Update from Phyllis Schmid

Greetings,

We are having strange June weather but I guess there is a storm somewhere in the Caribbean and the last few days have been very windy, a little cooler and rainy. I'm just praying the northwest is getting some rains too as they need it. The problem with the hurricane season beginning is all the people who are still living on the streets in tents and tarps. Tropical storms and hurricanes can dump a huge amount of rain in a short period of time as we all know. Please pray for the people of Haiti during this time.

First I want to share something wonderful with you. Cindy just sent out an update and put it into words so well that I'm coping her update for all of you:

It's always good to hear about victories on God's side and defeats against Satan. So I want to share one for your praise and prayer.

In January 2009 I shared about Yves, Wawa's father and a voodoo priest, who turned from Satan to the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. Yves is growing in his new faith very quickly. Wawa has shared how serious Yves is about studying God's Word. He also is very enthusiastic about sharing his faith and seeing others come to salvation through Jesus. This past week, Yves told Wawa he is giving land so a church can be built. Wawa said there is no church or evangelical ministry in this area.

So, land once used to house a temple for the worship and work of Satan, will now be dedicated to God and used for the spread of the Gospel and the advancement of God's Kingdom.

Go ahead...shout hallelujah! Do a happy dance! Sing a song of praise!

And continue to pray for Yves: that he'll grow in faith and in understanding of God and stand firm against the attacks of Satan. Pray for this project of building a church on this land.Satan will not let go without a fight I'm sure.

I hope you are encouraged today with this victory for our side and with the mighty power of God displayed in this situation.

Blessings, Cindy

Just in case you don't know what a happy dance is I've seen Cindy do a few in my time. :-) I'm a little more reserved but this news just has to fill you with rejoicing.

Reports from Rich Mears are that he is healing and doing well. We are thankful for that.

I'm attaching some pictures of the Quonset Hut almost completed. We received 3 - 20 foot containers on campus today to use as additional storage. Those of you who know our hill and campus lay out will be able to imagine that getting those up here was a real "feat" especially when it rained when the last one was coming up. This is truly an amazing building.



I've mentioned my struggles recently and know many of you have been praying. Thank you for praying. And thank you to Beth Brown' for her help which enabled me to get caught up with the audit reports I need to make every three months and also all the finance accountability for the Earthquake Relief funds for April - mid June this week. That is a huge load off my shoulders. Things got backed up because of my time in the states.

It wasn't just that though that was weighing on me - the pressure to get everything done this summer for STEP opening in the fall can be overwhelming for our men and that affects me too. I read a note from a friend that reminded me that peace will fill my day when I allow Christ to fill my mind.

Nothing new there but it does help to be reminded where my peace comes from. I need to remember too that peace is not the absence of trouble but is the presence of God.

Just pray that David, Bruce and Duane will be able to keep up the daily work load. Pray for Bruce as Duane leaves on July 10th and we leave on the 13th for 10 days. Last night David was asleep by 7 pm and got up at 5 am today.

He needs to do that a little more often! He spent a lot time today looking for supplies - what he wouldn't have given to be able to go to a Home Depot for an hour or so and he would have found everything in one spot - oh well.

All for now.
Love,
Phyllis

Update from Cindy McMartin

Hello Everyone!

It’s always good to hear about victories on God’s side and defeats against Satan. So I want to share one for your praise and prayer.

In January 2009 I shared about Yves, Wawa’s father and a voodoo priest, who turned from Satan to the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. Yves is growing in his new faith very quickly. Wawa has shared how serious Yves is about studying God’s Word. He also is very enthusiastic about sharing his faith and seeing others come to salvation through Jesus. This past week, Yves told Wawa he is giving land so a church can be built. Wawa said there is no church or evangelical ministry in this area.

So, land once used to house a temple for the worship and work of Satan, will now be dedicated to God and used for the spread of the Gospel and the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

Go ahead…..shout hallelujah! Do a happy dance! Sing a song of praise!

And continue to pray for Yves: that he’ll grow in faith and in understanding of God and stand firm against the attacks of Satan. Pray for this project of building a church on this land…Satan will not let go without a fight I’m sure.

I hope you are encouraged today with this victory for our side and with the mighty power of God displayed in this situation.

Blessings, Cindy

Brief update from Phyllis Schmid

We are praising God for His protection of one of our co-workers, Rich Mears, who was shot in a robbery early Thursday morning here in Haiti. It was a small caliber bullet and passed through his upper thigh missing arteries and bone. A "good Samaritan" at the scene helped Rich get to medical care and then David spent most of the day with him. The two hospitals close to us that we would normally go to in the past are both closed basically. This highlights a problem in the country following the earthquake.

Rich ended up at a "Doctors without Borders" clinic where they did an assessment and then David took him to Dr. Jeudi, a STEP graduate who is also a surgeon. He took excellent care of Rich and kept him into the evening to adjust medication. We picked him up around 9 pm and brought him back to Bolosse campus. He spent the night and then left on American Airlines Friday afternoon to join his family already in the states. It could have been much worse and so we are reminded once again of God's protection. I know Rich and Carol would appreciate prayer for complete healing and recovery. It was a first for us to have someone in our "family" wounded by a gunshot during a robbery. Guns are everywhere and it is truly only God's protection that this has not happened before.

Beth Brown flew home to Indiana today after spending a lot of time going over the finance books for me and helping me set things up with all the added work of the earthquake relief funds. She made me smile when she said that she enjoyed doing it - it was a puzzle and it challenged her. I don't know if I will ever use the work "enjoy" with doing finance work. I appreciate all she did.

Her husband, Duane, is still here for 3 more weeks and will be joined by a friend from Indiana who will help him get many different repair/building projects done. The main frame of the Quonset Hut is up and now the ends need to be finished. Once it is secure we will move in the things salvaged from the damaged building for storage which will free up another building (formerly Boggs house) for making administrative offices for STEP. Temporary classrooms for the fall semester are still in the planning stage but must be started soon.

As the result of a gift from dear friends, David and I are traveling to PA July 13 - 23 for the "Farewell to Bala" as our headquarters moves from Bala-Cynwyd, PA (outside of Philadelphia) to Kansas City, MO. It is an unexpected trip but we look forward to seeing and fellowshipping with many missionaries we have come to know and love over the years we've been with UFM/CrossWorld.

Please keep us and McMartins in your prayers. We find things challenging and it is only by God's grace that we keep pushing forward right now. We are reminded daily that by His strength and His strength alone is anything worthwhile accomplished. Thank you SO much for "standing in the gap and holding up our arms" at this time.

Love,

Phyllis

Update from Phyllis Schmid

Hi,

Just a quick update. The following two paragraphs are from Cindy's recent update. We were not here when the beginning of demolition of the Bible School Building took place but Cindy describes it so well.

"We didn't hold a funeral service, but I did join with many of our Haitian colleagues to watch as demolition started on the Bible school building May 10th. Bruce was in the middle of it all as he worked alongside the men helping to oversee the job. There were groans, even tears, as the large tractor clawed and pounded the building to bring it down. There have been many godly leaders trained in the classrooms of this building; many hours of prayer have risen up to God from meetings held within its walls; lots of laughter and good fellowship have filled its rooms; numerous different materials and resources have been written and produced by those within this building; and many different Christian ministries have been birthed and directed out of offices in this building. The building is gone, but thousands of souls remain for all of eternity."

She also added this prayer request which I'll share with you too: "Please continue to pray for Jehu and his relationship with the boys. They've all experienced trauma and continue to live in challenging living conditions.

Pray that God will fill Jehu with love, patience and wisdom as he interacts with them. Pray for the work being done to reinforce and strengthen the building to withstand any future quakes. Pray that they'll soon be able to move into their new home."

Graduation went well on Thursday with 30 graduating from STEP and many more graduating from the Extension Bible School program. The men left this morning (Saturday) for a two day STEP faculty retreat. We are praying for good communication of ideas, times of fervent prayer and direction for planning for the future.

We had a good visit with Judy, baby Ani, and Bonita and her dad, Bryon. They left this morning to return to the Plateau. Please pray for them as they face some struggles with vehicles that are broken down, other sensitive situations they are having to deal with as well as the lack of rain in their area. Sometimes just day to day living can be so hard and then other things come along to stress the situation even more. God is at work through the ministry there and Satan is not happy to see that happen. I so enjoyed little Ani after she got used to me again. We made some fun memories.


The men are in the process of getting the "Quonset hut" up. It is hot dirty work but will be such a great help to the school. Please pray for continued safety and strength to see the work completed. See the attachments. I don't know how to put the picture in the actual text so if anyone can tell me that would be great.



All for now,Phyllis

Brief update from Phyllis Schmid

Greetings from Haiti!

I am overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes I have received from people on Facebook. It was fun to open the email this morning and see them all though. I do not get on FB very often because I really do not know what I'm doing on it. But I can see how people can enjoy it for keeping in touch with friends. I also opened a card with a special letter in it from a dear friend of my mom's. She shared with me among other things how happy my mom and dad were at my arrival after dad returned from the war. Her letter will be kept as one of my "treasures"!

I was laid low for about 4 days with a nasty stomach bug that really wiped me out. Thankfully that was last weekend and not this coming week with so much going on.

Today won't be a normal "birthday" type day. I'm baking cookies this am and preparing for a team of 3 men coming tomorrow. Judy, little Ani and friend, Bonita, are coming from the Plateau today to stay with us for a while.

David is driving out to a town on the coastal road where there is a 40' container holding many supplies including the "Quonset Hut" being put up on the campus for storage. He went out yesterday and hoped not to have to go back today but things didn't turn out that way. It is VERY HOT heavy work inside that metal container under the tropical Haitian sun in the middle of the day. But that is the way it is.

David goes out in our pickup and the dump truck goes along with some workers. They take water and David insists they take breaks because of the heat. Bruce Robinson returns from the north coast of Haiti tomorrow to work with 2 men coming from Florida tomorrow to put up the"hut" so David needs to have the parts here in Port. Bruce has put these up before in his community development work in the northwest. We really appreciate his help. Last week they spent time digging and doing the foundation for the building. Please pray for safety in all the travel and work going on these days.

Duane and Beth Brown arrive on the 12th of June. Beth will stay a week and Duane for a month. He has a friend coming to help him later in the month. Cindy's brother-in-law and nephew come for a while to help too. Repairs to our home are scheduled in somewhere so that will be interesting to live and function while getting some of the cracks repaired inside and out.

Thursday is graduation for the seminary and then there is to be a faculty retreat Friday - Sunday. Sunday is our "40th" wedding anniversary. Again, there won't be the normal chance to celebrate that either because of the faculty retreat but trust me McMartins and Schmids are planning a time at the beach in early August and hopefully nothing will interrupt those plans. McMartins will be celebrating their 35th anniversary and we can celebrate David's birthday so we really look forward to that.

Still many decisions to be made in all the planning ahead. Continue to prayf or wisdom on the part of STEP administration and board as they look to the future and seek God's will in planning.

This is the day the Lord has made, we WILL rejoice and be glad in it!

Love, Phyllis

Update from Cindy McMartin - June 6, 2010

Greetings!

We didn’t hold a funeral service, but I did join with many of our Haitian colleagues to watch as demolition started on the Bible school building May 10th. Bruce was in the middle of it all as he worked alongside the men helping to oversee the job. There were groans, even tears, as the large tractor clawed and pounded the building to bring it down. There have been many godly leaders trained in the classrooms of this building; many hours of prayer have risen up to God from meetings held within its walls; lots of laughter and good fellowship have filled its rooms; numerous different materials and resources have been written and produced by those within this building; and many different Christian ministries have been birthed and directed out of offices in this building. The building is gone, but thousands of souls remain for all of eternity.

Immediately following our return, Bruce was back into different work projects on the STEP campus. One house that was vacated shortly after the quake was repaired and prepared for teams. It was immediately filled with a team from Churches Helping Churches that came in coordination with STEP to host a 4-day seminar for 200 Haitian pastors. These pastors came from all over Haiti and enjoyed good fellowship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word. It was good to hear their voices raised in worship, in laughter and in discussion of the materials being taught.

May 22nd, a team from Alderwood Community Church in Washington arrived to spend a week working out at Jehu’s property. We really enjoyed these men and their time with us. They accomplished a lot on the construction project and also helped Bruce with a bunch of odd jobs around the campus. Just as important, their lives were impacted by their time in Haiti and we are certain God will use them to impact other lives as a result.

Please continue to pray for Jehu and his relationship with the boys. They’ve all experienced trauma and continue to live in challenging living conditions. Pray that God will fill Jehu with love, patience and wisdom as he interacts with them. Pray for the work being done to reinforce and strengthen the building to withstand any future quakes. Pray that they’ll soon be able to move into their new home.

During the past month there have been times of discouragement; we have been frustrated with the frenzy of activities and work that don’t always seem to have a planned strategy guiding them; we have missed the regular interaction with the students and our ministries of teaching; there are times when it’s hard for us to find the motivation to keep slugging away at the mundane tasks; and we continue to feel overwhelmed with the great needs all around us – how some people are living is just unbelievable.

Please pray for us: we don’t doubt God’s sovereignty, but need a real sense of His direction for our involvement in the months ahead so that we’re not just letting circumstances dictate what we do. Please pray for us as we receive and facilitate teams coming down to work on many different projects. Pray that God would direct us to identify those projects that are His plan and which will be the most beneficial to the advancement of his Kingdom. In everything, please pray that we’ll be filled with God’s joy and that it will overflow in all we do.

We can’t do anything here without the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, so we covet your prayers. We continue to be grateful for abundant life we have in God and for His grace and mercy at work in us each day.

Love, Cindy for Bruce too