Coastal Haiti Mission
August 2023
– EACH ONE –
As of the year 2021 there was close to eight-billion people in our world. And guess what? You are important! Don’t believe it? That doesn’t make it untrue. You are a person of importance.
-IMPORTANT: 1 meaning a great deal; having much significance, consequence or value
(Webster’s New World Dictionary)
To begin with, you are important to your family. Even if your family is scattered throughout the world, you are important to them, and will be more so as they grow older.
You are important to your neighbor – someone near them to lend a helping hand when needed.
And you are important to the Body of Christ, called forth to participate in His life. It doesn’t matter how old or how young you may be. You are an essential member. You bring to the table the uniqueness of YOU.
After nearly 40 years of slavery in Egypt, the people of God (Israelites) called upon their God for deliverance. Remembering the Covenant he made with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God set in motion their release from bondage. It was time.
It began with a burning bush located in the wilderness of Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God. A bush engulfed in flame, but was not being consumed. It gained the attention of Moses, who, in the peak of curiosity, began to draw nearer to the strange anomaly. “MOSES, MOSES!” he heard from the bush. “Take off your shoes!” And Moses knew he was on Holy Ground.
And it was then and there that Moses was recruited to go to the mighty Egyptian Pharoah and, in the name of God, demand the immediate release of God’s people from slavery.
Well, you probably know the story, Moses continuous proclamation to the Egyptian king, and the king’s continuous resistance and stubborn refusal to comply.
Finally, Pharoah’s servants, in response to much destruction done to Egypt, requested he allow the Israeli men only to leave, without their families, that they may “serve their God.” Moses answer? Nothing doing!
“We will go with our YOUNG and our OLD. , with our
SONS and our DAUGHTERS, with our FLOCKS and our
HERDS [all of us and all we have]; for we must hold a
feast to the Lord.” (Ex. 10:9 TAB)
No one would be left behind.You see, each ONE was important. Each ONE would have a part and portion in the Feast unto the Lord.
Eventually, after catastrophic consequences to Pharoah’s people when all the first-born of Egypt were taken out by the Destroyer, the people of God were finally allowed to leave Egypt.
And then, in the New Testament is the account given by Jesus concerning the man who left his ninety-nine sheep in order to search for and rescue the ONE sheep that was lost. Without that missing sheep the flock was incomplete.
(Mat. 18:12 & 13) And dear reader, if you don’t know Jesus, if you have not surrendered your heart and life to Him, Someone may be looking for you. You you may be that “missing sheep.”
And, finally, you are important to our God. Without you His church would be incomplete. Maybe you feel “less then.” You are not on the worship team, or you don’t have a part in the service, and maybe sometimes you wonder if anyone even knows you are there. Well, God knows you are there. And furthermore, He has gifted you for the building up of the Body of Christ. (“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Pet.4:10 ESV) It is up to YOU to discover and cultivate that gift to be employed for the good of others. (I suspect you already know what you are really good at!) I once knew a man who had a gift of “helps.” Always ready to lend a helping hand. You know, the one who always made sure everyone had a seat during the home Bible Study. The one who asked if he could refill your coffee cup, the one who stayed to clean up after special events.
And your actions are important and have consequences. Your smile and your kindness to someone could actually change their outlook and lift their depression.
Are you not important?
The Disciple John, when closing a letter to a particular group, asked that he be remembered to his friends there – to every one of them personally “BY NAME.”
(3 John, Vrs. 15) John knew they were individuals and each ONE was important.
Oh, and did I say that YOU are important to me? Thanks for reading my message.
Walking this Way with you,
Connie
The New School Begins
Pastor Coty Writes:
School opening is set by the National Government, for September 11th. We have only a few more days to get the classrooms ready. Every year before school opens, we always need to fix the classrooms.
We need to repair broken benches, and worn out chalk boards as well as purchasing and installing materials to separate the classrooms. Also, we only a few days to have the kitchen functioning again.
The government education department has added several additional subjects to be taught to the 7th, 8th,and 9th grades. This means that I will need to add several additional teachers and find the money to pay them.
I am expecting 312 students and 23 staff members and teachers to begin the fall semester this year.
According to what I have heard and seen, the opening of school is good news for the school children.
However, for many of the parents it is like a nightmare, because they are thinking of school tuition, shoes, uniforms etc.
For our school, we might not open the first day. We are thinking that we will open September 12, rather than September 11.
Repairs are needed to begin school.
Lunch last term.
Even though there are only a few days before school is scheduled to begin, there are places in Haiti where it is very unlikely that school openings will actually occur. In these places, there are catastrophic events that occur every day. For instance, there isn’t a 1% of a chance that school will open in Port-au-Prince, the Capitol City of Haiti, in September.
Life in the Village
Pastor Coty Writes:
In our village, people both young old, and even children are working hard cutting trees to make charcoal.
Not many of them own their own trees. If they did own trees in the past, they most likely would have already cut them and sold them to be converted to charcoal.
So now, most are employed by others, to cut the trees, to clean them, and to take them to the large place called the Charcoal Oven, where the wood is processed to change it to charcoal.
We continue to look for work opportunities for the remaining large group of people, who could not work harvesting wood to be converted into charcoal.
The last photo shows what is called a Charcoal Oven. It consists of covering the sticks with leaves, and then covering the leaves with dirt. Then a small area will be left uncovered, so that a fire can be started there. Once the fire has been established, this area is also covered. The small smoldering fire spreads throughout the Charcoal Oven, converting the wood to charcoal.
The Home Lighting Project
Pastor Coty Writes:
As of this writing we have installed 42 Cyclops lights and 18 Solar Power Banks. We continue the process of selecting, interviewing, and training the heads of households, who agree to abide by the guidelines of this program. At this time we have 33 Cyclops lights and 32 Solar Power Banks remaining to install in the homes of the people in the Village of Cahess.
The following 2 sets of photos show the difference these lights make in illuminating the houses of these residents. Two of the following photos show how dark these homes are without light ( they are not bad photos, there is just no light ).
This is one house.
This is the second house.
Proverbs 19:17 ESV
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed.
A blessing for you from the scripture:
Numbers 6: 24 to 26
‘May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you His favor
and give you peace.’
Thank you, Family and Friends of Coastal Haiti Mission, for all that you do to help the people in Cahess, Haiti. You are making a huge difference for these people.
Please remember, that CHM must continue to send our monthly commitment of $1,100 to carry on the ongoing CHM ministry in Cahess. This is in addition to the cost of the School Lunch Program.
If you desire to help, please send your tax-deductible check to our address and tell us how you want us to use your donation:
Coastal Haiti Mission
C/O Constance Goddard
3048 Spring Fancy Lane
Indian Trail, NC 28079
Or For tax deductible “online donations”, please use our PayPal service. Also please designate how you want us to use your donation.
May the Lord our God, who knows your heart and sees your actions, grant you great joy as you serve Him. Connie, Esther, Pastor Coty, Carl, Dan, and Ken are very grateful for your sacrifice. Ken Johansson CHM Newsletter Editor