The other half of the story

I just met with Debreus, the young man who was with me when I got shot.

Here is his side of the story:

He said he was coming back to the car to get another load of books when he saw a man open the front door and take my briefcase. Then he heard a loud noise and realized that I had been shot.

He talked to a friend who was also going on the bus and the friend said that his brother Joseph knew how to drive and was there at the station seeing him off. So he called his brother and asked him to go and help me get to the hospital. That is how Joseph ended up helping me!

The police also talked to Debreus and told him that as long as I had an ID card, Joseph would have no trouble getting me to a hospital.

I found out from Debreus that he had lost his personal overnight bag as well that had his Bible in it, as well as 1000 gourdes, which was worth about $25 US. In addition, they took a box of the "Champion" evangelistic booklets we were taking to Jean Rabel. God has a sense of humor! Imagine the gang members opening the box and reading a bit of the booklets to see what it said! Maybe 200 gang members took home the colorful booklets, and one got a Bible!

After Debreus got on the bus, he found out that the Pastor we work with in Jean Rabel was on the bus, too - Pastor Bolivar. I am sure that they were praying for me the whole trip, and that is part of what God used to give me the peace I had in the hospital.

During the bus trip, Debreus also thought that the bag with the video projector had been stolen, but to his surprise, the bus driver handed it to him after they got there. It had been loaded on top of the bus!

The Saturday after Debreus got back to Jean Rabel, he called a meeting with the Regional Committee and told them what happened. They also rejoiced that they had received evangelistic booklets , soccer cleats and a video projector to use for outreach.

In spite of Debreus trying to find a big TV antenna so they could project the World Cup games, they never were able to show any matches because the signal was too weak. Instead, they used the projector to show several Evangelistic films in Creole. These films show how Christ is more powerful than the voodoo demons many of the people near Jean Rabel still worship. They showed the films numerous times, and 36 people indicated they had accepted Christ afterwards!

There are now 14 schools involved with AIS Haiti in the Jean Rabel region and we are hoping to organize some tournaments in the fall.

So now you know the other half of the story!

Rich shares his story

Since I've been back in Haiti, I have had several opportunities to share the story of the robbery and shooting with several groups.

This is a group of young campers from a bad section of town that a friend invited to a summer camp at our church, Quisqueya Chapel.

They listened intently as I told of God's deliverance and showed them the place where I was shot.

I reminded them that we never know when our life will end, and we all need to be ready to face God's judgment.

Afterwards we went out to the truck to see where the bullet went into the door.

On Sunday, Aug 30th I will have the opportunity to share my story at Quisqueya Chapel, the church we attend in Haiti.