What a crazy time we are in. We know America is dealing with crisis after crisis, and we are standing with you all in prayer. It has never been more clear that we can do nothing without Jesus.
Here in Haiti, the Coronavirus is in full swing. It seems to be sweeping through, with most displaying only mild symptoms and we are thankful for that. We have been praying and seeking ways to help our communities as they hit this crisis head on. There are already several organizations giving out face masks and water buckets around Jeremie, so we have been looking for other ways to serve and bring lasting change. We were so excited when some of our zone leaders asked for a meeting so they could share with us how we could help the communities. They suggested getting trucks of water each week for our 7 zones so they could fill the buckets to wash hands, cook, and shower. They explained with the current drought conditions, there is a water crisis and the people are desperate to find sources of clean water. The leaders explained they had over 11,000 people that would be impacted each week with fresh water! Our team said yes, believing that God would show up as we took that step of faith. We also saw the opportunity this gives us to meet people and share the love of Jesus with them. When the trucks pull up, people come running! Just this week John Kely, the director of HBM’s Te Wouj school, said that he shared Jesus with many people while they were in line filling up their buckets. Not only do we get to help them in a tangible way with fresh water, but we also get to share about the life giving water that Jesus has to offer! Along with the water trucks, we have had others step up to support community-sized hand washing stations in zones that were lacking. Since there is no running water in these communities, washing your hands frequently becomes a huge challenge. These hand washing stations give the whole community a way to protect themselves from COVID-19 and will continue to help people stay healthy in the future. Thank you so much to all those that have given to the water project, as well as all those that support us monthly so that we can continue to empower leaders to transform communities. It is through our relationships with the community leaders that we are able to truly know and meet the needs of these communities, and this becomes even more crucial during times of crisis.
Our weekly discipleship groups have been such a blessing as we are seeing so much growth in our team. Each group is currently going through Proverbs with time to delve deeper by answering/discussing questions to help each person in their daily walk with the Lord. We are thankful for the times God is giving us to go deeper and build deep relationships in our small groups.
Many of you know about our PBFA (Performance Based Food Assistance) project in Te Wouj where we are feeding 1,000 people a meal daily for three years. We love this project and we can’t wait to see all the great things that will happen over the next few years, however Te Wouj is currently dealing with an even greater food crisis. This meal program is meant to *supplement* a family’s diet. Most of these families live off their gardens by selling their produce and keeping some to help their families. But with the drought and lack of rain for the last 3 months they have lost all that they had planted and have just been living off the MannaPack that we give them. We just took a hike to visit the families and do an assessment and it broke our hearts to see how they are struggling. We decided again to take a step of faith and purchased some beans, rice, and oil (basic staples) to take to the most in need. Praying the Lord will multiply their provisions and meet all their needs.
If anyone wants to give toward the water project or help us feed families we would love to have you partner with us. We have been blessed to have the first two months of the water project covered, but we will continue to do more as funds come in. As more support comes in, our team in Haiti will continue to asses the needs and help bring life transformation to these communities.
How You can help!
Financial needs:
New tires for one of our trucks $1,000
2 new roofs for families $500
2 weddings for our leaders $1,400
1 hand washing station $560
New gate for our front wall $1,600
50 Bibles for our churches $1,000
100 family food kits $25 each
Prayer Requests
Pray for COVID-19 to stop spreading
Pray for the families in the communities where we are giving water, that more people will come to know Jesus as their Savior
Pray for wisdom for our leaders and team that they can lead HBM with God at the center to help transform communities
Pray for rain!
