Larry McEwen's Blog

One of our teams recently returned from Haiti. They accomplished so much. Three prefab homes were completed and many lives were touched. It will be years before life returns to normal for the folks down there, but God is using the tragedy of the earthquake to allow His followers to reach out in special ways. We have another team going down the first week of August. Keep them in your prayers as they prepare for the trip.

We have a team of five in Haiti this week. Please keep them in your prayers as they work to build 200 square foot homes for those hard hit by the earthquake. The container that was shipped from the United States to Haiti has arrived with all the medical supplies. Crutches, walkers, antibiotics, and wheel chairs. We will be sending another team in a few weeks. We hope to send at least two other teams this summer. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Hey folks, I finally got to talk to Phil Murphy and he gave me some exciting news from Haiti. Phil returned from Haiti over the weekend to be with his family but left again yesterday to go back down. Phil is working with local Haitian pastors to identify some of those in greatest need and will be meeting with those pastors this this week.

Here’s the exciting news. Our good friend, Stefan Vervloet is retooling his factory to build pre-fab houses for the people of Haiti. At this time it looks like a complete two room, 200 square foot home, wood framed, and on a slab, will be available for  2,000.00. However, the Dutch government, where Stefan is from, is involved in this new effort and for now, we can get two for the price of one! So that makes these houses only a thousand dollars each.

The other exciting thing about this is that once the slab has been poured, it will only take a few tools, like a hammer, crow bar, and ratchets, to put these prefabbed homes together.  Phil thinks a mission team could likely construct five or six of these in a weeks time.

Now I know that 200 square feet doesn’t sound like much to you and me. However, for many of these people, it would be a great improvement over conditions even before the quake. The Haitian people are now scarred to live in block and concrete homes and this seems to be a great alternative. Another thing to remember is that the rainy season is fast approaching Haiti. Without some form of shelter, many others could become victims of the quake.

It looks like work teams will be needed as soon as the first week of April. I will get back with you as exact dates become available and will give you details.

Pray for Phil this week as he is setting the stage and laying the groundwork for this exciting ministry to the people of Haiti.  I’m thankful God is allowing us to be a small part of what He is doing to touch the lives of the people in Haiti. God Bless You and keep on praying.

I just talked to Phil Murphy. He is going back to Haiti next Wednesday. Keep him in your prayers. There’s a lot going on. As you may know, the community of Calbasse has been on the news a lot in the past few days. This is the community where the orphanage is. The people who tried to take 30 children out of the country through the Dominican Republic evidently talked a couple of the older brothers in the House of Blessings orphanage into interpreting for them. This has created a very difficult situation. Reporters are constantly trying to talk to Tanya and Franky, who now run the orphanage. Phil does not know these people, nor do we. I’m not sure what denomination of Baptist they are. There were several missionaries Phil knows very well, who evidently tried to convince these people not to follow through with their plans. They insisted and are now in a lot of trouble. Many of these kids attend the community camp the orphanage puts on every year. Please pray for these children, their parents, and the people involved. They may have been very well intentioned, but the way they went about this was, in my opinion, not good. Please pray that this will not have a chilling effect on the legitimate Christian ministries that are trying to help the hurting folks in Haiti.

I will be giving you updated information about our efforts to assist Phil in the rebuilding efforts in Calabasse. There are trips being planned beginning in March. I will give you details on what skills will be needed. Thanks for your continued prayers.