The Newsletter of Light and Life Evangelical Ministries, Inc. Our Mission: Support churches ches in northern Haiti by helping Haitian pastors and evangelists win souls to Christ and minister God s word to them ISSUE NO. 27 February,, 2015 Ceciline Church Building Nearing Completion In August of last year, the ministry s board of directors adopted a goal of providing a church building in the Ceciline community in the coming year. At that time the ministry did not have an acceptable lot upon which to build the church nor the funds to finance the construction. The building was sorely needed as the congregation in Ceciline has been meeting in a very rustic brush arbor with a dirt floor and little protection from the elements. In September, two Ministry supporters stepped forward with matching grants of $6,000 each towards the construction costs. In answer to prayer, these matching grants were met by other contributions by the end of December, and the $18,000 needed for construction was in hand. In parallel with the successful fundraising, the board learned that the lot upon which the brush arbor church was situated could be purchased at a reasonable cost. This was the preferred location for the church, so the purchase was also completed by the end of the year. We praise God for providing both the funds and the building site. With the funds available and the lot purchased, the construction was able to be undertaken in January. Men from the Ceciline church cleared the site of the brush arbor remains and in early January, a work team from Middle Tennessee (see story on page 2) traveled to Haiti to begin the construction. This team sited in the building and poured the footings Haitian masons lay the block walls On the day that the team from Middle Tennessee returned home, another work team from De Kalb, Texas, arrived to, among other objectives, lay the block walls of the church. Shawn Daffern from DeKalb, TX, again supervised the Haitian masons and they completed the laying of the block walls in three days. [Note: It is the policy of the ministry to hire local Haitian workers whenever possible and pay them at or above the going rate for their labor]. At this writing, the construction is all but complete. The concrete floor has been poured, the roof trusses have been fabricated and erected and the corrugated roof panels have been installed. The only remaining tasks are to fabricate and install the doors for the front and rear entrances. The footings for the new building The nearly completed church building
LifeLines Page 2 February, 2015 January Work Teams Ministered in Many Ways The ministry was blessed to have two work teams with diverse talents that accomplished many things in January. Below are brief summaries of their efforts. Church Construction We were blessed to have two experienced work teams to supervise the construction of the Ceciline Church building in January. Their efforts are covered in more detail in the article on page 1. The building site is flat, and the Ceciline church members had prepared the site for the new building, so the initial construction team from Middle Tennessee led by Mark Baker was able to complete the concrete footings in short order. This was Mark s fifth building project for the ministry. Team leader Gerry Molitor said the construction team could have taken on another project such as the roof for the Mission House at La Suisse if the materials had been available. The following week, a team from DeKalb, Texas arrived to supervise the laying of the concrete block walls for the new building. Master Mason Shawn Daffern led this work, the fourth time Shawn has contributed his masonry skills to a ministry building project. The Middle Tennessee team also evaluated how to correct the roof trusses at the Savane Carree church building. Due to a lack of supervision and the theft of some lumber designated for the trusses, local carpenters failed to follow the blue prints, resulting in a much weaker truss configuration. Mark Baker came up with a way to strengthen the existing members. The final construction activity was a structural evaluation of the ministry s rented church building at Limbé. Mark Baker and Gerry Rollins determined that the structure was sound and could be expanded to meet the needs of the congregation should the owner agree to sell the property. Evangelism Bringing the Good News to the Haitian people is always included in a LLEM work team s schedule while they are in Haiti. The Middle Tennessee team had an evangelism team visiting the Ceciline community while people were also advised about the new church construction in their neighborhood, and invited to attend a church service the following Sunday evening. This service was held within the confines of the new footings, and an estimated 200 people attended. Some forty or more people in Ceciline came to Christ the first week because of the team s evangelism. Most of these, about 30, were the result of the neighborhood visits, and another 11 or 12 came forward to receive Christ at the Sunday evening service. There were also 6 babies dedicated to the Lord, and three people recommitted their lives to Christ. Kolas Hughes dedicating a baby The work team from DeKalb, Texas, included first-timer, Ms. Pam Kumpe. She came prepared to share the gospel, and did so in a variety of venues. While the construction team was laying the block walls for the Ceciline church, Pam spoke to a group of ladies behind a house nearby. She also shared the gospel with a group of school children at Bas Fossé. She and Jeff May, a deacon at the First Baptist Church in DeKalb, brought a gospel message at the Sunday morning service at La Suisse. A night service inside the new church footings the footing construction was in progress. The local Pam Kumpe teaching ladies at Ceciline Pam reports that the children in Ceciline called me Palm. It reminds me of a verse in Psalm 92 that says the righteous will flourish like a palm tree. Palm is my new name, one I ll cherish forever.
LifeLines Page 3 February, 2015 Work Teams Ministry (cont) Church Dedication thirst again. If you drink of the water that Christ gives you, you will never thirst again. Medical Once again, the ministry was blessed to have Dr. Kendra Belfi as part of Dr. Ken Howard s work team. Dr. Belfi is the medical director of the ministry s Community Health Worker (CHW) education program, and she conducts medical clinics as well, as time permits, while she is in Haiti. She spent half a day teaching the CHWs with Dr. Renaud s help translating the concepts. She reports, We focused this time on diabetes and urinary tract infections. Dr. Renaud and I then spent several hours one day seeing patients at Bas Fosse with its CHW Dorelus and another day at La Suisse with its CHW Elna. James Adkins dedicating the Savane Carree Church The Savane Carree church building was completed almost a full year ago, but the congregation insisted on having someone from the United States dedicate their building. The New Hope Lutheran Church in Murfreesboro, TN, has been a big financial supporter of the Savane Carree church, and James Adkins from this church brought the dedication message at the Sunday morning service. As part of the service, James presented the pastor a cross that had been fashioned from left-over wood used in making the pulpit at the New Hope church. Water Well Drilled Ken Howard, team leader, and Jeff May from the DeKalb, Texas, team spent many man-hours in the past several months developing a manual well drilling apparatus on Ken s farm near DeKalb. They shipped this rig to Haiti so it would be there on their team s arrival. As it turned out, the existing water well Doug White & Jeff May drilling a well on the church property was within the footprint of the building and had to be plugged, and a new well was sorely needed. While the block walls were being laid nearby, Ken, Jeff May and Doug White used their rig to drill a new well. Within the first 6 hours or so they hand-drilled a well to a depth of 33 feet and had standing water of 24 feet in the 4-inch pipe. Ken says he will post a sign at the finished well saying, If you drink this water, you will Dr. Kendra Belfi treating a patient I found that seeing patients alongside Dr. Renaud is quite helpful as we can discuss each case. Therefore, I plan to bring a larger medical team down in January of 2016 with the goal of continuing mentoring and teaching. I am very optimistic that the CHWs will be increasingly helpful to the churches as they receive more training. They all seem very enthusiastic and were most attentive during the teaching sessions and asked good questions. Dr. Belfi also took the opportunity to evaluate the Doctor Every Week program while she was in Haiti. In discussions with Dr. Renaud, she recommended some needed changes, including more training and more involvement by the church pastors [see the related article on page 4]. Agriculture Assessment Bill O Dell, one of the directors at the Baptist Center for Global Concerns in Arlington, Texas, made his initial trip to Haiti with our ministry as part of Ken Howard s team. Besides evaluating the farm lands near our rural churches [see related article on page 4], Bill interfaced with other non-government organizations in Haiti: the Cap Haitian Health Network (from which the ministry contracted Dr. Renaud), and Meds & Food for Kids, an international NGO that manufactures a peanut butter mixture with medicines that brings children out of severe malnutrition back to health within 8 weeks.
LifeLines Page 4 February, 2015 The Doctor Every Week Ministry Expands Dr. Kendra Belfi, the director of the Ministry s community health program, made her annual trip to Haiti in January. In addition to seeing patients and teaching our Community Health Workers (CHWs), she took the opportunity to review the Dokte Chak Semenn (Doctor Every Week) program during her visit. Her evaluation resulted in augmenting the program by adding more training of our CHWs by Dr. Renaud Gerve, the Dr. Renaud Gerve with his wife Roudellyne, son Prince, age 5, and daughter Rebecca, age 4 months. Agriculture Development Explored By William H. O Dell, Baptist Center for Global Concerns My purpose for going to Haiti in January was to explore the possibility of initiating an agricultural development program that would improve the health of those associated with LLEM, help small holder farmers increase production of healthy foods, possibly create business opportunities and serve the communities surrounding the LLEM churches. I was able to visit five churches and talk with farmers at three of those locations to get an idea of current practices, environmental conditions and knowledge of planting and fertilizing techniques. The areas are very fertile; most of the land is cultivated to grow bananas, plantains, mangos, peanuts, beans, corn and sugarcane. When asked, the farmers reported that they do not capture water when it rains, they do not compost, and they do not mulch. They asked if we could teach them, and seemed very willing to try new approaches to increase their yields. They initially didn t recognize the name moringa, but when I showed them a picture they produced a cutting within minutes; it grows abundantly throughout Haiti. I asked if they knew about the plant and included it in their diet. They turned up their noses and frowned until I ate some of the leaves. I had a fact sheet that explained the nutrient richness of the tree and its uses, and they were amazed. They asked about business opportunities, and I suggested they begin to grow or use moringa for their families first. Once they see their families become healthier, we could explore other Haitian physician contracted by the Ministry for weekly medical consultations with our church congregations and training of our CHWs. The plan going forward will add CHW visits to Dr. Renaud s clinic one day each month to receive additional medical training. Dr. Renaud will continue to visit each of the four churches that have CHWs in turn on the other weeks. In addition, twice a year, Dr. Renaud will hold a week-long seminar for the CHWs. He has already held one such seminar in the fall, and it was well received. Dr. Belfi reports, I am very optimistic that the CHWs will be increasingly helpful to the churches as they receive more training. They all seem very enthusiastic and were most attentive during the teaching sessions and asked good questions. Due to the extensive traveling required to visit the rural churches, the ministry has also added $50 per month for travel expenses. This expense, along with the additional days of training and the seminars, will increase the annual budget for the Doctor Every Week program by $1,200 ($100 per month). Your donations to meeting this increase would be a blessing as we expand this very effective ministry opportunities with moringa powder. In each case I believe the men and women I spoke with are eager to learn and put into practice methods that will help increase their yields. Their responses often included requests for information, and they never asked if we would come to do this or that for them. An initial program might consist of training and demonstration projects that incorporate drilling a well, water conservation measures, planting methods, organic fertilization methods and raising moringa in two project areas one near Bas Fosse or Ceciline and the other near La Suisse. [Ed. Note: The ministry s board of directors is exploring ways to incorporate this program into the ministry.] A branch of a moringa tree
LifeLines Page 5 February, 2015 In Memoriam Mrs. Imogene Dixon A great friend and inspiration of Light and Life Evangelical Ministries, Mrs. Wilda Imogene Dixon, went to be with the Lord on December 6, 2014. Mrs. Dixon and her husband, Norman Dixon took early retirement from teaching in 1973 to begin a ministry to orphans in Haiti. Their ministry expanded to become Good Shepherd Ministries (GSM) in northern Haiti the early 1980s, with the adding of churches, elementary and secondary schools to their work there. The three founders of Light and Life Evangelical Ministries began their involved in ministry to Haiti through GSM. Our President was active with that ministry over a period of more than 20 years. One of the Haitian men GSM hired early on to be a teacher in one of the GSM schools is now our National Stock Donations Now Accepted by the Ministry The ministry was contacted some weeks ago about accepting appreciated stock as a donation. Our Treasurer subsequently took action to set up the procedure for accepting such donations. The benefits to the donor for an appreciated stock donation are (1) the capital gains tax on the appreciated amount does not have Director, Rev. Claude Saintil. He progressed through the ranks in GSM, eventually serving as National Director for that ministry until 2008. His words best tell what Mrs. Dixon meant to people in northern Haiti: It is with profound sadness I heard about my spiritual mother s death. Manman Dixon, as we commonly called her in Haiti, had been a living part of my life. The sad news of her passing has shocked many Haitians, old and young, and of all social ranks. After Christ, she was the one who had spiritually, socially and materially changed my life. She was a generous soul, a loving mother, and a true servant of the Lord. I never saw any missionary like her. She loved the Haitian people. Pastor Fred Wall, a man of God and missionary to Haiti and my spiritual father, recommended me to her for a position of teaching in the ministry [GSM] she had founded. I was favorably welcomed by her, and it was my first job in life. Churches of Lambert, Miliot, Biclair, Borde, Robillard, Plaisance and Savane Carree were all planted through her unceasing efforts. Today, I see many young Haitians who are pastors, doctors, lawyers and teachers who are all the fruit of her love and genuine sacrifices. Her good works will always tell about her among us. We will never forget her. to be paid, and (2) the full amount of the donation is tax deductible. If you are interested in donating appreciated stock, please contact our mission headquarters by phone or email, and you will be sent an information sheet with full instructions on how to make the transfer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Contribution Form Light and Life Evangelical Ministries, Inc. Donation amount Designated for Circle One $ Use where needed most one time / monthly $ one time / monthly Name: Telephone: Address : E- Mail: Please cut out this form and mail it with your contribution to the address shown on page 6 of this newsletter.
Praise... 1. For the large donation received that will fund raises for our Haitian staff and augment the children s feeding program. 2. For the contributions that, with the matching grants, fully funded the construction of the Ceciline church building, and for the construction already accomplished. 3. For the many accomplishments of the two work teams in January, especially for the many people who came to Christ through their ministries. 4. For the expansion of the Doctor Every Week program that is bringing better health to the people in our church neighborhoods. 5. For the information gained on Haitian agricultural practices and the potential for improving the health and incomes of rural families. Please Pray 1. For spiritual victory over Satanism, voodooism and demonic beliefs that are so prevalent in Haiti; recently activated in the La Suisse community. 2. For accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of the recent health problems of our National Director, Rev. Claude Saintil. 3. For God to provide a man to be Deputy National Director to assist Rev. Saintil in his increased responsibilities. 4. For a way to implement an agricultural improvement program that complements the main mission of the ministry. Light and Life Evangelical Ministries, Inc. Office Mail Address: 351 Joy Lane Readyville, TN 37149 Web Site: www.haitilightandlife.org Office Phone: 615-563-8525 Office E-Mail: Molitor@dtccom.net LifeLines Editor: Clyde.Nevins@Juno.com