Our Daily Bread

This past Sunday night we had our fourth group meeting. For the first time the Haiti team gathered in a home environment. We jumped right into the night after nibbling on some tasty dips&chips. The thoughts that follow are some of what we talked about:

A chunk of the evening was spent talking about spiritual warfare since it is a real matter and a possibility that we will deal with it in Haiti. It is a very exciting topic even though often times people avoid talking about it. Why exciting? you may ask. well....WE WIN!As long as we are prepared for the war that is coming. Ephesians 6:10 and on paints a great picture of this “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph 6 verse 11) So we talked about how to do that. Ultimately through prayer and fasting. This is a very real matter, and we cannot afford to take it lightly. We invite YOU to join US in prayer as we gear up for what is coming in preparation for and while in Haiti. As many of you know it is a dark place, and we will encounter some unique circumstances to say the least. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.”(Eph 6 verse 19) Paul asks that from the church in Ephesus and we gratefully ask the same of you.

Another topic of the evening that I now want to expound on a bit is the subject of bread and provision. Recently I realized how much bread is talked about in the Bible. There are over 300 verses in the scripture talking about bread, so I did a little research on this matter. Back in Proverbs 30:7-9 we find the following: "Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die.Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.Otherwise, I may have too much and become independent
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.”

A very loaded verse, bread is synonymous with survival. That with too much in this life we forget our Provider by becoming independent and with too little we become desperate and fall apart.Just give me enough to live- says the author. All throughout the Old Testament the presence of bread communicates the same. From heavenly manna given to the Israelites to Elijah being fed bread and meat by ravens we see this distinctively.

A few hundred years later. In the city of Bethlehem(house of bread in Hebrew) Jesus is born. Then, He starts talking about bread.“Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) he teaches during the Lords Prayer(survival). Also after satan asks him to turn rocks into food. “It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD. "(Matthew 4:4). Jesus proclaims that there is more to this life than just survival through bread. It seems like he is setting something up here. We see this again in John 4:32, the disciples were worried about Jesus and asked him to eat something. He responds with “I have food to eat that you know nothing about”, and later explains that the food he is speaking of is to do the will of the Father who has sent him.

Later on in John chapter 6,Jesus finally gives them the big answer. I wonder if He was waiting for them to figure it out. After feeding the five thousand, his disciples have some more questions for Him. The response is golden (John 6:32-35) “Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven."For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread"Jesus said to them,” I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

So we see bread all over the place. From the beginning of ultimate survival to when Jesus proclaims that He is the bread of life. We now look ahead to Haiti and the needs that have to be met. We recently found out that the price of the trip increased $235 per person to $1735. By no means will we let this scare us, not even a little. We have an ultimate Provider. We will not let an ounce of fear be instilled into our hearts. We have a fierce Protector. The 2009 Haiti team trusts in the Bread Of Life. For survival, for strength, and to do the will of our God who has sent us. We once again ask that you will join our side in prayer as we seek to fill the gap of the last few thousand dollars that need to be raised before the beginning of December. Some of you may be led to financially give and if that is you please email us at haiti.we@gmail.com . Also the following are the members of the Haiti team, feel free to pick one and pray over them as often as you would like.Thank you for reading , and your friendship. It means the world to us.

Xristos Sotir

Yanni

Eric Echols- trip pastor

Yanni Illiadis- trip leader

Melissa Johnson- trip co-leader

Sarah Rice

Katie Klempner

Emily Little

Deidrick Overby

Emily Tuten

Holly Colgan

Corbin Klett

Emily Fischer

Sam Laubscher

Joshua Bohn

Steven Link

Our New Friends!

Greetings!

Yanni here. I wanted to take this opportunity and share with you some of what has been going on lately with the Haiti team. In the process of preparing we have been presented with an unexpected and pleasant friendship with a local Haitian church. Just a few weeks ago we attended for a great experience.The French, Creole, and English languages were used interchangeably throughout the morning. We were blessed to be a part of that day, may I add that worshiping in French is an amazing journey(it truly is a beautiful language). After the service was over, some of the women in the church had prepared a Haitian feast for us. We ate some incredible food and enjoyed some encouraging conversations with our new Haitian brothers and sisters.

This is just the beginning. Pastor Joel and the leadership of the church were thrilled to have us and invited us back.As a matter of fact, us visiting them and sharing our plans to go awakened the members to have more of a missional mindset, they are now planning future trips with their church to Haiti and around the world. Who would have thought that we would inspire a Haitian church to actually go back to their homeland and proclaim the good news of the gospel. Incredible, refreshing, and life changing stuff! They will be packing a supply of items for us to take on our trip to give to the local people while we are on the ground. Things like soap, toothpaste, socks, towels, etc. We will be visiting with the Haitian church again soon for a "training day" where they will teach us some practical Haitian etiquette,dialect, and cultural awareness type information as well as how to best reach the children through some of the VBS work we will be doing(Melissa our co-leader is owning that and doing a fabulous job). We will also be joining the church one more time in December for a Sunday morning service. We are so thankful for our new friendship and bond with this community. If you see them around 12stone soon, be sure and say hello.They are likely to visit us at Waters Edge.

In the post to follow tomorrow we will be talking with you about some of the current happenings including this past Sundays group meeting,as well as some recent last minute needs. Looking forward to sharing the following entry with you all, it will be titled "Our Daily Bread"

Xristos Sotir

Yanni Iliadis