Mission Trip to Haiti
Building the Church of Christ in Jacmel
September 20 – 27, 2010
By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we had another mission trip to Haiti with a group from various churches. Last time when we visited Haiti in April 2010 we purchased a piece of land in the region of Jacmel in order to build a church. The church had rented a place of worship close to Romano Catholic Church’s building in Jacmel, where lots of people from the Catholic Church came to worship together in the Christian Protestant Church caused by the presence of the living Spirit of God. People were touched, blessed and some asked to receive the act of Baptism.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.†Amen.†Matthew 28:19-20

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.†Matthew 28:19-20
Due to the circumstances created the Catholic priest purchased the neighboring building where they worshiped, and gave them a notice to abandon the location. Now, the church was without a location and the new believers gathered together in a brother’s front yard and used plastic coverings as a means of shelter from the rain. Hearing all this in the month of July when I was called by Pastor Medit from Jacmel, I said I will try to mobilize some churches to start building a church on the piece of land we bought. We purchased the property without knowing the situation with the Romano Catholic Church. In the month of September at the Romanian Convention in Atlanta, I contacted Pastor Iulian Costea who mobilized people from his church and other churches from the states towards the Jacmel project. The number of skilled people responding to the request was amazing.
Among us were some girls that had a desire to work with the little children. There were people from Bethel Pentecostal Church in Nashville pastored by Iulian Costea, form Golgotha Romanian Pentecostal Church in Chicago, from 
Bethel Romanian Pentecostal Church in Indiana, from 
New Hope in Anaheim, California and 
Grace Romanian Pentecostal Church in Houston, Texas.
We all met in Florida and from there we took a flight towards the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. There we met the Pastor Medit who picked us up on a bus at the airport and we headed toward Jacmel (a 3-hour drive through the mountainous road). We were worried it would rain all those days and we wouldn’t be able to do anything. Despite the weather forecast, the very next day was clear and everything was perfect for construction during our entire time there. As soon as we left Haiti, the storms began pouring again!
The team worked in harmony and the quality and the skill of certain people who are contractors in the states was greatly appreciated. Some of the contractors came with the tools necessary for proper leveling of the foundation on a hilly elevation. Their participation in this poor country makes a great difference especially with the money because the materials are so expensive. We spent $15,560 on the foundation’s materials, which includes the sand, rocks, cement blocks, plywood, 2x4x16 wood, steel rebars for enforcement and others.
People from the church came together and helped us mix the cement and pour the foundation. They sang enthusiastically and prayed together and continued to work hard. There were people of all ages working, form 5 year olds to 65 year olds, each carrying a stone or a bucket of cement. The girls thought the little children the alphabet and biblical things while being deeply touched by their love and poor lifestyle.
We held evangelical meetings almost each night under that improved plastic tent and gave thanks to God for His goodness. Everybody from our team was able to share something from the gospel and greet the church members. Some of us visited the inmates in Jacmel’s prison on one morning and we encouraged them and shared the gospel of Jesus with them and gave them hygienic supplies. We purchased 22 bags of rice and 22 bags of beans and shared them with the poor people and the people that worked on the foundation.
Sunday morning we left Jacmel and headed toward Port-au-Prince where we had a tour of the ruins of the quake. At night, we stopped at the Soldier for Christ church where we attended their church service. We all were also able to share our greetings and the word of God that night to about 2,000 people under a tent where there used to be a church before the earthquake. We slept that night in a part of the same church’s building which was left undisturbed by the quake. In the morning we headed toward the airport where everyone got home safely. We thank God for helping us and we thank all of you for your donation and participation and bring His hope to the hopeless in Haiti.
Constantin Lupancu
