Pray for revival in Haiti

Please join us in praying this week for the revival services that are taking place here at the church in Fond Parisien.

• Please pray for Phil Gish that the Spirit will guide his message and protect him from the attacks of the  evil one
• Pray for Wismith as he interprets the message for the Haitian people.
• Pray for the Haitians that hear. Pray for new converts and strengthening of the existing church.
• Pray for the missionaries. They need spiritual refreshment.

Thanks for your support through your prayers.

Upcoming Haiti Auction

A Haiti Auction is planned to be held this Friday & Saturday, March 8 & 9, at the Darke Co. Fairgrounds (800 Sweitzer St. Greenville, OH), and you are invited! The schedule for the event is as follows:
    

Friday, March 8

• 5:00-7:30 Dinner served
• 7:30-8:30 Evening program featuring bluegrass gospel music by Set Free and an update on the work in Haiti

Saturday, March 9

• 8:00 am Doors open. Gourmet breakfast served
• 9:00 am Sale & silent auction begins
• 10:30 am Children's auction held 
• 11:00 am (approx) vehicles, shed and large items sold
• 1:00 pm Silent auction closes

Delicious food will be served, and a number of items will be for sale, including a playhouse, car, boat, furniture items, & tools. For more information, you may visit www.haitiauction.org.

February 2013 Newsletter

For those of you that have not yet read the latest newsletter, I uploaded it unto the website. Go to http://www.ifmhaiti.org/ and click on the link for the February 2013 newsletter.

Plant trees in Pays Pourri

We have talked enough about the deforestation in Haiti. It is time to plant trees. We would like for you to participate with us.

The Goal: Start 2,000 trees in 4 different locations in Pays Pourri for a total of 8,000 trees. This would be  60% fruit trees and 40% lumber trees.

Strategy: Work with Eralus (the Pays Pourri KASEK), OPAPP (Organisation des Planteurs pour ládvancement de Pays Pourri), and the local habitants. Each of these three participants will volunteer time and resources for the nursery. We will work with these partners to ensure that the trees are cared for after they are planted.

Here is a list of the things we need to make this a reality.

1. Seeds – Please consider making a donation to buy tree seed.
2.  Nursery caretaker – Each of these 4 nurseries will need a caretaker to water the trees, pull weeds, and guard against theft and damage by animals. Please consider sponsoring a nursery worker at $50.00 USD per month.
3.  Extension Agent – This project will be overseen by a Haitian extension agent. Mr. Solius Chery is a Pays Pourri man, that was trained in agriculture by  Parole et Action. He is a member of our Water for Life church in Fond Parisien. He has been working as school director at Eralus’school in Pays Pourri. Eralus will find someone to work at the school, as overseeing the four nurseries and other extension work will be a full time job for Solius. Minimum wage in Haiti is 6,000 Gourdes ($150.00 USD) per month.  Please consider sponsoring the extension agent’s salary or a portion of his salary.
4.  Large bags – We have lots of small black bags that will be used for pots for the trees. We need to purchase some larger bags for the mango and avocado tree seedlings. Please consider this option.
5. Food – There will be a small expense for food on work days. There are many people willing to volunteer, but we need to come up with food for the volunteers.

We already have the following items: shade cloth, lumber to build the shade shelters, wheelbarrows, watering cans, sprayer, shovels, string, fence wire, black bags for pots, and sifters for sifting the potting soil. 

New Meeting House in Jimani!

Here are a few photos from last week. We had 8-10 men working every day. We thank God for His provision to begin construction of the new meeting house. To God be the glory!    -Tom

The foundation is in place.

God's Word being proclaimed!

 The walls going up.

 The block walls are completed.

The inspection team.

Eglise Eau de Vie de Pays Pourri (Water of Life Church in Pays Pourri)

This weekend I had the opportunity to go up the mountain to our Eglise Mennonite Eau de Vie de Pays Pourri (Water of Life Mennonite Church in Pays Pourri) along with a group from our Fond Parisien church.

 The evening service in the mountain church by lantern light

Pastor Voltaire giving a vibrant message.

Here is the bed that Pastor Voltaire and I slept in.

 There were some boards falling out of the bottom of the bed, leaving some holes.

 This is the house we stayed in. It belongs to Jorèl, Pastor Jack's son, who has moved to Brasil. 

 Pastor Voltaire, Jorèl Inosant (Octalia's husband), and Deacon Gesner.

It was nice and cool.

 This girl is making some breakfast for us. 

 Pastor Jack, the pastor of the Pays Pourri church.

 Pastor Jack has kept trees in the area by his house.

 This brother is teaching Sunday School. He is reading a Bible Story from CAM's 101 Favorite Bible Stories.

 They asked me if I wanted to preach, so of course I took the opportunity

 Pastor Voltaire dedicating this baby to the Lord. 

 It is a blessing to see that most of the children that are dedicated in this church have a dad and mom that are married

 Visiting outside the church

 Pastor Jack visiting with a church member.

 Oktadine insisted that she carry my backpack. She also carried a suitcase for Pastor Voltaire on her head. Thankfully, she only did this for the first 10 minutes down the trail, before giving the suitcase to someone else to carry.

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A view of Fond Parisien from the mountain.

 Headed down the mountain for home.

A part of the time, the trail was in this riverbed.

Building Fence at the Housing Project

We are continuing work at the Earthquake Housing Project in Leroux (Croix-des-Bouquet). In Haiti, it is very important to put up a fence around your property. Most times people put the fence up before building. The fence keeps goats and sheep out of your yard, along with unwanted trouble makers. It is also important, so that some wheeler-dealer does not come and sell some of your yard to someone else.

We give a big thank you to the Florida HBA, for sponsoring this part of the project. We also thank the work team from New York who worked hard.

It is going to be a 6' high chain link fence with barb wire around the top.  

Many of the people that received the houses pitched in to help with the fence.

Riding to the job site with tools and supplies. The little guys are Josiah and Nic who went along to help for a day.

One day after quitting, we drove up the mountain a little so the team could get a view of the valley from the mountain. Here they took a group photo.