Yesterday, the helicopter for Samaritan's Purse (S.P.) left our compound for the last time. After two years of hosting S.P., they have left our conference center and we now have it back to take up where we left off when the earthquake hit. They still have a small staff living and working at the bottom of our property, but the majority of their staff moved over to their base in the South of Haiti. Their operation has changed from relief to sustainable projects.
Our first conference starts back up next Monday and we are busy refurbishing the conference kitchen and getting it ready to go. It was very heavily used for the last two years, serving over 500 meals/day at the height of the relief effort, so it needed an overhaul. The conference is a Leadership Training conference for pastors and lay-leaders in the churches. This is the same conference that was taking place at the time of the earthquake. We were on day 2 of 5, when the earthquake hit and everything was suspended, so now we are starting again and starting over with the same conference and prayerfully many of the same people. We are very excited to get back to conferences and we are also gearing up for youth camps.
Our first returning youth camp will start February 17th and bring in about 230 youth during the Carnival and Madi Gras celebrations. Schools are closed here during that time and the goal is to get these kids away from the raucous parties that happen this time of year and instead focus on their walk with the Lord. The theme this year is Jeremiah 29:11 and we pray that these kids will feel that they DO have a hope and a future in this country when they follow the Lord. We still have work to do to get the camp ready. The site of the helicopter hanger is actually our basketball court and we now have to take down the hanger building, fill holes and redo the floor, and get the poles and hoops up and ready to go. We may not have it all finished, but want to have it usable when they arrive.
We have hired our very first employee for the camps, a Haitian youth director named Romil who has such a heart for evangelism and discipleship. He speaks English well and we feel he will be a good fit for what we want to accomplish. Chris is in process of changing a small S.P. staff house next to our house into a temporary camp office where he and Romil can work on plans for camps. We are excited for all these changes and ask for your prayers as we move forward with these ministries.
