The Story of Miracle Village...
"Tout lwanj lan se pou Bondye, Paske ak pouvwa k-ap travay nan nou an, li kapab fe pi plis pase tou sa nou ka mande, pi plis pase tou sa nou ka mete nan lide nou."
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..."
Ephesians 3:20
The houses are finished...
How it All Began...
When we think about the horrors of the earthquake that struck Haiti a little over a year ago, January 12th, who would ever have thought about what God was going to do for the poor. After all, they had been crushed and mutilated under tons of concrete blocks and debris...
Then, we began picking up many of injured from the streets and bringing them to safety in our trucks...
Helicopters brought in many injured from Good Samaritan Hospital in the Dominican Republic...
We became the largest "Field Hospital" in Haiti...
We are grateful to all those who helped.
| Special thanks to HHI - Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Dr. Hilarie Cranmer and her partners who ran the entire Field Hospital. We also thank Dr. Christian and the University of Chicago. |
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When the Field Hospital closed, the earthquake victims were sent to our Camp Hope, where they set up tents for homes.
This was a combined effort of ARC-American Refugee Committee and Love a Child. A tent city for victims of the earthquake.
It broke our hearts to see these brave people living in these conditions...
And many were living in Camp Hope without limbs...
God's Plan...
Then, God gave us a plan... On LAC land, build each family a nice, beautiful house with furniture.
God sent us wonderful partners...from the widow who sent in her last $5.00, to larger gifts to help with the "foundations and infrastructure." It is a huge financial struggle to clear the land, build the roads, and much more, but we have great partners.
We are so thankful for those who have sponsored houses, we are making progress with the houses, but we need lots of help with roads, community toliets and shower facilities, kitchens and more.
This is where we need your support so we can cross the "victory line." Please consider a gift today toward helping us complete this project. We need $450,000 to finish this project. Please consider helping with a gift, large or small, every penny makes a difference and gets us closer to victory for the Lord! You can make a donation right now on line by clicking the red button below.
Don't stop reading now, we have more to share. Thank you for your heart of compassion.
Joyce Meyer Ministries sponsored the first 50 houses... Praise the Lord! We were off to a great start!
Thanks to Frank and his friends from New Hope, who volunteered to paint all these beautiful houses.
We are building an entire "city," Miracle Village, and moving an entire village, Le Tant... a total of 500 houses in all!! That's not only a lot of houses, that's a lot of land clearing, putting in roads, drainage ditches, gravel roads, community toilets, kitchens, showers, a school, clinic, playground, and more, but God "wanted this project built!"
Joyce Meyer Ministries - Hand of Hope committed to another 50 houses. Love A Child partners helped sponsor houses, and many who could not gave whatever they had...everyone helped!!
LAC volunteer teams came in and worked so hard.
Thank you, to all the churches, who sent in volunteer teams!
The Cavalry Arrives...
We were thankful for all the volunteer teams, we found that "cutting each board," and putting them together was very slow. We were only building "two houses a week." Bobby and I could not sleep at night. At that rate, it would have taken over three or four years to build all these houses.
Then, one day, we got a call from the RWH Foundation... "We think you are going to need some help" they said. Richard Hotes sent in the "cavalry" and they built 130 houses in just five days and this was just the beginning! In addition to the labor, we want to thank the RWH Foundation, Richard Hotes, for sponsoring many of these houses!
Thank you, Richard and team! Miracle after Miracle has happened!
Pastor Randy helped sponsor a playground from Kids Around the World and in just no time at all, a playground was built!!!
Le Tant Under Water...
Five years ago, we built solid concrete homes for these poor families.
They were so happy with their new homes and furniture.
Then, small earthquakes began to open up springs underground and cause Lake Etang Saumatre to rise...
The water kept rising and rising...
When these block houses were first built for the people, they were 300 feet from the lake!
Now look at this aerial shot of the Le Tant houses in the water...
The people had to move out of their houses and into "stick and mud" huts, known in Creole as kay-pays. It was more than we could bear.
But God spoke to Pastor Jentezen Franklin to build 100 homes, the same as Miracle Village, for the people of Le Tant.
This is a great miracle for the people and children of Le Tant.
Our Load is Heavy...
LAC is responsible for clearing all the land. Thank God for great volunteers...like Roger.
He and his wife, Nancy, stayed here volunteering for over a month. Joker (pictured below) is a paid heavy duty equipment operator. He is from the Dominican Republic, and he is the "best in the D.R.!"
We are responsible for all the wells; we need to drill seven as soon as possible.
As the land was cleared, the local people from the tent camp, "gleaned the wood," to make charcoal to sell.
LAC is responsible for the foundations of all 500 homes.
Each day concrete trucks come in, it costs us between $5,000-$7,000, depending on how many trucks we can get. It takes "a lot of faith" each day, for this project.
"But, eye has not seen and neither has ear heard, what God has in store for His people..."
We are almost finished with all the foundations for all the houses. This has helped provide jobs for the local Haitian workers.
We are still bringing in tons of gravel for all the roads and all the areas between the houses. The gravel piles look like "mountains" to us.
More "Miracles" for Miracle Village...
We are building a large school, thanks to Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, and thanks to one special lady, Lourdes Valladares and her husband Frank, Founders/Directors of Project Child, St. Petersburg, FL, who raised funds for this large school.
It takes "everyone working together."
We are also building a beautiful LAC Clinic for the people in Miracle Village. Below is the foundation for the Miracle Village Clinic.
Look... the walls went up in one day, thanks to H.E.A.R.T 9-11 Heroes!
Special thanks to Ginger Creek Community Church in Aurora, IL for providing $5,000 toward this clinic.
Now, let's take a look "from the air," and see what God has done through people like you...
This view shows the foundations of Le Tant in the foreground. All the foundations and roads are sponsored by Love A Child partners and the houses to be built will be sponsored by Jentezen Franklin - Kingdom Connection.
After the first section, you can see Miracle Village, and then Phase One in the background. The photo below gives a really good view of Phase One and the other phases, too.
First Phase completed, except for the rest of the toilets, kitchens and showers. LAC partners sponsored the foundations, land clearing, all the roads and more. Joyce Meyer Ministries - Hand of Hope sponsored the houses, painting and supplied furniture for each one. Thank you everyone!
This huge project would not have been possible if not for the hard work of Pastor Mark Ostrander and his son, Jesse, who designed the entire project and has watched over all the construction. These two have made tremendous sacrifices for this project! Thanks to Carlos Silvestre, our wonderful Team Host, who is also helping to oversee the construction project! (Pictured below from the left: Carlos Silvestre and Jesse Ostrander)
Here is Pastor Mark Ostrander with Bobby. Thank you, Pastor Mark!
And this would not have been possible without our great friends at EMI - Engineering Ministries International and John Boldt, who did all the infrastructure design, drainage and all the stuff "women don't know anything about," which is me. Thanks John, We love you and EMI!!
Above, Daniel, (LAC Interpreter) John Boldt, (engineer and EMI team leader) Reggie, (LAC worker here in Fond Parisien and our first convert in our Love A Child Village eight years ago) Norm Trebilcock, (engineer) and George Hackney and Guy Adams, (both professional surveyors).
Special thanks to all those who helped build Miracle Village. May God bless you all!
