From Prison to Praise – Mr. Valentine finds true love in Haiti
It started out as a simple argument with his live-in girlfriend, but things got loud and violent so someone called the police. Next thing Patrick Valentine knew, he was in prison awaiting trial. The verdict was “Guilty”, but Patrick wasn’t worried – he thought he would just spend a few months in jail – free food, time to exercise, and time to reflect on his behavior. But he had forgotten about his Haitian heritage, and he definitely didn’t realize that anybody born in Haiti that is convicted of a serious crime is automatically deported to Haiti and can never return to the US.
One night of out-of-control behavior had sentenced Patrick to the rest of his life in a country he didn’t even know about where people looked like him, but spoke an entirely different language. That’s because Patrick was adopted as an infant, and his adoptive parents didn’t tell him that he was Haitian and had a Haitian birth certificate. He didn’t know a word of Creole when the US marshal turned him over to the Haitian prison authorities on December 4, 2003. If it wasn’t for another Haitian who was being deported, Patrick might still be locked up in Haitian prison because he knew none of his family in Haiti, or any other Haitian for that matter. Normally, if you don’t have family or friends to help you get out of prison, you stay there. But his new-found friend that he met on the plane on the way over told the authorities that Patrick was a distant relative and got him out of prison. They went to the friend’s home town of Arcahaie, a town right on the coast about an hour north of Port-au-Prince.
Christmas, 2003 was very lonely and hard for Patrick. He was far from his family, had no money, no car, no electricity, and no Christmas tree or decorations, and no “White Christmas” like his native Minnesota, It was hot and sticky and just didn’t seem like Christmas at all, But he did have new friends, and like Joseph in the Bible, he had no choice but to learn the language and start a new life in a strange land.
Patrick learned a bit of carpentry and tried to find work, but the going was tough and he could only find odd jobs. He taught English part-time at a school, but that didn’t pay very well either. But life was bearable because he met a girl named Marise. They fell in love and started living together and before they knew it Marise was pregnant. Their little girl, Taisha just celebrated her first birthday on September 6th.
Now with a family to support, Patrick needed to find steady work. But how do you find steady work when you don’t know anyone and live in a country with 80% unemployment? Patrick was getting desperate, but decided to try and take a break from his problems by going to watch the local team – Flora – play a game against a team from the US – The Cleveland City Stars Reserve Team on June 4th, 2007. It was there that someone introduced me to Patrick and told me he could translate when one of the Cleveland City Stars players gave their testimony at Half-time. Patrick also had a Haitian driver’s license and since I was exhausted by this time after all the excitement of the team arriving and playing 3 games in 3 days, I asked him to drive for us the next day.
Sometime during the time Patrick started working with us and the morning of June 6th, the Holy Spirit did his work of convicting Patrick of sin and Patrick asked Christ to forgive his sin and make him a new creation. So when Patrick found out that some of the Cleveland City Starts players were going to be baptized in the ocean on June 6th, he talked to Pastor Ted, the team’s chaplain, and confessed his new-found faith. Patrick and 7 others (including Jordan, the son of some missionary friends who had been putting off being baptized for a year!) were baptized on that beautiful morning surrounded by 22 singing soccer players and leaders. Jordan was so excited for Patrick that he gave him his personal Bible in English as a present.
I lost touch with Patrick for a while after the tour, but one day he called me and said he had found work in the Dominican Republic ( D.R.) and needed some financial help to get there. So I invited him for lunch and listened with great joy as he told me what God had been doing in his life after the tour.
Patrick said that after he was baptized he started to go to the Nazarene Church in Arcahaie along with Marise. Marise trusted in Christ as well. Now they want to get married in the church, but have no money for the wedding. Carol and I told them we will lend them a wedding dress and help them with the decorations.
So now Patrick is working in the D.R. and hopes to earn enough money to have the wedding in about 6 months. I lent him an English/Spanish parallel New Testament so he can share his new-found faith with his Dominican friends!
It started out as a simple argument with his live-in girlfriend, but things got loud and violent so someone called the police. Next thing Patrick Valentine knew, he was in prison awaiting trial. The verdict was “Guilty”, but Patrick wasn’t worried – he thought he would just spend a few months in jail – free food, time to exercise, and time to reflect on his behavior. But he had forgotten about his Haitian heritage, and he definitely didn’t realize that anybody born in Haiti that is convicted of a serious crime is automatically deported to Haiti and can never return to the US.
One night of out-of-control behavior had sentenced Patrick to the rest of his life in a country he didn’t even know about where people looked like him, but spoke an entirely different language. That’s because Patrick was adopted as an infant, and his adoptive parents didn’t tell him that he was Haitian and had a Haitian birth certificate. He didn’t know a word of Creole when the US marshal turned him over to the Haitian prison authorities on December 4, 2003. If it wasn’t for another Haitian who was being deported, Patrick might still be locked up in Haitian prison because he knew none of his family in Haiti, or any other Haitian for that matter. Normally, if you don’t have family or friends to help you get out of prison, you stay there. But his new-found friend that he met on the plane on the way over told the authorities that Patrick was a distant relative and got him out of prison. They went to the friend’s home town of Arcahaie, a town right on the coast about an hour north of Port-au-Prince.
Christmas, 2003 was very lonely and hard for Patrick. He was far from his family, had no money, no car, no electricity, and no Christmas tree or decorations, and no “White Christmas” like his native Minnesota, It was hot and sticky and just didn’t seem like Christmas at all, But he did have new friends, and like Joseph in the Bible, he had no choice but to learn the language and start a new life in a strange land.
Patrick learned a bit of carpentry and tried to find work, but the going was tough and he could only find odd jobs. He taught English part-time at a school, but that didn’t pay very well either. But life was bearable because he met a girl named Marise. They fell in love and started living together and before they knew it Marise was pregnant. Their little girl, Taisha just celebrated her first birthday on September 6th.
Now with a family to support, Patrick needed to find steady work. But how do you find steady work when you don’t know anyone and live in a country with 80% unemployment? Patrick was getting desperate, but decided to try and take a break from his problems by going to watch the local team – Flora – play a game against a team from the US – The Cleveland City Stars Reserve Team on June 4th, 2007. It was there that someone introduced me to Patrick and told me he could translate when one of the Cleveland City Stars players gave their testimony at Half-time. Patrick also had a Haitian driver’s license and since I was exhausted by this time after all the excitement of the team arriving and playing 3 games in 3 days, I asked him to drive for us the next day.
Sometime during the time Patrick started working with us and the morning of June 6th, the Holy Spirit did his work of convicting Patrick of sin and Patrick asked Christ to forgive his sin and make him a new creation. So when Patrick found out that some of the Cleveland City Starts players were going to be baptized in the ocean on June 6th, he talked to Pastor Ted, the team’s chaplain, and confessed his new-found faith. Patrick and 7 others (including Jordan, the son of some missionary friends who had been putting off being baptized for a year!) were baptized on that beautiful morning surrounded by 22 singing soccer players and leaders. Jordan was so excited for Patrick that he gave him his personal Bible in English as a present.
I lost touch with Patrick for a while after the tour, but one day he called me and said he had found work in the Dominican Republic ( D.R.) and needed some financial help to get there. So I invited him for lunch and listened with great joy as he told me what God had been doing in his life after the tour.
Patrick said that after he was baptized he started to go to the Nazarene Church in Arcahaie along with Marise. Marise trusted in Christ as well. Now they want to get married in the church, but have no money for the wedding. Carol and I told them we will lend them a wedding dress and help them with the decorations.
So now Patrick is working in the D.R. and hopes to earn enough money to have the wedding in about 6 months. I lent him an English/Spanish parallel New Testament so he can share his new-found faith with his Dominican friends!
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