Picture Blog~

Here Chris and a few others are helping unload the container. I should have been putting up pics all along but the few times I tried this past year it failed and I just gave up. But in these last 3 weeks I hope to get some good ones up!

This is one of our full mango trees ready to bless us with its wonderful fruit.

This pic is was given to me by a team member. Often Chris and I stroll the beach!

Volleyball camp at Haiti Arise compound.

Young guys listening to a member of the team share their testimony at bball camp.

Playing Sports in GG.

Well it's been a fun filled few days. The team that is here from Briercrest is doing bball and vball camps for youth and young adults. (I posted the link to their blog on the right) It's been a different dynamic having a team of all college age students. I definitely believe they are being challenged and it's good.
Last week they held a bball clinic for 3 days in Grand Goave at the Catholic school court yard. The school has some good hoops and the young people that came out had a great time. Yesterday and today they are teaching volleyball to the youth of our church here at the compound and everyone is just loving it. Lots of smiles all around. :)
On Sunday we went up to Tapion and partcipated in the church service and handed out rice to all the kids. After the service we went to pray with a family of 11 children who just lost their mother to cancer. It was very sombre, I mean what can you say.... really? But prayer was good and Haiti Arise is working on having all of the children sponsored so that in September they can all go to school.
On another note Eldon and his friend Dave just arrived here to help put the plumbing in the clinic. It's really encouraging to see the work projects here continue. The tech school and clinc site are buzzing with activity. Still no word about the childrens village property so we are leaving it alone for now.
Unfortunately there still hasn't been school in Grand Goave.
Some of the students we know from church are concerned they won't be able to graduate this year because it's already been 6 weeks that schools are closed.
So please pray that all these election woes will soon be resolved and then the children can return to school.
Well time is ticking away soon we will have our last team here and then Chris and I will have to say see you later or see you in a while because good byes are not fun and I don't like to think that I won't come back here ever again...
We have a medical team coming next week Wednesday so looking forward to serving the community in that way again too.
Well that's all for today~

No news is good news~

Well it has been really quiet these days after our eventful week. Actually the days following the 'event' were really strange. There was (and still is) no school and no work was being done at all on the property. Chris and I were the only ones here most of the time. Sort of lonely and waaaay too quiet. But now that has all changed as the Briercrest team arrived yesterday.
Right now I am sitting at the table with Miesha, Asher, Jasmine and Lisa. We are all doing homework together :) I guess I consider writing the blog my homework.
Yesterday Marc also arrived as did a couple of guys from Red Deer to help continue the work at the tech school. Albert and Dan are here for 12 days to help pour the rest of the columns.
This morning the team is collecting all the mangos from the work sites. It's nice to hear the drone of the cement mixer going again too.
As for the wall situation. Marc said the mayor called him while he was in Canada. He had tried to meet with the 'bad' guys to come to a resolve but nothing came of it. The guys dont care about the community and what Haiti Arise is trying to do for them. So Marc and the mayor continue to be in contact and a decision is being made and something will happen but we don't know when or how. Luckily the Lord knows and we will continue to pray for a resolution soon.
Well that's all for today. Thanks for your prayers, blessings to you all~

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.