June 2010 Newsletter

Homebound Missions June Newsletter 2010

Thank You Picnic

We were blessed with beautiful weather for the picnic and would like to say, “Thank you” to those of you who made it out.

If you were unable to make it, but would like a Homebound Missions T-shirt just let me know. This is a while supplies last offer. We have adult Large and Child Large (14-16) sizes available.

Victory Over Poverty

Celebrate with us as our First Family Becomes Financially Independent

It is with great pleasure that I tell you the story of Job Lira. Job is a young man with a wife and daughter. Tragically, he lost his young son in the earthquake.

Tyler and I met Job many years ago on one of our trips to Haiti. He was brought to us through Obenson who had secured him as our driver for the week. Over the years we have had the privilege to get to know him and the man that he is. I want to share some of those times with you.

Whenever, Tyler or I go to Haiti Job makes himself available to us as our driver. On one such trip, things in Haiti were very volatile. There had been shootings in some areas and kidnappings were on the rise. Tyler and I needed to go to an area close to downtown, as I believe we were going to buy Creole Bibles. Job was driving his usual careful self when all of a sudden he sped up and went over a hill and down. Tyler, Grace (Magnalie’s sister) and I almost fell out of the back of the truck. When I knocked on the window to ask him to slow down, he used his hand to gesture a gun. I later learned that there had been shootings in the area and he was trying to keep us safe.

Then, there was the time we brought shoes for Job. Yes, we actually had 2 pair of shoes. We were at the Visa Lodge passing out shoes to several people when we saw Job and asked him to come on over as we had shoes for him. As we handed him the shoes he broke down in tears. Through an interpreter Job said, “Today I didn’t have any shoes and now God has blessed me with 2.” The shoes he was wearing were falling off his feet they were so worn.

A few weeks ago I sent food to a young man named Michaud. He hadn’t received it and had e-mailed stating so. Then I got an e-mail from Job. He had received a food delivery, but the name on it wasn’t his and so he wanted to check if I had sent him food before he used any of it. I e-mailed back to tell him that the food was meant for Michaud, but if he needed food all he had to do was tell me and I would have food delivered right away. He wrote back to tell me he got the food to Michaud and that he could not take food as we were already doing enough. I sent him food.

Job has been one of those people who never wants to ask for anything. Shortly after the earthquake, he e-mailed me to ask for help with his rent. His rent which was once $600.00 US was now thousands of dollars. Tyler and I were crushed, we had to say no, but right then I wrote Job and said, “We cannot pay your rent, but we want to know if you think you can find a taptap for $2000.00 US?” Job’s response, “Now I know you are really thinking about me.” He had been checking out vehicles that were coming into the country and found one for $2500.00 US. HM’s sent him those funds and he purchased the vehicle. Then HM’s sent him $300.00 to have the welding and roof put on. Our final gift was sent last week; $500.00 and this finished the payment for the roof and welding and paid for his insurance. Job is now in business for himself.

It is a tradition in Haiti to paint your taptap with a scripture and a thank you of sorts. Job asked me to pick the scripture and ask who he should thank. I told him he could thank Homebound Missions. I did this because I wanted him to know that it was NOT Tyler and I who made this gift but rather all of you. I wanted him to see it as a gift from many people. Then the scripture I gave him was Jeremiah 29:11. This is my scripture not just for Job but for all the Haitian people.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. NKJV

In Job’s last e-mail he writes: Thank you so much for your precious help. I will keep you posted on everything I am doing. About the bank account, I will do that. Thank you so much and say Hi to every people that help you in my situation that I finally reach my dream thank you infinitely. God bless you peace with you.

Job Lira

Because I am confident that you will not get any mail from Job asking you for anything I thought it might be nice if I gave you his e-mail address so that you could personally congratulate him on his new taptap business. I think it would be a great encouragement to him and an opportunity for you to share your hope for him. Job’s e-mail address is: lirajob@yahoo.fr

It costs Job money to go to the cyber café and get mail, so you might tell him No Response Needed, to let him know he doesn’t need to respond, that is unless you want him to do so.

Do You Even Know What you Have Done?

I wanted to tell you about Job so you could know him more personally as Tyler and I do. I wanted to tell you what you have done to change his life, but I wonder…Do you really know what you have done? Do you grasp the scope of what you have done? Do you know that you have really truly changed the lives in this family forever?

Here are 10 of the most important things you have just done for this family.

You have provided Job with the Tool he needed to support his family. In this you have given him the power to lead his family biblically, spiritually, and physically.
You have ended generational poverty for this family because now Job is going to start a new generation of financial independence.
You have given him the love and praises of his wife and children who will now be thankful to him for their provision instead of strangers.
You have shown them that God really does answer prayer. Their prayers and dreams were for this very moment. You were His hands and feet and got the job done.
His daughter can now go to school.
They can now eat on a regular basis.
They can now have a place to live.
Their daughter is now watching the example of her father in providing for her and this will be her paradigm.
They can get medical care.
Job can now tithe and help others. His family is an example of what God can do.

An Update on Our Other Families

HM’s has been working with Venise and Jean for many years. This has been a much slower process if not just because of the size of the family, 11 members total.

Venise was attending the sewing school and doing very well, but on the day of the earthquake she was blessed to have all of her children survive and lost everything else. Her apartment was completely flattened. Her meager belongings a mattress, refrigerator, table, and clothing were completely gone. With no other options she was forced to move to a different part of Haiti, closer to family, but not near the sewing school.

So we began again with Jean and Venise. The idea came to us that maybe they would enjoy selling new and used clothing. It is something they can do together and HM’s could provide the clothing. They were thrilled with the idea.

Venise and Jean received their first shipment of clothing and are busy selling items. Smith, one of their sons came to the cyber café to tell me that Venise wanted me to know she hadn’t sold all of the clothing yet. I thought this was sweet as she is feeling she needs to sell them timely.

We will send another shipment of clothing this week to make sure they have a new and fresh supply. Customs seems to be cooperating and Jean was able to pay the fees without any problem.

This family is in need of a tremendous amount of support services to get on their feet. We have been sending them food as they ask for it, but their needs are huge. They left with the clothes on their back and have asked if I could send them clothing. Their children are now in need of school tuitions to go back to school. Their new home I have been told is not a lot better than a tent.

These support services that help to bring a family to self sufficiency are very important. We have never been able to totally care for this family in this way because of the number of people involved. We need to be able to do this.

Our vision for this family is to have all of the children in school, with a place to live, and a business that will be able to support all of these needs. We believe that the clothing business can do just that, however, this too entails an expense for HM’s as we will need to collect the clothing and ship it directly to Haiti on a very regular basis.

HM’s is not yet collecting enough clothing to cover their business. We have looked into alternatives such as buying AAA Grade used clothing. We are too small to use this option at this time.

Hyppolite is almost finished with his home repairs. HM’s have also helped him to pay school tuitions for 2 of his children, a third is waiting. We have also sent him food.

Mimose is doing great at sewing school. Magnalie hopes to visit her this summer and is going to teach her a few crochet patterns to add to her items she can sell. HM’s provides Mimose’s family with food and school tuition. Within the next year Mimose will no longer need us as she will begin making money at school. The Heartline school will also teach her how to save money (a requirement), and to budget her money. We are very much looking forward to this as Mimose has worked very hard and it will be such a blessing.

Jean Penez (aka Matthew) We have been sending Penez food upon request and do not yet have a plan for him.

Michaud is a young man in school. He used to work for the Notre Maison orphanage that we once sourced. After the earthquake he contacted us for help. HM’s has paid his school tuition and provides him with food upon request.

Obenson has been difficult to keep in contact with. We hope to change that during the summer as he is also interested in selling clothing. He has requested assistance with his girls schooling and we have sent him food.

Campaign 2010

HM’s would like to continue this work of restoring families to self sufficiency and to do this we need the funding necessary to provide supportive assistance to the families while they are preparing to take over. This supportive assistance includes food, school, and housing. Thanks to Three Angel’s Halos Clinic we can provide medical care free.

Food cost approximately $100.00 a month to provide.

School tuition is between $350.00 and $450.00 per child

Housing is between $600.00 and $800.00 per year (pre-earthquake).

We also have other costs related to creating the opportunity for their self sufficiency, for example when we purchased Job’s vehicle or when we ship Jean and Venise clothing.

Another large portion of our budget goes into shipping as we source other organizations. We presently source The Heartline birth center and women’s program, The Heartline sewing school, Three Angel’s Halos Clinic, TA’s school, and orphanage, the For His Glory's Orphanage, and The Apparent Project. Thousands of pounds of donations have been shipped since the earthquake. Donations of kind, medical supplies, clothing, shoes, diapers, sheets, towels, and toys have poured in, and have been shipped out.

To move forward this next year we are looking to raise $10,000.00

We have put up a chip in meter so that everyone can see how we are doing. Please consider making a financial donation today. Thank you for all you have already done.

Over 3,700 pounds of fabric shipped to Haiti via Georgia

On June 22, HM’s shipped out over 3,700 pounds of fabric to Heartline’s Sewing School in Haiti.

We have so many to thank for this gift. First, thank you, Angela and Eric, who sell us the fabric for a mere $1.00 a roll as this is so extremely generous. We are talking about fabrics that sell for $50.00 - $100.00 a yard.

As you know we are always trying to be as cost effective as possible with all the things we do, but shipping costs are so high that we must make it a priority in our money saving efforts.

When Sheila of God’s Plumbline Ministries, the person who oversees the sewing school heard that we had such a huge amount of fabric she wanted to help us get it to them cost effectively. So she mentioned it to a friend of hers, Sam who volunteered to come and get it for a mere $500.00. This was just to pay his expenses back and forth. This saved us at least $1500.00 and I suspect even more as shipping costs are just high right now. What a great time of fellowship this turned out to be.

Sam along with his friend Merrill arrived on June 22, which was also my birthday. I planned a huge ham dinner; my neighbor baked me a special birthday cake called tres le leche. This is a cake that you soak in three creams overnight. It was very, very good. Then we invited all the volunteers: Sam and Chase Flibbert, my neighbors Dot and Kevin, My dad and mom Cheryle, and Sam and Merrill and Magnalie.

The fellowship began with a ham dinner and birthday cake/ ice cream and then the hard work began. To fit all the fabric into the truck and trailer we had to rebox and unbox a lot of the fabric, but by nightfall it was all in there. There were a few fights with the fabric rolls which appear to second as swords, someone was inadvertently packed into a box (Chase did it), but other than that, it was quite uneventful.

Thank you volunteers for all of your hard work. Sam and Chase you are just the best. Magnalie thank you for cleaning up all the dishes and putting the food away. Dot and Kevin you are always there when I need you. The cake was fabulous. Sam and Merrill, so glad we had the chance to meet you and work along side you. Sheila, thank you for coordinating such an opportunity and for saving us those precious funds that can be used to change lives instead. Dad and Cheryle thank you for that lovely breakfast that you prepared so that we could send Sam and Merrill off with full stomachs.

Sewing School Shipment