Arizona Medical Team Serves the
Pillatre Community
Tonjua Sibley stepped into leading a medical team 48 hours before leaving for Haiti. We asked her to share about her experience.
The Haiti April 2016 trip was miraculous and quite amazing. I led the trip along with Katrina Moore. Being that I had been 7 times before and this was her second time one would think we knew what we were doing and had it all under control, but God is who had it under control. Our adventure begin on April 2nd where we met at the Airport to depart at 11:00pm. Our initial leader Vicky Steele, who had been to Haiti over 19 times and led numerous trips, had to pull out at the last minute due to her husband’s illness. She did meet us at the airport so that we could start off smooth as could be. However, the norm for a mission trip this size took place; bags over the allotted weight, rearranging supplies at the counter, even one of the team members reservations being cancelled was part of our start for this journey. However, God was in control and she was allowed on the flight anyway and all 15 bags met weight regulations.
The biggest fear Katrina and I had with leading this mission trip was getting all 15 bags and 17 missionaries through customs without being charged an arm and a leg. God had this under control as He miraculously arranged for Pastor Manno and Prisca’s girls Julie and Judith and her fiancé to be on the same flight with us from Miami to Haiti. All 15 bags got through with probably the least amount of hassle ever known to a HCM team. From that point on I knew God was the true leader of this team. As a team we worked together to accomplish a common goal: meet the needs of every life we touched.
This team had the pleasure of being the second team to serve our brothers and sisters in the village of Lory. We took a mobile clinic to the church of Lory and served over 130 patients and were able to bless Pastor Jacque with a Polaroid picture of him and the team together after a hard day’s work. This seemed to really touch him as I don’t think it had ever been done before. This team did a lot of things that had never been done before and that brought the character and name we agreed upon; The Late but Great Team; as we were on Haitian time often. We had the pleasure of praying and caring for 677 of our Haitian brothers and sisters during our time on this trip.
I don’t know if I would ever lead another team to Haiti for my dear friend, sister, and mentor Vicky Steele. However, as long as I live I will always support Pastor Manno’s vision and dream for HCM. 85 280 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Grade School High School Remaining Unsponsored Children
Sponsored Child Update
During the last two Sundays in April, Eastview Christian Church of Bloomington, IL held child sponsor drives for the children of the Pillatre Christian School. Over 80 children were paired with new sponsors over the two weekends. As of the end of April these are the statistics for child sponsorship at Pillatre.
As you can see, there is still a long ways to go toward our goal of 100 percent child sponsorship. Please prayerfully consider sponsoring a child and hosting a child sponsorship event at your local church.
Church Planting Update
Pastor Bob of the Pillatre church and Pastor Jacque of the Lory church are canvassing areas for a new church plant. Additionally, Haitian Christian Ministries is prayerfully considering a partnership with Emmaus Biblical Seminary (EBS) in their Reaching the Hearts of Haiti discipleship program. This program began last summer and has resulted in two church plants in unreached areas to date and EBS students are currently canvassing three unreached areas. For more information on this program, please visit http://ebshaiti.org/about-2/reaching-the-heart-of-haiti