July

On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62: 7 & 8

Dear Friends in Christ,

Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from Heaven above, with wisdom, power, and love, our God is an awesome God!”
-Rich Mullins

We praise Him for His continued love, care, and protection over the school, our teachers, students, their families, Woodson, and our staff in Port-au-Prince. He is worthy of our adoration for ALL He does!

The year-end tests are now completed. This is a big accomplishment for the teachers and children. Once the tests were finished, the school had a large party and graduation to celebrate another completed school year! The kindergarten class does a graduation service similar to how we do them here in the States. They receive a diploma, dressed in a cap and gown. The 6th grade class also wore gowns and graduation caps, since they are graduating from our school. The children’s parents and families are always excited to come and see the celebration.

The students perform by reciting and singing songs and some of the children read speeches that they had prepared. The oldest class, who is graduating out, especially thanked the teachers, staff, and OSM, who have served them and poured into their lives. They thank the Lord for this opportunity and express a desire to continue to follow Him in their future. Especially for the students who are leaving the school, it is an emotional time since for most of them, this is the end of their formal education. It is truly a big event in the community. They ended with a nice meal for the school and the children’s families who came to watch the ceremony.

We are now beginning our summer school programs. The teachers are doing some review work, especially in areas where they felt the children struggled. Along with these classes, the children are having extra Bible studies. Nady is teaching the younger students and another teacher, Jose, is teaching the older students. They have more time to dig deeper into God’s Word and learn to apply His teachings to their lives.

Summer school is also when the children enjoy playing more games, competing with each other, and having fun. They do all these activities and then have lunch together. Once lunch is finished, everyone goes home. It is especially hot there during the summer, so it’s nice to leave the school with a full tummy. Our goal is to provide a safe place for the children to continue learning about God’s Word while still receiving nourishment all summer. This is also helpful to the parents for their children to continue to receive a healthy meal each day.

Our school administrator, Nady, and his family now live in a town called Hinche. You may remember that Mirebalais is controlled by the gangs; Hinche and Pignon are considered safe towns. Nady’s twin little boys, Davidson and Daveson, just turned 2 years old on June 29th. They are doing very well and growing up so sweet and precious. With his family now living in Hinche, Nady travels the 3 hours back and forth, staying at the school during the week and going home on weekends. This is harder for their family, but a much safer situation for his wife, Jeanne, and their boys.

Missionary Flights International (MFI) flies in and out of Pignon, when they take our supplies to Haiti. This is a wonderful blessing for our school and other missions in this area. Customs through Pignon is about 1.5 times more expensive than what we used to pay to get our materials into Haiti going through Port-au-Prince. However, just being able to get things in for our schoolchildren is very helpful and important.

Most of our other teachers still live near Mirebalais. They know routes to take to avoid the gangs when they travel out to the school. Another teacher, who we often speak of in the newsletters, is Amadeau. He is a single parent with 4 children, and a great assistant to Nady in helping get supplies to the school from Hinche and Pignon. Amadeau has a big job balancing teaching at the school and caring for his children. We are blessed to Our school administrator, Nady, and family Sandolia & Jose are both teachers 1st & 2nd grade teacher, Amadeau with two of his children Our K3 teacher, Cirimene with her husband & son One of our teachers Jamecy with his wife & daughter. Summertime fun & games have him and Nady as part of our teaching staff. Teaching is a hard enough job anywhere, but in Haiti they have the added challenges of safety getting back and forth from their homes, and safety for their own children while they are away. Please keep our teachers, their families, and travels in your prayers.

This coming school year, we will not be able to add to the number of students who attend the school. We have maxed out the building’s capacity. Pray that we can come up with a safe and workable plan to add more buildings eventually. With the gangs controlling so much of the area, we would not be able to safely run a construction project right now. Nady has a long waiting list of families who would love for their children to attend the school. This is the only school in operation in the village area, and even in Mirebalais. Parents will beg and plead with Nady to take their children into the school. This is a sad situation for Nady as he and we would love to have more children hearing and learning God’s Word. Pray with us to find a good solution so that eventually we can add buildings to accommodate more students.

Woodson is adjusting well to life in Petionville with Edgard and his family. They have taken him into their home as if he is one of their own children. We still hope to get Woodson’s Mom there to visit him, as soon as it is possible for her to travel safely from her home in the village. Woodson will be attending a great Christian school along with Edgard’s children. We are happy about the way things are working out for him. Please continue to pray for him and his family with Edgard, along with his biological family and their salvation.

We are praising the Lord for the precious life of our new baby grandson, Benaiah Tell Kennedy. Benaiah was born to Kenny & Laissa on June 28th, in the wee hours of the morning and weighed a great big 6 lbs 14 oz. Our sweet daughter-in-law, Laissa was a trooper and has healed well. Although they hadn’t planned it this way, Benaiah decided to make a rapid entrance into the world which left Kenny delivering all by himself. God was gracious and all went well despite the change in their plans. Benaiah is now almost a month old and growing bigger and stronger each day. We are so in love! And enjoying having a new baby to snuggle. His 3 older brothers, Trey, Asher, & Kohlten are all big helpers and love him dearly as well!

We are grateful to share each of these things, which are all able to happen in this remote little village in a small third-world country, with lots of physical and spiritual battles taking place, because of God’s love, leading and protection, and because of each of you, our prayer team and supporters! We are very grateful for your love, compassion, and support for our students, teachers, and staff, and for Woodson. May He bless and keep each of you and your families in His merciful care this summer. To God be the glory; great things He has done!

Serving our Savior with you,
Ken and Debbi