Missions - Haiti
Current Haiti Team Schedule
Team Members: Al & Cindy Perkins, John, Donna & Jesslyn Edwinson, Donna Burleigh, Clark Bourne, Rebecca & Rachel Collins, Trevor Phillips, and Cody DiCarlo
The Team will leave Boston on the evening of June 20th and stay overnight in Ft. Lauderdale. We will take the early flight to PAP on Saturday the 21st and arrive in Haiti at 8:30 am. On Saturday we’ll unpack and organize for the work project and
VBS. On Sunday the 22nd we will attend Bethesda Church, the Creole speaking church, where we’ll be doing the VBS.
Monday through Thursday we’ll be doing VBS in the morning and concrete construction in the afternoon. Friday we’ll travel outside of PAP driving to a village named Cazale and then walking to another village named Fond Blanc. We will distribute the food purchased form the Gleanings Offering in these two villages. We will also look at a possible future work project in Fond Blanc.
Saturday will be a sight seeing day. Sunday we’ll worship at Quisqueya Chapel where Luke will be working for the summer and possibly visit other ministries in PAP. On Monday the 30th we’ll return home arriving in Boston at 6:45 pm
Summer in Haiti for Luke & Becca Perkins (2008)
Luke & Becca will be leaving on Tuesday, June 17th for their 6-week stay in Haiti.
They will be spending these 6 weeks in ministry and watching over the home of missionaries Karl & Ann Olsson. Luke will be covering the Pulpit each Sunday for Karl, while Becca will be helping missionary Sherri Fausey run her summer school program for the children that live in the slums. She will also be training some of the teachers to be better prepared for the school year.
Contact Information (until Fall) Luke & Becca Perkins
81 North Road, Kingston, NH 03848
Luke: (803) 218-8115 Becca: (803) 917-4894
Email: perkins.luke and perkins.becca (both email addresses end with @gmail.com)
Haiti Send-Off - June 20, 2008
Email Update - June 21, 2008
Hey Everyone,
We just wanted to update you all and let you know that we have arrived safely in Haiti and are busy settling in and beginning our work here. It's been exciting for me (Luke) to reconnect with friends and to get back into the swing of living here. It's also been exciting for me to see how well Becca is adapting to life here and watch her thrive. Becca has been busy spending time with Ann Olsson and learning how to manage the house. Even simple tasks like washing dishes require a few extra steps here so she is learning how to do the things we'll need to do once Karl and Ann head back to the States on Tuesday. Karl and I have been running around the city doing errands for the Chapel and trying to get the Montero back into good running condition so Becca and I will have reliable transportation. We got the A/C fixed yesterday and are hoping to have a rear springs replaced within a few days. Once that is done the truck should be good to go.
We'll be sending out occasional e-mails throughout the course of our stay here but we'll be posting more regular updates on our blog:
http://theperkinsblog.blogspot.com
So check that regularly to see what we're up to. We sure appreciate all of your support and your love! Please remember us in your prayers as we serve here in Haiti.
In Christ,
Luke and Becca
Home From Haiti - July 4, 2008
Dear Church Family and Friends,
We are home from Haiti, having had a challenging but safe and successful trip. Thank you for your prayers and support. After arriving on Saturday and getting the team settled, Luke drove me to Hotel Montana where I witnessed Marc’s graduation. Cindy and I have been supporting Marc’s education for a number of years and this was a wonderful celebration for us.
On Sunday afternoon we began our VBS program at Bethesda Church. Having moved the start from Monday to Sunday at the last minute we weren’t sure how many would come. We started with about 60 kids. By the end on Wednesday we had nearly 200. This challenged our plans and resources. We had planned for 100. On the last day we weren’t sure we’d have enough food, but the Lord provided and we were able to feed all the kids for all four days.
If we had any doubt about whether we had touched kid’s lives it was gone when the kids chased us in the trucks as we left on the last day.
When we weren’t doing VBS we were moving blocks, installing fans and doing general repairs at Pastor Martinez’s house.
On Thursday afternoon we took a break and went to the Baptist mission in the mountains for some fresh air, American food, beautiful views, and shopping.
Friday may have been the most challenging day emotionally. We were up early and drove north out of the city. We turned off the main road and followed a river into the mountains. After crossing the river we arrived in a village named Casale. Here the road ended and we hiked for about an hour on the side of a mountain and down into a valley to a village named Fond Blanc. Earlier in the week I had met with the Church leaders of Casale and Fond Blanc and had given them money to buy food for distribution in the villages. We went on Friday to participate in the distribution. The people gathered and we gave out numbers to help organize the distribution. The crowd pressed us from all sides crawling over each other to get the food. We were barely able to finish before retreating into a vacant missionaries house until the crowd dispersed. It occurred to me that I have never been hungry in my life.
We were able to provide for over 200 bags of food to these villages. Each bag contained one gallon of rice, a can of oil, and some beans. Pastor Martinez said that would feed a family of seven for two meals.
On Saturday we traveled to the beach with some of our sponsored children for a day of fun.
On Sunday we attended Quisqueya Chapel to hear Luke’s first summer sermon. On Sunday night we had the church families sponsored children and their parents meet us. We were able to give each family enough money for a couple of months food and explain that we were there because of the love of Christ.
Thanks to all of you who made this possible.
Al
