Haiti Shipment Update 

(shipped February 26, 2010!)

Update as of February 27, 2010 - loading of shipping container #1 on Feb. 26, 2010

Update as of February 18, 2010

Update as of February 13, 2010

Update as of February 9, 2010

Update as of February 1, 2010

Update as of February 27, 2010:

Dear Friends,

Attached, you will find pictures (click here) of the loading of the container for Haiti, which was loaded yesterday, Friday, February 26th. We praise God for working things out as He did. 

The pictures do not do justice to all of the help and supplies that we had. We had between 60 and 75 people to come to help, and what a blessing that was! If this doesn’t speak volumes about the American Christian spirit of giving and serving, then I don’t know what does. I believe there is no limit in what can be accomplished when the body of Christ works together. 

I will be sending, soon, a copy of the bill of lading so that you can all see what you had such a part in. To give you a brief summary, there was several thousands of pounds of food, many tents and tarps for shelter (as well as other materials for this), medical supplies, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene supplies, and a few boxes of clothes and shoes. Then, to make it possible for them to start clean up and rebuilding, there were electric jack hammers, many hand tools, 2 concrete mixers, material for setting forms, and 10,000 pounds of rebar. 

In case you are wondering why the container wasn’t filled as full as we usually fill our other containers, it was because of the weight factor in shipping the rebar. We wanted to be careful that we did not exceed our weight limit of 47,000 pounds. 

Now, to share with you all, just what you have had a part in--- we had so much to ship that we were not able to put it all in this container. The Lord willing, we will be probably be loading another container in 2-3 weeks. I will keep you informed in regards to this.

In speaking with my shipping agent, and others, I have found out some of the more specific needs and we will be working toward these in order to fill the next container. The following is a list of these needs:

TARPS, TARPS AND MORE TARPS—and then, MORE TARPS
TENT POLES TO SECURE SAME
TAMPONS AND WOMEN’S PADS
HAMMERS, THE NEED IS GREAT FOR HAMMERS
BAR SOAP
CLOTH TOWELS OF ANY SIZE, USED OR NEW DOESN’T MATTER
FOOD, OF COURSE
ASPIRIN—ANY KIND

I do hope that you will receive a blessing from reading this and seeing how the Lord used so many of you in making this possible. Without your prayers and contributions, this could not have happened. I do thank God for all of you and your faithfulness in His service. 

I will be keeping you updated on this container, as well as the next one. Right now, the ETA for this one, for Port Au Prince, Haiti, is March 16th. Please keep it in your prayers. 

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Again, thank you, and may the Lord bless you all. 

In His Service,
Johnny

Update as of February 18, 2010:

Dear Friends,

I just received confirmation that we will be loading the container for Haiti at 9 AM on Friday, February 26th. The container will be brought to Dawsey's Hardware store (Austin has been kind enough to allow us the use of half of his building for storing of the supplies there) at 78481 Highway 437, Covington, LA 70435. 

Should you have an inventory of supplies, please send it to me asap. One of our problems in loading this container is that we will not know all that people are sending until close to the time we are ready to load. We are trying to find out as much info ahead of time in order that we may go and buy what we need in order to be sure that we have a full container. 

The reason we are having to load on a Friday is that, in this situation, the container will go out of Houston. Therefore, a driver must bring a container from Houston, then wait while we load it, (this is called a "live load") then take it back to the port in Houston. Normally, when we load for Romania, we have the container dropped on Friday, load on Saturday, and then picked up on Monday, and this is easier for everyone. However, I am sure it will all work out. If you could be there to help with the loading though, it would surely be appreciated. I know that weekdays are not convenient for most people.

Again, thanks to all of you who have had such a part in making this possible. May the Lord continue to bless you all.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

In His Service,
Johnny

Update as of February 13, 2010:

Dear Friends,

The Lord continues to bless with the preparation for the Haiti Container. 

With the advice of Pastor Jean and also my shipping agent, we will be shipping directly to Port Au Prince. I assure you that, no matter which way we go, we are subject to problems with the customs people. It would seem, to you and I, that with the needs so desperate there, that the government would be trying to expedite the containers. However the previous mentality of greed and corruption seems to continue to prevail. I would ask that all of you pray for this container, that the Lord will indeed expedite it to Pastor Jean. We all know that He can do that if it is in His will. 

Although we are not sure yet of the exact loading date, I think that it will be on either the 25th or 26th (Update: Feb. 26th). We will have to do a "live load", which means that we will have about 3 hours to load the container once it arrives at our location. Since it will probably be on a weekday, and many who would normally come will be working, we would appreciate all the help we can get. 

For those of you collecting supplies, it would really help me if you could have them all sorted, boxed, and labeled as to what the contents are. Then, if you can, as soon as possible, send me a list of what you have. By knowing what you have, we can plan on what we need to buy to be sure that we have a full load, of things that are needed, in order to fill the container. This is very important and I would greatly appreciate your help in this. 

Again, thank you all for being such a blessing to so many!

In His Service,
Johnny Huffman

Update as of February 9, 2010:

Dear Friends,

I want to thank so many of you who have given, and continue to give for the Haiti Container. This is just a short update so you will know what is happening.

With the help Bill and Peg Pearson, who are American Missionaries in the Dominican Republic, we now have the Non-profit number we need for crossing the DR. Bill and Peg have been a huge blessing to us in taking care of this. 

As of last night, we have moved the loading date back ONE WEEK, TO FEBRUARY 27TH (Update: Feb. 26th). There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that people are still collecting food items and infant formulas. The other reason is that I was informed, last night, that by waiting a little, we may be able to offload the container directly into Haiti. Brian Scheele, our shipping agent, informed me of this last night. If this is possible, it would greatly simplify matters. However, it will be confirmed that it is safe to do so and that the recipient of the container can clear customs there with no problem. 

In talking with Pastor Jean, Gary Chambers has found out that they have the started the rebuilding of the wall so that when the container arrives, they will have a secure area in which to unload and protect the contents. They received a little food aide last week when some Marines brought them some rice. Pastor Jean has expressed to Gary the concern for shelter since the rainy season isn't far away. Well, today, the Lord made it possible for Jean to receive 6 large, high quality Cabella's tents that sleep 10 people each. Also with the tents were sleeping mats and bedding. 

Jean is in good spirits and they continue to see the Lord work not only in the meeting of needs, but more importantly in lives being touched and impacted for the Kingdom. So far, there have been about 150 souls saved, and this is just in one small area. 

In planning ahead, Gary Chambers will be going to Haiti to determine what it will take to rebuild the orphanage. We will then be considering what we need to do in order to ship another container with food and more building materials. Gary is hoping to co-ordinate his trip with the arrival of this container. 

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

In His Service,
Johnny

Update as of February 1, 2010:

Dear Friends,

Just a note to inform you of a couple of things. 

First, thanks to so many of you have contributed, and are contributing, to the container for Haiti. In a few days, I will try to give you a more detailed report of some of the things that have happend to contribute to helping those in that devastated area. Suffice it to say, for now, that the Lord has certainly amazed all of us involved in this at His provisions through so many of you. 

Second, and this is really to the local people that receive this---Could you please help us to inform those in this area that we have to stop taking clothes or supplies for Romania for now. We simply have no room left in the storage area. The ladies that come to work on the clothes have very little room to work or to put the boxes once they are sorted. I would appreciate it if all of you would pray with us that we can ship to Romania very soon. Under the advise of my shipping agent (due to shortage of containers), I did book a container for Romania for Feb. 27th (Update: Feb. 26th). We will see what God does. 

You may ask, "Why not send it to Haiti?" Well, Haiti would not do well with winter clothes and a lot of the things that they use in Romania. We will be sending some summer clothes, shoes, and things that they can use though. 

Again, thank you all for your prayers and your support. 

In His Service,
Johnny