Haiti Trip #2 - Latifeau

This is a copy of what was posted in my church weekly email.

Alan Bowling is joining a team from Engineering Ministries International to work with Grace International Haiti to design a prototype sustainable community in Latifeau, Haiti. He flies out Friday 4th and returns Sunday 13th.

The EMI team of 15 professionals will design a prototype sustainable community for displaced survivors of last year's earthquake. EMI will master plan a 105 acre campus for a new town of 3,000+ people, including homes, community center, school, church and market. 70 acres of the property will be prepared for agri-business, fish farming and sugar cane.

Additional Non-Governmental Organizations involved with the project include Forward Edge, Project Eden, Fuller Center for Housing, Project Gaia and NIKE.

Prayer for this trip:
1. Bowling Family - Maggie and the kids have a smooth time.
2. Team Cohesion - 15 strangers in strange quarters doing a heap of work in a short time
3. Holy Spirit guidance on the ability to make quality decisions
4. Property - a special blessing on this land and the hope it can provide for a community of Haitians.
5. God-success on this project, however He chooses to define it (not be limited by our assumptions and understanding of what success is).

The Blessing of Affirmation

John the Baptist is rotting in prison, and while we do not know the exact nature of that state, I am sure the conditions were difficult. It may be that John was placed there by King Herod for his own safety, seeing as though John spent his days sending daggers of truth at the Powers who preferred the darkness. This safe keeping proved short-lived.

He is no longer John the Baptizer; rather, he is John the End-is-Near. It is dark, and I imagine John's surroundings began to corrupt his inner soul. Why am I here? What was I doing? Where did things go wrong? John sends his friends to Jesus. "Please see if He is the One. I want to know if this was worth it."

When they asked, Jesus responds "Look around you... and tell John what you see. What he has done has prepared the way, helped open doors, and the seeds he laid are beginning to take root.

'John, people do not know what to make of you; they gossip over you, and are not sure to bow to or avoid you. But when I see you, I see your forbearer Elijah.'

You go back and tell him."

Matthew 11:14

2010 Books I Read

1. Why we Hate the Oil Companies - John Hofmeister
2. The Sign of Four - Conan Doyle
3. The Ugly American – William Lederer
4. A Study in Scarlet - Conan Doyle
5. On Paradise Drive - David Brooks
6. The Conscience of a Liberal – Paul Krugman
7. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
8. Homegrown Democrat - Garrison Keillor
9. Basics of Retaining Wall Design - Hugh Brooks
10. The Virginian - Owen Wister
11. American Revelation - Neil Baldwin
12. Comeback America - David Walker
13. Audacity of Hope – Barak Obama
14. Take this Bread - Sara Miles
15. Sleeping Murder – Agatha Christie
16. Murder at the Vicarage – Agatha Christie
17. False Economy - Alan Beattie
18. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - Charles Mann
19. The Survivor’s Club – Ben Sherwood
20. Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 - Charles Mann
21. How to Raise Totally Awesome Kids - Borsellino
22. Nemesis - Agatha Christie
23. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie
24. Disciplines for an Inner Life – Bob Benson (partial)
25. In Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston
26. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming - Christopher Horner