HEAVENLY LIGHT CHURCH/SCHOOL...

Mission to Haiti – February 27, 2011

This week the last of our first 2011 group of three visiting professors (VP) left.  She took the bus to the Dominican Republic and is taking some time off for an eco-tour in the DR and then home to the United Kingdom.   Pam, besides having an M.A. in Theology, is a former biology teacher and has a wealth of knowledge relating to plants and animals that she is more than willing to share. I’m not sure that she discovered any new species but she did add to her list of species that are new to her.

The election continues to be very quiet with both presidential candidates more or less kicking off their respective campaigns this past weekend.  Unlike Canada where there are rolling polls to tell us how each political party and/or candidate are doing you must depend on word of mouth and rumour to keep you abreast of what is happening, but so far very little of either to share with you. 

 

We will be leaving on Tuesday for a bit of rest and relaxation in the Dominican Republic at a resort just outside Puerto Plata.  It will be so nice to wake up in the morning, shower and dress, and then let someone else do the cooking for a change.  We will travel by bus (motor coach) from Cap Haitien to Santiago and then, dependent upon the time and availability, we will take a bus from Santiago to Puerto Plata.  Our Spanish is about at the same level as John’s Creole so we can only hope that we will find someone who speaks English when and if we need help communicating.

 As we might have mentioned before the church in Sarnia where Dorothy’s brother, Dick, attends gave $6,000 to Pastor Vilmer Paul of Heavenly Light Church/School to help with the construction of a second floor at his church to accommodate the school that St. Andrew’s supports.  The Sarnia church held it’s annual meeting this past weekend and Pastor Vilmer sent along an update on the present state of the construction and the role that the church and school are playing in his community.  We have attached here the e-mail that Past Vilmer sent to Dick’s church in Sarnia. 

“Hello Dear Pastor Dave,

The church is doing well, this past Sunday; we had a wonderful experience having four conversions in a Worship service. Among them the Lord Brought to His pasture a old man who was a franc Masson, he was accepting Jesus under tears. A most touchable one was a prostitute that her job was prostitution and abortion. Tania Jean Franyois was a lost woman, dead in her trespasses, abandoned by her family for her practice, disregarded among all moral sectary in the society, was found by the REDEMING, LOVING, AND THE SAVING LORD. We have a group for evangelism, the old man was invited to attend the worship service, but Tania wasn't, no one will approach her with Christian words, But the Lord did it by Himself, through His infinite grace has found Tania dead and He puts her alive again for His precious glory. The entire church body experiences that event with tears this Sunday; I had to only felt on knees with the church to pray and giving glory to the Almighty one because they all know who Tania was. She used to dress with almost no clothes, half naked when she felt her lost state, she barrow clothe to come to church. My wife so excited about that gives to her enough clothes to attend three following Sunday services. God is building His kingdom step by step. The Building is almost done for the walls. We were doing something more on the downstairs which is affected the original expense plan, but we are in 12 blocs rows all around the building. I will send pictures for you with the report and the receipts.

My family is good, the Lord still our protector and strength.

In the Lord”

The welcome John received when visiting
 Heavenly Light School a couple of weeks ago

QUIETER TIMES (THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM)

Mission to Haiti – February 20, 2011

Things continue to remain quiet in the lead up to the run-off elections for parliamentarians, senators, and president.  You would not know that there is an election coming up it is so quiet.  The only thing we have noticed is that about once or twice a day we receive a taped voice message asking us to support one of the candidates; yesterday it was Michel Martelly and tomorrow it will probably be Mirlande Manigat, the other candidate for president.

From this to TOEFL

This week John started working with two of the seminary staff on the TOEFL preparation exercises so that they learn enough English to qualify for the Masters program in divinity at an American university.  Currently we have two of the faculty enrolled in the Masters program at the Wesleyan University in Jackson, Mississippi.

What excitement there is around here is being is being generated by Junior, one of the 2^nd year students at the Seminary.  Last week we told you about he and two other students visiting Kompech, one of three very important voodoo sites in Haiti.  While there he touched one of the trees that also happens to be sacred to those practicing voodoo.  While myth says that anyone who touches the tree will die in two days this did not happen because he went back this past Sunday and spoke about how God created everything in the waters and on the earth including trees.  Well, today we heard that a “crazy man” had burned down this sacred tree.  We are waiting to hear more about why this happened, but it will be interesting to learn if the reason for the tree burning had anything to do with Junior’s Bible story about creation and the fact the his God is greater than the voodoo spirits that supposedly inhabited the tree.



Handmade by Stacey Ayars

 Valentine’s day came and went here in Saccenville.  Both John and I forgot to get cards before we returned to Haiti so neither of us could take a superior attitude because one of us had given at least a card while the other hadn’t.  However, we are babysitting Lily this afternoon while Matt & Stacey go to lunch in Cap Haitien in celebration of the Valentine’s Day, and for a little bit of a time out from the day to day stresses that come with living in Haiti.  We will wait until we head off to the Dominican Republic at the beginning of March for a few days at a resort in Puerto Plata to celebrate.  This also serves other purpose for us because we are required to vacate Haiti within 90 days of arrival to satisfy Haitian immigration laws, and we, too, need some down time after hosting each day since mid-January.  We have our next guests arrive 3 days after we return from the D.R. and from then until mid-May we will pretty much have non-stop guests until we leave to come home.



Shay



God is continuing to bless us.  We’ve had some rain this week and a little thunder and lightening, so much so that John took pity on the compound watchdog, Shay, and invited him into the house.  This morning we saw a most beautiful rainbow through a gentle rain.  It reminded us of His faithfulness to us each day and Lamentations 3:22-23,  “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” 

jdmhaiti.blogspot.com

WHAT'S IN A NEW YEAR?

IT’S NOW FEB 19 - IT’S STILL EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR SO… WHAT’S IN A NEW YEAR?

On Jan 23/11 we heard a sermon about the start of 2011; in chapel the same week Matt Ayars preached about the start of the new year; and so, because I have been planning  for some time now to use verbatim a page right near the beginning of Our Daily Bread 2011 Planner, it must still be okay to talk about the New Year and since the internet is being more dependable too, I’m sure the time has not run out for this message.

“Into the Unknown

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called…And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  Hebrews 11:8 

One of the greatest obstacles we face in following Christ is fear of the unknown.  We yearn to know in advance the outcome of our obedience and where He is taking us, yet we are given only the assurance that He is with us and that He is in charge.  And with that, we venture into the unknown with Him.

Abraham modeled the response of a person who is willing to walk with God into an uncertain future.  “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.  And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

Abraham knew that God had called him and had given him a promise—and that was enough.  He was willing to entrust his future to the Lord.

We may do the same by trusting our Lord for the future and stepping out in faith.  As we stand on the threshold of a new year, may this prayer of faith and anticipation be ours.   

David C. McCasland”

Often we are asked why we are in Haiti and the answer is simply that we stepped out in faith not knowing what was in store for us here but trusting fully in the Lord that He did.

FORGIVENESS, VISIONING & EVANGELIZING

Mission to Haiti – February 13, 2011

We had the opportunity this past Sunday to visit another of the churches here in Saccanville.  We do not normally attend this church, having been there only once last October with the promise to return again.  The pastor, who was, we were told, visiting from Limbe, preached on unity and forgiveness.  He challenged anyone in the congregation to stand if they were not in harmony with another member of the congregation and one lady stood up.  He then challenged her to embrace this member of the congregation in friendship and forgiveness which she then proceeded to do going to the rear of the church where she sat beside and gave a hug to the man she was having difficulty befriending.  We wondered what would have transpired had this occurred in our church at St. Andrew’s. The pastor proceeded to talk about 3 brothers who were each going their own way and how individually they were not as strong as they would be in unity with one another.  He then had one of the elders gather three branches from a nearby tree, showed how easy it was to snap one of the branches in half, but impossible to snap all three branches in half when they were all together.  The pastor was quite animated and spent almost as much time down among the congregation preaching as he spent in the pulpit preaching.  It was one strong sermon and didn’t need a whole lot of translation to understand at what he was driving.

from RCCL
website

I think Tuesday was the first time in a 25 years, that anyone arriving at Labadee/Cap Haitien, the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines port of call, has been able to disembark and travel outside the RCCL compound to visit other sites in northern Haiti.  This cruise tour was organized by the Joy & Hope of Haiti from Hamilton with the intent to have the group travel to various locations where it is working with the Haitian community in the building of schools, etc.  Once they had cleared Haitian immigration they stopped here at the seminary very briefly and we were able to meet friends from Hamilton who were a part of the tour group.

On Monday afternoon and evening and Tuesday afternoon and evening the voodoo drums started.  Our next door neighbour, Stacey, was over on Monday when the drumming started and commented that it must be Noah.  Noah is a voodoo priest who can quote scripture and knows the Bible well but admits that he has to make a living for his family so has chosen to be a voodoo priest in order to do this.  One of our students, Junior, along with 2 other students, ventured into a voodoo bastion on Monday when he went about 10 minutes down a long laneway across from the seminary to evangelize.  He asked if anyone wanted to hear stories about Jesus and the answer was, “No, Satan.”  So he told them about Satan and his downfall from grace!!  They want next to hear about trees because some of the trees around them are considered sacred for voodoo purposes.  He said he would love to tell them about trees and has indicated that he will tell them about the story of creation and perhaps, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will be part of the story.  What an introduction to the Bible when this takes place!  1 Peter 3:15 is a charge from Peter for us to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  The Lord bless you and keep you.

EDUCATION - ST. ANDREW'S GIFT TO THE CHILDREN OF HAITI

Mission to Haiti – February 6, 2011

This past week has been somewhat frustrating as the Internet has been something less than sporadic; it has been almost nonexistent.  This has prevented us from communicating with family and friends, and of course, we were unable to send our weekly “Mission to Haiti” report for last week.  We were hoping the coming week would be better, but so far this has not happened.

We did have the opportunity this past week to visit the schools at Heavenly Light, Faith, and Eben-Ezer.  They are all doing a wonderful job of educating the children in their care and we were pleased to see things that we would not even begin to see in some of our classes at home being taught at the kindergarten level.  As an example, our Goddaughter, Jellie Gabriel, who is five years old and in senior kindergarten, is able to write her full name, not print but write. 

We saw children in kindergarten learning simple mathematics (addition and subtraction) where our oldest granddaughter who is 6 is only now learning this in grade one.  Needless to say, we were impressed and think how fortunate these children are that St. Andrew’s is able to provide the much needed funding to make this all happen because without our support the majority of these children would not be seeing the inside of a classroom.

At Heavenly Light School, Pastor Vilmer Paul introduced me to two young girls who were aged 12 and 10, but looked more like perhaps ten and eight.  These two girls, together with two other siblings, had been abandoned by their parents and now live with one of the families in the congregation.  The pastor was looking for someone who would find it in their heart to help this family financially with the feeding, clothing and sheltering of these four children.  The two girls were just such beautiful children in their school uniforms that it broke our hearts to think what may happen to them if they do not find the resources to help raise these children. 

Two of our visiting professors left this past Saturday so we are now down to only one.  John took them to the airport and stayed with them until they started boarding the airplane taking them back to Fort Lauderdale.  Last year the one professor, who is an old hand in Haiti, was taken to the airport and left there to check in.  Unfortunately, the airplane never arrived but with the help of a Haitian he was able to contact someone at OMS who arranged to have him picked up, returned to the compound, and flight arrangements were made for the following day with another airline.  Having once been bitten we did not want to see a repeat of this again.

And the good news this week is that the Electoral Commission announced that the run-off for the Presidency together with all the other run-off elections for parliamentarians and senators would be held on March 20^th, and that Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat will be the two candidates for the Presidency.  I expected that there would be counter demonstrations by the Jude Celestin supporters because he now is the odd man out in the runoff for the Presidency, but so far this has not been the case. 

We praise the Lord for His continuing goodness to us.  What a pleasure it is to know Him personally and talk to Him anytime day or night. 

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS AND A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

Mission to Haiti – January 30, 2011



Pam having a little fun with the Hubele family



John and Gerry




 This past week has been funny, not in the ha-ha sense, but that  the three visiting professors, John, who is in the final stages of his Masters program at Asbury University, Gerry, who holds a PhD in Engineering and pastored a small rural church for 15 years, and Pam, who is a retired school teacher from the UK who holds a Masters Degree from a Bible College in Vancouver, arrived  We are now doing what we have been planning and preparing for many months.  We are up at 5:30 AM each morning preparing breakfast and are literally falling into our beds after cleaning up the supper dishes and spending a few minutes catching up on the day’s activities.  We leave the professors to prepare their lessons and mark papers and tests for the following day.

This past Sunday we went to Faith Evangelical Church unannounced.  The church was packed to overflowing with a number of the congregation sitting outside.  Some of the children we recognized from prior visits and were quick to grab our hands to say hello following the service.  After the service we received a tour of the school building.  The Joy and Hope of Haiti group from Hamilton provide some funding each time they have a work team in Haiti.  All three kindergarten classes have been outfitted with funding provided by St. Andrew’s and we are told that in total there are 125 students attending up to grade three.  We are hoping to visit the school when students are in attendance although I am sure that many of the children attending church on Sunday were students.

We also heard that the well at the Grison Garde School has now been repaired.  A spoon was found at the bottom of the shaft and it can only be assumed that someone must have dropped it down when they were first drilling the well while the well drillers were otherwise occupied.  But for a spoon the well was dry sounds a bit like the verse “but for a nail the shoe was lost, but….”

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings we were out for dinner.  Tuesday was our turn to share our testimony with a visiting team from Michigan.  Because this same group had been in residence the previous week we took the opportunity to have our 3 visiting professors do the sharing.  In this way we were also able to learn about the life’s experiences of our guests without seeming to pry.  Wednesday was our regular weekly prayer meeting with all the missionaries.  To our surprise we were to find out that another of our missionaries, is leaving the field in mid-February.  She will be missed as she has spent many years here in Haiti and her knowledge of the Haitian people and culture are something that cannot be easily replaced. 

Little has been heard this week regarding “Baby Doc” Duvalier.  While his arrival created quite a stir he has been largely absent from the limelight since he moved from his hotel to a private residence. 

The election picture appears to be clearing somewhat with the announcement that the Unity Party candidate, Jude Celestin, will be withdrawing from the election leaving Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat to participate in a run-off election on March 20^th.  However, the candidate must do the actual withdrawal, and a time of writing, while it had been reported on the CBC that he had withdrawn, there is no indication locally that this has in fact occurred.

We continue to trust in God’s plan for this nation.  We were reminded yet again at prayer on Wednesday, (How many times does God have to do this until we get it?) that He DOES have a plan and we just need to trust Him every single day more and more.