Justin And The Not So Happy Birthday

His present was ready and the decorations were up...

But when the birthday boy woke up it was soon plain to see it would not be a happy day..

Feverish and sick he tried to be brave..

But it was hard..

Especially when his mouth hurt so much when he tried to eat.. 

He tried to play outside,

But that didn't last long..

Next week, Lord willing, we will have a do over.

Poor baby!

News

(Below is a copy of a letter that has been recently sent out via email and air mail to those on our mailing list. If we've missed you somehow or you would like to join our mailing list please email us at jwkrul@gmail.com)

Dear Family and Friends

We want to begin by thanking you for your prayers and support over the years that we have served with MAF in Haiti. We truly serve a God of abundant provision!

Through you God has enabled us to fill an important role in Haiti through MAF. This past year alone I flew over 48,650 Miles, 77,000 lbs of cargo and relief supplies, and 1,500 passengers including many national pastors, teachers, and work teams! Following the 2010 earthquake which struck Haiti, and the subsequent cholera outbreak, MAF has been a key player in providing relief supplies, medicine, food, and shelter. Additionally, through the support of MAF as well as numerous work teams, we have been able to build 77 homes for earthquake victims!

As some of you may know our second term with MAF is coming to an end this summer. We are thankful to share that there have been many positive changes in Haiti recently. We have witnessed both improvements in Haiti's infrastructure, as well as the addition of air ambulance helicopters.

Despite these improvements, Haiti still has many other serious needs that include lack of food and clean drinking water, lack of good medical and dental care and spiritual darkness due to the influence of voodoo and witchcraft.

As we have been re-evaluating our role here, we’ve been actively praying and seeking God's 
will on how to minister to the needs of others most effectively. Over and above flying, our true passion has been strengthening and enabling key mission partners in Haiti by connecting them with individuals/groups in North America thereby increasing their ministry effectiveness.

Proverbs 3:5-6 has been a great comfort and encouragement to us during this time. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

How could we further utilize the skills God has given us to serve others?

Well, in the last few months God has clearly opened doors for us to work with a mission organization called Hungry for Life. The role of this organization is to strengthen missions on the ground to enable them to fulfill their mission more efficiently and effectively.

They also facilitate relationships between groups and churches and missions to help alleviate suffering in poor areas and demonstrate God’s love through projects of compassion. 

My role will initially be as a Missions Consultant, as well as Project Manager for several of the field partners HFL works with in Haiti. This will allow us to continue to build closer relationships with the Mission partners we’ve been working with during our time with MAF.

For this role our family will transition to Chilliwack, BC, where the Hungry for Life office is based. We will still be required to raise support in this role, and we hope to meet with you and share more details about our new role at the end of the summer when we transition out of MAF and into HFL, God willing. We appreciate your continued financial support with MAF until we transition and hope that you will consider supporting our work with Hungry for Life when the time comes. At the same time we can also appreciate that you may want to continue supporting MAF in some capacity as well.

This position will require me to travel to Haiti and other developing countries throughout the year. I will also be able to continue to work with groups and teams wanting to serve in places of suffering and need.

As for flying, I plan to keep my licenses current and we are open to working with MAF elsewhere in the future if God wills.

We’ve very much appreciated your care and support over the years. Please keep us in your prayers as there will be much mixed emotions as we face a time of many changes and transitions.

Sincerely Jason, Will and boys

February Update

So I’ve spent several days trying to get the team journals posted with no success, so I finally decided to just do an update instead. One of the reasons the journals may not be posting is because the camera they used is of better quality then mine and our internet here simply can’t handle uploading their high quality photos. The other reason may be that we’ve been dealing with a transportation strike which has shut down the city for several days meaning more people are home and using the internet. Anyway, I’ve decided it’s not worth getting frustrated about!

So what’s been happening around here? Well we’ve just had two teams come through which has kept Jason and I hopping. Beside my usual wife/mom role I’ve also temporarily adopted the roles of chauffeur, cook, maid, translator, nurse and general manager. It’s been good though. I always tell people we wouldn’t do it if we couldn’t handle the workload or we didn’t see the value in it!

Other than a few ‘bumps on the road’, (like trying to avoid road blocks due to a city wide transportation strike and one group missing their American Airlines flights out of Port au Prince as it departed two hours before schedule), everything went really well! In the third world you gotta be flexible!

My house looked like a bomb had gone off by the time everyone left, but with the help of Anoud and Denise it was soon put back together again.

The transportation strike due to the high prices of fuel, has caused the city to be shut down several days in a row. Jason, my can’t sit still I’ve got work to do kind of guy, hasn’t let this stop him and instead has been leaving the house very early before the barricades form and coming home late, after the protestors go home for the night.

A city wide shut down also meant truck drivers couldn’t deliver water for us. This had me a little worried as I had a lot of laundry to do before our next team arrives tomorrow, February 12. When one of the drivers did show up in the evening when the protestors had gone home, I was so happy and thankful I almost cried!

The three boys are all doing great!  Jayden is as sweet as ever and told me the other night he loves me sooooo much, but He still loves God more. On the picture below he is burning off some excess energy before school!

The terrific threes are in sight as Justin hopes to celebrate his third birthday at the end of this month! I won’t miss the terrible twos all that much!

Alexander at 8 months is spending most of his days on his feet. He can sit and crawl already, but has decided that standing is so much more thrilling. Just this morning I watched as he kept letting go of the sides of his pack and play to practice his balance. I am soo not ready for my baby to be walking yet though, but it doesn’t look like there will be any slowing him down. He’s determined to catch up to his two older brothers!

As for lessons learned. I’ve been convicted over the last months to be more generous. Whenever I go out I make sure I carry money with me for the car wipers, pedestrian traffic directors, guys who carry my groceries, porters, water truck drivers who come after hours, mechanics who check my oil or tire pressure, you name it; there are plenty of people out there who can benefit greatly from a tip for services rendered. 

You would think that the more I gave away the less I would have left, but it’s amazingly not true!  In God’s economy things work differently.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

The lesson I’ve learned is this: you can’t out give God. And really, how could you? Everything is His!

Team Journal 1

Friday, January 30
Photos courtesy of Carla N.

Beautiful sunrise on the flight from Seattle to Miami.

Sun reflecting on a jet stream.

Golden colours.

Miami.

Skyline.

First glimpses of Haiti.

On the ground.

"The drive there was silent. Eyes taking in every ragged building, dusty street and rocky road. In stark contrast were the clean clothes and shiny shoes." Courtney S.

"Got to Jason and Will's house and fairly quickly left for Baptist Mission area. Jason took half of us and Will took the rest of us. Extremely rough terrain for roads and extremely steep inclines. Will wasn't sure we would make it and did stall out once." Eric K.

Outside of the Baptist Mission there were many vendors trying to sell souvenirs.

"It was difficult trying to buy souvenirs because we felt bad for the vendors but did not want to pay the high prices they were asking. I ended up bartering for the price and then giving a little extra on top of it to help them out." Arianne J.

Some of the sights on the drive back to Jason and Will's house.

"Came back to Jay and Will's and played a bit with their three kids; Jayden, Justin and Alexander. We also played soccer with the little neighbour kids." Courtney S.

"Had supper - buns and meat stew. Was good! Debriefed, devotions, and discussed highs and lows of the day." Eric K.