I’m sitting in the Santo Domingo airport waiting to head back from the states. This trip has been non stop since I arrived. We made 4 trips into Haiti from the DR, staying overnight once and also traveled to Santiago, DR, spending the night as you can’t make the trip in one day unless everything goes smooth, which it rarely does in areas such as this!

 

We were blessed to be part of CC Delta, PA’s ministry that sponsors local children in the DR. They provide food and discipleship for over 150 families every month. Lewis leads the mission and is from the area. We used their mission home as a base camp to go in and out of Haiti and were part of their team this week.

 

One our first trip in, after getting lost, God led us to 4 people and we asked if they knew where the address of the church was that I had, they said yes, hopped in and took us there. It turned out they spoke English, Spanish and of course Creole. When they asked what we were doing, we found out that one of them actually attended computer/Bible classes at CC Port-au-Prince (PauP)! What a Godincedence!

 

Once we found the church, someone happened by that regularly attends CC and said he knew where the pastor was staying, called him, jumped in the van and off we were to the CC PauP Orphanage where a some of the church people were staying. We ran into Eric from CC In the City, Boston, who had come in to bring some funds from the states, since the banks were down, and he is also a doctor and was helping get some things straightened around.

 

We talked with Serge to find out what was going on and to see what he and the church needed us to do for them. We quickly got a list of things that they needed but couldn’t get locally or get at a reasonable price. He also shared that they wanted to move the congregation, orphanage and some handicapped individuals that the church supports, out of the city where it is safer, cleaner and where they have the facilities they need to help keep the disease down.

 

Serge’s cousin is Dr. Luke, a Haitian who lived in the US, but is now back in Haiti working at a hospital that is in downtown PauP. Through him the church is sending in doctors, surgeons and nurses. Our group was able to bless them with quite a few this week and they were able to be a huge blessing to everyone there!

 

Dr’s Sheelove and Winnie, a husband wife team who attend CC, had a clinic/hospital outside of the town that was destroyed during the earthquake. The building sat on a nice piece of property so they are setting up “CC PauP Tent City” there! They have diesel generators with and inverter system, a well with good drinking water, though we Americans still brought our own, flushing toilets hooked up to a septic system and they were erecting a kitchen and shower area. Food and other supplies that they can’t get can be brought in as needed and the funds are available. The ministry in the DR has offered to help with the purchase and transportation of these supplies and Vic has given us use of his van as needed to do so. All as funds are available.

 

As they get tents, they move more people in. At present there are about 100 people living there and they need enough tents for about 100 more. Pastor Vic from CC Aventura has secured a discount on the 40 tents that remain to be needed and has also gotten a reduced price for flying them directly into PauP. The cost will be about $6100, once the funds are raised, we can get the tents in their hands and the rest of the people moved to safer ground.

 

Pastor Serge has expressed that they do not need any teams to help them. The biggest need they have in the way of people is medical personnel. If you aren’t a surgeon, a doctor or a nurse you end up taking up valuable resources, space, etc.

 

For the long term he has also requested that we don’t send in teams. He stated that before the earthquake the unemployment rate in PauP was over 70% and now is probably in the 90’s. With Haiti being a country of very little natural resources and products that it can export, its people and their services are what can help boost their economy in this great time of need. The cost for an American to get to Haiti is between $1200-1500 depending on where you fly from, this money could be better put to use to purchase supplies and hire Haitians to do the work, not to mention the accommodations are very primitive.

 

He said he may need a couple people to help with the supervision of the work, but even that will need to be requested by them and not put upon them by us!

 

As far as reaching out to the people in Haiti, the door for the Haitian Bible Believing Christian Church is wide open right now. At some point the world government and other types of aid will begin to trickle into Haiti, though the vast majority of it still sits in containers and on pallets and most people are not getting any relief. But for now, the local church body has the chance to minister and use their gifts and lives to draw the Haitians to Jesus. As Serge and Patrick, our missionaries in Haiti and who are Haitians themselves, have said, they have been discipling the people in their churches for some time now and for such a time as this. These disciples speak the language, know the culture, have been through the earthquake, lost family and friends, and will be the remnant that is left when all the relief workers are gone. Also as Serge has mentioned to me, he has all these people from his church that not only want to minister and are already going out and ministering in the tent cities, but they have absolutely nothing else to do and it costs absolutely nothing!!

 

We have come up with a plan that his church is eager begin. We can purchase and get them bulk bags of beans and rice. We will also purchase plastic bags and grocery bags and we will need some backpacks. We will take the beans and rice into the tent city where his congregation will divide the bulk food into smaller bags with an amount to feed a family for a few days. They will then place the beans and rice into a grocery bag and then the grocery bags into backpacks. The backpacks will be loaded into a vehicle and his congregation will then go out into the tent cities to minister to the people as they already are doing. After spending some time with the family, right before they leave they will tell them they want to bless them with something and ask them not to say anything others; they will then leave them with a grocery bag of food. They won’t be able to do this as a scheduled event, the same place at the same time on the same day do to safety and mob issues, but if done randomly as led by the Lord, this will radically affect the Haitian people living in these so called “tent cities.” All us Americans need to supply is the money for beans, rice, plastic bags, grocery bags and the fuel to take it into PauP. The rest the local believers want to do. We did something similar to this in Honduras after a hurricane a couple of years ago and it was a huge blessing and worked well.

 

Another area that needs addressing is the wall that is around the new tent city. It is a concrete wall that has crumbled in many areas. To better secure the area, people and supplies, they need to get the wall rebuilt as soon as possible.  Serge and Sheelove said they will have an estimate of how much it will cost to purchase the supplies by the time I return next week. This work will be done by Haitians.

 

I also suggested that with the orphanage and all the kids in the families, that they could use some playground equipment. They thought that was a good idea and will check into what that would entail as well. The congregation is going to begin clearing more of the vacant fields on the property this week.

 

Sheelove and Winnie, who had the clinic on the property, both have a heart to serve the people in the area who are outside of the congregation. They are looking into setting up a clinic next door to the tent city. They will also be getting us more information on this project.

 

We spent the last few days at the mission home in the DR getting the plumbing and electricity, etc all up and going to make things more suitable to bringing in those who the Lord brings to help in Haiti. At this point it is the best way to bring people in and out of Haiti so that travel is not at night.

 

Please, don’t just send people to Haiti, have a plan and a local ministry to work with. If you want to work with CC PauP, then make sure you follow the chain of command. Serge is very busy with overseeing his church flock. He doesn’t have the ability to answer 50 phone calls and 100’s of emails a day, though his heart wants too!

 

Wait and pray, as needs come up, they will be sent out. When the time comes, you will need to send your best and try to only send a couple from your church. Since the need for Americans, other than medical, is so few and many churches want to help, allow others to participate as well. Instead send the funds that you would’ve spent to send people, let the people spend their time fasting and praying for Haiti and look for ways to serve the Lord locally in their own neighborhoods!

 

Continue to pray for this dark nation in the dark time that the Light Of Jesus would spread in their individual lives and in their nation. Pray for Serge’s church and others like them to be used mightily by the Lord during this crucial time. Pray to see what the Lord would have you do.

 

If you wish to give to any of the above mentioned things, we can receive your tax deductible donation and be assured that the monies will go to the relief efforts and not to a bunch of agency overhead and then what is left end up sitting on pallets!

 

Please see our website or below to find out how to donate. Also I will be posting pictures soon on our site. I have already done so from our first trip.
 

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Proclaiming the Lord in all we do,
In season and out of season.

Lord Bless,
Curt & Mary Jo Hencye

Relief Ministries Calvary Chapel Sarasota
Website: www.ReliefMinistriesCCSarasota.com

Contact info:

Curt:
941-915-9560
Email: Curt@ReliefMinistriesCCSarasota.com
Skype-Hencye