FIRST DAY IN HAITI

After the usual delays (I love airports!), we arrived in Port-au-Prince yesterday afternoon and were met by Reginald Celestin, our host. It was a delight to see each other face-to-face; much better than the emails and phone calls of the past 8 months. 

As I write this, Christina and Reg are heading to the airport to pick up the first of the team. Most of the rest come in later this afternoon; they are coming from the UK, US, Australia and Canada. We have a team of 21.

I am always so thankful for the quality of people that the Lord connects Impact Nations with. (Oops. Finished that sentence with a preposition.) Reg is a terrific young leader. Like Vijay in India, Reg is dedicated to raising up men and women as dedicated, trained disciples of Jesus. The quality of what he is doing is already apparent, and we haven't even officially started the Journey yet.

Yesterday, Reg shared with me the history of Bouvier, the village that is 8 hours away up in the mountains. He and a few of us from the team will be going up there at the end of the Journey. Reg has been going to Bouvier since 1997, when he was just 18. His passion is to see this community of about 1,000 completely transformed by the Gospel of the Kingdom. Impact helped him to bet school desks built and school books & supplies purchased for the 80 children attending the school that he started. The number has grown to 96 kids. He told me that some children are walking four hours each way. Reg saw the primary problems with Bouvier (no education, no water source, no road to take crops to market, a Voodoo culture, children living in dire poverty) and began a plan for changing lives. First, he started the Christian school. (The teachers work for free, out of their passion for the vision of discipling the next generation.) Then, besides academic subjects, he included practical skills into the curriculum. In the fall, he rewarded the hardest working students with a goat or a chicken. As part of their studies they care for their animal, record data daily (amount of food eaten, eggs laid etc.), and when the goats give birth, the baby goats go to other children in the school. The school's theme is: "Be Blessed in Order to Be a Blessing" So the children are blessing others.

We talked about his dreams for getting clean, safe water to the village. Currently, the people walk 2 hours each way to get water. They either walk up a very steep mountain, or walk to the river which has very high and steep banks, making it dangerous to get water from the river.

Reg is also talking about increasing crop productivity and creating a market co-op in Bouvier so that the people won't have to carry their produce 8 hours to market in Carrefour.

He is also interested in starting a bakery which will be run by the older children in the school. This will teach them a life skill and provide income.

I can hardly wait to get to Bouvier and see it for myself. 

It seems that the Lord is moving us increasingly into the transformation of specific villages. The result of this approach in Bulera, Uganda with Hannington and his children has been excellent. We are beginning a similar approach with Carlos Myorga in Limonel, Nicaragua. This is also one of the initiatives we are working on with VIjay in India.

Reg's church is made up almost completely of folks who have come to Christ in the past year, since the earthquake. Their commitment to Christ and His Kingdom are inspiring. They are up at 4 a.m. daily, praying for Haiti, for Impact Nations, for the Journey of Compassion. Last week, they held an outdoor crusade on the street in front of where they meet in Carrefour–46 new believers are now taking new believers classes twice a week. An 80+ year old woman who had not walked in 3 years was carried to the meeting by her family. God completely healed her; she was actually running and jumping across the front. God is on the move in Haiti. Could there be a correlation between the fervency of prayer and the spectacular way in which the Lord is moving?

A prayer request: the two large tents that we shipped to Haiti a couple of weeks ago are stuck in Haitian customs, These are vital to our medical clinics and will then be used by Reg for his steadily growing church. Please pray that they will be released by Tuesday. Clinics begin Wednesday.

Stay tuned.

Steve