Praise God for the 22 people who were recently baptized at the Greffin FMC on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Pray for many more to come to faith.

Gene and Kelli Page, Lapeer FMC, MI, are leading a team of 15, April 2 to 9, to Haiti. This team is involved in ministry through maintenance on the properties in Dessalines. Among other supplies, the group has carried in water filters for area families.

Richard Poissant, Canada, travels to Haiti April 5 to 15. He will be doing general construction.

International Child Care Ministries
Mark Johnson, Meadowood FMC, CO, has traveled to Haiti this week to assist the International Child Care Ministries office in setting up a functioning computer network in Port-au-Prince. He will also teach the staff in how to use the new database. Mark returns Tues., April 12.

It’s been ten months since the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in January. My memories of Haiti that stuck with me the scenes of devastation, hurting people and the smell of death. I have heard good things of what has happened here in the months since but it’s hard to mesh that reality with what I saw during that initial trip to port-au-prince to just see how the children from the international child care ministries schools and the free Methodist church got through this disaster. Today I landed in a much different city. If you know what your looking for it’s still apparent they had a major earthquake. Like the airport terminal is a undersized warehouse since the terminal has been damaged. There are empty lots where there used to be buildings and of course scores of tent cities to house the homeless. But it was in the eyes of the people at the santo ICCM school that I saw the real hope for Haiti. The shock has been replaced with determination to help see this little corner of Haiti heal.

Latest report from weather.com: Hurricane Tomas intensified a little bit overnight. As of 5 am EDT Thursday, Tropical Storm Tomas was located about 315 miles to the southwest of Port-au Prince, Haiti. Tomas is forecast to intensify into a hurricane Friday morning as it passes just west of Haiti. Hurricane conditions could linger into Friday night or Saturday morning. Rainfall could total 5 to 10 inches with some amounts up to 15 inches possible in the mountains.

Specific prayer requests from Rick and Cookie Ireland: “Please pray that this epidemic will be stopped, that there will be no more deaths, that needed personnel and supplies will reach those affected. Pray for continued strength for the Haitian people as they face yet another crisis.”

“I know the news is full of the cholera outbreak in the north part of Haiti. We have been expecting something like this long before now. I spoke with Dr. Dan (Snyder) yesterday who said that the key for us was to wash our hands a lot, be careful of what we eat and where it came from, and drink filtered water. These things have been standard operating procedure since I have been here. Do keep Haiti lifted up in prayer as many Haitian don’t have the resources that we do to protect ourselves.”

From CBC News

An outbreak of cholera is worsening in Haiti, and moving closer to the country’s earthquake-devastated capital, Port-au-Prince. As of the most recent reports on Saturday evening, the disease has killed at least 208 people and sickened another 2,674. The outbreak began in the rural Artibonite region, which hosts more than one million quake refugees. Health officials fear what could happen if the disease spreads to Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands of quake survivors live in tarp camps.

Cholera is a waterborne bacterial infection spread through contaminated water. It causes severe diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to dehydration and death within hours.

Missionary Rick Ireland Reflects May 29, 2010

Every Thursday at noon, a group of Free Methodist Haitian pastors gathers in the office of the General Superintendent for a time of worship and prayer. I happened be there as they gathered this week. The mood was somber. The day before, a prominent and beloved pastor had been robbed and killed as he left his bank after withdrawing some money to replace his car. The murdered pastor’s son was among those who slowly and quietly filed in. Each greeted the grieving son. Someone handed out hymnals and one of the pastors led out the singing, marking time with the snap of his fingers. The first song was slow and sad. A pastor prayed. The second song was a bit more upbeat. Another pastor prayed. And so the pattern continued. At one point, a pastor opened his Bible and began to preach. I couldn’t understand all the words but the name “Job” figured prominently. More singing and praying followed. And though I did not understand all the words (except the ones I was asked to share), I did watch in wonder as God filled that space, lifting people up in a difficult time. By the end of the meeting, even the grieving son was singing these songs of faith. As the impromptu service wound down, there was still sadness but there was also quiet resolution. These pastors did not face the future alone. They have one another, and they have a God who is bigger than their suffering, and who understands their suffering, sharing the journey.

Our faith doesn’t exempt us from suffering. What I could see first hand is that what faith does do is give us the resources to face the suffering that is part of life in a fallen world. We do not serve a God who is watching a show from a distance. We serve a God who took on the very flesh of man, experienced life in its joy and sorrow, in its victory and its suffering – a God who understands the pain of grieving over a much too early death. There is a strength in that and I saw it in the faces of the men as they left that day.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV) we read:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

I saw that lived out in the in the flesh this week. These pastors are no strangers to suffering. They have lived through floods, political upheaval, and now earthquakes. Everyone of them lost people close to them on January 12. They knew the pain of the grieving son, but they knew the Son who saw them though the suffering of the past would be there in this as well.

I knew the pastor who died. I will miss his quiet gentle spirit and his words of encouragement as I adapt to life in this very different place. I am strong in the reality that this time of separation is not permanent. We will meet again.

About two hours ago Haitian Pastor David Charles was murdered in Port-au-Prince. He was secretary of the Haiti Annual Conference. This death will have a big impact on the national leadership team. The circumstances, as we currently understand them, are that as Pastor Charles was leaving the bank after cashing a check, two motorcycle robbers accosted him to steal his money (and perhaps kidnap him). While the robbery was taking place, a security guard stepped into view. The robbers panicked, shot the guard and Pastor Charles, killing them both, and then fled.

More details will be released as they are available.

Phases 1 and 2 of the recovery plan (which have been completed) included the following:

• More than 1,000 people were vaccinated and more than 2,000 people were seen in free clinics. These clinics were staffed by Haitian medical people volunteering their time to serve their churches and communities.
• We (the steering committee) have worked extensively with the local churches to develop programming for children prior to the restart of school.
• We conducted distributions at every church in the West and South Districts. Some of these churches are hours from Port-au-Prince, and this was the only help these people received. We have also distributed relief supplies to school staffs.
• We have given grants to 29 pastors to provide for provisional shelter and to an additional 19 pastors to assist in repairing their homes.
• We have assisted a number of churches in demolition. The typical pattern is that local church people provide the labor to take down the buildings and we provide money to have the rubble hauled away.
• We have been identifying and funding projects that can be accomplished with Haitian labor.
• We have made major progress in rebuilding the financial system and hope to be done in the next week or so.
• The Bible school has restarted.

Looking ahead

• Nearly a dozen sites have lost both their church and school. We are working hard to get at least one usable structure at every site.
• New building materials are being tested: a new (to us) steel frame building structure and a new (to Haiti) type of foam core building.
• We are expecting a major shipment of tents.
• We are looking at the possibility of a second pastors’ retreat. The first retreat was limited to only West and South District pastors. We would like to do something for all pastors and wives. The earthquake has had an impact far beyond Port-au-Prince. Superintendent Charite reports that in his region alone the population has swelled by 156,000 people and the schools are serving 20,000 additional students.
• We are planning major subsidies to all FM schools to assist them in paying for staff.
• We need to continue to rebuild the administrative structure of the mission in Haiti. This begins with finances but there are a number of other things, such as government reports and permits that need to be brought up to date as the government structure gets back to normal.

VISA Need in Haiti:

The FM recovery program in Haiti requires a geotechnical engineer to join a small team of structural engineers departing soon.
DUTIES: Help in the ongoing assessments of selected FM churches and schools which remain standing following the January earthquake. Help prepare a brief report on findings and conclusions.
ELIGIBILITY: A qualified geotechnical engineer experienced in time-efficient field assessments. A team player who understands and is in full sympathy with the Christian basis for this work is needed for this mission.
MISSION DURATION: approximately one week.
TIMING: soon – to be arranged in consultation with the team leader. Interested individuals should e-mail: conniek@fmcna.org.

• 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease.
• 84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0-14.
• 98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world.
• 884 million people, lack access to safe water supplies, approximately one in eight people.
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
• Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
• About a third of people without access to an improved water source live on less than $1 a day. More than two thirds of people without an improved water source live on less than $2 a day.
• Without food a person can live for weeks, but without water you can expect to live only a few days.
• The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 13.2 gallons per person.

More wells are desperately needed, will you please help.

Give Now