The Evangelical Church of Haiti meets each week in the ruins of the church building which killed the pastor’s wife and two other women on the day of the earthquake over a year and a half ago.  450 people gather for worship every Sunday (50% growth since the quake), and over 300 children attend day school in the rubble during the week.  The Grace team will begin to restore the building, providing shelter to the church and its school. 
 

Updated Sunday, December 11
Heart of Thanks - Haiti Teams Video
On December 10-11 we rejoiced as a congregation for how God worked in Haiti through our two teams sent by the Heart of Thanks offering last November. Watch footage and interviews from both teams in the video link above.

Updated Sunday, October 30
The Haiti Construction Team has made it back to Santa Clarita safely. Praise God for their safe travel and for their ministry!

Updated Friday, October 28
E-mail from the team
It is Friday morning and we are all doing well. The AC worked last night so we slept "cool". Yesterday was good in that we made and put up 4 more rafters so we have a total of five up. We need to do 7 more. We are hoping to get 5 up today so we can finish up by noon on Saturday. We are up early again today and leaving by 7:00 am. Last night we got home about 7:00 pm. Please continue to pray for safety especially as the guys are working up so high. We have been able to develop some relationship with the church men that have come to help but communication is a challenge. Thanks for your support. God bless, Haiti Team  

Updated Thursday, October 26
E-mail from the team Wednesday evening 
We get up at 6:00 am breakfast at 7:00 am and try and leave by 7:30. The road we take is similar to a 20 year old mountain road that has never been worked on. It is very bumpy (thanks Haiti orphanage team for the heads-up about bringing a cushion for our seat) and takes about 30 minutes to go about two miles.

I found out the [translated] name of our church today, it was translated "Mission Baptist Church". Pastor Model lost his home, his wife and his church when the earthquake happened. The church has been mostly rubble until about 4 months ago when they were able to put up the outside walls. What we started doing on Monday was creating a second story wall that we could put rafters on so they could have a roof. We created 6 walls and put them up. Tuesday we put up 4 more walls and stated the process of trying to make them straight because the block walls they are on top of are not straight or even. Today we created a template to create the 38 foot long rafter. We finished one and were able to hoist it up some 30 feet in the air. It was quite a feat, but with the help of some church men we were able to do it. Our goal is to make and set up another 6 rafters on Thursday and another 6 on Friday.

Everyone is doing fine even with the heat! There is plenty of good clean water available. The team has worked very well together and we are all rejoicing in God. Please continue to pray for our safety especially for the ones working up so high. Thanks and God Bless, Haiti Team

Updated Tuesday, October 25
E-mail from Dave
Everything is going along well. The power went out Monday night so no email. We have gotten up 80% of the second story walls. We will start putting the 39 foot rafters together today. Pray for safety. No one is sick, just hot.

Updated Sunday, October 23
E-mail from Dave
It is Sunday afternoon and we have had a very interesting day. Church here for Pastor Eddie started at 6:00 am because of the heat. I had the privilege of speaking at Pastor Model's church on the Forgiveness of Sin we have in Christ. There were about 120-140 people in attendance. The people dressed their best, ladies in their finest and many men in suits and ties. They are really serious about worshiping God. Pastor Eddie interpreted for me.

Two works of God. One: Yesterday, when Greg took the group out for a walk around the town to see the devastation and the needs. On the way back a young man started walking with him and Greg talked with him. He had gone to the Church school many years ago and knew about Christ but had never accepted Christ as his Savior. When we got back to the church Greg invited him to come to church today. He did and brought a friend. After the service the boy came up to Greg and said he would like to talk some more because he did not know what it meant to repent of his sin. The boy also connected with people of the church and plans to return.

Two: On the way over to the orphanage an elderly lady came up and started walking with Jake and Stephanie, who are working with us. They are from Utah. All of a sudden two small children, a boy about 5 and girl about 6 were alongside saying "take me, take me"! Mo, our Haitian interpreter, told us the elder lady was the grandma and had walked over to this part of the city because no one would help her. She and the children have not eaten and no place to live. She wanted Stephanie to take the two children! Greg gave her some food money and told her to come to the church tomorrow and he would see if there was room in the other orphanage he worked with. Mo said she would be back. We will see.

Please pray for us as tomorrow is our first full day of hard, hot work. We have to rip off the temporary roof so we can build second story walls to hold rafters. The Lord has been gracious so far as they were able to find the necessary wood for the walls for less then was budged. God is good and everyone is well. God bless.