I left for Haiti on Monday morning from Fort Pierce, FL, to deliver supplies to my dad, Dave Stockeland. When I left, I didn’t have a return flight, and was told I was on my own to get back to the States…so I prayed A LOT during the trip about returning to my family. I had the privilege of taking two friends with me on this 3 day trip: Chris Ogden, a youth pastor at the Way Church and Dustin Woods, a youth pastor at Grace Bible Church, both in Sebring, FL. Dustin is also lead singer for the new Christian band Love Like Gravity.
While flying into Haiti, we expected the worse. What we saw was incredibly worse than anything we imagined. My heart hurt as I could see, from the sky, the endless rubble from people’s homes and businesses. Getting off the plane, all we saw were thousands and thousands of homeless Haitians – the lucky ones had tents to live in, the rest were living on the street…just trying to survive.
We drove two and a half hours west of Port au Prince to Gran Goave. From the looks of it, I believe they got hit harder than PaP. Everyone was living in the streets, sleeping on the concrete with just a sheet or a small mat. My dad met us in Gran Goave - after a 10-hour drive across the mountain from Jeremie. My team delivered our supplies and, after a short visit, my dad returned. Ministry in Gran Goave was awesome beyond measure. We helped clean up some of the rubble from collapsed buildings. We also played soccer with the orphans, sang songs in the streets with the Haitians…some said we were crazy but one Christian said we were crazy for Jesus.
We were able to visit a couple of military bases down the road from Gran Goave. It was such a blessing to see how they have sacrificed for the country of Haiti. All the military guys we talked to were so happy to help and even gave us some extra food and water to give to the orphans. I have never felt so safe in all the 13 years we have been serving in Haiti due to the number of military personnel in the region. I can’t thank our troops enough for their sacrifice. Thanks guys!!!!
The food and fuel situation in Jeremie is improving. (I talked to my dad earlier today and learned food and fuel is becoming available again.) This is great news - for the Mission can start buying food to help feed the thousands of refugees fleeing to Jeremie from Port-au-Prince. Praise God!
Thanks to your support, Haiti Bible Mission was able to give out 30 trunks of sheets, clothes, blankets, tents, food, shoes, and more. The people were overjoyed more than you can imagine.
Thank you to all who have been praying and supporting HBM and our family - we would not be able to serve without you and your support.
God bless,
Mark Stockeland, Executive Director
Haiti Bible Mission
P.S. More will soon follow regarding a Haiti Bible Mission medical team.