This month we are staying at Supply and Multiply in Montrouis(pronounced Mowi), Haiti. This is about 1 hour 45 min away from Port-au-Prince, on the West Coast of the country. Started by only one couple, here is the story of how God moved in their life to create such a great organization(taken from the Supply and Multiply website):
“In 2013 Christina Surber overheard a friend talking about a group of women headed to Haiti. The Surber family journey was the seed out of which has sprung the tree of the ministry of supply and multiply with so many branches bearing so much fruit. Christina said, “I’d like to go to Haiti with you! I’ve always wanted to go on a mission trip to Haiti.” Having grown up in Florida, she was always curious how it could be that an island nation so close to America to be filled with tales of such extreme poverty.
That mission trip was life-changing for her. A few months later she persuaded her husband, Pastor Chris Surber, to venture to Haiti with her. That trip changed everything for the Surber family. Chris and Christina took their four children with them to Haiti only a few months later and began to make plans to incorporate a ministry God led them to call Supply and Multiply from the words of II Corinthians 9:10. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (ESV)
In 2014 the Surbers took a large mission team to Haiti, made up mostly of friends from the churches in the Suffolk Virginia area. In 2015 the Surbers move to Haiti with four kids and God added a Haitian girl to their family. In 2015 the Surbers hosted mission teams from churches in Southern Virginia and Northern North Carolina. Additionally, they acquired the language and cultural skills necessary for ministry in Haiti. God granted them great favor that year as they develop relationships with many of the Haitian people who currently lead ministry every day in Haiti.
That was a challenging year, filled with all of the struggles that come along with living in a foreign land but God was faithful. The Lord allow them to establish the first Matthew 25 House, begin evangelizing to children, supporting Haitian fishermen, a relationship was established with “One Heart 2 Homes,” that allow them to begin building houses for families living in homeless conditions or in substandard housing. God granted the Surber family great favor and establishing close relationships with the Evangelical Baptist Church and the Pentecostal Church in Montrouis, Haiti, as well as friendships with several other churches and organizations and missionaries in Haiti. It was a fruitful year!
In late 2015, Pastor Chris returned to the United States to serve Liberty Spring Christian Church, the sister church of Cypress Chapel Christian Church, where he had served before moving to Haiti. Since then Supply and Multiply has taken and continues to take several mission teams a year to Haiti. The network of ministry supporters and sending churches continues to grow beyond North Carolina and Virginia as the work that God is doing through Supply and Multiply is being spread by friends of the ministry, world race teams that Supply and Multiply hosts, and through other ways as God continues to grant favor upon this growing work that is impacting lives!
In 2018 pastor Chris accepted the pastorate at their Church home at Mt. Hope Congregational church in Livonia, Michigan. The Surber family continues to travel with several mission teams a year and then extended stays hosting teams in Haiti. God has richly blessed what began as a family project into a thriving and growing ministry. Now there are several families who have been transformed through this ministry. Supply and multiply is indeed a new family of families, churches, and individuals who, like the Surber family, have had their hearts set ablaze with a passion to see God’s glory in Haiti!”
As you can see this is a newer organization, so right when we arrived at the Supply and Multiply campus, I was like “ope, this place is so small”. I began to compare Supply and Multiply to Mission of Hope (where I stayed last year). Our team stays at the fish house and we even had other teams there to serve with us for a week. That made it to be 20+ people staying in the fish house, which made it almost impossible to have any personal space. But, living so close to other people makes it very easy to truly know the people you are with. Because of this, God is teaching our whole team how to communicate with others and how to fully understand each other. So far in this trip, I have learned a lot about grace. Not only the grace that God gives us, but the grace that I should be giving to others and especially to myself. With living so close to other people, there is a lot of grace that needs to be given to each other.
Our fish house is located in the middle of a village. I love this so much because when I walk outside our gate, I am able to play with the same children and form a relationship with them. With Mission of Hope, we would travel somewhere different every time, so I never formed a relationship with any of the children. For me, my favorite part is being with the children, so being able to remember their names, know their family, and know where they live is super exciting. We also have connections with multiple orphanages in the area where we are able to go and form more relationships with the children there. Plus, Supply and Multiply has two elderly homes, which is just so much fun to go there and to visit and spend time with them.
Living here with a smaller organization, allows us to truly experience life in Haiti. Not everything is provided to us on campus. So, we had the opportunity to buy food from a marketplace. The marketplace is very crazy because there are many people and there are motos that will drive through the small paths. Even though this would scare many people, I enjoy being in the middle of the chaos. It gives me life. We have gone to a Haitian gas station where we were able to buy snacks (and the Haitian cookies are sooooo good!). When we travel by vehicle to different villages, we all pile up in the back of the truck, just like many people do here. The driving here is very different than America, so it’s great to learn about the differences and truly experience them while I’m here.
Lastly, what I love about staying with Supply and Multiply is how close we are to the sea. We are able to just take a five minute walk to get there. The water is the clearest water I’ve ever seen and the view there is amazing. Especially during sunrise and sunset. We are surrounded by such beautiful mountains. God has created such a beautiful country here, that many people do not know about. One of the ways I connect with God the best is through nature, so being here I am able to feel so close to God and truly experience His presence.
It breaks my heart to say that I have less than a week here in Haiti. My team and I will be leaving for the DR on July 6th. It will be very hard to say goodbye to all the friends I have made here, but I’m also very excited to see what God does through us in the DR.
