April 2021 Update

Eleven years ago Rabbi Peter came to Beth Chesed to teach us about the Hebrew Roots of our faith. We began to understand what is written in the Torah about the Festivals of the Lord. Every year since, Beth Chesed, or Mishkahn Yeladim, celebrates all of the Festivals of the Lord. 

Passover is one of our most joyous feasts. It is a sign of our freedom from sin. The week before Passover is an important time when we are very busy cleaning the leaven (which represents sin) out from our home.

On the first night of Passover we have a ceremonial Seder Supper and recite the Passover story. This year with help from Vania and the children who are in the trade school, we had a most delicious Seder dinner. It was a fantastic meal!

We found it so enjoyable to watch the children dance like crazy and they didn’t stop until midnight when I finally had to tell them to go to bed!

We've learned two special lessons from this celebration: 

It has become more of an urgent need for us to have a bus. Not just because we have outgrown the truck we have but also for safety concerns. The children are growing and the vehicle is too small to take even half of them to school. For the past two years we have been struggling with ideas about how to purchase a bus that will accommodate all of us. In addition to using it for school we would also use it for field trips.

We ask for your prayers and financial support to make this happen if that is on your heart to do. We know it will be several thousand dollars but we won't have an actual amount until we locate one that will meet our needs, runs well and is a reasonable price. Any amount of giving, big or small, will be a blessing to us! Todah!

For more than 9 years we have been praying for a much safer fence with a bigger and more secure gate to protect our property. It is necessary in a country like Haiti where violence can be unpredictable and volatile at times. This year Adonai is answering our prayers by providing the materials we need for a fence. We are beginning construction with the help of a group of people. It won’t be an easy task but we will keep working at it until it is finished. We love you all so very much for helping make this answered prayer come true. As always, we continue to pray for you.

Ritsa Olibrice is 12 years old and in the last grade of primary school.

She loves to play hide and seek and watch TV, especially cartoons. Ritsa is really active and loves to dance. Her favorite food is rice and beans in sauce and also fried fish.

Ritsa came in the orphanage when she was 6 years old. She was with her 4-year-old sister Ruth. Their aunt Juliette couldn't afford to take care of them after their mom Keynia abandoned them. Juliette had to make the decision to leave them with us at the orphanage.

We finally met their mom after 4 years but unfortunately she is a manbo (priestess in the Haitian Vodou). She is in need of much prayer in order for Adonai to restore her soul.
 

Nehemie is our accountant at Beth Chesed and is responsible for our monthly reports. He was married last October and is looking forward to raising a family with his wife.

It is an interesting story on how we decided to choose him as an employee. I met Nehemie when I first started my license program in theology. Every week I would choose a subject and invite one of my classmates to come to the orphanage and teach our children about it. They would spend the weekend with us. When it was Nehemie’s time to come, he didn't just come to train the children for one weekend, he would often come once a week to teach the children something new. He volunteered his time like this for three years before we hired him as our accountant.

Here he is telling a little about his job: 

Buying food for the children every month is our priority. When the children realize that the food is almost done in the depot and we haven’t gone out to replenish our supply, they are not even interested in playing. However, when they see the truck coming into the orphanage full of food, they start to play and dance.

Will you please consider becoming a "Gold Sponsor" at $50/month? If 100 people commit to this amount, both our orphanage and our Messianic congregation in Haiti will be 100% financially supported.  We currently have 14 Gold Sponsors.  Thank you for your prayerful consideration!

However you are led, we thank you for sharing our heart for the work Abba is doing in Haiti! Please share this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested in learning about Haiti and Beth Chesed.