This is my card and letter this year!
I know some of you have gotten it already and some of you will get yours on Sunday!
What an amazing year it has been for us. In January, Nate and I, traveled to Petit Goave, Haiti to look at some property that we were praying could be used for a new mission called Ebenezer Discipleship Training Center. This mission will be used to equip the Haitians to go out and claim Haiti for Christ. What we found when we arrived was a wonderful house that had more than enough room to house the mission and we were also given the use of a large church that can hold over 1000 people and have plenty of room to use for classrooms. What was also amazing is that we were given all of this to use for FREE! It has been amazing to watch God work out all the details!! If you would like more info on Ebenezer please go to www.ebenezerdtc.org. Ebenezer is a 3 step process. Teaching the Haitian Pastors to read and write in Kreyol. We just had our first class graduate this past summer! The 2nd step is to teach the pastors about Discipleship using the Curriculum, Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden. The third step is a 2 year missionary training school to send out the Haitians to share Christ as Native Missionaries. Now a little update on our family:
Caleb, turned 8 in February. He is a 2nd grader at Bauer Elementary. He is doing very well and is getting good grades. He loves anything to do with sports and never seems to stop moving.
Hannah, turned 9 in June. She is also in the 2nd grade this year at Bauer Elementary and has been in our home for 3 ½ years. We cannot believe how fast the time has flown but she continues to do very well in school.
Katie, turned 11 in June. She is really enjoying school this year and really progressing well. She is in the 5th grade at Bauer Elementary.
Heather, turned 11 in November. She is almost as tall as her mom and seems to be growing faster and faster everyday. She is doing so well in school and is also in the 5th grade at Bauer. She loves to read and write stories. Hard to believe that I will have 3 kids in middle school next year.
Nikolas, will be 13 in December. He is in choir and also made the honor roll for the first time! He was so excited about this accomplishment. He is in the 7th grade at Baldwin street Middle school.
Nate is still a plumber at Godwin plumbing. He just had his 15th anniversary there this past November. He also leads around 2 trips a year to Haiti and has enjoyed watching the members of his teams grow excited about reaching the lost for the Lord! He has been working hard to get Ebenezer up and going and we are excited about where God is leading in this endeavor. He is also the head of our Mission Mobilization team at church.
I am still a stay at home mom. I have been selling Avon now for 6 years and I really enjoy it. I also am a part of the Children's ministry at our church and mostly make all the copies for our Sunday school program.
This past June we also added a new addition to the family. We now have a beautiful puppy, named Ella. She is a Boston Terrier and has been an absolute joy to have in our home. She is around 6 months old! The kids were beyond thrilled when we told them we were getting a puppy.
We also have some other huge news to share with you all! After much prayer and discernment we have heard God's call to spend 10 weeks in Haiti this summer with our family. Nate has been asked to train the leaders in the Discipleship portion at the training center in Haiti. We will be leaving around the first week of June and will be traveling back around the 2nd week of August.
We are asking for prayers from you, our family and friends. We are hoping to be able to email and blog about our experience while down there. We will be raising support for our time away, and if you feel led to help us you can send checks to Lighthouse Mission Mobilization. But, Please do not feel obligated. Prayers are what we desire as God is leading and providing. You can send it to our address and we can make sure you get a tax letter. Our main goal is to share the exciting things that are happening in our family and want to share what God has been doing in our lives. We are very excited to be following the path God has asked us to take.
7364 Forestview Dr Hudsonville Mi 49426
Love, The Yonkers
