About 9 years ago,
Cheryl and I stepped off of an airplane and discovered how sheltered a life we
had lived. When we landed in Moscow in January 2003, and it was like Dorothy in
the Wizard of Oz saying, ‘we’re not in Kansas anymore!’ We stepped into the reality that the whole
world isn’t like the good ole’ USA! It
was then that God began to show us the folly of chasing our dreams and exposed
us to the truth of His Promises to His followers. Since then He has taken us to
some interesting places in the world. We’ve experienced wealth and poverty,
luxury and depravity and health and sickness, often just on the opposite sides
of the fence from each other. We’ve been
drawn to the side of the fence where the pockets and bellies are empty, but the
smiles are huge and the hearts are full. And we’ve met a lot of ordinary people
that are quietly serving, for no other reason except simply being obedient to
the calling of the Father. We’ve felt
that calling and served in many different ways, but the timing never seemed to
be right for a long term commitment. We
were beginning to think…well we didn’t really know what to think, but we
continued to pursue God in prayer listening intently for His call. Last fall, things here at home seemed to
change and we had the opportunity to spend a month in Haiti, living pretty much
on our own in the house Heart of Compassion had built in Soliete. It was kind of a ‘shakedown cruise’ to how an
‘older’ couple would hold up in the challenges of mountain life. A month might not be a realistic gauge of everything we might face, but it was enough to get a good
taste of just how difficult it can be.
It was difficult, but not
impossible. In the mean time we made a
lot of friends, renewed some old relationships and started studying the language
(difficult, and seemingly impossible for us).
We came home very encouraged and God began confirming that our near
future would be in Haiti. What the long
term future looks like, only He knows, but for now we have been accepted by
Heart of Compassion International Ministries to serve for 2 years in
Soliette. We go as just a couple
ordinary people simply being obedient to the calling of the Father. Our vision is more community development,
working with the people and encouraging them to work together. Mostly, we will be living there working in
our gardens, practicing what we’ve learned and if it works, teaching our
neighbors to work smarter, not harder with the focus being on developing
relationships, sharing the gospel and modeling a Christian lifestyle. Our full time presence hopefully will
communicate to the people that we (HOC) are committed to the church, the school
and the community of Soliete. While we
have committed our time and resources to this new chapter in our lives, you can
consider yourself invited to be involved in God’s work in Haiti. More than anything, we covet your
prayers! Through this letter, we hope
to build a support network of praying people.
Pray also if you should be involved financially. If God leads you to give, a onetime gift or a
monthly sponsorship would go a looooong way in the hands of God. In response to your support, we will attempt
to introduce you to the people, familiarize you with the landscape of the
country and learn more of their culture as we discover it for ourselves. We’ll soon be stepping off another plane into
a new chapter of our lives. We’d like
you to walk with us and share in God’s plan.
Simply Serving….Serving Simply
Pat n Cheryl (pnc) Kaufman
Heart of Compassion International Ministries
6796 W 1400 N
Silver Lake, IN 46982
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