AIDS

I am overwhelmed, stirred, blessed, exhausted, excited - - - Call2All finished last night.
There is SSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much that I could say, but don't have the time now.

One of the workshops I went to was about HIV/AIDS and the response of the church.
ABSOLUTELY mind-boggling! Every Christian should hear this and see the figures, facts and faces...

Everybody in Africa is either infected with HIV/AIDS or affected by it and you CANNOT have an effective ministry there unless you address this in some way.

Read this story fresh from Katie in Uganda - - - and it might touch you in a more personal way, like it did me.

Lord, PLEASE stir the hearts of all Christians with the plight of people dying from Aids and all those affected by it!

If 19 fully loaded 747 planes were to crash today, we'd sure hear about it in the news, wouldn't we?!

EVERY DAY, the equivalent number of 19 fully loaded 747s die of Aids.

E.V.E.R.Y. Day!!!

Today!

Tomorrow!

The next day!

EVERY day, the number of people dying of Aids is 3 times the amount of people killed during 9/11!

I could go on and on - about the child that dies every minute - of Aids - and the 4,110 Christians that die of Aids every day... and...

Haiti again

Latest Update from YWAM Haiti
"A Spirit of Despair...the Power of the Love of God"

Scene from the devastation in Port au Prince. Photo: Jude Eugene

“Today, we bought fifteen 25lb bags of rice in St. Marc. To our knowledge it was the last available rice in all of St. Marc city and province! This is getting serious, friends.”

YWAM Haiti national director, Terry Snow, opens his latest report with these words. As masses of people flee the devastation in Port au Prince, food and fuel supplies around the city are also diminishing. YWAM St.Marc is scrambling to prepare for the influx of refugees and has already secured venues to set up camps and store aid supplies.

Crucially, aid supplies have still not arrived where they are needed. Terry is negotiating with the authorities to open the port in St.Marc and allow aid supplies to pass through for little or no fee. YWAM associates are assembling containers of food in Florida – contact relief@ywamhaiti.org if you can help by donating containers of food or building supplies. A list of urgent needs will be provided.

And another article taken from YWAM's website:

Hope Emerges From Haiti's Rubble
Infant and mother found alive!

Alive! Appeal for prayer for Haiti's orphans! Photo : Kristian Snow

On Monday, January 18, hope was slim for finding survivors underneath the collapsed buildings in Port au Prince, 6 days after a 7.0 earthquake devastated the city.

But YWAM rescue teams have an unending supply of hope, and when they came upon a group of survivors seeking help, they sprang into action. A four-month old baby girl was discovered pinned under a building. She was removed from the rubble and rushed to a makeshift hospital with a large cut on her head. Local people said that the infant's mother was still under the building, but presumed dead. Undeterred, the YWAM team began digging to find her. To everyone's surprise, she was found alive - extremely dehydrated and in need of hospital care, but alive and expected to recover!

YWAM National director, Terry Snow, pleads for prayer for the children of Haiti as teams of church and agency leaders form strategies to cope with the crisis around them. "One of our volunteers spoke with one young boy that was actually thought to be dead!" reports Terry. "He had already been placed in the morgue in a closed room...morgue workers heard knocking on the door and were shocked to see that this young boy was still alive!"

A doctor at a makeshift hospital in the province of St.Marc, where YWAM is setting up refugee camps, asked YWAM to take charge of a group of orphans left without family or caretakers. Terry goes on to say that their biggest need right now is financial aid and prayer. YWAM International has raised over US $50 000 through our global online donations, for YWAM Haiti relief efforts, with more generous giving and donations of supplies through local centres around the world.

To donate to YWAM Haiti's relief efforts, click here.

YWAM teams from around the world are responding to the crisis as YWAM Haiti appealed for help. MercyWorks from Tyler, Texas has already arrived with supplies and will be assisting with the coordination of medical relief and hosting teams. RescueNet has also launched a disaster response team, and other YWAM centres are serving Haiti’s victims by collecting supplies, sending funds, sending volunteers and praying.

Prayer seems to be in the breath of YWAM volunteers in Haiti as they work tirelessly against overwhelming odds, fueling that most essential need – hope – in the tragedy around them. YWAM Haiti staff are responding with hope for the future, even as the full extent of the damage to their nation unfolds. Terry declares that, “This is our time to demonstrate the power of the love of God,” as the rest of the team agrees that this is an opportunity to rebuild the foundations of Haiti and see positive change for the future of this devastated nation.

Donations can be made to YWAM Haiti's relief efforts by clicking here.

Blog from Haiti family

Here's a blog you can read up on.
It's a family living there and giving first-hand news.

LET's PRAY, folks, let's pray!!!

Helping in Haiti

Being part of YWAM has got this amazing benefit that we are like a big family with the same values.

Whenever I think of investing into disaster zones, I've got no hesitation to help through YWAM. YWAM staff are all volunteers (no salary) and - for the most part - extremely motivated, hard working, with excellent morals and integrity.

So, if you want to give to help in Haiti and want to do it through people you can trust, all you need to do is to go directly to this page:
https://www.ywam.org/secure/donations/donate.asp?project=10

To get a brief report on the situation and YWAM-Haiti's previous work in relief, it's right there: www.ywam.org under "NEWS".

Let's be generous and share the little we have. Even a little - given by many people - will go a long ways in Haiti at the moment!

"We make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give." Churchill

Oh Lord, have mercy!

We just heard the news of the earthquake in Haiti - - - and our hearts are shattered - - - crying for the hundreds/thousands+ people in despair - as I am typing...

Lord, may you bring comfort to the grieving, hope to the despairing, healing to the hurting and practical help for all who need it. May your body rise up and be your hands and feet to the precious people in Haiti that are already so terribly impoverished!

Rich was asked by Rescue-Net if he was willing to deploy to Haiti.
Willing, YES, he would absolutely LOVE to go, but unfortunately it won't be possible.
Rich is more than busy for the next few weeks:

• 2 days of training as ambulance officer. He has started a EMT-course with mostly online learning and occasional classroom time, the first of which will be this Sat/Sunday.
• YWAM's 50th anniversary celebration, the JUBILEE, is starting here in Tauranga on Sunday.
  
• Call2All Next Generation is starting next Tuesday - for 3 1/2 days.
• Next: IWT leadership meetings from Sat next week to Monday
• Tuesday, Jan 26: Auckland for more meetings - YWAM Pacific
  
• Jan 27 - Feb 2nd: Great Barrier Island for yearly IWT staff retreat.

Rich is VERY busy with all these things and can't get out of his responsibilities.
Did I mention that we'll be hosting a few people at our home for these events?
A group of 10 Koreans will be sleeping here tomorrow night, and all of next week, we'll have the pleasure of housing 10 Samoans, Yehaaaaa!

Getting away with my beloved!

This blog has been quiet - very quiet. - I know - - -

Life has been full-on - in a good way - and I am just starting to recover.

Before the next wave of busy-ness, with YWAM's Jubilee coming up in a week, then Call2All, then Auckland (Children's hospital for an exam for Shayden/YWAM meetings), then Great Barrier Island for a week (IWT yearly staff retreat), Rich and I get to go away this Sat/Sunday to have some time catching up with each other. YAY!!
AND - pre-celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary that is coming up at the end of February (with Rich away).

Nathalie and Lewis will take over the parenting-role of Kylie and Shayden. Wonderful!!!
And good practice for them, too - hihi!


Here's a photo of us, taken at the wedding:

Derek Loux Memorial Service

My heart has been shaken by the death of 37-year-old Derek Loux- husband and father of 10 children, (8 of them adopted), one of the leaders of the International House of Prayer.
Although I didn't know him personally, his story and life message has impacted me.
I am broken and grieving for this wife and family and I have been in prayer a lot ...
Tomorrow morning at 7am New Zealand time, I will be watching his memorial service on webstream from Kansas City, USA.
What a legacy this man leaves behind!