Haiti Ministries

Schools under tents, not very comfortable with the heat. 

Once their fear has passed, some of those whose houses did not suffer any damage during the earthquake, went back to live in them.   The rainy season has come and it rains hard.   

We had ten special days of prayer called: Ten Days to Pentecost.  Some received healing and others were filled with the Holy Spirit.    One of our preachers told us how a five year old girl told her parents that during the five days she spent under the rubble, every day, a man wearing a white coat brought her bread and water.

In April, we hosted a team from Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Hamilton. That church has been heavily supporting our Feeding Program for many years.  We had wonderful services with them. They also worked at painting our new building.  Phase #1 of our project is nearly completed.

Bob Thornley, our project manager, spent nearly two years with us.  It is the end of his contract. Phase #1 of our construction project is nearly completed.  He goes back home to Canada. We hope that he returns when he finds the necessary funds. Thank you Bob for the hard work.

Tami Goslow (centre) spent eleven months with us as a Volunteer in Mission.  She is at the end of her contract.  She’s going back to Canada to raise the funds to return to Haiti.   Thank you Tami for the good work!  

We cannot close this letter without saying thank you for your support.  God has a great harvest in Port-au-Prince.  He wants to use you to partner with us in his harvest. Without your help, we would not be able to make it.

The bulldozers began to destroy the damaged buildings that could not be repaired.   The loaders withdrew the rubble bringing to light more human bodies.  Some of the damaged schools are being repaired.  Most people whose houses are whole did not return to live in them, fearing another earthquake.

The Ministry of Education asked that schools reopen on April 6th.  As most of them suffered some damages, tents and tarps will serve as classrooms.

Since January 12th, we have had 130 aftershocks. As soon as the government will grant the permission to fix and to rebuild homes, we will start doing it in our area.  The authorities want the people to rebuild earthquake proof which was not the case before.  The poor construction of buildings is partly responsible for the great destruction we suffered.  ERDO has released funds to fix and rebuild houses and to provide tarps to needy people.  Thank you so much for your contribution.

Our new church’s dining room that can sit 800 persons, is being painted and staircases are being completed up to the second floor by Pastor John Edwards and his team.

God opened the floodgates of heaven and poured out tons of rice and beans for us to give.

The Evangelical and Pentecostal Action from France offered us 2,000 Bibles when pastors Alain Porchel and Christophe Ensminger visited  with us last February.  In this time where people are looking for food, the most precious gift to give them is the Word of God.

On the evening of the earthquake, Johanne, our young neighbour, layed down to sleep outside and she started praying.  As she was praying, she had a vision of an angel clothed in white holding a giant sledge.   As she questioned herself if it was a sign of the deliverance of Gandy, our assistant pastor trapped under the rubble or a sign of God’s judgment, she fell asleep.  That night, she dreamed of the rapture of the church.

The Bible speaks about sledges. Isaiah 41 says: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  (10) All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. (11)

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob. (14) See, I will make you into a treshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. (15) You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord.  (16)

Jean-Benoît, one of our preachers, told us what happened on January 12th.  “I was sitting in a taptap (a local transportation) with my wife Mona.  Suddenly, the taptap starting jumping in the air and falling back to the ground like a wild horse.  At first I thought a vehicle had hit us.  But someone sitting with us yelled: ”earthquake!”  When all the shaking stopped, everyone got off.    Mona and I walked for an hour and a half to get back home.  The road was covered with fragments of everything that had collapsed and the air was filled with thick darkness.  While we were moving through this apocalyptic scene, we could see houses collapsing, heads and torn arms being strewn over the street.  It was horrible!”

The medical teams are working around the clock to take care of the sick and wounded. There are three million inhabitants in Port-au-Prince.  It is estimated that 200,000 have disappeared which is one person out of fifteen.

Today, local banks and many stores have re-opened their doors, which allowed us to buy food.  At this point, we are feeding our leaders and their families, as well as the kids and we offer medical help to the needy.  Please pray for our security.  The most urgent need is to help rebuild destroyed or cracked houses, so that the families can go back to living indoors before rainy season that should be starting at the beginning of March.

Sunday we held two meetings on the street because the wall behind our pulpit has been shaken up by the earthquake.  Our youth is tearing it down so we can rebuild it.  242 people attended our youth meeting and 177 came to the kids’ service. On Friday, 750 children and youth came to our service.

Many who are sponsoring a child through Child Care Plus have been asking if their child is still alive.  Three factors are hindering us from determining who is alive and who isn’t.  First of all, many families have fled to the countryside, secondly some are living in the camps for the disaster stricken, and finally so many houses are distroyed or their walls are cracked.  Our leaders will start visiting the people of our church to do a survey. They want to find out who is alive, who is injured, whose homes collapsed and whose homes need repairs.  Please be patient with us.

We are serving meals daily.  We also have to rebuild two walls that are surrounding our yard as well as a wall at the new church building that all fell during the earthquake.

We are shaken up emotionally, but we are doing well.  Now is the time to rebuild.

Michel and Louise

P.S. Some of the pictures have a copyright on it.  You may not use them for commercial purpose without contacting the author.

Hello from Haiti,

We were in the Dominican Republic when the earthquake hit the capital city of Haiti. We had seen pictures of the devastation on the Internet and on TV, but could not have imagined the magnitude of the devastation. Last night, as we were making our way back home on the only tap-tap (public transportation) we had been able to find, we passed in front of the crumbled Caribbean market. It was the largest grocery store in town. We could smell the stench of death. Many are still under the ruins.

Our assistant pastor, Gandy St-Hilarie, was also a student at the Church on the Rock Bible college. For the past 5 years, he has been a pillar of our church and of the sponsoring program. Further he was in charge of the feeding program’s dining hall. He would visit and give the baptism preparation course. The day of the earthquake, he was attending a class at Bible college, along with Assenique, another young woman from our church. The building they were in caved in. Assenique was able to escape through a hole in the wall, but a cement pillar fell on Gandy. Bob Thornley, who is the construction project director, the church’s youth, and others worked during three days and nights to remove those who were trapped under the collapsed building. Four were rescued alive but 18 were found dead. Gandy was the last one found. It was hard to recognize his face. He was buried the same day. Of all those around us that have died, Gandy is our greatest loss. He was a faithful servant. Michel and I have often said: “If only we could have others like Gandy in our church”. God will comfort us. Gandy is now with the Lord.

The collapsed Bible college

The third floor of the Pierre Larousse school (pictured to the right), where approximately 400 sponsored children attend, was destroyed. As many schools and colleges no longer exist, the school year may be cancelled.

As soon as the catastrophe hit, Audette, a nurse from our church, went out in the streets to take care of injured people. People are traumatized. They are afraid that other houses and buildings will fall. They sleep outside, in yards and in the streets. The stores are closed. It’s difficult to find food. Gas is rationed. We have to save water because we don’t have much and water trucks have stopped delivering water. Without water and food, it will be almost impossible to feed the children of our church.

In the coming days, we will send out more updates.  If you are interested in learning more, please log on to Bob Thornley’s blog at:    http://haitiexperiences.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your prayers!

Dear Pastors & Friends

Bob Thornley, our project manager, returned to Haiti on November 3rd. A donor from Ontario has given us a big amount of money which is allowing us to continue working on the first Phase of our building project.

At the end of December, the basement and the chapel’s walls will be finished. The only thing that will need to be done is the painting. The chapel can seat 800 children.

At the end of February, we plan on having the first floor completed. The first floor is our church’s dining room. To be able to seat and feed 700 children at a time, we will need 100 benches. Each bench costs $100.00 CND. We would appreciate if you could consider raising funds to offer benches to the children in Haiti as a Christmas gift to them.

In November, a team from Fergus, and other towns from Ontario as well as from New-Brunswick came to help us. They built a two storey staircase.

Dentist Jalbert held a clinic where he pulled an around 1,000 teeth.

On the above picture, Pastor Jamie Shepherd and Dot Guertin who led the team are sitting on either end of the table.

This year has been quite challenging financially for us. Unfortunately, we have very little time to visit churches to give updates. Thank you to those who supported us through the financial difficulties. We appreciate your faithfulness.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and the best for the year ahead.