Happy Birthday Land! Yesterday marked the first day of work on the land. The day was mostly spent measuring the perimeter and cleaning away the prickly bushes that outlined the area. Each time I walk on the land it seems to expand. With all the clearing that took place today it’s at it’s biggest yet!
There is A LOT of land.
I think I’m excited to write this blog because today is HUGE. We will be able to look back at this blog post in two weeks and say “holy crap” look at all that’s changed in such a short time! I respond in a similar way when I think about how we only returned to Haiti 2 ½ months ago. God sure has been good. Of course He’s always good, but it sure feels like He wants this to work out. I’m thinking of asking him to be our contractor. ;)
We’re always in a bit of limbo never really knowing when or how each step in the process will be funded. Sometimes that’s hard, but it’s also fun to see God provide. It’s fun to live in the principle of “ask and you shall receive.” He continuously speaks soothing messages like Trust me. I’ve got this. You’re right where I want you. I will be glorified. So instead of worry and strife we enjoy Peace.
The next step for us is really to plan for and work towards building our facility.
I’m not going to give you an estimate of the entire project. Why not? you ask. Well..
1) I don’t know.
2) God does. He has this cost thing figured out down to the cent. I’m confident that he will provide just as much as we need and maybe even a little more so that we can bless other projects in our area.
The fact of the matter is that things change. Amy and I threw out the proposal we made three months ago. Already we’ve discovered more efficient ways to do things, found less expensive sources for materials, and come up with better ideas. We hope and pray that this continues. We hope and pray that God continues to direct our steps and give us wisdom.
That being said…here’s what we hope to accomplish in the next two weeks!
1) Purchase/borrow tools (wheel barrows, shovels, picks, rakes, wire…etc)
2) Prepare to build a wall around the perimeter (digging trenches and cutting down the land)
3) Build a depot to secure all supplies
4) Give a whole lot of work to people who didn’t have any
For the next two weeks our costs will be right around $2500. Baby Steps..
After figuring the costs, I told Dadou and the first thing he said…
M’ap preye pou sa. “I’m praying for that.”
Dadou is our guy, our project manager I guess you could say. He’s the man that was recommended to us as a driver back at the end of January when we needed to travel to Port-au-Prince to pick up our friends from Investing Your Talents and One Globe Fund. The truck agreement had just been finalized that day, another example of perfect timing. We drove straight to the place where we had planned to meet Dadou for the first time. He had a huge smile on his face. He shook our hands, checked to see that everything in the vehicle was working properly. He hopped in the driver seat and asked if we’d already prayed for the journey. Why didn’t we think of that? This was our first inclination that he was a keeper. I’ve spent nearly every day with Dadou since. We thank God everyday for bringing someone into our lives who gets it. He gets that we don’t have a million dollars sitting in the bank. In fact so often he feels compelled to jump in when other Haitians assume we have endless amounts of money. I’ve overheard him try to explain this to others in our defense. He gets that we have to think carefully and pray about each decision. He gets that we are completely trusting God to provide for us each little step of the way.
We know that so many of you have already joined us in prayer too.
We feel it.
Today Amy woke me up way earlier than I had intended to get up to say that our letter had arrived in the mail. The letter we’ve been waiting for since December 23rd. We had to read the email a few times before the news sunk in. It is too good to be true! Second Mile Ministries (aka Second Mile Haiti) was approved by the IRS as a 501(c)3 non profit. This makes a huge difference when it comes to fundraising and grant writing.
I believe this news didn’t come a day too soon or a day too late. Had we became a non-profit any sooner we may have tried to rush the process. We may have been too focused on fundraising instead of letting God’s timing dictate our actual needs.
If you are wanting to support Second Mile financially you can:
Donate online.
No comments:
Post a Comment