Refreshed and Encouraged

I want to express my appreciation to World Renew team in Burlington, an amazing team of motivated professionals I consider like angels making things happen the right way at the right time. Thanks to all you who helped me understand better what World Renew is about. Special thanks to all the churches that received me and paid attention to what I had to share, to individual donors who received me in their homes, to families who hosted me. May God continue to pour his blessings on you.

I came back to Haiti following this time of deputation, had time to sleep one night at home then left again for the Dominican Republic with the Sous Espwa Team. The most amazing time of reflection ever we had! God knew how tired I was from all my travels, so tired that I did not feel like doing anything besides poetry, it was all my mind and heart wanted. And guess what? The guest speaker was a retired professor of literature! We had the privilege to study the beauty of God’s word through poetry and storytelling. This was such a treat!

A whole day staff meeting was good to get me reconnected with the field reality. Our work is continuing with our partners and the communities we have the privilege to accompany. In Leogane, the rural transformation projects, continuing what were initiated by the International Disaster Relief program of World Renew, are progressing as planned. The association of farmers within the 18 assisted communities gave a warm welcome to the team and eagerly met to discuss their future and the four components of the new project. The team feels very encouraged to work toward the accomplishment of the objectives.

April 2014 – The Building of the Church Lapwofesi:

World Renew’s work through local partners and churches assisting communities continues; every day learning and experiences come as encouragement and a model to share with other grassroots associations and churches as they are growing and facing their challenges.

The church Lapwofesi in Woben lost its roof during the 2012 storm Sandy. They spent time without being able to repair it and were forced to use a plastic cover. The pastor tried once to obtain some assistance from the central office of the mission to which the church is affiliated but to no avail. He was told to do his best to do it. The pastor felt embarrassed and told his congregation during the next worship service how humiliated he felt as his request was rejected by the mission.

Dorvil Valmon and Ebre Lindor, two deacons of this church that have been participating in leadership training, decided to apply what they have learned so far in terms of utilizing the community’s own resources. They took the leadership of a movement that led to the collection of all the financial resources they needed to repair the church and put it even in a better shape than before the storm, without the contribution of the mission.

Although it is very common for churches in Haiti to take up collections like this, Lapwofesi needed to make that step and be a model in its specific locality. MDK (Ministe Devlopman Kretyen, the organization which offered the training) and the church members of this small locality are proud to be offering a model to other localities.

Prayer Requests: