Thank you, First Baptist Church Allen, for your investment in planting a church and child development center in Bondeaux-Lorquette, Haiti. Because churches in Haiti often double as schools, the Baptist Church of Lorquette will make additional contributions to a community that desperately needs the support you have so graciously provided. Thank you for your prayers for this project as it progresses. We hope this initial report from the field inspires you as much as you have inspired a community!
Construction Progress
The construction of all the buildings has begun:
- The foundations of the school and the cafeteria are finished.
- The foundations of the church sanctuary and the restroom block have been excavated, and the construction of their foundations has begun.
Church Activities
Currently, 35 adults and 60 children attend the church regularly.
The mother church and the daughter church are involved in the project in many ways:
- First, they contacted officials at city hall to acquire the property, which is 65,262 square feet (6,063 square meters). The property was gifted from city hall to the mother church.
- Secondly, the parents, youths and the public authorities of the community have contributed considerably in the foundation’s excavation as well as gathering of rocks and sand for the work. Workers who live in the community are also giving financially to the church as an added contribution to the project.
Challenges Encountered
The main challenges that the church leaders are facing include:
- The misunderstanding of some community members: They think the building construction project should be a political activity. The church leaders have had to ask community authorities to intervene in order to raise awareness for those people. This issue is beginning to be resolved.
- Difficulties accessing water for the work: The mother church has restored a large public cistern that had been broken in order to stock rain water.
- Difficulties accessing sand for the work: The church leaders have asked beneficiaries’ parents to bring sand that they dig up in an area close to the site. They offered food to the volunteers during the activity.
- Finding rocks for the work: A member of the mother church has offered access to his property, which has a sufficient supply of rock. Some community members, particularly young people, have begun contributing by gathering rocks for the project and delivering them to the site.
Next Steps
- Finishing the walls, floor and the roof of the school and the cafeteria
- Finishing the foundation and the walls of the church
- Finishing the restroom block
Testimony of Impact
“Bondeaux is a locality that has a bad reputation because of witchcraft activities and juvenile delinquency. The implementation of this church plant and child development center has motivated some community members who used to practice these activities. They now contribute in the work even though they don’t attend the church yet, but they encourage their children to attend the church.”
– Philippe Saint-Aude,
pastor of the mother church
Praises and Prayer Requests
The church would like to praise and glorify God, the creator of the universe, for offering them this great opportunity: the implementation of a church, a school, a cafeteria, a restroom block, and the opening of a child development center.
The church would like to thank the donors for this deed of love and solidarity that is positively affecting the community of Bondeaux. May God continue to bless them abundantly! May He bless their ministry!
The church leaders ask God to give the donors more capacity to work in order to support other communities in need. May God give them robust health!
The church would appreciate your prayers for:
- The spiritual growth of the church and growth in the number of people attending
- The holistic development of the beneficiaries so they become responsible leaders in their community
- The construction work to be finished well
Photos of Progress