Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Remodeling the church at Carrefour





In October, a group came to help remodel the Carrefour Church. The remodeling is being done as a memorial to Ryan Brubaker. The church had very poor lighting and little ventilation.



The team repaired the roof and made an opening at the ridge for ventilation. Decorative blocks that were used as windows were removed and the openings were prepared for new jealousy windows.







The rafters were also painted.










The new windows and the painting of the rafters made it brighter on the inside. The
ventilation in the roof and the jealousy windows made it cooler. We thank the team for these much needed improvements.
































Sunday, September 6, 2009

Finishing the Floor at Acadien

The floor is a blessing also. Previously the church was filled in with rocks. It made it very difficult to walk inside the building. Color was added to the finish to resemble mosiac tile. We were able to make a raised platform at the front of the church where the pulpit will be placed. It is now ready for painting and the furniture.

Acadien is now Under Roof


The congregation at Acadien are so happy that their church is now under roof. It took quite a while to get all the materials needed for the job to the jobsite. They had to use tarps and build temporary shelters for almost a year.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Boys in Training



These young men are learning different trades. They are with me on most of the projects. We do masonry work, carpentry, plumbing, roofing, welding, and various other technical trades.

Tresses for Acadien


The Thiotte Church


The Thiotte Church joined with us several years ago. They built a nice stone church and were not able to add the finishing touches. We are now helping them to finish the building. As you can see it needed windows and the gable ends finished. The front door and 2 others were installed this past week. We will be returning soon to close in the building completely.

Our Thiotte Church





Here is a before and after of the windows that we done at Thiotte. The congregation was not able to continue with the construction themselves and asked for help. The building had no doors or windows and we were able to make steel doors and lay decorative block for the windows. The gable ends need to be blocked in. While we were there we were able to make the blocks and now we need to return to lay the blocks.

Intruders at Acadien

The rooms where we were staying was invaded by several little cridders. Every evening before going to bed we had room check. We took a flashlight and searched the room for scorpions. We had around 4 or 5 scorpions to kill nightly. We also had a problem with ants. When we were getting adjusted to the scorpions and ants another creature joined us. It rained in the afternoon and in the evening the crabs began to crawl around. They were on the roof and on the walls. They were everywhere to be found. We didn't mind them as much because they became a source of food. We boiled them and ate them.

An Outhouse was Constructed


This is the outhouse. We began digging the hole and we ran into rock. We couldn't chisel the rock so we had to build some of the pit above ground.
We now need the door and the roof and it is ready for service.

Plastering Finished




Construction Continues at Acadien


The plastering was the next stage of the construction.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

2009 Graduation




Rev. Dwight Rine challenges the graduates of the God's Missionary Church Bible Seminary in Haiti. Brother Rine is the Director or World Missions for the God's Missionary Church. Pictured are Rev. Donald Mobley (left) interpreting for Rev. Dwight Rine (right).

The 2009 Bible School Graduates



The 2009 Graduates from the God's Missionary Church Bible School in Haiti. The other two adults in the picture are the class sponsors.

The graduation service was held on the 5th of June.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Flag Day - May 18th





May 18 is Flag Day here in Haiti. As I was driving down the road I saw very few flags. The only area where there were lots of flags displayed was at the National Palace.

Growth in our Fond Lozier church


At the Fond Lozier outstation church we had a nice communion service and baby dedication on Sunday. There were at least 10 brethren who participated in communion. I then dedicated Yanette to the church.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Two special visitors




These 2 little boys wanted to come and visit me. They had their mothers bring them to spend the afternoon. I left my work aside and began to play with them. First it was playing with a soccer ball and then we got into playing with building blocks. They are quite creative. All went well until it was getting late in the afternoon and they were concerned if their mothers were going to come and pick them up. I enjoyed having them visit with me.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

School students


These are students at Demichel. Pictured is a preschool class and a 5th grade class.. There are 6 grades and approximately 100 students gathered in 3 rooms. There are no individual school desks, there are no windows and no air conditioning, there is no concrete floor, many of them don't have books, notebooks and pencils are luxuries, but the children are eager to learn and there are no complaints. Government schools in Haiti are overcrowded and few so the majority of the children need to go to a privite school. It is expensive for the parents to send their children to school which results in many of them staying at home. God's Missionary Church has been providing quality education for many underprivilidged children for years. Although it requires financing from the churches back home it is important that we help these children get a good christian education. It is an opportunity to share the gospel with the children and help them to grow spiritually for many are not taught in the home. We appreciate your prayers for this ministry.




Sunday, April 19, 2009

Wedding in New Church


It is amazing what God will do in your life when you commit your whole being to Him. This man was very wicked and beat his wife and was a terror in the community . It was only after the brethren at the Demichel Church made it a priority in prayer that the man came and sought the Lord. He, his wife, and children now attend the Demichel Church. God is still changing lives.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Report on the new work in the Northwest of Haiti (Acadien)

I have returned from Acadien. Acadien is in the northwest near Jean Rabel. I had a most enjoyable 3 weeks. There was much work done and I got to fellowship with the brethren too.
The first couple of days were spent on finishing the rooms that are on the back of the church. The rafters were made and set, the lath was put on, and then the tin roof. The block walls were laid for divisions of the rooms and the floor poured. I had been sleeping in the truck on the job site since the project began. What a relief it is to be able to have a room to stretch out and rest. There are some drawbacks though. There are no beds yet and the restroom is the bush. Drinking water is at least an hour walk one way and to get there it is all up hill.
Construction was interrupted when I had to take an elderly man to the hospital. He had to be placed on a matress in the back of the truck. He only spent one night in the hospital and he died. The family had to make preparations to receive guests in their home. Food had to be purchased, refreshments had to be prepared for the guests, tarps put up, they had to borrow chairs and benches, the family all had to contacted, and the funeral arrangements made. The deceased man was the father of one of our leaders. The funeral was held 2 days after his death. We went to the morgue at the hospital to pick up the body. My truck became the hearse. We went to the graveyard and had a short service and then the body was to be placed into the grave. There were two skeletons wrapped in sheets laying on the ground beside the grave that the gravedigger removed to put the corpse in. The hole was not big enough so they stood the body on end in the grave until a man finished making the hole big enough. After about an hour and several swigs of moonshine the gravedigger got finished with his job. The casket was covered with earth and the two other corpses were thrown in on top of his casket and the rest of the earth was mounded over the grave. Then about 40 people loaded onto the truck to go back an hour drive to the home of the family.
Since the rooms were finished on the back of the church I was able to call the boys to come and help. The finished their last several days of school before Easter break and then they caught a bus to come to help. I had to go to the bus station in the next big city to pick them up. The boys have been trained to do this type of work and there were also men from the church that lent a hand. They made several hundred blocks their first day of work. The blocks were then laid and a bond beam was poured at the top of the wall. Decorative window blocks were laid in the window openings and the wall on the gable end finished. The project is now ready for the following phase. The roof is our next step of this project.
The people were of great help to us. Neighbors brought vegetables from their gardens. I received onions, egg plant, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, bananas, corn, and some ish and a leg of goat. The brethren are very appreciative of the work that is being done. They are eager to learn more of the Word and are obedient to the Lord's will. I am happy that we have such a group of brethren that are serious in their relationship with the Lord.

It's quitting time


The truck serves as a hearse


Progress at Acadien


Sunday, March 15, 2009

The new pulpit

The pulpit was built for the Demichel church. This was one of our outstation churches that was destroyed during a hurricane in 2008. There were 2 work teams that came to help with this project: a team from Mt. Sinai God's Missionary Church, Blue Knob, Pennsylvania and a team from God's Missionary Mountain Road Church in Penns Creek, Pennsylvania.

Benches for the new church

Thanks to the teams for the beautiful benches also.

The team from Mountain Road GMC




Team from Mountain Road GMC comes to lend a helping hand