Jeremy called for a brief update this afternoon. He said things were going great. They arrived at the school between 7:00 - 8:00 last night and everyone got a good night's sleep. They attended church this morning and Mark Harrison preached. They were planning out the rest of the week this afternoon, gathering up supplies, etc. He said the translators were working out really good so far.
Keep praying for God's favor upon the team and the community they are there to serve. May God receive glory through every aspect of this trip.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
September 2010
Hi everyone, this is Kandy. I haven't been on here in a while, but I just wanted to let you all know how to obtain information about the trip if you wish. Internet access will be spotty at best, so I will keep a journal and update my personal blog when we get back to the states. Here is the link: www.sanderspartyoffive.blogspot.com
Also, Josh Moody's wife may be able to update their blog while he's in Haiti. This is the link to that one: www.moodygirls3.blogspot.com
I know that Jeremy will update this blog when he can with the logistical aspect of everything, since that's what he's so skilled at doing.
Please keep us in your prayers as we go and minister to a hurting nation.
Blessings!
Kandy
Also, Josh Moody's wife may be able to update their blog while he's in Haiti. This is the link to that one: www.moodygirls3.blogspot.com
I know that Jeremy will update this blog when he can with the logistical aspect of everything, since that's what he's so skilled at doing.
Please keep us in your prayers as we go and minister to a hurting nation.
Blessings!
Kandy
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Back to Haiti
Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this site. A lot of people have been asking about it though, so I'll see what I can do to bring everyone up to date.
Most of you know I went back to Haiti in June with Richard Bradley and Hal Heiss to evaluate some future projects at the Holy Bible School in Petite Rivierre des Bayonnaise, Haiti (outside of Gonaives).
Here is the view from Google Maps:
View Larger Map
We got to know Elise Cadet and the other men and women who run the mission. They are part of a small network of four churches, two of which are church plants from this original church. One of their church plants is just a few miles from the main mission in a town called Souvenance. Souvenance is home to a large Voodoo temple and the locals referred to it as the center of voodoo in Haiti.
Here is a link to an article about a Voodoo ceremony in Souvenance. Voodoo has a real hold on people in Haiti. We joke about Voodoo here, but this is a real and very dark religion.
Here is the Voodoo temple on Google Maps:
View Larger Map
Here is a picture of the gate outside the Voodoo temple:
The church was planted six years ago and currently has about 60 active members and 50 children going to school there. One of the members we met was a Voodoo witch doctor's wife. She was converted about 18 months ago and has been active in the church since then. Her husband is still in bondage to Voodoo.
Here is a picture of the witch doctor's wife and Elise:
The Souvenance Church is here just a mile down the road:
View Larger Map
This is a picture of the front of the church:
From the Google Maps image you can see the beginnings of a block wall around the existing tin and wood structure. We are helping with the resources to finish this building. Last week we sent the money down for Elise to buy the brick and concrete to finish the walls and pour a floor. Here are some pictures of their work so far this week:
When we get there next week one of our projects is going to be to help those guys put a roof on the building. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll be able to have church with them in the new building. One of the things I really like about this particular project is that it's not our project. As you can see, these guys are taking the lead and doing the work. We're helping out, but this is their deal. There is also an active healthy body of believers that have been meeting here for six years. We are not helping with a building hoping a church will materialize. The church is already there. We're just helping with a better facility.
Water filters
On the trip in June we were able to take some water filters from Hydraid to the school. They were already in a warehouse in Port au Prince so we picked them up on the way, all 3500 pounds of sand and gravel and filter cones.
Here's a picture of some of the filters put together:
Each filter can produce 75 gallons of clean water per day. You take the top off and pour 5 gallons of water into the top. It filters through the sand and gravel then up through a chlorine filter. After the chlorine chamber it goes into a plastic container that has a charcoal filter attached to the exit valve. The charcoal filter removes heavy metals and the chlorine from the water. After a few weeks of operation, a film forms over the sand that they call the "slime layer". This layer of bacteria removes up to 99% of harmful bacteria from the water greatly reducing the constant diarrhea that often plagues people without access to clean water. Once the slime layer is in place, the chlorine tablet is not necessary and does not have to be replaced.
After we left in June, we were able to get Santanna, the principal at the school, and his assistant Junior to a training class offered in Haiti by Hydraid. They are now fully trained on how to operate and maintain the filters. Elise said that the clean water is the biggest thing to ever happen to their community.
While we were there we (meaning Richard, the real engineer) examined a filtering system that they purchased, but it has never been installed. It is a system from Living Waters for the World(LWW) that can produce up to 3000 gallons of clean water a day. This time we are taking a man named Raymond Shackleford that has been trained by LWW to install this system. The school has a water line off of a mountain spring that is piped down the road and is used to fill their cistern. This system will be used to filter that water and store in a tank for use. We will probably have to pull the existing tank off of the roof and clean it out with bleach or buy a new tank while we are down there. This filter does require electricity but they do have a generator that they run when needed. There is lot of promise in using this system because it will produce enough clean water for the entire community and could even generate some income for the school. Currently the only source of bottled clean water is in Gonaives 8 miles away.
Sanitation and Hygiene Training
Since the community now has access to some clean water and may have access to a lot of clean water if we get the second system up and running, we wanted to focus on sanitation and hygiene on this trip as well. Our female members, Kandy (my wife), Jenny, a former Peace Corp volunteer who spent two years in Africa, and Mallory, a patient care tech are going to be teaching sanitation and hygiene to women and children in the community. One of our goals is to transform the community by teaching them the importance of digging and using latrines. Hopefully this will occur through the material we are using from http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/. We'll see how that works out. We are also going to teach personal hygiene and hopefully setup some hand washing stations around the school and church. The device we are going to try to build is a tippy tap. It's basically a suspended bottle which is tipped over to dispense some water. Hopefully this simple device will allow the children to wash their hands after using the latrine and before eating. We also have some signs to put up around the school teaching basic hygiene points in Haitian Creole.
As we talk to the community about sanitation and hygiene we also want to gather information about their health. What are their most common medical problems? How many births and deaths have each family had in the past 10 years? What were the causes of the deaths(if known)? This data will be invaluable in helping them shape a health care plan for their community. We have three ladies from the community who have volunteered for medical internships. Hopefully we will be able to help place them in internships at other clinics in Haiti so that they can return to help run a clinic in Petite Rivierre.
Judy4Haiti
I responded to a Twitter request to help get some Judy4Haiti dolls to Haiti. Their goal is to give these dolls to Haitian orphans who don't have anything else in the world. Our goal is to get some of the women of the church in Petite Rivierre to go with some of our group to one of the orphanages in Gonaive to get them involved in reaching out to the orphans in their communities. The orphanages are not very nice places and are sometimes hard to deal with because of corruption and harsh conditions. Even so, we hope to get the local church engaged with the at least one of the orphanages in Gonaive while we are there.
Discipleship
Today I received 300 copies of Desiring God's Finding Joy booklet in Haitian Creole. This booklet is 47 pages and details answer to such questions as:
We hope to host some classes in the evenings for whoever will come and discuss each of these questions. We also hope to hike up to a village in the mountains (6 hours one way!) and pass the booklets out there as well to those who can read. For those who cannot read, we were able to take some Proclaimers in Haitian Creole last time. This time we are taking 5 Proclaimers in French per Elise's request. These devices have the entire New Testament audio on them. They can be charged with a wall outlet, hand crank, or attached solar panel and are loud enough to be heard by a large crowd.
For the kids, Kandy found the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Loyd-Jones in French. We ordered five of them from France last week and they arrived yesterday! This storybook Bible frames each of the stories in redemptive history. The theology taught through this book is even good for adults who may not have connected the Bible into one story of redemption.
I also got a copy of Desiring God by John Piper in French for Elise. This book and John Piper have influenced my personal theology a lot and I hope Elise will enjoy it as well.
Details
We'll be leaving Gardendale about 1AM on Saturday morning headed for the Atlanta airport. We fly from there to Miami and on into Port au Prince. We will arrive in PAP about 11AM local time and meet Elise there with a bus. From there we will drive to Petion-Ville and get a rental truck. From there we'll head north toward St Marc. In St Marc we'll probably stop for groceries and some late lunch. The next leg takes us to Gonaive. Gonaive is on the coast and only 8 miles from the school. The last 8 miles takes about 45 minutes though. Hopefully the road won't be too muddy in the fully loaded down bus.
Pray for the people that we are going to serve. Pray that we will show them the love of Christ in word and deed next week. Pray that they will be encouraged to know that we are one body of Christ and that there are other Christians that care about them. Pray that God will help us to convey our material whether it is hygiene training, discipleship, or just talking about our families back home. Pray for our four interpreters that they will be able to fluently translate our words to those who need to hear them. Pray for our interpreters that we may be able to influence them with the Gospel since we will be spending an entire week with them. Pray for our safety and that our team would function smoothly.
That's all I can think of for now.
Most of you know I went back to Haiti in June with Richard Bradley and Hal Heiss to evaluate some future projects at the Holy Bible School in Petite Rivierre des Bayonnaise, Haiti (outside of Gonaives).
Here is the view from Google Maps:
View Larger Map
We got to know Elise Cadet and the other men and women who run the mission. They are part of a small network of four churches, two of which are church plants from this original church. One of their church plants is just a few miles from the main mission in a town called Souvenance. Souvenance is home to a large Voodoo temple and the locals referred to it as the center of voodoo in Haiti.
Here is a link to an article about a Voodoo ceremony in Souvenance. Voodoo has a real hold on people in Haiti. We joke about Voodoo here, but this is a real and very dark religion.
Here is the Voodoo temple on Google Maps:
View Larger Map
Here is a picture of the gate outside the Voodoo temple:
 |
| From haiti2 |
The church was planted six years ago and currently has about 60 active members and 50 children going to school there. One of the members we met was a Voodoo witch doctor's wife. She was converted about 18 months ago and has been active in the church since then. Her husband is still in bondage to Voodoo.
Here is a picture of the witch doctor's wife and Elise:
 |
| From haiti2 |
The Souvenance Church is here just a mile down the road:
View Larger Map
This is a picture of the front of the church:
 |
| From haiti2 |
From the Google Maps image you can see the beginnings of a block wall around the existing tin and wood structure. We are helping with the resources to finish this building. Last week we sent the money down for Elise to buy the brick and concrete to finish the walls and pour a floor. Here are some pictures of their work so far this week:
 |
| From haiti3 |
 |
| From haiti3 |
When we get there next week one of our projects is going to be to help those guys put a roof on the building. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll be able to have church with them in the new building. One of the things I really like about this particular project is that it's not our project. As you can see, these guys are taking the lead and doing the work. We're helping out, but this is their deal. There is also an active healthy body of believers that have been meeting here for six years. We are not helping with a building hoping a church will materialize. The church is already there. We're just helping with a better facility.
Water filters
On the trip in June we were able to take some water filters from Hydraid to the school. They were already in a warehouse in Port au Prince so we picked them up on the way, all 3500 pounds of sand and gravel and filter cones.
Here's a picture of some of the filters put together:
 |
| From haiti2 |
Each filter can produce 75 gallons of clean water per day. You take the top off and pour 5 gallons of water into the top. It filters through the sand and gravel then up through a chlorine filter. After the chlorine chamber it goes into a plastic container that has a charcoal filter attached to the exit valve. The charcoal filter removes heavy metals and the chlorine from the water. After a few weeks of operation, a film forms over the sand that they call the "slime layer". This layer of bacteria removes up to 99% of harmful bacteria from the water greatly reducing the constant diarrhea that often plagues people without access to clean water. Once the slime layer is in place, the chlorine tablet is not necessary and does not have to be replaced.
After we left in June, we were able to get Santanna, the principal at the school, and his assistant Junior to a training class offered in Haiti by Hydraid. They are now fully trained on how to operate and maintain the filters. Elise said that the clean water is the biggest thing to ever happen to their community.
While we were there we (meaning Richard, the real engineer) examined a filtering system that they purchased, but it has never been installed. It is a system from Living Waters for the World(LWW) that can produce up to 3000 gallons of clean water a day. This time we are taking a man named Raymond Shackleford that has been trained by LWW to install this system. The school has a water line off of a mountain spring that is piped down the road and is used to fill their cistern. This system will be used to filter that water and store in a tank for use. We will probably have to pull the existing tank off of the roof and clean it out with bleach or buy a new tank while we are down there. This filter does require electricity but they do have a generator that they run when needed. There is lot of promise in using this system because it will produce enough clean water for the entire community and could even generate some income for the school. Currently the only source of bottled clean water is in Gonaives 8 miles away.
Sanitation and Hygiene Training
Since the community now has access to some clean water and may have access to a lot of clean water if we get the second system up and running, we wanted to focus on sanitation and hygiene on this trip as well. Our female members, Kandy (my wife), Jenny, a former Peace Corp volunteer who spent two years in Africa, and Mallory, a patient care tech are going to be teaching sanitation and hygiene to women and children in the community. One of our goals is to transform the community by teaching them the importance of digging and using latrines. Hopefully this will occur through the material we are using from http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/. We'll see how that works out. We are also going to teach personal hygiene and hopefully setup some hand washing stations around the school and church. The device we are going to try to build is a tippy tap. It's basically a suspended bottle which is tipped over to dispense some water. Hopefully this simple device will allow the children to wash their hands after using the latrine and before eating. We also have some signs to put up around the school teaching basic hygiene points in Haitian Creole.
As we talk to the community about sanitation and hygiene we also want to gather information about their health. What are their most common medical problems? How many births and deaths have each family had in the past 10 years? What were the causes of the deaths(if known)? This data will be invaluable in helping them shape a health care plan for their community. We have three ladies from the community who have volunteered for medical internships. Hopefully we will be able to help place them in internships at other clinics in Haiti so that they can return to help run a clinic in Petite Rivierre.
Judy4Haiti
I responded to a Twitter request to help get some Judy4Haiti dolls to Haiti. Their goal is to give these dolls to Haitian orphans who don't have anything else in the world. Our goal is to get some of the women of the church in Petite Rivierre to go with some of our group to one of the orphanages in Gonaive to get them involved in reaching out to the orphans in their communities. The orphanages are not very nice places and are sometimes hard to deal with because of corruption and harsh conditions. Even so, we hope to get the local church engaged with the at least one of the orphanages in Gonaive while we are there.
Discipleship
Today I received 300 copies of Desiring God's Finding Joy booklet in Haitian Creole. This booklet is 47 pages and details answer to such questions as:
We hope to host some classes in the evenings for whoever will come and discuss each of these questions. We also hope to hike up to a village in the mountains (6 hours one way!) and pass the booklets out there as well to those who can read. For those who cannot read, we were able to take some Proclaimers in Haitian Creole last time. This time we are taking 5 Proclaimers in French per Elise's request. These devices have the entire New Testament audio on them. They can be charged with a wall outlet, hand crank, or attached solar panel and are loud enough to be heard by a large crowd.
For the kids, Kandy found the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Loyd-Jones in French. We ordered five of them from France last week and they arrived yesterday! This storybook Bible frames each of the stories in redemptive history. The theology taught through this book is even good for adults who may not have connected the Bible into one story of redemption.
I also got a copy of Desiring God by John Piper in French for Elise. This book and John Piper have influenced my personal theology a lot and I hope Elise will enjoy it as well.
Details
We'll be leaving Gardendale about 1AM on Saturday morning headed for the Atlanta airport. We fly from there to Miami and on into Port au Prince. We will arrive in PAP about 11AM local time and meet Elise there with a bus. From there we will drive to Petion-Ville and get a rental truck. From there we'll head north toward St Marc. In St Marc we'll probably stop for groceries and some late lunch. The next leg takes us to Gonaive. Gonaive is on the coast and only 8 miles from the school. The last 8 miles takes about 45 minutes though. Hopefully the road won't be too muddy in the fully loaded down bus.
Pray for the people that we are going to serve. Pray that we will show them the love of Christ in word and deed next week. Pray that they will be encouraged to know that we are one body of Christ and that there are other Christians that care about them. Pray that God will help us to convey our material whether it is hygiene training, discipleship, or just talking about our families back home. Pray for our four interpreters that they will be able to fluently translate our words to those who need to hear them. Pray for our interpreters that we may be able to influence them with the Gospel since we will be spending an entire week with them. Pray for our safety and that our team would function smoothly.
That's all I can think of for now.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Pics of Text Books at Elise's School
I uploaded some pictures to the Here Am I Haiti website if you want to take a look at the books that they have to use now. We've raised about $1,100 of the $21,087.62 needed for the books.
http://hereamihaiti.blogspot.com/
http://hereamihaiti.blogspot.com/
Sunday, July 25, 2010
New website for the school
One of the projects we are trying to help the school at Holy Bible Church with are text books. I setup a website for the supporting organization, Here Am I. Click on over to the site and help us buy new text books for the school.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Quick Update
I'll put together a much more detailed post about the trip later this week, but I just wanted to post this before I go to work:
Here is a video of the children’s choir practicing… If you want to see something from the trip I think this sums it up. The chorus to the song they are singing is “Change My Life” or “Change la vie”. Our goal is to be the hands and feet of Christ to them to enable them to reach their community and beyond for Christ. They have actually planted two churches from scratch in these incredibly harsh conditions. We just want to come along side them and take part in the great work they are already doing.
One of the most moving moments for me was watching Junior, the assistant principal, get water out of the Hydraid filter that Richard installed for them. For the first time EVER, he is able to provide clean water for his two children and the 600 children that attend his school. That has to be empowering on so many levels. They knew that their water wasn’t clean, but they didn’t have any other choice. They had to drink the dirty water even though they knew it was bad for them. Now he can give his children water that won’t make them sick. If that isn’t a picture of Matthew 25, I don’t know what is…
Here’s the children’s choir video.
Here is a video of the children’s choir practicing… If you want to see something from the trip I think this sums it up. The chorus to the song they are singing is “Change My Life” or “Change la vie”. Our goal is to be the hands and feet of Christ to them to enable them to reach their community and beyond for Christ. They have actually planted two churches from scratch in these incredibly harsh conditions. We just want to come along side them and take part in the great work they are already doing.
One of the most moving moments for me was watching Junior, the assistant principal, get water out of the Hydraid filter that Richard installed for them. For the first time EVER, he is able to provide clean water for his two children and the 600 children that attend his school. That has to be empowering on so many levels. They knew that their water wasn’t clean, but they didn’t have any other choice. They had to drink the dirty water even though they knew it was bad for them. Now he can give his children water that won’t make them sick. If that isn’t a picture of Matthew 25, I don’t know what is…
Here’s the children’s choir video.
Holy Bible Church - Children's Choir from Jeremy Sanders on Vimeo.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Planning for the Future
On Thursday morning Jeremy Sanders, Richard Bradley, and Hal Heis flew out of Birmingham on their way to Gonaives, Haiti. The plane stopped once in Miami, then arrived in Port-au-Prince on Thursday afternoon. From what I have heard from Jeremy the flights were uneventful. Water filters were picked up from a warehouse in the city, then a four hour bus ride took the team and supplies to Gonaives. At one point the bus was on its side and stuck in the mud, but the experienced driver was able to get it out and continue the journey without further problems.
The conditions for the team are much better this time around, and they are even sleeping in beds instead of on a concrete floor! The bucket bath is still the method for bathing, but it could definitely be worse. Just ask any of the February team members!
The place where they are working is called the Holy Bible Church and School, and it is outside the city of Gonaives. Jeremy said that it is an absolutely beautiful area. There are about six hundred children who attend school there, some of them walking eight miles one way to get there. Besides being a place of learning, the school also feeds the children one meal a day. For some of the children, this is the only food they will eat all day. Approximately two hundred of these children are earthquake refugees from Port-au-Prince, so the school has had many more mouths to feed than normal since January.
Friday was the last day of school, so the guys were able to see a small ceremony in which the children's names were called one by one and each received a report card. One important aspect of the day was that Jeremy was able to speak with the teachers and find out what is needed and how we can best help. He also spoke with them about basic hygiene, and they plan to set up a handwashing station outside the school.
He was also able to speak with some prospective medical trainees who will soon be graduating from the Holy Bible School. He gave them some advice about the process of continuing their education, such as writing a two page paper about themselves, outlining who they are and why they should be considered for medical training.
On Friday and Saturday Richard worked on getting the water filters functional. There is not really a source for clean water at the school, so these filters will help immensely. I believe he said there are fifteen in all, but only two of them will be set up for now since school is out for the summer. There is a summer day camp that goes on at the school, but there are not nearly as many students as during the school year.
On Saturday, they went into a village in which voodoo is the predominant religion. A few years ago a church was started there and now sixty believers attend the church. One church member is married to a practicing voodoo witch doctor. I do not know her name, but I can imagine that she and her husband need lots of prayer. Also, the community is still steeped in voodoo, despite the presence of a thriving Christian church. It is a very dark place. They desperately need the gospel. Please join me in praying for the believers there to have the strength to love their neighbors, for the desire to share and show the gospel, and that the hearts of the unbelievers would be softened.
The team also heard about a village on the mountain adjacent to the school in which there are no Christians. Voodoo is the only religion in this particular area. I am unsure if they visited that village, but I will have details from Jeremy soon. Even though Haiti is considered to have been "evangelized", there is absolutely no Christian witness in some areas.
Hal preached at the Holy Bible Church on Sunday morning and the guys chipped in to buy the church members (about two hundred, I think) dinner, which consisted of two goats. I am sure there was other food, but all that stuck in my head was the part about the goats. Jeremy said it was all very good. Due to rain and extremely muddy conditions, there was no church on Sunday night.
On Monday morning, they rode in the back of a truck, then on a motorcycle, into the main city of Gonaives. They had planned to speak with the director of the micro finance company, but he is out of the country for two weeks. However, they were able to exchange some information and hopefully something will come of it when the director gets back to Gonaives.
On Tuesday morning, they will begin the journey back into Port-au-Prince by bus, where they will catch a 12:30 flight for Miami. They should be back in Birmingham by 8:30PM.
While it is very difficult to communicate with Jeremy right now, he did relay to me that he has fallen in love with the people of Gonaives, and with the beauty of the area. He is excited about the return trip, which is scheduled for some time in September.
The one person I have not mentioned yet is Elise. He is the pastor of the Holy Bible Church, he runs the school, and he planted the small church in the voodoo community. I was priveleged to have him in my house when he came to the US for a visit in April. He seems to be a wonderful man of God and I can not wait to hear his entire story one day. Jeremy has spoken with Elise extensively during this trip and from the way it sounds, has grown to appreciate and respect him. He is a Haitian who was led to Christ by Icy Mae Frederick, a missionary from GFBC, several years ago.
There are plenty of gaps in this account of the trip, but Jeremy will be able to fill them all in when he gets back.
"If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." Isaiah 58:10
The conditions for the team are much better this time around, and they are even sleeping in beds instead of on a concrete floor! The bucket bath is still the method for bathing, but it could definitely be worse. Just ask any of the February team members!
The place where they are working is called the Holy Bible Church and School, and it is outside the city of Gonaives. Jeremy said that it is an absolutely beautiful area. There are about six hundred children who attend school there, some of them walking eight miles one way to get there. Besides being a place of learning, the school also feeds the children one meal a day. For some of the children, this is the only food they will eat all day. Approximately two hundred of these children are earthquake refugees from Port-au-Prince, so the school has had many more mouths to feed than normal since January.
Friday was the last day of school, so the guys were able to see a small ceremony in which the children's names were called one by one and each received a report card. One important aspect of the day was that Jeremy was able to speak with the teachers and find out what is needed and how we can best help. He also spoke with them about basic hygiene, and they plan to set up a handwashing station outside the school.
He was also able to speak with some prospective medical trainees who will soon be graduating from the Holy Bible School. He gave them some advice about the process of continuing their education, such as writing a two page paper about themselves, outlining who they are and why they should be considered for medical training.
On Friday and Saturday Richard worked on getting the water filters functional. There is not really a source for clean water at the school, so these filters will help immensely. I believe he said there are fifteen in all, but only two of them will be set up for now since school is out for the summer. There is a summer day camp that goes on at the school, but there are not nearly as many students as during the school year.
On Saturday, they went into a village in which voodoo is the predominant religion. A few years ago a church was started there and now sixty believers attend the church. One church member is married to a practicing voodoo witch doctor. I do not know her name, but I can imagine that she and her husband need lots of prayer. Also, the community is still steeped in voodoo, despite the presence of a thriving Christian church. It is a very dark place. They desperately need the gospel. Please join me in praying for the believers there to have the strength to love their neighbors, for the desire to share and show the gospel, and that the hearts of the unbelievers would be softened.
The team also heard about a village on the mountain adjacent to the school in which there are no Christians. Voodoo is the only religion in this particular area. I am unsure if they visited that village, but I will have details from Jeremy soon. Even though Haiti is considered to have been "evangelized", there is absolutely no Christian witness in some areas.
Hal preached at the Holy Bible Church on Sunday morning and the guys chipped in to buy the church members (about two hundred, I think) dinner, which consisted of two goats. I am sure there was other food, but all that stuck in my head was the part about the goats. Jeremy said it was all very good. Due to rain and extremely muddy conditions, there was no church on Sunday night.
On Monday morning, they rode in the back of a truck, then on a motorcycle, into the main city of Gonaives. They had planned to speak with the director of the micro finance company, but he is out of the country for two weeks. However, they were able to exchange some information and hopefully something will come of it when the director gets back to Gonaives.
On Tuesday morning, they will begin the journey back into Port-au-Prince by bus, where they will catch a 12:30 flight for Miami. They should be back in Birmingham by 8:30PM.
While it is very difficult to communicate with Jeremy right now, he did relay to me that he has fallen in love with the people of Gonaives, and with the beauty of the area. He is excited about the return trip, which is scheduled for some time in September.
The one person I have not mentioned yet is Elise. He is the pastor of the Holy Bible Church, he runs the school, and he planted the small church in the voodoo community. I was priveleged to have him in my house when he came to the US for a visit in April. He seems to be a wonderful man of God and I can not wait to hear his entire story one day. Jeremy has spoken with Elise extensively during this trip and from the way it sounds, has grown to appreciate and respect him. He is a Haitian who was led to Christ by Icy Mae Frederick, a missionary from GFBC, several years ago.
There are plenty of gaps in this account of the trip, but Jeremy will be able to fill them all in when he gets back.
"If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." Isaiah 58:10
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