89 Days
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you in the name of Our Lord Jesus!
The first quarter of the year is marching to a speedy end. Lots of things have taken place within those 89 days. We welcomed two medical teams from Oklahoma. They provided medical care to about two thousands people. A work team from Whitewater Crossing Christian Church moved forward the project of the new church plant at Marotte. We also had one of the members of our Board of Directors, Bonnie Furniss, with us. She spent the whole month of February teaching ladies sowing. Our friends Phil and Theresa Marley got locked in while they were visiting with us. (See second paragraph below for details)
During those 89 days we graduated six Kingdom workers from our Bible College. We celebrated our 16th anniversary as a church. We broke ground for the wall of the orphanage property. We had three fun months baptizing people into Christ from all four churches. The most recent ones are the 15 who were baptized last Saturday at White Mountain. My youngest son Eliel and one of our drivers, Ariol, got baptized last Saturday. Last Sunday afternoon we baptized a former witch doctor into Christ whose name was ironically Pierre Paul (Peter Paul). We have a few more who will be baptized into Christ tomorrow morning as well. Can you see my excitement? I hope you can.
During those 89 days Haiti has known some of the darkest days of our recent history. From the end of the first week of February to the end of the third week, we experienced a terrible lock down. No electricity. No food for most. No water in many corners and when you found a gallon of water it was sold for an arm and a leg. Gas became the liquid gold and very rare. People died, got hurt, and locked in at home hungry. It was terrible. As I am writing some are back in the streets trying another lock down for selfish and political gain. But this time the people seem to have learned, and many refuse to be the one destroying themselves and their own country.
During those 89 days we also experienced a terrible drought. It has not rained al all. And, last year we did not have a generous rainy season. At Highland it is so bad that the irrigation canal tells it all (See photo). We need rain very bad.
The lock down and the drought have complicated the lives of many in Haiti, particularly in our area. Thanks to a few brothers and sisters we will distribute rice, beans and cooking oil to about 600 families. I know it is a drop in the bucket, but those 600 plus families will be relieved when we do the distribution next week. We had in mind to do it this weekend, but we cannot find the imported beans anywhere (It is cheaper). Today, because of the riots announced, we won’t risk going to the market. Early next week we will buy Haitian beans for the distribution. We hope that God will continue to provide so that we can do other food distributions in the coming weeks.
During those 89 days the radio station has not been on the air much because of the lack of electricity. Thanks be to God who has provided the funds through His generous children. We bought all the equipment needed: solar panels, batteries, et al. Now a Haitian team is working on installing them on the mountain. We pray that this coming week we will be back in the air for good. My heart rejoices at seeing this coming.
This week my white pickup truck, a donation of OHP, has reached its third year. During those 89 days it has been all over the country. It has been at Lifeline in Grand Goave picking up Creole books about Jesus. They are being read all over now in our different ministries. We have also been in the Dominican Republic with it preaching, teaching and also visiting with my sisters studying there. We have been in the low land and also in very high mountains with it. What a blessing this truck has been, and may God bless my OHP friends.
A lot more things have happened during those 89 days. We just told you a few. We hope you will see for yourselves the things to praise God for, and the things which will lead you to pray for us. We praise God because of you. We feel privileged to call you friends; to call you brothers and sisters; to call you partners in the Gospel.
May God bless you and give you a wonderful weekend.
In Him,
Salonique Adolphe and team