Next Project

Well, the next project will be taking me back to Leeds, England for a couple of weeks in November. The project is renovating an apartment on campus at WEC International's North facility. It consists of putting in a new bathroom, remodeling a kitchen, moving a doorway, electrical, plumbing and painting.

The purpose for this apartment is to better accommodate those coming in for training or staying long term. It will be a 1 bedroom self-contained apartment for a single person or a couple.

I spent a year at this facility as a Maintenance Supervisor. When I left, there were Managers who were looking after the property and a New Maintenance Supervisor who took over for me. Early this year the Maintenance Supervisor had to leave do to personal reasons and in July the Property Managers left for Regional Directors position in Africa. Two leaders from Ministries located at the premises have added the role of Property Management to their already full schedule. They normally have German volunteers who come for a year to help with the care of the facility, But because they have no Managers or Maintenance Supervisor they have decided to suspend the volunteers for this year which leaves them without anyone who can take care of maintenance and renovations that are badly needed. I heard about this situation in August and started praying about it. The more I prayed, the more my heart became burdened to help. I sent an email to the interim Management team on September 3 asking if they would be interested in my help. They replied recently asking if we could do this project for them.

We are working on other possible places for next year, as well. I just turned down a month long trip to Japan this last weekend with Joel Corley at Stepping Out Missions which would have meant leaving this Monday.

Gary

A New Ministry...

A new Ministry is born! After many years with this idea in my mind and much prayer, I believe the Lord has brought clarity to the direction of this ministry and what we will be doing next.

So, what is this ministry?
It is a Construction/Repair Ministry.

What is the name of the ministry?
To Be A Blessing

Why this name?
In the same way as God told Abram;  I will bless you ....... so that you will be a blessing to the nations (Gen.12:2-4), so also, we want to be a blessing to the Body of Christ, who are aggressively advancing the Kingdom of God. We seek to be a blessing of support to those who are gifted in preaching and teaching by using the talents God has given us in construction/repair so that those who don't have the Gospel may join us in the reward of Heaven.

Who will we help?
Those who are spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ which includes: Missionaries, Mission Organizations, Churches, Pastors, Evangelists, Orphanages etc.

Where will we go?
All over the world!

How do you put in your requests? 
If you agree with our Statement of Faith, then follow this link or using the "Contact Us" tab above. Enter your information and we will get back with you.

So, How can you get involved?
Well, there are 3 ways you can get involved.

Go 

Do you have construction talents: carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting etc.?
Would you be a good laborer?
How about a helper? Can you hold the other end of a piece of wood?

If you have some abilities and can agree to our Statement of Faith, then Contact Us to let us know that you are interested in helping and we will get back to you to let you know what projects we are working on. You just might be with us on our next project somewhere in the world!

Pray 
Join us in praying for the Gospel work. Subscribe to our email alerts and we will send the prayer request via email.

Give
Contact Us and we will provide you with a way to give to the work.


The Next Project?
I have been to Haiti twice this year as a start to this ministry; once in May, posts here and here, and then again in August.

So, Now what project is the next? Well, you will just have to wait until the next post.

Gary

Street Evangelizing

A couple of weekends ago the boys and I went with a few others into the City to do some street evangelizing/preaching on the corner of a busy street. It is quite interesting to see how the people responded. Some rejected the tracts completely, some took them and then threw them away but only a few wanted to actually talk about the Gospel. To see how many tracts got into the hands of people simply because a child gave it to them over an adult was astonishing. The boys loved it! They were even putting them on cars in parking lots at the stores we went to later.

When someone started preaching on the corner, the people would avoid us completely by crossing the street before they even got to us, some were agitated, looking for the light to change so that could walk across the road, and some would stop to talk. The amount of tracts that were handed out went down during the preaching. Daniel told me that some would ask, is this piece of paper talking about the same thing that guy is talking about? When Daniel would answer "Yes", the people would reject it and walk on.

They have no idea what they are rejecting. They walk on as if everything is just fine, all the while, their eternal security hangs in the balance. The wrath of God is upon them and they stand rejected by Him for their disobedience to His law. They reject the very One who can bring security - Jesus Christ. He can reunite them with their creator, God and give them life -eternal life with Him in Heaven.  He is the ONLY One who has the answer to our disobedience to God's law, which is Christ and His redemption.

Gary

Another trip to Haiti

Port au Prince

Haiti is a country that has been through a lot. 2 mass exodus' in the 1960's, in which the educated people - teachers, professors, etc., were invited to countries like S. Africa and Canada. It has been ravaged by crime, corruption and the latest, an earthquake, well over a year ago now.

Immigration

Trash dump just outside the guest house

There is a lot of work still needing to be done because of this earthquake. It is truly unbelievable the kind of conditions the Haitians live in.

More Trash

Largest Tent City

You and I would be appalled if we had to live anything remotely close to the way they live. In fact, we would not stand for it, we would be rioting and rushing Washington's front doors.

Mayor's home in Port au Prince - completed after earthquake

Water that cannot be drank because it carries deadly diseases, electric that is only on for a few hours a day, roads that completely destroy a car's suspension in a matter of a few months, trash everywhere, farm animals that run the streets freely, prices that make it virtually impossible to buy anything, government corruption that leaves the people paralyzed and so on and so on. This is not some remote location in the country; this is Port au Prince, the capital city in the country.

Cow grazing in dump just outside guest house

Daniel and I got back Monday August 29th from another trip to Haiti.

Daniel and Mr. Brown

We were able to get 2 cars running again for Dottie Diehl, a missionary. 

One for her personally and the other for the school. We were there only a week and it took the whole week to complete the task. Everytime we turned around we had more issues to deal with and more parts that were needed. Mr. Nickson had to do lot of running for parts and tools - some he never did find, so, we improvised to make things work.

We worked on a 1996 Chevy Blazer and a 1997 Isuzu Rodeo. When we started with the Rodeo it was not running at all. We thought the fuel pump was problem but I found that it was working so I replaced the fuel regulator with the new one I took down with me. First car running, Praise the Lord! After bolting the gas tank back in, though, the fuse for the fuel pump blew and the engine would not start, again. I disconnected the fuel pump and found that I had a short there. This means I had to drop the gas tank out of the car to check the pump. When I got the tank out I found that someone had spliced the wires inside the tank and didn't completely cover the wires, so it was shorting against the metal bracket holding the pump. I repaired that connection and several others that I found under the rear of the car. Once I completed that car, by about mid week, I turned to the Blazer. I needed to check the fuel pressure to the engine to make sure we had the proper fuel pressure. We went out looking for a gauge and had one man at an Auto Parts store promise us that he would have us one the next morning - he never did get it for us. I decided to replace the fuel regulator first, instead of the fuel pump because it had a 3/4 tank of gas in it, but this meant I had to remove the upper intake manifold from the engine, though. I was able to get the manifold off the engine and replaced the fuel regulator and then I had to wait for Mr. Nickson to find some gasket maker for me so that I could seal it down on the engine again.

The Market

Once I had the gasket maker I put the engine back together and then tried to start it. Suddenly the engine just stopped and would not crank anymore. I thought maybe the battery was low, again, since we had had battery problems all week, so I connected the charger to it. After a while I realized the charger wasn't working - found a broken wire. So I decided to jump the Blazer with the Isuzu. Still the engine wouldn't crank. By this time it was getting late, so we decided to quit for the night. As I was laying in bed, praying, I realized some gas had spilled out when I pulled the regulator off and I thought it might have gone down into the cylinders - Pistons cannot compress a liquid. The next morning, Saturday, I tried to start the engine again - same thing - it still won't crank. I decided to pull the spark plug out of the rear cylinders to let the gas out but I needed a longer extension for my socket wrench - Mr. Nickson went out looking for an extension. He returned with the extension and I got the plug out. As I turned the plug out the gas just started pouring out of the cylinder. I put the plug back in and tightened it up and tried to crank the engine, same thing happened again. I decided to pull the throttle body off the manifold and found that something was leaking, Ugh. This means I have to pull the manifold back off again, Oh GREAT!  Having used a gasket maker to seal it on to the engine it wasn't coming back off again very easy. I worked at it for quite a while and was able to get it off. I found that the regulator had slipped out of place when I re-installed the manifold and gas was pouring out everytime the fuel pump ran. As I pulled the manifold off the second time an O-ring broke on the injector unit. So Mr. Nickson went looking for a new O-ring. He came back a couple hours later with 5 different O-rings. One of them worked, Praise the Lord! I put it all back together, pulled the spark plugs to drain the cylinders again and a spark plug wire broke, Oh No! I can't believe this. Nickson went out, again, late in the afternoon on Saturday. (You have to know that everything closes early in Haiti) He came back with a new set of plug wires but they didn't work -they're for a Mitsubishi. (This is the way they repair things, just find a part that might work. They don't go by Make, Model and Engine.) I got anxious and decided to start the engine anyway. We had to jump start it again because Daniel left a light on inside the car. It took a little bit to prime the fuel system but then it started and is running good. Mr. Nickson never did find a spark plug wire. Dottie asked a guest coming in from the US to bring one in for her. 

There had been much prayer the whole week and our GREAT God and provider heard and answered our prayer. Thank you Lord!

On Sunday we did get to go to Hope, Faith and Love Infant rescue, run by Dorothy Pierce, to see the kids and to help out a little. They currently have 25 children - 10 of those are HIV positive. At this time their only washing machine is rusted out and they have no back up batteries for power. With city power only on for a few hours a day this makes it tough to live and care for these children properly. This is one of 4 orphanages that I know of within a 5 minute walk of the Dottie's Guest house where we stayed.

Please pray for a washing machine and batteries for their backup power system.



Gary

Repairing the vacuum cleaner

  

Bread shop on the side of the road.

A manhole cover in the street still missing 3 months later.

Men working on a car in the middle of a street.

US Embassy complete with a pool!

One of many tire repair shops on the corner of a road.

A lot of garbage on the side of the street!

Presidential palace destroyed in the earthquake.

Tent City across street from Presidential palace.

Leaving Fenton

So how is God working in our lives? After 16 years of making our home at First Baptist Church of Fenton growing, learning, and being prepared for service, we believe God is moving us on to be a part of another local Church.

We weren't unhappy at Fenton or looking for another church so let me explain how this came about. Back in June we went to a Homeschool conference where I met a man who was getting ready to go to the mission field. He told me about his church and how they have at least 8 people preparing to go to the mission field.  This is a large amount considering the church only has a membership of 128.    A few days later Michelle looked at the church's website and told me that a missionary (who we know and have been praying for) was going to be there to speak at their Men's fellowship. I told her that I wanted to go to hear how his work is going but would be more comfortable if we visited on a Sunday and got to know a couple of people instead of just turning up at the breakfast.  When we visited that Sunday we discovered that due to scheduling conflicts the missionary was not going to be at the Men's fellowship but he would be there for the Sunday service the following week. I told Michelle we have to come back next Sunday to see Him - it had been at least 3 years since I had seen him. He had no idea that I was going to be there and I enjoyed surprising him.

 So, why does this lead us to move our membership? By our second visit to the church God was stirring our hearts for the work He is doing there (don't take this to mean that He is not working at our church) by showing us how He has been preparing us to be a part of that work. We left that Sunday saying to one another, what is God doing? What does all of this mean? What is He wanting us to do? We spent time praying about it - seeking Him for understanding and wisdom. After some weeks of prayer we knew what He was asking us to do - to move our membership, leave the people we love, to step out of our comfort zone again and follow Him.

This is hard! We have to make new friends, get to know new people. I personally hate this, in most cases I am quiet and I find conversation with new people very difficult because I just don't know how to talk to someone I don't know. I know it shouldn't be this hard but for me it is.  In some situations I get extremely tongue tied because I just don't think fast enough as to what to say. I have been noticing it a lot lately. In these cases I end up not saying anything and walking away feeling inadequate and will continue to think about the situation for quite a while afterwards.

So, we are leaving First Baptist Church of Fenton for the next adventure of our lives. We are being obedient to our Father in Heaven "to go". This doesn't mean that we won't see many of you, we will. We are not leaving Saint Louis. We will continue to be in contact with you but we have to follow as we believe the Lord is leading.

In Christ,
Gary

Next post will be pictures of our trip to Haiti last week

Sorry!

We said in February I'm back but have only posted about 5 time since then. Sorry! We do want to keep going with the blog but we need something we can write about. We feel life in general is not enough, we want to show how God is at work. Well, God has been at work in our lives. We are waiting upon Him until we actually know what it is He is calling us to do - we are not sure of this completely. We will post something tomorrow to explain one step that God has had us take recently. Stay tuned!

Gary