Christmas Week Update

We had three new girls arrive from Pastor Andy's home town. As you can see they are very malnourshished. From left to right is Jedina (3), Vernelia (5), and Soumene Jules (8). Vernelia and Soumene are sisters while Jedina is a cousin to the girls. They have more siblings but Andy was not able to bring them. They do have both a mother and father. The next picture is of Soumene, the 8-year-old.


Check out how happy baby Marclove is after being with us for eleven days. He is smiling, eating more and finally drinking out of his sippy cup. Praise God!


Here are the pictures of the new ,18-days-old, twins, Thomas (is the first) and Tasha. They were not yet named, so we had the privilage of naming them. They're mother died from an infection a few days after giving birth. We were not able to get them in a picture together because we took Tasha to the hospital right away. As you can see, she was very, very sick. She was only with us for a very short time, but we still loved her. Most of you already know, we lost Tasha on December 28, 2008. Please keep the mission family in your prayers. We are hurting for our loss but still moving foward in Father!

We will always love you, Tasha!

Creche Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas from all of us here at LFM and our friends and family in Haiti!

This is the christmas tree that Hanna, Guerry, and I painted on a wall at the creche.

Update

This is Marclove after having him for two days now. You can see a big change in him. He is now eating, but we still have to give him liquid through a syringe. He doesn't know how to sip out of a baby cup. He has been crawling, which is really good for him in this condition.

Daniel and willy took a hike up to the top of the mountains, overseeing Port-de-Paix. They had a lot of fun.

A Day in Haiti

We have a new boy. His name is MarcLove Jean. He was born July 26, 2007. His mother died and he has one brother who is not with us. We took him immediately to the doctor and he has been tested and x-rayed and has Tuberocloius (TB). His father was looking for someone to help him because he knew that his son was sick. So a neighborhood boy brought him to us. The father cried as he gave up his son. That is unusual for fathers in Haiti. Marc will be going to the doctor once a month for treatment at the hospital. He is living with us in our home for the time being, especially with a lack of space and so many babies at the Creche. I will be able to keep a close eye on him and give him the caring, personal attentioin that he needs.

This is Mackenda (Lydia), being adopted by Natalie and Chris Lewis, with a cotton cast on her arm. Last night she was playing inside and one of the boys knocked her down. She fell and landed on her elbow. We took her to La Pointe (the local children's hospital) to have x-rays and found out that she pretty much dislocated it at the socket. They pulled on her arm to relocate it in place, and she now has a soft cast on for a while. Just pray for healing and for the new boy too with TB.

Adoptions!

Praise the Lord! John's adoption is finalized! He has gone home to his new family on November 29th. His new parents, Rob and Margo Sutton of Indpls., Indiana, have reported that John is doing well and enjoying the white snow. We miss him dearly after having him as part of our family for three years. We love you, John and miss you! Rob and Margo has just started the adoption process for baby Davinson, which he is still in Haiti at the adoption home with mama Solange.

Franson and Leopaul Adelson have gone home to their new family in Stapleton, Alamaba. Leopaul got his visa to leave with his father, Chris Lewis, on Nov. 29th, while Franson, being 15 years old, had to wait a few more days. Franson went home on Dec. 3rd. These boys have been with us for six years and became a big part of our family. As Daniel would say, Franson has always been his shadow. The Lewis family is still waiting on the visa appt. for their daughter Jasmina, as it can happen anytime now. We are going to miss these boys very much! We love you boys! And will see you soon.

The Boys Roof and New Kids

The roof is finished!!!! Praise the Lord. Thanks you Dwayne, Tommy, Mark and Markus.


Youseline Tima is 12 years old and her two little brothers, Josue Saint Phar is 22 months old and baby Daniel Saint Phar is 8 months old. They are well as far as develomental but they are so malnurished and very hungry. Youseline has not had a father since she was born. The boys have a different father than their sister. There were four children but the mother wanted to keep one to have something to hold on to. We ask the mother if we were to provide provision for them if she would keep them all but she responded that she just could not care for four children by herself. Josue can walk, and Daniel is sitting up well. The mother had a very hard time with leaving them.

This is Lorvenson Pierre Louis. He is three years old and came from Gonaives. He was brought by his grandmother. They lost everything in Hurricane Ike. The flood washed all their birth certificates and such away. His mother died giving birth. His father is unknown. Lorvenson was so hungry since he had not eaten in days. When we give him food, he stuffs his mouth so full with still so much fear of starvation.

The Boys Dorm

Here are some pictures of the roof being put on the older boy's dorm by a group of men. The boys are almost in their room and very excited.

The "Returning Son"

This is Elson Aluiodor. He is 13 and was born on December 25, 1994. Elson was someone we knew since he was three years old. And today he could no longer stay where he was living and being raised, so he came to us to be loved on. You could say a "Returning Son."

The Boys Bunkbeds

The first picture is the beds autographed by the workers who built the beds.

Here is one of the bed complete.

And here are two complete beds. They were built to make more room in the dorm.

The boys are very excited and can't wait to put their belongings on the shelves below and sleep in their own bed. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible with time, money, thoughts, and prayers.

Our New Additions

These are our newest additions to the boy's home and the adoption home. From left to right is Wilnise (12), Guebbison (9), and Henry (8). They came from Anse-se-flour. Their father died and the mother could not care for them. If you can only imagine how small they are, Henry is about the size of our 5 year olds. They are very malnurished. The girl is about the size of our Willy and she is 12 years old. They are brothers and sister and are available for adoption.

Sabrina, who is two years old, is standing side by side with Guebbison, who is nine years old. Yes, he is very small, and sabrina is very big. This is to give you an idea of why feeding the children in Haiti is important.

Boys Home Projects

These are the pictures from the bunkbeds project.

This picture is the walls going up on top of the boy's dorm for the bedrooms for the older boys.

Our Dear Little Tabitha

Most of you have already heard, but we lost our dear little Tabitha this morning. This is very difficult for all of us, especially Cindy. Please continue to pray for us as we go through this hard time.

Update - Please continue to pray for Tabitha

Tabitha was taken to the local "hospital." There it was determined that her heart and lungs looked good, but she had a very low body temperature, was dehydrated, listless, and not taking food. They recommended she be taken to LaPointe Hospital which should have an incubater and could give her IV fluids. She was checked into LaPoint children's ward, but after just a few hours, Mom and Dad decided it was not a good or safe place for Tabitha and moved her to another facility with the intent of flying her to PAP to try to get her into a better hospital there. LaPointe did have an incubater but the generator was not working so there was no power to run it and no refrigeration for the medications. So Mom and Dad took Tabitha to Port-au-Prince this morning. They have found a very good (and very expensive) hospital. They were told it is the best hospital in PaP. They are in a private room, and Tabitha has feeding tubes in her, is hooked up to an iv, and is under a heating lamp. One of their best pediatricians has already been in to see her, and she has several doctors and nurses constantly checking on her. The hospital is taking very good care of her, and Mom and Dad, as well. Please continue to pray for Tabitha and all the staff who have come to love her so much. We will keep you informed.

Tiffany
for Keith and Cindy

Pray for Tabitha!

Please pray immediately for our tiny little Tabitha.Last night she just stopped eating, and with her being so small and fragile, we did not want to take any chances. We are taking her to the hospital. It was a miracle for her to survive after being left on the beach. We need another miracle for her now.

Also, we have two new additions to the adoption home. :) We have twin, 6 month old, girls. Elionese is on your left and Elioner on your right. They were born in Jean Rebel in March. Their mother died in May of a sickness and their father wanted to give them up because he does not want them to die. Both girls are healthly. Elioner is a little more chubby, and we believe that she is the first born. They are spending the first night in our home, and then to the creche tomorrow.

Our Last Month

Tiffany and Hermelin took Willy and a couple of his friends to Chuck E. Cheese while Keith and I spent a couple days in a hotel.

Daniel caught the biggest frog during the hurricane season in Haiti.
We are back in Haiti and getting to know our newest little angel, Tabitha. We call her "Peanut" because she is so small. She is only around 1#. We don't have a scale small enough to weigh her on but, at 10 days old, she weighs "more than an 11 oz. package of hot dogs and less than a bottle of coke." Vance can put his wedding ring all the way to her elbow on her tiny little arm. Her story is truly a miracle. She was left on the beach by her mother, apparently shortly after her birth, the mother was caught and is in jail. The baby's aunt took Tabitha and tried to care for her but couldn't and brought her to the mission. Hannah and Vance have been caring for her, feeding her with an eye dropper every couple of hours. She is doing well and is certainly the center of attention. We have to believe Father has a special plan for this little one. Please continue to pray for her.

Update

We finally have Fredlet's twin sister, Fredliene, and they both are at the creche.

We celebrated Sabrina's second birthday on Sept. 5 at the creche with other kids.


A message from Keith:

Dear Friends and Family in ministry,

After 11 years of living in Haiti, I've realized we could have done this better. From the first we have depended on generators to provide the basic electrical needs of our home and later the mission buildings. Through those 11 years the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel has continually climbed. I've always just bought gas or fuel, or we did without, thinking the money was better spent on food and other needed supplies though it often left the mission without even security lights in order to keep diapers on our babies.

The recent years of crisis after crisis has compounded the problem. Why did I never put in place wind, solar, or even a really good inverter system in the mission? Recently we were given a donation that allowed us to put in a good inverter system in our mission house. This is a blessing that has finally made me realizeI could have saved thousands of dollars over the years and I could have used those thousands of dollars to help many more people. Right now we are paying $47 per night to run our generator for 12 hours of power. That is $329 a week, $1,316 a month, or, a whopping $15,792 a year. That's a pretty hefty electric bill. Oh, the money I have lost over the years. And, in times like now when there is no gas or fuel to be had due to the hurricane washing out the delivery routes, my wife and children will spend the night in the dark in a country that is full of the darkness of evil.

I can't go back and do it over, not that I would want to, but we can certainly do better in the future. Many people have talked to me about the different options for generating and storing electricity. The best option by far is wind. We ALWAYS have a breeze, usually a strong breeze, at the mission. We have looked at this option occasionally but because of the expense we've not pursued it. At current prices , we see that this could easily pay for itself in short order. Had we set this up in the beginning, we would now be enjoying free power and perhaps even selling power to others and using that extra money to help even more people in Haiti. When I look at the money spent on what could have been free and dependable power I cringe. We must pursue this option. We must stop wasting money on fuel when God is giving us plenty of wind to produce the needed power.

But, we don't have the knowledge and we don't have the money to set up this system. We know there is someone out there in our network who does know about wind generation of power and we are praying God is calling someone to be willing to fund this huge project or help us in financing it.

I'll be pursuing this idea everywhere I go in my travels over the next few weeks; just a warning.... here I come.

It's in the Father's Hand,

Keith

Life after Hurricanes

Jessica trying to walk down our street after hurricane Hanna.

The road in front of our house after hurricane Ike. About 1 foot 6 in. + deep.

Dear Friends and Family in Ministry,

I arrived in the states late Wednesday night. It was no easy feat just getting out of Haiti. Let me tell you how my trip out began. My wife, Cindy, and Pastor Andy came as far as Port au Prince with me so that they could work on some adoptions. They will return to Port de Paix and Cindy will come to the states with Willy on Sept. 30th. So, our first step was to get from Port de Paix to Port au Prince. You must realize that our entire north coast area is completely cut off from the rest of Haiti. The bridges and roads are washed out. The only mode of transport is through the little airport which had been closed since the last hurricane hit the island last week.

We got up very early and sent someone to see if the road to the airport was even passable. Then we had to find some gasoline . Just a couple of gallons would be enough but only one station, of the 3 in our area, still had any gasoline. At 5:30 in the morning 500 people were already in line , pushing and shoving for position. We started looking for some gas on the streets and finally found 2 gallons we could purchase. For 2 gallons of gasoline we had to pay $240 Haitian, $30.76 U.S.

When we got to the airport already over 100 people were there at the gates. The airport stayed closed till 6:30 a.m., giving out little information, only that they were waiting to see if a plane would be sent over from the capital. We have had reservations for some weeks and were given boarding passes for the first flight. With only 19 seats available and over 100 people waiting, some since the storms ended, the crowd quickly got very angry. As we were moving through the gate to board the plane, a riot broke out. Several airport employees and I had to do some pushing and shoving of our own to protect Cindy and Pastor and the other passengers. They finally got us through and got the gate closed and we hurried to the plane and the pilot took off as quickly as he could. Cindy received a cut on her arm when she was shoved against the gate but we were otherwise unhurt.

This is the only transportation out of the north west half to get to anywhere in Haiti. We had only minor flooding in our area (compared to other places in Haiti), even the other side of our town was hit harder than our side. (Obviously we were in the Father's Hand) When I talked to Cindy by phone this morning she said there were no fresh vegetables to be had at the markets and no bananas. Much of what was in the stores downtown was destroyed by the flooding. Everything that wasn't destroyed by the storm is sold.

In Port au Prince there is a Navy ship and 2 Marine helicopters . We understand they are distributing food and aid to the hardest hit areas of Haiti first. Our area was not the worst hit, it's just that we are totally cut off. Even when the food does arrive it will still have to be purchased. That's the way aid is "handed out" in Haiti.

Buying diesel for the security lights is costing us about $80 a night and we don't know how long that will even be available. We had nothing in storage so we are forced to buy it as it is available on the streets.

Globe International has given us an advance of $5500 in order to purchase food and provision for the mission (while it is available), help some of our families who needed immediate help, and pay for the funeral of our employee that died during the hurricane. This money will last only until about the end of next week, at current prices. We must still pay payroll for our staff at the end of the month. They have to take care of their families too. We need your help.

I will be very upfront here. I am in the states, leaving my wife , children, staff and everyone behind for the first time in 11 years, for one reason, I need to raise support. Below is a list of places I'm already scheduled to speak but we will be in the states until the end of October. If you can help us get more places to tell our story while we are here, please call me. We want to talk to as many people as we can. Please print and post this list and pray for these events.

Although the times are very hard, Cindy and I have a peace about this situation. God will meet this need through those who are obedient to His voice. We understand God provides in many ways, some miraculous and unexplainable, and sometimes through those He calls to give. Cindy and I have been obedient to His call to be missionaries, to be on the front line. We believe He has, and is, calling others to support and maintain our efforts. You cannot personally see the starvation and devastation. We cannot convey it. Pictures do not do justice to the misery we see every single day. Haiti was already struggling with starvation issues, the storms only made conditions worse. But Cindy and I, and others in our prayer team, believe in our hearts this is a cry for the church to take it's place, that this is an opportunity to truly be Jesus to those who need to know our Father. We need your help, your obedience to His call.

With the money from Globe we have been able to help 3 of our mission staff get their homes repaired or rent rooms for them to provide shelter for their families . Several more families come on a daily basis asking for help. Cindy said another man came this morning with his 4 children who needed $1000 to get his family into shelter and off the streets. You can't know how it hurts to not be able to help these people we have come to know and love.

School was supposed to start on Sept. 8th but the government decided to postpone opening the schools till Oct. 6th. Our school will not open till Oct. 6th but if we can raise enough support and get food to the mission, we will begin our feeding program as soon as possible.

We need your help. Please give today. Give online at www.gme.org or call Globe at 850-453-3453. You can call me direct anytime at 765-318-0917. If you can, and feel called, we really really need regular monthly supporters. Even small amounts ever month add up to help a great deal. If you aren't already sponsoring the mission monthly, please consider this option.

We leave it, as always,....

In the Father's Hand,

Keith Lashbrook

Upcoming Events for Lashbrook Mission

Since we have friends in all parts of the country we know that not all of you will be able to participate in these but if you know someone in these areas, please pass the word and remember to pray for the success of these events. If you would like to add an event, contact the office at 765-325-2467 or office@lfmintl.com

* Keith will be meeting with cell groups and other small group ministries as well as with some Pastors of other churches while in these areas. Please pray for favor during these meetings and open doors and hearts.

* Food Drive -For the next 2 weeks Frontline Church of God, Amanda, OH will be collecting canned meats, peanut butter, stick deodorant, shampoo, soap and other supplies for the mission and hurricane recovery efforts. Call the church for best time to drop off donations. (740) 969-2822

* Also collecting food for the next 2-3 weeks - St Luke Church, Decatur, IN - drop off at the church on Sundays 8:30-11 a.m., or at 1731 Brook Ct, Ossian, IN - contact Joan Furey - 260-622-4903

*Sunday, September 14th - First Baptist Church of Silver Lake (in Silver Lake, KS) Keith Lashbrook will be speaking at both services -8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. -

* Tuesday, September 16th - Community Christian Church in Council Grove, KS - 6:00 for dinner and then Keith will be speaking afterward

* Wednesday, September 17th - Grace Community Church in Overbrook, KS - Keith will speak to "Friends" program at 6:30

* Sunday, September 21st - Enterprise Baptist Church, Norman, OK - Keith will be speaking at the morning service. (Sorry, I do not have the time... please check with the church if you are in the area.)

* Sunday, September 21st - Twelve Corners Baptist Church, Norman, OK - Keith speaking at 6 p.m. evening service

* Wednesday, September 24th - Saved By Grace Fellowship International, 401 Pine St. Raymore Mo. 64083 (corner of Pine and 58HWY) Keith speaking at 6:30 p.m. service.

* Friday, September 25th - Golf for Globe - Globe International First Annual Golf Tourament, Lost Key Golf Club, Pensacola, FL

For more information: (850) 453-3453 OR visit www.gme.org/golf

* Sunday, September 28th - Christian Life Center, 1000 Roosevelt Blvd., Kenner, LA, www.clckenner.org, 504-467-5433 - Keith will be speaking at the 10 a.m. service.

* Friday & Saturday, October 3-4 - 4th Annual Mission Rummage Sale - This is a HUGE sale that has raised up to $2000 for shipping for the mission in past years. The host church is First Community Church, 701 N Lebanon St., Lebanon, IN 46052. Donations can be brought to the church on Wednesday and Thursday the Oct. 1st or 2nd. Volunteers are needed to help with set up (10/2) and take down (3 p.m. on Saturday) If you can help call: 765-325-2467

October 21- Nov. 1 - Mission Trip still has room for more people. Leaders are Lori McKenzie and Cindy Lu Holmes. Team will build bunk beds and repair school desks and do children's outreach. Contact mission office for more details.

Nov. 4-13 - Fathers & Sons/ Mens and Boys Mission Trip - Will finish bunk beds and cabinets and work on new dorm rooms for older boys among other construction projects. Contact mission office for more details.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Interns

We have had a busy summer with interns and groups! So far, we have had four interns. Jessica and Sarah are here for quite a long time still. We will post their pictures at a later time. This is Julie Mckee. She just recently finished her internship with LFM. "Thank you, Julie, for all your efforts, and we miss you already!"

This next picture is George Shelby from Florida bringing the Word of Life to the children in Haiti.

Carlos

We have a new boy. His name is Carlos Oscar. He is from the mountains. His father brought him to the door of In the Father's Hand Children's Home and left him at the gate. Pastor Andy knows the family because three months ago this little boy's mother passed away due to an illness. He is a very sweet boy with the cutest smile.
Before

After