Harvest International : Rod & Debbie Wray & Family


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Harvest Video

January 27	May 16	October 28
February 24	June 1	November 2 (part 1)
March 16 (part 1)	June 29	November 2 (part 2)
March 16 (part 2)	July 13	November 22
April 4	August 26	December 6
April 12 (part 1)	August 29	December 30
April 12 (part 2)	September 2	Abby Gerber~Dec 31
April 12 (part 3)	September 23


	Kenya


	Romania


	Uganda


	Ukraine


	Zimbabwe

January 27, 2008
Dear friends,

It has been a month since our last email and we have had a lot of fun during that time. It was great to have all of our family home through the holidays, and quite a few of the other missionary kids returned also, so we did lot of fun activities.


Heading out for a day of hiking and exploring	This cave is the source of a beautiful clean river

The missionary ladies volleyball team won the championship!	Deb jumping up for a big block

Carly has decided to live with us here in Haiti and is taking two online university courses. Christie is enjoying bible school in Spain.

Our first "Harvest" team was a medical team that spent a week out in the Village of St. Marten

The new lab is coming along very quickly	Our second "Harvest" team was a medical group of 18 who did clinics in some very poor areas of Cayes

Deb is helping with the medical clinic Doctor	Tim removing some stitches

Deb driving the team of 18 around	Tim translating for the dentist
Thanks for your support and prayers; bye for now,

Love Rod, Debbie and the gang

February 24, 2008
Hello friends,

Ever since last October when we did a medical clinic in the poor area of "Renault" we have wanted to help the children, both by giving them food, and allowing them to hear the gospel of Jesus. Led by Christie's best Haitian friend "Mirlande", we have trained a group of twelve Christian young people and they are taking this new ministry to their own people.

Mirlande leads the children in singing

About 220 children came
to the new outdoor Sunday School

The youth ministry team
did a great job with the children

The youth team had been up
since 4:00 am preparing the food

We passed out rice and beans
to all the children

Katie passing out cold water bags
for the children to drink

This most recent project at the hospital is a new laundry facility (below). Forguens is in the picture with me and he is my most valued worker. He has worked with me for more than two years now. He operates all power tools and can do almost everything by himself now, which is a great help to me.

New laundry facility

Baby Hope continues to do well and has unofficially be-come the hospital mascot. She is cared for by staff, visitors and family members of other patients. Some days she will spend two or three hours in the laundry as she watches the laundry workers do their job.

Baby Hope

Please continue to pray for us as we have a very busy next few months with teams and visitors.

Please pray that our vehicles will run well and God will protect as we travel.

Please pray for good health for our family and for visitors who come.

Please pray that God will use us and especially that many children will come to know Him through the "Let the little children come" ministry.

Please pray that God will be with Christie as she continues at bible school in Spain and then as she makes plans for her future.

Thanks for your support and prayers and for standing with us in ministry.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Debbie and gang

March 16, 2008
Wonder Woman (Part I)

God has given us so much. He sent His only son to die for our sins, and if we accept Him, we have the privilege of a personal relationship with Him. The second greatest gift that God has given me, is my wife Debbie. She is amazing, and is a great partner and co - worker with me as we continue to minister here in Haiti.

Here she is . . .


Picking up teams at the airport	Hosting meals for visitors

Deb takes most all the video and pictures for everybody, but is rarely in any of the pictures herself.

Transporting teams, tools and materials.	Taking video pics


Giving seadoo rides to friends at the missionary retreat	Deb giving a tour of the market and doing some vegetable shopping


Collecting flight coupons so that we can get some free flights


Putting on a birthday party for baby Hope	Happy 1st birthday to baby Hope

Part II of Wonder Woman to follow . . .

March 16, 2008
Wonder Woman (Part II)

We have been married for 24 years

Deb baking almost everyday
making cookies and treats

Taking coffee break
over to the workers everyday

Taking drinks to the workers and teams

Driving the 4 wheeler

Taking a team

for a walk through a Haitian village

As beautiful as ever

Deb looks after baby Hope

Hanging on with the young people

The world's greatest mom!

We are so thankful for good health and strength and joy that God has given us in the ministry here in Haiti.

Thanks for your continued prayers, bye for now,

Love Rod, Deb and gang

April 4, 2008
Trouble in Cayes

All around our area of Cayes there have been roadblocks and tires burning since early yesterday morning. Here is part of a newspaper article:

	Demonstrators angry over Haiti's rising cost of living attacked a United Nations peacekeeping base and looted food shops in the south.

	About 5,000 people demonstrated in the southern peninsula city of Les Cayes, where protesters chanting slogans against President Rene Preval attempted to set the UN police base on fire and stole rice from trucks as Haitian police stood by helplessly.


This is a picture of one of many roadblocks which were blocking the road to the Cayes airport	The U.N. are trying to restore order, but not having much success

Yesterday afternoon amidst the chaos, we had to pick up a Dentist (Artie Cooper) and his daughter who flew in to Cayes. Due to the roads being blocked, Tim, Jan ,(a missionary here) and myself went on our motorbikes on back country trails and we were able to get to the airport and pick up Artie and Courtney.

Picking up dentist Artie Cooper

All safely back at the mission compound
after an exciting ride

We have had a group of 15 people
here this week painting the hostel

We had to get them plus 5 other visitors to the airport this morning so we all left on one vehicle

The U.N. tried to clear the roadblocks
so that we could get through to the airport

Another roadblock. The people scatter rocks, tires, branches and car parts all over the road

Safely at the airport.
We are thankful that our team,
including Dr. Bill, is safely on their way today

Carly with a little one
at the Sunday school program

Please pray that the demonstrations will stop and that the people will remain calm.

The Haitians are very upset at the huge increase in prices over the past few weeks. A small sack of rice has gone from $20.00 U.S dollars to $35.00 U.S dollars in two weeks. A 20 foot length of 1/2 inch rebar has gone from $7.00 U.S to $12.00 U.S in the past three weeks. Both diesel fuel and gasoline prices have increased and just about all other items have increased in price also.

Please pray for our daughter Carly as she has returned to B.C. and has a job as a Nannie.

Please pray for our daughter Christie as she finishes up her time in Europe and is planning to return to Haiti in a couple of weeks.

Thanks, bye for now,
Rod and Debbie and gang

April 12, 2008
Short Stories (part 1)
Hello friends,

We are very thankful that things have calmed down in Haiti and today we heard that the Prime Minister of Haiti has resigned, as was demanded by the people, so we are hopeful that things will be back to normal this coming week. Thank you for your prayers, both for us and for the people of Haiti. Regrettably, we had to cancel the medical teams that were planning to come this weekend, but hopefully they can re-schedule in the near future.

The following "Short stories" are updates on what we have been doing for the past two months. We have enjoyed having quite a few teams and visitors and much has been accomplished.

Transformation

How do you take an empty lab and a stack of plywood and transform it into a finished product in two weeks? The answer is simple. Invite Duane and his work team from Michigan down to work for two weeks.


This was the lab before the work team arrived


This was the lift of plywood, and after two weeks work, only 5 sheets out of 70 remain.	The whole team worked together so well. Plumbing, electrical, painting, and cabinets are all finished on the lab.

The team built all new cupboards and counters in the pharmacy and vision impaired room also. An amazing transformation has taken place at the hospital and the new lab is almost complete. Hopefully within another month or so, we will be able to begin using it.


Some of the finished cabinets and counters in the lab.	An amazing transformation has taken place.

Naomi
This past January a medical team from Wisconsin was here and on a previous visit they had come to know a little girl who lived out in a village. Here name is Naomi and she is one of the children of Haiti who has eaten "dirt". She has severe rickets and she wasn't receiving very good care at home. We have heard that in rare cases, some parents in Haiti are obliged to feed their hungry children dirt, but sometimes the children are lacking nutrients and minerals in their bodies and they crave dirt. We aren't sure which was the case with Naomi.


Naomi is 16 years old

Frankel offered Naomi the option of coming to live at the Bernice Johnson center for handicapped ladies. All by herself, Naomi rode on mule for an hour to get to the market where Carly and I went to pick her up. We brought her to the Bernice Johnson center and she is very happy there. She is receiving good meals everyday, medical care, and she is enrolled in school also.


Naomi can't walk or even stand, but she has pretty good use of her hands.	Naomi has learned to use a wheelchair and can move around easily by herself now at the Bernice Johnson center.


Naomi talking with Frankel at the Bernice Johnson center

Frankel the physio / orthotics specialist is hopeful that with good care and treatment, Naomi might be able to walk some day.

More short stories will follow on Part II.

Bye for now,
Rod and Debbie and gang

April 12, 2008
Short Stories (part 2)
Hello,

Sunday School

We are very excited that the Sunday school program has continued and grown in the area of Renault. The team of Christian young people are doing a great job, and we have had the help of teams and visitors almost each Sunday.

The Haitian young people get up at 4:00 am each Sunday morning to prepare the rice and beans which we feed to the children. We load the food along with water, sound system and tents in the truck and head out every Sunday.

Haitian young people heading out to setup for Sunday worship


Prayer time before we start setting up	The Haitian youth team singing a song to the children



More than 300 children are coming each Sunday morning


The youth team doing a drama on Easter Sunday about Jesus dying on the cross	Everybody loves the puppets and we use them to tell the Bible stories

We try to give a plate of rice and beans and a cold bag of water to each child, but it isn't easy. Sometimes older kids or parents reach inside the tent to try and take the food.


Plates of rice and beans	Lots of hungry children


Taking children two at a time to get new clothes for them	Kara changing the children and giving them new clothes


As we leave many of the children run behind the vehicles

More short stories to follow on the final part III . . .

April 12, 2008
Short Stories (part 3)
Hello friends,

Oh Canada

Almost a year ago a group of local residents met with me and asked if we could help out with some community projects. One of the projects was the greatly needed construction of a Dam to block rain water from pouring into the large residential area of Simon. Shortly after our meeting we enjoyed a visit from the Canadian Ambassador to Haiti, and I asked him about the possibility of helping with this project. There was a lot of paperwork, but in the end, the Canadian government financed this $7,500.project for the people of Simon.

Preparing forms for the cement pour. The Dam is approximately 2 feet thick and 50 feet long. It will stop all the water which accumulates in the sugar cane fields from coming into Simon. Last October when we had heavy rains, the water in many areas of Simon was up to 2 feet deep and it most all came through this narrow low lying valley.


Preparing the forms for cement	Many hands make light work

The labor was volunteer as the people of the community all pitched in to see this project accomplished. Our work team that was here to paint the hostel put in some extra hours and helped out with the big cement pour.


Work team pitching in	The completed dam

Aids Orphanage
It was great to have a team from Kamloops, our home town here in March and they brought funds to begin construction of an orphanage for children who have Aids.


Orphanage construction begins	The construction continues

My crew of Haitian workers did a great job of working together with the team from Kamloops. A good amount of progress was made and the orphanage will have four bedrooms when completed.

It was nice to have a number of young people on the team. Our son Tim stayed out in the village and worked / translated for the team for four days.


Youth team helping out	Work team with children

The work team met some of the children who will be living in the orphanage. It was pretty amazing to hear their stories, and see the tragedy that some of them have gone through already in their young lives.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. We ask that you would continue to pray for us especially during these difficult days in Haiti. Please pray that:

The Haitian people would remain calm and God would provide safety.

God would guide us as we try and make the right decisions about teams and visitors coming.

Our daughter Christie would have safe travels as she plans to return from Europe and come back to Haiti on April 23rd.

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Deb and gang

May 16, 2008
Special Times
Dear friends,

We are thankful that the situation in Haiti has remained calm and we have been able to have visitors enter Haiti again. A medical team from Ocala Florida came at the end of April and did some remote medical clinics. One of the clinics included a two hour hike through a river and up a mountain. We are thankful to have our daughter Christie back with us after her seme-ster of Bible School in Spain. She is translating and has fit right back in to the routine of teams and helping out wherever needed.


The Sunday school ministry continues to grow and we now need to set up 4 large tents every Sunday. The Haitian youth group are doing a great job of teaching the children about Jesus. Last Sunday, over 460 children were in attendance. What a privilege it is to be able to feed these little ones a meal of rice and beans and a bag of water. The Haitian youth team prepare the food starting at 4:00 a.m. that morning. Now that's commitment!

It has been a lot of fun to have my mom (Jean Redekop) visit along with our good friends Ken and Doreen Crockett from Kamloops, our hometown in B.C. We had a lot to catch up on and of course, it was great to show them the sights and for them to see first hand what we're involved in here. They jumped right in and were part of all the activities. My mom is with the Haitian children down in Brefet and Ken is on the hike pictured with Tim and Christie.

It has been an exciting week with moving up to the new lab. The old lab really was in need of replacing. The hospital staff is thrilled with the new, much larger, more conveniently located, facility. It is located right next to the outpatient clinic where it will be well used.

The first patients are filling the waiting area for the lab. Even before things could be sorted and put away, the patients were having tests done and it was business as usual. The lab is a very key part to the hospital here, so we're grateful for the effort and funds that were put into this new facility.

Thank you for standing with us in helping with projects here, sending support for us person-ally, and especially your prayers. We rely on them. We appreciate your involvement and we know that the work that is done here is "team work". We are thankful for the opportunity of being here and are very encouraged when people come visit or to help out.

Together, we're making a difference,
Blessings,
Rod, Deb, and the Family

June 1, 2008
Hello friends,

We are excited about the youth teams that are planning to come in the next few weeks. We are also really looking forward to the summer. It has worked out that we have been able to get flights to the U.S and we plan to travel and visit from July 16th until August 27th.

Here is a basic schedule, although we are flexible and would love to see as many friends as possible.

	July 17—24: in Ocala, Florida, (Harvest International) July 25—31: Mountain View, Missouri area (Dr. Roberts and friends) Aug 1—13: Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin Aug 14—18: Grand Rapids, Michigan (Dr. Bill and friends) Aug 19—22: North and South Carolina Aug 23—25: in Ocala Aug 27: Return to Haiti.

We were privileged to participate in a baptismal service a couple Sundays ago. Our home church (the Simon church) held a baptism at Lilet river which is within walking distance from the church and 43 people were baptized. Many people we knew were baptized , including Max's wife (pictured below) and some of the young people from our Haitian youth team, and one of my construction workers.


We are so thankful that Dr. Roberts and his team rescheduled their trip to Haiti. (They had originally planned to come back in April, but were unable to come due to the riots in Haiti). We had a great week of ministry together with the Dr. Roberts team.


Passing out and distributing food


Medical clinic: Deb took on the role of being chief pharmacist and did a great job!	Tim did some translating for Dr. Jon


Construction on the Orphanage for children with Aids.

We continue to work on the laundry room and other projects at the hospital. The tin roof area is for clotheslines where the clothes will be hung to dry and the cement roof area is the actual new laundry room. The new laundry is located on the very top of the hospital and the view is great.

Thanks so much for keeping in touch. We are always encouraged to receive emails. Please let us know if we can visit you sometime this summer during our time in the U.S.

Thanks, bye for now,
Love Rod, Deb, Christie, Tim, Kara and Katie

June 29, 2008 (part 1)
Hello friends,

We have enjoyed a lot of activity in June. Thanks for your support and prayers that enable us to continue on in the ministry here.

We have had some heavy rains in June and the Dam we built is working great. You can see the huge lake that forms behind the Dam after each heavy rainfall. The Dam was funded by the Canadian government and built by the local residents and it stops water from flooding their homes and yards.

Baby Hope is doing well, and we are thankful that things are falling into place for her to get her own passport, Identification and possible Visa. A lady from Florida (Janet Cloutier) and her teenage kids came to spend three days with baby Hope, and they are working to get her to the U.S.

Dr. Bill continues to come and do surgeries for one week every month. He is also the medical director at our hospital now. This past week, one evening, he was working on taking a metal plate out of a patient's leg. At first Dr. Bill needed to borrow a slot and star screwdriver and allen wrenches from me. About half an hour later, Dr. Bill came down to our house, and said that whoever put the plate in the patient's leg used three different kinds of screws and now one of the allen screws was stripped. I loaned Dr. Bill my cordless drill and some new drill bits and Dr. Bill got the metal plate out without a problem.




Rod with Dr. Bill	Loading Gravel

I recently got a couple loads of gravel from the ravine, which is where all the dump trucks are loaded. Everything is done by hand.

Please pray for Christie as she plans to begin the nursing program at Trinity Western University in British Columbia in September. We will miss Christie a lot here in Haiti, not only in our home, but also as a partner in the ministry here. The Haitian youth and many Haitian children will also miss her. She has a great missionary heart. If you know of any scholarships or bursaries that are available to missionary kids at university, please let us know.

June 29, 2008 (part 2)
Hello again,

When we started the Sunday school / feeding program in the poor area of Renault back in February, we began with one tent, a small Haitian youth team and about 150 children. Now each Sunday we set up 5 tents, do Sunday school and feed over 600 children , have a team of 25 Haitian youth, and this past week we had a youth team from Ocala Florida come and do three days of DVBS (daily vacation bible school) with the kids.

Katie joins in all the activities and demonstrated skipping for some of the Haitian kids.

We are still working on the laundry building and it is almost complete. Forguens, my main worker was an artist before he started working with me, so he is very creative. Here he is building a large, ceramic tub where dirty laundry can be dumped into and then sorted. The laundry room itself has a cement roof, and the attached clothes drying area has a large tin roof.

The "mothers and daughters" missionary volleyball team was invited to play against the championship inter school team in Cayes last week. It was held at a very nice private school and our team won three games straight. The team consists of Deb, Christie and Kara and Val Gutwein (missionaries from Indiana) and her two daughters; Tess and Alysha. After many requests, we have also started early morning girl's volleyball in the school field above our house again this summer.

Thanks again for your prayers. We have a special request:

Please pray that God would provide a new piece of land in the Renault area where we can continue the Sunday School / feeding ministry. The ministry has really grown and it is amazing to hear how much the children have learned about God and the Bible. Unfortun-ately, the owner of the land where we are currently meeting has asked us to not use the land anymore after July the 6th, as they will begin planting crops.

Thanks, bye for now,
Love Rod , Debbie and gang

July 13, 2008
Hello friends,

It was great to have the youth team from Valleyview Bible Church in Kamloops, B.C. here for the first ten days in July. They worked together with our Haitian youth team and did Vacation Bible School.

They also worked on the orphanage which we are building for children who have aids. They poured the very top cement roof, and now the building is ready for the finishing touches. We are hoping to open the orphanage early in the fall.

Even while hosting teams, the needy people continue to come to our house. This lady came to our door with a little girl who had been burned. Deb took them to the hospital and looked after them early one morning before driving the team out to work.

Deb has also been working to obtain an Haitian passport for Baby Hope, and we were very excited to receive her official passport last week.

The youth team from Kamloops worked really hard to build a new cement sports court at the local MEBSH college. It took three long days out in the hot sun, but the final result is beautiful.

We held a grand opening volleyball tournament this weekend to celebrate the new sports court. The people of Simon are very excited and thankful for the new facility. Our "Mothers and Daughters" missionary volleyball team won the ladies championship.

Last Sunday was our final Sunday until September down at Renault where we do Sunday school / feeding to the children. We made up and distributed over 700 gift bags with toys, clothes, and food (rice cereal packets) in each bag. The visiting team from Kamloops prayed in small groups the whole morning while we ministered. The Haitian kids ate the dry cereal right out of the packets.

The Haitian youth team put on a special dinner for our family this weekend in appreciation for our work together with them in the Sunday School / feeding program. It was a big dress up dinner, and they sang quite a few songs in English for us. They also prepared a special meal, and gave us some presents. They gave Christie a special farewell gift.

Thanks again for your support and prayers. Please pray for us as we begin our travels on Wednesday, July 16th, Lord willing.

Please also pray for my Dad, Bill Wray, who is still in hospital recovering from knee surgery and complications. Please continue to pray that a piece of land will become available in the Renault area so that we can continue the Sunday School program in September.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Deb and gang

	August 26, 2008 Hello friends,

	We are doing really well and have enjoyed traveling and visiting through parts of the United States this summer. The 12 passenger van that Harvest Haiti director Tom Schmidt loaned to us was perfect and took us over 7,000 miles without a single problem.

	Here are the Nicknames of the States that we travelled in and through. See if you can name them without looking at the internet:

	THE SUNSHINE STATE THE PEACH STATE THE VOLUNTEER STATE THE BLUEGRASS STATE THE SHOW ME STATE THE PRAIRE STATE ( OR LAND OF LINCOLN) THE HOOSIER STATE THE BADGER STATE THE GREAT LAKE STATE THE BUCKEYE STATE THE MOUNTAIN STATE THE OLD DOMINION STATE THE TAR HEEL STATE THE PALMETTO STATE

	Thank you so much to each of our friends who hosted and cared for us along the way. Our trip in the U.S this summer was a very special time for Deb and I as we celebrated our 25 wedding anniversary.

	Today we are planning to drive down to Miami, and then , Lord willing we hope to fly back into Haiti tomorrow on Wednesday the 27th. Please pray with us for Haiti today, as we are watching Hurricane Gustav which seems to be heading directly for South-ern Haiti, and they are predicting will reach Category two strength before landfall. A direct hit from a Category two hurricane (96 mph to 110 mph winds) would be deva-stating as most Haitian homes are not well built. Flooding is always a concern in Haiti also.

	Thanks for your prayers and concern for the people of Haiti. Love Rod, Deb and gang

August 29, 2008
Hello friends,

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts for us and the people of Haiti during the past few days. Haiti has received torrential rains and there is widespread flooding.

Our adventure began on Wednesday, when we arrived at the Miami airport at 7:30 am. We met up with the Vroomans, who are our friends and fellow missionaries at Cayes , who were also trying to return to Haiti. American Airlines announced that the Port au Prince airport was closed for the entire day, and there would be no flights into Haiti on Wednesday. Both John Vrooman and Rod called the American Air number to reschedule and the earliest flights they could give us were on Saturday, August 30th. There were no available seats before Saturday. We considered our options and then John and Rod came up with the idea of flying to the Dominican Republic, and then catching a Tortug Air flight over to Haiti. It worked and American Air changed our tickets at no cost, so Wednesday morning the Vroomans and Wrays headed to Santo Domingo in the D.R.

We arrived in Port au Prince around noon on Thursday, and were thankful that the Port au Prince airport had opened, but unfortunately the Cayes airport was still closed. We waited most of the day at the Port au Prince airport, hoping that Cayes would open, but finally, when we saw the Tortug air staff starting to go home, we realized that we would be spending the night in Port au Prince. Thankfully, another missionary family, our friends, the Bustins, arrived in Port from Miami, and found themselves in the same situation as us. We got a hotel together and had a good night visiting and talking about the trials of being missionaries in Haiti.

This morning (Friday) we got up very early and arrived at the Port au Prince small airport, even before the doors were opened around 6:00 am. Now there were a total of 13 of us missionaries who wanted to fly out to Cayes, so David Bustin and Rod parked themselves at the Tortug air counter and John Vrooman went from office to office in the airport trying to make arrangements. David and Rod stood at the counter for more than 3 hours, when finally they announced that they would send a flight out to Cayes. After numerous delays we finally boarded the plane and took off.

As we gained elevation, and flew out over the bay of Port au Prince, an alarm went off in the airplane. It was loud, just like the old fire bell in elementary school. Immediately, the plane stopped climbing, and we all realized that there was a serious problem. The pilots did a sharp U turn and headed the twin engine plane back towards the Port au Prince airport. The pilots landed the plane at an unusually high speed and it took a long time for the plane to slow down, but we all realized that we had returned to the airport and landed on one engine only.

We quickly boarded another plane, and were very thankful when we finally arrived in Cayes around noon today. We were welcomed by a torrential downpour with incredible sound on the tin roof of the airport. It is good to be back, although the flooding has been severe, and there are so many needs all around us. Even since we left in mid July, rice has gone from $180 Haitian ($22. U.S) per 50lb sack up to $260. Haitian ($33 U.S) for a 50lb sac. Many fields are flooded and rivers are still overflowing, even though Gustav has moved on the rains have continued here in Southern Haiti.

As we flew over the ravine area where we do the Sunday School/feeding program, we noticed that it is badly flooded. We'll be checking in on those people in the next few days, as well as our friends around the Cayes area.

We would appreciate your continued prayers as the bad weather and storms continue to approach Haiti. It certainly is a great land of need.

Thanks again to all of you who kindly opened your homes to us and for those who continue to pray and support us. We have really enjoyed the time away and look forward to see how the Lord will open doors and opportunities in the coming months.

Blessings,
Rod, Deb, Tim, Kara and Katie

	September 2, 2008 Hello friends,

	Poor Haiti is really suffering this year, having been hit by Hurricane Fay, Hurricane Gustav, and now by Hurricane Hannah. All three of these storms have deposited a lot of rain, but over the past 12 hours Hannah has dumped so much rain on Haiti that people in our area are saying that this is the worst flooding that they can ever remember.

	These pictures are all courtesy of Tim Wray:


	These are the corn fields down below our house.


	This is the college where we just poured the new sports courts. You can see the volleyball nets in the background.


	Hundreds and maybe thousands of homes are completely flooded.


	The flash floods came so fast that some people are stranded.


	Most all the main roads are flooded.


	The flood waters are almost flowing over the bridge.


	People were stranded at the half finished cement block house on the right.


	Even churches were not exempt.


	A group of crazy guys out exploring during the flooding.

	Please continue to pray for us and the people of Haiti. So many people around us have no food, no dry clothes or shelter, and no dry charcoal to cook with.

	Bye for now, Love Rod, Deb and gang

September 23, 2008
Hello friends,

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts for Haiti and other nations who have suffered so much due to extreme weather this year. Southern Haiti remains partially cut off from the rest of the country due to a large lake about half way between Cayes and Port au Prince which has filled up and covered the road with 4 or 5 feet of water. Apparently efforts are being made to make a new road around the lake.

This is one of the homes in the Brefet area where a team of friends from Mountain View, Missouri poured 21 cement floors almost two years ago. Thankfully, the house is still standing even though about 1/3 of the small house has collapsed. The people have no where else to go as the little piece of land that they were squatting on has now partially disappeared. In spite of it all, the children are happy.

The good news is that the flood waters brought a new supply of rocks to be smashed. This single mother of five is a friend of ours, named Sonya. She will work at breaking this pile of rocks, which might eventually sell for a small amount of money. Since the flooding, we bought a bunch of sacks of rice, which we give to needy people who come to us during these difficult times.

We are very thankful that "Loving Shepherd Ministries" has taken over the "Aids" orphanage, and are rushing work to completion so that the children will be able to move in as soon as possible. Max is working directly with L.S.M, and we are very happy with the way everything is progressing. Thank you so much to all who donated and worked on the Aids orphanage.

It has been great to get started again with the Sunday school program, and everything went very well at the new (smaller) location. Unfortunately, this past Sunday as we entered the Renault area, we were told that the little metal bridge that we pass over each Sunday had broken. It's about an 8 foot drop down there, so we were very thankful that it didn't break while one of our vehicles was on it.

We had to quickly decide what to do, as the children were gathering, so we improvised and held the Sunday school under the big metal bridge. More than 500 kids came and we had a great Sunday school lesson with them. Giving out the food got a little crazy, but we managed.

For almost three years we have been good friends with Forguens and his family. He has been my best, most faithful worker, and during one of the storms this summer, he was trying to repair a leak in a roof, and he slipped off the roof and hit his left eye very hard on a stick. For more than a month he has been in an out of the hospital, and most recently had minor surgery to relieve the pressure in his eye. Now, he is very discouraged, as for the past two days he has lost all vision in the eye. Please pray that God would allow the pressure to go down in Forguens' eye, and that his vision would be restored.

Our family is doing well, although we are much smaller without Carly and Christie. They are both doing well in University back in British Columbia.

Thanks for your prayers and support.
Bye for now,
Love Rod, Debbie and gang

	October 28, 2008 Greetings,

	We are very thankful tonight that everything went well and the container arrived this even-ing, was unloaded, and has already left to return to Port au Prince. The trucking company sent their best truck and it was able to pull the 40-ft container up over the mountain detour at Miragaune. It was one of the very first containers to come out to Cayes since they have built the detour.

	We started unloading around 8:45 pm and were pretty much finished by 11:30 pm.

	Earlier in the day we were reminded of God's care and protection. A large branch from the big tree in our front yard broke off and fell, just missing Deb as she was watering the plants. She had just passed out of range of the falling branch, but she felt the breeze go by her as it fell. It totally missed hitting the truck or anything else and fell in just about the only spot where no damage was done.

	It is the same area where Katie has spent hours and hours playing each of the past few days, writing on the cement with chalk and drawing stars. After the large branch fell this morning, I decided to cut the whole tree down as there appeared to by other branches that were dry and rotten.

	We hired the young men from the Haitian youth team to unload the container with us, and Deb and Kara provided baking and drinks for everybody. Katie stayed up for the whole thing and Tim worked really hard, which is why we were able to unload the container so quickly. We now have a few days work as all the supplies are stacked out in our yard and we will have lots of sorting to do.

	We want to thank each of you so much for all your work and efforts in sending this container to us. Thanks especially to Tom for packing it so well, and for all the extra work you did to make it happen. We are very happy with the total price and the speed at which the container arrived. To have a container shipped from Florida and arrive at Cayes for less than $3,000.00 U.S is amazing. Thanks so much again Carolyn and John for the bobcat. It is such a treat to have here, you have no idea. We already used it to unload and reload all of the heavy wind-mill parts for David Bustin as well as the exam table and ultrasound machine for the hospital.

	Thanks again for everything, The Wrays

November 2, 2008 (part I)
Hello friends,

We are thankful for God's continued guidance and protection in our lives. We are excited about the ministry that God has allowed us to be involved in here in Haiti.

This past week a large tree branch broke off in our front yard. Deb had just passed by water-ing the plants and it just missed her and the truck as it fell. I decided to cut the whole tree down as it appeared that there were rotten branches and Katie plays on the cement often.

The Renault Sunday School / feeding program is going very well, and the Haitian youth team continue to work hard and faithfully with us. The new piece of land we use is completely closed in with big swinging doors and we found a large old army tent which we set up per-manently. This tent has allowed us to separate the children into two groups. The younger children (8 and under) go under the big army tent, and the older children (9 to 14) go under the three white tents. We find that this new system is working much better and we are hoping to do a Christmas program for parents and the people of the community, Lord willing.

A couple of weeks ago as Ezekiel, who is one of my crew and has worked with me for almost two years, got married to his bride, Mimosa. It has been great to be able to loan out the wed-ding dresses that were given to us.

Naomi is doing great. She was brought in from her village last January and now lives at the Bernice Johnson Center. She has eaten well this year and is much more healthy and strong. She is even starting to take small steps without her crutches. She started school this fall and is really enjoying it. She is right next to the teacher in the picture.

On Monday night, around 8:00 pm, a 40-foot long container arrived in Cayes. It was sent to us by our mission Harvest International and was one of the first long containers to come over the new detour on the road between Port au Prince and Cayes. We were very thankful that it arrived safely. We set up lights and unloaded till after midnight and the next day we started sorting everything out. There were food and relief supplies, hospital supplies, personal items, and a Bobcat!

This week we were able to distribute some of the food and relief items to the people in the Aids support group. There were more than 50 people at this month's meeting and they were so thankful for the rice and beans and other supplies.

Part II to follow . . .

November 2, 2008 (Part II)
Hello friends,

This Friday was a very special day as the home for children with HIV (aids) was opened. Max was very happy and we are so thankful for everybody who helped out either by working on the project, or giving to it, or both. We are also very thankful for Loving Shepherd Ministries who paid for the completion of the orphanage and are now running it.

The children were so excited to move into their beautiful, new home and Debbie brought a gift for each of the kids.

There are currently eight children at the Aids orphanage, but there are three more HIV positive children waiting at Cayes General Hospital and will move to the orphanage as soon as their paper work is completed. One of them is named Gebenson, and both his mother and father are dead. His grandmother was caring for him, but Gebenson got sick and she took him to Cayes General Hospital. The staff suspected that Gebenson was HIV positive so they tested him and when the grandmother found out, she abandoned him. This is a picture of little Gebenson.

Here at City Lumiere there have been some changes and Loving Shepherd Ministries is plan-ning to build a new missionary house. They chose to build at a location where there were some ancient buildings, so I have been involved in the demolition and removal of the old buildings. They were called the learning center and medical guesthouse and we decided to allow the Haitian people of the nearby community to come and destroy the buildings and salvage anything they wanted. The community came out in mass and the buildings were stripped to rubble in just one day.

This weekend I ran the bobcat for eight hours loading four different dump trucks to try and remove a lot of the rubble. There is still a lot of rubble remaining.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Debbie and gang

November 22, 2008
Hello friends and family,

We are very excited this week as everything worked out for us to purchase the piece of land in Renault where we do the children's Sunday School / feeding program. We had a recent donation to "use as we best saw fit" , and with it we were able to purchase the land for just over $1,000.00 U.S dollars. The land is in the name of Mission Evangelistic Baptist Southern Haiti (MEBSH) which is the organization we serve under here. Lord willing we will begin construction of a Christian school / children's center very soon.


Mr. Delma is the man who sold us the land	A view of the 60 X 100 ft piece of land

This area of Cayes is so poor that people have built their homes from just about anything they can find. These two homes are located directly across the little road from our new property. Last Sunday, I noticed that a man was putting this "substance" over the thatched sticks that made up the walls of his house. I put my fingers in the wet mud type plaster and asked what it was. He laughed as he told me it was mud mixed with cow manure. They say after it dries, the rain doesn't disturb it.

Back at the hospital, we have completed the new laundry room and everything is working great. The ladies who do the laundry especially love being on the very top of the hospital and having a great view and breeze. We were even able to relocate the 800 ft of 3/4 inch black plastic pipe up to the roof of the new laundry, which provides solar heated very hot water for washing.


The sorting, washing and folding / ironing area	The covered area for drying the clothes

Deb and Katie are excited to receive boxes sent by a Sunday school in Kamloops. The boxes are full of Christmas goodie bags for the Sunday school children down at Renault.

Back in September, when we had all the flooding and rains, the Dam we had built practically saved the area of Simon from certain flooding. Unfortunately, the flooding was so severe, that the flood waters passed over the top of the Dam and started eating away at the dirt that was beside the Dam. By the time everything had settled, there was a huge hole beside and under the Dam, leaving part of the dam suspended in mid air. With the bobcat and about 70 truck loads of rubble, we have been able to fill in the hole and restore the integrity of the Dam.

I have been working with the Fox chapel Rotary club and the Cayes rotary club to install a number of wells in the Cayes area. This week with the help of mission organization "water for life," we were able to see the completion of a well in a very difficult, hilly area called Debouchette. These people had to walk over an hour each way down the mountain and then back up with full buckets each day before the well was installed. Needless to say they were very happy to see the clear, clean water flowing from the well.

Thanks for your support and prayers. Please pray with us as we prepare to begin construction of the school / children's center in the area of Renault. There are many challenges but we know that with God leading us, all things are possible.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Deb and gang

December 6, 2008
Hello friends,

There is a saying in Haiti that goes something like this; "Expect the unexpected and you won't be disappointed". Well, this week we experienced the unexpected.

Since early September when the terrible floods hit Southern Haiti one of the families in the area of Brefet has been living in half of their already tiny home. The other half was taken away by the rushing flood waters, including part of the cement slab which we had poured for them a couple years ago. We had a little money remaining from a rotary project and a visiting team was here, so we decided to build a rock retaining wall, fill in behind it, and then pour cement so the Haitian family could at least have full use of their 140 square foot house again.

We worked for two days building the rock wall and then passing buckets of gravel and mud up from the ravine to fill in behind the new wall. On the third day, as we were continuing to fill in behind the wall, a few men showed up and they were very angry. They were from the Cayes city hall and said that we had no authority to rebuild this house, and they confiscated my tools, began to smash the wall, and they went inside the little house and broke the furniture that the Haitian family owned. They said that all the squatters who have built homes along the ravine are going to be sent away, and they don't want any construction done which would encourage the people to stay.

Later the same day, the city hall officials returned and destroyed more of the wall and took the man of the house away to jail. (he has since been released). The whole story ended up on Haitian television. I still don't have my tools back and the family hardly has a home. (about 70 square feet) to live in, but Pastor Luders has been helping and it sounds as if the city might be willing to work together with us to find a piece of land and then build new small homes for all the people along the ravine. (about 20 homes) . Please pray that this will be resolved in a positive manner, and that God will be glorified. (and that I get my tools back)

To enter the area of Renault every Sunday, we drive along the ridge of a dike that is built to keep flood waters back. Unfortunately, the road is very narrow and has holes on the edges. Yesterday, as I was taking bags of cement down, the truck fell into one of the holes, and then slipped off the road. We are very thankful that it didn't roll and, with the help of another missionary, we were able to pull the truck sideways and get it safely back on the road. Construction of the school / children's center is going well at Renault and I am using only people from the local area in the work, which they seem to appreciate.

We are finally starting to get to know some of the kids at the Renault feeding program, and the Haitian youth team are starting to spend more time with them on an personal basis. Last Sunday was our first "Rainy" day down at Renault, however, we persevered, and with a fantastic effort from the youth team were still able to feed about 500 children who came out. It was really muddy.

The youth team trying to put up tarps in the rain. Deb brought an umbrella which she shared with others. (below)

Please continue to pray with us:
     For Christie as she travels to come to Haiti for Christmas with us.
     For our friends at Brefet who are basically without a home
     For God's continued direction and guidance in all that we do.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Debbie and gang

December 30, 2008
Christmas greetings,

It has been a great season of giving and receiving for us.

We received our daughter Christie who has spend the Christmas season with us. (Here she is with her friend Mirlande who is leader of our Haitian youth team)

We give medical help to people who come to us with needs.

We gave a big Christmas party for all the children at Renault and they invited their parents and did a program for them.

The youth team up early (5:00 am Sunday morning) preparing the special Christmas turkey dinner for the children. They work joyfully in the dark on the gravel. We received canned turkey meat on a container and the children loved it.

Tim received his new Kawasaki 400.

We gave food supplies and gifts to the people of Brefet and other areas.

We gave a special meal and party with lots of gifts to our Haitian youth team who have worked with us so faithfully at Renault this past year.

We received a container on Christmas day with lots of supplies for the hospital and all the wood and tin to put the roof on the building down at Renault. (we were allowed to keep the container, so it was fun getting it off the truck)

We gave a new sports room and balls, equipment and uniforms as well as a Christmas sports championship to the youth of Simon. Once again our missionary ladies volleyball team won the championship last night, and tonight Tim's team plays in the basketball finals.

We give out food and supplies to individuals in need , such as Madame Ernest who came to us this morning. She has six children, the oldest is 13 yrs, and she is expecting in February again. Her husband just died four months ago. We are thankful for the food and relief supplies that many of you have sent so that we can help people like Madame Ernest.

We received and gave out Christmas goodie bags to the children of Renault.

This past Sunday, with the help of a Haitian children's evangelist, we gave the Word of God and the story of Jesus to about 900 children down at Renault. They all received a picture book explaining God's plan of salvation and many of the children prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support for the ministry here in Haiti.

Please pray for us as Christie leaves to return back to University this week and as we prepare for a very busy team season starting on the 9th of January.

Bye for now,
Love Rod, Debbie, and the gang

December 31, 2008
Dear Family,

Greetings from Haiti! I struggled with how to handle Christmas gifts this year. Should I try to send something to everyone using the work teams? Should I order things off the Internet and have them delivered to you all (using the United States Postal Service, of course)? Should I forget the whole thing and go to the beach on Christmas day? It was quite the dilemma.

However, God placed on my heart a burden for one of the poorest areas of Les Cayes – Renault. If you’ve been keeping up on my Haitian adventures by reading my blog, you’ll know that I was introduced to Renault by Rod and Debbie Wray, missionaries from Canada. God has blessed their ministry into this hard-to-reach area, and I have been personally blessed by having the opportunity to tag along with them for their Sunday School and feeding program. These children continually remind me of my true purpose here in Haiti. They realign my perspective, keep me truly grateful, and humble me with their thirst for Jesus. Because of Renault’s impact on my spirit here in Haiti, I decided that my gift to you all would be donating a week of financial support in all your names to Harvest International, the mission organization responsible for funding the feeding program there.

You have just provided over 600 hundred children with a pure Gospel message and a full plate of rice and beans, perhaps their only meal this week. You’ve bought plates, forks, gas, tents, generators, food, prizes, puppets, and water bags. You’ve given them hope. You just taught them to believe that somebody cares about their needs – physical and spiritual. You just participated in teaching them more about Jesus and His miraculous birth, perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant victory over the grave.

This is the best gift I could think of to give to you all. May God bless you during this Christmas season. I love and miss you all so much.

In His Service,

Abby Gerber

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