A New Year and a New Venture!

Climbing the mountain to Calalo

After 10 days at home for Christmas, Bill returned to Haiti along with five friends who would stay to help for ten days. They first made another trip to the remote mountain village of Calalo, visiting the people once again and getting information JUST MERCY  will need in order to do an Operation Christmas Child gift distribution later.

After returning to Fonds, the group drove across Haiti to Les Cayes, taking a water taxi to the base on Ile a Vache. The next day, they took the boat back to Les Cayes to pick up long time friends of JUST MERCY, Len Clevenger and Sid Davis, who came to visit for two days.

Leaving the small island

They took the boat to one of the little island fishing villages we had visited before. Sid, who is a member of Rotary, wanted to check on a cistern that had been built on the island by the British Virgin Islands Rotary Club that needs some repair. Right now, the people get their water from a hole in the ground.

Back on Ile a Vache during a visit to the island market, Bill saw a barge sitting in the bay and got the owner’s contact info in case we needed something like it to unload the sawmill which was on its way to Haiti.

The guys did several things at the base including building a closet and shelves.  They enjoyed playing with the neighborhood children.

Guys playing on the beach with children

James Padron , who was on his 4th trip to Haiti helping us said,

“The trip wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be but it was still a great trip. We really got to see a lot of Haiti and our experience was quite varied. I think there is real potential for these kinds of trips. Haiti is one adventure after another. It was abundantly clear on this trip the daily burdens that are placed on Bill, from people showing up with medical needs to having to jump through hoops to get anything done. I really like the ideas circulating around the mill. I see a real need for it and very practical ways it will help the locals. Bill’s focus on building relationships is the one thing I see that will really change Haiti for the better.”

After our friends left, Bill spent the next few days coordinating and preparing to received the sawmill. On January 21, it arrived on the ship. Bill and some fishermen in their small boats went a few miles out to sea to try to pick up the items onboard the ship but the seas were too high and it was going to be way too difficult and dangerous to accomplish.

Unloading the sawmill off the ship

The next day, all the organizations receiving things on the ship went together to hire the barge we had discovered earlier. Praise God for that connection. The items were safely offloaded and taken to shore, still in 6 – 8 foot seas, a task that would have been next to impossible to accomplish with the small wooden fishing boats they had planned on using.

Within a few days, Bill had the sawmill assembled and demonstrated for the people what it could do. The men watching were jumping up and down, laughing, and were so excited!! Bill told me they thought it was the best thing they had ever seen “since sliced bread”. Then he said, “Wait a minute. They don’t know what sliced bread is!” ☺

Sawmill demonstration

The bay between Ile a Vache and the mainland has been pretty much fished out. Many of the island men support their families by fishing and are unable to catch much and what they do catch is very small fish. The biggest project currently planned for the mill is to cut boards to build a bigger boat which the men could use to go farther out to sea than they are currently capable of doing to catch bigger fish.

Please be in prayer about this and other projects. It is a way for Bill to spend time with the men helping not only to cut the boards, but also to build the boat with them, sharing in their lives, building relationships, and giving opportunities to talk with them about the Lord and life in Him.

Ben & Emily

We had failed to mention that during December, Ben Lindsey returned to Haiti with his wife Emily to help for a week. They worked on building some bed frames for the base and were a blessing. We are always so grateful for those who come and help JUST MERCY in so many ways.

If you read this and are a facebook person, please “like” the JUST MERCY FB page. Brief posts with pictures are added fairly regularly and you might enjoy seeing those.

Our thanks to all of you who pray for us and help support the efforts in Haiti. May God bless you all.