A Busy Season…
The staff and children at the IOS Children’s Home
Dear Friends of Sea Hope
The LORD continues to show Himself strong in the ministry of SEA HOPE.
Mary and I returned from our holiday period in North Carolina in early January and went to work to prepare for a trip carrying supplies to both the iOS Children’s Home and the Parakaleo Children's Home, both in Haiti. Many of you helped fund baby needs and formula. We just praise the LORD for HIS Goodness. We were able to give the iOS Children's Home enough milk for each child to get 8 oz per day for the next 8 months! AND also Parakaleo Children's Home, which is still under construction, already has 5 little ones and we had enough milk for them, plus diapers for the youngest. This was all in addition to the food that each of these organizations purchased. When our Puerto Rican community got word of the mission, clothes and some toys started arriving at SEA HOPE. As the LORD would have it, both the Stancils, with iOS, and the Faldes with Parakaleo rode with us on this mission. There were tears of joy as they helped us sort the items.
The Faldes were able to bring supplies on board the ship for the construction of the Parakaleo Children’s Home in Caye Jacmel and Hope Medical Center in Sequin.
We ended up with about 50,000 pounds of supplies. and the Faldes were able to return to the field via SEA HOPE for several months to oversee their construction projects.
As planned, we were able to spend 3 days in the port and Dr Matt Reid of Florida and Josh Satch, an ICU nurse from Mississippi, did a medical clinic at the iOS Children’s Home, another blessing "you" all got to be a part of !
Some of the food SEA HOPE provided also went to Killick and Nehemie Aristide, missionaries at Grace Baptist Independent Church in Les Cayes. Some of this food was used for an evangelistic outreach meeting, and 23 people made professions of faith. Hallelujah.
I must confess the weather for this trip was a real challenge. We faced 25-35 knot winds for the entire 3 day return trip. It was one of the most physically demanding trips we have ever taken, but knowing we delivered food and supplies that will keep people fed for months and helped missionaries return to their field , it was so worth it
Hiccup turned Blessing
During this frenzy of activity pre-mission our insurance company let us know we needed a new survey, which we weren't expecting. We were able to get an inspector locally, a blessing and savings. The "timing" looked perfect on the calendar, as our annual haul out maintenance was scheduled for late March and we were able to address a couple of small issues that "keeps us afloat.
March Mission
We returned to Ponce and immediately began preparations to carry a load of food to Hosanna Baptist Church and some supplies to the medical center operated by the Community Coalition for Haiti; this was the first time we worked with this organization. Sixteen days after we returned from the previous trip we sailed for a different port in Haiti. We loaded on a Monday morning, left Monday afternoon, unloaded on Wednesday and returned to Ponce on Friday. This was by far the most efficient trip we have ever done. The weather was absolutely perfect, a far cry from the previous trip. The LORD was very gracious to us this time.
Annual Haul Out
In late March we took Sea Hope to Virgin Gorda Boatyard for our annual haul out maintenance period. We had an issue with the keel to address that was found during the survey. A local company in Virgin Gorda fixed the issue, our hull was painted, and we should be good to go for another year.
NEXT MISSION
We are busy preparing for our third mission of the year. We will be taking a load of food to a Christian School. This is another new ministry we are serving. I can not give the name or location just yet. The security situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate….we desperately need to plead for the LORD to intervene to help our brothers and sisters there.
Please pray for our safety on this and all trips.
Serving HIM Joyfully,
Buddy and Mary Puryear