3/14/10

Sunday! What an incredible trip to church. The streets were teeming with
women, men, children all dressed up and headed (walking) to church. We mean
DRESSED UP: Women and girls ALL in dresses, the men in shirts and ties and
the boys in nice shirts, pants and black shoes. WOW! They don't have much,
but they LOVE to dress up for church.
The Haitian worship was wonderful. They love to sing and do it with all
their hearts. The children were a blessing as well. They LOVE JESUS, ALL of
them.
It confirms the thought in my mind that the church in the U.S. would be much
more healthy, spiritually, if we had far less junk in our lives and did a
better job at keeping first things first. We were so blessed.
Tony taught this AM but had a little trouble with his interpreter. Poor guy
was trying but there was (literally) much lost in the translation.
Following a wonderful lunch at the Pastors home (including pineapple,
oranges & mangos), Tony, Robens (Pastor Iliobert and Marie's 16 year old son
who is fluent in French, Creole and English and is learning Spanish) and I
headed out to the nearest village to talk to people about Jesus. Every home
we visited had multiple generations hanging out in the front yard on a warm,
sticky afternoon. It was refreshing to see families spending time
together and wonderful to hear them talking about Jesus.
Tony taught again at the evening service this time with Pastor Iliobert
doing a wonderful job as translator.
By the way, Pastor Iliobert was born in Haiti. He started his church 23
years ago and after 10 years Haiti Endowment, a ministry headquartered in
Murrieta, Ca, offered him the opportunity to attend Calvary Chapel Bible
College. He did so for two years, where he and Tony met.
Haiti Endowment has been instrumental in helping bring the Hinche church
projects to fruition, as well as helping with much of the construction of
the bush churches and schools.
Philippians 4:19

3/13/10
The trip from Cap-Haitien to Hinche was amazing. 4+ hours of dirt road: potholes, ruts, rocks, fording rivers (no bridges); avoiding chickens and chicks, a duck, bulls, cattle, pigs and piglets, and lots of skinny horses and donkey loaded with everything under the sun Women loaded high with stuff on their heads, lots of kids, few men. Houses made of block or sticks and mud or palm fronds or discarded wood. Roofs often of corrugated tin or palm fronds or bark; the tin roofs sometimes covered with grass to keep down the indoor temperatures. ˜Fences everywhere made with Christmas Cactus also serving as the family laundry line right next to the very dusty road. No indoor plumbing or power anywhere. No (as in zero) gas stations, few cars, lots of motorcycles that serve as taxis. No stores as we know them, some of the residents sell a few items out of their homes or a little side shack but most sit along side the road with a few items to sell; no public restrooms poor, poor, poor. The first 1/3 of the trip was through tropical, jungle terrain as we left the coast. After crossing the mountains the terrain changed to dry, dusty land and we continued to bump along. Each river we crossed (some by bridge) was lined with women and children washing and drying clothes. Two last thoughts on the trip the UN has been present in Haiti for a long time (It gives me a picture of the one-world government that will be established some day). Second, World Vision is also very active in Haiti…and making a great difference in the lives of the children here, according to Pastor Iliobert and his wife, Marie. We arrived safely at the church compound our home for the next 4 days.a wonderful place for church gatherings and retreats and we feel quite at home. Pastor Iliobert and Marie are amazing, faithful servants. He pastors a large church (only a pastor really understands what that means) and supervises 11 other bush churches along with taking care of teams of short-term missionaries who come in from the states. Marie is principal of the 540 student school at their church (K-6) and the 11 other bush schools, directs the women's choir, is in charge of the womens and children's ministries, and keeps the compound running for all the teams of visit (including blessing us with her great cooking) on top of all the other ˜Pastors Wife and wife/mom duties. God bless them for their servants hearts. They are making such a difference for the Kingdom here in Hinche. Their home is teeming with neighborhood children that they feed as their own, and the compound has a steady stream of visitors from the neighborhood because the church well is the only source of water in the area. Hinche, though a major city in Haiti, still has no power (it's DARK at night!). It's hard to believe that this situation is so prevalent in a country so close to the United States. The Haitian people are so humble and kind. We have not felt uncomfortable ANYWHERE. We DO get a few stares, however It's the color of our skin ok, mine. (H) :0) What a blessing it is for us to see them press on even in their poverty Content in their situations.
Philippians 4:12

Heading to the airport this morning the Lord directed us to a McDonald's
where Tony felt led to talk to a young man, Daniel, who turned out to be
Haitian...from Cap-Haitien, our flight destination. He is a christian who
lost several family members in the earthquake. It was neat to be able to
pray for him and his family, and to encourage him.
We arrived at the airport just as the rain came pouring down--and it was
still raining hard when we walked/ran to the airplane 4 hours later. The
Lord blessed our baggage...again. The airline counter staff discounted our
'overweight' substantially...without us having to say anything.
After the departure time coming and going with no statement from the
airline, suddenly we were told that if the plane didn't arrive in 15 minutes
(they didn't know where it was) the fight would have to be cancelled.
Prayer. The plane showed up and we lifted off 3 minutes after the evening
time limit. Flights can't arrive in Cap-Haitien at night because the
airport is very primitive and has no lights...
What a blessing our flight proved to be. We were literally surrounded by
Haitian and American christians. The conversation was warm and
encouraging...and any non-christians on the flight must have gotten an
earful of the goodness of our God. :0) Our descent was accompanied by 'On
Christ the Solid Rock I stand...all other ground is sinking sand' is a
combination of Creole and English. Who could ask for more?! Except maybe
the choirs of heaven! We were blessed.
Pastor Iliobert and Fredrick (a man from his church) were waiting for us and
took us on a wild ride (vehicles and people everywhere! We thought MEXICO
was crazy. Not. And the potholes almost swallowed us a few times. :0) We
still don't understand how people drive in such narrow roads...passing each
other with inches to spare...and we saw no misses.
What a nice time we had with our two Haitian brothers. We head to Hinche
early tomorrow morning.
Lord bless you. Talk to you tomorrow!
Joshua 1:8-9

We were off to Fort Lauderdale this morning. As difficult (and ultimately
impossible) as Tony's February trip start proved, this start was just the
opposite. We were so blessed when American Airlines gladly agreed to ship 4
very large duffle bags filled with 200+ pounds of medical supplies...FREE!
What a blessing that was. We arrived in Miami ahead of schedule and were
blessed to encounter so many Christians at every turn. Errol, a man in line
(long line) with Tony at the car rental office even prayed with Tony in the
middle of that hectic office that the Lord would bless the trip, that we
would be a blessing to the people we meet, and that every place we stepped
would be blessed. How awesome is that?!
Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great
and mighty things, which you do not know." We continue to praying and press
on in confidence that as our God has opened wide the door, we can step
boldly through by faith. We look forward to the wonderful things our good
Lord has in store in the days ahead.

Please keep us in your prayers and we take the next step on the Venture of
Faith.
Love ya'll

Holly and I are getting ready for a very exciting trip to Haiti and we want
to thank you before hand for your support and your prayers.

We hope to keep you up to date with daily reports on this blog site about
what the Lord is doing in us and through us.

Already we have seen the Lord at work by allowing me to have the blessing of
Holly's partnership in Haiti.

For anyone wondering if God is at work in the public school, get a load of
this: Holly will be giving a presentation about our trip to Haiti to
approximately 250 kids at her school tomorrow. The kids have asked and been
given permission to take up a donation offering to send along with us to
help out an orphanage. Thank you Jesus!

We will be leaving San Angelo on Thursday morning and will head to Miami,
Florida. We will then drive to Ft. Lauderdale, spent the night and fly out
on Lynx Air Friday afternoon, arriving in Cap-Haitian around 2:30 PM were we
will be greeted by our friends who live in Hinche.

We will spend the night in Cap-Haitian and drive to Hinche (about a three
hour drive) on Saturday morning. We have a number of tasks to attend to
once we arrive. We will be doing follow up work from our team members who
came a month earlier and ministering where the Lord leads.



Please keep us in your prayers. E-mail us if you like @
tonygarcia@calvarychapel.com



Lord bless you!

Holly & Tony Garcia

Regalos de Amor

Tony,

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your church member, I'll be praying for his family and for you when you do his memorial service.  As for us, we're doing fine.  Iliobert and his wife are taking good care of us.  Sunday service at his church was great, especially since Bernard, one of his church members sitting next to us, translated a good bit if what was said in the service.  I was very suprised to see the size of his church and his congregation, around 1,000.  I've only seen a small part of what he is involved in.  Just between what he and his wife do for the Hati Endowmnet Fund (HEF) and his church seems overwhelming, not to mention the 14 bush churches that he oversees, and the school his wife, Maurie (I hope I didn't spell that wrong) is the headmaster of.  Yesterday we went with the medical team to a refugee camp in the area and an orphanage.  We didn't set up a clinic at the refugee camp because a large medical group had been there a couple of days before, so we took a couple of the soccer balls and frisbees and just played around with them for an hour or two.  Our soccer team composed of some of the medical team and our UN escorts held there own, the game was a tie.  Danae and I threw the frisbees around with some of the kids, and Adrea talked to some of the english speaking Haitians.  Later we set up a small clinic at the orphanage and took care of some minor illness, and gave out some deworming medications and vitamins.   When we got back to the compound we at lunch,  then opened the clinic here at the HEF compound.  These medical teams sure work hard while they're here.  After supper they cleaned and organized the clinic for the next team.  It looks like for now they are trying to have a team per week.  Unfortuantely, the team for the comming week couldn't get transportation, so there will be a weel lapse between their teams.  I'll fill in to see some of their patients that need dressing changes and wound checks this week, and be available to evaluate someone if an urgent need arises.  We are going to probably follow Iliobert around to his local churches and try to go visit the kids in the hospital next week.  Right now our schedule is pretty fluid.  I'll try to get a cell phone and learn how to use it while we're here if I get a chance.  I just don't want to complicate Iliobert's life too much while were here.  Keep praying for us, we sure can use the prayers.  I'll try to write more later.

 

In Christ,

  Perry

Another ina series of snow storms hit TX on the worst day ever (at least for me!), theday we planned to depart for Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

The Lord musthave had other plans for part of the team—included me.

Thursday morningour flight from San Angelo to DFW was canceled with no way to get to Floridaand join the other half of our team. David and I tried very hard to get therebut no options opened up, so we now have 4 bags loaded with medical supplies readyfor the next trip that is planned for March 11^th—20^th.

So ifyou’re interested in going on this trip, please make arrangements as soon aspossible.  I just looked on onetrip.comand found the cheapest prices from San Angelo, so you might want to check them out for yourflight.

 

Here’s the Itinerary:  (Youwill need a passport!!!!!!)

• Book a flight into Ft. Lauderdale Florida on March 11^th

• You will need to book a room for overnight stay on the 11^th and on the return, March 19^th. 
• If you are planning on traveling by yourself please give me a call; we might be able to team you up with another person. 

• You will need to book a flight for March 12^th returning on the 19^th on Lynx Air from Ft. Lauderdale to Cap Haitian.  That flight will run about $557.00 round trip. The Phone number is (954) 772-9808 

 

You willonly be allowed to carry one (1) 10 lb carry-on and a second bag weighing 50lbs (stowed). We would like for you to pack medical supplies, if possible, inthat bag.

Once wearrive in Cap Haitian we will fly with MissionAviation Fellowship to Hinche.  Thatflight will be approximately $200.00 round trip.

We will bestaying at the Haiti Endowment operations with Pastor Iliobert Berson inHinche. 

Ihope to have more details for you as we get can get more information from ourteam who is in Haitifor the next 10 days.

If you haveany questions please call me @ (325) 212-0775.

 

Lord bless!

Pastor TonyGarcia