SUMMER WEDDINGS

Special day for special people

Through out my years as a missionary in Haiti I have become good friends with many of the young high school and college students who come work with GAP Ministry. Some of these young people actually have been on their mission trips with people they end up marrying later on after college. So my wife and I receive several wedding invitations every year, some close by others out of state. This summer we have gotten three wedding announcements and will be able to attend two of them. We would have gone to all of them except I will be in Haiti during August and miss one that will be out in up state New York.

Last evening we were able to attend the wedding of Wendy Weimer and Stephan Dingeldein. I first met Wendy when she came on a mission trip to Haiti in 2003. I think what cemented our relationship was on a hiking trip into the mountains we were knocked off the narrow trail by a donkey carrying a wide load of sticks and wood. On one side of the trail was an irrigation canal on the other where we were walking was a very steep mountain slope. The thing that saved us from sliding off the mountainside was we grabbed hold of each other and between the two of us kept our footing. Wendy and I have been together on three more trips since then two in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.

In April of 2008 she brought along her boyfriend from Indiana Wesleyan University, Stephen Dingeldein. Later that year they became engaged and set a date to get married after graduation in 2009. After returning from their honeymoon to the Bahamas they will be living in Cary, North Carolina where they have both found employment. These fine young people are representative of the many we see who make missions a priority in their lives and marriage, we wish them the best. In God's love , steve

COMMUNITY GARDENS

The Son Shine Garden

This Spring and Summer gardening has been making a BIG come back in communities across America. These aren't new innovative ideas but a rebirth of historical concepts that were once important to communities around the world. The phrase community garden might be relatively new but during the depression years of the 1930's Greenbelt communities were an innovative concept to community self sufficiency. WWII brought us Liberty Gardens and into the 1960's and 70's the back to the land movement was born. The past several years has seen a resurgence of and interest in ideas with the phrase "Green Living".

My own church here in the states started a community garden called Son Shine Garden. The idea is to use some of our 40 acres to allow church members and others from outside the church to have garden plots. Excess produce will be made available at our food pantry and inside the Church Narthex on Sunday mornings. Some individuals and Sunday school classes have plots just for these worthy purposes.

These ideas have encouraged me to jump start some ideas I have long had about agricultural projects in Haiti. In fact part of the concept and one of our objectives for the new "Feet Across the Mountains Ministry" we have started is about developing innovative ways to help in food production in Haiti. Quite a bit of my postings over the next several weeks will be about this new ministry outreach , stay tuned. In God's love , steve

CELEBRATING: BIRTHDAYS AND DREAMS

Stephenson Jentry

Last evening Shirley and I along with Haitian college student Erve Joseph who is attending school here in N. E. Indiana attended a surprise 21st birthday party for Stephenson Jentry who arrived from Haiti last Friday evening. Stephenson was last here in the U.S. in the summer of 2007 and lived with several other Haitian students in our home. This time he is staying in Warsaw, Indiana in the home of Amy and Travis Turk. Possibly about 16 of us gathered at the Turk home to eat pizza, cake and ice cream and celebrate his birthday and arrival in the U.S. for a six month stay.

The Turk's worked very hard over the last 2.5 months in there effort to get Stephenson a visa to travel to the U.S. He is currently enrolled in a study class to enable him to achieve his short term goal of passing and receiving a GED. His long term plans are to get accepted in a vocational school and learn a viable trade he could pursue in Haiti to help his family. Amy was very adept at researching the various options of helping Stephenson receive a visa so quickly especially considering she did it all from the U.S. Her knowledge in the procedure will be a great asset in helping others through this often difficult process.

Erve also has some celebrating to do. He arrived here in the U.S. last year in July so he recently completed his first year of college. Once he finishes summer classes he will have 33 credit hours of completion. He will attain another 12-15 this coming Fall semester before he starts attending school in Branson, Mo. He recently was accepted at The College of the Ozarks with a full ride scholarship. His short term goal is to get a 4 year nursing degree. Long term he hopes to go to med school if that doesn't happen maybe a nurse/practitioner. These two guys represent the hope and future of Haiti and we wish them both success in reaching for their dreams and God given potential. In God's love , steve