As 2016 comes to a close and
we look ahead to the New Year, we would like to express our thanks to you for
your ongoing support of the work that God has called us to in Haiti. Together in this journey, we have seen God move
in so many amazing ways. Please know
that YOU are an essential part of this ministry that God has composed. The incredible thing is that He doesn’t need any of us in order to accomplish His
will in Haiti, but He has invited us
to join Him so that we can grow closer to Him, to know and love Him even more
deeply.
It is our ongoing desire to
not only honor God by being obedient and serving Him in Haiti, but to keep you
connected as you are engaged in this work.
Your involvement is important and is making a difference, without a
doubt!
Here are some things that we
believe are in store for 2017 that we will be involved with:
· A heavy-duty concrete
bridge construction at a main river crossing leading into St. Michel.
· A dental office established
to provide St. Michel’s first well-trained dental technician and a place where
visiting dental teams from the U.S. can hold clinics.
· A new ESL
(English as a Second Language) course taught to the children at our ministry’s
orphanage as well as in one of the high schools.
· Getting surgeries
lined up for children with club feet, advocating for them and seeing to their
after-care.
· Helping equip disabled
children with tools they need to become more mobile and comfortable.
· Home visits to
assess health and nutritional needs for desperately poor families/children;
implementing plans to improve their health and sustainability.
· Job creation for
mothers that struggle to feed their children.
· Orphanage visits
within the community to assess the health and well-being of the children, as
well as any efforts that can be made to reunify these children with their families.
· Health and
nutrition education for families.
· Educational,
emotional, and spiritual support and development for the children in our ministry’s
orphanage.
And of course, we have no
idea of the countless things God has planned that we don’t know about. But we do know that our daily life, including
discussions and relationships and living by example, will be a testimony to the
love and hope that can only be found through Jesus. That is our goal, to bring the love of Jesus
to the lost and better understanding of the Gospel to the believers there in
St. Michel.
We
do have a few specific prayer requests for you prayer warriors:
· For healing of the
staph infection/open wound on Allison’s leg.
Allison had a strange reaction to a bug bite in early October. It remained a blister until we arrived home
at the beginning of November, at which time she went to the doctor and began antibiotics
for it. It developed into a dime-sized
open wound that would not heal. Mid-December
she was referred to Wound Care, began more antibiotics, and weekly
debridement. A culture indicated a staph
infection. As of today, the wound is 50%
healed and the doctor is hopeful that it will be fully healed in two more weeks. We cannot return to Haiti until it is healed,
as the risk of severe infection is far too great while it is an open wound.
· For wisdom as we
search for an intern to serve with us as a homeschool teacher for Brianna and
to fill the role as head ESL teacher. We
are hoping for someone to work with us
(as a volunteer) for ten weeks during February through April. This will be such a huge help to us, and can
be a life-changing experience for the intern.
We also anticipate recruiting an intern for the summer as well as the
fall. We want God’s will in this like
everything else; we only want the person that He has hand-picked for this
position!
· For healthy
financial support for 2017. We currently
are at 80% of our budget needs for pledged monthly support. God has been faithful in providing for all
our needs with random donations and unexpected gifts. We continue to trust Him, but it sure would be
nice (less stressful) to reach 100%. We need $400 per month in additional monthly pledges
to reach that goal.
With
us being here in Paducah for a few more weeks, if you’d like to get together
with us to catch up, just let us know.
We’d love to see you!
Thank
you for your prayers, love, and awesome encouragement. We appreciate it so much. For those of you that support us financially,
we can’t express how humbling that is, and we don’t take it for granted one
bit. You amaze us. If you feel that God is leading you to donate
to our ministry or become a monthly sponsor, and you’d like to know how to go
about that, please get in touch with Allison or Brennon. A donations are tax-deductible.
So
here’s to a new year…. 2017, let’s do this!
May God grant us the wisdom, discernment, and courage we all need to
tackle what lies ahead! Love God, love
people. Amen!
Love
and hugs,
Brennon
& Allison Garrett
