Aloha all,
May was such a busy month with over 130 short term missionaries coming through our base camp here to work and serve God in Haiti. Such an encouraging time as we are able to accomplish so much with so many willing volunteers. God seems to be continuing to bless the work here and we are grateful.
The most exciting news though is that WE ARE IN THE NEW CHURCH BUILDING !!!!!! The construction teams that worked so hard over the last month finally completed the building so we could start using it and on Sunday, May 22nd, we had our first worship service inside. What a great event !! Doors, windows, lights, etc. are still a long way off, but as I said before, we don't need them for now ! And the building is already getting used every day. Two weeks ago we had a huge free medical clinic inside serving over 500 patients during three days - ministering to church families, tent city residents and many families from around the community. The medical clinic was run by a team of 24 people who brought suitcases full of medicine and all kinds of medical supplies.
Last week we got our first Tilapia to experiment with (eight young adult fish - some female, some male). But yesterday we got 600 little baby Tilapia to begin our Tilapia fish farm - growing Tilapia to feed the church families, to sell to the surrounding community to make money for the church and to train the local Haitians how to do this on their own properties. It's exciting to see another self sufficiency project being birthed here. Hopefully we will see the fruit of this effort in huge ways down the road ! (no pictures of that yet, but will be next time !!)
And finally - We were able to move the girl's at the Girl's Orphanage into their new dormitory this week ! Such an exciting time to get them out of tents and into a real building !! We moved them Wednesday and then went back on Thursday to install some shelving units one of our teams had made. The girls were so excited and appreciative. One of the girls got some balloons from somewhere and decorated the ceiling of their room with them. They haven't looked so happy since we started going there in January. So much more to do, but this is a wonderful start. They still need a kitchen, completed bathrooms, a clean water well and many other things. But God will provide in His perfect timing.
Blessings to you all !
Mark
The New Church building with the very first service ever in the new building just getting underway.
Girl's Orphanage - just moved them in today. Finally out of tent living !!
Some of the girls in their new dorm rooms. Currently they have three triple layer bunkbeds in each rooms so there are nine girl's per room (for a room we might normally put four in). But what a blessing anyway !! This is the Hilton compared to what they had in their tents !!
This is Esther - my Haitian "adopted daughter". Her mom dropped her off here five years ago because she couldn't take care of her. Imagine the feelings that must go through Esther's mind - am I important ?, am I loved ?, why did her mom do that ? But she is a trooper and I love her ! She's one of an estimated 500,000 "orphans" in Haiti - either actual orphans or abandoned or vulnerable children being cared for by organizations like this one. Esther is one of the fortunate ones who have ended up in a facility with good, loving caretakers and groups like ours helping to support them in many different ways.
