The Haiti Update

It's been about a month since I've returned from Haiti. In some ways it seems like eons ago, and in other ways like it was just yesterday. On this trip, I had the blessing of journeying with two other guys, Luke (right) and Matt (left). I was introduced to Luke through Crossworld. He's landscape architect student at Temple University in Ambler. Matt is a friend of mine from Church of the Saviour. He's been to Honduras a few times and is seeking where and how God wants to use him in this big world.


We left early Friday morning and a good friend drove us up to New York to catch our flight out of JFK Airport. As seen above, Luke spent most of the drive up sleeping and Matt most of the drive laughing. Although we hit some traffic on Coney Island, it was a nice drive, with some good views. That friday we flew from NY to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and then took a small "hopper" flight up to Port-de-Paix in the northern part of Haiti where we would be staying. As in my previous trips, we would be staying with Bruce and Deb Robinson, who are American missionaries serving in NW Haiti. While we were a bit worn out when we arrived in Passe Catabois, God gave us great traveling mercies and all of our travels went smoothly.

The purpose of this trip to Haiti was multi-faceted. Firstly, it was an opportunity to reunite with and encourage the friends, both missionaries and Haitians, that I met when I stayed there for six months. It was such a blessing for me to spend time with many of the people that I had previously met. The second day we were there, I had the whole day to walk around and visit people as the rest of the group was out with Bruce touring the area. I spent a good part of the morning helping Frayer August peel and open mango seeds that would then be planted in the mountains as a part of the reforesting effort. Then I walked around and talked with some people in the community. It was really good to have a day with no "program" and to just get out and meet the wonderful and hospitable Haitian people.

I was also able to return to visit the Haitian family that I previously lived with for several weekends. Matt also came with me and enjoyed and we great Haitian meal and some good porch conversations. We also were able to visit their church which is in serious disrepair; Matt and I encouraged Abdias to trust God to provide the right building for their church. Please pray that God would provide for them and that He would protect that congregation and hold up that building with His angles. Toward the end of our evening with them, Abdias went to his garden and took out a couple stalks of sugarcane for us. What a treat! Introductions of the Abdias family: the mother is Da, the father is Abdias, and their son is Abdial.

Matt, myself, and the Abdias Family


Matt and Abdial playing around


The Church at Cabaret which is in serious disrepair


Matt and I chowing on some sugar cane


On one of the Sundays we were there, Luke and I returned to the church at Moulin where I attended when I lived there. We borrowed back the scooter/motorcycle that I had before (see the post title "The Hog") and Luke put his trust in me and God as he road on the back of the moto. Hey, he only fell off once! It was an awesome blessing for Luke and I to worship with the congregation there and our presence was a great encouragement to them. Here are some pictures of our visit there.




The Moulin Congregation



Pastor Bernicks and myself


Two of the ladies in the Choir singing a song during worship.


Some of the Moulin People, also Luke is in the back right. He's the white guy ;)

Secondly, the purpose was to bring along two guys (Matt and Luke) who are seeking whether missions and community development is where God is calling them. God has blessed Bruce and Deb's ministry in amazing ways and it's a great place to see what God can do through the gifts of engineering and construction. Matt and Luke were also able to have some good talks with Bruce and draw from his wisdom and experience. On a personal note, it was awesome to go with these two guys. It got lonely when I lived there by myself for those six months. It was really a blessing for me to be able to journey with these guys and share with them a place that holds a dear place in my heart. We are even thinking about bringing another group of students/young professionals who are interested in missions down next summer. It would be a great introduction for them into how God can use community development (and them!) to transform a community. Pray that God would give us guidance as we pursue this avenue.

Lastly, I went to Haiti to set up the office there with some engineering software and to train a Haitian Engineer that was working with them. God worked in some big ways to give us this engineering software which is called AutoCAD. AutoCAD is a software that is used to design project and create detailed plans which can be used to obtain grants and to construct a project. It is a great tool and one that we needed to complete some projects and to work on some new ones. The problem is that the software costs over $5,000 per license and we needed two licenses!! Well, we applied to the AutoCAD company to receive a software donation. Shortly after we applied we received a letter stating that there were 4 reasons why our application did not meet the donation requirements and would not be approved. The primary roadblock was that groups promoting a religious faith were not eligible to receive a donation, and we were a missions organization with an expressed purpose of spreading the gospel. But after much prayer and some correspondence, we received confirmation that our application was approved and that 2 copies of the software were in the mail. WOW! God made it happen! So, I brought the software with me to Haiti and installed it on the computers there. Then I spent some time training the Haitian engineer and working on some of the engineering projects that are on-going. Now that we have this software, I have much work to finish here in the States, so please pray that I would have diligence and the time to complete the work on the water system that I started last summer. Also, the Haitian Engineer that I was training is no longer working with Bruce and Deb. Please pray that God would bring them another Haitian Engineer who is called to live and work in that area for the long term.

It was an amazing two weeks back in Haiti, and I truly appreciate your prayers and encouragement in sending me there. Below are some more pictures of what went on during that two weeks. Thank you again for sending me and thank you to God for so graciously using this feeble man in his glorious work.


Matt, Luke, and Boss Remi's team working on some plumbing


Matt and I with Gaston, Boss Aletude, and Frayer John Walter


One of the many sunrises that we got up early to watch


Luke with his new machete and the guys who made the wooden handle for the machete


Neemy (the Haitian engineer) and I hard at work in the office.


On one of our Saturday's we went to the beach for some great relaxation


The kids that live with the guard of the shop yard


One of the dams that Bruce and his guys built in order to irrigate some gardens


Matt's going to kill me for putting this picture up here ;)


more horseplay with the kids. we even played red light green light for a while!


More beautiful sunrises


On our way home we had to take a boat to cross the river to catch our plane


the three of us with Madam Chrisbon who cooked us an awesome lunch each Sunday


Matt the Crocodile Hunter


N'aweh! (see you later!)