Délice Pre-build Plans.

View of Wesleyan land next to the French coffee plantation ruins. The land extends to the left and right

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." Grederick Buechner

In many ways this encapsulates our call to missions, to Haiti, and now our call to Délice.

Our excitement of the new ministry stems from seeing how well our passions of growing fruits and plants; teaching health concepts; and sharing the Lord's love by participating in the lives of our neighbors fit some of the needs of the Délice area.

Hope for some relief from medical problems motivates folks in the Délice area to walk for a few hours up and down mountain paths to stand in line for hours to be seen by visiting medical personnel. [A visiting medical team this week ran clinics for 10 hours a day seeing 300-400+ patients daily]

Corn & Bean field, corn stalks still standing weeks after harvest, 7 weeks after Hurricane Matthew.

Building relationships with the people by living among them and being present for emergencies should lead in time to them trusting our advice about how to prevent illnesses and promote good health.

By sharing new trees/plants, and agricultural techniques we can improve the food security and household incomes, both of these leading to more stability and improved quality of life.

Using our knowledge of Haiti in general, the very little we know about the area, and prayers for wisdom, we tried to put on paper our goals, priorities, and general objectives [knowing we will continually reevaluate and adjust as needed].

Nearby view of Artibonite Valley

The first and biggest priority as we see it is to work to eradicate the widespread problem of protein malnutrition: by educating about and introducing new crops, vegetables, fruit trees - serving to both diversify income and nutrition; teaching about proper diets for children, using a balanced mix of the local corn, beans and livestock; healthcare, and knowledge of healthy living practices as well as home remedies.

Before we can begin to tackle malnutrition we need to be able to live and work in the area. Unlike our first two locations on established mission compounds, the land currently owned by the church consists of dirt, rocks, scrub bushes, used as pasture with areas planted seasonally to corn and beans.

"Due to the remote location and hours spent to arrive, the Delice Station will also include missionary housing", as noted on the description of the Delice station and Farm development project

So we need to build a house to find funds and people to help/build a house for us. Not only do we need help to build a house but a house to help us live economically/efficiently 'off-grid': water, electric, mold control, and all that comes from living in a very remote and hard to get to area. Even our Haitian pastors and friends, when hearing where the Lord is sending us remark that we will be like the 'pioneering missionaries' of long ago.

Nearby mission: Together We Can - Haiti

Currently we're in the pre-build phase.

• Fundraising started, on-going
• Researching: house ideas/plans, plants/trees that will grow at that altitude; medical supplies, information about the area
• Sharing the vision with supporters and interested people: building a prayer team
• Working on defining how things will work with the Wesleyan Haitian Church & Global Partners
• Talking with leadership here about how to transition so that the roles we currently fulfill can be handed over well and without problems
• Planning a trip back to Délice to see if there is a location on the current property for the house, learn more about the area, take pictures, and pray over the land.