Dear Friends,
I’m sitting in my hotel room in Haiti waiting for a pastors’ conference to begin. Over 80 Haitian pastors have arrived and are eager to be fed from God’s Word and fellowship with one another. It is a welcome retreat from their normal duties. These pastors seldom have the opportunity to learn from others. We trust that they will leave here refreshed and ready to serve the churches God has called them to serve.
Pastor Diogene excitedly shared with me about a recent evangelistic crusade. This past December he and his team had a very successful initial crusade in the village of Remoussen. A church was planted in this village where we had started a school just two years ago. So in July they did a six day follow up crusade. During this time they gave opportunity for those who had trusted in the Savior in December to come forward and share their testimonies.
One man shared how he had been trying for 17 years, to build a small two room house for his family. He could never finish it because he never had enough money. He was a farmer, growing vegetables and raising goats and chickens. He would sell these at the market but whenever he had a little money he would be forced to give it to the witchdoctor in order to keep the curses away. He thought he was protecting himself and his family from sickness and death if he would only continue to do whatever the witchdoctor demanded.
He stood up and shared before hundreds of his neighbors and friends that he had received Jesus Christ in December, and that he had now finished building his house. Giving most of what he had to the enemy was over. Now he gave God all the glory and praise for delivering him from the grip of Satan. He praised God for choosing him to be one of His children. He then invited those that were there who hadn’t trusted Christ to come forward and turn their lives over to Jesus. Later, in July, he and the mother of his children were one of four new Christian couples who were married in Remoussen.
A seventeen year old gal stood up and shared her testimony as well. She had been very sick in December. The local witchdoctor told her there was nothing that could be done and she would die. She had been a very good student in school and there were those, jealous of her success, who put a voodoo curse on her. She was at the point that she could barely walk but when she heard about the crusade and heard the music playing, she gathered up enough strength to make it to the meeting. That night she met Jesus and committed her life to Him. God not only healed her spiritual soul but also healed her physical sickness. What a miracle of His grace and mercy!!
This gal now shares with everyone she sees. She went back to school and many of her classmates have also trusted in Jesus. She has also started a youth group ministry in Remoussen. As God teaches this young gal, she in turn teaches the teenagers of that previously dark village.
As the people of the village listened and heard these and other testimonies the response from Christians and non-Christians was the same. “Only God can do what we’ve heard today. He is real!”
We are so thankful for Pastor Diogene and his faithful ministry team. God is truly using them to be His harvesters in a ripe field of ministry. Please continue to pray for them as they continue to go out and share the good news to more unreached villages.
Thank you so much for your part in helping to make this possible. God is using you through your prayers and gifts to make a difference in Haiti.
Serving the Lord together,
Bernie & Sheryl Bovenkamp
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