Fare-well

Just one year ago, we were saying fare-well to our church family in Cambridge, Ontario.  Now again, we are in a season of fare-well as we prepare to depart Haiti this coming Friday June 5th.  It is a time full of details - packing, planning, finishing my work - and a time full of recognizing all that God has done through us and in us this year.

Of course, the fare-well season began six weeks ago, when Meghan and Kristin returned to Ontario, followed a week later by Erin.  In many ways, with their departure, a part of us has already been in Ontario for some time.  Meghan, Kristin, and Erin were a HUGE part of our family being in Haiti, in many ways setting a pace for involvement in ministry that was both humbling and inspiring.  At the end of Meghan's time at Maison de Lumiere, the French Christian School she taught at, she was showered with thanks, praise and affection for all she had done and simply for who she is and the love she expressed to the people she was called to serve.  Around the same time, one of the places Erin served, Adoration Christian School, went out of their way in a time of celebration to express their words of blessing to her for the tireless love-filled work she did in creating and teaching an art curriculum to the students this year.  In those all school parties, our daughters received a small taste of how much they were appreciated, a sort of pre-echo of God's words to come, "Well done, good and faithful servant; come and share in your master's happiness."

In that same vein, Carol and the boys and I were richly blessed by my colleagues at Sous Espwa this past Thursday, the same day as our 27th Wedding Anniversary, when they threw a party to express their appreciation in words.  It was a holy Haitian event.  It was wonderfully Haitian in that there was song, food, decorations, and lots of heart-felt speeches. It was beautifully holy as many of my colleagues and ministry partners shared words that I will treasure for some time.  Thanks goes to all of these dear friends for their expression of blessing to us, but especially to Daphnee Pierre and Fevrier Jean Cherubin for the sheer volume of work and care they put into planning the event.  Here are some pictures to help you share in the event:

Pastor Jacky Chery, the Director of Perspectives Reformee, (Back to God Ministrie) the radio and print ministry which broadcasts across the island and follows up with impacting bible studies and discipleship.  Pastor Jacky works tirelessly, with too few resources.  I'd love to find a way to find funding for him to have the Libronix Bible Software and Word Biblical Commentaries program (which I have had for years) to help him in preparing thoughtful, biblical, impacting messages for his ministry.  

Our Office Manager and finance guru, Massillon Coicou, works hard to coordinate donations and payments.  Every morning when I come in, he is already in his office, usually with praise music going.  It has been inspiring to watch him involve different people he has been discipling by having them volunteer in some way for the work of Sous Espwa.  I have regularly appreciated Massillon's unique insights during our Tuesday morning times of devotion.  Pray for him as he regularly stands in the gap between North American culture as he oversees the Haitian support staff of the office.  In Massillon's speech, he said that it is not until we are about to say "good-bye" that we realize how special and important someone is to us.  This is exactly how I feel about all the Sous Espwa staff.

Gregory Paultre was hired after I got to Haiti.  He is a Haitian-born and American-educated (Liberty University) young man from a fairly prominent evangelical family in Haiti.  He serves as our Bridger - working between World Renew and World Missions, but even more, working between the Haitian and North American cultures.  His role is most active when we have teams here in country and so this past January to March when we had teams nearly every week, he was a very busy person.  Gregory has taught me a lot about the moral struggles of young people  in Haiti.  I look forward to seeing how God shapes and uses this young man for his glory and for the benefit of the Sous Espwa staff.

This is how much food is still in the serving pans after everyone has had a full helping.  There was salad, coke and 7UP, french fries, chicken, goat, and a Haitian "cole slaw" called "piklees" that is very spicy.  In a country where food scarcity is a real concern for many, making sure that there is enough food for everyone is an important part of hospitality.  Daphnee and Fevrier who planned this party wonderfully went "over the top" with their hospitality, and I really appreciated the gesture. 

This man's name is Pastor Herode Guillometre.  Yes, Herode.  He is the Director of one of Sous Espwa's ministry partners - SKDE - who run the seminary program I have spent a fair bit of energy teaching in.  Herode is a bright man, articulate in three languages, and he is a committed visionary leader who loves the Lord and the church.  He oversees SKDE and all of its programs.  He has been a great encourager to me, showing me the benefit of a theological education for the pastors I am teaching and how that makes a difference in their communities.  Under Herode's leadership, I have taught three courses -- Spiritual Formation for Pastors, Eschatology, and Biblical Interpretation.  I have grown tremendously from doing this, not only in rehearsing the knowledge but in seeing the sacrifice my students make to come to class, from hearing their questions, and simply by experiencing the teamwork of men from different cultures pursuing the same goal of the health of the church.  

Here we are, after having received this lovely gift of appreciation, a 24" x 32" painting of our family (copied from a photograph, no we didn't sit still that long) and with a backdrop of a Haitian country side and the Sous Espwa logo in the top corner.  Beside Nathan in the blue shirt is Pastor Jackson Gabelus.  Jackson is always smiling and is a very hard worker, but he is also wise and loves the Lord deeply.  I have seen many ways that Jackson, who works for World Renew, has been effective in working with the whole staff.  My favourite memory of Jackson was last fall when we were doing a formal evaluation of one of our ministries -- MDK, or Ministry of Christian Development.  Jackson was masterful at putting us together as teams to go out into the countryside and lead conversations about community development in such a way that we heard stories -- through Venn Diagrams and Neighbourhood Mapping no less -- about the sustainability and progress of the work being done.  My prayer for Jackson, as he works part-time toward his MBA, is that God would continue to expand the scope of his ministry as he faithfully puts his hand to those things that matter to God....and that he would keep smiling!

From left to right - Fevrier Jean Cherubin, Jackson Gabelus, Nathan, Carol, John Vanderstoep, Daphnee Pierre, Lunise Jules Cerin, Jacky Chery, Larry Luth and two of our support staff, Jean and Prens.  Fevrier is a cheerful musical man of God.  He is a maestro (choir director) at a Port-au-Prince First Baptist Church downtown.  I had the opportunity to speak to his choir of fifty people last fall and it was such a joy to speak to them and then to hear them give me a private concert - beautiful!
Daphnee Pierre, who is standing on a chair beside me, has been a picture to me of what a godly Haitian single woman should be like.  She loves to sing and praise the Lord and is probably our most dedicated participant in staff devotions.  My favourite memory of Daphnee was the time she lost her voice one weekend after a youth retreat she planned because the retreat was so full of praise that she lost her voice.
Larry Luth is my colleague at World Missions.  As he and I are really trying to take the place of three full-time positions this year, he has taken on a mountain of work and has not cracked under the pressure.  My favourite memory of Larry this year is really a re-occurring one.  He and I share an office with our desks facing opposite walls.  Most Friday afternoons, we simply turn our chairs toward each other and hear one another.  He's helped me process and think through a lot of what we do, especially when I had questions when we got started.  My hope for Larry in this coming year is that he will be blessed by the return of one of the seasoned missionaries and that this will lighten his load more than a rookie like I could have.  

This lady is Lunise Jules Cerin.  She is a saint, a prophet, a musician, a firebrand, and a sister in Christ.  She is a also a person who has had a profound impact on me.  I met Lunise for the first time in January of 2014 when she stayed with us in Cambridge, Ontario as she was visiting supporters of World Renew.  She is the Haiti Country Director for World Renew.  Lunise, because of her vast experience, her gutsy perspective, and her passion for justice, is an incredible leader on the Sous Espwa team, leading in a way that I am just beginning to recognize.  At our farewell, she sang a song, playing her guitar.  Lunise is completing her time with World Renew at the end of June, and likely moving to the USA after that.  I hope she makes it back to Canada for a visit - I'd love to introduce some of our Canadian friends and hear her play guitar there. :)

There were 20 of us at the party.  This cake could serve 60.  Haitian hospitality in a nutshell (or a cake box). 

The beautiful painting we were gifted with.  God has profoundly affected all of us by the year he gave us in Haiti.
It was a privilege to be able to also affect others.
I can't say "Haiti will never be the same because of our visit"
but I must say, "We will never be the same because of the incredible people we served with here."

Thank you very much, my friends.
God bless you.
Mesi anpil, zanmi' m'.
Bondye beni w'.