Greetings from Tricotte, Haiti! We arrived here this afternoon (Saturday, January 26, 2013). Daniel and I picked up a team from North County Christ the King Church at the Port au Prince airport at 9:15 and we drove directly to Tricotte. Those of you who have been on a team with us in the past will be pleased to hear that the first two-thirds of the trip is all paved road now. Only the last 25 miles or so is dirt, ruts, and pot holes and slows us down considerably.
The team of five men is building and installing the trusses for the roof on our new guesthouse in Tricotte. Soon they will also install the purlins and then the metal roofing. And they should have time to do some electrical work inside the guesthouse before we need to return to Port-au-Prince later this week.
Across the river from Tricotte is a village called Moineville that is virtually unreached with the gospel. We have always heard that this village is heavily into voodoo and a dangerous life style. Director Daniel began encouraging us several months ago that we should begin reaching out to the people of Moineville. So we began to pray while looking for opportunities to share with them. When we have needed laborers and masons for the clinic construction we hired some from Moineville. They were amazed as no one had considered this before and we are starting to see a softening of some of the people.
Last week Daniel had a visit from a young mother of three from Moineville. She came sharing her need for food for her children – it was mid-afternoon and they hadn’t had anything to eat all day. Daniel shared Jesus with her, and she was interested. She said her husband had also shown interest recently in spiritual things and asked if she could call him to come. She returned to the Starfish office an hour later. Daniel again shared the gospel, and both expressed that they were ready to receive Christ. But just before they prayed the husband said, “Not yet! I want our children to be here for this.”
It was already late in the evening, so Daniel suggested they meet at their house in Moineville the next morning. Daniel took Pastor Esau and our orphanage director,
Apollos, with him and they met the couple. They were ready to repent of their sins and receive Jesus. In their little house in Moineville they sang, prayed, and shared scriptures. And the neighbors were listening!
We are excited! The young mom came looking for physical food, and she received that. More importantly she also received the Bread of Life, the Savior, along with her family. Apollos is starting a weekly Bible study with them. As Daniel, Esau, and Apollos left the house that day, some neighbors asked what had been going on inside. Apollos invited them to the Bible study, too, and at least one said she would be there.
A new work has begun in Moineville. We believe God is working in many of the one thousand or so villagers and that this will be the beginning of a great harvest of souls.
Thank you for your faithful support and your partnership in this ministry. Please pray with us for this village. We recognize that there will be a lot of opposition. The enemy will not be happy. Satan has had control in Moineville, and he will not easily give it up. But we trust our All-Powerful God to break down all the strongholds of Satan and set the captives free.
Serving the Lord together,
Bernie, Sheryl, and Philip Bovenkamp
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