Haiti Transformed

An Ongoing Testimony of Healing

haiti — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:38:08 +0000

A little girl named Daphnee, a student in our partner organization Mission E4’s school, was tragically hit by a car over a month ago. She was in a coma from a head injury and she severely fractured her right leg. We, along with our Haitian friends, visited her at the hospital most days following this and have been praying for her. Though she couldn’t open her eyes or speak, we prayed that God was meeting with her spirit and healing her body during that time. We are thankful for all your prayers as well. We are excited to report that she has had surgery to repair her leg, she is responsive, opening her eyes, eating on her own, and forming sentences. Though she is still in the hospital, we are encouraged by her progress and believing for complete healing and restoration and that her life would be a testimony to many of the love and power of Jesus.

Today, Mis Marise, a nurse in the school clinic, spoke with Daphnee’s mother on the phone. Her mother decided that she wanted to accept Jesus after seeing all He has done for her daughter. She said she understands what it means to follow Jesus and prayed over the phone to receive Him into her life. She plans to share with her husband what God has done. Praise God for all He is doing in this time!

Daphnee before her accident

Praying for Transformation

haiti — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:52:37 +0000

Thirty Haitian Leaders, Volunteers and Pastors gathered together this morning in a small “temporary” church/school to learn, worship and pray. After many bumps along the way (Haiti can be full of bumps both in the physical and spiritual), we were finally there. The Lord still moves mountains to see His purposes come to pass!

It was a joy to watch the free-spirited way these grown men and women entertain themselves with spontaneously silly songs while waiting for others to arrive. There is a beautiful light and child-likeness about them, even in the face of great difficulty and spiritual darkness (watch here! ). The beauty and light within them grew even brighter as we began to worship and pray. The presence of God filled the place as we asked for His Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven, specifically in the 10 communities we are working in throughout Leogane Commune.

We shared vision for God’s heart for holistic transformation through the local church, and specifically for the Community Health Initiative (iCHI) these volunteer trainers are spear-heading in each of the communities. All in all, it was a beautiful time together and best of all it was brilliantly led by a few of our Haitian Volunteer Trainers! As we drove away that day, my heart smiled, encouraged that God really is giving us key faithful men and women to partner with!!

Logistics & Capacity Building

haiti — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:15:05 +0000

Logistics in Haiti can be a crazy and mountainous task to overcome. Over the last two years one of our Haitian staff members who we’ll call Stephen has grown tremendously not only in his walk with the Lord, but also in his capacities to oversee and help facilitate many of the logistical challenges that arise in Haiti. As our American logistics coordinator was out of country for 2 weeks in February Stephen was given the opportunity to rise to the occasion. A man who 3-4 weeks ago had a very difficult time completing basic math skills, facilitated and coordinated all the comings & goings, vehicle repairs, and facilities maintenance that go into a week for Haiti Transformed. When our logistics coordinator returned from the states, she told Stephen, “you took my job from me,” to which he simply responded, “yes I did.” Stephen’s life dramatically changed after the quake in 2010, and today he is growing not only in his love for God but also in his professional skills and capacities.

God’s Creative Weaving of Lives for His Purposes

haiti — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:30:44 +0000

When we held our first Integrated Community Health Initiative (iCHI) vision seminar for Leogane’s Pastors and local leaders last November, Raphael was our driver for the day. Since he was going to be there all day anyway, we invited him to join us for the seminar. He LOVED it! He kept saying over and over again,”Sa se yon bel bagay!” - which means “This is a beautiful thing!” He voluntarily attended our follow-up meetings and proudly chose a man named Joel from his neighborhood to become a Trainer.

Joel has turned out to be a surprising gift. He shows incredible leadership potential and a deep love for God. He quickly understands and applies Christ-Centered Development and the holistic health model. His Training Team have chosen to work in a community that is very much in need, but is quite far from where they live. This means a greater sacrifice of time, money and energy to travel many times a week to visit this community, but Joel and others remain convinced that this is the community they are supposed to work in. I love the creativity of God in weaving together hearts and lives for His Kingdom’s purposes. Who could have guessed that God would use our driver for the day to bring us such a key player? We are praying for God to supernaturally align us with Haitians that He has prepared in advance to take ownership of this initiative and run with it long after we are gone. We look forward to seeing all that God does through Joel’s life and the many others like him for the restoration and transformation of their own nation.

2nd Generation Disciple

haiti — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:47:22 +0000

Christella was one of our first friends after moving to Haiti, and she is now the first person in our training program to have a 2^nd Generation Disciple!

Christella has faithfully walked with us since last summer, beginning with our 6-week Discipleship Training Program, and has seen multiple people give their lives to Jesus. Now, she has begun her first discipleship relationship with a young lady named Remoz! (In the simple and highly reproducible model we are teaching.) She led her disciple to Jesus during one of our organized evangelistic outreaches.

“Proper Clothing” is very important in Haitian church culture. It is so important to them that Christians will not go to church if they don’t have the right clothes. In spite of this negative aspect in Haitian church culture, Jesus and His Church cannot be stopped. With the help of the other Haitians in Christella’s discipleship group, Christella was able to collect enough money to help Remoz buy church clothes!

With consistent follow-up from Christella, our new friend Remoz is now regularly going to church and being discipled.

Christella

Lord, Give Us More Like Her!

haiti — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:19:01 +0000

Miss Marise is one of 2 nurses that run a clinic for a partner organization, Mission E4. Several months ago I had the opportunity to teach her how to suture using fruit. Since then I have gone through several small teachings with her on diagnosing and treating common illnesses that are seen in Haiti. This week, she excitedly told me that she did a suture training with the new nurse in the clinic and has made her copies of all the lessons we have gone through together. They are now actively caring for and treating people with simple wounds that need suturing. Miss Marise is a woman who deeply loves Jesus and freely gives away what she learns. We are praying that God would lead us to many more like her! ~ Kate, PA-C

Our Community Health Initiative is Off to A Great Start

haiti — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 02:37:05 +0000

Thirty volunteers from over ten different communities in Leogane came together week of inspiration and training. Each one came with great energy and expectancy, full of hope and ready to proactively engage the issues they see all around them; excited to learn how to positively impact their communities both spiritually and physically. We were honored to host three very skilled and well-seasoned Master Trainers from Medical Ambassadors International in the north of Haiti, graciously facilitated the training. The volunteers, chosen by their pastor, have already shown great initiative, character, and leadership potential, and have committed to sacrifice time and energy to mobilize and inspire communities to join God in becoming agents of their own transformation. It was so much fun to watch as the volunteers got so into whatever was going on, whether it was a lively discussion, a prayer time, a dramatic skit, or a fun dancing game, they did it all with their whole heart. Throughout the week we found ourselves looking at each other, smiling and shaking our heads in wonder at what the Lord is doing. We are so encouraged and humbled by this incredible group of people He has given us, and can’t wait to see the breakthroughs, progress, and transformation that awaits each of their communities . We look forward to coming along side and encouraging them in the coming months as they bloom and blossom into all the Lord has created them to be. It is such a privilege to be here and to get to partner with people who love God and are hungry to make a real difference in their communities and ultimately their nation!

Welcoming Future Catalysts of Transformation

haiti — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:43:28 +0000

The church/school building filled with anticipation as volunteers filled the benches chatting excitedly. Pastors and community leaders came together last Saturday with the key people they had chosen to attend our upcoming iCHI Training for Trainers (TOT) in a couple weeks. In addition to giving a warm welcome to the soon-to-be trainers, we also spent time imparting the big vision for the Integrated Community Health Initiative, as well as our calling as followers of Christ to be Ministers of Reconciliation in all spheres of society to our communities and ultimately the Nations. A highpoint of the meeting was when the volunteers and leaders all stood together declaring in one voice that the gift of God for their nation’s transformation is within them! We emphasized the importance of this very strategic role they are assuming in the continuing story of God in Haiti to bring about healing and restoration to hearts, bodies, relationships and systems by the power of the Gospel. All in all there are over 30 very eager volunteers who have committed to dedicate a full week to the initial training, as well as spend at least 10 hours a week serving their communities imparting vision, raising awareness, training leaders, and helping to mobilize a grass-roots movement toward physical, social and spiritual wholeness. Please pray that during the training from Dec 12-16, excitement and expectation will continue to grow and that deep revelation will take root in many hearts of God’s plan for holistic change as well as His calling for them to be agents of transformation to own their Nation.

Celebrating the Healing of Hearts and Minds

haiti — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:29:24 +0000

There was a beautiful celebration in the village of Lafferonnay today! Over 50 people gathered to celebrate with cake and soda the completion of the Psycho-Social Program that has met weekly for the past 3 months. Many people stood up and shared stories of healing, solidarity and reconciliation between neighbors that has resulted from the work of God in their lives through this weekly meeting, which has focused on healing from trauma as well as how to continue to live healthy mental/emotional lives in the future. Members of the community also encouraged others to share what they had learned from the program with family and friends who may still be in need of healing. A few community members performed a couple skits from the program with great drama and enthusiasm! At the end of the celebration, a member of our team shared how we as individuals and as an organization have also grown through this program; gaining knowledge, healing and hope for the future of Haiti. We finished by encouraging them again with the plan of God for their lives, for reconciliation and wholeness through Christ, and that we believe that the key to the transformation of their community lives in them.

Gaining Momentum for the Integrated Community Health Initiative (iCHI)

haiti — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:29:47 +0000

God is creating sparks in hearts and minds in Leogane with the vision for whole, healed, thriving communities. He is inspiring people and motivating Haitian leaders to be catalysts for the change needed in their own communities.

Our hearts were so encouraged to see more than 35 pastors and community leaders come together again for a few hours last Saturday morning to discuss and dream about the upcoming Integrated Community Health Initiative. We talked about integrating the physical and spiritual and God’s heart revealed in scripture for ministry and healing that address every area of life. They worked together to describe the type of person we need to be praying for and inviting to come to the training in December. The kind of person would really own this dream and run with it! All the groups presented some incredible answers. It seems that the desire to mobilize community members to be the main players in the development process (rather than an NGO) for truly sustainable holistic transformation is not simply something that they learned from us, but a value they carry deeply in their hearts and long to see made a reality.

Please continue to pray for God to raise up strong, passionate, loving, humble, servant-leaders to attend the training in mid-December, and to carry this Initiative forward, seeing communities begin to be transformed physically, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally by the power of the Holy Spirit and His work through men and women of peace throughout the city of Leogane.