Ream Team International

 

Several titles for this news have been forming in my head over the past two months. Perhaps it should have been, “A Kay for Kanna” which would have been a funny-ish post about my goat called Kanna needing a bigger space and us needing a smaller space. I seem to like to shift attention to my pet goat distraction whenever life gets tough and I don’t want to talk about the other more serious things. Serious things abound. So on that note I thought about the title, “Moving Mountains” which would be about the mountain we are moving to and how God has definitely moved mountains to take us there. So now you might have guessed that we are moving. I guess I’m not really good at suspense. But “Moving ____ (insert anything)” doesn’t seem to fit what I want to say either. Maybe because I am so very sick of moving already. Because while we are all very at peace with this move happening, moving isn’t ever peaceful. Is it? I have moved lots and lots of times and no, I don’t believe it is ever a process of peace. Because even if all goes wonderfully well and super smooth (throw a little Haiti in that equation and you pretty much have the opposite of that), there is still the missing. We are very much looking forward to the other side of moving. Lord willing that will be accomplished in the next week. Yet the pros and cons of this decision seem to have vanished in these jam packed days. I still remember the very clear reasons we are moving. I was clearly aware that there would be a lot of missing. Continue reading “Missing Macdonald”

A few weeks ago I was sitting in the backseat of a rental car with my mom in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem. My father needed to mail a parcel and we sat waiting for him outside the post office watching a wealth of diversity pass by. During my time in Israel I was constantly in awe of this diversity; so many people from so many backgrounds and belief systems residing in such a small place. Everyone seemed so very different, and yet much the same. That morning we had breakfast with a Jewish mother and daughter and watched their interactions. Now we sat in the silence of our rental car watching a Muslim mother communicate with her well covered daughter. We observed the obvious differences in dress, mannerisms, languages, etc. and I quietly thought about the different struggles each passerby must face. As I was pondering these things my mother began a story as she so often does.

“Do you remember when we were here in the 90’s and visited our friend who was working as an undercover journalist living in the Old City? When later asked to share her observations of the many struggles Muslim women face she was expected to give a long list of grievances on that subject. But she only said this. ‘All women share the same struggles. In every country our struggles are the same.’

Continue reading “Same Kind of Different–Our Common Struggle”

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to the many friends, family and churches who reached deep into your pockets and prayed hard for the victims of Hurricane Matthew. Those on the ground in Haiti are still catching our breath after so much loss but we have been so encouraged by the outpouring of care, concern and community that has truly wrapped their arms around Haiti and sought only the best ways to help Haiti move forward.

We want you to know that Heart of God Haiti has received all the funding needed to help in the ways we believe God has led us to in these situations and we give God the glory for such amazing provision! We at Heart of God Haiti are doing our best to use each penny raised to help as many people as possible, using as many resources directly from Haiti as possible, and helping relief and rebuilding efforts in the least harmful and most sustainable ways possible. Thank YOU for helping us make this possible!

Continue reading “Hurricane Matthew Relief and Rebuild Update!”

The King of Heaven and Earth left his glorious abundance and came to us as a baby born in a cave. That’s as high and as low as it gets. He didn’t start out at the bottom and earn his way to the top. He left the top to come down to the very bottom. Just as the Word made flesh humbly and graciously came down to us, we are continually discovering his invitation to do the same. We want our days to be spent with this eternal perspective making the most of every opportunity. We give God glory for all that he has faithfully accomplished this past year and eagerly anticipate how he will grow us and the ministries we are privileged to partner with in Haiti and around the world in the year to come!

Continue reading “Jwaye Nwèl-Merry Christmas 2016”