Report on the July 2013 Mission Trip
Christian Mission to Restore Haiti spent 10 days in Haiti
this past July. It was one of the more
difficult trips we have taken recently, yet we feel it was productive. Two of our officers, Fred Correll and Melissa
Shatney could not travel with us this time due to various reasons. Pastor Andre brought his wife Unique, his
daughter Jotan, and two grandchildren with him.
Pastor Andre and Pastor John were joined this trip by Pastor J.D Mallory
of Naples and his family; wife Christa, son Nick and daughter Cassidy. Accompanying them was Pablo Garcia also of
Naples. They are a welcome addition to
our team.
Instead of giving a moment by moment accounting of our trip,
I’ll give a brief overview. We arrived
on Monday July 21 at 8 AM in Cap-Haitien.
Immediately we began discussions with Methelus, our in country
administrator, about our medical clinic in Dubre. Due to lack of donations equal to our need
there, we have been forced to temporarily close the clinic for the month of
July. Our plans are to reopen in
August. Our nurses are anxious to resume
their responsibilities.
Our Bible Institute is doing well. The students are learning and progressing in
their Bible knowledge. I gave them an
oral quiz on the Gospel of John and they did well. In addition to our regular professor, we had
a guest professor who taught them church administration. If finances allow, he will be a regular on
our teaching team. The students love
coming to study and learn. Our desire is
to hold the institute two times per month, and eventually increase it to every
Saturday.
On a visit to Robillard to see our church there, we
travelled through Plaine Du Nord. The
village was completely trashed. The
reason was there had just been a four day voodoo sacrifice held there. Thousands of people from all over Haiti and
the USA were there to “appease the evil spirits” by sacrificing cows, pigs,
chickens, sheep, goats and other animals.
As hard as it is to believe, this sacrifice was sponsored by St. John’s
Catholic Church. There were at least
three other sacrifices scheduled by three other Catholic churches. The people travel from one to the other.
View video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp3eJ86dKr0&feature=youtu.be
How the sacrifice works is this: the Catholic priest drinks
a portion of alcohol, passes the bottle around to others and call for the evil
spirit to land on them. When the evil
spirit comes, they kill the animal and pour its blood and throw a hunk of meat
into a large mud hole that has been filled with water. Then the sacrificers jump into the bloody
pool, thinking that now the evil spirit is appeased and will leave them and not
bother them again. Voodoo is still a large part of Haitian life, even in some churches
of all denominations.
The next day, while holding services in the morning, Pastor
Lucien of Dubre was attacked by men wielding a knife. They told him they were taking over the
building that the church has maintained for 27 years. They beat him with fists and left. Pastor Lucien verbally restrained his people
from approaching the men, thus protecting them from harm. The next day they returned and damaged the
gate to the property and further threatened Pastor Lucien. He was able to contact the police who
arrested the men. The next morning Pastor Andre and Methelus went to Millo to
the court where the judge collected $400 (Haitian) from them to go to Dubre and
inspect the site. After finding that it
was true, he told the perpetrators that they would remain in jail until they
repaid Pastor Andre the $400. My concern
is charging them with assault with a deadly weapon.
Pastor Andre bought a half gallon of Mott’s Apple Juice at
the local market for 400 gourdes, which is approximately $30 US. In the USA it sells for under $4. Any US product there is horribly
overpriced. Most Haitians live on rice
and beans - when they can get them. They
are malnourished, thin with gaunt faces.
Few are healthy. We are
attempting to begin a self-sustaining food program for our four churches (to
begin with).
For hundreds of years Haiti has been severely oppressed
physically, emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually. Those of us who have ministered there understand
why they are in the mentally exhausted state of being. “Why try when nothing seems to work?” They have been beat down mercilessly by
despots who have ruled their country and by the witch doctors of voodoo. They reached the end of their rope years ago. But we believe that the Haitian mindset can
be changed from “give me” to “I need to work to help myself. I need to trust in Someone much bigger than
me.” That is what we are striving to
achieve. Many are turning to Lord Jesus
Christ as their only means of hope and salvation. But there are so many more people who need to
be reached with the gospel.
Our church in Cap-Haitien has out grown the current
building. We have an opportunity to move
to a much larger – 4 times the size - and more modern building in a part of the
city where there is no church. Already
our bus driver, Navior, who lives adjacent to the building has been
“evangelizing” to let the people know that the church may be moving there.
Many are excited about the possibility. The cost for the yearly rent is $2,500 US,
about double the amount for the older building.
We need your support for this to happen.
On Sunday we went to Bas Limbe for church and Pastor J.D.
preached on David and Goliath and how we can overcome giants in our lives. Christa, Nick, and Cassidy sang.
It was a good service.
18 years ago, Pastor J.D. came to Bas Limbe and worked on the building,
putting the roof on with his own hands.
This was his first time back to Bas Limbe since then.
That evening I preached in the Cap-Haitian church on
forgiveness.
During each service they have “worship time.” Here is a shortened video of “worship time.” Usually it
lasts 10 minutes or more.
I asked them why they get so involved with “worship time”:
was it the music that they loved? To a
person they said “We love Jesus.”
Our visits on Monday to the villages of Robillard and Dubre
reminded me of the church in Smyrna.
Jesus said concerning them in Revelation 2: 8 “Write to the angel of the
church in Smyrna: “The First and the Last, the One who was dead and came to
life, says: I know your affliction and poverty, yet you are rich.”
These two villages are extremely poor financially and
materially, but the churches there are far richer spiritually than many in the
US. Neither building is anywhere close
to being completed. Both need walls and
roofs. Both of them have chickens that
walk through on the dirt floors during the services. No one seems to mind. Pastor J.D. commented that the visit to these
two churches were the highlight of this mission trip. These churches must be experienced to be
fully appreciated. The two pastors are
Godly men who have taught their congregations to love Jesus.
On Tuesday we went to the Citadel but because of the high
cost we did not go to the top of the mountain, but instead toured the Palace
San-Souci, which was the home of King Henri Christophe in the early
1800’s. He was an evil man who murdered tens
of thousands of Haitians just because he could.
When Napoleon sailed to Haiti on three ships and ordered him to stop, he
burned many houses in Cap-Haitian.
Napoleon sailed his one remaining ship back to France after Christophe
burned the other two.
On our last evening we got sad news that Lismany, the 16
month old daughter of Bergemane Toussaint, the guitar player in the Cap-Haitian
church fell into the river and drowned. That
night the Cap-Haitian church gathered at his house and held an all night prayer
and hymn singing vigil. Three nights
before this, the entire church held another all night prayer and singing
service. Services that last all night
are a regular occurrence in this church.
As we were flying back the next morning, she was being
buried.
Someone mentioned to me that they just could not go to Haiti
for any reason; it would be too uncomfortable; there is no A/C, no running
water, the power goes off for several hours at a time. There are many other inconveniences and
discomforts. For me it is also the food. I like the taste, but it does not like my
stomach. There are so many excuses one
could give for not wanting to be involved in mission work. What I have resolved is that God did not call
me – or anyone else for that matter – to a life of comfort. That is not His primary concern. He has called every one of His children to a
life of obedience and faithfulness.
Missionaries go to their God appointed field knowing what lies ahead,
but they go anyway because of their desire to obey our Lord.
I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone is called to
go to the mission field, but I am absolutely convinced that if God does not
call you to go, He has called you to send others. No Christian is exempt from mission work;
either going or sending. Your mission
field may be foreign or local, but we must all be involved in His work. The great commission still stands today. “Go…
baptize…teach.”
