Dear Ones,

Greetings from Texas! I am here in Fort Worth, at the Southwest Believers’ Convention. Every summer, I spend a week here, working in Altar Ministry, privileged to sit under some of the finest Bible teaching and preaching in the world today. It has been glorious sitting under the Word of God for twelve or more hours a day, since Monday.

While listening to the teaching, I have been feeling my heart overflow with gratitude for so many things our Lord has done in our lives and in Haiti lately. Many of these are things I have not shared with you, because compared to the miraculous things our Lord was doing, saving lives and healing the sick and broken, some of these events seemed so small. But, here at this Bible meeting, I have found myself full of tears of thankfulness for God’s love, His kindness to us, wishing I could tell you some of what has made my heart overflow with gratitude. So, here it is:

So often, in my reports, people ask me how many people accepted Jesus in Haiti. I lose track of the numbers. Really, there is only one at a time. That is how we all found our Lord – one on one with Him. But, there is also a desire to know how many people are being reached with such a tremendous outpouring of work and resources, so I do try to keep track of the numbers.

Follow up:

There were well over 250 from one surgical trip alone- and we had three in those months immediately following the earthquake. But, to say it another way, did you know that every person but one who came for surgery and their families, accepted Jesus as their Lord? And I am still praying for that one man who did not. Many, of course, had already met our Lord before they came. But all of them except one man, left us knowing Him personally, and many of them baptized.

These numbers do not include the many, literally hundreds each surgical trip, who came to the clinic for minor surgery, and were prayed for. Also, each week, the Lord was adding ten and twenty people to the church each week during that four months I was in Haiti.

I have a small video of one man being baptized, which I took with my pocket camera. When Geoff gets home from the Believers’ Convention, I will see if he can put it up on the website for you to see. I was sitting with my young grandson this past week, showing him photos of Haiti on my computer, and the video came up. When he saw it, he let out a loud gasp. You see, while I was investing all this time in sharing the Word and the love of God in Haiti, he was making his commitment to the Lord here in Texas, where he and his family live. He was baptized last month. God is so good! While we are caring for others, He cares for us!

Another way our Lord cared for us was by protecting our home. You know, I was away in Haiti for four months. In that time, my beloved husband, Bev, was away in the city often, looking after the church and the ministry there. Those of you who have been to our house, know that we live out in the country, where the paved roads end, and the gravel ones begin. We have neighbours, but you really can’t see them, and they are not that close. When we leave our home, we claim the protection of the Lord over our house and property, believing the Word that "his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; " (2Peter 1:3)

One of the weekends in which Bev was away, thieves came to break into our house. We know this, because the marks of the five lb. mallet they were using to beat the lock out of our kitchen door are deeply embedded in the wood. When the missed the lock, they hit the door knob, ruining it. We do not know what they thought they heard to make them run away. It probably had something to do with the angels, which encamp around us to deliver us, (Psalm 34). What we do know, is that they were only one more strike from completely removing that lock from the door. And then they left. The day Bev returned home, he heard news about a small gang of men with pickup trucks that were going around to farms, breaking in, and robbing the homes. All were caught, and much stolen property was located in barns around the area. Isn’t God good! I thank Him for all He has done for us, and for teaching us to confess His Words of protection daily over our lives, our families’ lives, and our home!

Jerry Savelle, who has a school of evangelism for training missionaries, and works planting churches in Africa, talked this morning. He spoke of taking miserable villages miserable with hunger and poverty, and teaching the people about Jesus. He spoke of how important it was for the people to bring an offering, learning to give. In the Bible, we are taught that in the measure we give, we shall receive. (Luke 6:38) He had tales of people painting pictures on rocks for the offering, of children braiding grasses. He told of the time that a village gave him a chicken. Each of those villages have prospered, and many of them have now built houses and businesses, instead of grass huts. The people have cars, and plenty of food. The difference, he said, was that they had accepted Jesus as their Lord, and begun to believe the principals in the Word of God, and learned to give.

While Jerry Savelle spoke, I sat their remembering an offering I received in Haiti. The women of the church had been conducting revival services for an entire week. They asked me to come and teach a seminar for them in the afternoons, after they got off work in the baby orphanage, the clinic, or other places. For that entire week, I taught them about women in the Bible, building strong, loving homes, how highly God honours women who love their families and Him… many things. At the end of the week, they came to church to celebrate the goodness of God. They brought gifts, which they presented to me. In the photo, you will see the Offering of the Lord which I received at the end of that week. It is three grapefruit and two carrots. What a holy meal we shared the next day among the missionaries! It was the offerings of the people of God for His Word being taught among them. It was also a big step toward developing the abundance He promised in their lives.

The last photo I wanted to show you was of one of my most effective pre-op evangelism tools. It is a ‘salvation bracelet’ or more appropriately called a ‘testimony bracelet’. It is just a leather cord, about two feet long. There are seven beads on it between two knots. The knots are plain, simple knots, the symbol of being born and dying. Everybody is born, and everybody dies, unless they are in Christ when He appears to catch away His church. The beads in between symbolize the important events in the life of a Christian in between.

Do you remember before you were a Christian? I do. I remember always feeling a little guilty when people talked to me about the Lord, knowing in my secret heart that something was not right in my life, but not knowing how to fix it. Explaining about the life of a Christian, and the steps, takes the discussion away from the person sitting in the bed, and puts in outside, on a bracelet.

The black bead is for sin and death. The more a man sins, the more he dies inside. This is understood by even children.

The gold bead is for the love of Jesus. No matter how black a man’s heart, Jesus loves him, and will never turn from him.

And, if that man, in the blackness of his heart, will turn to Jesus and ask Him, Jesus will forgive him of his sins and wash the man in His precious Blood – the red bead.

Then, the white bead is for the man’s heart after the Blood is applied. He receives the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

The green bead is for new life. There are lovely stories about avocado trees growing… etc. The transforming power of God working in a man’s life when it is in Jesus.

The first blue bead is for water – baptism.

The last is for Home in Heaven, with Him.

Of course there are scriptures for each one. But the rule, told them, from the beginning, is that they can have the bracelet when they can tell the story. It is just wonderful, when the desire for a bracelet can by-pass all the self-consciousness and fear that people feel when they think someone is trying to ‘convert’ them! God is so good! I am going to be seriously looking for some youth groups or volunteers who can make us more of these precious tools. We have gone through hundreds of them. Some were made with elastic, some with twine – but of all, the best were the leather. They did not tangle with the IV lines as easily.

Morning comes so early. I will prepare for rest, and a new day full of praise for our loving Father. While here, I have been making arrangements to pack another container for August 26th. We have 9 pallets of medicine to go into this container. As well, a group of small Canadian medical clinics, almost 50 of them, have contacted us, asking us if we could send them some medicine in our container. One of the doctors is a lady friend of our Maureen, who found out about our ability to get supplies into Haiti. So, Health Partners International is going to send four pallets of medicine, which these doctors can pick up at our mission in Haiti. God is giving us the ability to help the others he sends to Haiti! What a privilege we have to work alongside our Father in His work!

I hope you can come out on August 26th. The container should arrive at our warehouse around 10:00 to be loaded up. We will have hot dogs as we planned to do last month. Again, if any one feels like volunteering for making potato salad, it would be truly appreciated!

In His great love, Tina