April 26th pics~

This pic is the trench that the 'bandits' filled with rocks that our guys dug.

Our sign amongst the carnage that we will be able to salvage and fix up. :)

Post from the wall that they tried to break but couldnt, instead they burned a tire on them.

Everyone surveying the mess~ This is what they did to try to block the road to Haiti Arise.

Haiti Arise gate with some burn marks!

Continue to Pray~

Hello, well nothing has happened since Tuesday and we are all very grateful. Thank you Lord. Apparently the mayor of Grand Goave held a meeting with all the persons involved and well nothing was resolved. Supposedlly he gave us the go ahead to continue working on the wall but we aren't doing anything at the moment. All work has stopped even work on the Haiti Arise compound. Marc asked for that to happen until he comes back from Canada on Monday. So it's really quiet around here with no work going on, no classes or school too. It's really different for sure.
Marc went to Canada to meet with some of the board members for Haiti Arise. Pray for him and the board for wisdom and that he would recieve a lot of encouragment during this short trip.
You wouldn't believe the rumors that are going around Grand Goave about this situation. I will just give you a few examples, some lady from our church called Lisa this morning asking if she is okay. She heard Lisa had been beaten up. The other rumor is that Marc and Lisa have packed up and headed back to Canada. So it's interesting. :)

People in Grand Goave continue to protest the political situation. Apparently there was no final announcement about who the deputy is going to for Grand Goave so both sides are upset. They like blocking the roads with big trucks and piles of rocks. Hmmmm we don't quite understand why these things continue happening....... But we trust that God is in control and things will settle down soon.
We had a great prayer service last night at church and God spoke to my heart and told me not to be scared because he's watching over me. It was very comforting.
We thank you for all your prayers and concern. We are safe and continue to prepare things here for the next team and will head to the beach tomorrow.
well that's the update for today. Thanks for reading.

Please Pray for Haiti Arise~

This is an email message that Lisa wrote yesterday to inform everyone what is going on here right now. Also I have connected some other blogs to my blog that have more pictures and interesting stuff about Haiti on them. Feel free to check it out!

Dear friends and family~

Well, I was hoping to send out a joyful newsletter before May 1st, which I will still strive to do. But this short letter is to ask everyone for URGENT prayer. Haiti ARISE is under serious attack, and I mean, for real.

A brief background: We purchased a piece of land right along the main road for the future construction of the elementary and high school, church, sports arena and children's village. We have been trying to wall it in since Nov 2009, as you cannot start any construction until you have a wall. But we have run into nothing but battles since we began. There is a group of men that have been fighting us every step of the way, trying to gain more property for themselves from the land that we purchased. Some want a highway put in down the middle of the land, another has moved our boundary lines and another built his house right on the property line to force us to move in our wall. Naturally, we do not understand these attacks, as the land was fairly purchased, is private, and there are many accessible roads in the area. But we recognize that these are clearly spiritual attacks, as the enemy is not happy we are taking ground for Christ in Grand-Goave. All that we are doing is for the community's development.


At present: We have received court order and the justice have issued warrants for the arrest of the main perpetrator, named Jimmy. We have sent our labor crews out to build the wall numerous times, and tried again this morning. The police came to arrest Jimmy and a riot started.

His gang of vagabonds chased off our workers with machettes and many threats. It is noon now and we are all inside the compound, watching as they are smashing bottles and throwing rocks over our front gate. They have set tires on fire to try to burn the gate down. We extinguished them and when they saw the gate open, they charged again with rocks, bottles and anger. Marc called the police twice already and they are busy with other matters in town. But we are safe inside. The school children are safe. The workers are all safe. The staff are safe.


I cannot understand the mentality, nor can any of our workers and staff. Many say Grand-Goave is a town where people cannot prosper. Jealousy and hostility rises when someone tries to advance. Others say they have received too much help already and are ungrateful. As for us, we know that God called us here. It is not an easy place, but God calls us to be victorious and stand our ground.


PLEASE PRAY FOR US. WE NEED A BREAKTHROUGH WITH THIS LAND. WE NEED JESUS TO CHANGE THE HEARTS OF THESE MEN.


Sincerely,

Marc and Lisa Honorat

Happy Easter from Haiti~

Dear family and friends, we have had a wonderful week and weekend. Celebrating Easter in Haiti has been a huge blessing. We had multiple prayer services through out the week and Friday night Chris preached a message about what really happened on that cross regarding the payment of sin for all. It was intense and then the church watched the Passion of the Christ. Not the children though, I forgot how gruesome that movie is. I can't even watch it all. Easter Sunday we were blessed with great worship and Pastor Marc reminding us that Christ is no longer in the grave, He has RISEN and that there is so much freedom in accepting that payment he made for each of us on the cross.

I think that the Link team was really blessed and had a wonderful time with the people worshipping and working alongside them this past week. They just left this morning. I have posted a link to their blog on the left side of the page. I am sorry I didn't do that with all the teams who wrote blogs. I also posted the medical teams blog as well if you care to read how things went from their perspectives.

So this past week we held a 3 day childrens' program. It went really well had over 200 kids each day wow!~ The team also helped with the building of another house pouring the foundation and making blocks. This was one of their greatest high lights working along side the family that we are building the home for. We got to walk in the community a lot and show them how the people in this area of Haiti live life. It was eye opening and stretching to everyone. This team was especially keen to sponsor children so we spent a lot of time visiting the kids they chose and meeting their families.
I truly believe that being in Haiti for this time has changed Chris and I. We are not the same people anymore and our values are different and how we look at life has changed dramatically. So please extend grace to us as we process things and look at coming back to Canada. We will need your prayers and help to change cultures again. When you come to Haiti for 10 days you get a glimpse as to what goes on here but you don't see the big picture or understand truly the mentality and why things are the way they are. I am not saying we are experts because we are not but we've seen and experienced a lot and I am so thankful to be able to share with those of you who want to know more.
Yesterday we had a rice distribution for the church and community. Near the end it was quite chaotic and many of us had different reactions to it. Some people were scared, some angry, and some felt their heart breaking. It's always a struggle to know if this is something that Haiti Arise should continue doing. Only in the fact that a few people stir up others to push, yell, and shove their way to the front of the line to be first. But think about it how would we deal in their situation, if we didn't have the abundance of food and someone was giving out a free meal once a month. Hmmmm well I will leave you with that thought for today. Thanks for reading and sharing in our time here.
May God Bless you this day as you follow him.

~ Oh, and feel free to post comments and questions below our blog in the comments area if you would like.

It's raining Mangos!

Bonswa from Haiti Arise, where the current weather is mangos, mangos and more mangos. No joke almost every where you walk on the property you are bound to step on a mango. So it's already the middle of April, I am always in awe of how time passes. Life truly is short and I am believing more and more what's done for Christ will be what truly last.

So I would like to explain the pics I have on the blog, the big one with all the people is everyone who helped pour the last section of the medical clinic roof. That day was actually the day before Kathleen left and she was so thankful God answered her prayers and got to leave with that part of the clinic finished. Roy, our engineer, the one who started with the technical school also left that same day. They both accomplished so much during their time here on the compound. The foundation for the tech school is finished and some of the first columns have even been erected. We were so blessed to have those skilled people with us working along side our Haitian brothers to get these projects going. We really miss them here, it's been really quiet these days on the compound these days.

School hasn't been in session for 2 weeks. Mostly because parents don't like sending their kids to school during election results. Also since many people in Grand Goave have been protesting the vote for the new deputy things have been interesting. Nothing to worry about but the town is divided in their loyalties and each party wants the other in place. Just like Canada we have our own loyalties or preferences we just don't throw rocks around if our person is not voted in. (even if we want too :) Apparently the final election results will be announced this Wednesday but that is subject to change.

Right now we are actually waiting for a new team to arrive. They are definitely going to have a good experience with it being Easter this weekend. We are going to have special prayer services during this week and show the Passion of the Christ on Friday night. I am looking forward to everything especially the kids program we will have from Wed-Fri. We have had 4 kids programs this year and they have been really successful with just under 200 kids each time. Marc always says that the children are the future of Haiti (obviously) and we need to invest in them as much as possible. That is part of his vision with the elementary school and orphans village it's amazing and so necessary here. We still need lots of prayer for the children's village property. We are still experiencing opposition and building is still at a stand still. We need God to break through to the few that are trying to stop this good thing from happening. I don't understand why this is happening but we have to trust the Lord's control in the situation and keep fighting the good fight.

The home building continues to go forward, this past week 2 new homes have had their land cleared and foundation dug and is ready to be poured. There are 3 finished homes and those families are now living in those homes. It is really awesome to see especially because those first families are staff of Haiti Arise.

Oh the other pictures is of us ladies dressed up in the evening gowns we found in the container. We had a break from sorting and decided to have some fun with a little fashion show. Lots of fun :) Elisa if you are reading this blog thanks for sending those they will be a blessing to the women who recieve them.

Well that's all for today. I think Chris wants to add something to this blog about his eventful, "you know you are in Haiti when" morning. But he can come and edit this later. Please pray for Chris and I as we make decisions regarding our future. We want to continue following Gods' will and need guidance. Thank you so much for following our journey. God Bless you today~
Rebecca

Haiti Awareness Blog!

So we've had an interesting week sorting through both containers and coming across a lot of interesting items. Pretty much this blog is going to be about what not to send to Haiti. I also hope it makes us ponder where we get the mentality that we can send 3rd world countries junk or things that we wouldn't want to use ourselves.

In the first container we received lots of hygiene products (all brand new). It was like shoppers drug mart emptied a warehouse and put it in a sea-can. In this particular container we received the following 'not' Haiti friendly products: ~ sunscreen, tanning oil, skin bronzers ~ panty hose ~ stevia, expired food and candy from 2008 ~ expired cough syrup, protein shakes, vitamins as far back as 2008 ~ hair removal cream, bath oil, face mask packets ~ heating coils so your pipes wont freeze ~ fabric softener sheets, I am sure there were others but that's all we could think of as we made our list.
Now mind you there were some really good things in that containers as well like baby diapers, soap, shampoo, lotion, candles, and band-aids. I have a story for you about the hair removal cream. In our sorting we made a "not for Haiti pile" and placed the hair removal there. Some how as stuff was being distributed a few ladies received the hair removal cream. Marc was talking with some computer students today and we heard that the ladies were using it in their hair as shampoo and were starting to lose their hair. Like it's falling out! Whoever handed out that product clearly did not read the label or tell the ladies what it is and how it can be used. Can you imagine if that happened in Canada? Lawsuit central~ Ha anyways that was supposed to make you smile.
Now onto the next list of things we found in the container that is staying here. ~ ski pants, snowboard boots, knitted slippers ~ an English book on Canadian parliament from 1983 ~ 2010 calendar ~ VHS videos on the petroleum industry ~ Used binders with school papers notes in them from whatever class ~ 1950 black and decker drill that does not work plus a bunch of other old tools that do not work and are in the junk pile. ~ A polaroid camera from like 1960 that has no film and doesn't work ~ used, dirty stuffed animals/ toys
These are again a few of the items that we found and sort of shook our heads at. I guess what I am trying to do is help people try to understand that what comes here needs to be useful. It costs a lot of money, time and effort to fill the containers ship them here and then get them out of Port au Prince. People in this country want good things and need good things. So please before you donate something to Haiti or any other 3rd world country please think about what you are sending and if you were on the receiving end what would you think.
I do want to thank those who did put a lot of time and effort into putting good things into the containers that will be useful here in the future and now. I am sure it was a lot of work to get everything together and sorted.
Thanks for reading~
Rebecca