In late October 1994, Steve Smith came out of a surgical suite carrying a hand full of supplies that had been opened but not used or contaminated. A nurse, coming out of an adjoining room did the same, asked him what he was going to do with his and he told her he saved them for organizations going to and working in other countries. Although no longer sterile, there is a great need for supplies like these as long as they are clean.
She asked if she could give his phone number to a group making plans to go on a mission trip that could possibly use some of what he had. Twenty four hours later, Steve had been invited to make his first missionary trip and to Haiti. This came three days after a prayer group at their church had prayed God would open a door to the mission field for him.
After spending the last week of 1994 and the first week of 1995 in Haiti, Steve and Terry, along with their pastor and three friends, sat down on Saturday the second weekend of March 1995, set the ground work for the ministry, and gave it its name: Haitian Islands Ministry, or as it is known now, HIM. Steve says, “I wish now we could take credit for the name but that was our pastor’s idea and I guess in hindsight it sounds better than my name: Haitian Outreach Project, or HOP — although around Easter that might sound okay.”
The “seed” to help others in countries like Haiti had been planted years before by a man and his wife who stayed at our house for a few days while on furlough from Japan. Listening to them talk about needs in countries like Haiti sparked something in both of us we had never felt before. We knew we could at least help with supplies. Although the need or want to actually go was great, we never thought we would ever be able to.
Years down the road from that weekend in March 1995 and especially my invitation in 1994, we can see how God has directed every single thing that has happened, even to those who now help us as we helped others before we could go. We know now how valuable anything we did for those we helped was, whether it was in the form of supplies or financial help.
Giving in the form of supplies for the schools, vitamins or things such as shoes for children, keeps us from having to use general funds to purchase them. Giving in the form of financial help, helps us buy things needed there and things bought here to take there, or in the case of the feeding programs, every single thing needed to operate them.
Even though many things in Haiti are the same as they were the first trip and worse in many areas since the earthquake, there are changes in the areas we work. The children have been and are being taught about Jesus. They have the opportunity to attend school, learning how to read and write. Having been provided these basic skills, they can learn for themselves what is true and right.
In providing the feeding programs, along with vitamins, we (you) are providing them with needed assistance in their growth and development. As our brochure states “Because of these program, skin diseases commonly seen in these areas are now a thing of the past.” And because of the prenatal programs, including prenatal vitamins that are also donated, infant mortality in these areas is almost nonexistent.
The medical program still continues even though we haven’t mentioned it much lately. Those who work with us now have worked with us from the beginning. They’ve been taught and schooled to the point they now do pretty much everything from diagnosis to treat illnesses common in Haiti.
On that first trip in 1994 we had no idea what God had planned for us. In March of 1995, we knew it was all about medical care, but that wasn’t all that was in His plan. Now, like then, we have no idea what the next seventeen years holds for us, but if there is anything we do know and can be sure of, God is already there.
As always, Terry and I are very grateful for the sacrifice you make each month and some of you since the very beginning, for our friends in Haiti. Thank you for all you do for them and thank you for all you do for us.
Serving HIM together
Steve and Terry
P.S. Total giving for Bibles through the 29th of March was $1924. We’re still $1076 short of the goal but we are sure it will come and appreciate all who have given or prayed for this to happen.
