We have some more visitors coming to help finish up the new apartment (Uncle Don being one of them! woohoo!) and Ryan and Cheyenne move in two weeks from tomorrow! They are from Northridge Church, Sam and Cammie's church, in Kansas. We are excited to have a new couple coming to serve alongside of us here and can't wait for them to arrive!
Last week we were blessed to have 3 guys from the U.K. (Wales) come to stay with us. Chris Palmer, a fellow OMS missionary, came as a visiting professor to teach at the seminary, and his brother Tim and friend Nigel came as well. Tim and Nigel spent last week working at the Bethesda Clinic in Vaudreuil.
But, before I tell you more about what they did, I have to give you a backstory that made their visit even more of a blessing than we had anticipated!
Two weeks ago, Ethan began complaining of blurry vision when he was reading. And then he started complaining of headaches. Ethan's new school curriculum has A LOT of reading… and we realized that the symptoms he was experiencing were happening during his school day.
The conclusion that we came up with was… Ethan needs glasses.
And… as you may be thinking (just like WE were thinking) HOW are we going to take care of this.. IN HAITI?!?!
Our prayer was that Ethan would manage okay without them until we could get him back to the states this summer and get him an eye exam.
And then… Tim arrived.
And guess what Tim does for a living?
Yep. He is an optometrist.
And guess what else?
Tim came to Haiti, with Nigel as his assistant, to work for a week in the clinic doing… you guessed it... eye exams!
And you know what ELSE!?!?
Tim and Nigel brought along a suitcase FULL of eye glasses (or specs as he calls them.. love it!).
And here is the best part.
Tim gave Ethan an eye exam and found out the prescription he needed to correct his problem… AND he happened to have HIS prescription glasses with him, in his suitcase!
(Doesn't he look so handsome?!)
Isn't God SO good?
As Ethan walked in the house, sporting his NEW glasses, I nearly cried! And now as I am typing I am tearing up just thinking again about how He has blessed us.
Welcoming others here at the seminary, and into our home, blesses us and our children with sweet fellowship, fun and laughs…
(we celebrated Tim's birthday too!)
They have blessed the seminary with solid Bible teaching and preaching, not only here but in church (we went to a wonderful church yesterday in downtown Cap-Haitien, below are some pics)…
(Leroy, a fellow OMS missionary who served in Mexico for MANY years, has become a regular VP here at EBS… he preached a powerful sermon on forgiveness yesterday, as Junior translated. The church service was beautiful and Spirit-filled!)
They have blessed the people of Haiti through their long hours of work at the clinic and here at the seminary…
(Doesn't Lémé look great?!)
As if this wasn't enough of a blessing from God…
He blessed us even more than we could have asked or imagined through taking care of Ethan's needs!
It reminds me of one of my favorite passages of Scripture in Philippians 4:18-19. Paul is telling the church in Philippi how very thankful he is for the blessings that have been sent to him…
He says this,
"At the moment I have all I need- and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me… they are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."
What an unexpected blessing and sweet-smelling sacrifice those glasses are to Ethan…
What a sweet-smelling sacrifice of time and resources these visitors have given to the seminary and the clinic and to US!
"At the moment I have all I need- and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me… they are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."
What an unexpected blessing and sweet-smelling sacrifice those glasses are to Ethan…
What a sweet-smelling sacrifice of time and resources these visitors have given to the seminary and the clinic and to US!
It is an honor and privilege to serve alongside of them!
What a blessing! God definitely placed Tim in the right place at the right time to fulfill the needs of Ethan and many others, I'm sure! We are getting to excited to arrive - even though I feel like I already know you through reading your blog, I can't wait to really get to know you guys! Have a great week. :)
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