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Donna Hollopeter received an update this morning (June 16) from the Honduras Medical Team. Yesterday, June 15, they had the largest clinic they have ever had, seeing over 550 patients. An additional 200 persons came for glasses (there are a couple people who do nothing but dispense reading glasses).
Everyone is doing well. Today, June 16, they hold a clinic in the seaside city of Puerto Cortez.
Jeff Gordon (left), a UB member from Canada, with Mrs. Michel (right) and her son.
The Michel family are members of our Delmas UB Church in Port au Prince, Haiti. The apartment building where they rented a small apartment was destroyed in the earthquake last January, so this widow and her son are living in a tent, unsure of what the future holds. The son has served as a capable translator for Canadian visitors on several recent trips (Canada Conference provides primary oversight of Haiti).
On Wednesday, June 16, Mrs. Michel will undergo a serious surgery. She will be away at a distant hospital (having to travel there by bus) for at least three weeks. Her daughter will remain with her during this time.
This surgery is possibly only because generous people helped with the finances.
Pray for a successful operation and complete recovery, and for the sons leftb ack in Port au Prince who will not be able to visit their mother. Also, pray for the daughter as she gives care to her mother at the hospital.
Dave and Becky Spencer, Global Ministries endorsed missionaries serving in Brazil with Wycliffe Bible Translators, leave Brazil today (June 15) to begin their furlough.
I received a call this afternoon (June 14) from Robert Cassidy, co-leader (with his wife, Fonda) of the Honduras Medical Team which arrived in Honduras Friday afternoon, June 11. Here are some notes from our conversation.
The group will return to the States on June 19.
Jessica Hollopeter is pleased to report that she has reached 100% of her pledged support. She is now preparing to move to Greenwood, Ind., by the end of June to begin her service with One Mission Society (formerly OMS International). She will then begin a month of cross-cultural training to prepare her for missionary life on and off the field.
Jessica’s two-year contract with OMS begins June 28.
She writes, “Please, please keep praying for me. This is a huge transition for me, and just knowing that I have people thinking and praying about me is such a humbling and awe-inspiring feeling. I feel a great debt to everyone who has taken this journey with me and your prayers, letters, and e-mails do mean so much to me.”
Bob and Lois Conway are concluding another term at Jamaica Bible College. Bob (right), an ordained UB minister, has been teaching at the college. They’ll return to the States for the summer, and then go back to Jamaica in the fall.
During the first week of May, 40 of the younger students accepted Christ during chapel services. Lois has been helping teach discipleship classes to the new converts.
While back in the States during the summer, they will teach at two Good News camp, attend the UB campmeeting at Rhodes Grove camp (Chambersburg, Pa.), and Bob will teach a course in the Ecclesiastes Institute, based at Rhodes Grove.
Schoolkids in Haiti
With the help of CH Global, 62 Haitian children have found sponsors among people in our Canadian UB churches, and schools are operating in three of our churches in Haiti. We’d like to double the number of schools and, with the help of US donors, sponsor an additional 200 children before the end of 2010.
Sponsoring a child provides access to education, nutrition, healthcare, and an opportunity for the entire family to come to know Christ as Savior. All of our programming is offered through our Haitian United Brethren churches and benefits our people and their surrounding communities.
As we look to the future, we recognize there is no “magic pill” for Haiti. However, investing long-term in education and the spiritual development of children and adults is one way we can make a meaningful difference.
In the coming days, we’ll be looking for ways to provide micro-enterprise opportunities. The old saying compares teaching a man to fish as opposed to giving him a fish. In Haiti, the question is not whether the man has a fish or knows how to fish: most simply don’t have access to the pond. Haitians have skills and abilities that would allow them to support themselves and their families. Sometimes all they lack is an initial investment to get them started.
Here is an update from Doug Birdsall regarding the Lausanne Congress planned for October 2010 in South Africa. Four thousand participants have been selected from 200 countries. I will have the privilege of representing the United Brethren church. This will be the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization; the Second Congress was held 36 years ago, in 1974.
Doug Birdsall (right) is executive chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. He grew up in a United Brethren preacher’s home, a son of Roger and Mary Lou Birdsall, and a sibling to Brent, Brian, and Connie. Doug has been working on this historic meeting for five years.
Greetings from 37,000 feet over the North Atlantic. As I write to you I am flying home from London to Boston on the final leg of a round-the-world trip for the Lausanne Movement. The trip began 17 days ago as I departed from Boston going to Hong Kong, with subsequent stops in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Dubai before going on to Cape Town, South Africa.
While in Cape Town, our Lausanne Global Lausanne Leadership and our Cape Town 2010 Congress Team – 120 gifted and highly motivated people – held a productive week of meetings. We were dazzled as leaders of each working team presented their reports and had a growing awareness of history in the making. At the end of the presentations at the Convention Centre, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, Honorary Chairman of the Congress, turned to me and said, “This is incredible, just amazing. This will go down as the most thoroughly planned Congress on world evangelization in history!”
David and Melissa Kline and children are currently in Ontario visiting churches and supporters. They will be speaking nearly every Sunday until the end of July. If you would like to hear their presentation on Macau, you can find them in these places:
| June 6 | New Hope UB church (Toronto, Ontario) |
| June 13 | Parkwood Gardens UB church (Guelph, Ontario) |
| June 20 | Banner of Christ UB church (Byron Center, Mich.) |
| June 27 | Union Church (Huntington, Ind.) |
| July 11 | East Washington UB church (Ashley, Mich.) |
| July 18 | Monticello UB church (Spencerville, Ohio) |
One of the tent cities in Port au Prince
During May I traveled to Haiti to assess the current situation with the help of our Haitian leader, Rev. Oliam Richard. Joining me were Paul Plato (Canadian UB Missions Director), Ed Sider (Director of CH Global), and a number of others.
At present, 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced by the destruction following the earthquake. The majority live in tent cities. It seems that a sea of blue Samaritan’s Purse tarps and tents cover any vacant lot or field in the greater Port Au Prince area. Lack of food, dignity, and hope are a constant problem. Children are not attending school and the jobs the parents worked at before the quake no longer exist.
Yet we found that our UB churches are bursting at the seams. Across the country there are reports of people coming to faith in Christ.
With the addition of a recent offering of $7,900 from Hong Kong Conference, our total for Haiti Relief has reached $170,000. Over half has already been distributed to Samaritan’s Purse and CH Global for immediate relief needs. With the remaining $70,000 we’ll complete construction on our Delmas Church in order to open a new school for up to 200 children.
Later in October, we’d like to send a number of work teams to rebuild two UB churches in Cite Soliel, the poorest area of Port Au Prince, where two UB churches were destroyed by the earthquake. Here again, we’d like to not only restore these places of worship, but open schools for needy children in this community.
We’re grateful for our partnership with fellow UB churches around the world and for organizations like CH Global that share our passion to bless the nation of Haiti.
