While one group of CODEP people
was unloading the shipping container another group was beginning
their trek into the interior watershed called Gwo Mon. At 7:00
a.m. they had already walked three hours to a rendezvous point
along the road. Here they received 24 thousand baby seedlings
we purchased for them. These seedlings were more difficult to
raise in home and family nurseries in the mountains where most
of our seedlings are grown. Three more hours walk to return to
their communities and then they began to work! By Wednesday,
all the trees were planted and God’s kiss of satisfaction
was several hours of gentle evening rains.
Meanwhile, as one group was unloading supplies and scores of
others were carrying and planting trees, a group of builders from
Virginia was working with yet another community. These Americans,
including three who had done so before, were helping to build
a wooden home several miles from the road. They hiked in on Sunday
and camped on-site through Thursday. The local community had previously
hauled in over a ton of supplies—sheets of plywood, hundreds
of pieces of lumber, tin for a roof, sand and cement. Hundreds
of pounds more of tools and nails plus food and equipment followed.
Almost all was carried by community people. Four long, intense
days of detailed construction followed. The construction team
returned to L’Acul with hundreds of stories. The people
they lived with, the mangoes straight from the trees, an ecological
transformation, a songfest with the local families. Everyone mentioned
the appreciative smile on new-home-owner Jacques’s face,
which transcended culture and language. House complete, friends
made, love shown and shared; a good week.
But the week was far from over. Wednesday morning we sent our
driver to the large commercial nursery mentioned earlier to pick
up another load of tree seedlings. On the way home, while in a
Port au Prince traffic jam by the wharf, a gang of armed thugs
held him up and hijacked his truck. We wrote immediately to many
of you and asked for prayer. There was virtually no information
other than what was just stated. The prayers of the righteous
did avail. About dark, Mimi returned to L’Acul with
his truck. The story revealed an amazing saga. After being
tapped on the head with a gun barrel and told to get out of the
truck, Mimi, his son and cousin walked away and were not hurt.
The truck was stolen. Mimi and family spent the entire day searching
the ghettoes and alleys of PaP. Directed by a bystander, they
happened upon the truck mid-afternoon. Collaring several heavily
armed police for security, Mimi reclaimed his truck. Everything
in it and on it, including the 24,000 trees was lost. To walk
away from an armed robbery and recover a taptap in Port au Prince
requires more than good luck. Once again, thanks for being there.
One of the people deeply involved in the tree story is a man
from Holland who runs the nursery where the trees are grown. He
and his family have spent many, many years in Haiti. They have
an understanding of the problems and difficulties to body and
spirit of those fellow laborers working here. Ido, the nurseryman,
had sent out an email early Wednesday morning saying Mimi was
loaded and had left. Hours later we got the news Mimi was hijacked.
We wrote asking Ido for any information he might have and asking
for prayer. By noon Ido and his wife Henrietta had moved from
prayer to prayer and action. Unable to do anything for Mimi because
no one knew his situation, these fine folks looked at the bigger
picture. Long time friends and associates of the CODEP work, they
knew the difficulties and effort our mountain people make to get
to the rendezvous point to pick up trees. They know of the discouragement
of spending hours walking to pick something up when it doesn’t
appear. Ido and Henrietta moved beyond the immediate crisis. They
offered to box up another 24,000 trees (no small job) and have
their driver and truck deliver them at daybreak for the scheduled
pick-up. And so it happened. A stolen truck was recovered, 24,000
trees delivered, a community of tree planters encouraged, and
prayers answered beyond what we could even hope or imagine. Thank
you for letting us be part of your prayers and your week.
We thank you for praying with us and rejoice in seeing an answer
to the unblocking of the road. We share in the joy of answered
prayer that the container has arrived and is now unloaded safely.
And your prayers helped to resolve the crisis of the robbery and
recovery of the taptap. We now move forward and ask prayers for
stability as on 1 June, the UN occupation force changes. And locally
this week we will be conducting numerous meetings regarding both
CODEP national leaders and recruitment for teachers for summer
school. As one of the CODEP workers said as he was leaving after
unloading the container, “After God, we thank you.”
For those who might be interested in visiting CODEP in the future,
please contact Jim Pease ( http://www.haitifundinc.org).
If you need information from the field, please write us directly.
And please print hard copies of this note to share with your friends
and church families. Missions is one of the best-kept secrets
in many churches—share the good news of what God is doing.
In Christ’s service with you,
Rodney and Sharyn
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
136
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