Range Bible Church Food Arrives in Haiti!

Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor
    will also cry out and not be answered.

Proverbs 21:13

 

 

Range Bible Church Food Arrives in Haiti!

Two trucks loaded with food

The 'Kids Against Hunger' food that was packed last fall at Range Community Bible Church, Hurley, WI finally arrived in Haiti! Due to a little mix up, the food was delayed in shipping. Eventually, it was combined with other boxes of food to total approx 250,000 meals which the US Air Force shipped over for us.


Doing all I can to help fix the flat!

The food arrived in Port au Prince April 21 and was picked up and stored by an organization called Children's Life Line located about an hour from the airport. Jerry Lantz and I weren't able to get to Haiti to meet the shipment because of a prior commitment which had the two of us going to Lancaster, PA on April 23. An organization called 'Lemuel' www.lemuelministries.org was celebrating their 20th anniversary and invited us to attend.

Rice fields before the desert

A little about Lemuel. Gail and I got to know Judy and Manis Dilus, the directors of Lemuel, while we were living in the northwest. I had heard that there was a couple running a ministry about an hours drive away from us. Not knowing what to expect, I decided to email them and introduce ourselves. They invited us over for lunch which was the start of our ongoing friendship with them.

Broken down truck blocking the road

I would like to share a little about the ministry of Lemeul. They are doing a fantastic work for the Lord in a very remote region of Haiti. It's become our 'go to' place when we are in the northwest. With the help of our Lord, they are changing a village from voodoo to Christianity. The ministry is headed up by a man that was born and raised in that village. He has the respect of the local people and the changes that have taken place are amazing! They believe in giving a 'hand up' and not a 'hand out'. They have many programs in place to help local people help themselves and advance. So it was certainly a privilege to be asked to attend their celebration! Ok, so my plan was to take pictures of the event and put a few up on the blog. Well, wouldn't you know, I forgot my camera back at the hotel in Philadelphia, over an hour's drive away. An attempt was made to use my cell phone camera, but everything I took was blurry at best. So, sorry, no pics.

A village along the way

5 Days, 8 Planes, 7 Which Worked!

Between the Lemuel celebration and getting to Haiti, I spent 5 consecutive days having at least one flight. During those 5 days I was on 8  planes in which 7 actually worked! Ok, so it sounds like I was in a plane crash. I wasn't. On the flight from Miami to Haiti we had just pulled away from the gate and the pilot notice a warning light. They couldn't fix the problem and we ended up switching planes. So we got to experience, yet again, the joy of unloading and reloading a flight to Haiti.

Barefoot children running along side the truck wanting food

Because of the delay, we didn't get to Port au Prince until about 6 in the evening. Knowing that it's not a good idea to drive at night in Haiti, we got lodging in Port au Prince.

Unloading the packaged meals

The next day Jerry and I met up with Simon. He's a Haitian friend of ours that works with Chuck Martindale and 'Truth Ministries' http://truthem.org  in Z'Orange, Haiti. Simon drove us out to get the truck we were going to take to the northwest. But first, we had to purchase two new batteries for it. Once the truck was running, we drove about an hour up the coast to 'Children's Life Line' to meet up with the food shipment. Nothing is easy in Haiti. It took us all day to just purchase batteries, get the truck running, and drive an hour up the road. Due to a bridge collapse, driving in Port au Prince is a nightmare. We thank Simon for his driving abilities!

Dried out fields due to lack of rain

We were up early the next morning for the drive to the northwest. We had two box trucks loaded with food which was driven by Haitian drivers and the 4 door Ford 1 ton which Jerry and I were in. It took us 9 hours just to get to our destination! Only two stops, one for diesel and one for a flat on one of the food trucks. Otherwise, it was just slow going the entire way. This trip can be done in 6 hours, depending on who's driving. But, we were following the food and they drove slow to help save ware and tear on their trucks.

We gave some food to this deaf and mute man along the road

Earlier this year, Jerry Lantz from Global Compassion Ministries, http://globalcompassionministries.com placed a container on the Lemuel campus so we could store food in that area. So on this trip, one truck unloaded there and the other truck went to Ti Lagon where we have 2 food containers. Ti Lagon is where Gail and I lived while in Haiti. The campus was built and is run by Living Water Ministries, http://livingwaterhaiti.org

After the trucks were unloaded, we met up in the village of Ans Rouge just as it was getting dark. As we paid the drivers, we were hit in the back passenger widow with a beer bottle. I guess some guy didn't like where we parked. No damage, but we decided not to hang around and drove a couple blocks away. Things just aren't good after dark!

We dropped off 50 boxes to Ellen's orphange

The next day we visited the area we know as Philadelphia. As in an earlier post, the folks from Global Compassion Ministries did a wonderful job fixing up the church there. We met with people from the village and the pastor who is the leader of that little area. We were blessed to be able to give them food. The villagers will receive some of the food in return for clearing some of the thorny shrubs in the village. The pastor will monitor this.

On Saturday we headed back to Port au Prince. The drive was much faster this time seeing as we weren't following the food trucks. Along the way, we stopped at a Baptist Mission on the coast and met the directors of it. Wonderful facility. We also stopped at Ellen's orphanage to give her 50 boxes of food that was packed by a church specifically for her.

At the bottom of the page is a 29 second video of taking food to Philadelphia. In the future, we hope to be able to provide more and better video shots of our trips. But that will require getting a 'real' video camera!

As we continue to work with and come along side the church and clinic in the village of Boukan Patriyo, we will also be returning to this remote, desert region of Haiti to deliver more food. The area is in a terrible drought and the people living in this region haven't had a good garden for years. I would like to encourage everyone to think about, and pray about, coming along side us in this ministry. We are a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, so your donations are tax deductible. We are so grateful for your prayers and financial support. Without it, we could not do the work the Lord has called us to do. Thank you and God bless!

In His Service,

Chuck & Gail Guerber

Grace Hill Ministries
P.O. Box 171
Ironwood, MI  49938
USA: 906.285.2500
Haiti: 509.4753.0270