What an incredible trip God blessed us with! We had the perfect team and God allowed us to accomplish all He had for us to do - not only the processing of 661 children but also delivering funds to help victims of the earthquake as well as delivering funds to see the start of a home for orphaned and abandoned children in Terrier Rouge. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness." Psalm 115:1.
Because the eyes of the world have been turned toward Haiti since the earthquake of January 12th, we have been blessed to have received MANY financial contributions to be used to help those who have been affected by the disaster in Haiti. What a blessing it was (and continues to be) for us to be able to not only send money down to Haiti regularly since the earthquake but to also be able to bring funds with us and deliver them in person to our partners in Haiti who continue to work tirelessly to help their brothers and sisters in need. What a joy it is for us to be used by God to be a blessing not only to those in need but also to our partners in Haiti who now get to share in the joy of distributing to
their own people. In the past we have been told by Marie (Pastor Noel's wife) that it is an incredible joy for her to be able to help the people around her who are in need but she often does not have the financial means to do so. She is always so thankful when we are able to share the blessing of giving to those in need by giving
her the financial means to help them. When we see our Haitian brothers and sisters blessed with the financial ability to help
their own people, our joy is complete and we believe God is pleased with our efforts. So thank you to everyone who gave so we could give to our partners who continue to work to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake - such as the 15 year old boy who lost seven siblings and both his parents on January 12th, or the young pregnant woman who lost her husband, her home and all her possessions on that fateful day. These and many other people are now being blessed by your contributions and we praise God for allowing us to be a small part of the process. We are still accepting contributions to help victims of the earthquake so if you would like to donate, please send us an e-mail or visit
http://www.paypal.com/ and send your tax deductible donation to the following e-mail address -
info@hishandsforhaiti.org. Please be sure to include a note in the message box telling us your donation is for earthquake relief.
We also received the indescribable blessing of delivering the funds needed to see the start of a new home for orphaned and abandoned children in Terrier Rouge. Pastor Noel's vision for this home, which will be an on-going work of L'eglise Baptiste de Terrier Rouge, is to build several small homes on the property with one housemother and 10 children in each home. The first house was started while we were there and God blessed us by allowing us to be present at the ground breaking ceremony where Pastor Noel, Pastor Elima and several others sang and prayed over the land before the start of the project. As we're sure you can imagine, there were not many dry eyes as we witnessed our friend Verdin swinging that hoe to break ground for the first time! As funds become available, other small homes will be constructed on this same parcel of land. A housemother will be selected for each one and children will be placed in the homes according to their need. If you would like to donate towards the continuing cost of building this home for children, please send us an e-mail or go to
http://www.paypal.com/ and send your tax-deductible donation to the following e-mail address -
info@hishandsforhaiti.org. Please be sure to include a note in the message box telling us your donation is for the orphange construction.
The following paragraphs are excerpts from a trip report written by one of our team members, Marilee, who was making her second trip to Haiti. Her words do such a wonderful job of describing our experiences, we thought we would just reprint them here for you to read.
"Fourteen diverse volunteers made up the team for our HH4H trip. Ranging in age from 17 to 70, 3 males, 11 females, came from all across America [Maine, Maryland, Utah and Arizona], to meet up in West Palm Beach, Florida to travel together on a DC 3 airplane. God has a great sense of humor, as He prepared us for the trip. Our personalities and skills are distinct, and God gave us the challenge of working and living together in Unity and with the goal of doing all to His glory. I believe that our Father is pleased with the attitudes and work of the team. When we could have become irritated with each other, laughter erupted. When we needed to separate into teams for the day, people were generous and flexible. When we shared in devotions and team meetings, we rejoiced and mourned together. The team experience was unlike any I’d ever been on. Without a doubt, God was truly giving us the inner strength and ability to work together and come together as one. I believe God is pleased......Our team was another super blessing during this trip. A six decade age span, yet all of us were devoted and committed to this mission. We shared fantastic devotional times at 6:45 a.m. and prayed together to start the day. We laughed joyfully as we ate at each of the 3 meals served to us daily. Our debriefing meeting each night had serious discussions, yet much laughter. I personally felt that the team was fantastically matched. All of us were assigned by God to come on this trip. All of us had a shared love for the Lord, and for each other."
And here is Marilee's reflection on the ground breaking service -
"This was likely one of my top 10 all time favorite memories of my life! Tears streamed down my face as we stood on the land which is having an orphanage built by the local Haitians. Pastor Noel had a 15 minute service of dedication and the joy that I felt to be part of this building project was truly indescribable.The first swing of the pick into the dirt by the worker was thrilling. Before we came, HH4H posted a need for money to help start this orphanage here in Terrier Rouge. The goal to start was five thousand. Over eleven thousand had come in when we left [for Haiti]! Pastor Noel demonstrated his faith that the money would come in, by accepting the money and immediately starting the construction. In the hot sun, these workers started the intensive labor of hand building a cement home. I will never forget that prayer service….God in action."
Thank you again to everyone who gave and who prayed that our trip would be successful. God answered those prayers exceedingly abundantly above what we could ask or think and our hearts overflow with gratitude. It is such an incredible honor to be used by God to be His hands to help serve His people and we long for the day when people will not see our works but see His hands in action and give Him all the praise and glory.
The foundation of the orphanage is complete!
The concrete blocks for the home construction are stockpiled next to the foundation.
Organizations across Maine will be walking to raise money to support clinics, orphanages, schools and hospitals. Walks are currently scheduled for Portland, Bangor, Waterville and Jackman. 100% of all monies collected at the Waterville walk will go to His Hands for Haiti for the orphanage construction project in Terrier Rouge, Haiti. 100% of all monies collected at the Bangor and Jackman walks will go to Haitian Ministries. Monies collected at the Portland walk will go to Konbit Sante and other organizations that are working in Haiti. (Please visit www.mainewalksforhaiti.org for more information.)
