Happy New Year!

Good riddance 2010! We don’t know if we have ever seen a year quite like 2010 — ministry-wise or personally. We know we constantly pound on the subject of the way Haiti is now, but it’s kind of like saying it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. People are tired of hearing that, but it is what it is: poor and pretty much unchanged from the time “it” happened.

Jean-Max Bellerive, the Prime Minister of Haiti, is quoted in a post by Sandra Mignot and the BBC as saying only 20% of pledged monies to help in rebuilding or even demolition of damaged and destroyed buildings has been received. And, nearly one year on, over one million people are still living in “tents.” The anniversary of the earthquake is the evening of January 12, and we ask you all to pause, if just for a minute, and say a prayer for them.

Although the situation in Haiti is critical at best, because of and with your help, we have reached more people than ever before. Maybe we should say they reached us. The feeding programs set up in Port-au-Prince, Bon Repos, Bayelle, Belanger, and Desca were designed to meet the needs of the school children in those areas — not those of the public. However, with so many homeless moving to those areas, we were and are left with no option. Thankfully, not one single person was turned away because there was not enough food. We thank God for this first and then you. In the economy we are in here at home, if you had not reached into your pockets and given as you did, we are not sure we could make that statement.

We know we have said this before, but we want to make sure you know that anytime you designate an offering to any H.I.M program, every cent of it goes to that program. That is one good thing about an organization the size of H.I.M.; there is no paid staff, no fleet of cars to maintain, very little overhead (no overhead to sponsored programs).

We are deeply grateful for all you gave and helped with in 2010 in offerings and supplies. Anything you did made a very bad situation better. The Haitian people know that there are people here who care for them. All of them, in each place we work, know that it isn’t Terry or I that provide these things for them. They know it comes from you. And they, along with us, thank God daily for all you do.

We pray 2011 is very good to all of you.

Serving Him together,

Steve & Terry