New Home for the Martel Family

Mr. Martel standing beside his old home.

I am Rene Martel and I am 56 years old.  I live with my wife, and our 11 children between the ages of 32 to 3 years old.  When the earthquake struck I was working, but my wife and some of our children were in the house. When they felt the earthquake, they ran out of the house.  Thankfully they were all out before our house collapsed.  After that, we lived and slept outside for about a week. After that, we built a house using the materials that were usable from our old house.  But our new house has many problems, it is leaking and not very secure.  It is not a great life this way. Therefore, we are very thankful that BHM came and built us a new house. It is the biggest thing that could happen, because I couldn’t have done it by myself.  What I needed has been given, and I am very thankful for that!

Martel Family with some of their children in front of their new home.

A new home for the Antoine Family

 My name is Noïs Antoine and I am 48 years old. My wife and I have five children, three boys and two girls. Our eldest is 15 and the youngest is 3 years old. At the time of the earthquake I was inside the house. The ground started shaking, and as the shelf fell down I went out and watched the house collapse. Fortunately, the children were outside and no one got hurt. We left the property on where our old house was, and went to my wife’s property a short distance from our old house. There we built a temporary house, out of the things we had left from our old house. We have been praying for a new house, because we believe that when you have faith in the Lord, He will provide.  Our prayers have been answered, and we are very thankful and happy with our new house. 

Antoine family in front of their new house.

The home that the Antoine family lived in after the earthquake.

BHM holds Annual Church Conference

Last Thursday through Sunday we were blessed with having about 255 people from most of the BHM affiliated churches across Haiti come to the mission campus in Fermathe for the annual church conference.  This conference was special since it was the 51st anniversary of the founding of the church association (ASEBACH)  We were unable to hold conference last year, so this was the big celebration year.

One of the sessions lead by Dr. James Lacy

The theme for the conference was "Only God has the Answer" taken from Gen. 41:16.  
There were inspirational messages, workshop/seminars, and regional business that was done during the conference days.  Special thanks to Dr. James Lacy with Converge, Michigan who came and daily shared a message at the conference.
We were also blessed to have the Board of Baptist Haiti Mission from the US here and they were able to spend some time interacting with the pastors and others who came to the conference.

 During the final service on Sunday 3 men were ordained for the ministry- Persondieu Tanisma, Solect Jean Baptiste, and Vulgard Camille.  Pray that as these men continue to serve as pastors in their communities, that God would continue to use them in mighty ways and that He would encourage and guide them as they share God's Word with others.

The Sunday Morning service, the closing of the conference

Helping Hands Partners with BHM Hosptial to Provide many Orthopedic Surgeries

During the week of March 20 - 26, we were blessed with having a team of medical personal from Helping Hands in Annapolis, Maryland.  They did 37 surgeries, mostly orthopedic, and all who received treatment were very grateful.

The Helping Hands group from Annapolis, Maryland.

Michel and some of his relatives along with Dr. Suleika.  Michel was an earthquake victim who was badly injured and was treated in Annapolis, Maryland by some of the doctors with the Helping Hands team.

Len and Dr. Holt are creating a child’s brace using materials that we had here.

Dr. Jacob Bernard is the patient who received treatment for his back pain thanks to Dr. Vickers and Ben Gelfand.

Dr. Linda, an anesthesiologist, holding a newborn child delivered by cesarean.

Kelli Lieb standing with Farah who was preparing to go into her 7th surgery for bones that were broken during the earthquake.

Visit to Jako Church

Today Pastor Baker was able to visit the Jako church affiliated with the Baptist Haiti Mission.  This is a small church in the mountains outside of Port-au-Prince with a congregation of about 30 people.  Their church building is made from sticks and plastic and they have a couple of benches and rocks for people to sit on.  As more people came to the service today, the preacher brought in more rocks for them to sit on.
It was a great encouragement to see these people worshiping God together even amongst such simple conditions.  God is at work and visiting churches like this encourage us to see how God is working even in small remote villages like Jako.

The Jako Church building

Pastor Baker was asked to preach once he got there.  Jeff (one of our drivers) was willing to help translate.

Smile train returns to BHM hospital

A few weeks ago we were blessed to have a team of medical personal, volunteering with Smile Train, come and serve at the hospital.  This group specializes in cleft lip and pallet surgeries.  During the week that they were here they did over 60 surgeries.  The people who received these surgeries were so thankful.  Before the surgeries, these people were not comfortable walking out in public or living a normal life.  Now, thanks to the smile train surgeons they are able to look normal and live a much more normal life.  We are so thankful for the ways that God used this medical team to bring new hope to the people.

One of the people who came was young 10 month old Vadely.  He was born with a cleft lip and he has had a very difficult start to his life.  He was unable to drink from a bottle and therefore his mother didn't know what to feed him.  She was doing the best she could and giving him water and some crushed up food mixed into the water.  When he was brought to the hospital for surgery he was very weak and malnurished.  Sadly we were not able to do the surgery for him, but we gave Vadely's mother some formula and baby cereal.
One week later Vadely's mother brought him back to the hospital and it is amazing how much he has improved.  He can now hold his head up and has regained some of his strength.  Every 2 weeks his mother is going to bring him back for a check up and to receive more formula and cereal.  It is our pray that he will gain enough weight by June, when the Smile train surgeons return, so that Vadely can have surgery.
Thank you for joining us in praying for Vadely.  Pray that he continues to gain weight and strength.  Also pray for his family, that they will see God's love through all of this and draw closer to God.

Vadely and his mother

Vadely, his mother and Madame Carfa (a very dedicated nurse at our hospital)

God takes Saint Pierre home and Wilner needs our prayers.

On Tuesday one of our longtime employees pasted away.  Saint Pierre, was a wonderful diligent man who quietly served in whatever way he was asked.  For several years he rode along in the truck that purchased supplies daily in POrt-au-Prince and helped with the purchasing.  Once he became unable to handle the long bumpy ride each day, he helped with general yard upkeep.
He had been sick for a couple of days and on Tuesday morning he was brought to the hospital and passed away shortly after arriving here.  Pray for his family as they go through this difficult time.

Yesterday one of our night security guards, Wilner, was admitted into the cholera clinic.  Pray that Wilner will regain his strength and that God would help him to recover from this illness.