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Pastor Pierre Project

    In our most recent trip to Haiti, we flew into Haiti's international airport in the capital city of Port De Prince. From there we were to take a small aircraft to the city of Port De Paix the following day. We planned to get a hotel but a local Pastor my partner had met at the airport on his previous trip opened his home to us.  His name was Pastor Pierre. He took us to his church. A large sanctuary filled to capacity in a typical service. He told us the schedule of a typical week. People were meeting in that sanctuary nearly every night. He said that Friday was their prayer meeting. Prayer started at 8 p.m. and they prayed until midnight with usually upwards of 50-60 people in attendance. It was a very complete church. Instruments, sound equipment, even fans to help mitigate the heat. He took us to the school behind the church. It was a bit more pieced together but nonetheless complete with several classrooms, teachers, materials, and an enrollment of hundreds of students. He showed us the water well that had been installed on the property by another mission. They maintained the well which had a group of children hanging around filling water containers throughout the day. He showed us the clinic that had been built on the property to give medical and dental missionary's a good place to be able to render aid to the local people. It was an extraordinary ministry in the midst of such a hurting community. After all of this we headed to his home. (Pictured above) He had put much work into the security around the property. He had managed to put up the walls for the house. The vision was to be able to one day house the missionary's that would come to help the people in his community. I could not help but notice immediately one glaring defect to his house. There was no roof. They had done their best to cover their belongings to shield them from the rain. There were two small rooms and a bathroom covered. That night we slept where the men of his household slept. Out in the open air, with a blanket in between us and the concrete floor. I laid there on the concrete reflecting. What a difference in priorities. I wondered if I could sleep every night on the concrete with no place to put a bed in my own home, while devoting all of my time and resources into helping other people.

This trip was towards the end of May in 2022. I remember Pastor Pierre's voice when he said, "God told me THIS year, he was going to put a roof on my house." The amount needed to put the roof on was $8000 USD. There were only seven months left in that year. In the US that would be a long shot. In a country like Haiti, that was simply impossible.  

When I returned from Haiti we began telling people about Pastor Pierre. To our utter amazement God began to move on the hearts of those few individuals to give in a big way. It was not but a few weeks and we had $9500 from people that wanted to help. By the time we were ready to send the money, the town of Port De Prince was being completely torn apart by gangs and a crisis that continues on today. It felt foolish to move forward with the project at that time. It appeared there would be no way to complete the work in the midst of all of the chaos. We prayed, put it into God's hands, and moved forward. We received an excited message from Pastor Pierre and pictures of the completed roof, on December the 28th, 2022. God had done it "THIS" year.
    The Capital city of Port De Prince is at the heart of the current crisis in Haiti. We continue to send emergency financial aid directly into the hands of the Port De Prince local Haitians through Pastor Pierre.

The Haiti roof mission changes the lives of people like pastor Pierre and others forever.

The Merard Family

    Located in the city of Port De Paix, The Merard family is a large family with six kids. They have managed to place some pieces of tin up to protect them from the sun and dew at night. Unfortunately, none of the roof is installed to form any type of protection from the rain. They said that when the rain starts to fall, sorrow and dread start to fill the family.  They immediately know that they will likely not be able to sleep that night. The water begins leaking into every room, soaking the beds. The dirt floor turns to mud.  They said that sometimes the neighbors are able to offer them a small place to stay the night. If it continues to rain, Mr. Merard said "I'm afraid the water won't stop flowing in. It often comes in and we lose our belongings; clothes to wear, what to eat, the children's schoolbooks...The clothes are cleaned, and they have to be dried to be put back. Things are not easy for us, if it rains. It will sometimes fall for a month. I will stay there because the water will not stop flowing in. I'm asking God, when will we stop suffering?"

    ACOCW is working to get this situation and situations like it mitigated as soon as possible. We thank you for partnering with us in prayer and for giving/assisting however you feel led that we can to help meet these basic human needs for these families and communities.