“…Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mathew 25:40)
Remembering their commission from the most high God, Pastor Bill Thompkins and 7 other missionaries took a recent trip to impoverished Haiti, bringing hope to the poor and blessings to the fatherless.
For the September 12th, 2009 weekend Thompkins and his team, a collaboration of believers from 4 different Racine churches, set off with the modest goal to bring 5 full suitcases of supplies to meet various needs in the Haitian community. But the missionaries exceeded their own ambitions by bringing 17 full suitcases! Loaded with various goods, from school supplies to medical supplies to even soccer uniforms, the suitcases were symbols of hope and love for the people of Haiti. “They [the Haitians] were so surprised at the quality, variety and abundance of things we brought!” exclaims Pastor Thompkins as he mentions the fact that they even brought water hoses and blenders! “It was amazing!”
With a mission to bless, the team visited schools, orphanages, churches and various cities as they met with the people and distributed the goods. Citing his visit to the orphanages specifically, Pastor Thompkins mentions the heartbreaking circumstances over 100 children live in: “It rained one night and the kids had to stand, holding onto the [building’s] posts because that was the only place water wasn’t coming in through. They didn’t sleep all night, their beds were soaked.” Visually saddened by these poor conditions, Pastor referred back to his very first trip to Haiti when he was first exposed to the reality of life for the orphans: “When we first left, we became committed to rebuilding those buildings. We have been able to support the organization that successfully rebuilt the orphanages.” Pastor and his team got to see the new, completed orphanages on their recent trip. Thompkins also mentions another opportunity he and his team were able to minister to the orphans, “[At one orphanage] there were 125 kids, and when we got there, 60 to 70 ran to us just to be held. There were only 8 of us, but we just started picking up kids!” The orphanages also received much needed supplies and soccer uniforms, which they wound up using as school uniforms.
(See Page 5) Giving God all glory and honor for what was done in Haiti, Pastor Thompkins shares a small slice of worry he began with, but quickly lost. Concerned that Customs would really ring up the dollars considering the amount of luggage the team was transporting, Thompkins began to wonder whether the $700 in his pocket would be enough to clear everything. “We went RIGHT THROUGH customs! God opened up the gates and we went right through without paying a dollar! It was miraculous!” For the team, that only meant a bigger financial contribution for the people of Haiti. Once exchanged for Haiti’s common currency, the team’s love offering of $1,700 US dollars equated to $68,000 for the Haitian people! A blessing indeed!
Planning return trips for both May and November of 2010, the next group’s missions will be to work on repair and restoring the conditions in other orphanages and schools; they may even build a house! Its obvious Thompkins is confident in the hearts and minds of the willing missionaries, and he can rest assured that there will always be someone there, ready to say “Send me, I’ll go!”
Pastor Bill Thompkins serves as the pastor for Fellowship of Christian Believers, at 703 Washington Avenue, in Racine. For more information about the church or their missionary trips to Haiti or how you can support the missionary team’s efforts, please contact the church directly at (262) 634-3636
