TREC Results pour in!

Follow up on Evangelism done during TREC continues

In order to help us follow up with the almost 900 people who filled out response cards we trained over 20 additional counselors to make phone calls and meet with those who were interested.

We are working with five churches and have appointed a coordinator at each church. We meet with these coordinators each month to find out how things are going with follow up.

At this point over 200 people who indicated they trusted in Christ or asked for more information about Jesus have been contacted. Of these, over 50 are involved in follow up Bible studies and 2 are regularly attending church.

One young man came to watch the Jesus Film and even though he was already a Christian, he was convicted about the sin in his life. After meeting twice with a counselor to do a Bible study, he confessed that his 17 year old girl friend was pregnant and her parents, who are not Christians, told him he had to marry her within 2 months. They even came to talk him with a pastor and a witch doctor (I guess they wanted to cover both Christian and voodoo religions!). We are praying for God to help give all parties wisdom in this situation – especially since the young man does not have a job and is not ready to support a family.

In another instance a woman with several children expressed interest in learning more about Christ. Just for inquiring, she was kicked out the house and the family business with her children because her family serves the demons of voodoo. She is still meeting with one of our counselors for Bible study but is struggling financially. She wants to go to church, but does not have any nice clothing for her and her children to wear.

Second visit to Verettes to follow up with leaders of the Pilot Project in schools

On March 17th and 18th, Rich and Daniel, the Director of AACH, went to Verettes to visit with all the leaders that were trained at TREC in January.

The news was very encouraging: Each of the schools had already distributed the over 2000 Liv la Vie booklets we gave them and were using them to teach their players. In one school 10 children indicated they trusted Christ after studying the booklets. Now other schools in the area are requesting booklets!

In one school our leaders went back and shared the evangelism training they received with their fellow teachers and school administrators. Now they all are supporting the Liv la Vie studies with their students. In one 5th grade class 13 children trusted in Christ!

Another school is involved in an inter-school soccer tournament and are sharing the Gospel with all the teams they play.

Campus Crusade for Christ at James Madison University is sending 8 students for a week to experience sports ministry in Haiti.

From May 7-17th eight students from JMU will come to Haiti to come alongside their Haitian brothers and sisters and share the Gospel through sports ministry. From May 9-11 we will hold an eight-team tournament at Verettes and then the students will do soccer clinics at individual schools.

Regional Committee set up at Verettes

Since our goal is to train Haitians how to do sports ministry, we set up a regional committee in Verettes made up of 7 members. The committee’s responsibilities are:

1) To organize regional activities and tournaments
2) To manage shared equipment
3) To prepare and send monthly reports to AIS-Haiti
4) To assist schools with their strategic plans

We were very encouraged to see how those we trained at TREC are putting what they learned to good use!

Visiting the schools

Richard is out at Verrettes for two days visiting with the leaders of the schools who came to the training at Christmas time. Please pray for safe travel for him and pray for the effectiveness of the ministries in these schools.

First there was a meeting with several of the leaders. Yesterday he went out to a remote village to visit one of the schools and found that they are teaching some students how to sew. He asked them if the school could make soccer shorts for the ministry and they said yes.

I'll post more as I have more information on the trip.

Everyday Opportunities

Several times, our Ambassdors’ cybercafé has provided an opportunity to talk with people about faith in Jesus (Well, OK it’s really the Holy Spirit, but the cybercafé is a vehicle). On Friday Rich had two of these opportunities.

The first happened because a lady’s cell phone kept ringing with a loud musical ringtone that was bothering others in this small room. Someone turned and asked her to shut it off or answer it. Richard could tell that the customer was a little upset by the way it was said. So when she was leaving, he grabbed a “15-minutes-free internet navigation” coupon and followed her outside to give it to her. He tried to smooth things over and she ended up asking him where he goes to church. To his surprise she spoke in English. She said she’s been feeling that she needs to go to church again. Rich told her about the English-speaking church we sometimes attend called Quisqueya Chapel. He gave her the Pastor’s phone number and encouraged her to make an appointment with the Pastor’s wife to talk about her desire to get closer to God.

The second time was when Richard and Dorothy were interviewing someone to do translation work (we share the space with Dorothy and her ministry includes translation work). Since it is a ministry, they asked him about his faith using the question: “If you were to die today, are you sure you would be going to heaven?” He said he was not sure but answered that he tries to live the way his mother taught him to live. This led to an interesting discussion and Rich got to share with him that the Bible makes it clear in 1 John chapter 5 in the thirteenth verse that those who trust in Jesus can know that they have eternal life. He said everything we talked about made sense and said he would think about our discussion and let us know if he makes a decision to trust in Christ!

Richard presents his Graduate Research on Youth Unemployment in Haiti

Richard presents his Graduate Research on Youth Unemployment in Haiti

On Sunday, Feb. 23rd, Rich spoke to a group of High School and College students and educators in Haiti about the problem of Youth Unemployment in Haiti. He was invited to present his graduate research on this subject by Young Americas Business Trust – Haiti (YABT-Haiti) organized several sessions during a United Nations Simulation at the Caraibe Convention Center in Port-au-Prince.

As a result of his research, Rich was able to make 4 recommendations that could help reduce youth unemployment in Haiti:

- A multi-faceted approach where the Haitian Government, businesses and Unions work together to address youth unemployment
- Teach and promote good character
- Find ways that idle youth can work together with community leaders to make a positive contribution to their communities, and provide healthy ways they can use their time.
- Identify and encourage youth with entrepreneurial talent

Currently Rich is working with YABT-Haiti to create a program that uses laptops to take a computer training course to Haitian schools that do not have electricity or computer equipment. He and YABT-Haiti leaders hope to launch a pilot project in two schools starting the end of March.

This project fits into AIS-Haiti’s third “B” in “Ball, Bible, Business”

Ball: Using sports to engage youth in our program
Bible: Evangelizing and Teaching Christian Character through Bible study
Business: Identify and encourage youth who demonstrate entrepreneurial talent.

Passing the Test

Passing the test

The other day I was helping to teach Lucasse, a young man who works in the Ambassador’s Cyber cafe how to drive.

Lucasse played on the Lemuel Soccer Club for a few years and when we started a cyber café in Haiti to help us learn how to start a business in Haiti, he was a natural choice help us as an intern.

I wanted to encourage Lucasse to get his driver’s license so that he could help when driving was necessary for the business.

So early one morning before the cyber café opened I took him to the English church’s property, which is rather large for Haiti, and let him drive around. I thought it would be good to practice parallel parking with him so I moved these volleyball poles that were stuck into cement-filled tires. It turned out that was a mistake.

The next day my back was killing me, and it got even worse the day after. As I write this I am still in a lot of pain.

But, yesterday I took Lucasse for his driver’s test and he passed! He passed, and I was in pain. He was happy, I was in pain. He told everyone he had passed, I told everyone I was in pain. I was happy for Lucasse, but the pain kind of dampened my enthusiasm.

This reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Once we put our trust in Christ, we are happy and tell everyone “I’m saved from my sins – I passed the test and now have a place reserved for me in heaven!” Jesus is happy for us, but I don’t think he’ll ever forget completely about the pain he suffered so that we could pass from death to life!