... This year marks the 30th anniversary of Harmony Ministries, led by Pastor Luc Deratus. He planned a three-week revival in April, had over 2,600 people at Easter services in Port-au-Prince, baptized 51 new believers on Easter Sunday, and fed over 3,000 people from the church and neighborhood. Meanwhile, children have been attending school in temporary facilities and work on the foundation for the new church/multipurpose building should be completed this summer.

... Pastor Luc’s son graduated from fifth grade on June 3, and his daughter finished second grade, both in North Miami where they live.

In 2006, Pastor Luc and his family were threatened by neighborhood gangs, went into hiding and then moved to safety with relatives in North Miami. Pastor Luc spends most of his time in Haiti, and his wife, Ronide, a trained medical technician, joins him there a few times a year. This summer, the whole family spent June and July in Haiti, where the children visited friends and family and brushed up on their Creole skills. This was the first time the children have been back to their homeland since 2007.

Construction at Port-au-Prince church

... From the generous special offerings PPC received following the earthquake in January 2010 and Pastor Luc’s visit in October 2010, we sent substantial funds to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance for emergency relief, and since then have provided ongoing financial assistance to Harmony Ministries and Pastor Luc for his food program, medicines, Christian education, teacher salaries, and student support. From these special offerings, PPC also provided initial funding to enable work on the foundation for the new church structure.

... Just prior to the earthquake in January 2010, we had planned to send money to Harmony Ministries for a transformer for the church in Port-au-Prince. Fortunately the transformer had not yet been purchased, because it would have been lost in the quake. Several months later, improved power was delivered to the Harmony Ministries campus and a huge tent had been erected to serve as the church until a new building can be completed. The funds originally earmarked for electrical improvements were used instead to install a sound system in the tent church that will also be usable in the new facility. With crowds of 2,000 people in church each week, a good sound system is essential!

... The “Up From the Rubble” campaign at PPC in March 2011 raised over $75,000 (including one large gift of almost $50,000) to be used for the rebuilding of the Harmony Ministries church, school and clinic in Port-au-Prince. Pastor Luc carefully manages the building costs and requests funds from the Harmony Partners consortium only when needed for the next phase. The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (N.J.) provided building funds last spring, and we sent $15,000 from the “Up From the Rubble” funds in early June for building materials and wages for Haitian laborers. We’ll have construction photos of the progress when Pastor Luc returns in August.