A Few Pictures and a Mid-Year Missionary Giving Summary

Playing cards with Emmanuel, our dear friend

Talking with Adrien, the director of the clinic

Lynn's lap is Kenny's sanctuary

Getting ready to play baseball when we return to the US this summer...no nice grass or flat inflields to practice on in Haiti!

Nice photo on the porch of the Mission House

Family and Friends,

The photos above were taken by various members of visiting mission teams, and we thought they would be nice to share on the blog.  At this point in the summer we are really missing Haiti, especially all of our friends and neighbors.  However, we still have many churches and friends to visit before we head back on August 29th.  We also need to pause and enjoy these moments while we have them...and the ability to retreat into air-conditioned homes!

Below is a brief report of our missionary giving for the first half of the year, followed by some comments and explanation.  We will put out a more detailed report at the end of the year on how everything was spent for ministry.

Year-to-date giving:     $20,884

                January:     $1,755
                February:   $10,440
                March:       $3,599
                April:         $2,805
                May:          $1,110
                June:          $1,175


First of all we want to say "thank you" to everyone who has sacrificed to allow us to serve in Haiti.  It truly means the world to us to have you behind us prayerfully and financially.  God is providing for us day by day, and month by month.  As you can see by the numbers above, part of the adventure of being missionaries is raising support.  We never know exactly how much individuals or churches will give.  It tends to fluctuate wildly from month to month.  God has a way of letting you get to your last dollar before opening the floodgates.  He's funny that way.

If we take a good, honest look at our ministry support both prayerfully and financially, right now we can spot an alarming trend.  For example, back in January and February we were blown away to see an average of 100 people reading our blog every day (these stats are available to us through the blog host), and we enjoyed regular emails and comments of encouragement.  There was a real sense of being held up by the prayers of many people.  However, towards the end of our term, in May and into June, the number of people reading the blog declined to around 25-30 per day. 

The same downward trend can be seen in our financial contributions as indicated on the chart above.  During the first quarter of the year we received over $15,000 in giving!  Unfortunately, the giving in the second quarter plummeted to around $5,000.  Our overall giving for the first half of the year is fine, in relation to our needs, but if the current trend continues and the 3rd and 4th quarters are like the 2nd, we will be in big trouble!

We are new to this whole missionary journey and adventure, so we aren't leaping to any conclusions just yet.  We are trusting God to provide for our needs, both spiritually and financially.  Part of the downward trend can be explained by the inevitable fact that the earthquake continues to fade from memory for many people.  Also, now that we live primarily in Haiti and have irregular internet access at best, we struggle to maintain consistent correspondance with existing donors, much less recruit new ones. 

All that being said, we remain optimistic about the plan God has for us in Haiti!  As we look to the second half of the year and our future beyond that, we are praying that God will inspire more churches to support us in various ways.  The churches where we served on staff in the past have gotten behind us in very tangible ways, and we are so thankful for this, but we have struggled to break ground beyond those established relationships. 

We have been and will be speaking in many churches this summer, but we need individuals to carry the torch after we are gone, both through prayer and through advocacy for missionary funding from the church where they attend.  Right now we are still trying to piece together missionary support just for our family, but by this time next year we are hoping that will be firmly in place and we will also have a substantial amount raised for the opening of the Bible School in the fall of 2012.  We are counting on God to do some miracles, for sure!      

God Bless!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers