The mission of Hope For The Hungry is to "Share the Bread of Life with a Starving World". God has called us to serve people who suffer from hunger that is both spiritual and physical. According to scriptural mandate, we offer food for the body and salvation for the spirit to those who do not know Jesus Christ and will suffer eternal death without Him.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers throughtout our trip. We definltly could not have accomplished as much as we did without them! That being said, the Lord has done some amazing things through us and in us this past week, while we were in Haiti. We never thought that we would get anywhere close to finishing every project we needed to do... but we did! The foundation for the first home was built, we built all 1o temporary classrooms, and we finished all 12 of the rafters in the church... and even had time to paint some of them, as well! Not only did we get to all of the "tasks" that were set before us, but we got to play with the kids. Not just play with them, but truely invest in their lives: learn their personalities, recognize their giggles, and hold each one of them in our hearts forever. Long after the memory of all of the hard work and exhaustion leaves, we will never forget the smiles on the faces of "our" kids.

Please pray for our team as we try to adjust to life back in the States. Pray that we have patience for people who didn't get to experience Haiti with us and who dont understand our new passions. Also, ask us about our trip and truely listen to every single story we have to share. This is the best gift you could EVER give us.

Again, thank you for all of your loving support through out our journey. You each mean more to us than you'll ever know.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Today was a very unplanned adventure. As we left the boys home yesterday, the rain started and didn't stop until 9am this morning. Because of this, the Tap-Tap couldn't make it down the slippery muddy rock road, so we had to tweak our plans a little. At first, we thought that today would just be our "tourist" day where we would go to the Baptist Mission to buy gifts. BUT Jean Alix gave us the go ahead to walk to the boys home when the roads got too muddy. So we drove half way there and then walked about 30 mins down hill to the home. We looked at the foundation on the new home and they have done a great job!

About the time we got to the boys home, the rain started again... We all went inside, with our entourage of small Haitian boys, and started finishing the church rafters. While the rafter team worked, we helped some of the older boys empty out the cisterns to clean it. It was hilarious!
The boys climbed down the ladder and between hoisting up buckets of water, they were swimming and splashing, and just being boys. It was so sweet to see after seeing them working so hard with us this past week.
After lunch, the church crew finished up the rafters and the others got to play with some of the boys. We left a little earlier than normal today because we had to walk the 30 minutes back uphill to the Tap-Tap...  

Tomorrow, we will spend the morning at the boys home painting the rafters in the church and saying our final goodbyes to the boys. Then we will have our "tourist" day. Pray for everyone on our team as we leave new relationships behind. Pray that the Lord would remind us that the kids that we are leaving will be cared for even after we leave. It will be a hard day for all of us, so please pray that the Lord would guard our hearts during this emotional time. 

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Today was an incredibly sweet day. When we got to the boys' home, we went down to the basketball court and they were having class in the new rooms we had built! It was such a precious sight. Even though some of them didn't have walls or roofs, they were still being used. We finished putting the roofs on the remaining classroom and then finished them up by adding walls/chalkboards to each of them. When we finished with the last nail, we all cheered really loud and the Haitian children around us laughed!

Tommy's team was absolutely fearless in the chapel. They got the job of rebuilding rafters done with very few of the needed materials... Such great improvisers! In 3 days, they've built 12 rafters and have only a few boards left to do!

While we were working on the other two projects, the foundation for the first rebuilt home in Guibert was laid. Tomorrow we are going to help mix cement and move bricks for the home! Pray for us as we finish our last work day. Pray that we will end strong and finish the jobs we started. Pray that the Lord will be glorified in everything we say and do. 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Tap-Tap day 2 went well, no incidents or mishaps. We've framed all 10 classrooms and have 8 of them roofed. We have completed 6 of the rafters in the church... Such a productive day! We've had such a good week so far, growing in Christ as a team. It has been so encouraging to see all of the different gifts and talents the Lord has given each of us.

Please pray for us as we finish the last two classrooms, the final rafters, and begin the first house. We have a very exciting day ahead! Thanks for your prayers! 

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tuesday, March 16th

After breakfast this morning, we got a special treat... Jeff got to drive us to the boys home in the Tap-Tap (Haitian taxi). Before we left, we prayed over him and for the Lord to bless our travels and our days work. And He did.... We arrived safely and even though Jean Alix was out of town, we were able to coninue on... I'm sure that this won't be the last time that Jeff gets to take the drivers seat!  

Once we got to the home, we went looking for extra lumber and more supplies for the day. We pulled out all the stored supplies and dug for the new things, but praise the Lord, we found everything that we needed, so we started working and kept it up until 5! In between all of our hard work, there were many play breaks with the kids who were very eager to play. When we left for the day, we had a total of 7 classrooms framed and 5 rafters in the church repaired. When we finished, Jeff drove us back home!

Pray for us to get amazing sleep and rest tonight so that we have the energy to go on tomorrow. Also, pray that we will be able to use what resources we have to do the work that is needed.  

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15th

We arrived at the boys home around 8:30 this morning. We started out first thing by sorting all of our materials for the days work. There was a storage room full of roofing metal and boards of random sizes. Once we knew what we had to work with, Jeff and Tommy drew up plans for the temporary classrooms and the church ceiling. When the plans were in place, we started moving the materials to where they needed to be and began our projects. 
To our surprise, there were already 3 makeshift tent classrooms set up where the youngest of the classes were going on! Since they were on the basketball court (where we were planning to build) we decided to start on the opposite side of the court. To do this, we first needed to build a trench around that side of the concrete so that water wouldn't seep into the classroom once it was completed.  Meanwhile Tommy's team was working tirelessly to get the rafters in the church repaired. After lunch, school let out so we were able to begin building on the open side while our team was digging the trench. 
At the end of our day, we had completed the trench, rebuilt a rafter in the church and had 4 schoolrooms framed. We will build 6 more rooms and finish the other 11 rafters as the weeks progress.
Please continue to pray for us as we minister here in Haiti. Pray for the relationships that we form as we are working together with our Haitian friends. Also, pray for the details and logistics of our trip that are to come. We have materials to buy tomorrow to be able to continue our work here, so pray that they will be available for us. Thank you guys for all of your love,supposrt, and prayers!  

Sunday, March 14th

After a midnight layover in Miami, we have finally arrived in Haiti!!  The original airport was deemed condemned after the earthquake, so now a new airport 'system' has been developed. Instead of walking onto the Tarmac, we got to go through an actual gate..with air conditioning! Once we all filed through customs, which is now located in an adjacent warehouse, we got our bags and headed outside. Once outside, craziness ensued! There were people trying desperately to help us, but we had to look for our specific friends who had come with Jean Alix. When we finally found them, we loaded all 14 checked bags into the back of a tap-tap ( Haitian taxi bus), climbed in, and we were off. We bumped along for a little over an hour as we gazed at the city completely destroyed. We arrived at Jean Alix's home, met his family and kids, and ate a delicious meal together. 

Tomorrow, our plan is to head out to Guibert to begin working on repairing the church. Please pray for us as we arrive at the places we are called to minister. Pray that the Lord will put specific people in our path that need to see the Lord's love in their lives.

 

Friday, March 5, 2010

March 5th, 2010

March 5th, 2010

Good morning all. After returning from Haiti last Saturday night (2/27), our Hope family has been scurrying to plan and prepare for our next trip, since we are on a "short clock”. The three primary objectives we needed to accomplish on that trip were: 1) determine the structural stability of all our facilities in Guibert and prioritize repairs to be made; 2) make a final decision regarding the plan for the "tract" houses we will be building in that village and others as we have opportunity and resources; and, 3) finalize plans for our first construction team which will be in Haiti from March14-21. As you might imagine the logistics for arranging travel to and from Haiti at this time are still an enormous challenge. Jen Sutton has been incredibly diligent and relentless in her pursuit of finding flights for the 16 who will be making that trip.

First, with the wonderful aid of a local structural engineer who gave his time to go with us, we discovered that there are some important repair priorities to complete before we move our children back in to the facilities. They are:
#1. Repair damage to the second floor boys’ suite in their home by creating two 18"X18" columns with 12" beams to carry the weight of the concrete roof that is in place. We will be "overbuilding" the structure as a precaution.
#2. The stair well between the first and second floor of the boys’ suite will also be reinforced with the addition of another concrete column and the addition of a 12" beam.
#3. The middle wall on the first floor of the three-story school building will be restructured as a solid concrete wall.

Other projects to be accomplished are the repair of the two of our three 10,000 gallon water cisterns that failed and the strengthening of the truss system on the church roof. The top three priorities should be completed in the next month to six weeks.

Second, final plans were drawn for the tract houses. The houses will be 11'4"X30', about 360 square feet, having three rooms. The walls will have steel reinforcement vertically every 16" and horizontally every two rows of block. The roof will be a shed roof made of roofing metal. All labor will be volunteer, a combination of Haitian homeowners and church members, with American volunteer teams to assist as available. The cost of the materials will be about $7,740.00. I have attached a copy of our cost analysis.

Third, our desire was to build the first house on the first group trip after the earthquake. Transportation and customs challenges as well as building repair priorities have put us in the position of working on the minor (comparatively speaking) building repairs and beginning construction on the first home. We are excited about the construction of the houses because they will be built while sharing a curriculum of what it means to build a home and not just a house.

On Tuesday afternoon (3/2) at about 2:00 PM 12 pallets of emergency relief goods were released to us by Haitian Customs for NO fees or duty! That was the culmination of an eleven-day ordeal during which, at one point, they were demanding $14,000.00 in duty….another miracle has occurred! We also think this may be a hint of future help for us getting essential supplies in.

In the course of all our labors and relief efforts, we are engaging our Haitian leadership and village families in plans regarding long-term financial recovery through micro enterprise and job creation.

Everyday we see results that strengthen our resolve, and demonstrate the Lord’s favor. Thank you all for your faithfulness and your continued encouragement.
BLESSINGS...Dan