Haiti Project
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February 9, 2010
February 21, 2010
Greetings from Southeast Texas! I don’t think we could have been any busier in the days since our last e-mail! After forming a plan upon the conclusion of our trip to Haiti, we have been gathering supplies, tools, equipment, food, and water to send to Haiti to aid in the reconstruction of our missionaries and pastor’s facilities damaged by the earthquake. A couple weeks ago on a return flight from Jacmel, Haiti into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, a relief worker named Tim associated with the Make It Right Foundation (Brad Pitt’s Non-profit in New Orleans), hopped an empty flight and told the pilot that they were arranging a barge to leave out of New Orleans, LA, and bring relief supplies to Haiti. The pilot, Dave Crispell, knew that we were desperately trying to find transportation and asked Tim for his contact information. We verified that the barge was leaving the 21st of Feb. and arriving in Haiti on the 3rd of March. Tim said there was room on the barge and that they would be willing to ship anything we needed at no cost to us. As a result, we spent the last 2 weeks gathering food and water and supplies, filling the containers, and doing maintenance on vehicles and equipment to send to Haiti. We purchased a small off-road dump truck, never flat tires for the bobcat, a 6×6 cart for transportation, and several other tools for demolition and reconstruction.
Today, the barge is to leave for Haiti with nearly 100,000 lbs of food and water. Included in those containers were 2,000 hard-backed French Bibles donated by Dr. Freret of B.E.A.M.S. Bibles, Gulfport, MS. Operation Renewed Hope also gave us 17,000 lbs of circus tents that they were donated earlier this month to ship. We also sent a Ford F-350 pick-up, an 18’ trailer, a bobcat, the dump truck, and the ATV cart. Macedonia World Baptist Missions raised money to purchase a new cart for Mrs. Connie Anderson and a 15KW generator. We picked those up in Houston and they are on the barge as well. At one point this week, we had Mike Coupe and Kevin Vrooman picking up the dump truck from Chicago, IL, Adam picking up the cart and generator in Houston, TX, two 18 wheelers delivering containers to New Iberia, LA, a bobcat coming in from Naples, FL, and the Rife family at a mission’s conference in the Dallas, TX area all simultaneously.
The devil definitely fought us this week. Mike and Kevin fought the D.O.T., truck alternator failure, truck starter, and nearly 2,300 miles of difficult driving. Adam fought equipment that has been running well for years which suddenly gave him trouble as he began to load. The truckers moving the containers struggled to load them, had equipment failures, fought to get permits, and spent double the time normally allotted for these deliveries, however by Friday at 7:00 PM, everything was on the lot ready for loading to go to Haiti. I cannot say thank you enough to these men and others, like Wayland Brown and Dan Asher, who made all this possible.
This week, I, Mike Coupe, Valerie Stancil, Seth Canady, and Frank Horton will all be heading to Haiti, where we will begin the process to receive these goods in Jacmel and set up the base of operations in Petit Goave. At the end of the week, Valerie and I will return while Seth, Frank, and Mike stay behind. Frank Horton is a pilot who will be providing our flights back and forth from Haiti to Santo Domingo, moving both supplies and personnel. Plans are for Bro. Horton to be part of our Haiti response for several months to come. Bro. Horton is an engineer and very skilled in light commercial construction and his addition to the team this week was very encouraging. Our prayer is that he will be a long-term asset in our Haiti response.
Mike Coupe is a member of Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hot Springs, AR, who has recently surrendered his life to full-time missions. While he is also a pilot, Bro. Mike’s value to this mission is in his ability in the area of construction and the area of organization. He has offered to be our “man on the ground” – organizer for the demolition and reconstruction of our Restore project churches. His willing attitude and servant’s spirit has already been a blessing. We are looking forward to working together in the months and years to come.
Seth Canady is a young man I met on my first trip into Haiti. Having just obtained his pilot’s license and searching for God’s will in his life as a missionary pilot, Seth has requested a leave of absence from his job, and volunteered for a 30 day period. His youthful energy and aggressive work ethic will be a valuable asset.
I need to raise some support for a couple of these guys. We have already raised Seth’s basic support during this month while he is off work, but we need to raise an additional $1000 for transportation and extra expenses. Any donations you could send to us to fill this need would be appreciated. Please mark these donations “Seth”. Mike Coupe has surrendered to God’s will in this area with very little support. With a few hundred dollars from his home church, and a few promises of future funds from his friends, he has simply trusted the Lord to supply and has by faith headed into Haiti. I need to raise approximately $2000 a month for Mike to pay his basic bills here at home. Transportation to return to his wife in Arkansas monthly will also cost around $500. I am asking for temporary monthly support for Bro. Mike. Many of you have asked what you can do, and here is a man willing to go and I feel this is a worthy use of some Haitian relief funds. If I could get five churches to support Bro. Mike for $500 a month for the next six months, these needs would be met. If this is something you or your church would be willing to do, please contact me and let me know and notate “Mike” on any of these donations.
After I return from Haiti, we will begin the process of raising funds for the materials on a ministry by ministry basis. We have put together a 7 minute slide show of our first trip with an explanation of what ministries we are going to repair or rebuild first. We would love to send you that DVD. If you would like a copy, please contact us via e-mail.
Obviously our Haitian response has been very expensive and we want to say thank you to those of you who have taken offerings and provided funds to do this work. If we repaired and rebuilt just the buildings we saw and learned about in our first trip, it would cost well over half a million dollars just for the materials. We have had the idea that we would like to put up steel buildings in the place of these concrete churches. This type of construction is fairly inexpensive and very quick. Our thoughts are that we would simply put up the steel beams and roof and one wall of metal so that the church could immediately begin meeting in these structures. Then over time, the Haitian people could build their own walls, put second floors in, and complete these projects. I have been specifically instructed that we do not need to replace these buildings for the Haitians, but rather enable them to rebuild their ministries. If you have a connection or contact who could donate or supply at a discount steel structures, please get me their contact information.
Well, I’m getting tired of typing, and I imagine you’re getting tired of reading, so I’ll end this update. Please continue to pray for us. Pray for the people of Haiti. We have heard great stories of revival and large numbers of salvation decisions. In the town of Jacmel, the mayor canceled Mardi Gras and asked national pastor, Dieupie Cherubin, to conduct revival services in the park in the middle of town instead. Nearly 5,000 people attended the final service with hundreds of salvations recorded, including witch doctors. Think about that – a country whose biggest religious holiday and replacing it with Old-time Religion Revival Services. Six months ago, no one would have believed that possible. As we have gotten reports from around the country, we have realized that thousands have been saved in this first month after the earthquake. One missionary told me that last year he was pleased to report that 21 people had gotten saved. In the month since the earthquake, he has seen nearly 400 saved. God is using this disaster to speak to the hearts of the Haitian people. Thank you for your support and I’ll talk to you again soon.
In His Service,
Greg Rife
February 9, 2010
Greetings from Southeast Texas! First, I must apologize for how long it’s taken me to get this update out. After making our first trip to Haiti, our time has been spent trying to work out the logistics for our next several trips. Three shipping containers have been donated to Restore Ministries by B.E.A.M.S in Gulfport, MS, and they are en-route from Mississippi at this moment. Once they arrive, we will begin the process of filling them with tools, building supplies, and construction equipment. In addition to these containers, we are sending a Ford F-350 pick-up, a 16′ Box truck, a bobcat, and several other pieces of construction equipment. We have had some struggles with trying to find a way to ship these containers to Haiti, but one of the pilots I met on my trip has given us the name of another ministry who has a barge leaving New Orleans, LA on February 20, and we have been told there is room on the barge for our containers and equipment. We are trying to finalize those plans now, but it looks like we will be able to ship 2 containers and several vehicles. We have made good contacts with the Jacmel Port in Haiti, and getting these containers into the country should not be a problem. We have been working on setting up a base of operations while we are in Haiti and this morning we received a phone call from a pastor in Petit Goave, Haiti, and it looks like we will be able to use the property next to his house to set up our base of operations. There is a large area that we can store our vehicles and containers in and this area is walled. That is very important for us because of the looting and vandalism that is going on.
Last week we had the privilege of having Pastor John Matey from Arlington, TX, and Pastor Eric Capaci from Hot Springs, AR, come and visit our ministry. We were able to show them our property and, hopefully, let them see the vision we have here for Restore Ministries. Pastor Eric Capaci brought Pilot Mike Coupe with him and we enjoyed getting to know him. Bro. Mike has a heart for the Haitian people and has committed to a year of working with us in Haiti. He and another pilot will be working with us to provide transportation on our future trips to Haiti. God brought him to us at just the right time and it will be exciting to see how all the pieces fall together.
We are in the process of setting up Fundraising Missions Trips for pastors in the near future. We will take pastors into the country of Haiti, taking them to the orphanage and other ministries we are supporting to let them see what we are doing, what the needs are, what our future plans are, and to see how the money donated is being used. At this time it appears we will need to raise an additional $100,000 to accomplish the projects we want to see completed. Brother Mike Coupe will be in charge of planning and overseeing these trips. He will be our “man on the ground” in Haiti.
Please continue to pray for us as much is still needed to do before our next trip to Haiti. We must continue to raise funds because we are seeing that this will be a long process of helping the Haitian people re-build. We have decided on helping several people: Pastor Jacques Alexandre, Mrs. Connie Anderson, Pastor Leny Funtecha, Pastor Frank Supris, and Pastor Dieupie Cherubin. In my next update I will post more information on these good people. I will also try to do better with getting my updates out. Many of you have called or e-mailed and asked what the status was on our plans. It has been a busy time and I have neglected updating the web page, but I will make an effort to keep you all informed. We have posted pictures from our trip to Haiti on our Facebook page . If you want to support us in this mission, donations should be made payable to Restore Ministries, memo: Haiti, and mailed to Val Verde Baptist Church, 3900 Cleveland Ave. Groves TX 77619, or can be made through our Paypa laccount. One hundred percent of marked donations will go directly to the Haiti mission. We covet your prayers and thank you for your continued support.
In His Service, Greg Rife
Missionaries/Pastors we are wanting to support:
1. Pastor Leny Funtecha – church, school, Bible institute in Port-au-Prince
2. Mrs. Connie Anderson – runs Macedonia Children’s Home
3. Pastor Frank Supris – Macedonia Baptist Church, Petit Goave
4. Pastor Jacques Alexandre – Port-au-Prince
5. Pastor Dieupie Cherubin – Hosanna Baptist Church, Jacmel
These missionaries/pastors are all Independent Fundamental Baptists. We have met all of them and seen their ministries, except Pastor Jacques Alexandre, who is located in Port-au-Prince. I am hoping to be able to see his ministry on my next trip to Haiti. Initially, we will be rebuilding a sister church to Macedonia Baptist in the mountains above Petit Goave. This church not only lost its building, but also its pastor, who was crushed in his home during the earthquake. They buried him next to the rubble of the church building. We need to raise $20,000 for this project. This project will be our first priority. If you want to support us in this mission, donations should be made payable to Restore Ministries, memo: Haiti, and mailed to Val Verde Baptist Church, 3900 Cleveland Ave, Groves, TX 77619 or can be made through our Paypal account. One hundred percent of marked donations will go directly to the Haiti mission. We covet your prayers and thank you for your continued support.
January 15,2010
Greetings from Restore Ministries! I just wanted to give you an update on our Haiti trip. Originally we were to fly in to Haiti on Friday, January 22, for a quick survey trip, and then be back home by Tuesday, January 25 to start making plans on what we were going to accomplish on our second trip. Throughout the week, our plans kept changing, and before it was over, we were going to be in Haiti a whole week. Below you will see what our plans are for the week. I am learning to be flexible as plans constantly change.
Mission Plans:
Monday, January 25: The four planes will depart from Opa Locka, FL, and travel to the north coast of Haiti to Cap-Haïtien to go through customs. These flights will be carrying approximately 3200 lbs. of food. Mrs. Valerie Stancil will also travel with us. Valerie’s parents were missionaries to Haiti, and growing up there, she is familiar with the people and country. After the planes clear customs, we will fly to Les Cayes (on the southwestern shore of Haiti). From here we will travel four hours in the town of Petit Goave. Here the food will be divided between two children’s homes. One of these children’s homes is led by Connie Anderson of Macedonia World Baptist Missions (http://www.mwbm.org/connieanderson.htm). The other home is also within reach of Les Cayes. Here we will evaluate the conditions for rebuilding the MWBM children’s home and nearby church buildings. Mrs. Stancil, who speaks the language fluently, will help with interpretation and evaluate the ministry needs in the area. This will involve a six hour round trip into mountain terrain via roadways that have been damaged by the quake and frequent aftershocks
Tuesday, January 26: We will spend the day with Connie Anderson at her orphanage in Petit Goave. We will be taking her a generator, lanterns, flash lights, and other supplies. We will be able to see what her needs are and formulate a plan on how to help her on future trips.
Wednesday, January 27: The planes will fly back from Santo Domingo to Les Cayes, carrying more food for the Children’s Homes. From here we will fly to Jacmel. All four planes will be used to fly two round trips to Jacmel carrying food and water.
Thursday, January 28: At the time of this writing, we have scheduled a meeting with several missionaries. Danny and Leann Pye, who run an orphanage for Joy In Hope, Pastor Jacques Alexandre, and Brother Leny Funtecha are the three that we have been able to make contact with. There are a few more we are trying to reach in hopes of meeting with them also. We are planning to go and see their ministries and find out what their needs are to know how to help them on future trips.
Friday, January 29: The planes will return to Santo Domingo. Pilot Dave Spangler will fly us back to Florida.
Please pray for us as we’re gone this first week. We are excited about what God has in store for us. Pray for the people of Haiti. We are praying God can use this as a great way to show His love to these people. Once we return to the States, we will have an update for you on our future plans.
We will be updating our Facebook page with pictures once I get back from Haiti. If you want to support us in this mission, donations should be made payable to Restore Ministries, memo: Haiti, and mailed to Val Verde Baptist Church, 3900 Cleveland Ave. Groves TX 77619, or can be made through our Paypal account. One hundred percent of marked donations will go directly to the Haiti mission. Thank you for your prayers and support.
In His Service,
Greg Rife
Director, Restore Ministries
Plans for Trip to Haiti
Brothers and Friends in Christ,
Greetings from Southeast Texas! We here at Restore Ministries are in the beginning stages of planning a response to the devastation as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. On January 22, we are planning to fly into Haiti on a plane arranged by Operation Renewed Hope to survey the immediate needs of our missionaries. Together with mission boards, churches, and fellow ministries, we have compiled a rough list of nine missionaries and their locations. Our initial thoughts are that this trip would be a quick 24-36 hour first response. During this initial trip, our objectives would be:
1. Meet the missionaries face to face and assess damage to their ministries and their immediate needs.
2. Provide significant emergency funds to each missionary ($1000+).
3. Take video of specific projects deemed do-able by Restore Ministries and others.
4. Scout location for major humanitarian relief (housing, storage, distribution, etc.).
Upon our return, the plan is to gather funds, equipment, building materials, relief supplies, and volunteers for a return to Haiti. Some of the necessary pieces of this response have already been assembled here in Texas. Those items are:
1. Three forty foot shipping containers
2. Ten thousand military MRE meals
3. Twenty pallets of water
4. Twenty pallets of fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. in #10 cans
5. Misc. relief supplies
Operation Renewed Hope has secured shipping on a transfer plane of 15 pallets of supplies, and was donated thirty tents varying from 1200 to 150 sq ft with plans to use them for warehousing, housing, and distribution in Haiti. The possibility of the use of a cargo ship and helicopter has also been offered to supply volunteer transport and housing during the second phase of relief.
Obviously, the funds required to respond in this large of a mission are enormous. I am praying that together we can raise the funds and materials needed to support our missionaries and show the love of Christ to the people of Haiti. During the next 72 hours, we are attempting to raise $25,000 to get this operation off the ground. Approximately one half of this money will be placed directly in the missionary’s hands with the remainder purchasing relief materials, permits, and travel expenses. These monies would allow us to give our missionaries immediate financial support and give them confidence that we have not forgotten them and are mounting a major effort to support them in their ministries to effect the suffering people of Haiti for the cause of Christ. After our initial trip, we will be able to form a comprehensive relief strategy, and begin raising significant monies for a major relief effort. Only through the sacrificial giving of our time, talents, and finances will we be able to accomplish that mission. Much of our communications with our volunteers is done through our Facebook page. Please check out the other projects we have done in the past on our Facebook page. Donations should be made payable to Restore Ministries, memo: Haiti, and mailed to Val Verde Baptist Church, 3900 Cleveland Ave. Groves TX 77619. One hundred percent of marked donations will go directly to Haiti relief. Thank you for your prayers and support.
In His Service,
Greg Rife
Director, Restore Ministries
