Update: Haiti Earthquake

July 28, 2010

 Hello everyone!  I know it’s been FOREVER since we put out an update, so here goes.  Things have been moving along well in Haiti.  The Haitian men from the Macedonia Baptist Church are hard workers and don’t mind working long days to get a lot done.  They have completed the whole ten room school building – the school was a priority to them because of the children.  During the earthquake, one of the girls in the school was killed and others injured right there on the property.  All of the footers are poured for the church and most of the block has been made.  Unlike here in the United States where we can go to the store and buy our block, they have to hand-make every single block they use.  Adam and Mike have come back to the States for a much needed rest.  They will return to Haiti on August 11th and jump right in on getting the block walls put up in the church.
     Please pray for us.  Funds are getting dangerously low.  We need to send money back with Mike and Adam to continue buying supplies to finish the church.  Here in America the attention is no longer on Haiti and so people forget, but there is still so much more to be done.  We don’t want to be like other groups who show up, talk big, work little, and then leave.  We have always strived to finish what we’ve started.  Greg has been on the road presenting Restore and what’s been going on in Haiti trying to raise money for these projects.  Please pray that the people and churches are receptive and that God touches their hearts.  We are so thankful to God for what He has supplied.  Sometimes our faith waivers a little, but we just have to remember that He knows our needs before we do.  God knew the earthquake in Haiti was going to happen and that Restore Ministries would respond to it long before we did.  Please continue to pray for us as we continue His work in Haiti.

Robin

May 17, 2010

     Greetings from Southeast Texas!  I just wanted to give everybody an update on the progress being made in Haiti.  As most of you know, the barge has arrived and been unloaded in Jacmel.  Although it took several days andseveral thousand dollars to get everything into the country, the equipment and supplies had an immediate effect on our operations in Haiti.  Our truck and the Polaris cart for Mrs. Anderson are still being held in customs awaiting paperwork and an exorbitant import tax.  Nearly half of the 1000 lbs of food has been distributed, our base in Petit Goave is supplied and fully operational, and our operations in Jacmel are set up and ready to begin.

      Mike and Adam have done the demolition and sight prep for reconstruction of Macedonia Baptist Church in Petit Goave.  Last week, Mike and Adam went to Santo Domingo, DR, and spent time with missionary Stewart Schepers to recharge their batteries.  I fly over tomorrow to lay out the new building and oversee the pouring of the footings and the main slab.  We have hired a team of Haitians from Macedonia Baptist Church who Mike is training to use the equipment and American construction techniques.  These men will do the majority of the construction of their church under our supervision and ultimately, our goal is for them to form a construction company withthe equipment that we leave in order to affect their town during the reconstruction.  If all goes as planned, this will provide finances to both the church families and the church itself.  This is a new idea, so pray that God gives us wisdom for the details of this operation.

     As many of you have heard, my brother Doug who went to Haiti about a month ago was hospitalized a few days after returning.  While it is still unclear exactly what his sickness was, during the test for spinal meningitis, Dr’s. accidentally initiated a spinal headache.  After several days in the hospital, he went home to recover only to return again for a few more days.  Eventually they figured out how to stop the headaches, nausea, and vertigo and he is now back to “normal” (for those of you who know Doug, if he were normal this would be evidence of God’s great power).  Because of his illness, we are a few weeks behind on getting the presentation together.  My plans are to go see him and finalize the presentation when I return.

     Finally, I want to update you on our financial situation.  Because of the sacrificial giving of many of you, we have been able to respond the the initial disaster in a way I never expected.  Int he first few weeks after the earthquake I made nearly 30 flights in and out of Haiti finding missionaries, taking supplies, providing finances, and assessing damages.  Our partnership with Operation Renewed Hope made these flights possible and we are grateful for the opportunity to have teamed up with them.  The next stage of our response was to ship bulk supplies and equipment into Haiti out of New Iberia, LA.  Insurance value of supplies and equipment on the barge was nearly $300,000.  Once again, the monies and materials donated made this happen.  The shipping itself was provided to us by the Make It Right Foundation and we need to say a public thank you to Tim Dugan for his efforts.  The third stage was to set up secure bases out of which to operate our reconstruction efforts.  Pastor Cherubinof Hosanna Baptist Church has provided us with safe lodging and equipment storage for our projects there.  In Petit Goave, we have rented a house and have set up good operations for our reconstruction of Macedonia Baptist Church, our support of Pastor Frank Supris, and our support of Connie Anderson – missionary and children’s home director. 

     This brings us to our final stage, which is reconstruction of church, school, and orphanage facilities damaged by the earthquake.  We feel we are in a good position to do significant work in this area, however, the funds to purchase materials are drying up very rapidly as the attention on the earthquake in Haiti diminishes.  If we are to complete all the projects that we need to , we will need to raise an additional $150,000.  My primary roll for the next couple months will to be on the road presenting this need to churches and businessmen around the country in an attempt to raise these funds.

     The goals of Restore Ministries are varied and many times change from project to project.  Most of our equipment is in the area of construction as are most of our skills.  I do want to make it clear, however, that the mission of Restore Ministries is not construction based.  We are a pastor, church, Christian school, and missionary support ministry.  We are a tool to further these men’s efforts to fulfill the Great Commission.  I have learned that people’s hearts are more open andsofter when life has been turned upside down through a disaster than in any other point.  Therefore, our efforts to affect our communities through the cause of Christ must massively increase when life falls apart around us.  Haiti has proven this to me once again.  Churches have grown from 80 to 880 since the earthquake.  Thousands have been saved in Jacmal.  More than 350 new converts attended a 48 hour intensive new believer’s discipleship class in Jacmel.  Nearly every pastor or missionary I’ve spoken to has reported doubling both in their attendance and their vision in Haiti.  Immediately after the earthquake we spoke to ten or fifteen pastor who did not have damage to their church buildings.  Today, nearly every one of them needs a new building triple in size to the old one because of massive church growth.  These are the burdens of my heart and the opportunities that we here in the States have to change an entire country from a Satan worshipping, voodoo filled, horrible place, to a struggling country full of God’s love and fellow believers.

     Please pray for us as we begin the reconstruction in this final phase that God would provide funds, safety, and the wisdom we need to accomplish His goals.  Thank you for all you do, talk to you in a few weeks.

Greg Rife

 

April 7, 2010

I thought you all might enjoy reading an e-mail we received from one of the missionaries in Haiti we are helping.  Brother Leny Funtecha is a Filipino missionary out of Iloilo Baptist Church in the Philippines where Pastor Rick Martin is the pastor.  It is so amazing to see God working through the events of this disaster!  Please continue to pray for these men as they take God’s message to the Haitian people. 

Dear Bro Rife,

Hope things are doing well for you.  We are happy to know that finally your equipment will come to Haiti.  We trust that there you will have no problem in the custom.  We trust that your help will be able reach us in Port au Prince.  Inspite of all problems the Lord turn to a blessing in the ministry.  We grew from 70 after after the quake and last sunday we have almost 600 in our sunday morning attendace.  Every 2 weeks we baptized with a groupe of new coverts in the Lord.  We are hoping to see you sometines.  God bless..

Bro Leny

On a different note, Greg was able to call from Haiti today.  The phone system is still somewhat unreliable and he can’t always call me.  The last two days have been really chaotic for them.  After much arguing with Haitian customs, they were finally able to offload our two containers and almost all of our equipment from the barge.  The Ford-F350 and the Polaris cart are still being held because they are titled vehicles anddifferent paperwork needs to be filled out for them.  If you read the list we posted in the March 31st update of all the items we sent down, you will understand why we are so excited about being able to get everything but these two items off the barge.  The guys were very tired at the end of the day, but feel they’ve made great progress.  Everything was taken to Pastor Cherubin’s church, a local pastor there in Jacmel.  He has a secure area at his church to store everything for now.  Eventually some of that equipment and one of the containers will be taken to our other base of operations in Petit Goave.  Thank you for all your prayers, but please continue to pray for the group as they get started on projects this week.  I will keep you updated as Greg passes on information to me.

Robin Rife

 

March 31, 2010

     Greetings from Southeast Texas!  Adam and I are on our way to the airport to return to Haiti.  I know it’s been a while since I’ve sent you a good update, so here it is.  I know sometimes my letters are really lengthy, so I will try to give a brief overview in the beginning and then deal more in details at the end so feel free to stop reading any time.  The barge left New Iberia, LA, on Sunday, March 28, and we are anticipating its arrival Sunday or Monday, April 4th or 5th.  The departure delays for the barge have been very frustrating, however, in the end it turned out to be a real blessing.  We had anticipated sending a second shipment to Haiti of equipment and supplies, but as a result of the delays, we were able to consolidate those two trips into one.  There was not time to purchase or prepare all the equipment that we had intended to send in time to depart on the first barge, but as a result of the delays, we were able to acquire new equipment and do maintenance of existing equipment.  Our initial trips to Haiti also gave us clarity on what we would need regarding day to day operations, supplies, etc.  We believe the majority of that is on the barge and will be unloaded Monday or Tuesday.  As we searched for equipment locally and on-line, God allowed us to purchase equipment at some greatly reduced prices.  Our local Sunbelt Rental Company was doing an annual equipment upgrade and God worked it out that we walked in on the perfect day.  The manager understood where the equipment was going and we purchased equipment at prices we had seen nowhere else.  Here’s a brief list of the major pieces of equipment on the barge:

1992 Ford F-350 diesel-dually crew cab

2010 Polaris UTV cart (for Connie Anderson supplied by Macedonia World Baptist missions)

15KW diesel generator (for Connie Anderson supplied by Macedonia World Baptist Missions)

16 ft double axle trailer

743B diesel Bobcat with bucket and forks

Bobcat mini-excavator with bucket and concrete hammer

Gas powered concrete buggy

Gas powered concrete mixer

18 ft heavy duty double axle trailer

Thwaites diesel mini-dump truck

Electric concrete breaker

Gas powered concrete saw

12 ft single axle trailer containing tools, equipment, and bunk beds

2 – 40 ft containers of food, water, and supplies

     Along with the larger equipment we have purchased and sent a large amount of hand tools, such as wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, crowbars, breaker bars, concrete vibrators, sledge hammers, etc.  We believe we have assembled a quality reliable set of tools to operate as a fairly complete demolition and reconstruction organization and can be very effective provided we have locals and small experienced volunteer teams from the States.  We have identified projects that we would like to complete, including churches, orphanages, and church member homes.  The details of those projects will be coming to you after I return in a couple weeks.  Our response to support our missionaries and national pastors is still in its beginning stage.  I realize that the news footage and media attention is lessening significantly, but our missionaries and pastors have only had temporary relief to this point and we have promised them much more than that.  Over the next several months Restore Ministries will be contacting every supporting church and interested parties with fundraising requests.  We are putting together a program in which a U.S. church or individual can adopt an involved, active church family and supply them with a new home.  We have designed a small home that we can be reproduced over and over for around$5000 each.  Details of this program will be coming to you soon.  We have also identified around a dozen churches that either need rebuilt or repaired.  We have arranged them in an order of priority and have already begun work on the first.  The number of projects we complete will be totally dependent on the financial support for them.

     We have set up bases in two towns, Jacmel and Petit Goave.  These bases include a secure place to keep tools and equipment, sleeping quarters, and a place to shower and eat.  Both of these bases will be used to house small volunteer teams to complete various projects.  To our minds the leg work and preliminary work to make a significant, efficient, and financially responsible impact has been completed.  We are now entering the second phase, which is normally when the difference is really made.  If our hearts have been touched by the suffering of our brothers and sisters and missionaries in Haiti, then now is the time to make the sacrifices necessary to truly relieve that suffering.

     Our missionaries and pastors are seeing people come to know the Lord in huge numbers.  Their work load to train and disciple these new converts is extreme, so dealing with the physical needs of both their ministries and their people is impossible.  I feel it is our responsibility to fill that need.  The mission of Restore Ministries is to support pastors and missionaries in time of devastation so that the ministries of the local church can flourish rather than fail in troubled times.  We are asking you to continue to partner with us on that mission.  Many times we begin these types of efforts but we rarely finish them.  It is a very high priority to us at Restore Ministries that we complete our projects and fulfill our promises.  We have learned many times the disappointment of an uncompleted project is nearly the same as the desperation felt after a loss.

     For the next six months, Adam Meyer andMike Coupe will spend the majority of their time in Haiti.  They will run the day to day operations of rebuilding using crews of Haitian workers and church members hired by Restore Ministries.  The normal rate for a semi-skilled worker in Haiti is around 75 Haitian dollars per day – which is about $10 American.  By hiring these men, we can teach them American construction techniques, give them employment, and allow them the ability for a construction company to develop and exist after we are gone using thieir newly acqured skills and the equipment left behind.  Plans are for Adam and Mike to spend two months in Haiti, retrun home for two weeks, then do two more monts in Haiti, etc.  I will split my time between fundraising and presenting in the States and operating in Haiti.  Please pray for us as we travel, do consruction and operate in a difficult environment.  Without God’s protection, direction, and blessing, we cannot be effective in our service for Him, our missionaries, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.  To all those that have supported us in the past, I want to say thank you again.  I know I don’t say it enough, but you will not know until you get to Heaven the blessing you have been to us here at Restore Ministies and to the struggling people of Haiti.  You can also continue to follow our progress on our Facebook page.  Thank you for your efforts.  I will talk to you again soon.

Greg

 

*For older posts on Haiti, please click on the link “Haiti Project” above.