Haiti Mission Trip
July 2014
As always, we had a great trip that was a blessing to me and
those who went with us. God has been
faithful to Christian Mission to Restore Haiti since our inception four years
ago. Pastor Andre and I were in
Cap-Haitien for a week this trip; Melissa, Pastor Mallory and Christa, and Pablo did not accompany us this time for various reasons. Melissa was just there a month ago on an information gathering and medical
clinic trip.
As usual, we had our difficulties, but it was nothing of
unexpected proportions. Electric power
was contrary; it worked when and if it wanted to. I was there for an hour before power decided
that it was tired and needed a rest.
Several times a day and during the night it went on and off. Since there is no AC, it only affected the
microwave – which I needed for my meals – and the refrigerator that we were
able to send there recently. And, of
course, it was hot, especially in the villages we visited. The rooftop sitting area in Cap-Haitien has a
breeze most of the time.
I spoke in all four of our churches and our Bible
Institute. The institute is progressing
very well. We have a new professor who
has been a pastor and seminary professor for over twenty years. The students are learning and using what they
learn to lead their respective churches.
In the Robillard church (pronounced Oh’ bee are) there was a
man who seemed to attract my attention.
He was attentive and expressive in his worship. After the service I was introduced to
him. He is 69 years old and has been
saved for 9 months or less. His name is
Jacquelin Robillard (on right in picture) and for 48 years he was the village witch doctor. He drank excessively, smoked all kinds of
drugs and had five women living in his house.
He discovered that he had growths in his body that his “magic” could not
cure. He was scheduled for an operation
when he woke up one morning and the growths had completely disappeared along
with the pain. God had healed him. He got in touch with Pastor Maurice of our
church and he was able to lead him to Christ. Jacquelin burned every bit of his voodoo and
witch craft paraphernalia and has been serving the Lord ever since. He quit all of his drinking and drug use and
has put four of the five women out of his house. He will be marrying the one remaining woman
soon.
This is just one of the results of our Bible Institute
training. God is to be praised for His
mercy to sinners. Another of our
students, who is our top student, is seriously considering politics. He asked me is it was appropriate for
Christians to be involved with politics.
I assured him that it was and that God could greatly use him in that
career. Others are anxiously awaiting
graduation so they can be ordained and become pastors.
Our church in Bas Limbe has been remodeled and looks
great. They have been waiting for
several years to have it done. A new
floor with tile inlay, inside walls replastered, outside replastered, new raised
pulpit area, and new paint. We had the
dedication service on Sunday. I preached
the sermon for it. There were well in
excess of 100 in attendance.
On Friday after our Institute we went to Bas Limbe for a
baptism. We walked two miles to the Bas
Limbe River and Pastor Andre baptized four.
Then two miles back. HOT HOT. There
were seven scheduled but only four were able to attend. Pastor Jocelin will baptize them soon.
A youth group from Pittsburg joined us on this trip. They were a great group of teenagers who held
a vacation Bible school in Dubre. There
were well over 100 who attended, both children and adults. They sang, did two skits, and had several
activities and crafts for the children.
And candy, of course. The youth
pastor, Brian Ham, preached in Cap-Haitien Sunday morning and did a good
job. He is currently attending Reformed
Theological Seminary studying for his Master of Divinity degree.
Because of lack of funding we were unable to hold medical
clinics on this trip. We are in need of
monthly support to reestablish this much needed service. Everyone in Haiti it seems has some medical
issue or another. Other clinics in the
area have also been forced to close due to lack of adequate funding.
Our financial needs are as follows: $350 per month for the
Bible Institute; to reopen the clinic $400 per month. We have had four pallets of food donated and
they are in Fort Lauderdale right now.
We need approximately $700 to ship it to Cap-Haitien. We are in need of a pickup truck for the
ministry. We have $2000 toward it, but
in order to buy one in Haiti that is in fairly good condition we need at least
another $2000-3000. It is much cheaper
to buy one there than to buy one here and ship it. A $4000 truck here would cost close to $10000
by the time we shipped it and paid duty for to enter the country. Each time we go, the transportation costs are
excessive.
Thank you all for your prayer support and a special thank
you to those who support us financially.
Without prayer and financial support we just could not go and do what
God has called us to do. A very special
thank you to Quay and Betsy Baker from East Naples Baptist Church who drove me
to Fort Lauderdale at 2 AM Monday July 7 and picked me up there Monday July 14
and brought me back to Naples.
