July Update

Just an update of what we’ve been up to in the past couple of months. We spent time with family & friends in Texas and Florida. We also traveled between San Francisco & Seattle, WA visiting friends and supporters. We are always in awe of the great Redwood trees of CA.

Now that we are back in Haiti we have lots to do. We will hold the New Life Bible School graduation on Aug 20th, since we didn't have it in May. We are also preparing for the opening of a new school year for New Life Bible College. Pray with us for many new students.

Margaret is busy getting ready for the new school year for our 3 elementary schools. We will host a 4 day teacher's conference for 30 elementary school teachers in August. Also, Margaret will be preparing books and uniforms for about 80 children who have sponsors in the USA.

As you can see, August will be a busy month, but we are starting it out with a 3 day trip to our beach!!! We're going to rest first!

The following are some ways that you can help New Life Bible School this fall.
1) We are in need of more sponsors of our Bible College students. Many desire to study God’s word and prepare for ministry, but unable to pay the tuition fee that we require. At $25 a month or $300 for the year you can pay a student’s tuition for the year.
2) Help provide lunches for the New Life Bible School students. We have decided this year that we would like to provide free lunches for the Bible school students. This would help them greatly as many struggle to make ends meet. We are expecting 100 students for our Saturday classes which run from 8AM until 5:30 PM. The annual cost for this is $6000. Would you please consider making a one-time donation towards this project?
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We count it a privilege to serve our Lord Jesus here in Haiti.

Closing out the School Year and Preparing for Summer Travel

May is always a busy time of year for us as we wind down the school year and prepare to leave for the States to visit family, friends and our wonderful supporters.

Margaret has been busy figuring out finances and paying salaries which involves a lot of counting. We have to pay 55 staff and teachers two months worth of salaries since we will not be here in the month of June. Also, Margaret, being not only New Life Mission treasurer, but also Port-au-Prince Fellowship church treasurer has to get things set up for them to be able to function while we are gone. Oh yeah! We can't forget her being mission secretary and general director of our elementary schools. She has a lot to organize before we can leave here.

As for my part, I oversaw our final Bible College exams, had a teachers meeting and corrected all my end of the year class papers. As well, I had to verify who could graduate or not which wasn't very pleasant this year. Out of the 27 who were to graduate this year, only 7 had all their credits. Due to this, we have postponed graduation until August 20th in hopes that the rest might be able to make up these credits during the summer.

Some other things I did this month; I preached twice, taught two conferences, attended an all day conference, and made our yearly alumni day reunion happen. The alumni day was great. We had 60 alumni whom I taught for 1 1/2 hours. We got updates from them, and updated them on what is happening at New Life Bible College.  This year we had our reunion at a beach and had fun in the sun.  We were pleased to give each of them a book in French thanks to some special gifts given for this purpose.  We thank God for each of our 400 plus alumni who are ministering to their nation, and reaching thousands upon thousands that we could never touch.

Last year we were able to purchase a piece of property that is connected to our present Bible College. We have begun developing it, and would like to get it all ready for the new school year. We plan to use it as a multi-purpose facility. One of ways we will use it is as a cafeteria. The Bible College never has had a cafeteria due to lack of space. Therefore, the students have to go out to the street corner vendors during lunch break. Keep in mind that the students are at school from 8 a.m. to 5:30 pm.

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.