Been so very busy that I have not had much time to send an update. I have been sending short updates on facebook but realize everyone does not get on facebook. When I say busy it is not doing what was planned but running around trying to find things to do because what we were supposed to do was not available. Other than that things are going well!

Saw Charlotte the last two days and she is doing well. She is helping another camp as well as the original camp. She has her shop open and uses the money from it to help do art projects with the kids at the camps. Her head wound from a couple of months ago has healed but she is still nervous about the political situation and her safety.

Things in Haiti are still the same. Cholera is still there but seems to be getting under control. People are still digging out from the earthquake with no help from the government and the government is well the government. They cannot even figure out who is the next president. Please pray for this country because the leadership of the country has to change their ways to help bring change in Haiti that will be lasting.

Also pray that the people of Haiti see that God is needed before any change for the good will be done. Voodoo seems to be stronger than ever with more places of worship and more signs than normal. Pray that they will see that the God is the one and only way to find peace in their lives, and that Godly men and women will come to show them the way they should go.

Thank you to everyone that has been so faithful through the years with all of your prayers. God has Blessed us so very much because of all of you!

For the Love of the Haitian People.

Charles Heinold

Wow what a wonderful way to start the week. The men from Sonlight gave up there Sunday and worked (Hard) for one of the Boss men. They helped carry rock, water, and sift the rock for concrete. They were able to put up one wall and two half walls in a very short time. What was most important was they showed the love of Christ to a young man that needed to see it. When his own family would not take time to help him a group of people that did not know who he was took time out of their day off to help him do labor that he could not do by himself. The ladies have clean and cleaned and cleaned. Not sure they have seen anything like Haiti but they are working hard and making a huge difference.

Yesterday was great! Jeff the worship minister sang a song with some of the highschool kids and it was GREAT! The whole service was filled with giving glory to God and the kids did a good job of sitting and being held.

We have a new baby. Ezekiel is 10 months old and weighs a wopping 9 pounds. We got him on Friday and if Tina did not take him in he would have probably died. Saturday he was laid around and not much activity except when he was hungry and time to take his medicine. Dr. Jim took a look at him and gave told us what he needed. Sunday was so much different! He was awake, moving and holding out his arms to be held and crying. He is so very small but in a month or so I am sure he will be up around putting on weight and giving everyone a hard time.

We are working on a house today so I am sure we are all going to be very tired again.

Pray for Ezekiel and his health and for the protecting hand of God to be on all of us as we work for Him each day.

For the Love of Haiti

Charles Heinold

I am sure most of you have heard of the newest scare going on in Haiti. Cholera is a terrible disease for a country like Haiti. The best I can understand it comes from the water and it makes you very sick, very fast. It can be cured but in Haiti they have limited supplies of what is needed and limited number of people to help. The outbreak started far from Port-au-Prince, but over the last week has made it’s way to the city. Please pray they are able to confine this and that needed supplies and help will be available if this gets any larger. At this time it is on a small scale but could easily grow with the conditions they have in Port-au-Prince. We are washing our hands and watching what we eat, so please pray that this will not turn out as bad as it could. Also pray that countries like the US will react quickly and set up the needed operations to keep this under control.

The mission is doing well. School has started and 1,100 kids are a lot of kids. But as always the workers are stepping up and things have gone well. We are hoping that the schools that were not able to open because of the earthquake distroying there buildings will be able to open by next year.

The Family Life Center on the inside is very close to being done. It is very nice and the group that is in now will start painting and the next group will finish it. Once it is painted we will put the windows in and start finishing the insides so we can move in. I have made many statements on when we should be in but I forget this is Haiti and things are done slower and the biggest thing I forget is that it is in God’s timing not mine.

We have 17 children and they are all doing well. The group took the older ones to the beach yesterday and as always they had a great time. They played in the water for a long time and then dug a hole on the beach and proceeded to role around in the sand and fill the hole with their bodies.

It is time to help get the kids ready for school and get myself ready to do what needs to be done today. Again please pray for God’s devine help here in Haiti. Pray for the works of the Lord to come and fill this island with His Word and Love. There is no humanly way that Haiti will be changed, so ask God to put His hand upon them and that the workers will be available to make a difference.

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold

I want to take a second to let you know that today was a sad day. Jasmine the little 10 month girl that weighed 4.5pounds died. She put up a fight to live till the end but she died with grace as she took her last breath. She is know in the hands of our Lord and Savior and she is whole. Her deformed body here on earth is no more because she has a new body in heaven.

I want to share one more thing though about the day. I want to tell you about the people that did not know Jasmine that stopped what they were doing to make her funeral very nice. The cabinet maker made a very nice wood coffin in a matter of hours. The church was prepared on very short notice and Pastor Maxi did a very nice job of delivering the service. It was people coming together to honor the life of a little one that touched many lives in a short time. Please pray for everyone at the mission house for God’s comfort.

One last not is a huge thank you from the people at the hospital! We delivered 2 truck loads of supplies and all they could say was thank you so very much! I too want to thank you and share the joy that it brought to see their faces. You would have thought that they did not ever receive any help from anyone else.

In closing thank you so very much for making this such a great trip. Being able to hand out and deliver so many truck loads of much needed supplies, food, clothes and love was so hart warming and it was made possible by all of you.

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold

Well time is coming to and end of another great 2 weeks in Haiti. The last couple of days has been filled with nothing but work, work, work! The kids have been great, helping do dishes because the sink is torn apart because of the new kitchen cabinets going in. (Thanks to a very generous donation by one of our loving friends) Not only have they been working hard on the dishes they have been moving rooms around so they have carried their clothes, hung them back up, help move furniture and sometimes stop and play a little with things they found that they either forgot they had or thought they lost. Jessica has done a great job managing everything at the house. The help really like her and see that she is their to help not only the children but them also. It has been a great experience for me to see her in action and work along side of her in what might be her life from know on.

I forgot about updating you on the beach. We had a great time. It rained a little on us but for the most part it was a perfect day. Kids had a great time! The adults had a better time and we all went home very tired. We got home and cleaned up and ate some dinner and went up stairs to finish a perfect day by watching Barney. (ha,ha the kids love him and it is fun to listen to them try and sing the songs.)

My next trip to Haiti is scheduled on the 22nd of October and a group from Lebanon Christian Church and a few others will be going. Then the next week a group from Angola Indiana will be coming in and I will stay with them. I am looking forward to both groups and should be a lot of interesting updates.

Again thank you and hope that all is well with all of you. God Bless

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold

We have the net so I am trying to get an update in before it goes out again. The last couple of days have slowed down a little because I am slowing down. We have almost all the clothes and personal items handed out, the medical items are all but gone except for what just came in. We were able to give 3 doctors and the hospital a tremendous amount of very useful items because of all of you. The food should be all distributed by early next week with the last of it being given out to members of the church.

I think we have worn out the road to Jacmel. Taken items to doctors, camps, checking on the new community, getting supplies, and using the net in town while ours was down. I started today teaching Jessica how to drive a stick. She did really well and with a little practice will be driving all the time. She will have to get used to driving on all sides of the road and dogging people, dogs, motorcycles, cars and trucks. It is not always the easiest to drive over here. It is like driving in Chicago on a really bad day.

We are taking most of the kids to the ocean today so I sure I will have lots to tell in a day or so. We haven’t told them yet because we would not get anything done except for telling them when we are going to go. Besides we do not know when it is going to rain. It has rained everyday this week. Not that I am complaining because it does cool it off and they need the rain.

Have had some exciting things happen over this stay. Had another missionary ask me if we needed a well fixed and we do and he is going to send over the organization that will fix it for free. FAME stopped by show me some plans they are working on using containers to make medical units out of and even other types of building at a very inexpensive price. They also mentioned something about if we do not build a clinic at this they have funds available for vehicles to transport people to the hospital and doctor which would be really nice to have especially for the people in the mountains and the new community.

Well it is lunch time and need to help get everything ready. (all the kids) Will update as long as the net is up and keep you informated on what is going on. Pray for all the kids, upcoming school year, finishing the family life center, the Haitian People, and for staff and Miss Tina. We give God praise for all that he has done already in all of these areas. We praise Him for all of you that with your prayers and donations give us the chance to serve God here in Haiti.

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold

Hopefully I get to send this before I leave. The network has been down for the last 3 days and have not been able to update, so in anticipation of it coming up I wanted to get down what is going on. Things are really happening, in Jacmel and Cyvadier. God has been so good and is moving in ways that has really brought great hope to several people. Houses are being built, we have had several leads on potential businesses to start, and businessmen in the area donating needed materials to help in the process of build new homes for the Haitians in the tent camps and more and more people getting involved on a daily basis. The Mayor of Jacmel has been the best. He has donated land, talked to people to help keep the cost down and is working hard to help as many people as he can. I got the chance to visit another community being built by an organization call Save the Children and they are putting up tents. I first thought it was a waste of time and did not see the thought process, but the community is very clean and well organized. They are building a hospital out of containers, and community restrooms and bathing areas that are very nice. The tents themselves are large two room structures that are reinforced with steel beams. They are doing a good job and the people are happy, thank you God! As for the rest of the Haitian government doing anything I have not seen or heard of much, maybe they should make the Mayor of Jacmel President!

The kids are growing and some are growing a little too much! Little Abeella first came to us unable to walk (at the age of 2) because all she did all day was sit with no interaction with anyone. When you tried to help her walk she would cry. Her little legs were just a little bigger around than my fingers and the doctor was not sure she would ever walk. Well she is walking, playing and eating very well! Anneka came to us at 6 months old and weighed 6 pounds and was like jelly in your hands. Today she weighs X pounds, holding her head up and last night was helping me eat my grilled cheese sandwich. Andy one of the first babies is sitting up, jumping around in his jumper and is very active. When he arrived he had very little motor skills and had to have everything done for him. All of the kids are doing great. Just keep them all in your prayers and before I leave Jessica and I hope to have a new update on the website and facebook on all the kids. Trying to piece together a time line of pictures of the kids so you can see how they are doing. We are still needing sponsors, the family life center has become very expensive along with all the kids and we are needing donations to help us finish the first building and funds for the children’s needs.

We have completed 20 houses and help provide material for another 27 houses in the Village. We have 4 more groups coming in this year to build 4 more houses. But that is still short of the houses that need to be built. The area has several more houses that need attention. Please pray that funds will become available to help build more houses.

Groups, WOW have we been blessed this year with great groups that have come in and worked beside Haitians and done some really amazing work. When I say amazing it is not the physical work they have done (though it has been very good) but it is the spiritual work they have done. We have had more people comment on how much Christ’s love has been shown through these groups and the lives that have been touched by each and every one of them. If you would like to come in this coming year please contact me. (email: charles.heinold@sbcglobal.net) We have January booked and February well on its way. If you cannot get a group together to go that is OK. I can match you up with a group from another church and organize the travels so you come in together.

Everyone at the mission wants to thank all of you for everything you do. We have been so blessed this year with the abundant giving and appreciate it very much. We would like to challenge you to help us find new sponsors for school kids because we are over 1,000 students this year because of taking in children that their school is no longer available because of the earthquake. That puts us in a hard spot because we ran in the red last year and adding over 200 kids in the last 9 months will really make things interesting. The children that we have taken in need sponsors also. The buildings, property, lawyer fees, clothing, feeding and medical care has really added a huge cost to the mission and has taken away funds that we would have liked to use for other needs. Please help us get more of these children sponsored! For sponsorship you can go to our website at damouhaiti.org, email me at charles.heinold@sbcglobal.net or call me at 317-691-7792. At this time we have over 600 students that need to be sponsored at the school and 14 children that we have taken in need sponsors. Thank for your prayers and efforts!

Need to close it is 5:15 am and have a very busy day planned so I need to get at it. God bless all of you and we thank God for all of you and all that He has done through you!

Chuck

No net again today! Not sure what the problem is everything is working fine but looks like our server is having problems.

Yesterday was a day of learning. Went to the school to sort more of the items that all of you sent to make sure it is getting to those that need it the most. We took 40 boxes of food to the large camp only to find out that the government is stepping in and the lady that did such a great job of taking care of the people has no voice and she is ready to get out. Over 200 families have been moved to the camp that Save the Children is putting together. We took 20 boxes of food to them and ran into a problem because the person we were lead to believe was in charge is not the person that the administration of the camp thinks in charge. That is not a large problem, until you ask the people and they think that he is in charge and they do not trust the person that is said to be in charge. Will have to evaluate the situation a little more before we take anything else there. One thing I do know the young man we took the food to is a huge help to the people medically wise and will continue to take medical supplies to him as long as we have them. While I was at the school, Jessica was organizing and taking care of the baby program. We had a huge group of ladies come and it was going very slow because we weigh each baby and record its weight to make sure it is getting the nutrition that is provided and the mother is not selling the formula. About half way through the 7 hour day one of the mothers that was very pregnant (I mean very pregnant) started having contractions. She wanted to go home and was going to take a taptap (motorcycle) to her house. We all decide she did not need to be riding on a motorcycle having contractions and holding a baby. We brought the truck around and got her in and then started the journey to her house. Well in my small mind I thought it would be 5 minutes there and then we would be on our way back. We drove and drove until we went a good 10 miles then she said to turn here. Well the road was not good, actually it was bad enough that the motorcycle taptaps do not go up it. We took off and drove another 2 miles and reached her house. Her mother was there and was so very thankful that we brought her home. I help her to the house were mom had a chair waiting for her. She introduced her other two children to me and kept saying thank you. Before I left we had a time of prayer and she was grateful for all that we had done for her and asked for God’s blessing upon us. Well while we were gone the crowd was getting restless at the school so when we got back the two young men that were helping me got a bunch of snake food together out of the supplies sent in and started feeding everyone. That was a great site to see these two young men going to woman to woman and handing out food and the smiles it brought to their face. But the event turned a little when they ran out of snacks, and had to improvise. They did very good though, they found crackers and other things that could be given out and finished the task in time for a container to show up that we had no idea that it was coming. (great problem to have) Knowing what was on the container I looked around and say we did not have enough help and wondering how we were going to get this large container unloaded. We worked on getting the truck in place the door open and when I turned around and look for help it was right behind me. More than 15 people showed up to help. With a lot of sweat and hard work we had the 25,000 pound of food, supplies, batteries for the inverter at the house, school and Village of Hope, BUV or big ugly vehicle as I call it, and medical equipment and supplies were all unloaded. We gave each person some money and a bottle of water and went home for a birthday party that I was 3 hours late for. The birthday party was for Lalene and she waited until I got there and I was so thankful for her. She had a friend and sister over and we all ate a very nice meal and celebrated her 16th birthday. It was a great end to a very busy day.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that it expresses the frustrations, excitement, and pleasures that I experience each and every day that I am in Haiti. I want you to know that the pleasures far outweigh the frustrations even though it might not sound like it in my updates. The time flies by so fast and in my attempt to do a little I miss some of the pleasures that are all around me. The children that look for your love and attention all the time. People looking wanting to spend time with you and learn more about you and what you believe. God’s blessing all around you in what He is doing and what needs to be done. God Bless all of You and pray for God’s guidance and direction for all of us.

WOW! I am on line and getting ready to send this update! I had to go to Jacmel to send it but I am just glad to get on line.

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold

Good morning! It is good to be back in Haiti after a month of being very busy in the States. Jessica and I had a good trip in with no problems. We arrived in Haiti and the airport craziness was not so crazy or maybe I am just getting used to it. We were greeted outside the airport by several familiar faces of people that work at the airport and they as always treated us very well while we were looking for our ride to the mission house. Boss and his nephew picked us up and it was good to see both of them. We loaded the truck and headed home. Our trip through Port au Prince was the usual, lots of traffic and people. The other all to normal thing was the destruction that still is not being removed or cleaned up. Over 98% of the houses and businesses on the route home are still in rubble. With only those that have money to make the needed repairs being able to do so. I saw people sitting in houses that half of it was knocked down from the earthquake and the half was still remaining and they were living in. Tent camps still set up every place you look, and one thing I really noticed was the increased number of children looking for handouts in the streets. We normally get 12 or more young boys coming up to the truck looking for money but we probably had twice that many looking for something. (money, food, drink) You know what was the saddest thing was that it took me until this morning to realize all of this. I have come so used to seeing it that it has become normal to me. (That is sad) Unfortunately that is what Haiti has become to people outside of Haiti. It has become normal for it to be in some form damaged. Whether that be from tropical storms, earthquakes, political upheaval, or just the day to day situation that Haitians live in everyday. I wonder who is winning the battle when we get to this acceptance of life. It is not God and as much as I hate to admit it, Satan is winning every time Christians accept this as normal. What a terrible word normal is. God does want us to be normal because that means that you are part of this world. He wants you to stand out for Him as His shining light in a world that is in darkness. He does not want us to accept people living in conditions less that what He has given them to live in. Folks this is not just for the people of Haiti it also is for those in the USA. We have children and families going hungry every day of the week. How do we expect to hear those words “well done good and faithful servant” when we are not serving the Lord in the ways he expects us to. He expects to help the poor, those that are hungry and thirsty, those that have no home or what ever the situation might be.

God is so very good and His timing is perfect. He allowed me to stay at home (in the US) for a month and be with family during a time that I needed to be home. He sent me back to Haiti and has opened my eyes again to how so very much we as Christian need to be His workers here on earth. If we do not do His work who will? Other religions, the government, who? He expects us to and we need to step up and do more. My prayer is that we become His working body here on earth and do the work that he has already destined for us to do. All we have to do is realize what that work is and do it for Him, and realize that all the glory and honor goes to Him while doing it so His kingdome will be built here and lives will be saved in His Name.

For the Love of the Haitian People

Charles Heinold
2514 Countryside Drive
Lebanon, IN 46052
Website: damouhaiti.org
Email: charles.heinold@sbcglobal.net

I was going to wait till I got to Haiti to see for myself the land and everything that was going on but I just have to let you all know what God is doing in Haiti. The Mayor of Jacmel is going out of his way to work with Damou Christian Mission. He had already given us a piece of land near some land we own in the mountains and gave us the license for a church, school, and clinic. (PRAISE GOD) Well just the other day Tina called and said he gave us some land to start a community for the tent people. A very nice piece of land near Jacmel. Well two days ago Tina called back and said he had a better piece of land and wanted to show her. They went to see it and Tina estimated that there was about 50 acres and it was perfect for building because it had a rock bases that would allow us to use less materials for the foundations of the houses. Not only was the land perfect to build on but the location was perfect also. It is between the main road and the ocean and that land is very hard to get. He will start putting roads in as soon as we get him a layout and our engineer has already been there and is working on plans for a community. Our hopes are to build a church, school, and businesses on this property. We will start building homes in a few weeks, we have had some very generous donations and have enough money to build at least 30 homes at this time. That only leaves us with 1,1 70 homes to build, several churches, schools and lots of businesses. This sound like a huge task and it is for us but not for God. If you told me a week ago that we would be building on this amount of land with hopes of building another school, church and businesses I would have said no way. But that is my simple mind! God has a plan and is laying the foundation for it before our eyes. My challenge to you is to help by praying, challenging your local church to get involved, challenging neighbor churches to get involved with you. Introduce this to a non christian friend to get involved and then show them the ways that God is working and let the seed be planted.

I thank all of your for your efforts and giving!

For the Love of the Haitian People

Chuck Heinold

email: charles.heinold@sbcglobal.net

Cell: 317-691-7792