Technical stuff...

As promised, here is some "technical information" from the head of '5.on.a.journey', 
      --> John... :)   

Pastor Frank (pictured on the right) 

and his wife, Nicole (shown here with orphan, Dalinda), 

started the orphanage in Camp Coq, Haiti several years ago. One of the sayings that the Haiti mission teams learned from Nicole is, “Missions is not easy!” While that is true, we are beginning to discover that 'Missions is not cheap, either'.

So many people look at Haiti and think that in such an impoverished nation that buying things should be cheap. Like any island nation, most everything must be imported to Haiti, which automatically increases the price. The people of Haiti are also masters of free enterprise and take full advantage of the law of supply and demand. You can see both of these being applied in our blog post from our trip in June, here: Our Trip to The Market and.... The cost of paper products still blows my mind @ $9 for a 3 pack of paper towels or $17.75 for a 24 pack of toilet paper.

While we were amazed at the number of people who immediately wanted to know how they could help out when hearing that we would be moving to Haiti to serve as missionaries, it was really hard to know how to answer at first. We honestly didn’t know what it was going to take to get us there and get set up. I have worked with multiple sources to put together a list of basics to get us going. I have tried to list the numbers as accurate as possible, but some things we just won't know until we are in route. The best example of this is customs “fees”. There is no set rate.  They basically look at your container and access a rate. We've heard of actual customs fees for containers ranging anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 each. We have been working with a logistics company that was started by a new friend, an American "missionary kid" from Haiti. We are praying that with his resources and personal contacts, we will be able to keep our costs to a minimum.

As of now, this is a list of the current financial needs for our mission:

-              *A solar panel system (since there is no electricity in Camp Coq) to ensure power for our family’s basic needs. This will power a refrigerator, a few fans and some lights. The total cost of this system will be ~ $20,000.

-              *Shipping our supplies to Haiti. We will be sharing a 40 ft cargo container with another ministry. Our portion of the container will cost ~$3500.

-              *A water well (for clean drinking and bathing water). We have been told that the minimum cost for a well will be $10,000

-              *Supplies/tools to stock the mission house in preparation of future mission teams. The bulk of this will be for tools that will help us with future construction projects.  This will allow teams to have the items they need to work with, without having to travel with them during each trip to Haiti. The approximate costs of these items will be $5000.

-                *Vehicle shipment - We will be shipping one of our vehicles to Haiti to ensure that we have safe and reliable transportation there. The approximate cost of this will be $3000.

We ask that you pray with us over these items and that the $ needed will be provided for us in order to effectively and efficiently minister in the community of Camp Coq.  

If you would like to make a tax deductible gift to help offset these costs, you can do it online or by mail. To give online, go to http://mylifebridge.com/onlinegiving and follow the directions listed there. You may enter the amount you want to contribute under the 'Haiti Missions Support' section and then click continue. It will walk you through entering your financial information. If you would like to mail your gift, please send it to LifeBridge Church, Attn: Haiti Missions Fund, 521 Gluckstadt Road, Madison, MS 39110. Many of you have already made contributions towards our Mission Plan and we want to say thank you again!  We are extremely grateful for you and your gift(s).  


As noted in one of our devotions recently, Chris Hodges said, “A dream is a compelling vision you see in your heart, that’s too big to accomplish without the help of others.”  We covet your prayers, still!  Thank you for journeying with us!!!