Only 3 more days and my wife and erin will be in Haiti with me. Whitney will be joining us on Monday from the Dominican Republic from her TLC team and they will all be staying untill July1st.

Well the last week has been a blur of catching up on everything while i was home for a week in the states. I have no real news other than the well project is coming along great i hope to be digging the well  within 10 days. I am still 1500 dollars short but I know that God will provide.  I want to thank all of you who take time to look at this page and i really am trying to make more entries. :)

Will write more later may God richly bless each of you  james

From the Florida home front:  School ended the 28th of May --Whitney will be a sophomore and Erin will be in 7th grade next fall.   James returned home for a week's vacation.  The family was able to take a mini vacation for a couple days- visiting Key Largo and the outlet malls.  Did a lot of window shopping --but we were able to find a few good deals. 

TLC 2010 is in full swing--I am once again volunteering/ working as the weekend coordinator.  This means I will provide transportation for those flying in, lodging and meals before and after boot camp.    During this time I partner with the assistant dean in the girls dorm making sure there are quarters for laundry, snacks to enjoy, etc.... providing a temporary home away from home.   Once all the TLC'ers are back the last responsibility will be providing a ride for those who need to fly home.  " This is just one small way I serve and I find it very fulfilling--enjoying every single minute:)."

Trusting God will be a new test of faith for me (Rachel).  Until now we had my school checks and I have been able to stretch the money.  Knowing that God has called James to do this work in Haiti --and knowing God has provided in the past--I am putting my faith and trust to the test--confident that if God will call--God will keep His promises and that He will provide --  Maybe it would be best to parallel it like this--In the Bible story of Esther--Esther was the just an ordinary girl that God used.  She was willing to go and she was willing to do as He asked.  Although, all the details of the plan was not outlined for Esther she still trusted.  God had her in the place, at that time, for a certain purpose--that purpose was BIG and for the KINGDOM.    In my way of think--I see James as the one God is using (as well as hundreds of others) in Haiti--and I am blessed to be his wife, and partner with him here on the home front.  For me--maybe God needs me to be like Esther in the aspect--there is no clear outlined plan for the summer finances.  All He asks of me is to trust--and rest in Him.  Do I feel ready for this test--NO a thousand times over, but I know that it is needed for my spiritual walk.    Continue to pray for our family--James safety in Haiti, Whitney in the Dominican Republic until June22--Erin and I will be flying down to Haiti June 17th to partner with James in the ministry / mission work he is working on.  The 3 Collins girls will return to Florida around the first of July.   Pray for me that I will learn complete trust and rest in Him.
~Rachel

God has really been really helping me as I plan and prepare for  my trip. We had a few setbacks on the way, but i know God wants me to go because of how things worked out with the passports.  Another reason why I am confident this is what God wants for my life this summer, at this time i have a little over a thousand dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those who have prayed and / or given- Thank you and God Bless. 
please continue to remember me in prayer,
thanks,  Whitney

June 2--Whitney is settled in to her new surroundings--boot camp.  She is part of a team of ten who are enjoying the heat, bugs, Florida down pours, delicious food, and sleeping in tents.  Daily they run the obstacle course, have breakfast + two more meals, and  she  helps her team out  with various activities such as making puppets, creating a flag, working on the work project, washing clothes by hand, or listening to helpful hints that will enable her to be a blessing as well as, to be blessed.  As parents we are really proud of her--and would like to thank each one of you who have contributed to help make this trip possible for her.  We are confident God is continuing His work in her life, shaping her and modeling her to be what He wants her to be.    Stay tuned because she will be updating her sight soon with pictures. 

Wow! I guess I have not done very well on keeping my part of the family blog. God has been good and we are so blessed. We would like to say thank you to all of you who read and commented on the blog page.




Haiti's update: I have been very busy over the last two and a half weeks since my last posting. The last time I posted was when I was down in Jacmel . The project went well and reports indicate the people are enjoying purified water. Returned to Port au Prince and it was time to start on the next task. A task which meant our team would be installing 2 more water systems at the general hospital. This is when things got real exciting! May 1st David (my boss) called and asked me to locate a freezer truck. This freezer truck was needed because the morgue's freezer at the general hospital went out the day. Needless to say it was beginning to really stink.




Realistically I knew this was an impossibility because it was a Haitian a holiday and a Sat. evening Where would be a freezer trucks in Haiti? Believing this task was not impossible for God, I took a few minutes to ask God to direct my words, my thoughts, and to give me wisdom from above. but by the grace of God and several phone calls to my buddies in the U.N. I was able to find someone who was able to help and by 9 pm had a freezer truck at the hospital. Next day on my way to church get a call from David again and he informs me that the electricity will not support the freezer but they have a generator that will, back to the hospital and more smelly bodies. Eric and I spent the entire day at the hospital moving a 4 ton generator from one area to another that was not fun. L God is good and by 6pm on sun over 400 bodies were moved from the morgue to the freezer truck and were begin to cool down thankfully ( oh did I mention that it was about 100 + everyday hmmm L) .




Ok enough with the hospital let move along. I went to Callabasse a town up in the mountains that needed fresh drinking water and we installed a water system up there but when we got the pump down about 150ft it got stuck and we realized that a new well needs to be drilled in order to get this pump down. This is where I have stepped away from operation blessing and am taking the lead role in getting a new well dug will have to drill about 300ft and I can get it drilled for about 5000 dollars. I am only about 4999 dollars shortJ. This is where I went to the Lord in prayer and within 2 day 2 different people have given me 2000 dollars. So as you can see I believe this is a well that God wants dug and am asking everyone to pray and if your church or someone you know would love to help please let me know. Ok well after that we took a day off and went to a beach and got to do some snorking that was a lot of fun. All to soon it was back to work.  




I then installed two water system in one of the roughest areas in Port au Prince, this is where most of the gangs live and where they rule the streets. Needless to say we were out of there long before it got dark. After that I have been in the central platue valley installing another water system and starting and irrigation system. It is there that I got very sick and have been laid up for the last two days. I am doing better but am still very weak however will be going over to Demas 33 to repair a pump this afternoon. Will try to do better on my posting, thanks for all your prayers.