We are finally “Ansanm anko”! It has been wonderful to be “together again” in Haiti after multiple canceled trips or having to travel separately due to many factors the past year. Elisabeth and I have big smiles on our faces as we travel down our road to our Haiti life and ministry. All you see and read is accomplished because we have a God who loves and cares and God’s people love, care and invest in people around the world. It is a blessing and a privilege to partner with you in Haiti and around the world.
Reunion Ayiti!
My prayer for this Haiti trip has been that my coming will be an encouragement to our Haitian ministry partners and the few expats and missionary friends still here who are unable to leave. Yet it is I who have been encouraged. Haitian ministry partners who have lived with our family in Haiti, that God gave us the privilege to mentor from young adulthood are now mature leaders ministering in their communities, “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord their labor is not in vain.” There is much fruit in the ministry because of the way they lead by example and love their neighbors. Our oldest daughter Elita and I have been visiting several Haitian families in our Kofael and school programs and checking on the progress of sponsored children at their various schools. We feel very safe in the area where we are currently but appreciate prayers for traveling mercies and protection as we travel the dangerous road back to and from Port au Prince. Armed gangs are still attempting to run the country of Haiti using fear tactics, violence, kidnappings, and road closures since the lack of government with the President’s assassination last year. We are taking every precaution and trusting our sovereign God as we continue to love and serve the people of Haiti.
As I look around, I see a lot of new construction even though gas stations and grocery stores have very little on the shelves.Life goes on and families build homes. Haitians first build a strong wall around their property before building the house. I see many new walls going up all over.I think of Psalm 48:13-14 and pray this over Haiti. “Take note of the fortified walls and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die. “
Thank you to everyone who has supported and prayed for us and for our dear Haiti. We are not permitted to give our travel details ahead of time and due to the shifting security situation, we have to be very flexible with plans. Therefore, updates will often happen after the fact. Please know that although there is sometimes a lack of public communication, we are still working and privately communicating with supporting churches, donors and sponsors. We love you and the privilege to pray for you too!
By Grace Alone,
Elisabeth
God With Us as 2021 comes to an end…
Rejoicing with our friends around the world as we celebrate our Savior’s birth and the start of a new year to serve Him! Jesus came down to earth during a difficult time of government mandates and political turmoil. He had to flee his birth country at a young age due to threats on his life. Families were separated. Life as Joseph and Mary once knew it had been turned upside down. God led a desperate family to a lowly stable where the Son was born to save a desperate world. That first Christmas feels closer to us than ever before. Christmas is not about whether there are gifts under the tree or if family is with us. Christmas is about the Gift of God with Us in the midst of difficult circumstances. This is our Hope and Joy!
And Let Us Not Grow Weary…
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! We trust He is keeping you in perfect peace as your minds are fixed on our Everlasting Rock during this time of shifting sands in this fallen world.
Our hearts hurt for the state of our world. Our adopted country Haiti is constantly in our hearts, prayers, and efforts. Haiti is hurting in every way. When we think things could not possibly get worse, they do. The COVID pandemic has only been a small factor making travel and our work in Haiti more difficult. While we are not currently able to be on the ground in Haiti full time, we are thankful for the six trips our Lord has graciously granted us to make safely in the past year even with the pandemic and a Level 4 “Do not travel” warnings to Haiti regularly sent to our inbox.
And Then…It’s December 1st!
The end of 2020 is both slowly and swiftly drawing near. When I think about this year, I realize it echoes the way I felt about our first year in Haiti. A collision of strange new experiences, new perspectives on the way we see the world, heartbreakingly sad and hard to stomach moments that turn into months, and yet somehow the sweetest of memories have been made in the midst of it all. Here we are at the beginning of the last month of the year and the masks don’t seem to be coming off anytime soon. I remember when the manifestations started in Haiti a few years ago. Not the typical pop up strikes, riots and natural disasters that Haiti–and eventually we—have become accustomed to. This was different. This wasn’t going away. It changed the way we operated on nearly a daily basis. It changed relationships. It changed the way we saw Haiti. At first, we thought the instability and unrest would last a few weeks at most. Surely, that’s all we could imagine most people could survive on their own, cut off from resources and relationships. And then, another year passed. And another—2020. It seems the rest of the world now echoes many of the same thoughts and feelings we have experienced the past few years.
“…And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.”― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
How wonderful to love and serve the God Who rules this broken world and our lives! To sit with the paradox, to trust that all the things we didn’t see coming and couldn’t imagine are not actually spinning out of control. To hold loosely all that is not eternal. Like our dear friend Eleanor who served in Haiti for over seventy years and recently met Jesus always used to say, “Oh how thankful we are that we don’t hold You but that You hold us!” He holds us still. Looking back, we see how He has prepared us, protected us, loved us, restored us in hope, held us through and through. God is holding little Haiti and the rest of the weary world too. It’s going to be okay.
We are so thankful for all God is doing through this pandemic year both in our hearts and the Kingdom work around the world. We are so thankful for our friends, family, and churches who have continued to support the work of the ministry even during tough times and frugal finances. We are blessed to be able to continue ministering in Haiti and continuing to develop and pursue how to get the gospel to those globally who still have never heard about God with Us.
Although Haiti closed its borders for most of the summer, we have been able to make multiple trips since then. Our daughter Esmée and I made a trip together in August, Eric and my brother Jonathan in October, and Eric and I made a recent trip together in November. The ministries in Haiti continue even when we are not able to be there physically and are going well under the leadership of our Haitian partners whom we communicate with almost daily. This month we won’t be going to Haiti but are looking forward to hosting our Haitian ministry partners for three weeks over the holidays at our Texas home! We are excited to spend time with them in prayer and planning for the new year ahead!
Thank you for praying for our family. We are all still adjusting to new normal but feel like we are finally coming up for air. Except for Eric who is honestly working way too many side-hustle jobs at the moment in between trips to Haiti. I am very thankful for his willingness to work so hard to support his family (we really needed better insurance for our kid’s medical needs along with the finances it takes to live in two places) and praying he can get more rest soon.
The fluctuating currency exchange rate in Haiti has made everything there much more expensive the past few months making life even more difficult for our Haitian friends and ministries we serve. Our KOFAEL women’s ministry has struggled to continue to pay health insurance and help as many families as possible in the crippling economy, school sponsorships for the most vulnerable children have been raised but are not covering all they used to, rents are due and rising. And when all these things seem overwhelming, we are often presented with new ministry opportunities that tug on our hearts and just need a little financial help to reach many. We would love to share more about the ministries God has blessed us with the burden to serve. Please always feel free to contact us and ask if you have any questions and would like to get involved!
Today marks the first day of the last month of 2020. This December 1st just happens to be designated Giving Tuesday AND is also my birthday! I would love to be able to finish out the year in hope that we can continue to serve well in the year to come. Here are some of the things on my personal prayer/wish list.
-We really want to make this Christmas special for the Haitian family of four coming from Haiti to celebrate our Savior’s birth with us. We still need $1,000 to cover their trip costs.
-We are currently in the process of trying to secure a new rental building that will serve as a tutoring and Good News Club center for school sponsored kids as well as a regular meeting place for our KOFAEL ladies. The cost for the yearly rent and furnishing/supply items we will need to purchase is $2,000.
-We assist in providing health insurance for the KOFAEL ladies along with the Haitian directors and families and two other rental properties that hold families together and host ministries which are all coming due in January. We need around $4,000 to cover these things.
-And lastly, one other wish is to provide the gift of a special, traditional New Year’s day meal for all those we love and have the privilege to serve in Haiti. Haitian’s always serve Soup Joumou which is their “freedom soup” on January 1st. I would love to be able to give this gift as a reminder and testimony of the freedom we have in Christ that nothing in this broken world can take away!
If you would like to help with any of the year end gifts listed above, there are tax deductible options to donate at: kofael.org
If you would like to help us personally continue to be able to travel and work in Haiti and around the world, there are tax deductible options to donate at: reamteaminternational.org/donate
I also have a limited amount of Haitian hand made metal art Christmas items to sell to help raise money for the needs and wishes listed above. Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing beautiful gifts from Haiti that give back this year!
Grateful for the greatest gift of God With Us! Looking forward with hope to the next “And then…”,
Elisabeth