I was excited and a little anxious as our plane circled the grass airfield in Pignon, Haiti. Excited that we would offer ministry training to church leaders in central Haiti for the first time, and a little anxious because I wondered how MFI’s twin-engine DC-3 could land on such a short, grass runway. “They do this all the time,” I thought. Sure enough, the plane touched down smoothly, turned toward a waiting crowd of Haitians and rolled to a stop.
We exited the plane, helped unload our 900 lbs of Bibles and training materials, then scanned the crowd. Which one is Pastor François, our host pastor, and where’s the van we reserved? Both Isaiah and Jasmin, key members of our Haitian ministry team, were on their phones. They have it under control. Within minutes, an older, distinguished looking man and two younger men walked toward us smiling. The two younger men looked familiar to me. Where had I seen them before?
The older man introduced himself as François Romelus and welcomed us warmly. We introduced ourselves, thanked Pastor François for helping us introduce PPI training in central Haiti and asked about his family (common courtesy in Haiti). Then we talked logistics. We would leave Bibles and training materials for our Pignon training in locked storage at the airfield and would take the rest with us to Hinche. An 1-1/2 hours drive from Pignon, the city of Hinche is the chief (capital) city of the Centre Department, and we planned to train there first.
The two younger men stood by patiently. We had met but hardly spoken to them. As we organized our materials and luggage, they talked more to me. I was sweating. “It feels hotter than usual for December,” I thought. They told me they were pastors in Hinche. “Do you remember us?” they asked me. I told them I remembered their faces and asked if they had taken a PPI course in the past. They had attended PPI training a few years before in northern Haiti. They had another question for me: “Do you remember that we asked you to come to Hinche to train many pastors in our city?”
A lot of pastors who take part in our training ask us to come to their city or villages to train others. We can’t possibly go everywhere, and the Lord has blessed our strategy of offering training in the chief city of each Department and a strategic city within a two-hour drive of the chief city. When church leaders from a chief city invites us to come, we ask them to pray for us and tell them we intend to come to their city. We then take a picture with them and get their name and phone number. We must have responded that way to these brothers because they said, “We have been praying for you to come to Hinche for three years. Now the Lord has answered our prayers, and we wanted to welcome you!”
I stopped in my tracks and wiped the sweat from my face. I was reminded again that our God works through the faithful, fervent prayers of His children. “Thank you for praying for us so faithfully,” I told them. “The Lord is answering your prayers.” And He certainly did! Course 1 in Hinche overflowed with church leaders, eager to learn and grateful for the training. During our recognition time on the last day, pastors expressed how much they needed and appreciated PPI training and the Thompson Bibles. They gave our team a certificate of appreciation (pictured) and asked when we could return to offer our other courses. We plan to return to Hinche and Pignon in late April.
Christie Gabhart, a long-time missionary in Pignon, sent me a note in late January. She said:
I have heard feedback from pastors from Many Hands [her mission organization] who attended your December training. It was a huge blessing. The training, the gift of a beautiful Bible at the end. All are ‘pumped’ to take the level 2 training. And we want to take advantage of the May 1-3 level 1 training . . . .
The Lord’s work in response to the prayers of two young Haitian pastors – and all of you. Thank you!
In October, we introduced Spread the Word 2024 and challenged all of you to help us fund the purchase of 2,024 Creole Bibles by the end of the year. Friends of PPI put up $20,000 to match dollar for dollar all donations given in November and December. 
Don Carson said, “At their best, Christians have saturated themselves in the Bible. They say with Job, ‘I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 21:12).” But it’s a growing challenge to make Bible reading, learning and living a priority in our lives. Not only do we battle the usual obstacles of laziness, lack of self-discipline and pride, but now more than ever our pace of life and constant connection to media pull us away for what’s most important. The Lord Jesus told us (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3), “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Speaking of Bibles, we will have specifics shortly after we close the books on 2024, but I can tell you that 
Next, we received a warm welcome in central Haiti and were able to train 225 church leaders last week!
Also, Dr. Tom Taugher’s presence on this trip afforded a special blessing.
Finally, we get to celebrate Christmas with our families and encourage one another in Christ.
To be effective in our work, we all need time to “sharpen the saw.”
