February

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.
Matthew 20:28

Dear Friends in Christ,

Let all who take refuge in You be glad, let them ever sing for joy; and may You shelter them, that those who love Your name may exult in You. Ps 5:11

We have much to share with you this month. Since January’s newsletter was an overview of OSM’s 25thanniversary, we will attempt to put both months in one. God is always faithful and for His steadfast love, we are so very grateful.

Lussade, Edgard, Richecarde, Kaloulou and Pastor Petty have been busy getting food and supplies to the school. Edgard continues to go to the school to teach Bible school as of-ten as safety allows. He enjoys working with the children, answering questions and watch-ing them interact and respond to the Word.

The group delivered many beds for the school children and their families. As we shared in the past, children often sleep on a floor or in a pile of clothing as having a bed or even just a mattress is a big deal for the people in this remote area.

Richecarde was able to take school pictures for the children. We have them now and will be send-ing each child their picture soon. People there do not have pictures of themselves and their children in their homes as we do. They have no-where to get them printed and framed, so this is a gift they deeply appreciate.

This month, Lussade called and told us he and his family are moving to New York permanently. This was a big surprise, though we have known for a long time that he and his family were trying to get visas to visit the US. He called on a Thursday and said he would be in New York on Monday. For some reason this is the way the system works. You can be working on paperwork for years and then when they finally contact you it’s important to book your travel quickly. Wow! We were happy for him, yet sad and a little lost as to how OSM would replace him. The more we thought about all of it, the more peace God gave us. Though we haven’t yet sung for joy about this, as the verse in Psalms 5:11 says, we are truly happy for him and his family. This will be a much safer situation for them. Currently, Richecarde is still in Haiti, he is over 21 and must continue working on his papers to join the rest of his family. Please pray with us for their transition and for Richecarde to be able to join the family soon.

On Lussade’s last trip to the school, our teachers were not happy. He was able to share from Col. 3:23 about doing your work unto the Lord. One of his last times of being with our teachers at the school, he was able to share a needed mes-sage and help them see they are serving Jesus and not us. His words had a very favorable impact on the teachers, praise the Lord.

One Prayer Partner, Ralph, who prays for safety each time Lussade goes to the school, sent this: “ As I read this update I felt the heart of our Heav-enly Father. As children of GOD we sometimes don’t know how to go about handling what is be-fore us. As we snuggle up into our Father’s arms and look to Him for what to do, He so graciously becomes our help in time of trou-ble. I praise GOD for the Grace He gave Lussade to share what needed to be imparted. How GOD melted the hearts of the teach-ers to hear and obey The Word of GOD. When I was a boy, my mom used to place our sleeping blankets on old steam radiators in the apartment for us to snuggle up in as soon as we jumped in bed at night. It’s not the same in comparison but those memories made me feel HIS loving arms assuring us of HIS love as our Heavenly Father.

PRAISE HIM for HIS WONDROUS LOVE!”

When we left Haiti, Shelby went back several times without us. She arranged selling and bring-ing back our personal items since we left without knowing we would not return. As she did this, she suggested OSM pick up feeding the schools we had worked with when we lived there, Pastor Marc’s and Pastor Petty’s schools. She asked about hiring Lus-sade to be our Haitian director. We thought that was a great idea and because of that, Lussade has been the director for OSM in Haiti for 23 years. That is a long time of serving and working with us. Many of you already know that his daughter, Laissa married our son Kenny, and they are now in Texas. They have 2 little boys, Trey and Asher and just found out they are expecting another baby, praise the Lord!

Edgard and his wife Evelyn had their 3rd child on Feb. 15. This was a c-section delivery, which is fair-ly common in Haiti. Evelyn and their baby boy, Jikeam Benoit are both doing very well. They told us JKM stands for Jesus Knows Me. Please keep Ed-gard and Evelyn in your prayers as they bring Jikeam home to meet his family.
The same day Edgard’s baby was born, we re-ceived news that one of the men who works for MFI was killed in a motorcycle accident. Jean Charles handles all the mail, packages and boxes that go to Port-au Prince through MFI. He leaves behind his wife and young son. Please pray for them, his family and friends and MFI as they grieve the loss of this very fine Brother in Christ.

Thank you to our Prayer Partners who have al-ready been in prayer for these issues. You are such a blessing to us and our Haiti ministry team. We are deeply grateful also to those of you who pray for us throughout the month and support the ministry God has given OSM. May He bless and keep you and your families in His strong arms of protection and love.

Because of Christ, Ken and Debbi