Bible School Update

Family and Friends,

We don't have a ton of information to write on the Bible School right now.  As we mentioned recently, the Mission Haiti board decided to put this project "on hold" for now.  We weren't given a full explanation of this conversation or the reasoning behind the decision.  The two basic pieces we were told was that when Pam was praying about it she felt like we were running ahead of God and disobeying his guidance by doing this project at this time, and later we were told that Mission Haiti would like to solidify current ministries before undertaking a new, big project like a Bible School.

That is pretty much all we know right now.  We weren't given a timeline of when this could be reconsidered, or a list of exactly what needs to be accomplished with current ministries or anything like that.  When we heard this news we were completely surprised and even devastated.  This may have been discussed previously by our leaders and/or the board, but we were unaware of it.  We felt the momentum on this project could not be stronger or more positive, and every day God was opening up new doors for funding, teacher and student recruiting, curriculum development, and campus construction.  However, we know that God works this way from time to time, asking us to put everything on hold and refocus on what is important.  So we are trying to trust Him and our leaders and use this delay, however long it turns out to be, to continue to work on the vision, language acquisition, and anything else we can to do put ourselves in a position to do the Bible School well when it is ready to go again.

Meanwhile we had to inform the resident directors (a young godly couple who had committed to coming as missionaries here), the professors (who planned to visit for a week to teach a class), and all applicants that the Bible School is "off" for now.  That was hard.  Also, the main grant for the construction of the campus came from Cory's home church, so we aren't sure how this delay will affect that relationship or their trust in us to complete the project for which they have contributed so much.  We also have several other grant applications floating around out there requesting funds for the school.  So all of those things are kind of in limbo for the time being.  It can be very discouraging and even embarassing to think about, but again, we are trying to make the most of this time.

Each day now we simply look around and see who we can help in any way possible to know God more.  We enjoy working with the youth group and the young kids we see each day.  That is a true blessing, but we continue to long for a setting where we can invest deeply in the young adults who will impact this nation and the world in years to come, helping them discover, understand, and put into action the deep truths of God found in the Scriptures.  So we are living in the tension between what is and what we feel we should be doing, hoping and trusting God has a purpose for this struggle.

Please pray for our family and Mission Haiti during this challenging time of ministry.  May God's grace and wisdom guide all of us as we work together and make decisions about how best to help the Haitian people be disciples of Jesus.

God Bless,
the Grimms