Dear Sponsors:
We have a lot to share with you this month. Thank you for opening your heart to enable a poor Haitian child to attend school. We recently received a grant to start feeding the children in the schools where that wasn’t happening. It has meant a flurry of activity for us, and lots of smiles and warm bellies for the children. First we had to buy plates, spoons, cups, dish drainers and boxes to contain the food. We had tables made and are still buying more. One of our Haitian pastors, Odima, found a man who makes stoves for the big pots they use, so we purchased one for the Rancho Viejo school and another for Limoncito. We had to buy those big aluminum pots with lids, spoons for stirring, and gas tanks. Then pitchers for making juice and serving trays. Everything is so colorful! The pastors found women to cook within their churches.
At first we were buying food weekly until the cooks knew how much they needed. Now we are trying to buy the food monthly or twice a month. The menus include rice with black beans and sardines, (delicious, a little girl told me last week), chicken soup, cream of wheat, corn meal with milk, oatmeal, bread and hot chocolate, crackers and cheese, spaghetti with cheese or salami, and more. Thankfully I have the help of other missionaries to help with all the shopping and delivering. Believe me, when you start adding 30 pounds of rice, 10 pounds of dried beans, 20 pounds of sugar, and all the rest, that shopping cart gets heavy!
Some prayer concerns:
- We still need to finish the classrooms in Barranca. Mitch recently posted a short video about the work there. (Watch it here)
- The new classrooms in Sabaneta are full of happy students. We need funds to finish off the sidewalks and the stucco work.
- Idovil’s school is overcrowded with 110 students in a three bedroom home. We are trying to find a bigger place for the school to meet. His wife is pregnant with their 4th child and due any day. Thankfully they were able to move into a nice little house just a block from the school.
- Pray that the teachers apply what they learn in our workshops.
- Many of the families are so desperately poor. This month we were able to donate washing machines to 6 Haitian families. The men need work. The women need hope. They all need Jesus.
Again, thank you for being part of this ministry. I pray the Lord rewards you for you generosity.
For the children,
Debbie and Mitch Martinez
Send donations to Your Missionary Outreach, PO BOX 1761, Columbia, SC 29202
Write Debbie at lavegaschool@gmail.com or call at 863-248-1119.
