Encourage one another...

Thursday was a special day for us. We had made contact with veteran missionaries, Bob and Gretchen Devoe, of Lifeline Christian Mission in Haiti. They have had an on going ministry in Haiti for over 30 years. If you know anything about Haiti, you know this is a remarkable achievement, for a ministry to survive in Haiti for over 30 years. We were excited to be invited to visit them at Grand Goave, a four hour trip on the other side of Port-au-Prince.

I want to tell you the story about God who is the master of networking. Crash, Christine Stevens, as some of you know her, has a supporter by the name of Lola Mitchell. She knew Crash was working with us in Haiti and that we have over 500 children in 5 schools. She also knew we were anxious to be able to feed them a meal each day. She heard that Lifeline was going to be packing vitamin fortified rice meals at the Missionary Convention. She took the liberty of writing to Gretchen at Lifeline to ask if it would be possible for Dorce Ministries to find some of these meals when they arrived in Haiti, so they could share them with their school children. Gretchen wrote back saying indeed it would be possible because they she already knew Wilckly and Dee.

She went on to tell Lola that, in fact, one of the girls raised by Wilckly and Dee now works for her at Lifeline. She told Lola that the girl raised in Berea Childrens Home was named Marie Ange. Lola wrote back to her saying that she had supported a girl raised in Berea Childrens Home named Marie Ange, for several years. She asked if this would be the same Marie Ange. Gretchen said that it was. Lola was thrilled to know that someone she had supported had grown into a Christian young lady and was working in a special position at Lifeline Christian Mission. Marie Ange works in the guest house where they recieve the American groups. She works in the kitchen preparing meals for them along with her birth mother and her sister. We are very proud of Marie Ange and the progress she has made. She is married to the mechanic who works for Lifeline. They have a daughter, Elizabeth, who is seven.

It was not only a pleasure to see Marie Ange but also her brother Ti-Bob. This young man was sponsored by David and Sandra Fincher and family of Moberly, Missouri. We thank these people who faithfully supported Ti-Bob while growing up at Berea Childrens Home. Ti-Bob is in his last year of high school. He has become very passionate about teaching. He helps younger children after school giving them lessons and tutoring them where they are weak. Keep up the good work Ti-Bob.

We also had the pleasure of seeing Lorvia, another girl raised at Berea Childrens Home. She was attending school in Port-au-Prince before the earthquake. She is now staying with her aunt at Gran Goave, who also works for Bob and Gretchen at Lifeline. She is planning to go to the Dominican Republic to study. She is working on her passport.

You can imagine what a joyous reunion it was to see these precious children, who even when far away or contact is lost, are still so much a part of our heart. We praise God for the blessing of seeing firsthand that when you work for the Lord, your labor is not in vain.

The reunions were not finished as we were able to see Tina Eisenhower, who works in Jacmel and has been in Haiti longer than I have. She is a trusted missionary in Haiti reaching a whole lot of people through her schools, churches and childrens home. She is someone I greatly looked up to as a new greenhorn missionary coming to Haiti, a few years back.

We also met up with Pasteur RoRo Eustache, a long time friend and mentor of Wilckly's. He said Dee, "Wilckly is my son in the faith." It was a great time for them to visit and encourage one another to keep pressing on. No wonder Jesus said that the fellowship with other Christians in its true form, should never be abandoned. It was a great day for us to spur one another on to continue in Jesus' footsteps and not forsake the ministy of good doing.

We thank Gretchen and Bob of Lifeline for sharing so graciously with us and increasing our ability to touch more and more the lives of the Haitian people. Blessing Hearts International continues changing lives, touching hearts, sharing Christ, reaching the world, one soul at a time.

Rejoice with us! Even though our building is not finished the plywood has been placed on the roof and covered with tin. We have shelter from the sun and the rain. We will continue to work to enclose the building completely with tin. Praise God the kids are up out of the mud and out from under the hot tarps! Thanks to so many of you who have given to make this possible. We couldn't do the work without you support. Thank you seems so small. Wilckly and Dee Dorce'

Construction is moving along slowly as funds allow but because of your support we now have and office and we just finished covering the church with plywood. Monday they will cover the plywood with tin. The plywood layer helps us support the deadly heat that we would recieve from a direct hit to the tin. Our school kids were thrilled to come to school and find it half covered and experience a day out from under the tarps and out of the mud that surrounded their feet and was causing deterioration of our benches. The older students were jealous of the younger students getting to be under the roof first. Monday, Lord willing, all classes will be held under the new roof. We praise God for His provision through you our supporters. Thank you for sacrificially giving so that our ministry may continue.

Tomorrow we will be able to worship in our new facility even without walls. It's cooler that way anyway. We can't leave it this way as the foundation is high off the ground and the kids would be swinging on all the bars like monkeys. We also need to be able to leave things for church inside and shut the door.

It is a relief not to have tarps that get torn hanging down in your face or ropes coming undone and the whole tarp whipping in the wind. The heat beneath the tarps is sometimes unbearable. We are thankful to not have to run to stack all the benches and cover them with a tarp as the rain is coming. The people in our yard are still sleeping under the tarp. Now if it is raining, they will be able to get under the roof which will keep them much dryer as they wait for us to finish the walls.

This week was deadlock as far as the work getting the container and backhoe out of customs. Wilckly made trips to St.Marc and on one occasion the pick-up broke down and he had to wait for us to get back from PAP with the truck to turn around and go after him and pull the pick-up home. It is still sitting there waiting for a mechanic as Wilckly has been so busy supervising the construction and covering of the church, supervising the welding on the building that will house guests temporarily and supervising the digging of the next foundation, not to mention trying to make sure we are on top of getting things out of customs, not to mention all the other little every day occupations.

Shaina and I spent time with the school children this week. Our main goal was to take a picture of them and have them write a thank you to their sponsor. They were thrilled with the distraction from their school day. We are excited about preparing these photos and thank you notes to send to the greatly deserving sponsors. We appreciate you. Without your support, many of them would never go to school. The would spend the day carrying water in a five gallon bucket or going to the market with their mother. Thank you all for the support of Blessing Hearts International ministries in Haiti.

Dee