We first went to Haiti during one of that troubled country’s many upheavals – in June 2005, when the Peace Corps pulled out and the United States government called home all non-essential personnel. In the wake of the chaos our small, young three-person team arrived in Haiti via the Dominican Republic.

The leader (Gary Fallesen) was on only his second mission trip and he was traveling with a recent college graduate (Jonathan Esper) and his 15-year-old son (Jesse Fallesen).

It was Climbing For Christ’s third Evangelic Expedition (after Mission: Mexico 2005 and Mission: Denali 2005) and initiated what was, for many years, our most fruitful field.

But in 2014, God directed that it was time for us to leave. However, God was not done working there through Climbing For Christ. He raised up a New Generation, led by a young man that God had used Climbing For Christ to rescue from death in 2007.

Gilbert Lindor, now a medical student in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, leads C4CNG (Climbing For Christ’s New Generation) in Hispaniola. Climbing For Christ supports the New Generation financially, through prayer, and advises them on ministry in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country (Haiti) and the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Schools started by Climbing For Christ (when we built three churches in Haiti) were reopened under C4CNG, and new schools have been started. Currently, 12 teachers are paid to work in four schools, where hundreds of children are blessed with an education. C4CNG members hold teacher workshops, deliver aid, and GO on missions to underserved villages. They also work in Haitian communities in the D.R.