FRIENDS:
Greetings! Thank you for your concerns. Some of you are asking if PP made it back to Haiti OK. Yes He did. He is writing this email right from Lacroix.
I had safe travel. Kerby who had dropped the Venice Presbyterian Church at the airport on Saturday had stayed over night in Port au Prince in order to pick me the next day at the airport.
Every thing is going well in Lacroix. Thanks be to God. Hurricane Matthew did not cause any damage in Lacroix and in the entire area Like Decouvert/Boukan Tony, Perisse, La Coupe, Foucarde, Pacot. On the contrary it has brought two days of rain that was very much needed. People told me if I had come here before the hurricane I would not see any greenish as I see now. It was all dry.
As a result of the hurricane, the hot climate has become worse. It was already very hot; now it is worse. The mosquitoes population has increased. One evening after church I was taking the stairs to the four season and I heard a choir. Those mosquitoes sing very well.
All the crops got burned and people have not harvested anything. As I mentioned before only four departments in Southern Haiti were hit hard by the hurricane Matthew.
Thank God for the Great Country of America because this is the first country to step in to help Haiti in this dire situation. America is always present in good days as in bad days. They don’t wait to be called. Once they are aware of a situation they got on a plane with help and fly in. It was the same after the earthquake in 2010. They are now in the south of Haiti giving water, food, temporary shelter etc to the victims. Americans always see others before they see themselves. This is what makes the greatness of America. They often put their lives at stake to help others. Thank you God for the American people. Thank you America! You are the best!
Lacroix Mission would not have existed had it not been for the generosity of the American People. Even PP had really come into existence after his acquaintance with the Americans. Pastor John Nuzum can tell you how skinny PP was when he first come to America in July 1982. Pastor John could not believe a human being could be that skinny. The Gillon’s in Greenfield IN had to over feed PP in order for him to put some flesh over his bones. This is America.
The Mission is doing well. There is life at the mission. With the children on the compound there is life. I love their noise. They give vital signs. I feel like I am alive. Thank God for my wife. You ought to see how she organizes the lunch period for the kids. They eat right by the classrooms. There is a lot of excitement. It is so cute to see them eating. This is where I take my delight.
I see so many children of about 3 years of age. I see the need for at least two more school buses to haul school children. Dufort who is responsible said that he had to turn so many down because one bus cannot handle all these children. I told him that I was going to have the other one repaired and I am going to see if I can get people to donate to buy at least two more school buses.
Why buy school buses in Haiti versus the United States of America? The ones that we have now were bought here in Haiti. When you consider if you buy it in the US you have to have some one with a CDL to drive it to Florida, when you consider the shipping fees and then custom in Haiti, it doesn’t worth it. Next time I write I will let you know how much I can get them for.
When we talk about bussing the school kids now, it is a miracle. it is big progress for those who have known us at the very start. Our children use to walk five miles one way to school. Now we are not even talking about donkeys or horses we are talking about school bus. This is luxury. You ought to see how children are happy to get on the bus. Someone said to live a normal life in Haiti is luxury which means to have electricity, running water, a bed to sleep on, one meal a day is luxury. Life in Haiti is tough.
Another advantage of having more school buses is the fact that we are building the Haitian economy by creating new jobs in the community. We are going to have to hire more drivers.
By the way you can pray about it to see how God would want you to help with this project. I will be back.
PP what would you do without us? You got it right. I am glad you see that. I pray for you every day.
May God richly bless you!
God Prosperpierre