What is it like to drive the back roads of Haiti?

The area where we travelled has no road maintenance, so when it rains, sometimes deep gullies form and mud holes develop that become deep from trucks sloshing through them.

Just last year we were in the general area, and the roads had just been finished so they were in good shape. But after no maintenance for a year, they are getting really bad.

Our most treacherous journey was to Bassin Bleu near Jean Rabel. It started to rain when we were most of the way there, and we stopped to think about whether we should continue. But the rain let up, and Pastor Pierty, who was driving, thought that we could make it.

Even in 4WD we were slipping a bit, especially on the hills, but we still made progress. We had about 5 people in the back as well, and sometimes they were slammed against the rails when we slid.

Then suddenly, while going up a hill the truck began to fish-tail. I looked up and it seemed like we were going to go over a deep embankment on our right. But just at the last minute, Pastor Pierty got the truck under control and we made it up the hill.

When we finally got to the school we were rewarded by a bunch of kids waiting for us inside the small school made of mud walls with a thatched roof.

Thank God the rain had stopped by the time we headed home, and we didn’t have any more problems, but it is definitely a trip me and my Canadian friends will never forget!

Canadians have a Haitian adventure

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From July 11 through the 18th, 2011 we hosted four young Canadians who wanted to help us start teams in 8 schools in North-West Haiti: Art, Nick, William and Kate.

Here is a short summary of the trip in numbers:

Number of decisions for Christ: 60
Number who want to study the Bible: 50
Number of Christian books distributed: Approximately 5,000
Canadians who survived: 4 Canadians who did not: 0
Haitian coworkers: 6 – Ronald, Sylvain, Debreus, Jean Paul, Maxime and Pastor Pierty
Schools visited: 9 Schools who got sets of equipment: 10
Number of complete sets of short, jerseys and socks donated: 13
Number of balls collected: 120
Number of miles driven over some of the roughest roads in Haiti:
Number of flat tires: 1

Each day we got up early and drove over rough roads to visit 2-3 schools mostly in remote areas. When we got to the schools we played games with the children that showed up (it is summer vacation here), and explained to the school director and pastors who to best use the books we gave them. One of the books is called “25 stories from the Bible”. Other titles were: Pilgrims progress in Creole; Sharing your faith; New Testaments in Creole; Growing in the Christian Life and God’s Marvelous Creation.

After playing games with the children, I shared my testimony of how I was shot and showed the children the bullet holes in my truck. Then Sylvain shared the Gospel in a simple way and gave an invitation.

In the afternoons, we held an evangelistic soccer tournament for 8 schools. We handed out hundreds of tracts at these games and at the final we shared the Gospel and 16 people indicated they trusted in Christ.

For three nights we also showed Christian films to the community and hundreds of people attended these as well. Some people trusted in Christ as a result of these films as well. We showed films like “The Combat” and “The Solution” that contrast Voodoo with Christianity. We also showed 2 films for children on the life of Jesus: “The God Man” and “The Jesus Film for Children”.

So we thank our dear Canadian friends for collecting lots of equipment and donations to make this trip possible and finance a great soccer tournament. The team from “Mosquito Bay” won the tournament. This is an Ocean side community know for its quantity of bugs!

Thanks to our Canadian friends from the University of Moncton and this recent team, we have more equipment than we have ever had, and have been able to start 20 new teams just this year, so now we are up to 80 teams all over Haiti!

Mission to the NorthWest of Haiti

Starting today (July 11th), I will be welcoming a team of 4 tough Canadians who I challenged to come work with me this summer to reach 9 villages in this remote part of Haiti.

Our Haitian team of myself, Ronald William, Jean Paul Noel, Sylvain Nelson and Debreus Dreisnel will be joining them on this thrust into an area steeped in voodoo.

We are partnering with our Crossworld Co-Workers, Bruce and Deb Robinson, and 9 UEBH churches in each of the villages we will be visiting.

To attract the community, we are sponsoring an evangelistic soccer tournament throughout the week with the final game on Saturday.

We hope to visit 2-3 different villages each day and do sports with the children and distribute books entitled "25 Stories from the Bible" to each student at the local Christian Schools, about 50% of which have not yet trusted in Christ.

We have found that when a child trusts in Christ, his parents often react positively to his child-like faith and come to Christ as well.

I will be away from the internet during this time until July 18th, so as God brings us to mind, please pray for us!

Hold the Fort!

As I was preparing to lead the Worship service at Quisqueya Chapel this past Sunday, I came across this story:

Near the end of the American Civil war, the Confederate Army under General Hood tried many times to repel a Union army under W.T. Sherman three times its size. On the 5th of October, 1864, the Confederate army of Hood, in a carefully prepared movement, went behind the Union army stationed near Atlanta, GA and commenced the destruction of the railroad leading north, burning blockhouses and capturing the small garrisons along the line. Sherman’s army was put in rapid motion pursuing Hood, to save the supplies and larger posts, the principal one of which was located at Allatoona Pass. A million and a half rations of food were stored here and it was highly important that the earthworks commanding the pass and protecting the supplies be held.

The area was completely surrounded by the Confederates and the Fort was asked to surrender. The Union commander refused and a sharp fight commenced. The defenders were slowly driven into a small fort on the crest of the hill. At this moment an officer caught sight of a signal flag far away across the valley, twenty miles distant, upon the top of Kenesaw Mountain. The signal was answered, and soon the message was waved across from mountain to mountain:

“Hold the fort; I am coming. W. T. Sherman.”

Cheers went up; every man was nerved to a full appreciation of the position; and under a murderous fire, which killed or wounded more than half the men in the fort—the Union General himself being shot three times through the head, and his Colonel taking command, though himself badly wounded — they held the fort for three hours until the advance guard of Sherman’s army came up and the Confederate army was obliged to retreat.

After hearing this story from a civil war veteran in 1870, Philip Bliss, the composer who wrote the melody to “It is well with my Soul”, wrote the words and melody of “Hold the Fort”. Philip died in a tragic train accident at 38 years of age at the height of his evangelistic music ministry and was about to join Dwight Moody in Europe when the accident happened, killing him and his wife, and leaving his two sons as orphans.

Just as the men of the Union army held the fort, we need to remember to “hold the Fort” of God’s Kingdom here on earth against the “Devil’s schemes” and his rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). This church is in a strategic position here in Port-au-Prince! But just as the Union army fought to save badly needed supplies, supplies needed for the Union to win the war, so we must give and supply the needs of this church so that it can be a haven of hope, a fortress for God’s Kingdom here in PAP. Rest assured that God’s Kingdom is coming! In His last words in Revelation Jesus reminds us: “Yes, I am coming soon! (Rev. 22: 20). Until then we need to pray, give and work for the defense and advancement of his Kingdom here in Haiti and around the world.


Hold the fort Philip Bliss

Verse 1:
Ho, my comrades! see the signal waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh.

Refrain:

“Hold the fort, for I am coming,” Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to Heaven, “By Thy grace we will.”
See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on;
Mighty ones around us falling, courage almost gone!

Refrain

See the glorious banner waving! Hear the trumpet blow!
In our Leader’s Name we triumph over ev’ry foe.

Refrain

Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near;
Onward comes our great Commander, cheer, my comrades, cheer!

Mud and Rivers and rocks, Oh My!

For all those fans for 4 wheel drive, have I got a road for you!

Last week I drove from 7 AM to 7 PM on some of the worst roads in Haiti, straddling "mud tracks" 2 feet deep, fording rivers, and beating my tires up on "washboard" rock formations that loosened up every bolt on my Toyota pickup (and even shook some completely loose).

I had a full load of 5 people inside the truck and two men outside sitting on top of 50 cases of Christian literature, soccer equipment and suitcases.

Our first stop was a remote church where we delivered lots of books to be distributed next week during our visit with our Canadian Friends. Then we tried to hook up with a Haitian pastor who had just had a bad motorcycle accident, but couldn't wait until he got home.

Our last stop before heading to La Pointe, was to drop off the rest of the books that will be distributed to 9 different churches between July 11 and 16th. There are colorfull "25 Bible story" books, Pilgrim's Progress in Creole, Bibles and booklets for children that clearly explain the Gospel.

There were also Literacy "primers" to teach children how to read in Creole. When i got to this remote village, I decided to test the reading skills of the children gathered around. To my amazement, even the smallest child seemed to be able to read the letters with ease and even some sentences! The future of Haiti is definitely the children!

To get to La Pointe, we had to cross a wide river that trucks have been know to get stuck in. Naturally, I was a little nervous, and it didn't help that some of my Haitian companions told stories of people they knew who got stuck when water stalled their engines and the car drifted down the river a bit!

We made it across, however, thanks to "guides" that sat on my hood, sometimes pointing in different directions!

I was glad to get even a cold shower that night to wash all the dust off and crawl into bed!

Sylvain and Sylvena's Wedding

A wedding is always a cause of celebration in any culture, but it takes on new meaning in Haiti where most children are born out of wedlock, and many couples don't have the money to get married in a "proper fashion". Teenage pregnancy is still a huge problem here and has been exacerbated because of the insecurity in the tent cities.

So when a couple does their best to celebrate their union in a way that glorifies God, and his goodness in bringing them together, it is indeed a special occasion.

Sylvain and Sylvena met in Port-de-Paix where they attend Ebenezer Baptist Church. She is a Kindergarten teacher, and her students attended the wedding and sang a cute song for the couple. Sylvain is a school teacher and also works for Compassion and Ambassadors in Sport. He also has his own evangelistic ministry in the area that seeks to go into remote areas and share the Gospel.

I was asked to pray at the wedding, which was a great honor, and of course I had to write down the prayer since it was in Creole and I didn't want any mistakes!

I also helped out by driving the wedding attendants to and from the wedding and helping them keep out of the mud, since it had rained earlier that day.

In all, it was a great celebration and reminded me of how thankful I am for Carol and our children, the fruit of a godly marriage - and of course I prayed the same for Sylvain and Sylvena!

Richard arrived safely up north

Thanks for your prayers. Richard arrived safely up north. Sunday, he made excellent time getting to Gonaives in 2 1/2 hours, even though sometimes it can take 4 or more hours.
Yesterday he drove around a lot (about 10 hours) getting to Port-de-Paix and then having meetings in that general area.

If justice seems so elusive to you that you don't even try to acheive it, is that a kind of oppression?

This is a note I put on facebook this morning.

I was actually invited to a 4th of July picnic and even though I wasn't really in the mood, I knew it would be a good thing to do. I'm glad I did.

Please comment on this note--I'd appreciate your thoughts.

"I'm trying to be in the 4th of July spirit, but I just had a heart-breaking talk with a Mom whose son (one of the most honest, good-hearted, unselfish people I've known) is in jail. He's been like a son to me and it's really hard to accept this. I get angry with people involved in this and disheartened knowing a little of what jail is like in this country. He contracted malaria this week. I'm thanking God that at least the prison provided chloroquine and rehydration fluids.

The saddest part is that it seems the Haitians involved don't feel that they can even try to prove that he is not the one who's at fault. They are so used to the idea that you can't fight "city hall" or anyone (in this case, it's probably individuals), it almost doesn't occur to them to try. And partly because of this, we have been uninformed, and misinformed about what actually happened. It doesn't seem worth it to those involved trying to piece together what happened because they think you'll never be able to prove that he didn't do it. What experiences must they have had if they act this way? Or is it just hearsay? So, instead they are focused on trying to raise the huge amount of money to pay back the organization that is out the money.

To answer my question above....if you think about the Merriam-Webster definition "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" it doesn't seem like that's what's happening here, at first. But, what if the LACK of exercise of power or authority allows some people in the society to take advantage of someone else without punishment?

Sadly, we have lost time not knowing many of the facts in this matter because of hopelessness--at least in their society and justice system. They do hope in God, but, I guess like all of us, they only think He will work in certain ways.

Hmmm. Need to go pray some more."

.

Prayer requests

Here are some prayer requests for Sunday and Monday:

Please pray for Richard today as he drives up to Gonaives and tomorrow when he'll be driving on worse roads to Port-de-Paix and La Pointe.

Pray for the AIS "Team" as they have a lot going on this week up in the north:

1. Sylvain Nelson's wedding! - He has been working with AIS for years and is currently a part time administrator for the northern regions. (Tuesday, July 5th)

2. For book distribution - over 10,000 books to be brought to 3 regions. "25 Greatest Bible stories" and "Book of Hope" (both in Creole, but giving you the English names), and Bibles.

3. For Equipment distribution for soccer teams in 3 regions.

4. UEBH Beraca Conference - Representatives from the UEBH churches and ministries all over Haiti meet together for a few days of teaching, worship and spending time together.

5. Meeting with the AIS-Haiti Regional Committee in Gonaives.

Thank you for praying!

YABT training for Young Life - How to Write a Business Plan

Here are some pictures of the YABT training for the Young Life group that started last weekend and continues tomorrow and Sunday.

Tent Camp for 18 months and still no where to go for many

I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks as I sat in a circle together with 14 IDP* (refugee) tent camp leaders and the pastor of the church property where the camp sits. The camp is supposed to be dismantled by the Fall and these people need somewhere to go. We had just finished two hours of discussion about how to help people in the camp understand their God-given talents through ABCD: Asset Based Community Development.



As a North American, I wanted to go in and fix their problems like I order a hamburger at McDonalds. But there are no easy answers when it comes to assimilating the thousands of people in IDP camps back into the mainstream in Haiti. Imagine living in a tent for 1 ½ years! That’s not a week’s vacation with your family.

I’m not sure of all the emotions welling up inside that caused me to cry, but I know deep inside I wanted these dear brothers and sisters in Christ (who were volunteering their time to help others in the tents) to know that somebody had heard their cries and cared about their challenges. I wanted them to know that I (and all who support us and pray for us) was there to encourage and comfort them in a seemingly impossible situation.

I told them frankly that I didn’t know how God was going to deliver them from this situation, but at the beginning of the seminar we all confirmed what we knew: God loves us, and all the people living in tents; God would not ask us to pray for our daily bread without giving us a way to earn it or find it, and God has given each one of us talents and abilities to serve him, and serve others.

Without the caring heart of Mark Bradley, a fellow Crossworld missionary, and his wife, Anne, I would not have had the opportunity to share with and learn from these dear people. But when Mark asked me to visit the camp with him, and we started to talk to Pastor Renes about the challenges he faced, I decided to meet with them to discuss ABCD which I had just read about in the book “When Helping Hurts”.
So with Mark’s help I learned enough about ABCD, and the spirit behind it, to lead a discussion with these leaders.

ABCD starts with the perspective that God has given everyone talents and abilities that they can use to help themselves and others. Instead of asking the refugees what they need, ABCD asks them what they HAVE in terms of skills, community connections, business experience and personal assets. It seeks to engage everyone in finding solutions to pressing community issues rather than doing things for people who “have nothing to offer.” In Mark 6, Jesus started with what people had, a few fish and loaves, and proceeded to turn it into a feast for 5000. When we offer what we have to God, he can do miracles – and that is what Haiti needs right now – lots of individual miracles.

Even though I had never taught this material before, the discussions we had energized me, and God helped me find just the right illustrations to help the group understand the concepts. Once this was done, we worked together on putting together a survey to help people discover their talents. I left it up to them to decide whether they would survey people individually or in groups, and also when and how they would get together to discuss the results of the surveys and hopefully find some ways to connect needs in the community with skills their neighbors have.

I plan to meet with them on July 21st to discuss their findings and try and find ways to link their abilities with my network. In the meantime, please pray for this whole process, and pray that God will make a way for these dear people leave their tents.

Rich

*Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) – people are not technically considered refugees if they are in such a camp in their own country.