January 19, 2017
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
— John 12:46-47
Food Distribution
The Kingdom Connection Food Distribution Center was bustling this year. From our monthly food distributions, where we went from serving 65 to over 80 organizations that came and picked up their food each month for the many orphanages, missionaries, and other organizations all over Haiti. It is such a privilege to share our food with the poorest of the poor. This is only possible because of the unwavering support of our sponsors, partners, and so many people like you.
The Distribution Center became central to our disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Matthew.
Distributing Food to Villages and Schools
We distributed food to even more poor villages this past year. Most of the remote villages experienced a sharp increase in malnutrition and starvation due to recent crop failures because of the lack of rain in the past two years. People traveled many miles to pick up their food; often it could be a day’s journey to reach the village where we were distributing food. They returned to their homes, carrying the food on their heads or by donkey back up the mountains.
To stave off acute malnutrition here in Haiti, we added more children and their families to our Feeding Program. We ventured into uncharted waters such as the Truttier Waste Disposal Dump, near the giant slums of Cité Soleil, the land of Bon Bon Tè—Sapaterre, Goat Mountain and other locations where the people are starving to death. Our Feeding Programs are saving lives every day!
Our school Feeding Program grew tremendously as we added or expanded several more schools. We now serve over 8,500 meals to Child Sponsored students in 18 schools.
Thank you, Feed My Starving Children, Joyce Meyer Ministries—Hand of Hope, Jentezen Franklin and your partners, and each of you, our partners who helped us every month to pay the shipping costs associated with getting all the containers of food from the States to Haiti, by faith!
Building Projects
In February, Bobby, Jesse Ostrander, David George and his construction crew stayed in the mountains of Savaan Pit “building a church in the middle-of-nowhere!” The church is a “candle in the middle of darkness” and it shines the light to many in the dark areas of the mountains, sharing the Gospel! We want to thank David George and his team for sponsoring this great work and all the Haitians who worked so hard, day and night! What a fantastic job by this team, and what a blessing for the people of Savaan Pit!
At our Love A Child School in Fond Parisien, we were “busting out at the seams.” The school was originally built to hold about 325 students. Today we have over 800 children who attend this school. We have had to move classrooms outside under tents to hold all the extra children. We added a new building to accommodate all the new students. Thank you, Mark Ostrander and his crew who worked so hard to have the new school building ready by the start of the school year.
What a wonderful “miracle” it was, that this new church and school went up in the village of Sapaterre, where children and mothers sit in the dirt and make Bon Bon Tè (mud cookies) to eat and sell! We would especially like to thank our anonymous partners from Texas, who donated the funds for this project. And to think, this all started by giving away the first box of food and showing the people that God loves them, and cares about them! This brought tears to my eyes!
In Miracle Village, we added two new homes for the Pierre family from the Truttier Waste Disposal Dump. Pastor Randy Landis sent a group down to Haiti to construct the new houses. The Life Church Building Team and the Worship Center Building Team, under the direction of Mark Ostrander, got these houses up and painted in two days. Thank you for all your hard work!
The Pierre’s extended family were working so hard to survive among the mounds of garbage, but we could see that for all they did to subsist day-to-day, that would not help this poor family move beyond their inhumane conditions. Even in their dire circumstances, these little boys had big dreams… “One day we will find somewhere to build a house for Mom to live, and we could also go to school.” Now, because of Child Sponsorship, those little boys are in our Love A Child School in Miracle Village.
We built a church in La Tremblay for Pastor Claude that was incredible! David and Angie George, along with some of their wonderful friends, built this church for the Glory of God. This church would see hundreds of people give their hearts to the Lord. We all love this incredible man of God!!
We just finished a new house for Rosemitha Daleus and her family. This little girl lives in the village of Mal Forte, which is high up on Mon Cabrit (Goat Mountain). She lives there with her seven siblings, a mother who is overwhelmed by their poverty, and a father who has been very ill for a long time and cannot work. Rosemitha and her family had a terrible tragedy this year. There was a big storm in the area of Mon Cabrit, and their house was totally destroyed. We had raised $3,000 to start the construction, but we had no donors to finish the house. Then our friends David and Angie George and their partners sponsored the rest! As you can see, her house is almost finished!
Love A Child Orphanage
Life at our Love A Child Orphanage is always exciting and this past year was no exception. When you live under the same roof with over 80 lively orphans, every day can be a challenge. We recently welcomed a new member to our Love A Child family, a little girl named Ginyia.
We believe that having an education and Jesus in one’s life are the best things in the world! For our Love A Child Orphanage children, we promised all the children that everyone who “passed” in school would get a treat to go to the beach and have a nice dinner out! A lot of our children passed with HIGH HONORS! There were 33 children on this “day out,” including Bobby and our friend David George! They were the “babysitters” but they fell asleep under a coconut tree! Kaeli and some of the housemothers were there too. Kaeli Fletcher is one of our missionaries and we are very proud of her. She is responsible for the Love A Child Orphanage (a big job!) and the Kingdom Connection warehouse.
Our newest missionary Julie Burnette Halecki is our daughter. We had been praying for many years that God would send missionaries to train under us and “take up the mantle” but we never thought it would be our daughter Julie.
She had been enjoying a successful career, a new house and a job she loved… Little did we realize that God was calling her to Haiti!
I am training Julie to run the Mobile Medical Clinics and to become the new “face of Love A Child.” She told us that, “I will commit to a year” but we know “her heart is in Haiti!”
Please, hear the “cry of the poor,” and “do something” today. And when you do, God will bless you for “considering the poor!” (Psalm 41:1-3) If you would like to speak directly to one of our staff members, please call 239-210-6107 or email us at [email protected].
We look forward to 2017 and seeing all that God has intended for Love A Child. Thank you to our partners and sponsors who made all this happen in Haiti in 2016. Look for my next journal of the 2016 Year in Review series to see all the things we have done with your help. God did so many great things that we had to divide my journal into several parts. Click here to read Part Two of this journal series.
God bless you,
Sherry
