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Candy Reiger – Dominican Republic / Haiti
A brief summary of activities mid-2007 to mid-2008
More and more of my activities are focused on long-term goals, which hopefully will better define my short-term agenda. Setting the captives free is always God’s heart and we know the Way is Jesus, but practically speaking, how will the rubber hit the road in Haiti? So heavily evangelized, but so broken, Haiti’s Christians are meant to have Life in abundance (as are we!) I’m convinced part of God’s plan for me being in Haiti is to use me in bringing liberating TRUTH – food that is well-balanced and nutritious. An answer to prayer is Ministry Equipping Int’l. (MEI).
Jim and Nancy Coons from MEI visited last February, and they will be cooperating with us to introduce a survey and analysis program directly involving Haitian pastors and leaders in identifying their own resources, needs and priorities for strengthening the body of Christ in Haiti. We had a preliminary meeting with leaders from about 8 communities and they are VERY excited about working together. This will involve a good deal of translation for which I will need an indigenous team, and then the coordination of several mini conference-type meetings in northern Haiti where we will introduce the program and its possibilities. This is one of two main focuses for me now and in the coming year.
The second focus is Bojwenn. We are slowly seeing the completion of the first level to our little school there. With a recently received gift, construction should be sufficiently advanced that we can open with a preschool and a kindergarten class this fall. Much of my time has been spent helping Sauvelt in planning for this opening. We are all stepping out into things we’ve never done before...please pray for God’s favor and blessing in our decision-making, needed resources in terms of teachers and finances.
The children’s Good News Club in Bojwenn has grown and spawned adult Sunday School classes and a small church! Each Sunday there are about 60 or so folks of all ages coming to worship! We had our first baptism service in July.
We continue to host teams, although not a great number. Our first medical team was in November 2007. The team of 5 physicians and 2 dentists along with supporting members (including a pharmacist) was able to treat nearly 1000 patients in four days! We also received two construction teams which worked on the school building in Bojwenn. A 3rd construction team arrived in August, and a Christian Motorcyclists team comes in November!
September 2008 was the target date for me to be resident in Haiti [it hasn’t happened yet]. Please pray for the many details of this move to fall into place!!
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