▪•• • • •• • • • • ••• December, 2016 ▪•• • •• • •▪ ▪▪ ▪••• • •▪ ▪
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. John 14:12-14
<<Salutation>>
Every time we have returned home, we have invaded Nathaniel and Rachelle's family space. While we all enjoy each others company, we decided to give them a break and "timeshare". We are sure you are familiar with "time sharing" of vacation places. Well we decided to "timeshare" by staying at several places during our time in Iowa. Nathaniel and Rachelle, Zachery and Olivia, and with Mom DeRoos, As generally happens to everyone when they go visiting, things get forgotten and left behind. Fortunately, our "timeshares" are within a 5 minute drive apart. Thanks to all our gracious hosts!
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A Global Village:
Our world continues to shrink! It’s amazing to us how our friends in foreign countries can stay in touch. We can now see people and pictures on Facebook of the work that is going on through the FAAGRIC program we had initially implemented over 10 years ago, in Nigeria. We recently joined a public group that highlights the agricultural and health benefits taught and promoted by nationals who became involved while we served in Nigeria during the years of 2004 – 2010. We are very grateful for the way God has used the educational material, and biblical instruction to literally raise up hundreds, if not thousands, of Nigerians who have benefitted from attending the classes and practicing what they have learned. You can click on this link for more detailed information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/245451772473261/
Traveling to and fro:
We have had a chance to get around and see most of our immediate and extended family. What a joyous time for us as we celebrated the amazing birth of our Savior, and had the added blessing of sharing it with loved ones. We have had to endure some frigid weather as it turned brutally cold (as low as -22 degrees) during our first week back, but when a person travels to Iowa in December…
Our travel time has also given us plenty of opportunity to share about our experience with Hurricane Matthew, and the recovery needs and process in Haiti. It’s a huge blessing for us to talk with so many friends who were thinking and praying for us during and after the hurricane. What a great feeling to know we have an army of prayer warriors.
Our plans are to stay in Iowa until the 17th of January. Then all five of us, Les, Catherine, Zachery, Olivia, and Jude, as well as a young lady who will be doing a winter internship, will return to Haiti. We do continue to covet your prayers for safe travels and a quick adjustment as we hit the ground running, and get back in to the swing of things.
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Unfair Expectations:
We recently had a question posed to us regarding the work and ministry we are involved in. We were asked, “What is the most challenging aspect of living in a needy country that has just been ravaged by a massive hurricane?” It may surprise you, our response wasn’t the difficulty of the roads, or the higher level of risk due to people looting and stealing. It wasn’t the slow ongoing recovery process, or even the challenge of starting over to rebuild and get back to where we were prior to Hurricane Matthew. The most challenging aspect for us is more mental than physical. It’s the ability to deal with a people and culture that have a mindset that the Americans or foreigners can and should satisfy all their needs. Before hurricane Matthew, we regularly dealt with unreal expectations from Haitian friends and acquaintances. This is due to the false idea that all Americans have unlimited resources, and one only needs to ask to receive. We were doing well, praying for wisdom along the way, to give here and there and say, “No” other times when it seemed to not meet specific criteria.
Now, post hurricane Matthew, a whole new level of need, a greater sense of desperation, and an even more assertive level of asking have been a daily part of our lives in Haiti. This has caused us to wrestle with our “helping” policy, and really evaluate how to touch lives without removing the individual’s responsibility to do all they can for themselves, or, more importantly, cause them to short-circuit God and His amazing ability to be their provider. It’s likely going to take time to sort all this out, but it does bring something else to our mind.
During this Christmas season, we celebrate the amazing act of God becoming flesh. Jesus Christ humbled (literally emptied) himself, and took on the form of man, and eventually died on the cross for each of us and then conquered death by raising from the dead. The Father God gave the ultimate sacrifice out of love for each one of us. As we ponder over this act of God’s love and the obedience of Jesus Christ to willingly die for the sin of mankind, the thought comes to mind, do we live our lives with unfair expectations from God? God has done so much for us, yet we can have a mindset of “what will you do for me now?” Just like the Haitians tend to constantly ask, how do we come across to God. I know we are encouraged to ask, but that is usually qualified in some way. For example, John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Here there are some qualifiers that will impact what the outcome will be of our asking. A common error is the quickness to ask; but the lack of having all the other aspects of what God desires for us, to be in order, so that we are asking according to His will.
Our experience on the mission field has caused a greater awareness of our own view towards God, and the desire to not take Him or what He has done too lightly or for granted. What an amazing Lord we serve! A mighty Savior that desires only good things for us. A gracious Lord who desires to bless us and shine His face upon us! May we never expect that from Him or belittle just how special He is, and how insignificant we are.
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 Kendious Exelome
Kendios represents another one of the older boys who is doing a great job of living a godly example for his younger brothers. He is very responsible and willing to lend a hand. He is a hard worker, respectful, and being raised to be a godly young man. That’s one of many of the unique aspects of the Consolation Center of Haiti (CCH). These young men and women are being raised to truly reflect a Christ-like character. This includes all facets of life. Even in church on Sunday morning, the older boys and girls are included in leadership roles. Just a week before we left Haiti, Kendios was asked to pray during the morning worship service. He did such a good job, and it was evident it was coming from his heart.
We asked Eddy about Kendios for more detailed information. He shared that Kendios has been attending the CCH school for several years. His first recollection of Kendios was that he was in a restavec situation. You may remember that a restavec is a person used in a household to do domectic chores. After some time in an abusive environment, Kendois escaped to a remote area to hide, and out of necessity dropped out of school. It was brought to Eddy’s attention by some of the students, and he was added to the Joshua House boys orphanage. In the last year Kendios has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, and now wants to pursue full-time ministry, and possibly one day be a Pastor.
Please continue to pray for Kendios!
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Center of Help (COH) Update
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 Rebuilding Progress:
When we left Haiti, construction was well under way to build a security wall around the newly built Sukup housing units that would replace the severely damaged old structure that was used by the staff and kids for housing. A newly constructed structure which is a combination kitchen, and food depot was just about finished.
Construction has continued at a strong pace as we all felt that security was a very important item after the terrible visit by armed robbers. We are very grateful for the overwhelming response, and hope to keep you all informed over the next few months as things get replaced, and in many cases upgraded.
Madam Farril, the Director of the Center of Help, has shared on several occasions how grateful she is for all the assistance. We, in turn, want to pass along that gratitude and say thank you…thank you…thank you!
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FAAGRIC GOAT PROJECT:THE GOATS ON MY FA STUDY CENTER
Sir/Madam,
For your information, it has been so nice and excellent to share with you the pictures of goat issue which I was in charge of.
In fact, some of our students have bred their female goats, of which one of our students presented her own female goat to us.
Therefore, we made a cast before sharing, and the cast fell to Mr. Reuben. So we handed over the female goat to him. Again, this goat issue helped us to get more manure which we use to produce our FAAgric crops.
May Almighty Father bless you people.
Thanks.
Sunday Okorie
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Zachery & Olivia's Update
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 Truly Grateful
The end of the year is drawing near and we anticipate 2017 with joy and peace. As we prepare for the return to Haiti in January, we are look back on all of God’s goodness this year—we’ve seen so many great blessings this year and marvel at all of God’s greatness and anticipate the New Year with excitement. Here are some pictures to capture all that we’ve experienced in 2017. We pray the Lord’s blessing on your life this New Year!
As always, we encourage you to stay in touch on our blog to receive updates and photos
ourpointofview.org, please be sure to follow!
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Nutritional Nuggets – Natures Pharmacy ABC’s of Vitamins and Minerals
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 Kiwi
also known as
the “strawberry peach”
Did you know that Vitamin C levels in this hairy skinned fruit with lime green flesh outshine oranges. Kiwi are considered a superfood because they are a high-antioxidant food. High-antioxidant foods behave like self-sacrificing soldiers to “calm the fires” in our immune system. Cellular damage (an internal rusting of tissues) occurs when these soldiers lose control.
Here is a small glimpse of the benefits of the Kiwifruit:
- Good for Vision and Prevention of Eye Disease
- Aids in Digestion - eating the skin is actually good for you
- Serotonin in Kiwi Puts Sleep Problems to Bed
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates
Promoting a lifestyle of preventative care!
WELLNESS PRINCIPAL: Health comes from within. You cannot buy it in a bottle.
Please visit Catherine’s Pinterest boards by clicking this link: Catherine's Place. There, you will find a variety of healthy sources, natural solutions, recipes, God's Creation, and SO MUCH MORE. Grab yourself a healthy snack, make yourself comfortable, and take time to browse the wealth of information and be not only inspired but uplifted.
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We praise God for the overwhelming support to date regarding the recovery stage of Haiti.
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Please pray for a safe travel as we return back to Haiti on the 17th of January. |
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Praise God for our special time with family and friends. |
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Please pray for the people of Haiti and their continued recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Matthew. |
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Please pray for Kendios as he grows in the Lord. |
We trust that you experienced the true joy of Christmas and
the everlasting love of Christ.
May the blessing of knowing Christ enrich your life in the year 2017.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Abiding in Him,
Les & Catherine, Zachery & Olivia
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Ministry (U.S.)
Laborers With Christ
P. O. Box 74
Alta, IA 51002
Phone: (712) 200-1139
E-mail: faagric@yahoo.com
Web Page: www.laborerswithchrist.org
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Les & Catherine’s Contact Information
Les and/or Catherine DeRoos
c/o Agape Flights CAY 26466
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL 34285
Phone: 011 509-3857-8345
E-mail: faagric@yahoo.com
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Zachery & Olivia's Contact Information
Zachery and/or Olivia DeRoos
c/o Agape Flights CAY 228521
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL 34285
Phone: 011 509-4292-4788
US Phone: (712) 291-1483
E-mail: zoderoos@gmail.com
Web Page: ourpointofview.org
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Laborers With Christ On-Line Donations
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Just click on this link: Love gift to Laborers With Christ You can also visit us at laborerswithchrist.org and go to our Financial Support page. Thank you so much for your willingness to partner with us in ministry.
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