Monday, June 30, 2008

The Latest News


Hello everyone! Praise the Lord! Everyone is doing much better this week! Julie is beginning to heal quickly. Please continue to pray for Willy, though. He is still sick with a fever.
We are in the hussle and bustle of groups now. We have one in now. And we have a large group coming the day after they leave. Please be in prayer for the will of God to be done through the different ministries!
We have a new boy. He arrived Friday afternoon. His name is Even. His mother died trying to cross the ocean. We will post more information and a picture of Even at a later time.
God bless!
(Willy being silly.)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Prayer

There have been several sicknesses floating around the mission. Cindy has been sick for four weeks with a throat bug and chest pains. She started taking an antibiotic and found out she was allergic to it. She broke out in hives the second day. Sabrina has been sick with a cough and after two rounds of antibiotics, she is finally getting over it. Our intern is in the worst condition. She has those clues (similar to boils) all over her body with a severe rash. Keith and Hanna have been doctoring her the best they can. She is trying to fight this off but it is extremly difficult. Right now, it is litterrally impossible for her to be comfortable.

Also, our groups are having trouble with american airline flying in. This past month, everyone that has flown in ends up getting delayed from 1 day to 3 days in Florida. This is very frustrating and can get expensive. Please just be in prayer that the airlines would get things in order.

We really appreciate all your prayers! It really helps us get through all of these challenges.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Update

Dear Friends and Family in Ministry,

My daughter, Tiffany , emailed me a letter this week. She has been in the states for almost three years now. She, along with her husband, M'lin are preparing for their work as full time missionaries (you can view their updates at http://www.tifandmlin.blogspot.com/). She said something in this letter that struck me to the core. She said, "Dad, I feel disconnected from the ministry. If I was a supporter, I would quit." You see, one of my weaknesses is communication. I'm a dad. I work. I know Tiffany knows how much I love her, I know how much she loves the work we do here in Haiti, and I know God used her to show me what needs to be done. God spoke to me at the beginning of this year, "new life, new color" for this ministry (not a new vision, just "new life" in the vision), one of the things I now know we need to do better to bring this "new life and new color" is much better communication with all those who are part of this ministry.
Oh, I love to share with people what Father is doing in our ministry. But for me, I have to be sitting with you and just talking. I'm not a writer, but if you came to our home in Haiti it would be easy for you to see the love we have for the people God has called us to serve and love on. Or, if I could come and sit in your living room and just share my heart, I could introduce you to the 27 boys in our children's home and you could see and hear that they are no longer orphans but sons. You could see spiritually that the hope for Haiti is for these boys to fulfill the vision God has planted in our hearts. The hope for Haiti is that these boys will take their place as fathers, as our vision is to raise up a generation of godly fathers.
You would see the church we planted 8 years ago, now full of life and relationships. You can see the 26 beautiful little children of Grace Children Adoption Home, who we love on and care for as their parents await their arrival. You could see the 250 children at Grace Christian School who are changing their lives through education and the provision of one meal a day. You can walk the dirty muddy streets of Gris Gris (a community in Port de Paix) where we live. And through the muck and the mire you could see the relationships we have our neighbors. But, trying to write this up and explain it to you is hard for me (Keith). But God doesn't like my excuses. Thank you for your patience and support during this time. I am working on my communication, now more than ever. (I don't want to lose Tiffany's support.) I'm going to strive to bring you the heart of our ministry which is raising up a family, a generation of Fathers, both physically and spiritually; to bring the concept of family and commitment to Haiti, through whatever it takes, robberies, poverty, hunger, through any circumstance of the world that would try to stop us.

We are committed to this vision! Our commitment to stay and your commitment to send us is showing them relationship is not based on circumstance but on the love of Father God and on our calling to obedience. Obedience brings blessings.

Our commitment to you is that we will do better at communication through our web page (http://www.lfmintl.com/) through our emails from our office@lfmintl.com address and through our blog at http://www.keithncindy.blogspot.com/ . We want to hear from you too!


In the Father's Hand,


Keith & Cindy

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Makeshift Couch

As many of you know, the Lord has blessed us with a new home. With a new home comes new needs. Most of the furniture we had has gone to the children's home and the adoption home. There are several household items we are in dire need of. The first and most important being an inverter system. Let me explain... The average daytime temperature (during the summer) is 108* and the average nighttime temperature is 95*. Our home is one story with the bedrooms in the middle of the house. There is no air circulation in the house, making being in the house very difficult and sleeping almost unbearable. The inverter system will allow us to run floor fans/ceiling fans throughout the hottest part of the day, as well as at night, allowing plenty of air circulation. The next item on our list, also a major need, is a refrigerator. We are not able to keep anything cold at the house, including ice, cold drinks, certain foods, etc. Both the inverter system and the refrigerator can be bought in Haiti for a total of $2,400 US. It is cheaper this way because we are able to avoid shipping and customs costs.

The remaining items we need are as follows: a kithcen table and chairs for 6 (this can be made in Haiti for around $400 US), 5 ceiling fans, couch (note the photo above) and chairs for two rooms (we have a tv room and a sitting room), a twin bed for Willy, a trash can for outside and a trash can for the kitchen, a good size cutting board, and mixing bowls with lids.

Once again, we are asking for your help. We are not too picky. Things do not need to be brand new. If you know someone who is giving away any of these items or would like to help a missionary family, this is one of the best ways at the present moment.

Tax deductible, financial contributions should be made payable to:
Lashbrook Family Ministries, with furniture written in the memo
and mailed to:
Globe International
PO Box 3040
Pensacola, FL 32516-3040

For more information, you can contact our daughter Tiffany at 765-318-4509 or our stateside office at 765-325-2467.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support of our family!
God bless, Keith n Cindy

Sunday, June 1, 2008

how we dress our daughter sabrina


just thought maybe you could use a good laugh to see how we left one of our intern in charge of getting our daughter sabrina dressed for the trip from Port-au-Prince to our new home in Port-de-Paix. We are settled into our new house. it is beautiful and comfortable. miss you all in the states.
cindy