Dear Friends,
Renaud is a young man who grew up in the village of Tricotte. It had been his dream to become a dentist. A number of years ago a couple of our mission trip members met him, heard his story and agreed to support him in his endeavor. Two years ago Renaud graduated with his degree in Dentistry. One of his first desires was to be able to “give back” for the help he had received. So this past September Renaud went back to Tricotte to check the teeth of all of our orphanage children. His only charge was for the medicines he used. He set up his portable dentistry office in a small room and called the children in one by one. He talked to them about dental hygiene as he took care of their needs. One of our older girls in the orphanage, Lucienne, who wants to become a nurse, assisted Renaud and got on the job training.
One day I observed Renaud at work. I saw that he was not only concerned about his patient’s dental needs but also their spiritual needs. I asked him about this and his immediate response was “My first responsibility as a follower of Jesus is to share Him with my patients. God has given me the opportunity to have the profession of dentistry and I will use that as a means to share His love with each one who comes.”
We share this story because many of our “orphanage children” are now moving out of the orphanage to find their life’s work. From the beginning of our ministry it has been our vision to see these children complete their education and go back to their home villages or wherever God leads them to make a difference for His Kingdom as they share Christ with other spiritually needy Haitians. Currently four of our children are in the university in PAP and several more have moved to PAP to complete high school. Two of our boys are in their second year of on the job training in a mechanic shop. All of these young people will be completing their education in the next few years and will be ready to be sent out to be the Renaud’s of Haiti. We rejoice to see God’s leading in the lives of these “orphaned children”!
Serving the Lord together,
Bernie & Sheryl Bovenkamp
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