I arrived in Dallas after midnight Friday night. Rena flew in around the same time. I was coming from Haiti to take part in Dallas Seminary’s missions week. Rena came for a long weekend with me and our daughter, Katie, a second-year student at the seminary. I planned to rest a little and enjoy time with Rena, Katie and some long-time friends here.
The Lord had other plans and wow! Our friends, Andrew and Lori Spurgeon, mentioned to us that they had told people at Lake Ridge Bible Church – our home church during our seminary days – that we were coming into town. People there expressed a desire to see us, so we decided to worship with Lake Ridge on Sunday morning. We ran into a good friends from our former home group, DeeAnn Thompson and Diana Marek, and also a member of the church’s mission’s committee. We enjoyed a long lunch with these friends at a good Texas BBQ – gotta love Texas! – and I planned to meet with the missions team leader the next morning (today).
Diana mentioned that our former neighbor was coming into town that evening and would love to see us. This neighbor and friend is Jewish. We had a good connection when we lived here and had opportunities to share gospel truth with her and her husband as we spent time together. So later that evening we met with her and two other friends to catch up on life, listen, love and encourage. We talked until after midnight. Unexpected and sweet gifts from the Lord!
This morning I met with the missions team leader from Lake Ridge. He is interested in our work among church leaders. We plan to talk more later today about specifics. Praise God! We are ready to carry out our full strategy in Haiti – more to come on that – and need our Father’s provision of further funding to do that. The Lord of the Harvest continues to give us unexpected and exciting connections with people and churches interested in this mission to the poor. I am humbled, so grateful, and more emboldened to press ahead in PPI’s vision and strategy to encourage, train and resource church leaders in key cities in all 10 Departments of Haiti. Our God leads us beyond our expectations as we surrender our lives to Him and pursue His purposes in the world!
Will you pray for us this week? Pray for Rena as she flies home to Michigan later today and her ministry among our friends and family. Pray for me as I take part in Dallas Seminary’s missions conference – speaking, presenting and talking with students, professors and other mission leaders. I desire to be a blessing to others and also to further develop the work of Partnership of Pastors. The Lord already is giving us the desire of our hearts – beyond all expectations!
I grew up with grits, you know, the white hominy breakfast food. Called mayi (“corn”) in Creole, these grits were made over a charcoal fire, seasoned with Haitian spices with bits of shrimp thrown in for good measure. Your mama never made grits like this – and they are tasty! Other breakfast foods are spaghetti without sauce but spiced well, ze (eggs) served with lettuce, sliced tomatoes, onions and green peppers. This latter was my go-to to keep my stomach in order. I’ve learned to eat light when I go to Haiti – a little breakfast with coffee and a small lunch of chicken and rice. That keeps me healthy and happy through the days of training!
Gonaives lies on the northwest coast of Haiti about 100 miles from Cuba and is the capital of the Artibonite Department. This city of 300,000 people sits on flat land at sea level, making it vulnerable to hurricanes and their resulting tidal waves. In 2004, Tropical Storm Jean sent a storm surge 10 miles inland that flooded the entire city and killed 3000 people. Church leaders still talk about it. Gonaives also is known as the birthplace of Haitian independence because Haitian slave leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, read Haiti’s declaration of independence from France on January 1, 1804. Haitians celebrate their independence day by eating simple, tasty soup called joumou that commemorates their humble beginnings as a nation.
We finished training 115 pastors in Gonaives a few hours ago.
Pastors who came to this training from other cities pleaded with us to bring PPI training to their cities. We asked them to pray for us and told them that our team will meet tomorrow morning to pray and talk about our next cities. 
I’ll also talk more with our team tomorrow about their part in leading training sessions and, soon enough, entires days of the training. Hebert led a review on day one, and Esau led all of Session 7. Both did well. Esau taught especially well. Pastors respect him, and he interacted with them so well today, encouraging their responses and reinforcing their learning. Mentoring and coaching pastors to lead PPI training, especially Course 1, remains high on my and our Board’s priority list. We made good progress toward that goal on this trip!
The Lord is answering all of our prayers! We began our first day of training this morning with 115 pastors – our absolute maximum – and several on the waiting list. The pastors are eager to learn, and the Lord continues to teach us how to be clearer and more effective in equipping them. At the end of the day, we asked Pastor Christoph, the president of the Gonaives evangelical pastors organization (FRERH), to tell the pastors about the association and to close our first day in prayer. He took more time to share how the Lord had answered their prayers in bringing PPI training to Gonaives. He said, “We are privileged to participate in such a high level of training that also speaks to their hearts.” Praise God!
Ulrick’s church is located in a very poor part of the city of Ouanaminthe. He realized early on that many families were too poor to send their children to school. Parents must pay for their children’s education, even in government schools. But the Lord continued to nudge Pastor Ulrick about the need to help families in their neighborhood. So Ulrick and members of his church established a small elementary school and invited families to enroll their children without cost. This was a big step of faith for them because they have very little money themselves. But they believed the Lord wanted them to take this step and trust Him. 
Two nights ago Pastor Michel (sitting just behind me in the plane to Gonaives) told us how the Lord saved him. Like many Haitians, he began life in the Catholic Church. He excelled at his catechism and service in the church, and in his early twenties, even filled in for the priest in giving the message. Michel had a born-again friend that he argued with about Christianity, but the Holy Spirit began to stir his heart. He decided one day to visit his friend’s church for one service. He sat in the back row.
