A Great Finish

Dear family and friends;

We hope you had a special Christmas. In spite of a difficult year for Haiti, the month of December has gone well, with calm returning, roads opening up and fuel flowing. 40 ft containers which have sat in Port au Prince for many months were released, and arrived in time for Christmas. We worked for 5 days to prepare over 2000 gift bags for our Sunday school children at Renault.

Thanks to you who sent the beautiful clothes, gift bags and food items. 
The kids were thrilled with the special personalized gifts this year. 

Some of our family had hoped to visit us in Haiti this Christmas, but with the uncertainty of Haiti, we agreed to meet in Florida for a visit.    We had a great time and it was great for Katie and I to finally meet Daisy. (Dan and Christie’s youngest)

While in Florida, I enjoyed a visit with Danny, Pam, Ethel and Cassie (the Harvest International Staff).    We appreciate their partnership so much and when Danny heard that things had calmed down in Haiti, he immediately took action and sent us another container of manna packs.

We arrived back in Haiti on Christmas day. Three days later, on Saturday we had a huge day with a volleyball tournament  for the young people, and a hot dog lunch, where we served 300 hotdogs. 

Saturday evening, we continued with a sit down dinner for the young people and a Gala type event, where they were able to taste many special Christmas baking treats.    Deb and her kitchen helpers did a great job and even Sandy helped to make sure that the guys didn’t take too many items.

It all ended at 9:30 pm, and just as the kids were leaving the yard, the container full of Manna packs arrived, so we worked until midnight unloading it.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we have our younger kids group coming for a big day of volleyball and another meal with about 500 hot dogs. 

The Renault Sunday school is very full.   This picture shows the addition, which is now unable to seat all the children.    Please pray with us as we have a meeting planned on Jan 6th with a man regarding the possibility of buying the larger, original piece of land where we began the Sunday school 12 years ago.   

Thanks again for your prayers and care, We wish you a Happy New Year.    Katie made a video of the Christmas gifts to the Renault Sunday school kids if you would like to watch it on youtube.  https://youtu.be/JBz_DLemfn4
bye for now, 
Love Rod, Deb and Katie