Monday, April 26, 2021
Hi friends;
I'm so glad to send you an up-date to let you celebrate with us, a powerful work that God is doing right now, as we speak, in a small, dark, and isolated village, called Myan. We have ministered in this village for several years. We have been teaching a Bible study and ministry time there every Monday night. Not long ago the people of Myan, along with many of the village leaders, came to us and said that they were fed up with the darkness and Voodoo there, as it was hurting their children and ruining their village. After hearing of the stories of the miraculous spiritual revival at Pass Rien, they asked Pastor Nathan what they could do to receive such favor from God in their village.
Pastor Nathan and I went to Myan a couple of months ago and we drove a huge stake in the ground, claiming the territory of Myan for the Kingdom of God. All the people prayed and fasted, asking God to move over their village.
All last week we had an evangelistic crusade in the village of Myan. During the crusade 56 new believers gave their hearts to Jesus and gained eternal life. Praise God! Thank you so much for your prayer support!
One heart wrenching story, was of a 16 year old girl, who was a reluctant 3rd generation witch doctor. Her parents and grandparents said that she had no choice in the matter. When she refused to take her position as a witch doctor, she said that they made her a sex slave to other women of Voodoo. She cried so hard as she told us of her pain and humiliation that lasted for years, She said; "Satan had broken my life, but now finally, Jesus has given me new life and I am not broken any more!"
Oh' praise God for this precious young soul. And pray for her complete healing and wholeness in Jesus name......
Also, please continue to pray with us for a powerful move of God over the village of Myan, Haiti.
Blessings,
Mike and Chris Leland
April 13, 2021
Hello,
I arrived home from Haiti at 4:00am on Saturday morning. No time for recovery with a large family that is glad to see me home again.
It was a great trip in many ways. Getting the chance to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and all that He has done for us, with thousands of my Haitian friends was an amazing experience. Hundreds of unbelievers came, and many were saved. "Thank you Lord!" and thank you who were with me in prayer and support.
We baptized almost 100 new believers in the rivers near each village. We saw the Holy Spirit fall on so many as they rose up, and were seated with Jesus, in a place of spiritual blessings.
We also have laid the groundwork for our new Market Place Sustainable Community Development Program, to help hard working families learn best business practices, and entrepreneurial skills, to raise their quality of life. Because our God cares about our life in His Kingdom here and now, not just after we die.
Thank you so much. I could feel your prayers guiding and protecting me as I went.
On another note, we have beautiful flower baskets for sale for Mother's Day, to help support the ministry. I know there are many of you who support us in other countries and I am so sorry you will not be able to purchase them. We so appreciate you and hope soon to be able to see you.
We are very thankful to Smith Gardens for donating the baskets, 100% of the funds will go to support the ministry in Haiti.
Bless you all.
Mike
Friday, April 9, 2021
Good evening,
This morning Pastor Nathan, Mike and Lemeque climbed the mountain behind the Children's Village to pray. They spent the first part of the day praying for the ministry and direction and vision. These quiet times together with the Lord are so very vital to the ministry and the relationship. So thankful to know you are praying with us for this ministry.
This evening Mike felt led to go to Marose for bible study. He felt like he needed to share the story in the bible about the man who was leaping and praising God after being healed of leprosy. So he confirmed with the guy teaching the bible study in Marose. As he started to prepare, he was all of the sudden dizzy and sweating and he couldn't get up or walk, he had to hold on to the table. He was pretty sure it was an attack from the enemy, so he started fighting back with scriptures and truths. After about 15 minuets, he said he was starting to feel better, so he kept it up and decided he was going to go to the bible study regardless of how he felt. By the time he arrived there he was much better. He shared and afterwards there were 2 salvations. He felt like God said to pray for peoples minds to be set free and he said most of the people came forward for prayer. It was totally worth pushing through past the enemy, God had the victory. Again, thank you for coming alongside and praying for the people of Haiti.
Tomorrow morning Mike will fly out of Gonaives and into Port-au-Prince, and then to Florida and Washington. Please pray for traveling safety. We appreciate your prayers so very much.
Blessings, Chris
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Hello,
I want to share a praise report and thank for your prayers. I also want to share some of our challenges and my heart.
On Easter Sunday we saw about 24 people give their lives to the Lord during the morning services. The churches were packed with people hungry for God. Mike said it was an interesting experience for him, because we have been in the process of rebuilding the church in Marose. The walls are up and there is a balcony that goes around most of the church inside. They had set up the benches for people to sit on under the balcony all around. When he started to preach he was in the middle of the church, with people all around and because there is no roof yet he was in the direct sun and extremely hot. A little bit into his message it clouded up and then it started raining. He said the people couldn't believe that he just kept on preaching. They thought he would give up and run out of the rain.
In the late afternoon most of our churches were able to come together. There were about 1000 people gathered for our all churches Easter Service. Mike said that the church was full, there was standing room only on the porch and the entire church yard in Poteau was filled with people. Nathan leads choirs in two of our villages and one of our younger pastors, Jean Denis leads a children's choir in Pass Rein. There were also two guest choirs. During ministry time Pastor Nathan felt led to ask one of the choirs to pray for one of the other choirs. This led to one of the other choirs praying for the remaining adult choir. Then members from all four choirs started to pray for all the children in the children's choir. I guess it was an amazing spirit led ministry time. So good when so many come together and join in with what God is doing.
Some of the rural mountain churches were not able to make it to the all churches Easter Service, because of the mudslides and roads and houses that were taken out due to the flash flooding caused by the rains Friday night and Saturday. Please be praying for all the families that were affected. The same people were also not able to come to the Baptism, as the roads were washed out. Mike said the baptism that was supposed to be an all churches event was done in the local communities. Altogether there were about 100 people being baptized.
One of the challenges when ministering to a third world country is helping them to see the way God brings prosperity and blessings. And NO I am not talking about what most of us would consider prosperity. I am talking about the promises and blessings that we in first world countries see. We pray for the people of Haiti and ask God to bless them. But, their outsides circumstances may never change or improve like we would expect here. They still have no food, no job, no money and may very well feel more responsibility now to support all the children they may have with various partners. Which partner do they now marry? If they were prostitutes' or witch doctors, or killers for hire, how do they make a living now? We in our first world countries can turn from our sinful life styles and work hard and most times live an improved life style. We cannot say life will be better on the outside to these precious people. They might never experience the blessings on the outside. They may not ever experience fulfillment in their physical needs. It can appear to be so hopeless.
But God! We can promise internal fulfillment, we can promise internal prosperity. We can promise freedom in eternity. We can offer hope. But we have to help them to understand that salvation creates joyful identity. We have to help them understand it is their personal relationship with a God who wants to know THEM. It is such a challenge, but when they get it, they have something that can never be taken from them, it can never be lost and its worth everything. My heart breaks for them in some ways, but in other ways, they have very little that can get in the way of their relationship with Him. Please continue to lift our brothers and sisters in Haiti up.
Blessings, Chris
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Hello,
We wanted to thank your for your prayers, they have been such a blessing. We also wanted to let you know how you can continue to partner with us in prayer while Mike is in Haiti.
There have been a few changes in the Easter schedule. Tomorrow morning, Easter Sunday, Mike will be preaching in Marose. Then in the late afternoon Mike will be preaching at a ministry wide Easter gathering at our Poteau church. They are expecting over 1000 people to come. There will be joyous worship and food as they celebrate. Please be praying for the people, Pastor Nathan as he leads worship and Mike as he shares the message. Also please pray for everyone as they travel, last night and this morning they experienced a huge rain storm in Haiti, which trapped some of the people in the more mountainous rural areas. We were supposed to have a ministry wide baptism this morning in Marose, but many were unable to attend because of the rain storm. The baptism has been rescheduled for Monday morning. We want everyone to be able to attend from these areas tomorrow, so we would really appreciate your prayers.
The Pastors Conference was really good. Mike said the Holy Spirit was strongly moving hearts. It still amazes me when you step out in obedience and God shows up! Mike felt led to share some things that have been on our heart lately. One of which is how easily we forget how broken, hurt and sinful we were when Jesus rescued us. Instead of extending the grace and mercy we received and continue to receive, instead of loving them without accepting their sin, like we were loved by Christ, we sometimes judge them and make them feel unaccepted. The arms of the church is the very place they need to be able to reach out too. He shared this with the pastors and the Holy Spirit came and the Pastors were all on their faces weeping and repenting. The Holy Spirit brought these pastors and leaders back to a truly compassionate place for the lost.
Again, thank you so very much for your prayers, we are depending on them.
Happy Easter! He is Lord! He is Risen!
Blessings, Chris
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