Greetings to all of you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Lutheran Church of Haiti's quarry business in Gonaives was recently blessed with the gift of an excellent, almost brand new excavator.
A generous donor in the U.S. provided the funds. The total cost of buying the excavator, shipping it and paying customs taxes came to just under $100,000 U.S. Three brothers and one sister in the U.S. have been involved
in making all the arrangements, from going to inspect the excavator in Florida to verify that it was in good condition, to paying for it and arranging for the shipping. Now the excavator is at the quarry here in
Gonaives, Haiti.
We had a dedication service at the quarry last Sunday; over 1600 people attended. Some were from our Lutheran churches in the area, many were from other Christian denominations, and about 400
non-Christian truck drivers attended. After the service we all went back to the church for a nice reception.
The people of the LCH, including me, have been praying for the past 3 ½ years for an excavator. The one we
had before was in terrible shape and we spent thousands of dollars on repairs. The commercial truck drivers in the area were often frustrated with our quarry because frequently we had to interrupt the delivery of sand
for 2-3 weeks at a time because the old excavator was down for repairs; we were not able to provide quality service.
The new excavator has been in service since Monday June 1. Today is Friday, May 13, and it is
noon...the first week of work with the new excavator is behind us. There have been no complaints from our quarry clients. No mechanical and hydraulic problems. The machine is running great and works very fast! It has
loaded over 400 trucks this week, and we have had gross sales of over $12,000 U.S.
That machine is doing a wonderful job of loading trucks very quickly. Sales have increased from 15-17 loads a day with the old
machine (when it was working) to about 55-60 loads a day with the new one. The people working at the quarry are so grateful to the Lord for the new Excavator that they decided to have a daily prayer meeting at the
quarry from 12:00 noon to 12:30 pm.
In this short and special report, I want to thank all of you who have been praying for the LCH quarry to get a new excavator. A BIG and great thanks to the brother who provided the
$$$ for the excavator and related expenses. May the Lord richly bless you brother for being so generous towards His kingdom in Haiti. That excavator has greatly advanced our LCH plan to become self-sufficient.
That
new excavator has been generating lots of interest. Our LCH church body is an inspiration for other Christian church bodies in Haiti whose only means of support is from U.S. or Canada. We are setting an example of how
funding can be generated by Haitians in Haiti through church sponsored businesses that can bless the church.
God bless you all.
Pastor Revenel Benoit
President of The Lutheran Church of Haiti
