project-help-haiti

A NEW ERA OF MISSIONARIES

2011-09-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

If you don't follow the PH-H update you might want to go to our website at www.projecthelp-haiti.org. In my last update I wrote about our new group of missionaries that we have working at Project Help. It seemed for a period of time it was hard to find and keep missionaries on the missions field at least from our denominational perspective in Haiti. In my 12 years now on the missions field I have seen a steady turn around in interest in missions as a viable career option again. In fact next year we will have 12 nearly full time missionaries working in Haiti and 2-3 part time. Since 2002 we struggled to keep 4 people in Haiti and at times it often was Dr.Vic & Donna Binkley who came every other month as our sole missionaries. This past year I have had more people who were qualified and had abilities I could have used than I had available positions. I have some thoughts on why the turn around. It all starts with EXPOSURE!

1. "Exposure from the pulpit".
2. "Exposure from media sources".
3. "Exposure to worldwide communications".
4. "First hand exposure". ( STM'S )
5. "All out exposure" Church willingness to commit God's resources to the task they were given.

Our denomination has had a long history of working in missions. One hundred plus years in India, fifty in Bangladesh, forty four in Haiti and twenty five plus years in Brazil. We also have missionaries in Venezuela, Kenya, Sweden, Dominican Republic, Thailand and on the Southwest Four Corners Indian reservations. Many of our early missionaries stayed on the missions field for a lifetime. These men and women who grew up in the 1930s-40s were inspired by visiting missionaries who would come and speak at their churches while home on furlough. Often it was that onetime connection that planted the seed in their mind to go to the mission field when they grew up. This was a time when churches, schools, family and small close knit communities were the influencing factors of growing up. Our heroes and heroines were people we encountered or knew who influenced us in real life situations. There was a time when parents, grandparents teachers, coaches, pastors, writers and public speakers were the main influence in a child's life. These missionaries though far and few apart usually stayed a lifetime.

I've attended church from as far back as I can remember and can't recollect ever hearing a missionary speak or visit any of the churches I attended growing up or thereafter. In fact it was 1997 when we started attending First Church of God in Columbia City that I started hearing missions as a prominent message theme, Pastor Reser was a former Haiti missionary. Granted I may not have always been attentive as a youth but I'm sure a missionary from some exotic foreign missions outreach would have gotten my attention. In fact the most memorable part of my Colonial African history course in college was reading about Dr. Livingston.

I still attend FCOG Columbia City and our Pastor is now Johnny MacCalister's. His messages revolve almost every Sunday around a call to get up out of the pew and outside of the Church walls doing mission service whether local, regional, national or to the "ends of the earth". It is encouraging to see that pastors are finally getting the word out that The Great Commission "is not an option but a Command"

I think another thing that has dramatically helped with recruiting is the number of books that are now available to read about missions. The themes vary from mission history, trends, fund raising to personal and locational stories and biographies. Books of course have always been available but the internet has made finding, researching and purchasing light years away from where it was 12 years ago.

The internet and instant communications is quite possible the single biggest advance in technology in every aspect of our lifetime. I can now communicate around the world from Haiti whereas 12 years ago we still depended on "snail mail". The ease and speed of the internet allows us to keep our supporters and others with interest informed with E-mail, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Texting, electronic newsletters, pictures and videos.

People who are feeling the call to go to the mission field now days have the option of getting on " Short Term Mission teams". All of our present 12 plus missionaries in Haiti including myself started out on a STM.

The last of our 'Five Exposure Points" is that of "all out exposure", this is the one I have the most involvement with and spend the most time evaluating and studying. My boss who is director of Cross Cultural Ministries is doing his doctoral thesis on mission minded churches. This summer when we were in Haiti together I posed this question to him. "Is it the mission minded church which makes the well organized, strong and productive mission organization or is it the the well organized, strong and productive mission that creates the mission minded church"? We agreed that it is both, in fact they attract each other. It is not just the big churches nor the big mission organizations either. I have seen many very small churches and mission organizations who are doing more with what God has given and entrusted to them than the medium, big and mega churches and missions. It is exciting to me to see how a church can grow and expand once it lays it all on the alter and commits to the work at hand, that church may not always grow significantly in size but for sure in FAITH.

DRIVING IN HAITI

2011-08-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

One of the frequent questions I'm asked from visitors to Haiti is about driving. It is pretty obvious that driving here is different than what we learn and experience in the U.S. Here are a few samples: "how long did you live in Haiti before you started driving" I'm not sure but the rational for that question is probably based on fear of the unknown. It appears that there are no rules (there are), no protocol (there is) and no common sense (debatable). I was once told by a Haitian friend that Haiti has very good laws but no one observes them. That is a pretty accurate assessment. It starts at the top and works it's way down that if that guy can get away with it so can I, that is especially so with driving, because on the road everyone is in a sense equal it just depends on who has the most nerve and the most to lose.

Another popular question is "does it take long to learn how to drive here in Haiti?" I guess that depends on what your skill level was before you got here. If you are a competent driver in the U.S. you will do fine here but success at driving here comes from two conflicting concepts. 1. You must always be alert for the unexpected Haitian drivers are inpatient so you never know where they are at or might do. They don't easily accept that they should be slowed down by or waiting in line because a vehicle is ahead of them. So they pass you on the left or the right, in a ditch or on a sidewalk, on a hill or a curve, they have no fear of oncoming traffic always believing that the other driver will slow or swerve to let them get around. 2. The other concept is if you give another vehicle behind you or beside you an advantage of even a few feet between you and the vehicle ahead they will cut in and squeeze you out. So city traffic and traffic jams become a game of chess in seeing who can out maneuver the other guy.

Another question I get, "Is it difficult to resume driving normal when you go back to the U.S?" Gosh that is a tough one but I would say not really my speed here in Haiti never exceeds what is legal in the U.S. We do have traffic lights at most major intersections in Port au Prince and even two in St. Marc. I don't pass on curves or hills in either country. In Haiti my wife never says a word about my driving though she often seems apprehensive in the states as well as vocal, doesn't make sense to me, as we are in more danger here. My last team was from Calif. and I have a certain image of Calif. drivers as not timid but they were amazed that I passed a police vehicle that was ahead of me. They embellished it just a little by saying "only in Haiti can you pass a police car, with double yellow lines on a curve." I didn't actually do those last two but if I had I wouldn't have been stopped or ticket. Several years ago I had a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman here for two weeks as we drove around he made the comment that he would have filled a citations book in one hour if he was on duty here in Haiti.

So what is it about driving in Haiti that amazes people? It is chaos in the city traffic jams. The streets are narrow and full of people walking, standing, riding bicycles and moto's. There are goats, cows and horses on the streets even in the capital. The public transportation of Taptaps and old yellow schools buses are jammed with people and commerce. People even ride on the tops of buses or hang on the back of them. I think for most visitors it is their first dose of culture shock but given time it becomes the norm for those of us who live here. It certainly is a good topic of conversation as we bring visitors out from the airport. SJM

PARTNERS IN THE JOURNEY

2011-08-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Back in 2002 when I started GAP Ministry I used the phrase "Partners in the Journey" on some of our brochures. I borrowed this slogan from an old advertisement for a canoe company. I intended this slogan to be two fold for my organization and those who worked with us: we would be a "sharer" and a "participant" with those who might choose to use or work with our mission. Also we felt that those who ventured out to serve the Lord in missions would experience a very special and privileged "partnership" with God in their mission journey.

Probably we have all heard the saying "life's a journey." Some of us are given a little more lengthier journey than others but even so life is short. Without God as your partner your life's journey is a wasted trip! But even with God by your side you shouldn't expect that journey to be a leisurely stroll through the park or along the beach. God calls us all somewhere for some purpose and I'm convinced that if your where God wants you it may not be easy but it will be rewarding and enjoyable.

Journey comes from the French word journee (a day) so one meaning is a day's work or travel, or passage from one place to another. A journey in itself requires movement or steps and to get the most out of our journey we need to move out of our comfort zone. A challenge from a former pastor to our congregation was that we each imagine something that would be out of our comfort zone and attempt to do it. Mine was a mission trip out of the country and that ended up being Haiti. That difficult first step has become my journey the last 12 years, yet at some point the journey may take a different path if it does I'm ready to see where it leads. SJM

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

2011-07-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN

We have all heard the old saying "WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS" in more ways than one that is true with Haiti. If you don' live in or have visited the Tropics, S.E Asia, India, Bangladesh, the Rain Forests or our own N.W. United States you probably don't have a comprehension of the amounts of rain that can fall during each day of the "rainy season". I'm from Indiana where it can rain heavy in the Spring before and during the planting season, then as often as not be too dry during the Summer growing season, then be rainy during the Fall harvest. Even so I'm totally amazed at the amount of rain Haiti receives from May through Nov. and you can double that if the Hurricanes are hitting Haiti.

It has been raining pretty regular since my return to Haiti ten days ago but the last several days the rains have flooded the streets of Liancourt and yesterday St. Marc. Yesterdays rain was intense with near gale force winds and rains making it very difficult to see if not drive. The good thing is such intense weather conditions are about the only thing that make Haitians drive somewhat cautiously and slow down. I met many a vehicle yesterday with flashing caution lights on.

St. Marc streets were running with chocolate colored water yesterday often 12 inches deep. Where the steep side streets run down from the surrounding hills they look like mountain streams rushing to get to the ocean but once they hit the perpendicular main street it becomes a river of water.

The thing that gets me is the difference in cultural attitudes about rain. Yes kids will be kids anywhere and love to play in the rain and run through water puddles. Though of course in our culture we yell at our children " get in this house you better not be getting your clothes all wet", in Haiti it is not that way at all. People walk nonchalantly about as if they don't even notice it or for sure that they accept and enjoy it. Flooded soccer field serve as a new form of water soccer. Young men and women go out jogging on the streets a form of shower while you exercise or maybe visa versa. Possibly they may even take along a bar of soap, but not sure about that. Adults and children get underneath water spouts where the water comes off roofs and bathe. Young people, usually teens and twenty year old's dance in the streets or along the highways. This is all contrary to my way of thinking in that when it rains you get inside or protect yourself with rain gear or an umbrella. The other day as as I drove up to DeChapelle in the rain a lady was walking down the road with an unopened umbrella balanced on top of her head!! Now that may sound like an oxymoron to us from another culture but more often than not I see umbrellas used more to keep the sun off women and babies than to deflect rain. Contrary to what some people may think Haitians know when it's way too hot thus they may desire to thwart the heat from the suns rays rather than the coolness of the falling rain. "God's rainbows come in many colors and so do the people He created and loves". SJM

NEW WEBSITE

2011-07-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

THANKS TO THE HIGHVIEW COG TEAM WHO REPAIRED THIS MOUNTAIN CHURCH
Our new website should be launched today and hopefully be another tool for us to educate and communicate to all those who have an interest in Haiti and our work there. We have added some new features and kept some of the old but our intention is that all of the different ways we communicate are at one location.

I started doing updates about a year ago and sending them out to many of my friends and readers. They in turn would often share with their friends who would request to be added to my update list.The PH-H updates, blogs and newsletters are now available to anyone who has a computer and our website address. We have also added the blogs of several other organizations working in Haiti with PH-H and those of some of our other Church of God General Conference (CGGC) fellow missionaries who work in other countries. Since I write the PH-H blog and update my intention is that the blog be more of a personal account of my life not only in Haiti as the PH-H director but back in the states. I hope to post to it every week to 10 days. The updates will be more what is actually going on with the PH-H ministries, projects, our teams, staff, missionaries and my PH-H work in Haiti and the U.S. on it's behalf. I hope to do as many as 3 updates a week especially during my stays in Haiti which typically are about 8 months every year. When I'm back stateside attending to mission business and some R&R there is still plenty to write about. Another form of communications we use is Facebook where you can often get several short snippets and pictures of what is going on each day in Haiti and also follow some of what our other missionaries in Haiti are doing.

We also have added plenty of contact info and how others can join with our Project Help Team to impact the Haitian communities where we work and live. If you want to learn even more you can go to our CGGC website to learn about all the other countries that Cross Cultural Ministries has missionaries working in. Check out our earthquake video and we have a another brand new video we will be adding soon. I leave for Haiti on Friday morning so stay tuned to our new website to follow what is going on. In God's Love, SJM

THE BEAUTY OF HAITI

2011-06-11T05:28:00.001-07:00

My Highview Church of God team
from Lancaster, Pa. was scheduled to depart at 2:25 pm yesterday. Normally if teams are at the Borel campus and they have an afternoon flight we drive directly from here for the 2.5 hour trip. If their flight is in the morning we take them to Pierre Payen the night before. Our plan was to have a leisure breakfast then hit the road at about 9:00 am so we could arrive at the airport at around noon.

Up here in the Valley people like to protest about whatever is their latest problem. Yesterday it was the lack of electricity. We have a hydro electric plant about 6 miles down the road on one of the canals . So the locals put rocks across the road to make a blockade , not just one row but about 20 rows in a one mile stretch, to prevent employees getting to the power plant. After determining that it would be impossible to get through I decided to take the longer route I had always wanted to try up and over the mountains.

Route Verettes the road that passes through Borel climbs up through the Le Artibonite valley following the meandering river into Mirebalais. This is a very scenic route with the road curving and climbing the grade to a higher elevation. Clear mountain streams rush down from the surrounding mountains to join up with the muddy river water headed for the coast.

Once the road gets to Mirebalais you get on route 3 that crosses the Central Plateau going from port up to Mirebalais, Hinche and on to Cap Haitien. We headed East on 3 which is a several thousand foot climb by switchbacks up over the mountain range ringing the Plateau area. As we curved around the last switchback and crested the summit we could gaze down on the Plaine de Cul , the flat lands surrounding Port au Prince.

The traffic as always was bumper to bumper as we took route 1 through the suburbs of Bon Repon and Cazale to the airport. Having a patient attitude and air conditioning helps , I had the first but not the second. Anyway we pulled into the airport at 12:00 on schedule and met up with one of our drivers who brought in the rest of the team luggage from our other compound at Pierre Payen. I think most of the team were awe struck by the beauty of this route through the mountains and captured it on camera to share with others back home. I know I will be passing this way again maybe not to take teams to the airport but just to enjoy the beauty of Haiti. SJM

INTO THE MOUNTAINS

2011-06-05T17:28:00.001-07:00

Last year's earthquake damaged several of our mountain churches as well as completely destroyed our church in Port au Prince. The churches in the mountains pose several problems
1. getting the materials and equipment up to the churches and 2. finding teams willing to rough it by staying in the mountains and get the job done. I got a call late last year from Lancaster, Pa. from a young man wanting to lead a team from his church the Highview Church of God. Saturday I picked up his seven member team at the airport in Port au Prince. This afternoon after church and lunch at our guesthouse at Pierre Payen we took them up to the trail head and dropped them off . Several adults and children from the village of Bourne came down to help carry their supplies up. Watson Joseph one of our employees who works with our visiting teams here at the Borel campus has taken on the additional task of leading these teams that come to work in the mountains. The teams packed in their sleeping gear , water purification bottles, supplemental food, hygiene, extra clothes and tools. We sent up food supplies and contracted locals to cook two meals a day for them. The biggest obstacle is the weather it has been raining everyday now for 6 days. This could slow them down but excitement was high as I pointed out the distant village on the side of the mountain. In my years here in Haiti possibly one the biggest advancements besides internet is cell phones. This gives me the advantage we didn't have years ago to be in contact with our teams and keep them supplied with materials, food, health care and bring them out when they finish. It seems a trend in many of our teams has been to take on these type of more difficult projects we are grateful some our called to a HIGHER adventure than others, God bless them. SJM

LIFE IN HAITI

2011-04-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

FLIP FLOPS AND OCTOPUS APPETIZERS

Last Friday as I was in my home at Borel, Haiti preparing to get ready to fly home on Sunday morning for a few weeks of rest, meetings and speaking engagements I had a visitor knock at my door. This is a typical everyday occurrence that goes with my director's job and it always intensifies as my departure date approaches. Loveline our Haitian daughter came to notify me I had someone who wanted to talk to me, this usually means one thing someone is there to ask me for help with something. Much to my surprise though this person had come to bring me a gift or actually gifts.

My Haitian visitor who was a rather short, thirty something diver was from a beach area on the N.E. side of St. Marc. This is where we sometimes take our teams to swim on Sunday afternoons. Haitians are innovative and resourceful and he made his living by diving off shore for live conch
( lambi), lobster and occasionally octopus. The conch our doubly valuable because he can sell the shells as well as the meat that is inside to those who come to swim at the beach area. He called himself a diver and a chef. He wanted to inform me that he had traveled from St. Marc to prepare us Project Help missionaries a meal out of lambi and octopus.

It is not unusual for Haitians to bring or give you edible gifts, even live ones. I was once given a live goat for something I had done to help out a relative of an employee. Immediately after the goat was butchered I was informed my cook was preparing me a goat brain sandwich. I often order lambi at Haitian restaurants where it is part of a delicious Creole sauce. Once in a while I buy it raw from street vendors who preserve it in a spicy pickling sauce and put it in an old rum bottle from which they dispense it. I had never eaten octopus put I'm not squeamish about food nor how it is prepared and seeing how I was on my own for lunch that day it was a much welcomed gift. The other missionaries were in St. Marc buying groceries and were going to eat at a restaurant above the Deli Mart.

As I watched him prepare my ocean treat I learned the details that had brought him 30 miles inland to cook me a meal. The Sunday before our team and some of the missionaries had gone to the beach where he makes his living. Now normally we can drive to the beach but that day a truck had broken down on a very steep section of the beach road making it difficult to get pass that vehicle. So the transport truck was parked and the group walked to the beach as we had often done before the road was improved. One of the team members was wearing flip flops
(not good for hiking in Haiti) and as often happens the flip flop fell apart. It seems our visiting diver happened along and offered his foot ware to the barefoot team member and out of gratitude some money was exchanged. The diver wanted to give a little extra in return for the money he had received and as I said earlier Haitians are very resourceful people. So he also didn't miss the chance to give me a short sales pitch of how he could do this as a service for our teams. I wouldn't be surprised if you come and spend a week with us you might be eating some conch and octopus appetizers. SJM

MISSIONS 101

2011-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

SO YOU WANT TO BE A MISSIONARY ?

I really do like blogging but sometimes, I suffer from writers block. OK maybe I'm just plain wore out after supper to do anything but close the bedroom door and drop into bed. Anyway lately I have been having some good ideas popping into my tired little mind that give me the urge to pick up my mini HP and peck at the keyboard.

It seems like so many people who visit our Project Help-Haiti campus at Borel tell me they would like to possibly be a missionary sometime soon or in the future. Now I have been on the mission field eleven years and don't claim to know it all , seen it all nor heard it all but I do think I can give some interesting insights about what it takes to be a missionary. So my brilliant idea is to every now and then blog some key points about what it takes to succeed at mission work.

Key point #1. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. I don't know why I decided to start with this one, probably because you will encounter situations everyday where you find yourself saying or thinking " I didn't expect that".

Now don't get me wrong not everything that happens that is unexpected is something negative. Because we are working for God and he is the "Supreme Employer" your going to be right in the middle of some awesome things happening and He is using you to make it happen. Never think small when your employer is God, one of our missionaries working here at PH-H has a passion for doing street evangelism so often after he is done working he will go out to evangelize. Because he had been witnessing out on the street some people invited him over to their house to talk with their friends . Randy was expecting maybe a small handful of young people not 50 or more but out of his zeal to reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the span of a few days 150 accepted Christ. This is why we are here it is why we come to the mission field we should be expecting good things to happen.

What about those things that happen that can't be labeled positive or negative, in fact they are often embarrassing, at times humorous and often leave us speechless. One that we most often encounter here in that category is nudity. As missionaries we understand the culture that when bathing and going to the bathroom the Haitians have no modesty about doing it in public. I remember my first year here I was out on a hike with my mentor Dr. Binkley as we rounded a curve on a canal path I could see three women, up ahead bathing as we approached they continued bathing but also giggling. After we passed Vic made the comment "well I guess we made their day", in the American culture it would have been the other way around.

Another time that sticks in my mind though it was years ago, it was humorous and unexpected. I was in St. Marc on business with a Haitian friend whose name I no longer remember. After coming out of the government building I got into my truck and took off, after driving a short distance I looked in my rear view mirror and to my surprise there was a naked man standing in the back of my truck as I sped through town. His front side was facing my rear window and his backside was mooning everyone who was following us. I pulled over and we tried to convince him to get out which he eventually did , we got back in the truck but before we could take off he had jumped back in. We tried to convince him to get out again and tried to pull him out which tended to agitate him, being relatively new to the country I wasn't sure what to do next.

My Haitian friend on the other hand said " lets get back in the truck, he is a fou moun (a crazy person) we can take him to the police. So we drove clear across town with a naked crazy man standing in the back of my truck. To this day every time I see a big old farm dog riding in the back of a pickup with his head sticking around the cab of the truck and his tongue hanging out catching some air I think of that guy in the back of my truck.

Later on we are going to talk about the another key point that relates to Key Point #1 and to many others and that is always have a plan and a back up plan, be prepared.
Remember : "Planning is what gets you to the mission field , preparation is what keeps you there". In God's love, SJM

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ?

2011-02-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

Shirley and Ifwa who is ready to be baptized

The Mt. Carroll COG Team from Illinois

GOD WORKING THROUGH YOU AND ME

Haiti 2010 most will agree goes down as possibly the worst time in Haiti's history since the revolution for independence and certainly the worst ever for disasters and medically related events. It caught our organization and myself as director off guard. My first thoughts were for the missions teams I had in country at the time. Some of them I had picked up just 20 minutes before the quake struck so my top priority was for their safety, after that it was reassuring others back home that we would all be fine. Within thirty hours we were able to get a plan in place for assisting in helping quake victims that would continue for the next 11 weeks. We flew in surgeons and supplies, we started and sustained a refugee camp for 6 months , we helped meet the needs of others who sought help. Just when things seemed they would get back to normal the Cholera epidemic struck, we set up a cholera ward for about 5 weeks. Then hurricane Tomas hit Haiti thankfully our area was spared . The election turmoil closed out the year and though for awhile it seemed no one would get home, we finally got out for the Holidays.

Two months into 2011 and things have been going pretty smoothly by Haiti standards. We have seen 8 teams arrive already this year totaling nearly 60 people. We have finished many projects left over from the end of last year and are quickly moving into other new areas and projects. Some of the new missionaries that were recruited last year are now here doing their jobs others are slated to arrive by Fall. Many new ministries are in the planning and fund raising stage, these are the bigger outreaches like agriculture and community development. Some low budget outreaches are getting started like sports camps and evangelism. It is an exciting time here at Project Help-Haiti.

Friday night we went out with our medical team to Club Indigo for supper , they were flying out the next morning. A Haitian friend came over to me as I was sitting with some of the surgeons and whispered that he had just heard that a volcano had erupted at the outskirts of Port au Prince. It was unbelievable but because I was in the middle of the earthquake just 13 months ago I didn't dismiss it too quickly. The thing is I felt the very same adrenaline rush that I experienced during and for a long period after the earthquake. We later learned that someone at the bar had started the rumor and there was nothing to it. Yet it reinforced something I learned about myself during the earthquake, that I find it easier to lead and plan during life threatening events such as a disaster, than the day to day normal events. Don't take this wrong I still love my work here in Haiti but if one isn't careful you can become complacent and not be on top of what is going on.

Lucky for us we have plenty of things going on as we move into this new year and strive to attain some of the agenda that I had laid out 14 months earlier. We are seeing many of these projects get finished and we are gearing up for new outreaches. Prospects and opportunities are coming our way that God may have planned for us all along but I just had never noticed because I was sure my agenda was the way to go.

One of these areas is in evangelism and God is moving in mighty ways through some of our new missionaries to reach our communities. Thad McKee a 23 year old is having great success with the basketball camps he has put on here at Borel at reaching young people to accept Christ. Randy Broaddus our Service Tech person is reaching young and old through street ministries and holding salvation services in homes , over 150 have been reached through these outreaches. If your here you can feel that something is different, things are happening and it is God ordained that people are reaching out and searching to hear and know about Him. In God's love, SJM

THE BEST REASON TO COME TO HAITI

2011-02-15T00:21:00.000-08:00

Basketball camps are a great way to lead young people to Christ

MAKING DISCIPLES WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Recently my friend Heather Elyse , the director of GAP-Haiti Ministry posted a blog titled the top five reasons to come to Haiti. She used to make her living writing commercials so this was a humorous, fun to read blog. My wife often comments that I have no sense of humor and often throws in and "your no fun anymore". I'm just forewarning you that what you are about to read will most likely not be funny but will be life changing.

If I was humorous and I admit I'm not, this would be my top five reasons for coming to Haiti:

#5. You don't have to spend time thinking about what you will cook for super, it will be rice & beans. Two thirds of the worlds population if they eat at all will consume rice at possibly their only daily meal.

#4. You won't have to waste money on a watch. Since we are close to the Equator we get nearly 12 hours of light and 12 of darkness. If you like to know approximately what time it is the sun rises a little before 6:00 am and it sets at around 6:00 pm. Honestly just make your life easy forget the watch nothing ever starts and no one ever shows up on time.

#3. You will gain a greater appreciation of your own government and maybe even your politicians. Government services here are non existence for the most part. No dependable water, sewer, garbage, electric, no highway department nor postal services. Police protection and fairness under the court systems depends on who you know and who you pay.

#2. Learn how to get your priorities in order. In America we spend a lifetime preparing to retire and not going to work everyday. In Haiti they spend a lifetime hoping to find enough work each day so they can feed themselves and their family, retirement is not an option.

#1. Florida just isn't that warm in the winter anymore. No debating global warming here in Haiti it is always warm and I don't see that changing. December through March are the best months with daytime temperatures around 85 and nights occasionally dropping to 70.

Seriously there really are good reasons to come to Haiti so let me do a second list from the perspective of a missionary:

#5. Impacting lives.
It never ceases to amaze me how those who come go away more blessed than when they arrived. I know this because I get e-mails or hear it directly from them during devotions. Seeing tears roll down faces and hearing emotional testimonies is common occurrence from those who come here. In January we had 2 men on separate teams who upon returning home discovered they might be facing life threatening health issues, not because of their having been here. Yet I can't get out of my mind that God brought them here specifically for a reason to draw them close to Him and see them through a difficult time.

#4. Saving lives.
We have a medical team here this week they arrived on Saturday evening. Early Sunday morning they were awakened to an emergency, a multiple vehicle wreck has left one dead at the scene , one dead after arrival at the hospital , one critical insured with a severed intestine and several with minor injuries. The critically insured remains alive because of that team of surgeons were there at Pierre Payen.

#3. Priceless moments
Maybe you remember the Master Card commercial where they put a price on different things you might use your credit card on but then finish with something you can't put a price tag on. A smile, a laugh, a cherished moment those times in a persons life that are remembered forever. Those happen all the time on the mission field they are what keep us missionaries from burning out from the difficulties of working here.

#2. Discovering God among his people
It has been said if you want to really encounter God you have to go and discover where He is working. A good place to start is on the mission field.

The best reason for coming to Haiti or any other mission field is :
#1. Making disciples who make a difference.
This just happens to be our mission statement here at Project Help-Haiti. Though we do lots of ministry work the bottom line is we desire to lead people to be followers of Christ and through our discipling they become agents of change for their country and beyond. It seems like the Holy Spirit is moving in a powerful way from the reports I'm getting from our missionaries. Dozens have been led to and accepted Christ as their Savior the last several weeks even those on short term missions teams have been involved in these wonderful events.

Don't take my word for any of the 10 reasons I've just listed come see for yourself , I would love to hear what you list is. In God's love, SJM

REFLECTIONS ON HAITI

2011-01-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

OK I know I haven't posted a blog for quite awhile and January is almost finished. I got back in Haiti on January 3rd after taking a 3 week Christmas break. It seems like I have been going non stop since getting here and most nights I'm ready to go to bed by 7:30. Since we have guests I usually don't turn in till 9:00. I've had intentions of sitting down and doing a blog on several occasions but my creative writing skills if any have been slow in coming for this new year.
Heather Elyse the new director of GAP Ministry showed me the blog she posted last evening, she arrived in Haiti on Tuesday and now resides in a house here at Borel. You can read her blog post at GAP-Haiti.blogspot.com. Heather's blogs tend to be humorous, she use to make her living writing commercials, mine are usually more on the serious side. Anyway after reading her posting this morning I knew I could not procrastinate any longer, I needed to post something and hopefully it jump starts my writings for 2011.

YOU SEE THINGS AND SAY, "WHY?"
I DREAM THINGS THAT NEVER WERE AND I SAY, "WHY NOT?" G.B. SHAW

Why is it that Haiti has a hold on some of us? We could be anywhere we want doing what we please in comfort and safety. To the uninitiated it is a country of chaos but on closer observation you realize it is orchestrated chaos-there is a purpose behind it. Everywhere you go there are people, many are crammed in the back of Tap Taps, small dilapidated pickups spewing black smoke as they sputter along with their heavy loads. Like the people and the country , they should have ceased to exist years ago but somehow they hang on year after year.

There are people walking, sitting or standing on the edge of the road at all hours of the day or night. Haiti is a nation that walks everywhere , it still moves it's commerce on the backs or heads of it's population. Donkeys and horses are the heavy haulers . It seems the nation is never quiet nor at rest.

Once you see beyond the people, it is the trash and garbage that catch your eye. One has to imagine the country was a lot cleaner looking before plastic bottles, bags and Styrofoam were introduced. What does a country do that doesn't have garbage pickup and landfills? You discard it as soon as your done using it in the ditches, open sewers and rivers waiting for a rain to wash it out to sea. If your somewhat conservation-minded you burn it. Either way Haiti overwhelms you with a potpourri of smells as you travel along it's roads, city streets and paths. The trash is usually piled along the roads and the smoldering fires billow up a smoke that is a hazard to your health. As you pass through some city areas the smell of urine lingers in the air as public restrooms either don't exist or are too toxic to enter. The smoke of cook fires along with the smell of cooking food can stimulate one's appetite if you keep your eyes shut to the surroundings.

If you haven't decided to cut your trip short and head back to the airport, you've probably made it to the outskirts of Port au Prince, the capital city of over 2 million people. By then you have driven out beyond the haze of vehicle fumes, the smoke of trash and charcoal and you notice the mountains. Even though mostly sheared of all vegetation they are still beautiful. You gaze up at the peaks covered by clouds and you can for a brief moment imagine the beauty of God's creation. Looking down from an airplane gives you the stark reality that the once fertile land has been abused for too long. The mouths of the rivers and streams run brown spilling tons of soil miles out to sea every time it rains.

These are just the things that are obvious. Stay awhile and you will get a feel of the undertow of voodoo as it pulls it's populous down with fear and superstition. Don't get me wrong--voodoo is real. People practice it, they believe in it, they give sacrifices, people die, not from it but because of it. It's real power lies in the fear that permeates the Haitian culture from hundreds of years of enslavement to its practices.

Then there are the disasters both natural and man made. They put Haiti in the news at least several times every year. Hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides, flooding, riots, food shortages, Aids, cholera and political unrest. When one thinks the country can sink no further and that better times lie ahead it seems something else happens.

My life has never been to dwell on the negative but to look at what positive opportunities they present. So when I look at all the negatives that Haiti presents to not only it's inhabitants, visitors and NGO's I never think or say "why ?" Instead I like to think "why not?" Doesn't our God always provide another way for us ? When it seems "there is no other way, God will provide a way"-- His way.
In God's love, SJM

FINISHING UP THE YEAR

2010-12-07T03:16:00.000-08:00

Caption top to bottom:
**prayer before starting mountain clinic.
**attending to a dehydrated youth
** medical team

WINDING DOWN AND GEARING UP

This is my last week in Haiti for 2010, I fly home Friday morning for a 3 week Holiday vacation. I return on Jan. 3rd to start another year in Haiti, it will be my 12th year. The week before I leave and especially the last day are usually hectic as I attend to last minute details that need attention before my departure.

This week we are doing what we can to get ready for the Haiti Church of God annual conference Jan. 6-8 and to also make preparations for the new missionaries who will arrive to live here at Borel in Jan. Two of those missionaries are here this week, Heather Elyse from Rochester, Ind. will be coming to be the director of GAP ministry she will rent one of the houses here at Borel. Besides working for that ministry she will assist other ministries with video production and print and Internet communications.

Randy Broaddus from Tulsa , Oklahoma will be coming to be a volunteer missionary for Project Help, he will be the field tech support engineer for PH-H and other missions who need professional tech support. Both of these missionaries have worked in children's ministries , Heather grew up on the mission field as a MK & PK and is an ordained children's pastor. Randy has served many years as a volunteer at his church in OK.

This next year we will be emphasizing and developing a new outreach to minister and evangelize the young people of Haiti. Just like in the U.S. bringing young people to Christ early is imperative to discipleship. The success rate drops dramatically after the age of 18 so we are targeting two age groups, 6year old's to early teens and mid teens to late twenty year old.

Andy and Theresa Snyder have been confirmed as full time PH-H missionaries and will arrive for a 3 month stay in Jan. Andy will be the new facilities manager for the Borel compound and Theresa will manage the Borel guesthouse together they will be in charge of the short term missions teams and projects they do here.

Last weeks mobile medical team did a tremendous amount of work, over 1,000 men, women and children's health needs were treated and ministered to. Another 250 received eye exams and reading glasses through New Vision ministry an organization we partner with here in Haiti. The medical team purchased 1,000 pair of reading glasses and brought them to Haiti along with the many bags of pharmaceuticals. These supplies were added to what we had on hand as we build up a stock of medical supplies for helping those who are most vulnerable, the poor people who live far out in the mountains and rural areas of Haiti. At least 40 people received Christ at our 2 day clinic in the mountain village of Fretta. In God's love, steve

"DON'T PRAY FOR LIGHTER BURDENS BUT STRONGER BACKS"

2010-11-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

Top: where the future Bon Repose church will be rebuilt
Bottom: new church benches.

MAKING PROGRESS

It has been a very unusual year even for Haiti which it seems makes world headlines at least one or more times each year. This year Haiti was in the news all year long from the earthquake, slow progress, broken promises , cholera and Hurricane Tomas. There is still 5.5 weeks left something else could happen before 2011 gets here. I thought I knew what I was up against when I took this job but never imagined my first year as director would be this challenging. Yet I feel God has blessed me by giving me this opportunity.

My first 6 months were really consumed by the earthquake and our medical ministry. Since June I have been able to start focusing on the vision I have for preparing PH-H for it's future role here in Haiti. In six more years we will pass the 50 year mark of working here. We started with a vision and implemented a plan that served us well but plans need revised to achieve success.

The excitement for mission work here in Haiti is at an all time high right now and doesn't appear it will slow down any next year. Thank God for that because it will be on the backs of many that we will move forward and accomplish the task God has given us here in Haiti.

These past few weeks we have hosted some amazing teams that have been helping us get prepared for next year but also help us with serving and blessing many in need right now. We have had 2 surgical teams, a German team working with Cholera, and 4 work teams in the last 30 days. We have completed the work on a new church building in the mountains and built church benches for our church that was destroyed in Port au Prince by the earthquake. We have built a 100 lineal feet of cabinets for our mission houses and guesthouse houses, we have painted and cleaned , built a new guesthouse dorm at Pierre Payen, replaced ceilings and are amazed as our Haitian work crews make improvements in some of our structures here at Borel.

I'm excited about what we have been able to do given the circumstances we have been dealing with this year. I'm not one to spend much time in looking back instead it is the plans for today and the days that follow that make me eager to get up and get going each day. God is blessing us with a great opportunity and that is exciting stuff. In God's love. SJM

GOOD DAYS AND COOL NIGHTS

2010-11-14T14:40:00.001-08:00

Above : the Targette church

Another week has passed and things are going pretty smoothly by Haiti standards. Last Sat. our team from Indian Head COG departed , they completed the construction of a new 34 x 65 foot church way up in the mountains at a village called Targette. This sister church project was a 3.5 year undertaking from it's conception in 2006. The roof and truss rafters will enable the congregation to hold church services inside the new building the old church will become a school. They have a water project planned up at Targette for 2011 that will bring water from a spring down the the village.

On Monday the 12 member Great Lakes conference team arrived the worked on projects at Borel till Friday afternoon. Such things as putting ceiling in one of the mission houses, renovating the outside of a rundown house to serve as a Missionary & English language school, electrical and some painting. On Friday afternoon they went down to our other guesthouse to work on a missionary house there that needs another room to sleep extra guests in My wife and I also need a place to stay when we overnight there. Today they plan on relaxing at a beach and maybe going out to eat this evening, tomorrow they fly back to the states.

My wife , Shirley left on Wednesday with a 3 day layover in Kansas City to visit our daughter and grandchildren. She will arrive back in Fort Wayne this afternoon and start preparing for the holidays. I will be in Haiti till Dec. 10th then I fly home for 3 weeks to spend time with my family. Shirley and I will return to Haiti on Jan. 3rd.A

On Thursday a small team from Chicago and Indiana arrived , they stayed at Pierre Payen that evening because the time change in the states put teams arriving on the last flight at 4:15 way too late to get to Borel. Three of them will be building cabinets for various locations here at Borel.
The other who is a mechanic is working on a Jeep we are trying to repair, they will leave on the 18th.

On Monday when the Great Lakes team leaves another COG team arrives from German Town , Md. they will be building church benches for the Bon Repose church in Port au Prince. They are led by their pastor and former Haiti missionary Mark Hosler. On Tuesday new missionaries Ken and Betty McIntyre will arrive to help out for a couple of weeks. After their teaching contracts are up next year they will be spending about 6 months each year helping out at PH-H through out the year.

The weather has been really exceptional except for a few days before and after hurricane Tomas when we received some rains. The evenings have been cool with early morning temperatures at 70 degrees. The daytime temps are mid 80's with lots of sunshine.

My goal this trip is to get ready for the arrival of our new missionaries in Jan., and the many visiting short term missions teams. We have every week filled with teams through March and are working on filling up April , May and June as well. Those months are starting to fill up with 3 teams booked for April, and one each in May and June, no doubt we have have them filled by the first of the year. The COG Haiti conference will meet here at Borel the first week of Jan. so I'm also concentrating on having the place really looking nicer and more orderly than it has for several years now. If you haven't already check out our Project Help - Haiti site on Facebook where a post pictures and happenings each day. If you want even more about Haiti check out the GAP-Haiti blog site and website for what will be happening with that organization in 2011. In God's love, SJM

NOW A HURRICANE, FLOODING & MORE CHOLERA

2010-11-07T06:57:00.001-08:00

top to bottom: Artibonite valley, shower time, Targette Church, setting rafters

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN NEXT?

Wow what a week!! In spite of Hurricane Tomas it has been a good week here at Project Help- Haiti. The good news for us is that our work team from Indian Head COG in Pa. can say "job accomplished". A project 4 years in the making got completed on Wed. evening. I received the call from the team at about 8:00 pm that evening informing me they had put the roof, rafter and doors on the new church in the village of Targette high up in the mountains above the Artibonite Valley. They would be hiking the 2.5 hours down from the village to another mountain village called Gilbert the next day. This village has an accessible mountain road where we could send a truck to pick them and the equipment up at around 10:30 am.

If you have never worked in remote areas where no roads exist maybe you have never thought how do they get materials and equipment up there short of a helicopter. Well everything goes on the backs of pack animals or is carried on the backs, heads and in the hands of people. Take for instance the gas powered 12 HP. Honda welder/generator. It was transported in a manner of the Ark of the Covenant , two 12 foot 2x4's were slid under the top frame and transported on the shoulders of 8 men , 2 on each corner. The trail is no flat land hike, in fact at one point it goes down into a mini Grand Canyon where you cross a mountain stream. You eventually come to a waterfalls where you take a very steep trail up to the village.

Getting done a day early was a great blessing because on Friday the day we had estimated they would finish, Hurricane Tomas hit Haiti. In our area of Haiti this meant high winds and lots of rain. Such conditions mean very hazardous travel in the mountains. In fact most all travel including buses , tap taps and air carriers were suspended. Also most filling stations, banks, schools and govt. offices. Our team members were able to leave on Sat. their scheduled date but all flights were postponed 3.5 hours still allowing them to leave by 12:30.

The areas where we live and work didn't receive direct hurricane damage but many rivers had minor flooding. The biggest threat was the near torrential downpour Friday night as most Haitian housing is in very precarious condition.

The Hurricane of course may worsen the cholera epidemic especially in the refugee camps and cities with cramped housing conditions. Three of our employees or friends have informed me of deaths in their families this week. I know for sure one was from cholera and probably all were. Haiti is certainly not a place to live or work in if you can't deal with a "what could possibly happen next" mentality . It can wear you down fast if you can't adapt quickly to the fact that things can and often do get worse when you live in a poor country like Haiti. Thank goodness God is our employer and leader. In God's love , steve

CHOLERA UPDATE

2010-10-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

12 year old who died from blood clot
15 day old preemie weighs one kilo

WHAT'S NEXT ?

Shirley and I arrived back in Haiti on Sat. 10/23 I had been expecting this trip might be different and we could start establishing a mission routine not so filled with drama. That was not to be as I received an e-mail on 10/20 informing me of the cholera outbreak in the Artibonite valley where we live. As more and more cases were showing up at the hospital in St. Marc the largest city in our area we made plans to set up a cholera ward in our PH-H clinic in Pierre Payen. On Friday the day before we arrived they treated 20 patients by noon on Tuesday the number was up to 112. Fortunately we had already scheduled a medical team from Pennsylvania to arrive on Oct. 23 rd so we quickly asked them to resupply with IV fluids and antibiotic. Some reports are showing the epidemic is slowing down and from what I have seen from my travels this may be true.

Our medical team had been scheduled to do surgeries ( general & Ortho) , we also had two ultrasound techs come to train and do exams and a gynecologist. They have kept busy not only doing those things but with several emergency patients including car accidents, examining babies such as the little 15 day old who was born in the 7th month of pregnancy. The mother has been very sick so she was unable to breast feed but the baby has hung on by getting a little bit of formula down.

Perhaps the most disturbing was the 12 year old girl referred to us from the Mission of Hope at Titayian. She had fallen off a donkey 2 weeks ago and was not getting any better so they brought her to us for a possible surgery. Our lead surgeon examined her and felt she had a broken or fractured femur and possibly a lacerated liver. He scheduled her for an ultrasound and Xray. I told the ambulance driver and nurses who brought her to go on back to MOH and we would contact them later with the results. I had just finished eating lunch and someone came to tell me she was dead I at first couldn't believe it so went over to see for myself . I was shocked to see that someone who 15 minutes earlier had been sitting in a wheel chair eating a cracker had died. Our doctors felt terrible about this but suspect a blood clot broke loose during her 45 minute ambulance ride up to Pierre Payen. Even though we are able to do a lot of things to bring better health care to Haiti it is still disturbing for me each time someone comes to our facility with hope that we can help them and they die at our hospital.

LEARNING FROM THE OTTERS

2010-09-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

Top to bottom: Crystal River the Homestead, drying off in the sand after a swim, a few minutes of fun and relaxations on a catamaran.

This past week Shirley and I took our annual Fall trip with my mom , my sisters and brother in-laws . We have been doing this since 1999 and all but one year have gone to Michigan, where we usually rent a condo on Lake Michigan at the Homestead in Glen Arbor. This year we especially enjoyed a family or a group of six otters that were in the Crystal River near the outlet to Lake Mich. Part of the reason the otter were there were the large quantity of salmon coming in to spawn. This was my first opportunity to observe otter in the wild and during 4 days of seeing and filming them I learned a few admirable characteristics they display .

** FELLOWSHIP: High level of social interaction they thrive on the need to be together and stay together. When separated they could often be heard calling the members of the group with a whistle like noise.
** TEAMWORK: They worked together in rounding up fish in the water and in grooming themselves.
** SHARING : They shared with the others in the group the food they caught from oldest to youngest (biggest to smallest).
** POSITIVE ATTITUDE: They seem to never have an attitude of we can't accomplish this task. Even when the fishermen chased them off they would regroup and do something else for awhile then resume with the task.
** JOY: They display a real zest to enjoying life every minute of each day. Everything I observed them do they seemed to go about with a sense of enjoyment, this is definitely tied to having a positive attitude.
** EFFICIENCY: They seem to make wise use of time and whether on foot or in the water they move very quickly. I'm sure they take time for rest but they were always in motion of doing something.

I have heard some of my friends talk about a profile test where your leadership characteristics are given the designation of 4 different animals and if I remember the otter is one of them. I'm not personally familiar with that profile test but from what I observed we could all take some pointers on how to live life from the otter.
In God's love , steve

GOD WHERE ARE YOU ? ( part 2 )

2010-09-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

SALT AND LIGHT !!

The following thoughts in today's blog have only come to me recently. Several factors have played an interest in shaping my thinking in the months since the Earthquake, here are my thoughts.

First I ran across this short little paragraph in a book I'm reading, it is a quote from the Los Angeles Times by writer/columnist Joel Stein: " Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring, Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can't wait to go , like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They're basically getting by because they only have to be better than hell."

I don't know what your thoughts are after reading that but possibly somewhere between angry and offended to slightly amused, after all it is what I first thought as a 5-6 year old starting to learn about Heaven. Of course as an adult I know there is no Biblical support for Mr. Stein's view. I don't even know if he researched his facts, if he is a Christian, Jewish, Muslim or even a believer at all. The problem I have and Mr. Stein isn't alone in this, is that we the people of the church are letting others tell our story. The news media right or wrong , conservative or liberal , even those supposedly who portray themselves in the middle have hijacked our message the greatest story ever written and twist it to gain reader / viewership, political support or whatever the latest attention grabbing need is at the time.

Secondly June 12th marked 6 months since the disaster and Haiti was revisited by the national news media. One of the things they tried to imprint upon their viewership was the lack of planning, cooperation and progress made since the Jan. 12th disaster. Once again we are letting those with an agenda that is usually tied to gaining the most media attention paint a broad picture of ineptness, corruption and self centered actions of a few indict the vast majority who have accomplished a great story that doesn't get told. Many of my best friends and even strangers who know I work for a large organization in Haiti ask me what is happening there. They want to know if progress is being made. What have we been doing , what are our future plans and often how can they be a part of it? Usually they have heard , read or seen the media present the Haitian government as inept, unprepared, lacking a plan of action and a history of corruption. My response is I can't defend or denounce the Haitian government as I'm not involved in their decisions. I'm too busy to be concerned about what they are doing or not doing other than how it pertains to the plans of our organization. What I can tell is the success stories of Project Help-Haiti and so many other organizations who mobilized so quickly to make a difference in the days and weeks after. Now our organization and others are moving into new ministry areas for the next phase of recovery and that story isn't getting told near enough .

The third thing that has impacted my view is that my home church in the states has just embarked on a new ministry series for this Fall entitled "be one make one" based on the Beatitudes in Matthew . In particular for this blog post Matthew 5:13-16 more commonly know as the salt and light verses are on my mind. They start by reminding us that we are the salt of the Earth and if we lose our salty taste we are worthless in fact it says " we are worth nothing and must be thrown out for people to walk on." It goes on to say we are "the light that gives light to the world." Further more a light shouldn't be hidden it should "shine for all people in the house that they may see." The best part is we as Christians are called to be "a light for other people," to live so they can see the good things we do. "Live so that they will praise your Father in Heaven", that is a story each and everyone of us should be distributing everyday!! Now that gets me back to where I started "WHERE IS GOD?" Well He should be shining in you and me each and everyday for all to see and praise Him in Heaven. I will be the first to admit it isn't always easy and sure it is tempting to say to ourselves that there is enough other people out there speaking but if we as Christians don't speak up others will take our message and portray it wrongly. When we no longer have a salty taste we run the risk of our message being trampled under foot . When we hide our light we run the risk of it being extinguished and many may be lost in the ensuing darkness. I have memorized a little verse by St. Francis of Assisi as to how easy this process can be " Go and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ everyday and if necessary use words." In God's love, steve

GOD WHERE ARE YOU? (part 1)

2010-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

HEAVEN and EARTH
The theme of this post actually came to me back on Jan. 10th as I was traveling back to Haiti. It is somewhat ironic that many of the thoughts I'm sharing now came to me just 2 days before the devastating earthquake struck Haiti. I intended to write this blog sometime after I got to Haiti but circumstances intervened and I forgot about it till just recently as I flew home from Texas through some beautiful cloud cover again. Maybe it was intended that I should wait 8 months to give more thought to what I was thinking about that morning in Jan. My thoughts back then about what I wanted to post were probably more light hearted than provocative.

I'm not one who likes to read or do computer work when I fly, so I usually either sleep, get into a conversation if I have a talkative seat mate (sometimes my wife) or often gaze out the window in deep thoughts. That day we were flying 32-35,000 feet over some beautiful clouds high above the Earth. So as we passed through those clouds I got to thinking about visions of Heaven and how as a young boy I would lay on my back out in the yard gazing up at the billowing white clouds high above in the sky .I don't know about your thoughts as a youngster but mine were shaped by visions of winged angels resting on clouds possibly singing and playing harps watching out for us humans far below. Somewhere up there was Heaven filled with friends and relatives residing with God in a city filled with many mansions. Much of this was imparted to me as a young boy at Sunday school and week long summer VBS classes. I'm also sure that some of my thoughts were molded by my grandfather passing away when I was seven years old and the comforting reassurance of my parents and grandmother who stayed with us for awhile after his death.

Those reassurances in my young mind about Heaven were quite welcome as were also those of Santa Claus at the North pole and the Tooth Fairy. Somewhere in those years of course I out grew those childhood images we form in our minds about life and replaced them with mature Christian ones. Now as an adult I have a different perspective, for one thing my job requires flying quite often each year. Those flights often allow me to look at those clouds not as before from down on Earth but high above in the sky. Many many times I have flown over them and through them in state after state and even out across the oceans. I have yet to see one angel nor a glimpse of that great city full of mansions in Heaven I imagined up there as a youngster, ( this is the light hearted part).

Yet just because the image I had of Heaven as a youngster was reassuring then and that I can now visibly see my image was compromised that doesn't at all deter my faith that I will be joining God in Heaven someday wherever it is. The fact is I see God and He is with me all the time. I join him each day and He works through me as He does through so many others at home and around the world. He doesn't distinguish between whether we are doing little acts of kindness and love or doing huge Kingdom building ministries by proclaiming the "good news", by planting the seeds, bringing in the harvest, bearing fruit that lasts, taking care of the lost and hurting peoples. He loves us and He calls us to love others by making an "eternal difference" in their lives. As a youngster I of course put faith in my parents reassurances about all things, they didn't steer me wrong as they explained things in a way a child could understand. As an adult Christian I depend on God to expand all aspects of life,death and eternity as I grow closer to Him through Faith and empowerment of the Holy Spirit as I follow His will. So far what I have written is what I intended to share in my blog 8 months ago. In my next blog I will continue with my thoughts that have been expanded over these months as things have unfolded after the earthquake. In God's love , steve

A SUNDAY HIKE

2010-08-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Top to Bottom: Foot bridge, heading across the river, the cable ferry, Cathedral

Usually on Sundays we try to offer our teams an opportunity to get out into the Haitian communities where we live and work. We gave the Barkeyville, Pa. Church of God team an Indiana Jones type adventure when we visited Ti Riviere . Petite-Riviere de-L'Artibonite is a historic town across the river from our Project Help-Haiti Borel compound. The cable ferry is the quickest way to cross The other options are to go down the road about 2 miles then drive back to the Dam that impounds the water for the irrigation canals cross over the river and follow a bumpy road 2 miles back to get to the town. The other crossing is about 9 miles back to the bridge at Pont Sonde the 10 miles back on the opposite side.

The cable ferry is the route of us locals, once you cross you can walk the less than a mile road into town or take a motor bike or tap-tap if your not into hiking. The second advantage is this little jaunt offers some Indiana Jones type adventure. That starts when you park your vehicle and cross the rickety foot and motor bike bridge across the irrigation canal. you have to walk about a quarter of a mile to the river through some fields. The cable ferry is quite ingenious in that it is propelled each direction by the river current. The ferry is just 2 steel boats with a wood platform fastened on top . Two small cables with pulleys attach the boat to a large cable that spans the river and is anchored onto concrete posts. To catch the current and cross just requires changing the length of the lead cable to pitch the degree of the boats angle to the current.

The town itself is very attractive with a central city square , a cathedral, a palace, a fort and great views of the river running through the valley below. Though we never got wet much of the trip threatened an afternoon rain which kept the heat down. Part of the reason we went over was to look for some artwork as there are several artists living in town who paint some unique pieces of art.

LIFE, DEATH AND REJUVENATION

2010-08-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Top to bottom:
The mobile Mountain Medical Team. Large Growth on jaw bone. 26 year old woman with renal failure, died that morning

THE MOUNTAIN MEDICAL TEAM
Life is a journey a series of events your either going somewhere or going nowhere . Life is a period of time, for some it's short others 70, 80 even over 90 years. So even if you choose to go nowhere with your life's journey your always moving towards the end of your journey. My journey took an unexpected twist when I came to Haiti eleven years ago on a short term mission trip. That week has turned me from a nice retirement to full time missions by founding my own mission organization, G.A.P. Ministry, to recently becoming the director of Project Help-Haiti. Most of the mission people I met here on the mission field 1o-11 years ago have either left Haiti by choice through retirement or completion of their terms. Some have departed because of health issues but unfortunately many if not most have left through frustration.

Haiti is a tough missions field to work in, it can and does wear you down. Some of my friends were really down after the earthquake after years of making some progress they felt defeated by the aftermath of the quake. Some of my friends left for other reasons but in the end frustration is the key word. When I get down a quick trip into the mountains can be a tonic for rejuvenating my spirit. I love the beauty of the mountain landscape the discovery of a bubbling spring of fresh water cascading out of rocky crevasses. The wonderful sound of water rushing down a mountain stream, the sounds and sights of birds and flowers. Beauty is everywhere if you look closely but life is harsh and often very impoverished among all the grandeur of nature and creation here in Haiti.

That is why we took a mobile medical unit of doctors and nurses into the mountain village of Frettas on Wed. and Thursday. The trip involved a moderate hike of 45 minutes from the roads end to arrive at the school building where we set up a clinic and spent the night. I come to this village often to stay and work, I know it's needs and health care is one of them. During our 2 days of working there we treated 300 people. The majority of the cases were nutrition involved, anemic, worms and vitamin deficiencies for children. Several cases required that we take the patients down to Pierre Payen for hernia and for an abdominal mass surgeries. We had one young 26 year old with a large growth on her jaw bone she will require a surgery once we diagnose her illness. Another young woman who died later that day was in renal failure and we could do nothing for her.

This type of ministry in the mountains is much needed and brings hope and a better quality of life for those we treat. We are putting together another medical team to work in the mountains in early Dec. To see the needs and to be able to minister to these people is uplifting for me. The beauty of the mountains rejuvenates my soul and the ability to serve those in need fires up my passion and desire to stay the course and finish strong. In God's love , steve

WORKING IN THE MOUNTAINS

2010-08-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

Top: the Borne church
Bottom: At the Bon Repose church

This week I had another chance to visit some of the COG conference churches that sustained earthquake damage with CCM director Pastor Don Dennison. I revisited the Bon Repose church near Port au Prince on Tuesday to see how we can speed up rebuilding there. Right now we await word from the Haitian government on what guidelines they have on construction there. Since it was the school that was leveled and the church had never been finished and didn't sustain damage we hope to avoid restrictions by putting a metal roof instead of concrete on the church. We will have an engineer look at it to give us a good assessment.

On Wednesday we also drove into the mountains as far as possible then walked 1.5 hours to one of our more remote churches at Borne. This village is located high in the mountains above the Mountrouis river. This church was founded by one of our early missionary pioneers Lois Habecker back in the 1980's. Possibly because of the remoteness and difficulty of getting materials there inferior construction was used to build the church. Thus even though it was located a good 60 miles from the earthquake it sustained some damage to the end walls. The best way to repair the church is to tear down the end walls leaving the roof and sidewalls this way we can enlarge the church by another 24 feet . We hope to recruit a team with at least 1-2 masons and some carpenters to spend several days at Borne and rebuild yet this year or early next. Anyone who might be interested can contact Kara Norris in Findlay, Ohio CCM headquarters or myself. In God's love , steve

WELCOME BACK

2010-08-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

As I look back at the last time I blogged on this site it was into the second week post earthquake. Jan. 12th forever has changed Haiti and those who live and work. If you work in missions and haven't made adjustments in your organization and added or dropped some ministries you may soon find yourself sitting on the sidelines.

When I agreed to take over as director of Project Help-Haiti late last year my desire was also to keep GAP Ministries going as well. I thought maybe I could direct both ministries, the earthquake and resulting disaster in Haiti quickly proved me wrong on that thought. I had suspended writing this Blog during the medical disaster as I could barely find time to write the Project Help-Haiti blog. So it is good to be starting the blog back up and once again be sitting here writing to are followers. Many have told me they keep looking to see if we have posted and how disappointed they are to not find something.

Today marks something new for GAP Ministries and a major announcement. First: it became apparent I needed to relocate GAP to another location from where we had been based since 2006. I talked to my boss at Cross Cultural Ministries about this and we agreed that we could have GAP run from out of Project Help-Haiti's Borel Campus. Much like our previous arrangement in the Montrouis area with another organization we would partner with PH-H in bringing teams and funding projects. Another agreement was that Gap has several ministries that would be beneficial to PH-H rather than they starting similar ministries. This solved a major stumbling block for keeping Gap going.

Second: I needed help in running the day to day operations of Gap in Haiti and the states. This was much more difficult than one might think. Finding good missionaries can often be the downfall of many organizations. God can open doors we never even know about, He can and He did. So I would like to announce GAP's new director Miss Heather Elyse. On July 20th she interviewed and met the Gap board of directors a week later by e-mail vote she was unanimously approved. Heather and her 7 adopted children will be moving to Haiti early next year, they have been here with me in Haiti since July 23rd but will fly back to Indiana where she can finish up her duties as Children's Ministry pastor at Olive Branch Church of God. She brings a lot of good things to our ministry, besides being a children's pastor she has a production company that films commercials, has a large network of people to call on for help and is a great public speaker. She grew up as an MK & PK (missionary & Pastor's kid) and has a passion for children and helping the lost and downtrodden of the world.

Heather will be starting to blog on the GAP site soon and time to time I will as well. I will continue to remain as executive director of GAP. This bog will also be linked to our new Project Help website at www.projecthelp-haiti.org along with several other important blog sites. We also will be updating and changing some aspects of our GAP website which will also have a link to the PH-H website. Many of you have told me you can't get enough of following what is going on in Haiti so hold on were about to launch an awesome communications network to keep you. updated. In God's love , steve

LIFE IS GOOD

2010-07-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Last Fall as I was preparing to head off to Haiti I made a last minute run over to our local Gander Mountain outlet, a chain of outdoor hunting and fishing stores. Just by chance I ran across a marked down "Life is Good" cap. These regular sell for $2o -25 but this was a closeout at $9.00 .

I was proud to show off my new dark green cap which proudly proclaimed across the front Life is Good. What I really liked about the cap besides being a bargain and looking pretty good on my Bic'd head was that inside the cap was printed "like what you do, do what you like ". I never got a picture of myself in that cap because I lost it in Haiti. Maybe I will find another someday but if not I think for me Life is Good no matter what I have on my hairless head. I consider myself a lucky person because I really do " like what I do and I'm doing what I like," everyday.

I don't know too many people who can honestly say that. It seems too many people, Christians included, settle for less than what they would like to be doing and for sure what God planned that they should be doing. It is never too late in life to make the decision to follow God's plan for your life, I'm a good example for that.

Long before Map Quest and GPS ( I just love it when I alter routes on our Garmin and it says recalculating ) God gave us some directional help for life's journey. If you have gotten off course or never even had a map to start with then stop and recalculate. Spend some time reading the Bible, God's word and direction book. Pray, God's version of Skype, a direct communication link to your Father in heaven. Wait and be empowered by the Holy Spirit, God's guiding presence in your journey with him. Pursue and follow these three steps and your on your way to leading the Good Life. In God's love, steve

SWITCHING GEARS

2010-06-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

Automatic vs. 5 speed manual shift

I'm not sure what the ages of my blog readership may be but if it mimic's the ages of those who come on mission trips with PH-H to Haiti it probably ranges from 17-mid 70's. When I came of age to drive it was the era of the "muscle car" and if you had the real thing you had a manual transmission. A "4 speed on the floor" was the phrase we often used and though automatics had been around for decades they just didn't seem appropriate with the big horsepower engines of the 60's and 70's. Manual shifts are still available but today they are associated more with fuel economy, cheaper to buy, or power to haul heavy loads and climb steep inclines(hills & mountains).

I know by now your thinking you may have gotten on the wrong blog site. Possibly Auto Trend or Hot Rods & Muscle Cars but no this is the official site of Project Help-Haiti a blog dedicated to missions. A short story will get us back in that direction. My foreman at the Borel Missions Campus is fondly called "Big Ben" he is not big and his real name is Joseph he isn't sure why everyone calls him "Big Ben". Several weeks ago I sent Ben and several visiting Americans to Liancourt a nearby town to buy 50 cement blocks so we could elevate some reclining chairs for our visiting dental team. That day they had borrowed Ben's brother's Toyota 5 speed truck. Ben was shifting through the range of gears and as he shifted from 4th to 5th the gear shift shift lever came unbolted to the transmission, Ben who is mostly unflappable and never for a loss of words looked over at the Americans and said" this isn't good I think we got a problem". To continue on down the road and accomplish the task at hand that morning one of the guys reached down through the floor board and as Ben pushed on the clutch engaged the transmission into gear with his fingers. The rest of the trip back to Borel was made in a mid range gear a good choice for that situation. If they had chosen first gear they would have had to creep along at under 10 mph if a higher gear they would have struggled to take off with such a heavy load and would not be able to climb any sort of inclines.

Manual transmission vehicles are the choice of most mission's operations in Haiti. In fact the new truck PH-H is purchasing will be a 5 speed manual transmission. The landscape is varied and often brutal in Haiti. There are very few paved roads, mountains that peak at 8,000 feet, rivers to ford, hairpin curves, steep inclines, mud during the raining season and sandy beaches and desert like areas. Missions organization rely on manual shift 5 speed transmissions that is a fact when they choose a vehicle.

To my way of thinking the mission organization itself needs to be operated like a manual shift transmission. An automatic is made for ease of operating comfort but with an automatic comes some limitations. Yes you just put it in drive and go but often you lose touch with the machine and the road. You are limited to pulling, pushing, climbing, slowing down on steep inclines with out burning up the brakes, and getting unstuck in sticky situations. If you are a missionary or visit the mission field or manage or sit on a mission board you know that your organization encounters all those types of situations at some point, at times it seems all in the same day.

I took over as director of PH-H on Nov. 1st 2009. Project Help-Haiti is an organization that was established in 1967 , we aren't the oldest mission around but we are approaching a half century. With those four plus decades comes a lot of baggage ( problems). Jan. 12th 2010 not only changed the landscape and lives of Haiti and it's people but also the mission organizations working there. PH-H started out in 1967 as a manual shift organization and then we traded it in for an automatic, we often do that as people and organizations. My first two new cars after marriage were manual shift out of necessity and practicality, later on we switched to automatics out of comfort. Now as the new director of Project Help-Haiti I believe the switch needs to be made to make our organization once again a 5 speed manual transmission , I've discovered myself saying of late, "this isn't good I think we got a problem". In God's love, steve

LAST WEEK

2010-06-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in the states last Saturday evening from Haiti. After church on Sunday Shirley and I headed over to Decatur Illinois to attend the annual meeting of the Churches of God's Midwest Conference. We spoke on Monday afternoon about the direction of our work in Haiti and the affects of the earthquake on those efforts. On Monday evening along with the Church of God missionaries from Brazil and Sweden we were honored at a mission dinner. I was able to surprise Gordon Avey who with his wife Annie are the missionary in Brazil with an official Team Brazil soccer shirt. On Tuesday after attending the Avey's presentation of their mission work in Brazil we headed back to Indiana. Saturday afternoon I invited the designer of the new Project Help website which we hope to launch soon and some other mutual friends who are involved with our work in Haiti to a cookout at our lake home in northern Indiana . We planned the menu around a Caribbean theme with Jamaican barbecue chicken, Bermuda style hamburgers, white rice, bean and creole sauce, pickles , ti malice, fresh fruits and assorted snacks and side dishes. It was a fun way to kick off the start of summer and my short 4 weeks before I head back to Haiti.

FAMILES

2010-06-15T03:50:00.000-07:00

top:
Two of the Snyder kids playing with Clona
bottom:
My wife, daughter and grand daughter

HELPING OUT

2010-06-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here at Borel we have two young men who work for us who are deaf mutes. Their name are Dukenson and Phileas. I know I have the spelling wrong but that is how their names sound phonetically. They grew up here in the community and I first met them when I worked here for several months in 2002, they were probably 14-15 years old and would show up each day to help me with whatever I might be doing that day. After I left here a COG mission team arrived and took them on as a ministry outreach. They gave money to send them to Port au Prince to learn to sign to learn a trade and for Dukenson to read and write. Eventually they came back to Borel to live. Last year when I came back to Project Help to be director I gave them jobs here in the compound. They are good workers and show up every morning at 6:00 to start work. They would often tell me in sign about their house and how the roof leaked. Now since we are in the rainy season we went to look at their small one room abode that they call home. The team decided to take a day to put on a roof that doesn't leak. Everyone agreed this was a very rewarding project. Yet to describe how pleased and proud they were about are willingness to help them is beyond my writing abilities but believe me it is a cherished memory that will last a lifetime.

GETTING A MAKEOVER

2010-06-10T15:55:00.001-07:00

Our Project Help compound at Borel has been in existence since 1967 . Some of the buildings we built during our first five years others were built during the years American Fruit Company held ownership from 1920's to 1940's. Though several of the the houses have been torn down for construction of other building five of the former mission houses still exist. The largest house though built as a home for the Jim Wallace family in the late 60's now serves as the main guesthouse. The house I live in has at times over the last 8 years served as the missionary house or a guesthouse. Three of the other houses range from livable to needing a serious makeover. The fifth house which is in the worse shape we have at times considered tearing down but since it's still I think we can find a use for it.
With new missionaries arriving soon we are working hard to prepare a nice family home for them by Jan. It is my hope we will recruit a few more missionaries to help with the abundance of work at hand in the coming months and years ahead. If you read these blogs you know that we are embarking on a new path as we refocus and direct our work here. With the existing medical ministry and the new agriculture, community development and micro loans work we are planning. The Borel compound will become once again a hub of activity. most of our teams coming our helping us give the compound a new look and bring many of the unused buildings back to use. We will have one of the houses finished later this year for the Snyder family. Earlier this year we converted the old butcher shop to a mission team work shop. The poultry barn is planned to become a tilapia fish rearing facility. The original mission dorm may become four small apartments for our visiting agriculture experts and short term volunteers. The present guesthouse is in need of some serious updates to provide more of a guesthouse appearance than a ranch house style. New rules are being implemented for our workers and daily visitors, tighter regulation of the day to day operation will soon be forthcoming to better control how the facilities function. These things don't happen over night especially in Haiti but progress is on the way. Teams this week have been cleaning up much of the junk to be disposed of at a scrap yard in Port au Prince and trash is being cleaned up to haul to a land fill. A new incinerator and trash holding area are being built . A new security building that all visitors must pass through will be built before the end of the year. I'm looking at new infrastructure to make things such as communications, water and electricity more dependable. We have already installed a smaller more fuel miserly generator and battery inverter system for the mission houses and more dependable and quicker Internet and phone service. I'm looking at locating a central dining and cooking area in the bottom of the LDTS building as better than having it located in the guesthouse where it is crowded, hard to clean and attracts rodents. Instead of each missionary having a separate fully equipped kitchen they eat together and only have a small fridge and microwave or small apartment stove in their houses. These are all plans that may be coming in the months ahead, some are being implemented as each new team arrives to help out. An extreme makeover maybe not but a makeover for sure.

ACTS TEAM

2010-06-08T05:06:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we had a group here from the University of Findlay. They did some work projects for us but mostly they came to do ministry work. This included showing the Jesus film at 3 locations. On the next to last day they visited the refugee camp where they entertained the kids with some skits and songs.

TEAMS, TEAMS AND FAMILY

2010-06-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

It has been very busy for me here in Haiti the last 4 weeks what with teams every week and now the next two weeks I will have multiple teams. Last week I caught a cold and sore throat and still feel lousy what with the awful heat we are having . Last week my wife joined me and brought our daughter and granddaughter, Alysia and Whitley, for them it is a first visit but probably not the last. It is always good when families get to enjoy a mission trip together and one of the things we like to promote. Two of our team members have traveled with their son and daughters on a combined mission team from Ohio and Pa. Missions impact lives not only for the people in the countries they go to but they shape the lives of those who come. I receive letters and talk to many so many who are living proof of it.

In a way it is good that my daughter and granddaughter can be a part of a mission team experience. Yet I hope when they can come again that we can have more than the 2 days we had this time just as a family. We tried to make the most of those 2 days by having supper and swimming first evening at Club Indigo . The next morning we spent time with Dr. Kerry and Joy Reeves who we consider some of our closest friends here in Haiti. Their kids enjoy having my wife Shirley as a surrogate grandmother here in Haiti. It was great that Alysia and Whitley could meet them. In Haiti you make the most of good friendships not only for companionship but for someone you can count on when you need to.

2011 PHASE 2

2010-05-20T02:02:00.000-07:00

(captions T to B) Haitian bee hive, field we may lease & new irrigation canal

WHERE THERE IS NO VISION THE PEOPLE WILL PERISH

Last week I spent four days here at Borel with the advance team from Mt. Olive College. We drafted a proposal for a partnership for working together to advance agricultural here in the Artibonite valley and even in the mountains beyond. I shared the first phase of that vision that we hope to start as early as September this year. In 2011 we would like to take lease options on some of the farm fields that lie to the back of our compound. One exceptional piece of land has a new irrigation canal going through the middle of it and one irrigation ditch borders one of the boundaries and a third irrigation ditch crosses at another point. Land like this can grow 3 crops a year. A typical rotation is rice, then corn and rice again, other crops that may be grown by some of the farmers are sweet potatoes and beans. The farmers know that it takes fertilizer and nutrients to grow exceptional crops but for lack of money most can't afford to use them. The field work is mostly still by hand labor with hoes and picks their are a few large rototillers being used and a few small tractors with tillers or disc plows. The farmers usually start at dawn which is around 5:00 this time of year and work till 5-6:00 pm when it starts to get dark.

The goal of us leasing farm land is to promote new techniques, crops and practices. Having land out along side other farmers with our crops in view we hope will demonstrate and convince others to try what we are doing. We will be hiring farmers to help work our fields which will also give employment to some in this area. They will also be a voice or good advertisement for promoting what works as we experiment. The crops we produce will be offered at wholesale to area vendors to sell in many of the area markets in the valley. It is hoped that at some point we can organize a small cooperative among our neighbors and make our equipment available to them. We would make the equipment available with our operator to work in their fields for a small fee to cover wages, fuel and maintenance costs. To make it possible for them to change to better agricultural practices we will being offering small micro finance loans. I will talk about this in the next blog.

OUR VISION FOR 2010 AND BEYOND

2010-05-16T05:36:00.001-07:00

FUTURE TILAPIA FACILITY

In my next several blogs I would like to give a brief outline outline of the vision that is starting to unfold for us in the Project Help-Haiti Partnership. It has always been my belief that it is often the small to medium size organizations that get the majority of the work done on the mission field. That isn't to say that the big boys don't add a significant contribution to what gets done, I have great admiration for the efforts of Samaritan's Purse and World Vision's efforts here in Haiti. Yet it is organizations like ours who have established through a long view approach to planning and transformation a grass roots base of support. This has allowed us to acquire local and national acceptance and respect as part of the communities where our multi-site operations are located. It is this long term commitment and longevity (1967) as a government recognized mission organization that has allowed us to be just as successful maybe even more so than the big operations who move on to the next disaster and media hot spot so quickly.

Another reason we can hope for success here at PH-H is that we have recognized the need for building partnerships inside and outside the country. This is allowing us to go outside our traditional Church of God denomination to build our funding, our manpower and our expertise needs. This has been so evident as we receive inquiries from organizations, denominations and individuals who want to partner with us in our efforts here in Haiti. Several of these inquiries have now moved on to developing partnerships like that with the Original Free Will Baptist denomination , Harvest Connection and Mt. Olive College.

It is hoped that by as soon as August we will be starting Phase 1 of our agricultural project with these partners. The plan for 2010 is to develop a Tilapia farming enterprise by building a series of 4 x 12 foot concrete tanks in the unused 45 x 120 foot former poultry barn. Some very new technology that is having great success in Asia will be applied in this operation. One of these is the application of what is called the NANO BUBBLE aeration system. This new technology also has great potential in water purification and keeping our food sources safe. The fish we would raise through this new technology would grow quicker (to the market in less time) and have less mortality than the present methods. Our fish would be available for sale from our farm to entrepreneurs at wholesale so they can market them as fresh fish in the local markets and to processors who would sell them as frozen fish in grocery stores.

The nutrient rich waters from our tanks would be used as a source of fertilizer in our demonstration test plots, our gardens and our shade houses where we start vegetable seedlings and nursery stock. We also have proposed the construction of a hydroponic greenhouse where vegetables will be grown without soil in nutrient enriched water.

This is the vision we have for agricultural projects that we hope to start implementing yet this year. In the next blog I will outline the plans we have for implementing in Jan. 2011. This is a massive project and certainly one that PH-H could have never attempted without partners . In late June we will be gathering at a summit at Mt. Olive College in N. Carolina to present our vision at an open forum in hopes to take this from the visionary / planning stage to reality.

WHERE THERE IS NO VISION THE PEOPLE WILL PERISH

2010-05-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

On Monday I arrived back in Haiti after a five week absence to return home for business, visits and rest. The rest never happened as I found myself constantly busy with phone conversations, e-mails and travel. One of my travels took me to N. Carolina to meet with Harvest Connection a mission outreach of the Original Free Will Baptists denomination and also the agri business school of Mt. Olive College. This week it was their turn to travel as they sent an advance team to Haiti to draft a partnership proposal between themselves and Project Help-Haiti. The team consisted of two college professors from the Ari Business center of Mt. Olive college Dr. Peter Appleton and Dr. Phillip Hamilton. Their task was two fold** to identify areas of cooperation between PH-H , the MO College and the Original Free Will Baptists ** to prepare a proposed partnership between PH-H and MO College in agriculture at our Borel Facility. This proposal plan will be presented to the Original Free Will Baptists at their annual convention at Mt. Olive College this Wed. evening 5/19 and then at an open to the public summit at Mt. Olive College on June 28th. It is possible that we will be moving forward to implement some of areas of the agriculture plan as early as this Fall Sept. --November. The rest of the plan will move forward in 2011 as we start up the field operations.

BACK HOME AND BUSY

2010-04-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

I arrived back home as scheduled on April 1st and 3 weeks have almost flown by now. I knew it was going to be busy but I never imagined this busy. This week out of seven days I will be home in Indiana only on Wednesday. This afternoon I'm sitting in the Charlotte N.Carolina airport waiting on my flight to Dayton ,Ohio and then the 3 hour drive back home. Thursday morning my wife and I head out to several cities in Pa. to speak at several churches on Sunday, to meet with some of our friends from previous mission trips and to talk with our new mission candidates.

I don't want to speak too soon but it appears God's hand was at work in this 2 day visit to Kinston, N.Carolina. Harvest Connection one of the ministry outreaches of the Original Free Will Baptist Church denomination contacted us about a long term agricultural partnership in Haiti. Their denominational supported Mt. Olive College's agricultural center leadership felt one of the best ways to help Haiti rebuild would be to create sustainable agricultural projects that provide jobs and food so Haitians can feed Haitians.

One of my desires as the director of Project Help-Haiti is to bring us back into two of our early ministries of agriculture and community development. One of the wonderful assets I'm responsible for is the Borel Compound in the Artibonite Valley. This area is blessed with flat, tillable and irrigated farm land. It is my hope that agricultural test plots can be established on land adjoining our property. That greenhouses, shade houses, plant and tree nurseries can be established.

A plan is taking shape to get us there. Two professors from Mt. Olive college along with a representative from The Harvest Connection will be joining me in Haiti in mid May for several days of fact finding, discussions and videoing. This information will be presented to the delegates attending the annual convention of Original Free Will Baptists Churches in late May. In June a summit will be held at Mt. Olive College with invitations going out to N. Carolina political leaders, successful farmers, agri-businesses, farm equipment manufacturers, equipment dealers and experts in sustainable agricultural practices. It is hoped that by year end or the first of the year we can actually have this ministry up and going. This is all very exciting but quite an undertaking that can only come together through the involvement of lots of people pulling together to make it happen. As I travel to Pa. this weekend and in the weeks and months ahead I will be encouraging people to pray for our success in this worthy endeavor. In God's love , steve

DR. TIM

2010-03-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

This week is our last disaster medical relief team, they will be leaving on April 1st. There after we will start bringing in medical teams one week out of every month. We will be adding extra teams some months to do mobile medical outreaches in the mountain villages. During these last eleven weeks we have had three transition people Dr. Joe Miller , Dr. Terry Letsinger and Dr. Tim Pratt. These guys have stayed multiple weeks to give our visiting teams continuity and the ability to start work as soon as they arrive. This morning I took Dr. Tim who has been here a month to catch a plane back home to be reunited with his wife. He will be concluding his medical studies in several weeks before establishing his family practice in Sheffield , Ill.

I have often heard it said by those short term missionaries that come here that they come to serve and give but go home with more in their hearts than they gave. Dr. Tim signed on to come down here nine months ago thinking he would serve a half a day Monday through Friday each week at a clinic for the month of March and complete some of his residency requirements.

Jan. 12th the earthquake changed those plans. Dr. Tim like those before him spent countless hours keeping charts, making phone calls, doing rounds, doing emergency life saving procedures, calling other hospitals and organizations finding patients and even delivering babies. I think Tim goes home with a wealth and possibly a lifetime of experiences that will serve him well over the years ahead. I know for a fact that we were blessed and those he served and befriended here at the hospital hated to see him leave. Dr.Tim of course will be a great doctor wherever he goes and sets up a practice but I will always think of him as first and foremost a missionary doctor. In God's love, steve

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TEAM

2010-03-29T05:18:00.000-07:00

Over the 11 weeks we have been doing disaster relief all of us here at Pierre Payen have had to be willing to step up and do things we really never trained for or possibly signed on to do. Last night being a make shift ambulance driver was one of those jobs I didn't sign on for. Yet medicine and missions go hand in hand.
I normally don't live here at Pierre Payen, I have my home up at our other compound at Borel. During the last last 80 days I have stayed here at our medical compound all but 20 of those days taking care of the needs of our visiting medical teams. This time spent here though physically exhausting has brought to life a small glimpse of Jesus' work of bringing hope to the multitudes of the sick. I can feel for Jesus when I read those passages in the Bible where he was overwhelmed with requests to help and heal everyday. Last night after I had returned from a day of working at Borel and being stuck for 40 minutes in the middle of thousands of people participating in a large street parade called a Ra Ra, I was ready to call it a day. At about 9:00 pm Elizabeth Bonnell, Dr. Ric's daughter, knocked on my door and wanted to know if we had a vehicle to transport a small baby to the University of Miami Hospital in Paup. I had a choice of 2 vehicles to take either a large stake side truck or my small 4x4 truck the big truck ended up being the only choice as it had good bright lights which is a necessity when driving after dark here.

The little eleven month old was near death when she was brought here by her parents it seems she had chocked on some pureed bean sauce. Our doctors worked frantically to revive her but had pretty much given up being able to save her . Yet a few minutes after a group prayer the little girl showed signs of hanging on to life. The decision was made to transport her with a full medical support team with oxygen and IV the 1.5 hours to University Hospital. Though always dangerous to travel at night the road was clear of traffic and there was a full moon to give a better view of the road. As of this writing we don't know the fate of the little girl but before we left at 12:30 a m to go back to P.Payen she was greatly improved . Bedtime arrived at 2:30 last night for the ambulance crew. In God's love , steve

ANOTHER NORMAL DAY

2010-03-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

It seems everyday is a challenge in Haiti some are enjoyable other not so much. Yesterday as has been the case for the last eleven weeks was team transfer day with team 10 leaving and team 11 coming in. Nothing different about that except for multiple flights and times for those departing, 3 to be precise and 2 coming in. The ones coming in were the challenge as they were both privately owned planes arriving an hour apart at two separate airports. These are simple things at least to me as I have become accustomed over the years and know that by days end all will have worked out.

The big challenge besides what I normally deal with was that yesterday we had to deal with working with a film crew sent here by Dan Rather Reports. They came to do a story about a 13 year old girl who was an auto/pedestrian accident victim brought to the Pierre Payen hospital the first week after the earthquake. The little girl whose name is St. Filia owes her life to the fact that the earthquake brought doctors here to our hospital that were able to administer life saving procedures. It was through their efforts and skills that she was stabilized enough to get airlifted by private plane to Fort Lauderdale, Fl. There she went through several surgeries to repair her crushed pelvis and internal organs that will allow her to walk and have children at some point in her future.
Yesterday was the final part of of her 2 month journey to return home and be reunited with her family and community. The challenge for me was to incorporate the transport of not only a very large medical team with supplies but a camera man, a producer, the pilot and his friend , a reporter, St. Filia and Lesly an American born Haitian who worked out of the Ft. Lauderdale Hospital as an EMT/fireman where she received her treatments. The 60 mile drive out to Pierre Payen was interrupted by the film truck at times behind us, other times often driving beside us and several times speeding ahead to set up a film segment as we drove through certain areas. Once we arrived out at the hospital they shot for several more hours as she was reunited for the first time in over 2 months with her family. Then we drove to the site of the accident where we found the lady who lifted her off the street after she had been hit by the bus. Finally we took her to the home of her cousin where she would being staying. Everywhere we went crowds gathered who were amazed to see her alive and able to walk on her own once again.

Finally and almost right on time as scripted we drove to Club Indigo where a private helicopter awaited to rush the film people back to the airport to fly back to the states on their privately donated plane. Oh I might also add that after the film people left I headed back to Pierre Payen got cleaned up and headed off to a wedding reception for one of my PH-H employees. Bedtime came around eleven o'clock last night.

These events that transpired yesterday may sound hectic, chaotic and exotic to many of my readers yet they have since the quake been a normal part of my life. I head home in four days for the first time in 3 months, that seems exotic to me. When God led me here eleven years ago this coming weekend, April 4th, I never dreamed I would still be here nor my life would be what it is today. Now and for possibly another 10 years Haiti will continue to be my normal life and the U.S. the exotic life of my dreams. In God's love , steve

TEAM 10

2010-03-23T04:28:00.001-07:00

Team 10 arrived on Saturday from Arkansas. It is the biggest medical team we will receive and has eleven women and 3 men. If you would like to follow their week here at Pierre Payen Hospital read their daily blog at haititeam10.blogspot.com they can tell the medical story much better than I can. In God's love, Steve

CAN WE OFFER A BETTER FUTURE ?

2010-03-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

Life in Haiti is unpredictable at best all we can predict is that tomorrow may be worse than today. The little girl in the picture is living in a refugee camp in Montrouis her future for now is better than it was the day after the quake. She has shelter, clothing, water and food. In Haiti it is said parents try not to get attached to their children till they reach the age of five, the years of greatest risk till adulthood. The statistics are stark in that in Haiti the average life span is 20 plus years shorter than the U.S. Yesterday certainly was a reminder of that, as we were called on in two separate situations to try and save 3 lives of young adult Haitians.

The first one was a young 20 year old who was rushed to us as a drowning accident. Six young men and their employer were out from Port Au Prince for a day at the beach. All were in the water having a good time when it was noticed that one of them could not be found. After a frantic rescue and getting the young man out of the water he was rushed to us where we tried unsuccessfully to revive him. As tragic as this was it was moving to see the real compassion in the faces of our visiting doctors as they had to tell the young mans friends that they had to stop life support for him.

Again last night about 8:30 as the team was gathered in our screened dining area playing Dominoes two young people were brought here from a serious motor scooter accident. The team rushed into action and by 2:00am had stabilized them enough for them to make it through the night. This morning as I write this they are making preparations to transport them to University Hospital in Port.

As an individual I came to serve and let God use me to make a difference. As an organization we came with the intent to bring Christian help to the people of Haiti. To make a difference in the lives of those around us. Everyday is a challenge sure some days bring sadness. Even in disappointments like yesterday it is rewarding to know that in what we do we at all times care and have love for those we are here helping. We and so many others like us offer the best and at times only hope for bringing a better future to Haiti. In God's love, steve

A SURPRISE GIFT

2010-03-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Receiving the check from a friend of Dr. Tom Lee.

The Ohio State area team and the amount they
raised to buy a new vehicle.

Several weeks back we had a team here from the Columbus ,Ohio area mostly and Ohio State University. To date they had been our most culturally diverse team representing nationalities from the Philippines, China, Korea, Viet Nam and white America. One of the surgeons Dr. Tom Lee a Korean approached me about raising funds for a new vehicle. I was excited about this as one of the situations I have been dealing with at PH-H is the lack of road worthy transportation. The vehicles we have been using actually are from my GAP Ministry organization.

Whatever the reason raising funds for vehicles is not always easy for mission organizations, so I wasn't sure how successful Tom would be in this endeavor. To be effective missions need good vehicles and a wide variety to fill the different aspects of ministry work. With the high cost of fuel they need to be diesel and fuel efficient. With the rainy season approaching you need passenger vans to haul the teams the 60-90 miles to Pierre Payen or Borel, not open trucks. In the dry season they need to be air conditioned to keep out dust . To transport baggage, cargo and team supplies you need a cargo van or heavy duty truck. To go pick up building supplies for team projects you need a heavy duty dual wheel stake truck. To take teams into the mountains to visit and work at our churches you need 4X4 vehicles. There is no one vehicle that will serve all the needs of any mission especially one as large and diverse as PH-H.

Dr. Tom is a great promoter and fund raiser he raised an astounding $26,276.00 in one evenings event, that is amazing. One of my responsibilities is overseeing the management and maintenance of the PH-H vehicles which is evidently not easy by looking at the non running vehicles we now have. Yet I'm committed to enforcing strict policies overseeing vehicle use and maintenance because from my GAP ministry experience I know it can be done. We have several older vehicles that are worth repairing and we are in the process of doing that now. The money that Dr. Tom Lee raised is enough to buy one new vehicle by using our Franchise papers to avoid paying taxes.

Possibly after seeing how successful he was maybe someone else out there would like to pick up the challenge and surpass his one event record. It is my goal to purchase two new vehicles this year a 4x4 diesel 4 door pickup as well as a 15 passenger diesel mini van. My calculations show that we have by month end already had over 150 medical and work/ministry visitors for the first quarter. With medical teams going to a one week a month schedule starting in April we will easily see another 50-75 medical team visitors. We will be restarting our stm's short term missions visits in May which will probably add at least another 100-150 visitors over the last 7 months of 2010. Several of these teams will overlap and be 30 miles apart so it is easy to see the needs are not over stated when I ask for someone to step forward and help us with that second vehicle. Thanks Dr.Tom and all those who helped make this possible. It is a Haitian custom to also thank in advance when you ask someone to consider helping you, so thanks in advance for that person or persons who help us with securing that second vehicle. In God's love , Steve

TENT CITIES

2010-03-18T04:46:00.002-07:00

Perhaps the most impressionable moments and haunting memories for those who come to Haiti are the hundreds of tent cities in and around Port au Prince. They began to spring up within days of the Jan. 12th quake. The one in the picture was started about 3 weeks ago about 10 miles outside of port on the slopes of a small mountain range. The rumor is that the Haitian government will give land here and build houses to relocate those who lost their homes.

Though the shelters in this city are mostly tarps there are very few tents, life is tough. There is no readily available drinking water, poor sanitation, no shade and inadequate shelter from the rains that will start coming next month. This of course is the same story repeated most every time disasters hit Third World countries around the world. The news people have left to go somewhere else seeking a fresh story, eventually many of the NGO's will pull out as funding is for the Haiti relief stops and another new disaster springs up and funds and human resources go there. In the end as in the beginning the work is left in the hands of the NGO's who were on the ground before the quake. Those individuals and their organizations that have made a commitment to the Haitian people to make a difference will continue the rebuilding in the years ahead. As one of those individuals who has been committed for eleven years and also one who heads up an organization that started here in 1967 I'm looking at how Project Help-Haiti can be most most effective in the years ahead.

CATCHING UP

2010-03-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable destruction!

Search and rescue teams from Poland and Italy.

A huge U.S. military plane delivering supplies during the first few weeks of quake relief.

The large chartered 737 that brought in supplies from the Boston area for Project Help-Haiti.

GIVING A HELPING HAND

I thought this morning might be a good time to catch up with some of the pictures I would have loved to posted over the weeks but was unable to because of poor Internet capabilities at Pierre Payen. I wish I could tell every story and show every picture of the untold efforts from around the world of those who came and those who are still here helping out. The efforts will need to go on for years to come as the work of rebuilding is now starting to take shape.

BOREL GAZEBO CELEBRATION

2010-03-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

The long awaited completion of the large Gazebo at the Borel campus is now completed. The 3 work teams that have been able to come to Haiti this year as scheduled were able to complete this project. The team that landed in Haiti the day of the earthquake was able to put the roof on during their 2 week stay here. Then the Eye Witness team arrived in early March and converted to a work team , they started the long and tedious job of painting. They were joined by a team from N.E. Indiana later in the week who finished off the painting . On Saturday evening March 13th we hastily put together a concert and short evangelistic outreach for the local community. It appears by the number of chairs placed under the Gazebo that we had somewhere between 150-200 people attend the first concert.

One of my objectives for the Borel campus is evangelism and leadership training. A regular schedule of concerts, Christian videos and training seminars will be important tools in attaining the goal of making disciples who make a difference. To do this requires not only teams of short term missions STM's coming for 7-10 days at a time but committed and skilled volunteer staff people who will come for 1 to 6 months to assist our in country missionaries and our Project Help-Haiti ministry leaders.

I have a tendency to observe and take note of what works and makes some missions succeed and prosper and others fail. To that end I often visit other organizations and tour their facilities and talk with their staff and leadership to see how we can implement successful ideas into what we are doing. Occasionally I have some good original ideas of my own, God inspired I hope.
Those who succeed depend on a strong team effort of people to reach and sustain their goals.

If you have never experienced a mission trip then pray and see where God may want to use you. If you have already been involved in missions then pray how God might use you in a longer commitment. This might be using your summer break if your a college student or school teacher to come help as a short term volunteer. Maybe you have retired early and feel the need to do something meaningful with your spare time come help with maintenance , teach a special skill at our technical school. Help out at our guesthouses as a host and hostess.

People and organizations often fail because they don't have enough or the the right skill levels on their team. A team that depends on one person to do it all is doomed to become ineffective at some point. I think Project Help-Haiti is off to a good start in 2010 and we are still building our team so God can use us in mightier ways. In God's love , steve
.

HAITIAN YOUTH REBUILDING A NATION

2010-03-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

As I look back it has been a long time since my last blog post I hope I can change that now that we have been blessed with a new Internet system here at Pierre Payen. Last week was probably my busiest week since the earth quake but looking back it was very productive. We had three teams last week one was here at Pierre Payen doing the weekly medical rotation we started after the quake, the other two were were up at Borel doing construction. The medical team out of Boston brought along a very skilled software designer from Blue Socket a firm who designed and sent down enough wireless antennas and other gear to setup some really nice Internet service for both our compounds. Hopefully now I will be able to blog on a more regular schedule.

One of the things I shared with our teams the last several weeks was about our youth group which is called ACY-IM Association of Christian Youth-International Missions. This Haitian organization which is less than 4.5 months old is leading the way in refugee camps. It is maybe the only national NGO setting up a refugee camp and certainly the only one that has no one over the age of 28 in leadership. My role as founder is only in the capacity of an adviser. Diesmy Garcon the 24 year old National Director spoke on 2 separate occasions last week to my teams. At times he had them laughing and at times in tears but for sure he had them captivated by his faith in God to overcome huge obstacles that woulds be daunting even to a Word Vision or Samaritans Purse type organization. Possibly this week we will be opening a 250 person refugee camp of which at least 3/4 of the housing is semi permanent, not tents. Even more impressive we have a chapel, infirmary, kitchen, storage depot, well with pump, septic and will be offering schooling. It is quite a compliment when someone like YWAM comes calling and wants our young people to help them with a camp.

THOUGHTS ON TIME

2010-02-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

Today as I traveled up to Borel a 60 mile round trip that I make 2-3 times a week I reflected on my last 6 week here in Haiti. It was just 6 weeks ago today Jan. 10th that I returned after a 3 week Christmas Holiday. January and Feb. were scheduled with work teams coming to Haiti weekly but the quake Jan. 12 changed that and we quickly geared up to bring in medical teams instead. This week marks are 6th orthopedic medical team we have had working at our hospital in Pierre Payen.

The last six weeks has gone by quickly it seems like a blur yet it feels like I have been here six months. What is it about time , it is a measurable thing yet at times in our lives it seems so unmeasurable . We all have the exact amount of it 24 hours each day, 7 days each week , 365 days and 12 months each year. God gives each of us a certain amount that we define as our lifetime we are free to spend it as we like. As Christians we are expected at the end of our time to account for how we spent it.

My weeks have been pretty predictable these past six weeks with Saturdays being our team rotation day. Several weeks though we have had a second plane arriving either on Friday or Sundays with nurses. On these airport days I have to make the 120 mile round trip to Port au Prince and on one occassion didn't get back to Pierre Payen till 12:30 pm. On other days I have made the same trip to port to pick up medical equipment or to pick up or deliver my friend Ric Bonnell to the U.S. Embassy. As I said earlier I go to Borel 2-3 times each week to check on construction projects. On other days I go to St. Marc to buy food supplies and building materials.

My days are filled with helping other people who are spending a week in an unfamiliar setting get things done. Everyday brings it's own set of problems to deal with and eventually overcome. Today's was the road construction crew severed (tore out) our water line that runs under the road to supply water to the hospital. Last Thursday it was how to unload a 1 ton x-ray machine from a truck setting out on the road in front of the hospital and get it into the operating room without a forklift or lift gate on the delivery truck. It seems everyday here brings new challenges.

Besides spending lots of time on the road each week, overseeing the needs of the medical teams , keeping the Pierre Payen guesthouse running and solving the problems that each day brings there are other things to squeeze in each day. I have construction projects going on at each compound which are 30 miles apart as well as maintenance, repairs and clean up going on at each place. It often seems that things aren't moving as fast as I like on many of these projects so last week I set deadlines for completion on several of them. Hopefully this will move these projects along for my incoming work teams that will start arriving this week now that commercial airplanes have resumed flying again. Starting in March I will have multiple work and medical teams at our two compounds. Several weeks we will have a medical team and work team at Pierre Payen and also a work team at Borel. My wife will be returning to Haiti in March after 2 months apart and I'm hoping we get to spend some time together at the same compound. As the saying goes "time will tell".

Usually I get up each day at about 6:15 am which is when it is starting to get light outside. Bed time comes at anywhere from 9-10:30 pm and I'm normally asleep within the first 2 minutes of laying down. Thankfully I'm well rested by the next morning and ready to start another day. Yes time is measurable yet also unmeasurable we use many ways to describe it and put all kinds of prefixes along with it as we describe it and measure it. Even as I sit here at Club Indigo writing this (the only place I can get a reception) an old Jim Croce song is playing called "Time in a Bottle" part of the lyric's is "there never seems to be enough of it".

EULOGY TO A FRIEND

2010-02-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bittersweet memory for me as looked forward for my friend and long time mentor Dr. Vic Binkley to be able to return to Haiti just one last time. His dying wish was to get here one last time and through my friends Wendy Bonnell , Holly Schrader and Shelly Hedrick we were able to grant that wish through the donation of some private jets.

I picked them up at the airport in Port au Prince on Friday Feb. 5 but by Sat. afternoon it was apparent that Vic wouldn't be able to stay through the week as planned and we started making arrangements to get a plane in to take him and Donna back home. They left on Monday evening to catch a 9:30 pm flight back to Indiana. I had left Pierre Payen a few minutes before they departed to buy some bread at the street market in Montrouis it was about 7:30 pm and as they passed by me in their car Vic rolled down the front passenger window and shook my hand and said good bye it was our final conversation.

On Friday Feb. 12th at about 3:30 as I was heading back to Pierre Payen from Borel I received the call that Vic had passed away at 1:15 that afternoon. Maybe fate has nothing to do with it but it was the one month anniversary of what Vic called the worst day of his life the news of Haiti's devastating quake and the doctors report that his cancer was spreading.

As I think about his passing and that I most likely won't be able to attend his memorial service it came to mind that I alone may have the ultimate eulogy to give to his lifetime of service. As his successor I have not only the opportunity to carry on his lifetime love and efforts to establish a great health facility in Haiti but to expand it beyond even what he may have imagined.

God works in ways we don't understand I'm not a surgeon like Vic my abilities to serve lie in working with others and getting them to get involved by encouraging them. I think the term networking is probably the best way to describe how I get thinks done. So when I knew I would be taking over the leadership of Project Help-Haiti I contacted my friends Drs. Ric and Wendy Bonnell they are what I would call the masters of networking.

We were in the preliminary stages of getting a plan in place to develop a medical/surgical program to carry on Dr. Binkleys work when the quake hit Haiti. The disaster just gave us a jump start to get things moving in the right direction . Yes Vic's lifetime of service is going to go on and it is our intention that even before this year ends we will have finished with what Vic intended to be Phase 2 of the Pierre Payen Hospital, that is the best way I can eulogize my friend and missions mentor.

A DIFFERENT CNN

2010-01-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

I'm a news junkie when I'm back in the states I hate to miss my 6:30 newscasts. Here in in Haiti I don't own a TV and can't waste my valuable time checking news on my computer. I have though caught a few CNN newscasts the last few weeks . It sometimes seems the news people thrive on sensationalizing disasters, misery and portraying good people in unfavorable ways. Then there is all those movie stars, so called experts and high officials they like to interview. If they could just take their cameras to some of the places and talk with some of the people I know, what a story they would have. If I was to start a news network I might call it Christian Newsworthy Notes, a different CNN.

I have a friend called Jasmine he works for my GAP Ministry's "Feet Across the Mountains" outreach. In Nov. I gave him an outline of an idea I had to start a Haitian youth organization. I gave him the name I wanted to use and a plan as to how I wanted to develop it and grow it across Haiti city to city. The name I chose was Association of Christian Youth International Missions or ACY-IM . In 2 short months Jasmine has jump started our organization into action to aid quake victims, Haitians helping Haitians.

He quickly recruited 80 young men and women in Montrouis, to solicit help by going door to door, making large banners and t shirts requesting that everyone give something. Such items as extra shirts, pants, shoes, towels blankets were given. He went to missionaries asking they contribute money for food. He arranged a truck to transport homeless people to Montrouis. He lined up two schools to house people in. This is the story of how Jasmine always works , tirelessly for the Lord. When wetalked back in Nov. and the idea of ACY- IM the guidelines I gave him was it was to lead young people top the Lord. It was to have three focal points Evangelism, Discipleship and Community Service I believe we have gotten off to a great start in accomplishing our desired goal. It the kind of CNN news we all need to hear about more often, Christian Newsworthy Notes of common people ordinary people making a difference. In God's love, steve

COMING HOME TO HAITI

2010-01-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

The medical ministry at Pierre Payen has been a well respected outreach of Project Help-Haiti since the mid 1970's. In 2001 we built a new surgical hospital across the street from our 25 year old clinic buildings. Dr. Vic Binkley one of those most responsible for developing and sustaining our work here over the last 35 years was instrumental in designing and getting our hospital built. Vic has not been able to be here with us during these last 7 months as he has valiantly waged his own medical battle with pancreatic cancer. Though still fighting for his own life Vic and Donna wanted to make a trip down here to see how well we are doing in helping with the medical relief efforts. They also want to help us in developing a pernment orthopedic surgery wing here at the hospital. Getting into Haiti is not very easy and Vic's health complicates things even more but through the generosity of a donated corporate jet they should be landing Monday evening or possibibly Tuesday. All of us who have known Vic and worked with him here in Haiti are looking forward to seeing him here at the Pierre Payen Medical compound once again. Please read the blog post about A MOTHERS LOVE that I mistakenly posted on my other blog site at www.gap-haiti.blogspot.com In God's love, steve

NO ONE SPARED

2010-01-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

It is fair to say no one was spared from the affects of the earthquake that shook Haiti Jan. 12th. Everyone knows someone a friend or family member who was killed. People have been displaced from their homes have fled Port au Prince for refugee camps or to move in with relatives in the countryside or into other cities across Haiti. People who had jobs in Port are now mostly unemployeed because of the near total destruction of so many areas of the city. Nearly 3/4 of all government buildings were destroyed or damaged causing any dealings with government agenciesare on hold. The airport is shut down to all commercial flights till Feb. 19th or beyond. The terminal has sustained major damage that in my mind would not allow people to be inside anytime soon.

Here at Project Help-Haiti we consider ourselves pretty lucky. My team and and I were standing on the second story balcony of a Port au Prince guesthouse when the quake brought the capital city down upon it's inhabitants. After seeing so many other similar structures demolished to a heap of masonry and steel rebar we shake our heads in wonder to how we were spared.

Project Help-Haiti has 30 churches in Haiti one of which is located in a suburb of Port called Bon Repos. This was our only facilility in all of Haiti to sustain damage. Even though the building also serves as a school no one was inside at the time that it was completely destroyed . On Thursday we delivered a truck full of food and water to the people living under tarps surrounding the Church .Project Help will be looking at how to assist in the building of this church sometime this year.

THE QUAKE DAY TEAM

2010-01-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Though much of my attention has been directed to the medical ministry at Pierre Payen this past week we also have a work team up at Borel. The team arrived on the day of the quake so this will always be a memorable mission trip for them. This team came down with the intention to put the tree tiered roof on the Gazebo here at the Borel compound. Though it has a complicated roof truss they did a really great job and it looks great. Other projects they have tackled is replacing the old kitchen drain system that continually plugged up with roots with an enclosed 4 inch pvc pipe. We are installing a second small generator just for the guest and mission houses. This required doing some new wiring and another transfer switch. The old butcher house is being remolded and enlarged as the new team work shop and also will house the smaller generator. Several of the houses needed screen repair and some replacement. Future teams will continue with putting trusses on the shop and putting on the metal roofing ,we also have two mission houses that need attention and are scheduled to be remolded as time and teams permit. The Pierre Payen compound which has seen little use the last 7 years is seeing lots of use with our medical teams and we also need to address some maintenance issues there yet this year. Even though we have had some teams postpone their intended arrival dates till later , we hope to get our schedules readjusted soon and get them here to help out with not only these projects but those we will be doing out in the communities where we have churches and schools.

LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR

2010-01-21T03:34:00.000-08:00

What a hectic week but one that certainly shows the generosity and willingness of humanity as God envisioned. Last Saturday our first medical quake assistance team landed in port with 5 doctors and a pallet load of medical supplies. Their way into the country was provide through the donation of the use of a privately owned corporate jet out of Ft. Worth , Texas. The logistical planning and recruiting of these medical teams originated through my wonderful friends Drs. Ric and Wendy Bonnell who live outside Ft. Worth , Texas. Once we got the OK to pass through the 82nd airborne security at the Airport and drive out on the tamarack to load we hit the road for the 60 mile ride to Pierre Payen and the Project Help medical facilities. The doctors wasted no time in getting started and after making an assessment of the patients needs set to work on treating them. That night the police also dropped off 2 people involved in a car accident ,one was dead on arrival the other was treated and saved . As the week has progressed and the word has gotten out we have seen a steady increase of patients. Yesterday morning an eleven year old girl an other accident victim after being stabilized was airlifted to Miami by private jet to treat her crushed pelvis. I received word she is doing much better and should recover. This Saturday 3 member of Medical Team 1 will fly out on on the plane that brings in Medical Team 2 . Dr. Ric and Reanne a trauma nurse will stay behind to work with the new team. Team 2 is an orthopedic team which is in great demand as you might imagine and I'm sure we will see another busy week. As of now we several more medical teams in the works maybe as far as into Feb. 13th. I feel the need will be just as great when all he media attention goes away and thousands of new amputees and those recovering from surgeries try to adapt and get adjusted to their quake injuries. Anyway for all of you who have written me and lifted us up in prayer , thank you. In God's love , steve

THEN THERE WAS YESTERDAY

2010-01-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

I'm still shaking my head and wondering why this would happen. Just when it seemed things were turning around for Haiti and the future was seeming to look up for this country I love , then there was yesterday!! What was God thinking ? Doesn't He remember we are still getting over all the damage from the summer of 2008 when we were hit with 3 monstrous hurricanes that pounded the mountains of Haiti unleashing devastating floods that killed hundreds? Wasn't there enough homeless orphans , enough parents with children swept away in the muddy waters, enough homeless families and enough hungry people? Then there was yesterday, what was God thinking !! What about that nice highway that is being built to link Port au Prince with Cap Haitein and all those nice buildings going up in and around the port city? Then there was yesterday, what was God thinking!! Doesn't he know that these people want something better than always being knocked down and having to start again the next day? Subsistence living has been a way of life here for generations finding food, water, health, a place to stay is the way each day goes one after the other never changing always the same. Yet the spirit was changing, then there was yesterday!! People were looking for a better tomorrow, what was God thinking?

Yesterday was the worst disaster I have seen in my ten years here in Haiti. An earthquake at over 7.3 Richter scale hitting a populated area of over 3 million right at the busiest time of the day, the evening rush hour. Even though my arriving team and I were put right in the middle of it at just a few minutes till 5:00pm it was not till this afternoon after finally getting out of port that we can see on the news what happened. Yesterday started like any other day that I go to pick up a team except I had 2 teams arriving 3 hours apart. I picked up my first 2 guys at about 2:00pm from their New York arriving flight. We drove over to the Deli Mart and I bought some of the groceries we would need for their 2 week stay. I then took them over to the guesthouse just west of the airport where we would all be staying for the night before heading up the coast on our 3 hour trip to our Project Help guesthouse at Borel. After dropping them off I headed back to the airport to get the other team arriving at 4:15. I arrived at the airport at about 16 minutes after 4 pm and much to my surprise they were coming out of the airport . This 30 minutes early arrival was good I thought at the moment, we would not be late for supper at 5:00. Usually flights arriving at 4:15 don't clear customs and claim baggage for at least 45 minutes after arrival. If not for God looking out for our safety we would have been at the airport when the quake hit. Instead we were standing on the balcony of the New life Children's Home looking over the hills above Port au Prince. Then the building slowly started shaking but being right beside the airport I didn't think much of it, then the whole upper balcony started undulating like waves on the Caribbean ocean. All of us in the building ran for the stairs and yelling to the others to get to the ground to safety. The orphanage staff were frantically getting handicapped orphans out of their beds and rooms. After we were all out and accounted for we looked across the city sky line where only minutes before you could see all the homes scattered in the hills above port. Slowly a great cloud of dust started rising across the sky line from up out of the city below till all was blocked from view. Then the after shocks started often at 10 minutes intervals that lasted till 2:00 am. As we surveyed our little 5 acre part of Port au prince we considered ourselves lucky , no one hurt no major buildings down. Yes many of the walls around the compound had fallen down as did part of the roof of the Chapel there were some leaking waterlines and busted things thrown off walls and out of cabinets but minor in comparison to what we were hearing on the radio. Major structures and landmarks knocked flat and thousands dead were the first reports coming in. With the continued tremors we decided we would all sleep outdoors on the ground, so mattresses were brought out, it was a very long night. The next morning we got a first glimpse of the outside as we drove around looking to find somewhere to buy fuel for the truck, at least 3 bodies were spotted still laying where they had died from being hit by fallen concrete or drug out from under fallen buildings. It took us almost a hour to get fuel as the lines were long at the few stations open. Now 24 hours later as I sit in front of my computer I know that even those reports we heard were short in preparing me for what I read and see on the Internet. The death toll may be 100,000 or even much higher. The city may soon run out of many items such as food, fuel, water and medicines. Hundreds of thousands maybe a million are homeless. People are frantically trying to find relatives to see if they are alright.

It is not for me to guess why this happened to a country that has been so far down for so long that they feel hopeless in ever thinking life will change It's not for me to know what God was thinking yesterday. It is for me me to know what I myself will do about this horrific disaster. Yes I can pray and as many were were praying for me yesterday I to will pray for those who been affected by this but I can do more. E-mails are pouring in and for hours I couldn't keep ahead in responding, money is also being send in and we are making decisions on how best we can apply it to the needs. We maybe can put together some medical teams to help those immediately as they are rescued and those who may need long term treatment. We have a fine medical facility at Pierre Payen and my reports are that many hospitals are not able to open in port or have been damaged, we may need to get the injured there. Tomorrow I plan on going back to see what is possible , no we can't do everything that is needed but we can do something and will do something. I do know that was what God was thinking when He created me and I'm sure that was what he was thinking when he created you as well. The reponses of help and prayers I have been reading show that we do care for the downtrodden, the sick, the maimed, the orphaned and the poor. I know you have probably seen more pictures of this than I have but I will post some later. God bless , In God's love, steve
.

EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING

2010-01-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

As I said in my previous post we expect many great things to be happening at Project Help-Haiti this year. One thing is for sure we are seeing an upsurge in teams scheduling trips to Haiti. I just looked at the most recent team schedule and through June 19th we have fifteen confirmed teams coming to work or visit PH-H. If we should continue this trend through the last 5 1/2 months of 2010 it will be not only a busy but a record year. This though isn't the important thing (setting a record) but a barometer of mission interest that is an indicator of healthy U.S. churches.

Though I have only been in my new position two months I have had an opportunity to get some thoughts on some of our long standing ministry efforts (medical, evangelical and educational) at PH-H. Along with those ministries I have some ideas from my own ten years of experience with GAP Ministry's work in Haiti about what missions need to be doing to be affective. I have been talking with Don Dennison the Director of Cross Cultural Ministries the parent organization of PH-H about some of these possible ministry ideas.

One of the things we have agreed to do is bring our two compounds and guesthouses into better shape not only for our own teams but to make them available to other organizations working in Haiti. One of the things that has always bothered me is the duplication of ministry work and the often unneeded spending of funds on buying or leasing property and setting up guesthouses, vehicles, generators and work tools. Project Help has been in Haiti almost 43 years and has these facilities and resources that we can make available for others at a reasonable rate. These funds can be a way for us to keep Haitians employed, help us with repairs, operational costs, new purchases and keep our facilities filled with mission teams.

I'm also a firm advocate of missions working together and partnering with other organizations on similar ministries. I hope to be promoting and announcing some of these arrangements this year. I have been studying and looking at ways for my own GAP Ministry to help to improve quality of life issues facing Haitians. In late 2008 we started the "Feet Across the Mountains" ministry, which has been doing some successful work with several mountain villages in Haiti. The focus of this ministry is that of "a hand up not a hand out". In other words helping them to help themselves. This can of course involve work teams doing construction projects that can benefit a mountain community. Such as constructing cisterns, wells, dams & irrigation systems, clinics, schools and churches. Conducting community health outreach training in mountain villages as well as bringing in mobile medical, eye and dental teams on a regular basis. Introducing new agricultural techniques and crops that are low tech, environmentally friendly, high yielding and economically viable to producers. Teaching and introducing better animal husbandry and livestock breeds. Promoting, teaching and distributing small micro financing loans and possibly creating business as missions (BAMs). This is a promising idea where a business or series of businesses are set up (financed) by a non national (out of country) person or organization. They employ nationals, produce or manufacture enough of something to pay expenses, repay start up costs and profits help to generate income funding for mission outreaches. The Borel facility already has a metal fabricating shop and block making business that could eventually attain these goals.
One of the the goals that PH-H has always had is that of having a Technical School. This year it is my hope we can get these going at both of the locations we have designated as potential sites Borel and the new Frecyneau school/church complex in St. Marc. No matter what we do with any of these ministries we will be making more and better disciples. I have a saying hanging in my house in Haiti it says," Evangelize everyday if necessary use words". In God's love, steve

THE EYES OF THE LORD

2009-12-31T05:45:00.000-08:00

Thus began my Bible verse this morning from Deut.11:12 "the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year." Perhaps on no other day of the year do so many of us look back and reflect on those things that happened in our lives. Yes we can remember the good and bad things that happened but not one of us can get back a single second to change the events of 2009.

Though the "it" in this verse was in reference to God's eyes being on the promised land of the Israelites "it" could also just as well refer to other things. Each of us could easily substitute such things as our priorities and goals, our relationships and love of others or how about successful or wasted opportunities. Then there is the work and ministries of the Church (that is all of us) not just pastors and missionaries. Reaching out to young and old, the lost and unchurched, the poor, the sick, homeless and orphaned. Just as God's eyes were upon the land they are also upon us.

This past month I had a man come to Haiti looking for ways he might get involved supporting ministry efforts there. As we sat and talked he shared his life story with me ( one of financial success), his love and passion to serve his Lord, the blessings given to him to share with others. He told me of his fear that at the end of his life he would face God and have to account for what was entrusted to him (gifts, talents and resources) he wanted to make the most of those opportunities God gave to him. Shouldn't that be a priority of all of us?

I received an e-mail this week on the passing of Pastor Jim Wallace missionary and founder of Project Help-Haiti in 1967. Though I never had the chance to meet him and his wife I do know some of their story and their pioneering missionary work in Haiti still holds me in amazement. Sometime on Tuesday Jim went to be with his Lord and gave his final accounting on what God entrusted to him. I don't pretend to know how that may have went but by all accounts Jim and Leona Wallace got the mission work of Project Help-Haiti off to a great beginning. Almost forty three years later we now have 30 churches with 6500 members, twenty schools, a discipleship training center, a clinic, a hospital, 2 guesthouses, a metal fabricating shop and block making enterprise. God entrusted the Wallace's with a vision for making a difference in Haiti through making disciples for Christ, the eyes of the Lord were upon (them) "it".

Likewise I also know that God's eyes are upon what He has entrusted to me. On November 1st 2009 I took over as the managing director of Project Help-Haiti the organization they pioneered forty plus years ago. As the year draws to a close I look ahead knowing full well that God just as he did for the Israelites has given (entrusted) me a "promised land". That through my faith and willingness to follow Him that 2010 holds a future of many blessings and opportunities. Deut.11:11 "but the land you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rains of heaven, a land for which God your Lord cares ; the eyes of the Lord are always on it. " In God's love may everyone have a blessed New Year, steve

INTERNATIONAL PASTOR'S CONFERENCE

2009-12-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

In early November Shirley and I got to be a part of Cross Cultural Ministries first International Pastor's Conference held in Haiti. This first ever event was held at Project Help's Borel Discipleship Training Center which allowed us to host twenty two pastors, doctors and missionaries from seven countries. This event had been a long time in the planning and the hard efforts of so many showed in the successful outcome of the five day event. It was personally gratifying to my wife and I to get to meet some of the many missionaries representing Cross Cultural Ministries our denomination's international mission outreaches. Many of these people had only been names and faces on prayer cards till that evening when they arrived at our compound in Borel, Haiti. As the five days progressed a bond of brotherhood and sisterhood grew among us as we shared the efforts of our labors for the Lord with each other. Though not all the countries that CCM works in was represented we did have the countries of India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti and the U.S attending. The next conference is tentatively planned to be hosted in Bangladesh in three years.

BACK HOME

2009-12-26T16:32:00.001-08:00

Just a week ago this evening I returned home after six weeks of working in Haiti. I had set several goals for my trip: * Meet with Project Help leadership and staff * Visit some of our 30 churches and pastors * Prepare for upcoming teams * Assess progress of on going projects

* Prioritize maintenance needs and future projects. It was also my hope to get some sort of direction as to where God might be leading as I take over the responsibilities of leading Project Help-Haiti into the next decade. I have been working in Haiti ten years now and much has changed in those ten years. Project Help has been working in Haiti since 1967 much more has changed in those four decades. One thing that hasn't changed is why we are there "to make disciples" . When I started GAP ministry we came up with a slogan on our brochures "People Reaching People" and that is one thing that will always remain in any successes we may attain in building God's kingdom. It depends on people coming to help and be a part of the work, it depends on people praying and lifting us up, it depends on people giving us the resources to sustain the ministries. I had hoped I could share with you through my blogs all that was going on while I was in Haiti but because of computer problems I could barely do e-mails. So in the days ahead I will try and share what happened the last six weeks . In God's love , steve

November 2009 Newsletter

2009-10-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

(Click here for the printable pdf color version of the newsletter.)

GREETINGS
My name is Steve Mossburg. Some of you know me, but for most of you this will be our first introduction. My wife Shirley and I were recently confirmed to be missionaries for Cross Cultural Ministries in Haiti where I will be taking over the resposiblities of Vic Binkley. It’s a great honor to be following my friend and the man I consider my missions mentor in leading the Project Help ministries in Haiti, and it is also a tremendous responsibility. My situation is somewhat like the athlete or assistant coach who leaves a successful career and returns to his alma mater to follow his former coach.

I have been working in Haiti for 10.5 years, and my first two years were spent working at Pierre Payen and finishing the construction on the new hospital 2000-2001. Later I briefly worked up at the Borel compound getting it ready to reopen (early 2002). It was with the encouragement and support of Vic that I went on to start my own ministry and mission organization in Haiti.

In the summer of 2002, my wife and I started G.A.P., go and produce Ministry (John 15:16). We ran our ministry and guesthouse in Montrouis, Haiti from 2002-2005 when we decided to not renew our lease on the property. In 2006 we relocated to Canaan Christian Community and opened a new guesthouse where our ministry work and construction projects continue on.
Vic contacted me this summer that he was facing a serious medical condition that would keep him out of Haiti for long periods of time. My first thought was how can they find someone to step in and direct the ministry work at P-H. My second thought was why would someone want to step in? As in sports, major corporations, churches and other successful organizations, following a legendry and long serving leader can be difficult for a multitude of reasons. I didn’t give it much thought that I might be that person until I returned to Haiti in August. Almost immediately I could feel God convicting me that I was the one most prepared and immediately ready to come in and direct Project Help. I shared this with Vic and several days later received an e-mail from Don Dennison, director of CCM, asking about arranging a meeting to discuss many of the ideas I had talked to Vic about. Our nearly 1.5 hour meeting resulted in us both going away and feeling comfortable with one another and an invitation to sit down with the CCM commission members at their September meeting.

Shirley and I are very excited about the opportunity to work with P-H, we have both been associated with the Church of God denomination from our earliest years. Shirley has always been with the First Church of God Columbia City and my earliest recollection of church was attending The Oak Grove Church of God. We are hoping to visit as many COG churches as we possibly can to promote missions and short term missions (stms).

At G.A.P. Ministries we have had great success at recruiting and leading mission teams from across America. The people they have helped in Haiti have been blessed by the loving hearts and helping hands of so many teams these past years. Yet I never fail to hear from those who have come to Haiti how their lives have changed forever from the experience. In my conversations and visits with pastors I also hear how the dynamics of their church changes after their members come back from a short term missions opportunity. Just possibly you or your church have been thinking, praying and talking about a mission experience—that is a good First Step. Step Two of your journey is contacting myself or Dee Callahan. I can be reached at smossburg@msn.com or 260-691-3806. You can always contact Dee Callahan in Findlay at 419-424-1961 ext.122.

GETTING STARTED
Shirley and I return to Haiti on November 11th and will be jumping into the work right away. The first item of business will be the International Pastors Conference being held Nov. 13-18 at the Borel Discipleship Training and Conference Center. We have 23 delegates arriving from the United States, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya and Venezuela. After that concludes I will try to start visiting some of the 29 Project Help churches and 17 schools to talk with the Pastors and school directors. All during my 6 weeks in Haiti I will be identifying future projects that short term teams can come and get involved in. Some of these will be simple maintenance, and others will be larger projects that may involve securing funding before we can start. We hope to receive a container in late November or early December that will need taken out of Customs. Plus we are hoping to get several of the P-H vehicles repaired and back in service for 2010.

THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US
Upon being confirmed last month I requested and received much of the historical information relating to Project Help. Even though I knew much of the history, I still found the reading very interesting. We of the Church of God have a mission heritage to be very proud of in Haiti. There are quite probably only a handful of missions with a longer history there than ours. What is amazing is that even as the face of missions has continued to change over these last 42 years, we have held true to our missions purpose and main focus of making disciples. It is with that single thought in mind and all those who have come before us to forge the way that we humbly accept this great responsibility. —Steve & Shirley

(Click here for the printable pdf color version of the newsletter.)

2009-10-04T17:54:00.001-07:00

THE BRAAK FAMILY

Last weekend Shirley and I made a 2.5 hour trip to Grand Haven, Michigan to help fellow Haitian missionary Tom Braak of Faith in Action International celebrate his organization's ten years of work in Haiti. Tom actually has been in Haiti since 1997 and took several years of traveling and working in different areas of Haiti before he was sure of where and what God wanted him to do there. He eventually ended up in the Artibonite valley at a place called Verrettes. Tom's ministry focuses on helping and training Haitians in agricultural endeavors to be able to support their families by using environmentally friendly technology , introducing new improved crops and livestock. They also have started schools, capped springs for safe water , built cisterns and evangelized. Tom has a goal to build an experimental village where new ideas can be put to use in construction technology, agricultural practices demonstrated and alternative energy systems tried out.

Tom and his wife Fecilta recently (Sept. 1st) welcomed little Ryan Curtis into their family and hope to return to Haiti in late October. Almost 100 people turned out at the beautiful Grand Haven Community Center to celebrate with the Braaks and the FIAI board members ten years of wonderful work in Haiti. In God's love, steve