I got bit by a monkey...

 

...No, not really but I thought you might look at our post if you thought I really did. (p.s. there are no monkeys in Haiti. :)

A few updates on where we are in our fundraising and some blessings that have come upon us.  We initially were planning on shipping a 40 ft container to Haiti full of our belongings, furniture, household items, donations etc…but we received a huge blessing from North Carolina Men’s Baptist who were occupying our home in Haiti.  They said they were going to leave us all of the furniture, household items, refrigerator and stove!  That blessing saved us about $15,000 in shipping costs, not to mention the stress of shipping all of that stuff overseas!  The next blessing was from missionaries in Haiti; unfortunately they had to return to the US and had a Nissan Patrol that they left that we can purchase; it will also save us about $15,000 in shipping and import taxes.  Two huge blessings, God is making our path to Haiti easier and easier each day!

We are so close!! We currently are in need of monthly sponsors; our goal is to be fully funded in the next week or two so we can head out to Haiti by the end of September.  We are currently at 53% of budget and need to be at 85% before we can leave.  If you haven’t become a monthly sponsor, please join our support team today.

Current Monthly sponsorship 53% or $3,195          Needed Monthly Sponsorship 85% or $ 5,000

To become a monthly sponsor please go to:

sponsor by pay pal: http://www.globaloutreach.org/missionaries.html#ToddB

sponsor through checking: http://www.globaloutreach.org/donations.html

suggested levels of sponsorship

*$15  *$25  *$50  *$75  *$100  *$150  *$200 *$250  *$300  *$400  *$500  *$750  *$1,000 *other

 Ohh, I love me a garage sale!

 

A few posts back I said I would share some of “God’s Stories” and I thought I would share one I was thinking about this weekend.  Since we won’t be shipping any furniture or household items we have made the decision to sell or give away basically everything we own, keeping only a few keepsake items.  Let me tell you, I love having garage sales, almost as much as going to the mall or sitting in traffic, they’re awesome!! ;)  So this past weekend we had another one, I believe our 4^th since we started this whole process and it reminded me of a basic truth I had reinforced last summer.  We had planned on only having one garage sale but so many people were moved by us moving to Haiti they not only purchased things but they also brought us some of their own belongings for us to sell, it was at times overwhelming, the generosity of strangers.  Since we had so many donations we decide to have an additional sale the next weekend. 

Around 4pm on our 6^th day of sales, the last Saturday, we we’re basically down to just junk and broken toys.  Nobody was stopping by so we we’re trying to figure out what we were going  to do with the remaining items, looking for charities that could possibly pick it up, if they would even want it.  I decided to take a break for a minute and went to check my bank account to see if I received my direct deposit from work.  I had, but I had a dilemma.  A few years ago, Carrie and I made a commitment to tithe, or give 10% of our income to our church.  When I see my direct deposit hit my account I go directly to my church’s giving page and donate 10% of my gross pay before I spend it on something else.  My dilemma was this, it would be my last paycheck before we left for our first three months in Haiti and we weren’t funded yet.  We had already bought the tickets and I thought for a moment, “we could really use this 10% to help our mission”, after a quick prayer I went ahead and kept my commitment and gave the 10% tithe to our church.  I prayed, “I know you will take care of us” and I pressed the button. 

   I went outside and we began to pack up the remaining leftovers when a man came from around the corner and asked if we had closed yet.  I had met him earlier in the day and had struck up a conversation.  He had lost his family and job to drug addiction.  He was a few months sober and was trying to get his life in order, I lent him my ear for a while and after we spoke I asked him if he minded me praying for him.  He said “please do”,  so I prayed for him right there that he would continue his sobriety, that he would earn the love and trust of his family back and that his relationship with God would become stronger than ever.  He thanked me and went on his way.  So now he had come back and was asking if we were still open, he was asking because after I prayed for him he went home and called his daughter for the first time and she told him she loved him.  Then he went to his landlord and asked if he could rent the store front on the front of his sobriety house so he and his fellow roomates could start a small thrift store.  The landlord thought it was a great idea, so he rented a U-Haul van and it was parked around the corner and he wanted to buy everything we had left!  He bought everything, didn’t haggle about prices & knew anything he paid would be a blessing to our mission & wouldn't accept any generosity from me trying to give him a deal.  All I can say is WOW!

The simple truth I learned was the 10% isn’t about the church or God needing my money, it’s about obedience and commitment to my faith.  The man bought enough to triple my tithe, what else is there to say.

God Bless!

Barrett