Short-term mission teams from the U.S. work alongside locals on Starfysh projects.
(Image courtesy Starfysh)

Haiti (MNN) — God’s Word has plenty to say about teamwork and collaboration.

King Solomon penned in Ecclesiastes 4, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.” In Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul says, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Gospel workers in Haiti recently came together with that type of unity in mind. Starfysh founder Dr. Steve Edmondson says, “We had gathered on La Gonave to share with each other what we were doing and look for ways that we might collaborate.”

Bringing ministry supplies through customs was a challenge noted by all.

“Moving supplies into country in Haiti is extremely difficult, fraught with a lot of delays and politics and what-have-you,” shares Edmondson.

As the leaders discussed this issue and more, Haiti’s former Director of Finance strolled into their meeting.

“He had direct dealings with the people in power of financial dealings in the country of Haiti,” explains Edmondson. The official gave a presentation to the group about how Haiti’s government impacts Gospel work and the importance of complying with Haitian law.

Dr. Steve Edmondson speaks with Haiti’s former national director of finance.
(Image courtesy Starfysh)

“He and I really had substantive conversations about the next step in our young organization,” Edmondson says. “God is blessing our organization, and…knowing that we’re here for the long-run, we are looking for ways to be more credible among the people.”

Starfysh shares Christ’s love and compassion through holistic care. Their programs focus on creating an island economy, and providing quality nutrition, healthcare, and education. Find more details here.

Edmondson says one of his key takeaways from this meeting was the importance of registering Starfysh with the Haitian government. Not only would it give the group more credibility with locals, “it would give us better credibility at home in writing grants for our projects.”

Registration would also “grease the wheels of efficiency” in transporting Starfysh ministry supplies from the U.S. to La Gonave.

“We try to purchase all of our materials in Haiti whenever possible, but in some cases we just simply need to move supplies via container from the States,” Edmondson explains.

“[Registration] will really, really help us.”

Pray that Starfysh can register with the Haitian government soon. Pray that it will open doors and make Gospel work more efficient.

See more pictures from La Gonave on Starfysh’s Facebook page.

And new playgrounds are just what kids in western Zambia are getting.

A 3,483 pound shipment container from Kids Alive International (KAI) recently arrived in Mongu, located in western Zambia, with the equipment to build three playgrounds for orphans in KAI schools and children’s homes. The container also had chairs, clothing, books, shoes, and a laptop.

Two mission teams with KAI will be sent over to Zambia to set up the playgrounds. The first team will go in mid-June.

KAI was especially thankful for this container delivery since, in the past, many of their aid containers have gotten delayed by red tape, and the mission teams have barely had time to distribute the contents. But this container for Zambia flew through customs in less than a day!

New playgrounds nearly always get kids pumped. But for Zambian children, a playground holds so much more than just the entertainment factor.

Pastor Lubinda Sikufele with KAI in Zambia says, “[The playgrounds will] take them away from the mischievous activities…so this play equipment is a blessing.”

There are no other safe, nice playgrounds for kids to enjoy in Mongu. Often, children who are taken in by KAI children’s homes and schools come from rough backgrounds.

According to Sikufele, “I must confess [the children] are really blessed to be with Kids Alive International…they provide the education. Kids Alive also provides the food, the clothing, the love, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Ministering the Gospel message in everything is what KAI is all about. “For most of these children, where they come from, their families do not believe in the God we believe in,” says Sikufele. “So usually when they come into our care, into our schools, and into our homes, they are introduced to the transforming power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The playgrounds will be built for Kids Alive Lilato Children’s Home housing 65 orphans and abandoned kids, as well as Kids Alive Emmanuel School and Kids Alive Jerusalem School where 400 of the poorest area children attend.

Pray for safety of the teams as they head to Zambia next month and for KAI’s ministry in Christ to the orphaned and needy.

Kids Alive had spent months preparing for the trip, raising funds, and securing supplies for the mission in Lima, Peru. They had shipped the crate several weeks in advance. Then they spent several days in Peru, struggling with nearly every single obstacle imaginable, from governmental red tape to extra clearance fees. There was extra pressure since equipment from an earlier playground had been stolen.

Now, all of the waiting and fighting for the release of the crate came down to these last five minutes.

Finally, at 6:55 pm on Friday, July 1, five minutes before the customs office closed, the crate of playground equipment was released to Kids Alive.

The team members rigged up lights that Friday and worked through the night to build the playground. After 17 hours of hard work, they finished at 2 pm the next day. Rich Anderson with Kids Alive says, "I've never built a playground so fast!"

During the waiting period, the team members were able to spend time with the orphan kids. It was a good time of reflection for everyone. Says Anderson, "One thing that was going through my head…was Jesus' words where He said, ‘If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains'…So I was praying that I could have that much faith."

Not only was the team praying for a miracle, but the kids were fervently praying, too. These poor kids in the surrounding villages of Lima, Peru had never seen a playground. In fact, they barely knew what it was.

Anderson says, "I was looking at the Old Testament passage where David had wars on all different sides. He so much wanted to build the temple, but finally he was told, ‘You're not going to be able to build the temple.' And his response was to pray to the Lord. I thought, ‘What if we're not able to build this playground?'"

These kids often come from very hopeless backgrounds. Half the population of Peru is below the poverty line, and nearly 540,000 orphans live on the streets. Kids who live on the streets have to grow up pretty fast in order to survive, especially if they have younger siblings to care for. A playground can restore some of that lost childhood.

Currently, two more playgrounds are going up in Peru: one in the Amazon Rainforest and the other at a location in the Andes Mountains. This playground equipment was in the same crate as the playground for Lima, and those teams are equally grateful finally to have gotten their supplies.

Kids Alive has a unique ministry building playgrounds for kids–just a small part of what they do. It opens up doors to talk with the kids and tell them why in the world a bunch of people from another country would come all the way to Peru to help them out. It gives members of the mission teams opportunity to tell these kids that there is a God who loves them, and it's because of this love that they wanted to come and tell them about it.

Finances are a major need for Kids Alive now, especially after the customs delay. There were many fees pressed on the team as a result of the crate having to go through extra clearances. On top of all that, this year Kids Alive is taking on a record number of children for their support programs. This means that more funding is needed for that project as well. If you would like to donate to Kids Alive, you can click here.

Please pray for the teams currently in other areas of Peru working to minister to more children through playground construction. Pray also that Kids Alive would gain needed funds to advance their mission. Praise God for the last-minute clearance of the team's container of equipment and for their ability to finish construction of the playground.

The team set out on Saturday, June 25 to build a playground for the children in Lima, Peru. They had also planned on bringing medical assistance and children's activities to the kids in the poorest slums of Peru. All seemed to be well organized. The container was shipped four weeks before the team was supposed to arrive in Peru.

The shipment was first approved by the Peruvian consulate in Chicago, and every document in triplicate was read and stamped. But then the containers got to Peru. From there, they had to be approved by three different "Ministries" in Lima.

One Ministry rejected medical supplies that weren't listed with an expiration date–supplies like scalpels, rubber gloves, gauze, and bandages that don't have an expiration date. These were taken out and destroyed. Another Ministry took a full week to examine the 500 handmade wooden cars and trucks. Customs also required additional information on the playground equipment, bonds had to be placed, and their computers crashed which set back the whole process. All the storage fees and bond payments have cost the team much more than they were expecting.

This isn't the first time Kids Alive International has had difficulties in Peru and, ironically, not even the first time that their difficulties involved a playground. In mid-March, aluminum thieves stole some of the materials on a playground Kids Alive had installed last summer in Peru. The materials were never recovered, and the thieves were never caught.

With this new project, the team started digging holes on Monday in anticipation that the container will arrive soon. They also went to customs to get a green light, orange light, or red light from customs. A green or orange light will mean that they can take their shipment. A red light means there is a problem with their paperwork and they have to start over.

For now, the team is learning how to still minister in the name of Christ despite setbacks. If the container still hasn't arrived by Tuesday June 28, the team will go ahead and minister to the children with what they have: Their passion for Christ and love for the Peruvian children. They can still conduct drama skits, sing songs, and do puppet shows, but they are praying that their container will be approved soon.

In the mission team's blog from last Friday, team leader Rich Anderson used their dire situation to encourage the team and others about God's faithfulness. "Sometimes when we face difficult situations, we may feel that we are in bondage to our circumstances. But we must trust God and step out in faith. Obstacles may seem frightening, but the Bible says that God will honor a person who depends on Him to lead and guide. ‘Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you' (1 Peter 5:6-7, NASB)."

Please pray for the Kids Alive team in Peru as they minister in the name of Christ to the Peruvian children. Please also pray for a kind-hearted customs officer who will give them a green light and ship their container. If you would like to help with the extra expenses accumulating with the delayed containers, you can call 1-800-kids-330 or visit http://www.kidsalive.org/article/playgrounds.

"We're very happy to report that
God really intervened in this particular case," said Tom Dudenhofer of Audio
Scripture Ministries. "It only cost $50, which is unheard of, although
it took them, they said, seven hours of paperwork and waiting. And the permission came down at eight minutes
before the offices were to close. That
was how much time was left before this whole deal could have fallen through." 

ASM has lost shipments in the
customs process before, and they are very thankful that this first shipment through
this customs system went smoothly. Dudenhofer said when Christians respond in prayer to what God is doing
around the world, it really does make a difference. 

Next, the team will deliver the
audio Bibles to the tribe on foot. 
Dudenhofer said the tribe comes from a background that would normally be
"antagonistic" toward Christianity, but it has expressed "great interest" in
hearing the Gospel. He's excited about
the impact the audio Bibles could have among these people. 

"This is a displaced people group," Dudenhofer explained. "They are very, very
isolated, they do not read modern script, and their literacy rate is only one
percent. Let me say that backwards: that means that 99 percent of the people do
not read. So God's Word in this
language, in audio, has the potential to make a tremendous impact on these
very, very isolated people who are living in a very dangerous part of the world." 

Dudenhofer requested more prayer
for the audio Bibles' continued journey. 

"I think it's important to pray
for the safety of the teams that will be distributing the audio Scriptures and
sharing the Gospel with these people in the next weeks," he said. "Pray also for those who decide to follow Jesus
Christ, that God will protect them and give them understanding as they
begin to listen to the Word of God for the very first time." 

"God has opened up some really
wonderful opportunities with a very isolated group of people who have shown
tremendous interest in listening to God's Word in their own language," said Tom
Dudenhofer of Audio Scripture Ministries. "God has graciously provided the opportunity to complete the recording
of Scripture, and that Scripture recording has now been placed on small
pocket-sized digital Scripture players."

The solar-powered Scripture players
have built-in speakers and can fit into a shirt pocket. Before the units reach the people, however,
they have to get through customs. 

"There's a lot of unknowns that
we would really like people to pray about today," Dudenhofer said. "As the players go into this particular area,
it's very possible that they're going to get stopped by customs, and we have no
idea what the response is going to be. We
have never made shipments into this area before." 

Concerns range from the
possibility of demands for unethical "under-the-counter" fees, to the possibility
of losing the players altogether.  When customs
offices impound shipments, they often charge a fee for each day of
storage. 

"It becomes financially
impossible to redeem the players," Dudenhofer explained. "So if this is impounded, it's possible we
could lose all the players and would have to start over from scratch."

If the team is able to keep
possession of the players, it will continue working to deliver them to the
tribe. They only have so much time,
however. They're scheduled to leave the
area on Friday or Saturday. 

"It's a very narrow window,"
Dudenhofer said. "If it runs into a
problem and we miss our window of transporting these units to the people, we,
of course, are going to try again. And we
really need God's wisdom on how to do this in a way that will please Him. We need prayer to get these Scriptures into the hands of the people who have expressed
strong interest in learning about Jesus." 

Dudenhofer explained that if the people
become Christians, they could very well face persecution for their faith. 

"This is a very unevangelized
area," he said. "There are no local
churches. We are not even aware of any
consistent Christian testimony among the people, but there has been some
interest. There have been a couple of trips
made into this area by the team that we're working with, but right now this is
basically brand-new territory in some very, very isolated parts of our world." 

Pray that God will make possible the
safe and efficient delivery of the Scripture players. You can also support ASM's ministry.