PROGRESS BUT NOT HOME YET

Here's the text of a letter we put in snail mail this week as we continue to seek additional support in order to return our family to ministry in Haiti on time to start our third school year. I include it here in an effort to reach folks whose address may be missing from my list. Thank you to all who have already responded so generously!

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“If you do away with the yoke of oppression … and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:9-10



 Dear Friends, For the sake of brevity, I will start this letter with our main point: The authorities at OMS sat us down recently to say that without a substantial increase in our support account, we cannot return to our work in Haiti on August 18, as we had currently planned. 

• This by no means threatens an end to our service in Haiti, only a delay; we will return to Haiti as soon as sufficient funds are in place. The Lord willing, we’ll keep our August 18 flights. 

• We are concerned about the confusion our delay could cause Cowman School, where classes will begin early September. If we are not back, our principal will need to somehow stretch current staff to cover grades 3, 8, and 9, and the daily teacher training and guiding that Melissa has developed this past year will be halted. 

• If you have supported us in any way in the past, we thank you deeply – on our behalf and on behalf of the precious people among whom we are privileged to work. I haven’t always been good at putting our gratitude in writing in a timely fashion, but know that we often think of you and pray for you … and recognize daily our spiritual indebtedness to you! 

• If you have supported us with an occasional large gift, your generosity has kept us afloat these two years! Thank you! 

• If you have supported us with monthly pledges, you have given our support account (and our own hearts) a much-needed sense of stability! Thank you! 

• If you have supported us with prayer, we will never know this side of Heaven what guidance and blessings you have procured and what schemes you have thwarted. Without a doubt, we have been protected, provided for and blessed. Thank you! 

Sometimes I have been overly timid about asking for help. This happens when I get focused on the earthly – I know you have bills to pay, daily demands for your attention, and a future to plan for. I get a lot bolder when the Lord reminds me that you also care for the needy and have a desire to see Christ’s “Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.” 


So what am I (boldly) asking of you? OMS headquarters is closely monitoring our progress on two fronts: both monthly pledges and special gifts. Would you prayerfully consider one of the following options? 

• 1) New “special gifts” help insure our presence in Haiti during any shortfalls in monthly pledges. 

• 2) A “Faith Promise” pledge to give monthly ($25, $50, $100 or any amount of your choosing) puts our entire account on firmer footing. And increasing an existing monthly gift by $25 or $50 is just as valuable as a whole new one. 

• 3) If you made a faith promise in the past and, over time, it has slipped away, would you consider renewing it? (We understand if circumstances prevent this.) OMS offers the option of using electronic withdrawal if that would help simplify your giving.

Since time is of the essence and headquarters sees immediately what happens online, we are encouraging those who are willing to give by going soon to onemissionsociety.org/give/TheGrosses and following the instructions there. Thank you for your generosity and faithfulness! 

In Christ and for His Kingdom, 
Steve and Melissa Gross