Us on the plane before it broke down. We have disembarked and are now waiting for repairs in Pheonix.


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       We have officially bought our tickets to Puerto Vallarta! We are leaving in 13 days, on June 29th.We have made a three month commitment to the ministry in Mexico and we will reevaluate after that. We will be living in an apartment within walking distance from the church. I will be working there on a newsletter and other administrative duties for the ministry, and John Mark will be doing construction. We are very excited and will keep you up to date.

Thank you for your prayers,
        Moorea

Hello,

      I apologize that the font is not easier to read on our newest newsletter. If you click the image to open it in its own tab and click again to zoom, it should be easier to read. If you would like to receive newsletters in your personal email, please email me you address to moorea.holmes@gmail.com.

Thanks,

     Moorea

 

No official news yet. We are still not sure when we are leaving.We have been in contact with our project leaders every few days, but we are still waiting. I guess the Haitian government gave the land for the university to the Haitian non-profit we are working with. Unfortunately, the non-profit is having trouble securing the deed.We've been told that they are sending someone down to the capital, Port-Au-Prince (a 3 hour plane ride or a miserable 8-hour bus ride each way), once a week without seeing much progress. They don't want to begin construction in earnest until they have the deed for the land.

Please pray that God's timing would direct this whole project. Haiti is a place famous for spiritual opposition. Please pray that the details would be worked out quickly and that opposition would not prevent the project from moving forward.
Thank you,
Moorea

My sister and I hiking In Sedona, AZ

Hello,
Life has been busy the last few weeks. I went with my family to Sedona, AZ to visit my grandmother. My sister, who is living in San Antonio, TX, met us in Arizona, so we had a family reunion for a couple days. It was fun to spend time with my family especially since I won't be a able to see them fairly soon.

John has been working out of town for a few weeks, so he has been scarce. He told me he spent a total of 4 hours at our house in 10 days, including to time he slept there. Just finding time to do laundry between his trips to a from work has been a challenge. He is also registered to take his state exam next Tuesday to become EMT certified. He is nervous; the test is pretty rigorous. 


It is only four weeks till we are planning to leave for Haiti. We mock packed our bags a couple weeks ago and currently have a little space left -- that was unexpected! I'm sure we will find something to fill in the space. Maybe we will take some cookies.

We are looking at buying plane tickets this week. Since Haiti is an obscure destination, it is difficult to book a flight more than a few weeks in advance. Once the tickets are bought, we will have an official departure date.

Blessings,
Moorea

 
We got word today that they should be ready for us in Haiti around June 1st. That is only six weeks away! Depending on plane ticket prices and other details, we will probably leave within a week of that date.

We will keep you updated as we know more. Thanks for all of your prayers
Moorea

Hello,

There have been a lot of changes in our plans, and we wanted to keep you all updated.

We received a call a couple weeks ago from Jim and Karen Esson, our supervisors, asking us to postpone our departure by a few weeks. It seems that the non-profit organization who is running the financial side of the project is not quite ready for us.  They have has hundreds of dollars pledged from reputable international organizations and other private donors. Unfortunately, they are still waiting for those checks to come in before they can start buying material. Once the material are bought, they need to be shipped down to Haiti, and customs, as you can imagine, are a nightmare. On top of that, they have only just begun building the apartment we are suppose to live in.

WE ARE STILL GOING. We are estimating that we won’t leave till June. We are expecting to have a more dependable departure date within the next week or so. Most of what we need for the trip has been purchased and some of that has been sent down there already. John and I are still excited about this project and totally committed to it.

Jim and Karen Esson were in Yuba City last Tuesday. Though the Essons have been family friend of the Holmes’ for years, I had never met them. It was wonderful to finally meet them after emailing and talking of the phone for months. We spend most of the morning chatting about project details. John and I asked a thousand questions. Because the culture in Haiti is very different than in the states, things move a lot slower. John and I are learning to be flexible and patient already.

Please pray for us. We are still working hard to raise money to support us as we volunteer our time in Haiti. Because it is a island nation and tariffs are astronomical, living costs are high. We also need prayer as we are traveling to a place where voodoo is normal and demonic worship is common.

Thank you all of you who have supported us financially and in prayer. We are blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for believing in us.

Love,

Moorea

PS We are looking for creative fund raising ideas. If you have an idea, I would love to hear it. Please email me at moorea.holmes@gmail.com