April 19, 2010

Manno has been in the states for the past two weeks. While here, he shared pictures and stories of how his congregation packaged and distributed earthquake relief supplies that were shipped to him in two containers.

Supplies were distributed in the Pillatre area as well as other surrounding areas where temporary hospitals had been established.

March 14, 2010

News from Manno today about the relief shipments:

The first container is now at Pillatre and we had to unload everything for customs's inspection.
Now most of the pallets are inside the clinic and a very small part inside the container.

I talked to the owner of Haiti shipping lines on the phone and he agrees that we bought the container. They are going to bring us another one and take the one we have now.

The second container with just rice, beans and cooking oil may be released tomorrow or Tuesday. I will let you know what to do, how much they charge us for duty and everything else.

March 1, 2010

Manno and I were able to speak this morning after numerous attempts at getting a call to go through.
He and Prisca had just hosted a team from Colorado last week that comes each year to work in the medical clinic. He said they saw between 800-1000 patients and Pillatre and then also spent Thursday working in the village of Lory.

He shared how they are continuing the work on a portion of the wall that surrounds the property. Part of it had been leaning for quite some time. All of the rain they have received as of late and the aftershocks were not helping it any so they are now busy rebuilding it.

He said he received a call that the first container was going to arrive over the weekend. He was heading down to the port in Cap Haitian to check on it's arrival this morning. He will be arranging for delivery to the Pillatre complex.

For this shipment and others that are currently on their way, we actually purchased the container everything is shipped in so that they will have a safe place to store it at Pillatre. He said he'd take a lot of pictures as they begin to unload and distribute it.

Please be praying that they can establish an orderly and safe way to share these supplies with those in need. Also, they continue to have very strong aftershocks. They had a 6.4 aftershock just this past Tuesday. Please pray that God will continue to protect them.

All for now,
Shelley

The first shipment of supplies being packed and loaded on Saturday, February 13th

February 25, 2010

I received this email from Manno last night. Good news and news needing our prayers.

Since the January 12th earthquake which killed an estimated 217,000 people and left more than 100,000 homeless or handicapped I have seen and heard many things that I have never seen nor heard in my lifetime.

I have noticed two extremes largely different from each other. I have seen many more people leaning toward church, God or the Gospel. Since January we have more than 30 decisions for Christ. Many hearts are softer than usual.

At the same time, several other are getting senseless. They are more cruel. They don't seem to have a heart at all. They are capable of doing anything bad at anytime.

Just to give you an example, in the community of Pillatre, not too far from our church, a group of 150 to 200 young men and women attacked a World Food Program convoy Monday.

About five trucks carried 5000 sacks of rice each and were headed to Port-au-Prince. They took the rice and left the trucks empty. They said that they are hungry so they would not let the rice pass by and go to Port.

What we have we give to all faiths or beliefs. We give food, water and financial support to all the people that come to us or to those we meet anywhere we go. One thing we never forget is to tell them these things comes from our Christian brothers and sisters in the USA.

We are only giving a short term relief to the needy, so we don't pick Christians only.

Please pray for us.

Manno

February 16, 2010

I asked Manno about the three days of prayer and fasting that President Preval had declared. Here was his response:


The National league of Haitian pastors asked the government to give us 3 days set apart in the Haitian calendar for three days of prayer and fasting.

The president said instead of 3 days I give you 5 days. Since he is a joker we thought that he was playing but we made all the arrangements anyway. He did not say anything at all. When the dates arrived we started the prayer and fasting all over the country.

We proclaimed 4 days of prayer and fasting and a day of marching through out all the main cities of the country. We did Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th. Sunday the 14th, we had church as usual. On Monday the 15th and today we had a big march in town.

For us in the North, we marched through Cap-Haitian from 8 AM through 3:30 PM. We start by the Airport, we went through the boulevard by the ocean all the way through town. We passed in front of the Cathedral which is 18th street.

I just come back from the march and I am kind of tired. My back is hurting bad. I also have some pictures of the march that I will attach.

Have a good night

Manno

Wow....an amazing testimony....amazing faith.

Hello everyone,
Here is a note I received from Manno last night:


How is everything with you? Here we continue to be doing well by the grace of God. Since the earthquake things are getting more and more difficult. Many people are still suffring for even the smallest things both at home where they are and in the hospitals.

But the biggest problem we are having now is how to sort out the people who are really in need from the ones who are not refugees. Since they realize that we are giving some assistance to the people that got hurt in the earthquake, several people come to my home or at Pillatre to ask for food, money or anything that we can give them for some of their relatives. I tell you the truth, I don't really know who to trust! Anyway, I am doing my best.

We are now kind of low on cash but I think that I can finish this week without any problem.

Two and half weeks ago I took my truck to Santiago and I told them about the problems that I have with it. They call me last Wednesday and ask me to come to sign the contract. When I arrived there they told me that the truck has two problems and I should give thanks to the Lord that I did not make a terrible accident because the steering-shaft broke at the base.

The second problem is the engine. They have to rebuild it because they see some very black things coming from it. That's the reason why it cannot start or run well. It will take one month for them to fix it. I had no choice but to say go ahead and start working on it. l

Please, pass that on to the rest of the board for me and keep me in your prayers because now I only have the old Montero and it doesn't run well either.

Blessings Manno