Thursday, February 3, 2011

Short Update from St. Lucia

Well, so many things happen so quickly. We have been busy in the last two weeks building our life, making friends, meeting people, praying with people around town, and much is going well. It is easy to be looking for the "Big Ministry" when the everyday ministries are everywhere! There is more need here than I first imagined, from mother's contemplating abortion to young boys with out active fathers coming over and having supper with us. We are praying that the Lord would put it on some benefactor's heart the funds for a basketball hoop and back board, so we have more active stuff to do. The young boys belong to a woman, who works in the Marian home and whose husband drinks too much and she had to legally keep him out of the house, a very common story here.  They are good boys however, and have been participating in our night prayers and stay till around 8pm before they go home. They will also come over next Saturday, our work day, and help us clean up the tree mess left from hurricane Tomas.   
 IMG_0764  One young man, had never met an American and is not sure if he really wants to be a Christian, though he did not say this out right. He asked the kids that were around if they wanted to be a Christian.  I had a "what if" conversation and asked him if he did not want to be one, why? He mentioned the Gangsters, so as you can see the youth here are tempted by many things. He also wants to go to America some day and marry some model or singer he has seen on TV, some temptations are universal :).
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       Also pray for us to only do those things that the Holy Spirit wants done. It is easy to see all the needs and want to take it all on. As Mr. Frank can testify we are smack dab in the middle of a very poor part of town, with a bar just outside our compound, I should say two. I saw a short street fight yesterday and from talking to the locals it happens a lot. We have gangs around us, in 3 directions, as the young man who sees them and contemplates a life like theirs can testify. The Holy Spirit, as the principle agent of missions, knew what He was doing, but the challenges are great. We are protected here on our compound and the Lord knew we would need this place to retreat too and renew our strength.
      We had a meeting at the chancellery office earlier this week. Our friend Peter Fevrier shared how he and Fr. Clovis( a wonderful priest) have been praying for more people  to come and work with them. They run the Family Life Secretariat and they have a passion for building and yes, even saving the family here on St Lucia.  The Lord is Good!  We did not know we were being sent to this unknown place (to us) in an answer to prayer of people here.  Not only can we testify to family but our mission partner Sid can testify to being a young man devoted to God and doing His will.
    The Lord knows what He is doing. Pray that we won't let the little things cloud our vision of all that the Lord is wanting here and that we would have eyes wide open and on Him, to be thankful for all that the Lord is doing and has done and to rejoice, always!
    Lastly, we will be on TV tomorrow at around 10:30am on February 4th. (We are on Atlantic time here, that means 4hrs a head of the west cost of America, Prayers, Prayers, Prayers.....
We are asking ourselves, who are we that the Lord would ask this of us so soon. It will be His grace! 

6 comments:

  1. How much do you need for a basketball goal??
    God Bless you!!! You don't know how much I am inspired by your family!!! Thank you!! Do you have any idea what channel you will be on??

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  2. It's so great to hear about MISSION happening! Praying for y'all!

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  3. With tears in my eyes, I wanted to share that I read your blog article to my 2 oldest sons, Noah(14)and Jonah(12) and they ran up to their room and brought me a total of $21 to give you to help pay for a basketball goal. This money is from birthdays and babysitting jobs. As you can see, your mission not only affects those you live near, but even far away in the Midwest of the US. Can I send this in the same manner I send support to the Alvarez family through FMC???
    God Bless!!!

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  4. First TV interview was postponed, but we will still be interviewed for a newspaper article tomorrow.

    A Basketball goal is around $230 USD, I told the visiting brothers yesterday, "Sister Annie says we can put up a basketball hoop, now just pray the Lord will provide the funds." They were happy with the idea of finding an old barrel or something for a hoop. Praise the Lord something simple like a basketball hoop is inspiring. God is Good!

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  5. We are a CLAA family and we'll be following your mission via prayers and blog. Thank you for the updates!

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  6. We have been blessed with a donations that should cover one basketball hoop, if there is still interest it is a full court and could use two. We are extremely happy with one though! I told our young friends yesterday and they were excited.

    Thanks to all!

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