Scott Miller Blog :: Good Stuff

Life Groups

Just re-hashing a few things about our different ministries at Pathway…I was reminded of why we 'do' Life Groups…why Life Groups are such a huge part of who we are at Pathway…why every LG leader and attendee (nice word, I know…attendee) ought to be stoking up their involvement in their LG right now…

Life Groups give us:

• Opportunity to connect (connect to Pathway corporately and individually…fellowship)
• Opportunity to grow (grow in your understanding of what it means to be like Jesus…discipleship…)
• Opportunity to give (in your gifts, etc, in ministry to one another and outside of the church)

I love it…find a LG today!

Skype call with Missionary Todd Tyson

Just had a great Skype call with Missionary Todd Tyson (I snapped the picture above while we were talking). Things are going well at the Bridge International Church in Paris, as well as with the Bridge Project overall.

They are in the process of acquiring a building that they can purchase (as opposed to lease)! They are just waiting on the right person to call them back so they can get the ball rolling. Pray with them that things will happen…

Haiti Update 6

Sitting in my living room, a bit overwhelmed right now.

I woke up Saturday morning in a 3^rd world country, used a toilet I wasn't supposed to flush, took a shower by turning the water off as often as possible, and witnessed the destruction caused by the earthquake last year as we took a tour through a suburb of Port au Prince before we flew out.

I got home about 30 minutes ago (around 1am early Sunday morning), walked into my two story more square footage than 6 Haitian houses house, Daisy met me at the door as if to try to make up for the lost time in a minutes worth of sniffing and licking, everyone was sleeping, so I slipped into the shower, which I left running over me for a long long time (to much information?), I honestly forgot how much of a spiritual experience a shower is for me, I am now completely clean for the first time in a week, and I'm ready to go to sleep.

Wow…I look forward to week's worth of processing what the team and I just lived over the past week. Look forward to sharing more at Pathway later on this morning. Thanks to all who were praying with us.

Haiti Update 5

 
Pic above is the whole team, with our interpreter for the week, Rosnic. Today was our last full day in Haiti. We have been based at MOH which is in Titanyen, about a 45 minute drive north of Port Au Prince, along the coast. The ocean is off in the distance, but every day we can see it easily. We've spent time in villages all over this area of Haiti. Unlike what you hear on the news, Haiti is really a beautiful land with many welcoming people. I realize we have spent most of our time within an hours drive of Titanyen, but, every follower of Jesus Christ in Haiti that we have come in contact with is filled with hope for what God is getting ready to do in their country. It is actually overwhelming the hope you feel from the Haitian people we have come into contact with, particularly those connected with the Mission of Hope church here on the MOH grounds. This was unexpected to say the least…

Today we spent the morning at the Village of Lavek (sp?) where MOH will be building hundreds of homes, as well as schools and a church. We slapped a roof on in about 2 hours, and then at 11am we took a break to feed the over 150 Haitian workers that we were working alongside. Just before they ate, MOH asked me to share a quick message. This was the first time I've ever spoke/preached with an interpreter…wow…that was fun…and powerful. Also the first time I've ever preached a message in 5 minutes. Was amazed at how well the Haitian men listened as I presented John 3:16 to them (with a little help from 'Big' Steve and Andy Davidhizar). A couple of pics here…

Amazing King of Painting, John Lankerd, took on a green paint can, and lost…

This little spawn of Satan crawled out of ditch another team was digging…

Here's a shot of when I was preaching…the bright colored buildings behind me are the homes that we helped to build…Pathway actually built 2 of those through a $10,000 donation that was given through us…

After the morning in Lavek, we spent our final afternoon here at a local beach. Some of the guys went snorkeling, others swam, others sat on the beach b/c they just knew if they were to go in the water they would get completely sun burned and have a miserable trip home so they just waded in the water a little bit and never went fully in…well…it really wasn't 'others' that did this…just me. Here's a pic of some of our guys who went out to snorkel in the ocean (Matt Painter was overjoyed that he got to see a coddle fish)…

And a few that stayed behind to swim…(not much to see here)…

We have enjoyed amazing health all week…until today. Today Arlen Eicher came down with…well…he got sick after we ate lunch and swam. After returning to MOH, he went down to the MOH Hospital. They gave him some meds for his symptoms, and he felt better right away. They think he was just really dehydrated. Please continue to pray for him to travel well on Saturday.

We fly into Chicago at 9pm Indiana time, Saturday night. We'll see you all Sunday morning at Pathway…

Haiti Update 4

Fyi…make sure you read update 3 too…both of these are from today (Thursday)…

I spent some time this afternoon walking through the Village of Hope (orphanage here at MOH). On a personal note, this was a bit of a heart gripping time for me. Not sure I can explain it, but my heart seems to really connect with these kids. Here's 2 pics from the baby house…this house has around 5 infant babies, all of whom who's parents either died in the earthquake, or of AIDS, etc. Arlen and one of the babies here…

This little guy put on a show for me as I walked away…

Here's a few of the older girls from the orphanage…amazing how well these kids speak English…

Haiti Update 3

Here's what happened today…

This morning we stuck around MOH and worked on a facility they are building here (the same one we worked on yesterday). Let me just take a moment to say that this group of Pathway guys are absolutely amazing workers, and skilled at that. Everyone down here is impressed with the work of these guys, including the Haitians. Manass and Scott Horner are in this pic below, working with a few Haitian workers.

This afternoon, we spent time in Mennotree (sp?), simply reaching out to the community alongside a Christian school/outreach in that area. Really proud of our team as we went door to door, talking with people and praying with them. Below is a picture of Matt talking with a group.

Below is a picture of Dean, Arlen, and Manass praying with a gal.

Below, Jason (in the hat) and Thad stirred up a soccer game with the kids.

Scott Horner below…

Gary Kyle…the kids are amazed by the arm hair we white people have…

'BIG' Steve and Jon Stoll…

Jason below…

Haiti 2 Update

Wow…uh…where to start…

Yesterday (Tuesday), Andy, John Lankerd, and Myself went back to finish painting a house we put a roof on in the village of Sesmatla (sp?). The other guys put 2 roof's on in the village of Menotree (sp?), and painted one of those houses.

It was Tuesday morning when Thad Sommer (who was sleeping outside) heard what seemed like a dog sniffing at his ear. As he opened his eyes, he figured out it was not a dog, but a rat the size of a cat. Apparently the rat ran round Thad's bed 3 times, as Thad was trying to get out ASAP. How about that…

Today, Andy and John went back to finish painting the house in Sesmatla, but the rest of us spent the day here at MOH working on a new building they have. Pics below…

Not a whole lot to report otherwise…having a great time with the guys…really wish more of you could have been a part!

Last night, we all got rained on after church…and then had the blessed job of doing the dishes…picture below…

Everyone is healthy…as far as I know (which I have not taken any polls or anything), no one has had any significant stomach issues, etc. Food is not bad at all here. Last night's rain brought a cooler sleep!

A lot of talk about our wives and kids tonight at dinner…we all are looking forward to getting home, but really enjoying our time. A day here is like the following:

6am        Electricity goes out (is only on from 6pm to 6am), meaning our fans go off, meaning we all get up. It's crazy, every stinking one of us wakes up. Get showered or whatever, and get on with our day.

7am        Breakfast…personally, I tried this Special K cereal yesterday, that has strawberry's in it…wow…that's a good cereal folks…thanks for letting me share…

7:30am        Team Devotions…so far led by Jason or I…

8am        We head out to work wherever we are going…sweat a lot…work hard…drink a lot…interact with locals and such…

Noon        Lunch…PBJ if out in a village (or a local restaurant if we happened to be in Sesmatla – started and run by an alumni of MOH school, funded by a loan from an American…really need story)…if at MOH, hit the dining hall area for whatever they have fixed, usually soup…

4pm        Head back to MOH, enjoy a Haitian bottled coke (taste slightly different) and our dorms…

5pm or 6pm    Dinner

7pm        Reflection Time…Reflection Time sounds very touchy feely, sit around, touch toe's and sing Kumbaya…not so…it really is a highlight of the day as we all share about what we experienced during the day, and things the Lord might be speaking to us…as well as other things that seem to happen when you get 13 guys together… laughing …what did you think I was talking about?

8-9pm        Head to our dorm area, and get ready for bed

10pm        Lights out…get under your mosquito nets…and pray the guy in the bunk above you sleeps well and doesn't snore…

2 ½ days and we are out of here…seems like we've been here for a long time…not in a bad way though…we are loving the interaction with the locals, learning the culture, etc.

We do have a cell phone we have rented, so if your husband hasn't used a dollar or two of minutes to call you, know that it's b/c he doesn't like you. Hah! The minutes seem to run out quicker that we can buy them actually.

Signing off…

Haiti picture

For some reason, this pic didn't show up on my previous post…

Quick Haiti Post

I've been in Haiti for 3 days now…it's everything you'd think it would be and more. Some of the quick highlights/experiences:

• Had an overwhelmingly powerful church service Sunday morning with the Mission of Hope Church, including about 800 Haitians! They sang songs in English and French. I shot the picture below as we all went to Kids church halfway through (the preaching is in French, so we wouldn't have understood much) the service.

• Really impressed with the people from Mission of Hope…they are the real deal…raising up Haitians to reach Haitians for Jesus.
• Today was our first day to actually go out and work (Saturday we arrived, Sunday was church and basic touring of the MOH facility and the area's we'll be working in). We painted one of the construction houses, and the rest of the guys put on the roof. Many of the Haitian kids jumped in to help us out (see pic below)…kind of stressed me out…so most of the painters deserted their painting duties and left Matt Painter (who did a great job…bottom pic below) to deal with the kiddo's…

• Haitians are not afraid to bring attention to your man-gut…many have nick-named Steve Sommer "BIG"…it was all funny, until a few of them started grabbing my gut, suggesting that I was also "BIG". Many of the women and children can't keep themselves from grabbing at my arm hair. This makes for an awkward moment…but then I realize that they just rarely see such a handsome guy in this wonderful country. Random pic below…

• When you think about what it would be like to walk into a village of a third world country, that's exactly what I experience today. At one point, me and John Lankerd walked down to a natural spring, which people were using to drink from (as of a year ago, Samaritans Purse now helps them filter drinking/cooking water), wash clothes/dishes in, swim in, bath in, etc. Absolutely amazing.
• This kid, Peter, was kind of my right hand man today as I spent the day painting. Pretty sure he has no parents, and lives with a friend. But he worked his tail off today.

• Went to check something out at the future MOH North campus, and this little girl decided to help me get the paint off my hands by taking her finger nails and scraping it off. Very kind of her…which is really the response we've received from almost every Haitian…they have been very welcoming and glad to see us.

• I would suggest Megan should jump to the last point below as I'm sure she'll have the feeling of "I can't believe he shared that…you are gross Scott." I will be the first to admit I like my American comforts…like AC, being able to flush the toilets (the motto here is "If it's yellow, let it mellow…if it's brown, flush it down"…let your mind run with that one), not having rats and mice in my living quarters, etc.
• Prayer thought? Seriously, pray for us to be able to sleep. I have NEVER experienced such heat in the night. Gary Kyle, Thad Sommer, and Andy Davidhizar have taken to sleeping outside. I understand Andy had a visitor or two (mice), and the other two got bit up even with nets. Please pray we can get the needed sleep we need. Thanks!

Coming up at Pathway…

Here's just a few quick blurbs of what's coming up at Pathway...

 February Missions Month:    

• Serving There (MC serving at the Middlebury Food Pantry...EC serving at Feed the Children)
• Guests from RETA, Jay Covert, and street evangelist/missionary to Spain (and all of Europe) Kevin Prevost
• Just Pray at MC on February 9th, 7pm...prayer for our missionaries, as well as our Haiti team
• Missions Lunch at both EC and MC following Sunday service on February 20th (sponsored by the Painter LG, along with their LG off-shoots!)
• Opportunity to make a Missions Faith Promise over the next year (on Sunday February 27th)

March Bring It Home:

We're kicking it up again, every Wednesday in March, at 7pm. Bring it Home is full of fun, teaching, worship, prizes, and prayer! These evenings are for parents and their kids in K-5^th grades. This year's theme is Good anger, Bad anger, themed around Antarctica! Nurseries will be provided for the younger ones. More information will be coming, but you don't want to miss this. Invite another family to come with you!

P2L End of April/Early May:

P2L (Pathway to Leadership) is an opportunity for you and I to sharpen our skills in all areas of ministry to others (scripture knowledge, ministry gifts, etc.).  Plan on being a part of the first installment of this new ministry at Pathway.  More information on classes to be offered coming in late March. 

May 20-21 – Couples Retreat with Wayne and Cathy Benson

More information to come, but save the date and plan on being a part!