Posts tagged christmas

A Social Network Christmas

Dec24th
2012 3 Comments Written by Ryan

Enjoy the Christmas story via Facebook…

On another note…

I read the following this morning from John’s blog. Thought I would re-post a part of it below:

God didn’t send an Abraham, a Joshua, an Elisha, a Moses, no He sent a baby. How crazy or better put, how like God that is, to do what would never occur to us. Yikes, a baby!

These were the angel’s words to Mary,

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”

Imagine, God’s best coming into the world as an infant. And then take several moments to consider that God has entrusted the message of His great love, this Good News of Great Joy, the message that a Savior has been born, to you and me. How crazy is that? We are commanded to bring that message to the world.

The angel, in Luke 2: 10.11, said to the shepherds,

“Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And so one of the primary reasons that we exist is to share this Message of Good News of Great Joy with a world that needs the Savior. Often, people will talk to me about how they are praying and looking to God for His will in their lives. I suggest that while that are looking to God for His will that they don’t neglect to do His will by not telling others about the Good News of Great Joy wherever they are. This message, the angel says, “will be for all the people.”

Wherever you are today, you don’t have to look far to find people who have yet to receive, in their hearts, the Christ, the Good News of Great Joy. Tell them for it is truly Good News for all people.

Haiti haiti

First Haiti Guest House Christmas Party

Dec26th
2011 18 Comments Written by Ryan

Melissa and her parents organized the first annual Christmas party for all the workers here at the Heartline Guest House.

1. Lunch

We have been noticing that when we have pizza for dinner, the next day all the left overs are gone by breakfast. The Haitians seem to love pizza as much as Americans They end up eating all the left overs! So because of that, we decided to have homemade pizza for our Christmas party. Before eating we read the Christmas story, Luke 2, from the Creole Bible.

2. Games

John & Melissa organized a bunch of games which had prizes! The very ~~professional~~ wild games included cookie stacking contents, golf putting, and a marshmallow run! It was fun to see the workers smiling and having such a great time!

3. Presents

It was probably the first time they have opened Christmas presents – ever! John (Melissa’s dad) observed that while they opened up each of their gifts, they were very meticulous opening the presents and saved the wrapping paper after opening. The presents were all donated by Melissa’s family, their Bible study members, and our MN friends. Thank you so much to everyone for being a part of this wonderful celebration! We wish you could have been here to see the joy on their faces!

Wergsy was thanking us for the party and said, “It’s only God who can thank you enough”. Wow, what a statement?!

Happy Birthday dearest Jesus… We love you and we are so grateful you rescued, healed, and restored us.

See all the Photos of the Party

Haiti, Heartline games, party, presents

First Christmas in Haiti

Dec25th
2011 3 Comments Written by Ryan

Traditions go out the window a bit when you move to Haiti. You start brand new in almost everything you do, including what happens on Christmas .

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. -Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol

Melissa’s parents arrived yesterday night with only their carry-on’s Today we went to check for the bags at the airport and recovered the three checked bags! Will show pictures of the supplies for Heartline, gifts for the employees and other things later!

We started off the morning going to church. I am one of those people that love Christmas music. We sang a bunch of Christmas songs during church. After church, the Albert’s family opened each other’s gifts over Skype! Technology is amazing, it really is. It was great to be apart of their day for just a little bit. Then we headed over to the McHoul’s for an incredible dinner! It was all the food you would have back in the states. Beth had brought it in from her last visit to the US. What a blessing to have such an American style meal. They had invited many missionaries from around the area.

More Christmas songs! Melissa played some Christmas songs on the electric piano. I was able to use the speaker my parents gave me for Christmas!

Blessings to all of you back home! We love and miss you!

Life haiti, skype

Thanksgiving

Dec8th
2011 5 Comments Written by Ryan

I want to continue to thank you all for those that have been supporting us in this journey. Without your help we wouldn’t be able to be in Haiti helping this wonderful organization called Heartline.

Melissa and I just hosted 18 people for our first Thanksgiving dinner. We actually didn’t know that this was going to happen until the day before! We were up early in the morning and cooked straight through to 6pm when we had supper. I have a new found respect for all the moms that cook for Thanksgiving. It’s a lot of work!

We have never made a turkey before so we were YouTube-ing it up and watching and re-watching how to cook a turkey. It was pretty funny having the computer next to us as we attempted to figure out how to create and marinade, arrange the wings, take out the neck and finally the giblets (or the geckos as I accidentally called them ). Now to attempt to cook the turkey. Our oven has two settings – off and ON. I ever so slightly would turn the nob from off to on by inch-ing the dial attempting to burn at low heat by looking at the fire underneath the propane stove. It wouldn’t stay at low heat and I would come back to re-visit the setting every 15-30 minutes.

It was also our first Thanksgiving with complete strangers. The group, Visiting Orphans, was staying at the GH during the week. We loved getting to know them. They had hearts of service, were appreciative of everything, and were so encouraging. They gave all the 8 workers a gift bag of different things. Then they made a paper chain around our x-mas tree! Some chains had Bible verses, others had words of encouragement. Some phrases on the chain: You are such a blessing to many, You have an inheritance, Thanksgiving dinner ROCKS (and every other meal too!). Thank you Visiting Orphans for the encouragement!