Touching lives

Carolina Baptist Church has sent a team to Haiti this week to head up a building project. Please keep them in your prayers for safety and pray for opportunities for them to witness to open hearts.

Thank you Jennifer Prahl for this wonderful article on the spring trip to Haiti.

Francis Bacon, a philosopher and scientist of the 16th century, said "There l

never was found in any age of the world, either philosopher or sect, or law or discipline which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith."

Education and skills in the hands of an individual with a Christian worldview is a valuable tool and has the potential to become the catalyst for spiritual and physical change. Recognizing the importance of education Parakaleo International has made Christian education and vocational training part of our mission.

Parakaleo’s spring trip to Haiti focused primarily on this educational aspect of our mission goals. In April, Parakaleo directed Rapid City Christian School as they worked with Baie de’Orange Christian School. Rapid City Christian School of South Dakota has felt led to sponsor this Christian school financially and physically. Eight students and three chaperones traveled into the mountains to conduct a bible club for students and children in the Baie de’Orange region. The Lord worked in students’ hearts and almost 100 students at Baie de’Orange came forward to discuss salvation.

The South Dakota team also brought some school supplies and started the digging for a water cistern at the church and school. The school in Baie de’Orang has almost 400 students and is in need of new classrooms, training, and funds for salaries and building.

Also in April a team of teens and parents from Carolina Baptist Church of South Carolina traveled to Haiti to work with two newer church plants of Parakaleo, Moriah Church and Bethesada Baptist Church in the Cayes Jacmel area. This team conducted Vacation Bible Schools at both churches and saw an increase in attendance from last year. Children at both churches accepted Christ and the team was a great blessing and encouragement to Pastor Gabrielle and Pastor Josue. It is our hope to see these churches able to build permanent buildings in the next few years and start Christian schools for their areas.

The South Carolina team brought a donation of laptops from the states for Parakaleo. It was quite an interesting experience going through airport security with 3-4 laptops per person! Parakaleo distributed about 20 laptops to a seminary and its students in Jacmel and 30 laptops to the Christian school in Jacmel under Pastor Belizaire. As funds are raised, future plans for the Christian school in Jacmel include plans to build a computer lab to be used by students and as a vocational training lab that will be an outreach into the Jacmel community.

The progress towards improving the quality and reach of Christian schools and vocational classes is exciting but much remains to be accomplished. God is faithful to supply what we need as it is needed and it is thrilling to watch other groups and people catch the vision of reaching Haiti. Please continue to pray for Parakaleo International and consider how you can be a part of this work.
 

"God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" — Hudson Taylor





If you'd like to keep up with Parakaleo International you can follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ParakaleoInternational
 
We welcome donations as this is a non-profit organization. We not only help with supplies for the projects we do in Haiti, each volunteer is required to raise their own money for their trip.

A Young Man's Epitaph

Micah Falde is sharing with us today about his recent trip to Haiti.
Micah is 14 years old and is in 8th grade. He likes to hunt, camp and work outside. Micah has started his own lawn mowing business this year with his Grandma. Micah has been to Haiti on four different mission trips. During those trips he's helped the mobile medical team, the VBS team, and the construction team. Here is a young man who loves the Lord and goes down to Haiti, not for a vacation of relaxing and fine food, but to help others.

~~~

Our recent trip to Haiti was mostly centered around VBS. The last trip we did a lot of construction, working on a building for school and church. This trip worked at Moriah Baptist Church with Mr. Sam, Mrs. Vivi, and their daughter, Valeska.

While I was there I taught two Bible stories. I taught about the wonders of Creation and how God saved mankind by having Noah build an ark.

We had thirty kids the first day. The second day the numbers doubled to sixty

kids the last day of VBS we had seventy children. Out of all three days we saw nineteen kids come to know the Lord.

While I was there, I was reading in my devotional book, “A Young Man After God’s Own Heart” about epitaphs. I learned that an epitaph is a short speech written on someone’s tombstone. I imagine an epitaph being what someone’s family and friends thought of him. The second day we were there, a boy about my age (15 years old to be exact) died. It was so sad that he died, but that really made me think about my life. If that was me that had died, what would be epitaph say? What would be written on my tombstone? I hope that when that day comes that somebody has to write my epitaph that it will be something that pleases God by the way I lived my life.

--Micah Falde




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How Can God Use Me?

Hello! My name is Emelie Falde and I just returned from a mission trip with Parakaleo to Haiti. Right before leaving for Haiti, I spent time in Iowa with my dad for his last weeks of His life here on earth. One day I was sitting with him

and his friend came to visit. At this point, dad was very weak, rarely opened his eyes, and it was very difficult for him to talk. I was showing pictures of our last trip to Haiti and we were talking about what God is doing there. I thought dad was asleep the whole time, but when his friend got ready to leave my dad said in a slow, shaking voice, “I want you to…remember…to remember Emelie and her mission. I was thinking we could team up and help her.” This is the legacy that my dad left for me. When you are focused on how you can give to others, you are less likely to be consumed with your own pain and challenges. After Dad went to Heaven, my mom gave me some of his things for me to take to Haiti and give to people there that needed them. It brought me much joy to see how excited some of my friends were to get a new pair of shoes

or a new shirt that had belonged to my dad. To me the best part was his bedroom slippers. I told mom I didn’t think they needed slippers there, but at the last minute packed them anyway because they were so light. Those slippers ended up being their favorite thing! The day after I gave them away, both of the guys came back and told me thank you. One of them asked the interpreter in Creole how to say they are “sweet”! Something else that brought me joy was that my brother was able to get 75 laptops donated from his work. He let God use him even though he is just a computer guy. One of the ladies that received one told me how she had been praying for a laptop. She does so many things down there, but one of her responsibilities includes keeping the mission hospital running. She has all the finances for that and her preschool ministry on paper and in her head. She told me that God used us to answer her prayer. It’s an incredible feeling to think how God can use us if we let him.

These people that I have spent this last week with have many challenges they

face everyday. We saw many different things while we were there. We saw people that don’t have any material things at all, we saw people that are hungry with no food to eat, we saw two families who both lost children during the time we were there. Although I have faced my fair share of challenges during the past couple years, by putting my heart and my time into other people’s lives, God has showed me that my challenges and worries seem less significant when I focus on others and ways to help them.

I know sometimes it’s easy to feel like God couldn’t use someone like me. I mean, after all, I’m JUST a mom who stays home with her kids or whatever you can say you are, but this week, I saw God use JUST a mom, JUST a teenager, JUST a nurse, JUST a computer guy for His glory. Because if you will JUST let God use you, you will have the opportunity to touch lives for God’s glory. One of the verses God gave me while I was there is found in Ephesians 3. It says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” God has always used JUST ordinary people to accomplish great things for Him. For example, the prophet Elijah. In the Old Testament God used him to do many great things such as bringing fire down from Heaven for the prophets of Baal to see and many other things, but we read in James where it says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit”. Right there it says Elijah was like us…just an ordinary person! Most of the people in the Bible were just ordinary people, but their relationship with Jesus and letting Him work in their life is what made them extraordinary.

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