Sep/Oct 2009
Three Schools, One Family
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
The fall rainy season has begun here in Haiti and with it, much welcomed cooler weather.  Unfortunately, the "cold" season is also here as evidenced by the four kids I can hear coughing as I write this letter.  After an easy-paced summer, our family is in high gear with everybody either in school or teaching school.
Haitian Kindergarten
Joey got a jump start and finished his homeschooled kindergarten (in English) with Heather in June. ...

August 2009
Mountains of Blessings
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
One of our favorite Haitian proverbs (and there are many) goes like this: "Piti piti zwazo fe nich li," which means,"Little by little a bird builds its nest."  This little reminder has been an encouragement to us many times during our process of slowly building our nest of Haitian Creole, or our nest of getting certain government documents, retrieving our SUV from customs, and learning how to live in this new culture.  I think...

July 2009
Settling In and Moving Forward
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
To say that life has been busy would be an understatement, but it does give a good explanation for why we haven't sent out an email newsletter for three months.  Here's what we've been up to...
We received the remainder of our personal items in early June, most of which we had packed in August 2007.  It was like being in a time warp to suddenly have all this stuff that reminds...

Haiti is Our New Home (Annual Newsletter)
updated from original publication in March 2009
Fostering healthy, reproducing churches by training Haitian leaders fueled by the Gospel.
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
We arrived in Haiti on January 14 with a temperature difference of 90 degrees within 8 hours, as we flew from Chicago to Port au Prince. Throughout 2008 we were studying French in Quebec. Heather and I completed the advanced course in December and left Quebec the same way we entered it, in a massive...

Five Weeks of Smooth Transition
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
We are into our sixth week of living in Haiti and our transition up to this point has been fairly smooth.  We are currently sub-leasing a house in Cayes.  Our neighborhood is quite nice and convenient.  We're across the street from a small grocery store and only minutes from downtown Cayes, which is Haiti's third-largest city (approx. 50,000 people).  We anticipate moving onto the mission campus by mid-March.  This will put us...

90 Degrees Later We Safely Arrived in Haiti
It was a dark and snowy morning as we awoke at 3:00 AM and warmed up the church van for our 2 hour trip to Chicago's O'Hare airport.  The temperature read 0 F with a strong wind.  A father-son team from our church sacrificially joined us, one to drive and the other to help us get our stuff from the van to the ticket counter, and to take this great photo of us...

We Leave for Haiti Tomorrow
and
Four Missionary Kids' Journey into Missions
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
After 3 years of preparations and many days of packing, we are flying to Haiti tomorrow morning from Chicago to Miami to Port au Prince.  We are going as a family, but our family is not going alone.  We truly take with us the love and support of our family, friends, donors and supporting churches, and, most importantly, the faithfulness of God who has seen us step...

We've Graduated!
Nous avons fini l'apprentissage du français à Parole de Vie - Béthel !  Well, we're not exactly experts in French, but we can at least say we've graduated from the advanced French language course at Parole de Vie - Bethel in Quebec where we've been living for the past year.  We now have a strong foundation in the language and are making our final preparations for moving our family to Haiti on January 14, 2009.  We are excited to...

Web-only entry
Why did we decide to become missionaries? 
We’ve given our story below, which is truly a story of our journey of faith, as the Lord put His desires in our hearts and shepherded these two needy sheep into ever greater confidence in the wisdom, power and love of our Shepherd.  Regardless of the specific details of God’s good plan for your life, we hope that reading our story will build in you the same confidence.
Each section below is from...

Two Months To Go!
Dear Family and Friends,
Today marks exactly two months before we fly from Chicago to Port au Prince, Haiti.  We could not do this without your prayers, donations and encouragement, all channels of God's grace upon which we depend!  Currently, we are still immersed in our French studies in Quebec.  Our graduation from Parole de Vie - Bethel is on December 11.  Please pray that our entire family will finish our time here well, in every respect.
Here is...

Ministry Wherever You Are
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
Autumn is in full swing here in southern Quebec.  Our six-year old son, Erik, is especially delighted because he always enjoyed the massive amount of maple leaves in our backyard each fall in Wisconsin.  The fall session of language studies is progressing well.  Heather and I have had some challenging but stimulating oral and written French projects.  We are very glad to be in the same class together.  Ian and Erik have adjusted...

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
We have received several enquires about the recent hurricanes in Haiti and we thank you for your interest and concern.  As Texas residents are still cleaning up from Ike, can you imagine what the Haitian citizens are still facing after having FOUR hurricanes/tropical storms hit their country within a span of one month!
The picture below is the town of Gonaives (in the north) taken by an MAF missionary after Hurricane Hanna:
Heather and I wanted to let...

Worldview Discipleship
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
After tacking on about 4,000 miles on our mini-van this summer, we are back in Quebec ready to engage in another session of French language study at Parole de Vie-Bethel.  Our classes begin on Sep 3 and end on December 12.  Sean was able to move into the advanced course and so he will be joining Heather in the mornings, while Ian begins 3rd grade, Erik begins 1st grade, Josiah has preschool twice a week...

if you are unable to view the photos in this message, click on the Archives link above to view this message on the web
Serving as a Team
Dear Family and Friends,
Warm summer greetings!  The Christensens are doing a lot of traveling this summer.  After finishing our spring session at the Parole de Vie - Bethel language school, Heather and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a 5 day trip to Newfoundland.  It is an enchanting island of remarkable...

We're Still Learning French!
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
A happy spring to you!  The flowers in the above picture are called fleurs de neige (snowflowers) and that's just what a field covered with these little beauties looks like.  Heather and I are so grateful to God for sending us here to Québec to learn French.  Not only is it a beautiful place, but the Christian environment here at the language school of Parole de Vie Béthel is a great encouragement to...