October 2021 Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

We give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies for His love and faithfulness. We wait patiently knowing God has plans for good and not for disaster. We pray every Haitian will have hope for a future. We know God hears our prayers and listens.

We know the Lord says, “If you look for Me wholeheartedly you will find Me. I will be found by you says the LORD. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes.” Oh Lord, You are our only hope in our country and in Haiti.

I struggle for the words to adequately share an image of what is happening in the country of Haiti. It’s exceedingly difficult for our brothers and sisters to find the strength to keep going. One friend told me, “It feels like we do not have a future.” We need to pray that God will heal this land and remove the evil that exists there. Pray God will restore the land (Jeremiah 32).

I believe God has led me to the prophet Jeremiah and his ministry, to remind us of the difficulty he experienced and how the people ignored his warnings and the words of hope. We must never lose sight that there is always hope. We can share our prayers and what we can do to help and encourage the people of Haiti, especially our partners that face the challenges there every day. I sense when reading Jeremiah that there is a great deal of similarity to Jeremiah’s life and the nation of Israel to what’s happening in Haiti today. What Jeremiah witnessed is what our team is witnessing every single day. It’s happening right now: Haiti is deteriorating right before our eyes.

We’ve never seen the situation in Haiti as dire as it is now. Food insecurity, businesses closed, limited gas access, gangs growing in power, kidnapping has increased by 200 percent, and murders. Unemployment is currently 85 percent. Idle hands do not help all the widespread destruction of people and property that now exists.

Families have no money for food and obtaining it is not easy; families also have no money for necessary life-saving medication for their elderly parents, their children, or themselves. The people in Haiti are suffering immensely.

This last year we’ve had to cancel two trips due to safety issues for us and for our team in the field. Luke and I are blessed that the ministry’s day-to-day operation does not depend on us – we have “boots on the ground.” Our team is unified in our mission of “Haitians helping Haitians for the glory of God.” We communicate almost daily with our team. We serve with our partner John Pericles, as well as our nurse, Ertha Pierre. Pastor Jovite Noel is our building project coordinator. This team continues serving the people in the communities and out in the even more rural villages, persevering in their work as difficult as it is. The medical support provided by both Ertha and John addresses a wide range of conditions, including infections, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, STDs, diabetes, anemia, and the ever-constant malnutrition, to name just a few.

John’s dogged determination to find the precious commodity of gas for the ministry’s truck makes it possible for our team to reach the communities. Most days it is very difficult to acquire gas and if they do it is exceedingly expensive, with the very real potential of fighting breaking out at any time. Gangs are barring the fuel tankers from making their deliveries, kicking the drivers out and hijacking the loads of fuel, then selling it on the black market.

We have many people ask whether Haiti is changing in a positive way at all. As of right now we would have to say it is changing – one person, one family at a time. We have pastor friends who are committed to the people and sharing biblical truth. We have families that have put their trust in God, praying at midnight and again first thing in the morning. Praising God and trusting His promises. Claiming the promises of God. His faithful love endures forever.

The Word of God says He is with us and He will take care of us. Haitian Ministries brings hope to the people and light to the darkness. We are making a difference; we are meeting needs:

• John and Pastor Maurice who disciple and share the Bible, life skills, and friendship with the “sand boys.”
• The women who we’ve helped start micro-loans to help with their children’s school and food.
• The children that needed surgery.
• The widow who has 5 children and no work, whom we helped with food.
• Building families’ homes (currently trying to buy a small piece of land to build a small home for a young woman whose son has cerebral palsy, for whom she is the sole caregiver and provider).
• Building a church for Pastor Aly in the mountaintop community of Coupe David, where materials must be carried up the mountain.
• Providing peanut butter sandwiches and water to school children.
• Baby Grace who is safe at Justinien University Hospital, being cared for until she gets strong enough to undergo surgery.
• The elderly with blood pressure so high they could have a stroke at any time. They count on us to treat and provide blood pressure medication each month.
• The children that have scabies.
• The ministry team who has become family to so many. Each month the people look forward to having them visit and share. When John and Ertha go home to home, they meet the family and treat the person who is sick. They have conversations about the power of prayer and reassure them that voodoo cannot have a hold on them. They share scripture reassuring the people that He who is in them is greater than he that’s in the world, and they pray with them. The team is important to so many elderly who have no families because they’ve exited the country.

The prophet Jeremiah for 45 to 47 years preached messages the Lord gave him. Reflecting on this scripture is a reminder Of God’s faithfulness to His people, and I like to insert “Haiti” in place of Israel. In Chapter 31 the Scripture says,

“In that day,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of [Haiti], and they will be my people. This is what the LORD says: “Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of [Haiti].” Long ago the LORD said to [Haiti]: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin [Haiti]. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines. Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there. The day will come when watchmen will shout from the hill country of [Haiti], ‘Come, let us go up to [choosing to] to worship the LORD our God.’”

Please pray this scripture as we do, replacing ‘Israel’ with ‘Haiti.’ Cry out to the Lord for the people of Haiti with us! We pray one day the Haitians will shout out with praise and joy and walk beside quiet streams on smooth paths and will not stumble. “For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past,” says the Lord. Pray God will restore, redeem, and rescue the Haitian people, that their lives will be like a watered garden and all of their sorrows will be gone; the young women will dance for joy; and the men old and young will join in the celebration. (From Jeremiah 31, 32 & 33)

Our hearts weep for the people in Haiti, but we will continue to give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. His love never fails, and His mercies are new every morning.

Thank you for caring, giving, and praying with us. Knowing you stand with us brings us courage and strength.

In His Strength,

Luke and Pam