The storms of life...

Tropical Storm Isaac

Our daughter Morgan made a video following Tropical Storm Isaac.  In this video, Robb shares about the many "storms" of life that we face.

Growing Grace

God's Love for His children is a never changing reality... it never increases and never decreases.  As children of God, we ARE CHANGED by God's love and His grace!  Every day we experience the life-changing power of the Father that transforms our hearts.  There are other ways that Grace Village is growing as well.  In just three months, Grace Church has experienced growth in attendance, salvations, baptisms, pastoral staff, ushers, and we are meeting every weekday morning for prayer and Bible Study from 6AM-7AM.  God is growing Grace!  Our most recent additions to the Grace Church staff are our two new pastors, Worship Pastor Wesley Altime and Preaching Pastor Gary St. Hubert.  God is not wasting any time bringing very talented and passionate pastors to reach the lost in Titanyen!

Pastor Wesley and Robb leading worship.

We have added a full band to our morning worship with a keyboard, lead, acoustic and bass guitars, and drums.  We were worshipping accapella for the first month, but now we are worshipping with many instruments and a new sound system that can send the music down the hill into Titanyen, inviting many to come and see where the music is coming from.  Every week we preach the Gospel message and every week people are accepting Christ!  We have this wonderful space problem, now that around 400 people are coming to worship the Lord on Sunday mornings.  After we worship in song (about 30-45 mintues), we release our children to a patio area where another staff member teaches a Bible lesson.  I am Blessed to get to preach every weekday morning, on Wednesday nights and once a month on Sundays.  We are praying that God will continue to grow Grace Church to become strong disciples of Jesus Christ and grow the Church numerically as well.

We are so very thankful that God has called us to serve in a variety of ways in Haiti.  This week a team from Rockpoint Church came to serve for the week.  They also brought many presents for Benjamin, our son, who turned 11 on September 24. The team also brought 11 bags of skittles... thanks Rockpoint team!  We served together this week with the Healing Haiti water truck ministry in Cite Soliel and shared the Gospel at two of the sites where several children made decisions to believe in Jesus Christ!  Our hearts and eyes were opened to what God is doing in other parts of Haiti... through bringing fresh water to a city that is thirsty for water and for Jesus!

Children's Church with Pastor Guilliame.

You'll Get There...

What happens when the storm hits?  You are out in the middle of uncharted waters, winds blazing, and rain is pelting your skin.  All around you look and see black clouds surrounding you... and you realize that you are in trouble and only one person is going to get you through.  Jesus is the only one who spoke to the storm and it listened to Him.  Are you in a life storm?  Jesus is still calming storms daily... He will get you through, He will get you to the other side!  

As I was preaching this passage in Luke 8:22 more than a week before Hurricane Isaac hit Haiti, my exhortation was... "Remember that Jesus invited you into the boat!  He will get you through!"  Storms are not as scary when the sun is shining.  Maybe you remember a time when the storm was raging in your life and you go back to those feelings or memories.  As I looked into the eyes of a couple hundred kids from Titanyen, I realized many of them were in the middle of a storm and the sun was still shining.  Their very lives felt like a constant terrifying storm.  I encouraged my friends that night that Jesus has promised to walk through the storms of life with us.  Sometimes they are physical storms and sometimes they are emotional or spiritual storms.  

At the end of my talk, I challenged my friends to fall on their knees to surrender to the only one that ever calmed the storms... promising that the God we love and serve still calms storms today!  With tears in my eyes, looking around the room I noticed that everyone was on their knees crying out to God to calm their own personal life storm.  I closed the prayer by saying that Jesus who has called you His child, has promised a relationship where He will walk with you, most often, through the storms of life, getting you safely through to the other side.

Just days later we began preparing for hurricane Isaac, knowing that the storm was coming our way. Isaac turned out to be more of a tropical storm where we are located in Haiti, I think mostly because so many of you that were praying that the storm would change course... and it did!  Praise Jesus!  I went out at the end of the storm on Saturday and took some video and some of these shots as well.  I will say, it was the strongest storm I have ever been through.  At times I wondered if our roof had blown off.  God definitely proved His power and protection to us!  Praise be to God that all 77 of us at Grace Village made it through the storm, a few of us got a little wet, but we made it through.  On Saturday we were bringing some rice and beans around to all the children in their rooms when we got word that one of our staff, Marc, our school administrator had passed away.  He was in a storm in his life that he could not see through.  I met with Marc's family this week to pray over them and to ask God's Blessing over them.  This was a hard thing to do as Marc left behind a wife and three beautiful young children.

As you see in the picture above, Lovena and Sabrina found a safe little haven under their bed while the storm huffed outside.  They seemed quite snug and happy when I showed up drenched with my camera.

Often we are gripped by fear and we stop thinking logically when we forget God's Word to us... Jesus said, "Let's cross over to the other side of the lake"(Luke 8:22).  And when Jesus says, "We're going to the other side," it means you're going to the other side!  It might not mean smooth sailing or a guarantee of an easy trip.  But it does mean, You'll Get THERE!

Where do we go when the storms of life blow in?  Where do we hide?  What fears or anxieties can we lay down as we move forward with Jesus into the future that He has planned?   

Prayer Requests

We woke up this morning with new hope and mercies from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Here are the prayer requests for the week!

1) Pray for a continued outpouring of the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the lost here in Haiti and around the world!

2) Pray that God will continue to open doors for us to preach/share the Gospel of Jesus! 11 received Christ when Fanfan presented the Gospel on Sunday night, that makes 63 new believers since July... Praise our AWESOME God!

3) Pray for the GV children, many having medical issues with parasites and sores on their bodies. Praise the Lord that we have Dr. Semm who came and prescribed meds for all of the children that are sick. Pray for healing for body, mind and spirit!

4) Pray for our elderly who we minister to daily with food, water and prayer.

5) Pray for our GV staff that is daily growing. We hired another guardian and are still searching and praying for a social worker and new nurse.

6) Pray for all the children as they begin school here at GV this fall. We are starting a new school and the actual building is being constructed. Pray for teachers, the right curriculum, and for our administrator, Marc.

7) Pray for Jenn and I as we lead GV as servants. This is a huge role and we need wisdom daily to love, serve, direct and give ourselves to so many needs. God is GOOD and continues to prioritize our days and order our steps.

8) Pray for our Long term missionary team here at GV, for continued vision, wisdom and unity. Pray for a continued passion to serve the haitian staff and that we will love, serve and give our lives together as one team to reach the lost, poor and dying in Haiti.

9) Praise God from whom ALL Blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above all heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! Let the Peace and Power of God Reign in our Hearts, Minds and Souls! Halelluia!    

Joy in Jesus!

Robb and Jenn Ammermann

Preparations

Boys Bible Study

Preparations...

James 4:13-14 - Now listen, you who say, "today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Ephesians 6:11 - Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

There are so many things we prepare for in life.  Today at Grace Village we find ourselves preparing for Tropical Storm Isaac.  Will it hit Haiti?  What time will it strike?  What supplies do we need?  What is our storm policy?  This kind of preparation is for a moment or day in our life.

We also prepare for spiritual storms.  As a family, we have been studying Ephesians 6:10-18.  These verses instruct us how to prepare spiritually for life and how each piece of armor has a purpose!  It is our choice daily to secure the armor of God so that when, not if, we get attacked or hit, we can stand firm.  Discipleship is not an option here in Grace Village, it is our daily way of life.  "Oh the joy that floods my soul as the sea billows roll, since Jesus came into my heart".

Robb and FanFan

Many of you have been blessed as I, to know and minister in Haiti with our brother FanFan Larame.  Over the past weeks, FanFan and I have prayed, preached, worshiped, cried, and laughed a lot!  My wonderful brother is getting married to Miss Julie Salzmann, a beautiful Christian woman that is also in ministry to the lost in Haiti.  We are so happy and excited for Fanfan and Julie to begin their life together, but also feel stretched to know we will be missing him here at Grace Village.  We love you Fanfan and Julie and pray that God will continue to pour out His Blessings as you move into this new ministry.

I have a reason to sing...

As I washed laundry this morning, I listened to a song called "Desert Song" by Natalie Grant.  The words have so much meaning to our family here in Haiti but also speaks of the people of Haiti with whom we worship:

This is my prayer in the desert,
When all that's within me feels dry.
This is my prayer in the hunger in me,
My God is a God who provides.

This is my prayer in the fire,
In weakness or trial or pain.
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold,
So refine me Lord through the flames.

I will bring praise, I will bring praise.
No weapon formed against me shall remain.
I will rejoice, I will declare,
God is my victory
And He is here!

God is indeed here in Haiti.  These wonderful children at Grace Village bring praise and rejoice every day, many times in the day.  They live without so much and still they praise God!  Every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night, adults and children from Titanyen come to Grace Village to worship.  They bring praise and rejoice every time!  May we never fail to bring God praise!

Praise and worship - morning, noon and night!

Prayers before bed.

Oh the amazing sunsets God paints in the sky!

Scorpions and Blessings!

Thank you Slumberland!

Our first 2 weeks at Grace Village have been filled with many blessings, opportunities and surprises!  We have settled into our house and are so thankful for our home.  The beautiful furniture donated by Slumberland arrived safely and it was fun to unpack it from the storage container.

While the days are hot and sunny, the nights are cooler and often there is a 30 minute thunderstorm that brings a bit of rain.  We are thankful for the fans each night to lull us to sleep.

Each morning we are greeted with the children's worship singing after breakfast.  Every evening we join them for worship before bed.  Robb enjoys praying with the children at night and tucking them into bed.

Our little neighbor : )

Ben loves the wildlife we are discovering right in our home... scorpions, crickets, grasshoppers and even a 4 inch centipede!  What he really loves is chasing the little pink lizards.


We were extremely BLESSED last week when a team from Rockpoint Church came to serve.  They were all part of the worship band at the Church service last Sunday, but left that afternoon after a great prayer time together.  Many of the students prayed that God's Spirit would move to bring many to make decisions to follow Jesus.  That night after they returned to Port-au-Prince we shared the Gospel at a gathering and 22 street kids from Titanyen made decisions to follow Jesus!  We are amazed daily by how God is moving and providing opportunities to share the Gospel and we have only been here a few weeks!  Pray for those 22 kids that met Jesus at GV!

Morgan reading in the hammock on the back patio.

Ben's new barber!