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.

Canadian volunteers helping out in great ways

On Tuesday Martin, Dan and Donna arrived to help out in various ways for 2 weeks.  It was great to have them come back.  Dan and Donna arrived on the day of the earthquake last year, so it is wonderful to see them come back again and to be with us again as we remembered the earthquake and all that God has done during the past year.

Martin and Dan have been helping with the conference center.  Dan helped our group of carpenters build the trusses and yesterday they started putting up the trusses.  Martin has been working on the electric and plumbing for the conference center.
Today they have been working along side Kyrk to try and clean and organize a storage warehouse.  We have more supplies coming in today and need to get the space clean.  They are so willing to do whatever needs to be done and they are a great help.  Looking forward to having them around for the next week also.
Donna is being a great help in the Child Sponsorship office and also helping with some cleaning, organizing etc.  We are so grateful that all 3 of them were willing to return to serve.

Dan, helping to put up the trusses.

Martin, working on the plumbing pipes as they enter the building.

Kyrk, with his head out the window, answering some of Martins questions.  Notice Kyrk chose to stand inside on the solid floor and Martin is standing on the wonderful Haitian scaffolding.

Dan and Martin helping to organize desks in the storage warehouse today.

These desks used to be in a huge disorganized pile.  It took lots of work this morning to get them looking this good.

Oh, the treasures you find when you are dealing with desks.  I think the person that sat at this desk was a gum chewer :)

Visiting Medical Teams Serve Many in Need

A few weeks ago we were blessed to have a medical team from ABWE (Association of Baptist for World Evangelism) partnering with us.  The team was under the leadership of Dr. Jack Sorg and they held medical clinics in three communities in the mountains above the mission campus.
These clinics were set up in BHM affiliated schools or churches and about 80 people were served each day.  People who came were not only treated and provided with medication, but they were given knowledge about hygiene and their sickness and most importantly the gospel was shared with everyone who came to these clinics.  Through out the week over 10 people were saved. 
Dr. Jack shared, “We are very thankful and pleased that we are able to partner with BHM in Haiti. They want to expand their medical mission, and our goal is to help them with that.”
We praise God for the work that He did in the hearts of the people who came through these clinics and we also praise God for the partnership that BHM has with ABWE.

Next week, we will be having another medical team coming to work along side our medical staff at the hospital.  Pray that God will use them in mighty ways and they serve the people of Haiti.

Continue to pray for those suffering from cholera and for those treating them.  We are praising God that there has been very few people needing hospitalization for cholera in the past few days.