Haiti Trip, June 2011 - Final Email

Bonjour…

Well, I have been back home for a few days now and am finally able to get this final email out.  These trips are always so wonderful because I get that firsthand reminder of how special the people of Haiti are, just how well off I have it here in the United States, and how much still needs to be done in Haiti.  I would like to thank you all for your willingness to receive my emails and put up with my ramblings.  I was able to accomplish a lot on this trip and thanks must go out to Dony and Sharon St. Germain, Louis St. Germain, and Guercy Meme for being my hosts.  I know that I ran them ragged with all of my running around taking pictures, getting GPS coordinates, and asking many questions.

Now comes the fun part…doing the followup work generated from this trip.  Some of it includes:

• Organize all of the photos taken and get them sent out to donors as reports on funded activities.
• Plot all of the GPS information gathered on GoogleEarth.
• Update our assessment information on all of the sites visited.
• Design, estimate, and help secure funding for the orphan homes to be built at Mapou.
• Develop the property layout for the university in Jeremie.
• Redesign, estimate, and help secure funding for the buildings at the university in Jeremie.  This includes the Cafeteria/Fellowship Hall, the Administration Building, the Classroom Building, the Dormitory and the Visiting Staff Bungalows.
• Design and estimate the school to be built at Maniche.
• Modify the design and estimate for the school and medical clinic to be built at Savannes.
• Continue raising my personal support.

Fortunately only about 9 of these need to be done in the next 2 to 3 weeks.  Wait…that is all of them.  Please be in prayer for me that I will be a good steward with my time and resources to get these done.

My next “trip” will be starting July 14 where Laura and I, plus my daughter and her fiance will be driving from Ohio to California.  While there we have a family reunion and my daughter’s wedding going on.  I will be taking my remote office with me and continuing to work while also spending time with my parents and extended family.  I also hope to be meeting up with professors at two universities, various NGO and corporate executives, and various other meetings to share our work in Haiti.  Hopefully new partnerships will be established so that our work can expand and be better supported.  We will be getting back home around the 16th of August.

I will leave you with one last picture.  This one was taken while we were at Savannes measuring the property.  This is one of our newest churches and we have seen so much happen here already.  In this picture people from the church, people from the community, and our team all gathered together for me.  This is why we (ESMI) are working in Haiti.  It really is not about the buildings…it is about the people.  We come from a part of the world that is so richly blessed in so many ways.  When home I never have to worry about getting water out of my tap and drinking it.  First, it always comes out and second, it can be safely drunk.  I never have to worry about flipping a switch in my house and having the lights go on.  I can go to sleep at night in a clean, comfortable bed with air conditioning running to keep me comfortable.  I always have food in my refrigerator and on my shelves.   I am blessed to be a part of an organization that desires to reach out to our brothers and sisters that do not have all of these amenities and encourage them, teach them, bless them with our abundance.  Thank you for helping me to be able to a part of this team.