November 2015 - A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

On October 25th, Haiti had their second round parliament election and first round of presidential elections. Although election day went very well, there have been some violent protests by the losing parties. Of the 49 people who ran for president, the top two winners (Moise Jovenel & Jude Celestin) will advance to the second round of presidential elections on the 27th of December. Pray that peace reigns in Haiti as the nation continues on their electoral path.

We presently have a group of five with us. They are building bar joists for the church balcony. Pray that God provides the funds and teams needed to complete Croix des Mission church building. The church is packed (over 6oo in attendance) and waiting for their balcony and the rest of their roof. Please consider whether your church could send a team in April to continue working on this church that was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake.

New Life Bible College is going well. We have 30 first year students making a total of 97 students for the year. We will be wrapping up the first semester in December. We thank God for each of you who sponsors a Bible College student.

We are excited that our daughter Rachel coming home. She will be arriving on November 16th. She plans to live in Haiti for a while. Pray that God helps her find a paying job in the country that will meet her needs and where she feels that she's making a difference.

We are rejoicing that God has provided $2,050 of the $2,600 that is needed in order to begin developing our new piece of  property which will be used by the New Life Bible College. Please consider how you might be involved in this important first step. We know that God will finish what He has begun.

As some may already know, I (Roger) have written a book in Creole on what the Bible teaches concerning money and material possessions. We feel this book will be of great value to the Haitian church.  We have received a quote of $2,800 to print 500 copies which works out to be $5.60 a book.

I would like to be able to subsidize this book for the believers, since for many of them would have difficulty purchasing the book at the full price. I would like to be able to sell them for $2.80 a book. Won't you consider making a gift towards this book project?

Rejoicing in God's Blessings

We are back home (Haiti) after being away for 10 weeks. We are truly glad to be back. There is no place like home, even with the many inconveniences that are part of our life style in Haiti. The first 3 days back, we cleaned our house from top to bottom since it had not been used or cleaned since we left. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust due to the dryness of the season.

We enjoyed seeing family, friends, and churches while we were in the States. During our stay in the States, we visited our daughter Rachel for 10 days in Florida, spent 7 days with my mother and brother’s families in Texas, caught up with Margaret’s family in New York, spoke in 13 churches, and traveled in 8 States and Canada. We thank God’s for His provision and protection during our travels.

We rejoice that we had 35 people commit to sponsor a child which covers the full cost of them going to school. This is a blessing to these children and their families which would not be able to pay for their child’s education. Keep in mind, that 85% of the schools in Haiti are private schools. Many Haitian parents must choose which one of their children to send. The adult literacy rate for those aged 15+ is 55-62 %. The average years most adults attended school is 4.9. A BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO SPONSOR CHIDLREN! They are getting more than an education. Our schools hold a weekly chapel where they are taught about God.

We rejoice that God has recently provided an SD (micro memory cards) duplicator which is much needed in order to duplicate our Bible by correspondence program teachings that the students put in their cell phones to listen to. We kicked off this program last January and presently 50 people are studying the Word of God at home. The students will do 2 years of Bible study that covers 27 courses. We believe before the end of the year for many more students to be added.

Pray for us as we catch up on all the work that was unattended while we were gone and that God gives us health, strength and wisdom.

Pray that God sends a new crop of Bible College students for New Life Bible College. The Bible college begins in September and we presently only have 4 new students registered but expect 55 returning students. We need a minimum of 30 first year students to make budget. Many desire to come, but are unable to pay the tuition fees. We encourage you to enable a student to study at New Life Bible College by giving $25 a month or a one-time gift of $300. THANKS TO ALL WHO SPONSOR BIBLE COLLEGE STUDENTS!

Pray for the country of Haiti as they are having elections for local government offices, parliament and for a new president before the end of the year. We need God fearing men who will usher in peace and prosperity to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Also, pray for a looming refuge crisis due to the Dominican Republic wanting to deport thousands of Haitian who are undocumented in their country.

Demier Trip

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                         

 

This month has been busy and is still very busy as we wind down our New Life Bible School year and prepare to go to the states. Yet, it has been a very rewarding month for us.

On May 1st we had our annual alumni reunion where 80 former students were present. Of those present, 46 are presently pastoring, and 14 others are elders in their churches. We prayed, worshiped, study God's Word and ate together. We also put some strategies in place of how we can better work together in the future. 

 

Also, this month Margaret and I went to one of our country churches. It took 1 hour 45 minute to drive and a 2 1/2 hour to walk one way. New Life Church of Demier, is way in the mountains at the source of a river. It had been 10 years since Margaret had been there because of the grueling walk over steep and rocky trails. Going in we crossed (forded) a river 13 times. Another reason it had been so long since Margaret visited this church is because every time she went the horse threw her off whenever she neared the end of her ride. It is for this reason that Margaret followed a 4 month exercise program to prepare herself to walk the whole way. It had been 2 years since I visited this church and the first time I walked the whole way. 

 

Of course the people were excited about our coming and treated us like royalty when we arrived. We found the church thriving and a great group of people. We are so proud of the work that Pastor Neslon Espere is doing in this remote area.

Yet, we were very saddened to see that the church parsonage that we have been renting is in total disrepair and the owners are wanting to tear it down. It is termite infested and the roof leaks like a sieve. Every time it rains, the pastor gets wet. There is no other place to rent in this village, so we need to build a church parsonage for the pastor and his family. We have a place on the church property where we can build one. We have calculated the cost to build a one room house will be $4500 if it is built by a work team. It would be considerably less than this if it was not for the transportation cost to get the material into the village. We have to pay people to bring all the material to the village on their heads or on mules.

 

Pray and ask God if he would have you give towards this small church parsonage. Also, we are asking for some church to send a team to build this home. It can be built in 2 days with four skilled workers. The concrete base (slab) will have been poured and all materials will be on sight when group arrives. The 2 days does not include the 2 days of travel to get into and out of the village.

Progress on Construction Work

As we think back about the group that came last month from the "House of Praise for all People" in Delaware and others who joined them from New York, we rejoice in their great accomplishment. They taught 11 students for 3 days on introductory principles in business, concrete mixing/pouring, concrete forming, making steel cages, and welding. Then they took the students out to the work site for hands on experience in each of these areas. Seven students together with 12 team members were able to form and pour to columns & 3 beams in five days which was quite a feat.

Also, we rejoice in the fact that the local church which we have been rebuilding since the earthquake gave more than half of the money for this project. If it wasn't for their contribution together with the team's contribution, this work would not have been done.

Our New Life Mission Croix des Mission church is one step closer in getting a balcony. We still don't have all the trusses and roof on the church but for various reasons we need to finish the balcony first. We are now in the stages of planning a November team to continue working on the balcony for the church. We can't move forward on the roof until this is done. We are asking each of our supporting churches to send at least one person down on this team. Contact us if you are wanting to do this and we will give you more information.

 

We rejoice in the fact that we recently have been able to purchase some land behind our present location for expansion of the ministry. We have been praying in this property for over 18 years. This is a great victory and blessing. We also rejoice in the fact that God enabled us to buy a new photocopier to replace the old one that died on us.

We are beginning to wind down the school year and gearing up for the New Life Bible College graduation on May 30th. We should have around 15 men and women who will graduate this year.

Also, we are looking forward to coming to the States this summer. Our 2 month visitation/vacation schedule is almost complete and we've purchased our tickets for June 2nd. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends.

Please be praying for:

1) Our students as they haven't all finished paying their school bills.

2) Our students as they will be taking their final exams from May 16th to 23rd.

3) Finances as we have fallen short on some of our ministry expenses.

4) Margaret and I as we have much to do before leaving for the States.

March 2015 Update

Clark’s Haiti Happenings 2015

Standing in the Gap, Strengthening, and Encouraging the Body of Christ

                                                                                                                                                                                                March 2015

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I trust all is well with you. Much has happened since our last update.

First of all, we rejoice in the great success our 4^th year Bible College students had in a student ministry trip they made to a town called Fond de Blanc. Our mission organization has a church in this area. It was a 3 hour drive and a 30 minute hike to get to this town. 

Our14 New Life Bible College students spent 5 days in this mountainous village.  It was a great sacrifice on the part of the students to minister to the people in this village. They paid for all their own expenses during these 5 days. They slept on concrete floors in a school on thin thatch mats, made their own food and shared 2 bathrooms that had no running water.

After they arrived on Saturday at noon they went walking through out the village, over hill and dale, inviting people to the 5 days of revival meetings that were going to be held every night from 5pm to 8pm. On Sunday they arose at 4:30 am for prayer and then taught 5 Sunday school classes, led worship and preached. After the service and lunch they split up in twos and went house to house encouraging people, praying and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  On Monday, they split up into 3 groups. One group remained in the church and taught the believers. The other 2 groups went out evangelizing in the surrounding areas. They did this every day they were there.

As result of all their work, many grew in the Word, and were encouraged. Also twenty two people gave their lives to the Lord and a number who had abandoned the church were reconciled to the Lord and the local church.

Secondly, we rejoice that we had a great trip to Trinidad & Tobago.  We participated in a missionary conference there with over 35 foreign delegates, many pastors from cities all over Trinidad & Tobago, and hundreds of members from various churches in the area. The theme of the conference was “Strategies in Fulfilling the Great Commission”. I, Roger, was one of 9 speakers who taught and preached during the 3 day conference. Many were taught, strengthened and some even called and sent out. We thank Pastor Vickram Hajaree and his church for hosting their 14^th annual missions conference.

Living for Him in Haiti,

Roger & Margaret Clark

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Roger & Margaret Clark                                                                                                        Elim Fellowship

100 Airport Ave 433                                                                                                                       1703 Dalton Road

Venice, FL 34285                                                                                                                           Lima, NY 


                                             newlifemission@yahoo.com               www.newlifehaiti.org 

Counting our many blessing and counting on God's faithfulness.

Dear Family & Friends,
                                                       

Greetings from the warm, sunny island of Haiti.  We pray this letter finds you well. We have had a couple of very busy months here.

On Christmas day we welcomed a team of 14 from Arcade, NY. They worked with us until Jan 1^st and accomplished so many things! The greatest thing they did was to lay ceramic tiles in the 1^st floor of the Bible College.  They brighten the school so much and are lots easier to keep clean.  The team also built doors for our closets, fixed the roof on the chapel, held a Christmas party for 50 kids, & replaced the worn-out seats in the large truck.

We also had some times of fun and fellowship with this team.  We took one day off to go to the beach in the south of Haiti.  It gave everyone an opportunity to see the countryside and enjoy some of the beauty of Haiti.  This was a great time of sharing and getting to know one another better.

The students have returned to the New Life Bible College and are well into their 2^nd semester now.  We are grateful for the opportunity they have to study God’s word and we pray that God will keep His hand on them as they grow in Him.  We will be sending a student ministry team out to one of our mountain churches over the Carnival vacation. (Feb 13-18)  They will preach, teach and evangelize in collaboration with the church people of the Fond des Blanc area. 

Our 3 elementary schools continue to teach the children their basic lessons as well as the Bible.  This is such a wonderful chance to show them the way of Christ while they are still young.  We have 400 children in our 3 schools.  Would you like to help one of these children?  You can sponsor a child for only $25 a month.

The New Life Churches of Haiti continue to see growth.  The season of Carnival, which is coming in February, is a time of great evangelism.  Pray that many would come to know Christ during the next few months.

Many people ask us, “What is your greatest need?”  We would really LOVE to FINISH the ROOF of the Croix des Mission Church in 2015!  Our greatest need is funding for this project.  Our present estimate for this is $30,000.  I know many of you have given to this project already.  It has been ongoing since the earthquake of 2010.  Please pray with us and see what God would have you do.  We are believing that God can do this in 2015.