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A September Update from John & Jodie
The Formal End to the Church of God Relief Effort in Haiti
The Church of God responded immediately to the earthquake that
struck Haiti on January 12th 2010. From the first of our successful
attempts to get the word out by internet that the members of our family were all
OK, the most asked question was “Is there anything we can do to help?” Our usual
answer went something like this: “Things are so crazy just now that, other than
prayer, we have no idea how you can help. But after the dust settles there will
be plenty for all of us to do.”
Within those first few days plans were roughed together confirming that the
Church of God would certainly be part of the recovery. As the financial
resources began to flow in it became obvious that the Church of God would indeed
have to dedicate a great deal of time and person power to the recovery here in
Haiti.
The final numbers that we were given at the end of May show the impact of the
Church of God Disaster Relief efforts. There were 132 wooden houses and 39
block houses built. There were 150 additional wooden houses built by Church of
God teams funded by Samaritan’s Purse.
We do want to especially thank all of you who made this effort a great success.
If you came down and worked in a work group, sent money to the Disaster Relief
Fund, or took time to pray for the efforts of the teams and the positive impact
of the work on the lives of the Haitians that were impacted by the earthquake,
we thank you.
As a recognition of the Haitian teams that worked with all the teams who came
down with the Church of God Disaster relief effort, and also in recognition of
Foundation Maxima, the Dutch organization that supplied most of the homes that
were put together by the work teams, a luncheon was furnished for all the
workers. It took place at the Visalodge Hotel in Port-au-Prince. We were
honored to have Dr. Ronald Duncan, Executive Director of Church of God
Ministries, and Chuck Myrick, Executive Director of the National Association of
the Church of God, present for this occasion. Certificates of appreciation
were given to all the workers to show our appreciation for their assistance in
this work.
 Flamingos
There are a lot of missionaries in Haiti. In fact, it is said that per capita
there are more missionaries in Haiti than any country in the world. But, even
with so many missionaries around we have little chance to develop many long term
relationships, as they just don’t seem to stay around very long.
This makes it that much harder when one of our long term
friends decides to leave Haiti.
This year Ad and Coby DeBlaeij decided that it was time
for them to pack up their belongings and move back to their beloved
Holland. They had been in Haiti nearly 30 years serving with various
organizations. Jodie had several of their children for piano lessons. We
attended the same church for many years and these are just good people, and we
are missing them.
One of the things that Ad did when he had visitors to
their ministry was to take them to see the flamingos. No, not in a zoo but in
the wild. We had never gotten to go on one of these trips, so we decided to
make sure we got scheduled to go on their last trip out to see the flamingos.
It went something like this. We drove out to a small village and parked our
cars between the small houses. We walked through muddy fields until we came to
an area where there were three small, rickety boats. The boats were put into
the small canal and we clambered aboard. Two young men jumped on the back. One
of them had a 10 foot pole that he would push off the bottom of the lake to
propel us along. The other had an empty can that he used continuously during
our trip to bail water from the bottom of the boat. (I did say that the boats
were rickety) Needless to say, we now knew we were on a real adventure.
After about 10 minutes going through the canal and passing through high grasses
we finally came to the lake (or swamp). It was very shallow. Mostly it seemed
to be about 3 or 4 feet deep until we got to the center of the lake. We saw
large numbers of smaller birds and even a few larger cranes, but the flamingos
were yet to come.
It was strange being in the middle of the lake, with birds all around, within
sight of Port-au-Prince. As we approached the other side of the lake we saw in
the distance the flock of beautiful pink birds come into sight. Our guides knew
exactly what to do. We would approach the flock (about 20 flamingos) and
gradually inch closer to them, until the lead bird would make a sound and the
entire flock would rise and fly in circles until they found another place to
land. Then the whole thing would start again.
We spent about 45 minutes going back and forth seeing how close we could get and
getting the best pictures we could. What a beautiful time! A point of honesty
though. The pictures on the website were either from Jodie’s camera or from one
of the other missionaries with us. My photography at that time was stifled
since I had no camera to work with.
Our Summer Months
One thing that the Church of God Global Missions does
really well for their missionaries is to make sure if we are working under high
or prolonged stress we will have enough time away from the stress to allow us to
recharge. This past summer has been just that kind of summer. We came into
Anderson in June with the idea of recharging, and I must say it was successful.
We did little speaking and traveling. We only visited
one of our supporting churches. We did take part in the North American
Convention because that was needed, especially with the many visitors to
Anderson who had been to Haiti with work groups.
But, what we did most was relax, work on getting our
condo in Anderson liveable, visit family and friends, and attend our home
church. We returned on August 5th, and after doing a few of the
catch up things you have to do when you’re away for a while, we are both back up
to speed. Jodie is teaching kindergarten and I am doing the clinics, doing some
repairs at the clinic, and preparing the land for the Burger King playground
that we are planning to have installed sometime during the month of December.
This summer was rather unique in that we had to visit
with each of our children separately. Jessica was in Louisville, staying with
Jodie’s brother and his wife, and working in a hotel for the summer. Jacquie
was in Haiti for three months doing an internship for her masters program. We
actually got to spend the most time with her. Her husband Kevin remained in
Indiana, working on his own master’s courses.
Jacquie had a good experience working with a micro
financing organization called Fonkoze. She worked with the section called
Zafen, which gives support to small business projects around the country. She
was able to visit many parts of Haiti and see quite a few projects, which gave
her a great appreciation for the country and people of Haiti.
A Personal Note from our Daughter Jacquie
Kevin and I are now both in grad school at Indiana
University. I began my program, pursuing a Master of Public Affairs at IU's
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, one year ago. I am focusing on
Comparative and International Affairs as well as Policy Analysis, with the hope
of eventually translating that into a job at an international NGO. I would love
to move back to Haiti, or also go on to Africa somewhere, but we shall see what
turns up for me in my last year! This grad program is the reason I was in Haiti
all summer working for Fonkoze, a Haitian microfinance organization. I learned
a lot and am excited to get back to classes and hopefully be able to apply some
of what I learned during that experience. So this coming academic year will be
my final year at SPEA, and Kevin has also begun a Master of Science in
Accounting program at IU's Kelley School of Business, that will hopefully lead
to his sitting for the CPA exam sometime next summer. This is the first time
that we have both been full-time students, and it is an interesting (and
welcome) change!
We moved to Bloomington a little over a week ago, as last
year we had moved to a central location and both had a commute, since Kevin was
still working in Indianapolis. This is also a good change and we are both
loving Bloomington and the new friends and activities that are available here.
Our dog, Izzy, is adjusting well and she loves that she has more interesting
places to walk, and more doggie friends to get to know (pictures of Izzy are
always available on Facebook or upon request! We are a little ridiculous like
that.)! Kevin's orientation for his program started last week, and classes
started for the rest of campus (including me) yesterday. Kevin and I both work
on campus. He has a graduate assistantship with an economics professor at
Kelley, and I have two jobs at SPEA's Office of Career Services, one as a TA
grading undergraduate work, and one as an employee working on organizing career
trips to get our students connected to more job and internship opportunities and
connections. Another major time commitment is my position on the executive
board of the Nonprofit Management Association, a student group at SPEA. So yes,
we are both pretty busy, but this is something we have wanted to do for some
time and we are learning a lot and enjoying it!
The passing of a friend
Cheryl Barton, along with her husband Bernie, have been
missionaries in Japan for the past thirty years. They pastored churches,
administered a girls’ high school, and discipled church and lay leaders, many of
whom she and Bernie had led to Christ.
But to the missionary community, ourselves included, we
remember Cheryl as a writer. She not only wrote her own stories, but she also
edited many books containing our stories, the stories of missionary lives and
how they are lived out around the world. We loved her and she will be missed.
Cheryl Johnson Barton died of cancer on June 26. As she
suffered through her last days she never forgot to remind us that “God is
good.”
Please keep Bernie in your prayers. He returned to
Japan on August 2nd to continue the ministry there.
--John and Jodie Ackerman
 Living-Link
Living-Link is a program whereby churches and individuals can give tax free
donations which go to our family’s personal support here in Haiti. Some of this
money is used by us personally for daily needs, and wants, some for things that
make it possible for us to carry out the clinic ministry here such as our office
and car, and medical equipment expenses, some is used for our medical insurance,
continuing education, and travel funds so we can visit and give first hand
reports to those who give to keep us here.
At present we have approximately 97% of our Living-Link budget committed to
us but Church of God Global Missions desire us to have approximately 110% in
order to make sure we’re covered for increases in things like insurance, and
cost of living, etc. As a Living-Link supporting church, the church commits a
designated amount of money per month or per year and for that commitment we, the
missionaries, commit to report on the ministry with our Living-Link partner at
least four times a year and make a personal visit to the church at least once
every five years.
To you our living link supporters please accept our sincere thanks for
making it possible to us to live in here in Haiti serving the Church, the poor
and needy of this land, and Christ. We know that many of you give very
sacrificially for us and we are humbled by your generosity.
If you or your church would be interested in becoming a Living-Link partner
please call Candice Powers at the Church of God Global Missions
(1-800-848-2464). She will be glad to assist you.
If you would like to give individually toward our personal support please
send these funds to :
Church of God Ministries
PO Box 2420
Anderson IN 46018
On the memo line of each check please write LL#42.10001 John Ackerman
Haiti still has a haunting natural beauty. View
some photos here!
Contact Information
The Ackermans are Career Missionaries with the Church of
God (Anderson, IN) and would love to hear from you. Their mail in Haiti is
delivered by Agape Flights, Inc. You can write to or email the Ackerman family at the
addresses below.
- Postal address
John, Jodie and Jessica Ackerman
c/o
Agape Flights #237
100 Airport Ave.
Venice, FL 34285-3901
- Email
- John, Jodie and Jessica
Ackerman
-
- Financial Support
- The Ackerman's work is supported by contributions from many individuals and Church of God
congregations. Despite the widespread poverty in Haiti, it is expensive to
support missions work there. We appreciate your tax deductible gift and
commit to using it wisely. Donations may be sent to:
Global Missions
Church of God Ministries
-
PO Box 2420, Anderson, Indiana,
46018-2420
or call (800) 848-2464, ext. 2129
Please be sure to specify the John Ackerman family and
use Project Number 42.10001 in your gift.
For a gift toward projects at the Prospere Medical Clinics, use
Project #42.30233- Haiti Prospere Clinics
Click here for a list of minor things needed
which will go a long way (perfect for children and Sunday School classes)
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