Wilbert and Meg Merzilus were married in 1987, while Wilbert was office manager
for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Cap Haitien, and Meg was serving in various
capacities in the mission community. Wilbert is a native of Haiti, and Meg
is from the state of Ohio. In 1993, Living Hope Mission was founded, with
a vision for supporting local evangelical churches in evangelism, Bible
distribution, and other resources. Since its establishment, LHM has grown
to include several other aspects of community outreach.
In March of 2000, LHM established The Hope Center as a meeting place for various
outreach efforts. The Hope Center is used to house short-term missionary
work teams, host seminars and prayer groups, offer agricultural training
classes, and provide a library resource center. There are both indoor and
outdoor facilities for groups, as well as a large plot of land for teaching
gardening and other agricultural skills.
One of the critical needs in Haiti is clean, safe water for drinking and
cooking. LHM has responded to this need by partnering with North American
churches to provide funds to dig new wells and to provide necessary equipment
repairs to existing wells. Since a new well will cost $2,000-5,000, the
$100-250 necessary to fix a broken well pump is well worth the effort.Â
Short-term work teams, working alongside local Haitians, are often deployed to
out-lying communities to repair out-of-service wells, providing these small
villages with this basic necessity which so many of us take for granted.
In the past two years, LHM has begun a new project, called The Center of Hope.Â
The goal of The Center is to minister to malnourished children in the
surrounding communities. The Center serves 50 children per month with
balanced meals, Bible classes, and lessons in such topics as nutrition, general
hygiene, gardening, and goat raising. The children are weighed monthly,
and are released at the end of the six months if they have achieved a normal
weight. Those children who are still underweight are kept in the program
for another six months. During their time there, they are also given
needed dental care and hygiene instruction. Parents of these children are
required to volunteer at the clinic and also attend classes on nutrition and
meal-planning.
Living Hope Mission is deeply concerned about the education of Haitian children
and adults. Through its Scholarship Program, LHM helps local schools to be
able to meet their budgets, and offers tuition assistance for children who are
unable to pay all or part of their tuition. Since 2000, The Scholarship
Program has also helped promising young adults to attend college.
The Agricultural Development Project got underway three years ago, providing
radio broadcasting, village training, animal training, and a veterinary
pharmacy. The vision of this project is to teach those in the rural areas
how to better provide food for their families and local communities. Met
Jacques, the Agricultural Director, broadcasts his agricultural program twice a
week on Radio 4VEH. He also meets with groups, helps them to formulate a
working plan, and then provides training and follow up. Other aspects of
this project include veterinary technician training and a small farm resource
center, which provides vegetable seeds, gardening tools, and instructional
reading materials.
Wilbert and Meg Merzilus have spent almost 20 years together serving the Lord in Haiti. To learn more about them and their ministry, friends and supporters are encouraged to visit their website, or write to them at the following mail and e-mail addresses:
Wilbert and Meg Merzilus
Unit 1015 - LHM
3170 Airmans Drive
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946
E-mail:
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