the Lord, hold true to the faith. |
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If you don’t know the Lord as your savior, repent and surrender you heart to Him. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." ~John 3:16 |
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Each day we try to be a witness for Christ’s return as we work and live among the Haitian people. We have said before that this is not an easy place to live but through your prayers, encouragement and support God makes a way and gives us peace. We know we are living in troubled times around the world not just Haiti. |
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Prayer requests: |
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Please pray for the government of Haiti as it is still stagnant, they are slow to decide on a new Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is like the president in the United States. |
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Continue to pray for our safety, faithfulness, and witness. |
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Pray for the church in Haiti that in these times they will hold true to the faith. |
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Praise God for His faithfulness in His love, care and provision for us.
We are daily reminded how BIG God is and how small we are. |
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Thank you so much for your prayers, notes of encouragement and financial support. |
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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August 26, 2008
Dear Friends and Family, |
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We are listening to the rain and wind as we compose this update. Fay brought a lot of rain and very little wind but Gustav appears to be angrier. He showed his face around 2pm yesterday and then seemed to back off. This morning around 2am he decided to show his face again and boy does he seem anxious to let us know he is here. We are fortunate to not be hit with strong winds, occasional gust but steady hard rain. |
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Our Internet has been sporadic; we have had several missionaries call for us to give them weather reports. The south east side of the island is being hit extremely hard with 90 mile an hour winds, lots of trees and power lines/poles down and one miss-ionary said from his house he could see several homes collapsed. |
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We are often reminded how much God loves us. How thankful we are for a roof over our head and a fire burning in the wood stove to keep us warm. Tomorrow we will wake up to people all around us hungry, sick, without jobs, no money for school and problems from the storm. Thank you for your prayers for our family and the people of Haiti. |
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Lord, keep us sensitive to those in need.
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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September 2, 2008
Hello everyone, |
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We wanted to give you a short update. Gustav brought a lot of rain and finally moved on. We had about a day and a half of moderate weather, little to no rain, but began feeling the winds of Hanna Sunday night. Monday morning we left the house for Port-au-Prince where we worked most of the day. On our way home we noticed the winds getting stronger and stronger as we climbed the mountain. Through the evening the storm was intense, around 12:30am we got up because we thought the roof was going to come off the house, by daylight the wind had removed our porch roof. Around 6am we received a call that a friend living just above us had lost his whole roof. The storm appears to be changing and the wind gusts are farther apart but around 1pm there was a very strong gust that we thought would take the roof, it did snap the top out of an avocado tree in our yard. |
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Thank you for your prayers for the country of Haiti and that God would give us the wisdom and grace to live through the situation we are in now. When the strong wind got Cullie’s attention he started singing this song: All hail the power of Jesus name let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. |
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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| Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. ~Psalm 95:1-7 |
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September 5, 2008
Dear friends and family, |
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About two hours after our last update on Tuesday the wind picked back up and we lost a tall cedar tree in our front yard. We
live in a frame house with a tin roof, the bathroom is a concrete block structure built on the side of the house with a cement
roof and is about 10’ by 10’. As the winds got stronger we moved into the bathroom, the wind and the rain were intense all
through the night. Every 30 minutes or so one of us would walk through the house and check for leaks. We noticed water
coming through the bedroom wall on to our book case. We rapidly removed the books and they all survived. When daylight
came we saw a tree had fallen on our water tank at the back side of our house. |
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Wednesday morning, with it still raining and gusting wind, we got out the machetes and the chain saw to remove the tree that
had fallen on the truck in our driveway. When people heard our chainsaw we got a call to come cut up some trees that had
fallen across the main road that comes up the mountain. After that
was cleared up we went back to the house to remove the tree that
had taken out our power line and landed on our water tank. |
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Late in
the afternoon we went down the mountain to buy diesel fuel and
water. On the road we saw power poles broken, trees fallen across
the road and walls knocked down. Back home we worked in the
yard until after dark picking up. The felt good to finally be able to
lay in bed, but the rain still hammered on the tin roof. |
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Cullie left Thursday morning to locate glow plugs for a missionary’s
truck. About 15 minutes from the house the road was blocked by a
big pine tree that was across the power lines and cross the
road. After a two hour wait, men with machetes had cleared the
road. The rain is still pouring down. Cullie was able to locate the
parts and complete the repairs. That after-noon we worked on securing
our roof in preparation for Hurricane Ike. |
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Later that day a fellow missionary called to see if Cullie would go
with him, around midnight, in our truck to pick up a group of seven
short term missionaries. They had been in Gonaives during the
storm and were stranded by the flooding. With the help of the UN
and the US embassy they were able to get on a Uruguay cargo ship
from Gonaives to Port-au-Prince. They need to be at the airport at
6:30 a.m. on Friday. Cullie and Joel will meet them at the port and
get them to a guest house, come home for a few hours sleep and take
them to the airport in the morning. |
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God is good. We are thankful for His hand of protection. Thank you
for your prayers on our behalf. |
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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September 8, 2008
Dear Friends & Family, |
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In our last update we mentioned Cullie was expecting to go to the port at midnight to pick up seven people that had caught a ride on a Uruguayan freighter that was passing by Haiti. They were in Gonaives on a short term mission trip when the storm came. We received a call around 11pm that the freighter had lost its running lights and the engines had shut down while in route to Port-au-Prince. A half hour later the lights were back on and engines run-ning but no propulsion, a half later they were back moving expecting to arrive in Port-au-Prince by 1:30am. At that point all phone communication was lost as their phone went dead. At 4am we received a call that the ship was approaching Port-au-Prince so Cullie and Joel, the other missionary, went to meet them arriving just in time to pick them up and take them straight to the airport. |
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We spent Friday assisting others and preparing for Hurricane Ike. The winds weren’t quite as strong as Hanna but the rain seemed to be more intense. Remnants of Ike lingered through the day on Sunday and we were able to go to church Sunday night. Most of today was spent with Cullie using a chainsaw to remove fallen trees. |
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We live in the mountains at about 4400 ft so our terrain is probably much different than what you see in the news from Gonaives where the major flooding took place. In the moun-tains the wind and rain destroyed gardens, homes and trees also causing much erosion. A lot of the food consumed everyday in Port-au-Prince comes out of the mountains, these areas suffered heavy rains and erosion. |
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Sunday night we met with several missionaries discussing how we can reach out to those in the hardest hit areas. We decided to put together family survival buckets/kits; each bucket will have rice, sugar, beans, oil, cornmeal, sheets and a blanket. Our part is to provide the buckets. We are asking those in the Ocala area to request at your church or community for those that would to bring a five gallon bucket and if possible put good used sheets or a blanket in the bucket. We need this drive to happen as soon as possible. |
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Tom Schmidt at Harvest International will be standing by to pick up these items at your call; he can be reached at
352-622-1818. If you would like to send a contribution to help with shipping and purchasing of items for the buckets it would be appreciated. Click on the "Donate" button below and designate your gift for the "Bucket Brigade." If you have any questions please call Tom Schmidt or Danny Thomas at Harvest. |
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We want to thank all of you again for your prayers and encouragement. |
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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September 24, 2008
Dear friends & family, |
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Sorry we have been busy and not taken the time to bring you up to speed. The first picture is of 125 relief kits loaded in our truck and trailer to be dropped at the airport to be flown to small air strips in the province by Mission Aviation Fellowship. Sandy working the assembly line filling relief bags. After a day and a half we were able to locate the ‘Indian man’ that makes buckets in Port-au-Prince and we purchased 500 buckets w/lids. We were able to get all of the buckets in the truck and trailer but had no room for the lids so we returned the next day. |
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Thank you for your prayers and response to this immediate need. Thank you for your financial contributions to help fund this project. We have received calls from a few local Haitian business men that have items they want to give us to distribute to those in need. |
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| Thank you to Greg Denardis from Olivet Baptist Church for his willingness and desire to come on short notice to Haiti and assist us this past week. We will have pictures next week. It has rained almost every afternoon and evening since Fay. It rained so hard last night we could not get the truck into a job site this morning where we are cementing a floor in a house a family is building. With the flooding, the fires, the earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, financial crisis, energy crisis, etc. it is obvious the return of Christ is near. These are the beginning of ‘birth pains’ the Bible speaks of in Matthew 24. Don’t waste your life, examine your heart, seek the Lord, and surrender to Him.
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We thank you for your support of this ministry and we thank God for the opportunity to live here and serve Him in this capacity. We are thankful for His grace and mercy on us. There is no way we could stay here under our own strength. We are blessed beyond measure. We serve an awesome God! |
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In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David |
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