Hello,
The rain...I love when the rain comes. It quiets the chaos. Here in Haiti no one comes out in the rain. Everyone stays in, it brings a quiet and a peace. This morning I can hear...the birds and the frogs. It is good for the soul. It rained most of the night, this part of Haiti, the Gonaives area needed the rain. The farmers needed the rain, the land needed the rain. The people needed the rain, it cleans the air. I can dust here...or not, and in 1/2 hours time everything is coated with dust again. There is not much here to hold the soil down, it blows in the air 24/7. We breathe it in, it covers the vegetation, the homes, the dirt roads, there are few paved roads here in Gonaives, are a constant cloud of dust. But this morning the dust is held down and the air is clean and it is so refreshing. I refreshes the spirit too.
Thank you for your faithful prayers for Badjo, we have found land and are working towards a simple building to gather in. At the same time we are teaching the people that they are the church. In the fall we are hoping to start the beginning of a school in Badjo, if we can finish a building that fast. The people have never had a church or a school in Badjo. The people of Badjo are now seeing what 200 years of being a birthplace to voodoo in Haiti have brought to their community, destruction and death, literally with the loss of the 46 people on the bus. Some of them have actually said "enough, voodoo has cost us too much". They have heard the stories of Pass Rien, being changed from DeForce (place of darkness, place where the witch doctors come from) to Bon Berger, Place de Lumiere. (Good Shepherd, place of light). They have heard the stories of the land being healed and producing more agriculture, they have heard of the education and Jesus coming and oppression being lifted. And they are hungry for it. They have heard of the joy that has come as witch doctors no longer have powers and find out that Christ's power is stronger. Please continue to pray for the peoples eyes to be opened and the hearts to be healed. Pray for the restoration of the children. Pray for us, for discernment and direction in Badjo.
Another door has been opened up to us as a ministry. As you know our mission statement and practice is 'we come along side the people of Haiti to help them help themselves'. Many years ago when Mike started teaching the pastors and leaders on outreach being something God asks of every believer, he actually had one pastor that said "out reach is not something Haitians do, it is something done to Haitians", something westerners have taught them. Now many years later we are seeing the fruit of Haitians ministering to Haitians in outreach. And we are so thankful for the fruit. One of the latest outreaches occurred when one of the pastors said he believed that some of them were supposed to go up into the mountains behind our Children's Village and do evangelism. This is an area that is only reachable by foot, you can drive part of the way by car, then further by motorcycle, but you have to walk the last part. So they decided to go to this area for 3 nights and three days. The biggest village of the 5 in the area is called Sedrenn, one of the smaller ones is Miwa. They visited door to door, they held worship times, prayer times, whatever they thought the Holy Spirit was leading them too. One night in particular after a time of worship, Nathan felt like God was pointing out a girl in the crowd to him that they should pray for. She appeared to be 19 or 20 years old. After calling her to come forward for a second time he realized why she was coming so slowly, she was being carried. She could not walk. She was crippled. As the pastors and leaders prayed over her she started being healed. By the time they were finished praying she was completely healed and could stand and slowly walk. God is such an awesome caring God. Before the three days were finished they had led over165 people to the Lord. This area has never had a school or church, so please again pray for discernment and direction for our ministry. God willing we would like to be able to plant a church and school in this community also. It is hard to imagine in this day and age, being an adult and not being able to read and write. We believe God is here in Sedrenn and that He wants a personal relationship with the people, they are part of His family and He wants them back.
Thank you so very much for your faithful prayers, they are making a difference and moving mountains.
Blessings,
Chris
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