Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Life in Haiti
Life in Haiti
We take so much for granted here in America, our homes, furniture, carpeting, electricity, and water are just a normal part of life. Now imagine all of that gone and in its place a 12 X 14 foot house made of woven sticks and mud. The thatched roof is full of spiders, tarantulas, and 3 inch roaches. There is no furniture, no electricity, and no water. Even the floor is just packed dirt. Your bed is replaced by a woven mat. Take out all the screens and window glass and replace it with a crude shutter. If you have a door it is hanging crooked and would do little to keep out an intruder. You have no car, no bike, and probably no shoes. You have no job, no unemployment check, or any other government support. You have no bank account, no credit cards and no money. You have no refrigerator or ice. The water you have to drink is polluted and full of all sorts of bacteria. There is no food in the house. You are hungry and so are your children who are probably sick, naked, and infested with parasites. And there is nothing you can do about it. The word hope is not in your vocabulary. This is just a normal life for many people who live in Haiti. They are truly the “least of God’s children” living a life of faith and dependency on God just for the basic necessities of life. There are probably not another people on earth who understand the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” as do the people of Haiti.
We take so much for granted here in America, our homes, furniture, carpeting, electricity, and water are just a normal part of life. Now imagine all of that gone and in its place a 12 X 14 foot house made of woven sticks and mud. The thatched roof is full of spiders, tarantulas, and 3 inch roaches. There is no furniture, no electricity, and no water. Even the floor is just packed dirt. Your bed is replaced by a woven mat. Take out all the screens and window glass and replace it with a crude shutter. If you have a door it is hanging crooked and would do little to keep out an intruder. You have no car, no bike, and probably no shoes. You have no job, no unemployment check, or any other government support. You have no bank account, no credit cards and no money. You have no refrigerator or ice. The water you have to drink is polluted and full of all sorts of bacteria. There is no food in the house. You are hungry and so are your children who are probably sick, naked, and infested with parasites. And there is nothing you can do about it. The word hope is not in your vocabulary. This is just a normal life for many people who live in Haiti. They are truly the “least of God’s children” living a life of faith and dependency on God just for the basic necessities of life. There are probably not another people on earth who understand the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” as do the people of Haiti.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
December SFP Notes
Merry Christmas from SFP
Wow! Another year has passed! It is difficult to realize that time can pass so fast. It has been a wonderful year with numerous opportunities for SFP to minister.
In January, we sent a large pack of garden seed to Haiti. March saw a new shade house at Zorange, Haiti. March also was a time for work in Honduras with a new garden tiller and large shade house. Over a long Memorial Day weekend I visited with Leo Paez of Rescue Ministries Mexico and visited the rescue centers at La Junta, Madera, and Cuidad Juarez. In June Mark Scott and a team from Lindsay Lane Baptist Church traveled to Faith Home in Honduras for a week of ministry.
In September the folks at Faith Home shared pictures with us of a very good corn harvest from their garden. They harvested two pickup beds full of ears of corn. Since that time they have increased the size of their garden.
We have sent 8 bales of peat moss to Haiti aboard a trailer being shipped down by Global Compassion. This will help the people at Ti Paradi in building better beds both inside the shade house and outside. We also included garden pesticide dust and snail bait for the gardens at Bombardopolis.
Northwestern Haiti was hit with 3 hurricanes in a row this fall and there was a lot of destruction. Roads and bridges were washed out and food supplies were getting slim. We were able to help out with cash contributions to assist in purchasing food or other emergency needs. About the same time floods devastated parts of Honduras and Faith Home was hit very hard. Again we were able to send money to buy food and help out with other emergency expenses. God had allowed us to accumulate a small cash reserve and we were blessed to be able to respond to these emergencies.
Chuck Martindale and his team built another shade house at Zorange, Haiti in November. The people at Zorange seem to make really good use of the shade houses. It is truly a blessing to work with Chuck in the wonderful work that is being done in the Zorange area. Go to his website, truthem.org to read about his work with the voodoo priests and priestesses. It will bless your heart.
We were concerned about the proper amount of shade needed to protect plants in the shade houses. I put the question out on a professional garden forum and received some wonderful help from people who are trained in these areas. The result is that we will be replacing the shade cover at Faith Home with a new type to test this new information. The new cover is aluminet 40%. It provides 40% shade with less heat because of the aluminet reflecting heat but allowing light to pass through. We have had requests from several other missionaries around the world for help and we want to do the best job possible.
We have found an open pollinated sweet corn seed from the University of Hawaii that is grown there year round. We believe it will work in our areas of ministry also and seed has been ordered. Another person from the gardening forum is sending us a type of tomato seed, Yasenichki Yabuchar, that is supposed to produce fruit at high temperatures. I also sent research notes to a group from the University of Southern California that will be building a school in Haiti and also want to start a food growing project. Bulk garden seed will be purchased this month to send to Haiti with the Global Compassion team in January. SFP has a new blog, sfp2008.blogspot.com, and this update will be posted there also. .
Pray for the missionaries at Faith Home in Honduras, the Leach and Byers families at Bombardopolis, Haiti, and the Trueloves and Linda Blankenship at Mare Rouj, Haiti. Also lift up Leo Paez of Rescue Ministries Mexico. Leo and his workers are in constant danger as the drug wars continue around Juarez, Mexico.
Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts through out this past year. We look forward to all that God would have us do in the New Year
In His Service,
Joe Perkins
Wow! Another year has passed! It is difficult to realize that time can pass so fast. It has been a wonderful year with numerous opportunities for SFP to minister.
In January, we sent a large pack of garden seed to Haiti. March saw a new shade house at Zorange, Haiti. March also was a time for work in Honduras with a new garden tiller and large shade house. Over a long Memorial Day weekend I visited with Leo Paez of Rescue Ministries Mexico and visited the rescue centers at La Junta, Madera, and Cuidad Juarez. In June Mark Scott and a team from Lindsay Lane Baptist Church traveled to Faith Home in Honduras for a week of ministry.
In September the folks at Faith Home shared pictures with us of a very good corn harvest from their garden. They harvested two pickup beds full of ears of corn. Since that time they have increased the size of their garden.
We have sent 8 bales of peat moss to Haiti aboard a trailer being shipped down by Global Compassion. This will help the people at Ti Paradi in building better beds both inside the shade house and outside. We also included garden pesticide dust and snail bait for the gardens at Bombardopolis.
Northwestern Haiti was hit with 3 hurricanes in a row this fall and there was a lot of destruction. Roads and bridges were washed out and food supplies were getting slim. We were able to help out with cash contributions to assist in purchasing food or other emergency needs. About the same time floods devastated parts of Honduras and Faith Home was hit very hard. Again we were able to send money to buy food and help out with other emergency expenses. God had allowed us to accumulate a small cash reserve and we were blessed to be able to respond to these emergencies.
Chuck Martindale and his team built another shade house at Zorange, Haiti in November. The people at Zorange seem to make really good use of the shade houses. It is truly a blessing to work with Chuck in the wonderful work that is being done in the Zorange area. Go to his website, truthem.org to read about his work with the voodoo priests and priestesses. It will bless your heart.
We were concerned about the proper amount of shade needed to protect plants in the shade houses. I put the question out on a professional garden forum and received some wonderful help from people who are trained in these areas. The result is that we will be replacing the shade cover at Faith Home with a new type to test this new information. The new cover is aluminet 40%. It provides 40% shade with less heat because of the aluminet reflecting heat but allowing light to pass through. We have had requests from several other missionaries around the world for help and we want to do the best job possible.
We have found an open pollinated sweet corn seed from the University of Hawaii that is grown there year round. We believe it will work in our areas of ministry also and seed has been ordered. Another person from the gardening forum is sending us a type of tomato seed, Yasenichki Yabuchar, that is supposed to produce fruit at high temperatures. I also sent research notes to a group from the University of Southern California that will be building a school in Haiti and also want to start a food growing project. Bulk garden seed will be purchased this month to send to Haiti with the Global Compassion team in January. SFP has a new blog, sfp2008.blogspot.com, and this update will be posted there also. .
Pray for the missionaries at Faith Home in Honduras, the Leach and Byers families at Bombardopolis, Haiti, and the Trueloves and Linda Blankenship at Mare Rouj, Haiti. Also lift up Leo Paez of Rescue Ministries Mexico. Leo and his workers are in constant danger as the drug wars continue around Juarez, Mexico.
Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts through out this past year. We look forward to all that God would have us do in the New Year
In His Service,
Joe Perkins
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