New pictures of the clinic construction. The roof is on and the covering of block both inside and out is almost complete. Soon, we will be knocking out the wall between the old clinic and the new addition, so it all becomes one unit! Exciting (but very messy!).
We have also started a huge project in Titanyen-overseeing the addition to Titanyen Baptist church of a new 2000- seat auditorium. The old sanctuary will be converted to Sunday school rooms and classrooms during the week. This is the largest construction project that Chris has ever worked with and it's very challenging! It will be the flagship church for a convention of 18 churches that Pastor Kelly is in charge of and will host many events in addition to weekly services.
The middle two weeks of May were very difficult for the people of Titanyen as some in their midst chose to demonstrate violently in order for the village to get electricity. It ended up in a fight between Titanyen and a village further to the north and turned very ugly. We had several nights of the women that work for us along with their children all 'camping' in our volunteer quarters because it was too dangerous to sleep in their homes. There still has not been resolution to the problem of no electricity, but the violence has stopped (with much intervention of the church leaders, police, and community leaders). Please pray that a peaceful solution will be found and there will be no further trouble.
We were very honored last week to attend the seminary graduation of Pastor Jean-Claude, the associate pastor of Titanyen church. He completed 4 years of vigorous study, living in town during the school week, working every weekend at the church often preaching, and overseeing a Christian school he directs. We applauded his dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice to complete this with so many obstacles, especially with the earthquake leveling part of the seminary. They had to press very hard to complete the required course work, making up for the lost months after the quake. Our 3rd associate pastor will graduate in another year and we are excited about the young men in the congregation that are following their example and attending either bible school or seminary. As many pastors in Haiti have never even been to bible school, this is so important for church pastors and leaders to get the biblical training they need in order to lead others.
We took time off from teams during the month of May as David and Judy Heady (our directors) had commitments in the States and we needed time for our new missionaries, Glen and Linda Erickson, to get their feet on the ground and established here. We are now gearing up for teams again for the next 6 months and the first team will arrive Friday morning. It happens to be our own home team from Grace, Greeley CO (including our oldest son Jonathan) and we are very excited for them to get here.
