I made it into Port-au-Prince yesterday without a hitch, but after that things got fairly interesting. The team from Shreveport, LA got in about 30 minutes after I did. We loaded up the van and started heading to Les Cayes…normally about a 4 hour drive. On the way out of Port-au-Prince we found out that the president had declared that Carnival would be in Les Cayes this year. Carnival starts tomorrow afternoon and runs through Tuesday. The expectation is that close to 1,000,000 people will be in Les Cayes these three days. I think we were caught in the traffic with half of them. It took us about 7 hours to get here.

Our first site to visit today was Bigarouse (also known as Big House). On our way there though we stopped at a local street market. This picture is of the parking lot. Part of our team is here to plan for a group of college students to come this summer to teach in two of our orphanages. Their desire is to immerse the students in the local culture. This market will be one of those opportunities for immersion.

While at Bigarouse we met with Pastor Jean Elysee. We shared with him the plans to have a team here this summer that was going to focus on teaching French, math music, art, history, and geography. He was very excited. We also came up with a plan to have some of his children and members of the church community prepare some lessons for our team members. We thought it would be great for them to teach history, local customs, and some songs and dances. This is where his and Pastor Louis’ excitement and enthusiasm really lit up. He shared that the American teams always come down here to teach and that he really appreciates that. This is the first time that one of these teams has asked him to prepare some things to teach the Americans. He feels like it is a group that wants to “circle the wagons” around him and his ministry.

Our next stop was Darivager. The team will also do their teaching program at this facility. Once again the pastor, Pastor Monregard was very excited about the ideas for the program that was set up at Bigarouse.

After visiting these two sites we were able to visit some historical sites that date back to the 1700’s when the French occupied the country. These areas will be part of the cultural immersion for the college students. One of the sites that we visited was Fort Cachalou (not sure about spelling).

Tomorrow we will be participating in a couple of churches services and possibly checking out Carnival. Thanks for your prayers. I will send out my next email on Monday.

Prayer Updates:

• My mother had her gall bladder removed and should be home by the time you
  get this email.
• Please continue to pray for Ben and Susie as they walk through the illness of her brain tumor. You can follow here progress at http://www.benandsusiethomas.com.

Map of Les Cayes area

Dear Friends and Family…

Well, I am on my way back to Haiti. I will actually be arriving tomorrow around 3:40 PM in Port-au-Prince. On this trip I will be spend most of my time in the Les Cayes area (see map). I will be visiting our sites at Bigarouse, Cambry, Cayes, Cherette, Darivager, and Savannes (Bon Berger). While at these sites I will be updating my assessment information from September 2010.

During the first half of the trip I will be meeting up with a team from First United Methodist Church and Centenary College, both in Shreveport, LA. Louis St. Germain (ESMI Haiti Field Director) and I will be showing this team some of our facilities for hosting teams and some of our sites with churches and orphanages. This group has planned additional teams later this year and this trip will provide the detail information needed to put those trips together. One of these future trips will include a one to two month English and French teaching program for orphans at some of our sites. It is always great to finally meet people that you have been talking to on the phone and exchanging emails with face-to-face.

During the second half of the trip I will be meeting up with a team that is comprised of members from the Chicago and Las Vegas areas. They will be primarily focusing on medical clinics and orphan care. The engineer that designed the riverbank repair at Cherette (check out details on this blog and pictures on my Flickr account) will be with this team. We will be working together to survey the riverbed and see if we can come up with a solution to reroute the flow of the river away from the Cherette orphan village. Surveying…another long-lost activity from my past that is being resurrected.

As with my other trips I will try to send out a daily email with some pictures from the day and brief descriptions of the activities. If you do not receive any of these then it will most likely be because I do not have an Internet access.

Special Requests at this time:

• Please pray for safe travel for the team members coming down and for our loved ones that we are leaving behind.
• Please pray for my mother. She went into the hospital earlier this week for the third time in the past nine months with an issue with her pancreas. The doctors are doing some testing and non-invasive tests to try to determine the source of the problem and a strategy going forward.
• Also pray for my father…he misses his bride very much, plus he is scheduled to have a defibrillator installed in a couple of weeks.
• Please pray for Ben and Susie, friends that are serving with Athletes in Action. They have three children and a fourth one on the way. They recently found out that Susie has a cancerous brain tumor. They are working with their doctors to determine a strategy to deal with this and also protect their unborn child. You can follow their progress on their ministry website.

Well…another month has already zipped by. I don’t know about you and where you are living, but this winter has been quite a different one for us here in Ohio. Even today I am sending out this email with a clear and sunshiny day outside with the temperature hitting the low 60’s. We still keep asking, “When is winter really going to hit us?”

January has once again proven to be a busy month with ESMI. As in the past, as the holidays slip into our past we start hitting the road running. I hope and pray that you enjoy hearing about some of our activities from the Projects and Development perspective and that you will continue to keep us in your prayers.

Projects/Construction

Homes for Pastors and Widows

Pastor Jean Edouard's New Home

We were able to finish our 13th home this past month. This home was built for Pastor Jean Edouard and his family. This family lives in the Bois-Gaman area near Gressier. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of our friends at Christ Presbyterian Church in Richmond, IN for raising the funds to help this family receive a home and move out of their tent…two years after the earthquake. Please continue to pray for this Pastor as he also tries to rebuild his church that was lost in that earthquake.

Pastor Jean Augustin and Family

We were also able to start construction on home #14 this past week. Our friends at Boynton Beach Community Church in Boynton Beach, FL provided the funds for this home and they also have a construction team in Haiti helping to build it this week. Pastor Jean Augustin is the recipient of this home. He has a family of 5 children and is the pastor of a church with 350 members.

We are so excited that our partners are still providing funds and short-term teams to build these homes. Not only are we able to help families move from temporary structures into permanent homes, we are also able to keep 6 to 7 Haitian workers fully employed and able to support their families. Thank you for your contributions and prayers for this part of our ministry.

Facility Modifications and Upgrades

School of Joy Under Construction

In the Grand-Anse department we are continue to build out the University of Jeremie. The structure that we are working on now is the School of Joy, which will ultimately provide primary and secondary education for up to 1,000 students from the surrounding area. We have also completed the design for a solar power solution for the entire university campus. The components are being ordered this week and our plan is to install the components and set up the existing buildings with power the last week of March. We are finding that this will be a very exciting beginning of a new era for our churches in Haiti. We believe that we will be able to start implementing basic power solutions for each of our churches for about $5,000 each. This will allow the members of the church to start using their facility more hours of the day, provide power for their schools, and enhance the lives of the members of their communities.

Leadership Development

Pastor Training in Jeremie

Dony St. Germain (ESMI President), Bresile St. Germain (Leadership Development Coordinator), and Louis St. Germain (Haiti Field Director) have also been quite busy over the last month. They are busy conducting pastor training and leadership seminars in Jeremie and Les Cayes. We are looking forward to getting the University of Jeremie to a state where we can start hosting the seminary there. Our plans are to begin this year with 150 fulltime students. Please continue to pray for us as we work to complete the university and pursue new opportunities for funding and grants this year. Pray that we will have more pastors from churches here in the United States and Canada volunteer their time and talents to help in the teaching programs that get established.

Micro-Businesses

As I mentioned in one of my earlier newsletters we are doing a lot of work in the area of identifying micro-businesses that we can establish with our churches across Haiti. We have several friends and partners of the ministry that are working with us as we investigate poultry farming, fish farming, and ice factories as businesses. Please keep me in your prayers as I begin to develop business plans for these, identify locations best fitted for them, and seek to secure funding to make these happen. These will become a critical component for our work in Haiti because through these micro-businesses we can help our churches become self-sufficient as well as create centers where valuable training can be provided to the people of Haiti.

Upcoming Travel

I will be heading down to the Les Cayes area February 17th through 25th. While there I will be participating with our friends from First United Methodist Church (FUMC) and Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, LA on a vision trip. This team will be assessing some of our facilities as a place to stay for future trips and together we will be coming up with a plan for them to do some great work at some of our orphan villages throughout the year. FUMC and Centenary have a great partnership and will be putting together some summer long teaching activities at our facilities in the Les Cayes area teaching English and French. We are very excited about building this relationship and reaching the people of Haiti in much broader and deeper areas.

I will also be meeting up with one of our short-term teams comprised of members from churches in the Chicago, IL and Las Vega, NV areas. They come down on a regular basis and do some awesome work through neighborhood medical clinics. One of the activities that I will be doing with this team is assessing the River Bank Repair at Cherette and see how it weathered last year’ storms and what we can do to take it to the next step.

Coming up in March I have a mission’s conference that I am attending at our partner First Presbyterian Church in Macon, GA and then heading to Jeremie the end of March to help with the installation of the solar solution at the University. Please keep us in your prayers as I do this travel, and especially Laura as I leave her here in Ohio.

Personal Fundraising Status

Once again, Laura and I would like to thank you for your prayers, your thoughts and your financial support in our work with ESMI. We are so blessed to have friends and family like you standing behind us in this work. We have so much work before us and your support is what is making it possible to maintain focus and energy.

For those of you that have been following our progress on raising our support we are currently at 36% of our monthly support. I am active in the fundraising process and seek your prayers while I reach out to people that I know for support consideration.

Dear Partners in Ministry:

Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support in 2011.  As we approach this new year, I have been reflecting on Romans 8:28-39.  There are three truths from this passage that enables me to approach 2012 with confidence in our Lord: 1) God’s power is dependable, v.28-31; 2) God’s promise is certain, v. 32-34, and 3) God’s love is endless, v.35-39.  I pray that as you reflect on these verses with me, you too will be praying and confidently expecting God to do great things as we serve Him together in reaching the lost in Haiti with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ESMI’s primary focus will continue to be Evangelism through church planting and leadership development. The hope this year is to:

1. plant at least five new churches: two in the Grand-Anse Department, one in Cap-Hatienne, and two in the South Department
2. assist five of our “preaching points” to be adopted by North American churches
3. conduct six national leadership retreats for pastors and elders in the months of January, February, March, May, June and July.  We expect, as in the past, that there will be over 100 men in attendance
4. continue to equip leaders in the different cities through the El Shaddai Theological Seminary
5. see the El Shaddai Theological Seminary in Jeremie in full operation

In the area of Education, our goals are to:

1. continue to raise the resources to complete Phase I of the University in Jeremie the administrative/classroom building and the dormitory building
2. develop a sponsorship program for those older orphaned children throughout the different campuses who are eligible to attend this university in Jeremie
3. build two secondary schools
4. develop a vocational school on the Cambry site

In the area of Empathy, the desire is:

1. to have a medical doctor on each of the five medical sites: Cambry, Les Cayes, Casa Major, Gonaives, and Jeremie
2. to have medical short-term teams visit the above sites monthly
3. to see an additional 100 new short-termers in Haiti.  We praise God for the 500 who visited in 2011.
4. to continue to restructure and reorganize the quality of care for the children on the different sites, especially those on the Gonaives sites in Fayeton and Mapou. In 2012, we plan to build two new children’s homes on the recently acquired land in Mapou.
5. to organize retreats for the care-givers on all the ESMI campuses

In the area of Economical Development, our prayer is to see:

1. a businessman join our executive team to provide leadership in this vital ministry outreach
2. the development of a Tilapia Farm on the Cambry and Jeremie campuses
3. the establishment of an ice-factory and poultry businesses

We look forward to a great year of ministry together as we serve the Lord here in Haiti.  Again, many thanks for your prayers and financial support; and a blessed new year to you and your family.

In His Service,

Dony St. Germain
President

To see more about what God is doing through ESMI, visit our website: www.esmihome.org.

Projects/Construction

Homes for Pastors and Widows
Under the in-country guidance of Pastor Guercy Meme we have completed five homes. Another one is currently under way, which brings the total number of homes that we have been able to provide to those who lost there homes in the earthquake to twelve. We were also able to finish Arcene Bac’s home, which was a special project sponsored by a church in Columbia, SC. If you check out some of my earlier updates in my blog you will see pictures of some of these homes. The exciting news with this part of the ministry is that we already have three churches lined up to build new homes after the first of the year.

Facility Modifications and Upgrades

ESMI Locations

This year has been very busy from a project perspective all across the country. As you might
recall, we are operating facilities in four major Departments in Haiti: Artibonite, Grand-Anse,
Ouest, and Sud. Below are some of the activities that we have been conducting in these areas.
Note that this does not include some of the smaller projects that our short-term teams
worked on such as painting buildings, building school desks and church pews, building gardens
and sports fields, and various other critical activities that helped to improve the lives of our
brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Fayeton School Reconstruction

Artibonite, Fayeton Orphan Village – The main project here was the reconstruction of the school. We had to remove a second story that was not built to our standards and then add new classrooms to double the size of the school. The school started operating in October. We also added a cistern under the floor of the church. This area is very dry and the need to store water is critical. We started working on a project with the city of Gonaives to run a water line out to our facility but the project has been held up by the city officials trying to redirect our funds to a different, non-related project. We also had one of our short-term teams install a playground structure for the children (orphans and students) at this facility.

Mapou Orphan Village (WMI Unit in back)

Artibonite, Mapou Orphan Village – We were able to partner with Water Missions International to install a
community-based water purification system at our facility in Mapou. This unit can provide up to 10,000 gallons per day of purified water. We are now able to provide this clean source of life to the orphans, students, church members, and surrounding community. We have also been able to enter into a partnership with one of our sponsoring churches to adopt this site. We are sure that you will hear
many reports next year from this site as it grows and gets enhanced. We are already in the process of negotiating for adjoining property so that we can build new homes for the orphans here.

Jeremie University Layout

Grand-Anse, Jeremie University – This facility has probably consumed the most of my time throughout the year. At this site we are in the process of building a national level university. We will begin with the
first department being a seminary, but our desire is to add other departments that might include business management, construction management, language, and various technical programs (machine repair, solar energy systems, etc.). So far this year we have been able to construct the Dr. David Nicholas Chapel, the Cafeteria/Fellowship Hall, and various infrastructure projects (Water Missions International water purification system, septic tank, and public restrooms). The next structure to be started before the end of the year is the School of Joy, which will ultimately provide primary and secondary education for up to 1,000 students from the surrounding area. We also have the designs done for the Administration / Classroom building and are working to secure funding for this. Another critical component of this facility is that we are working with SonLight Power to implement a solution that will provide solar power for the entire campus.

Lundy Retaining Wall from above

Grand-Anse, Lundy Orphan Village – We have had a lot of activity at this facility. The church that has adopted this site has built classrooms, support buildings, and many other critical support projects. I have not been managing these projects but have been excited to see all that is being done for the children at the orphan village and the members of the church there. This partner averages one team per month working at this facility. If your church would like to discuss partnering with one of our facilities please let me know. A major project that I did oversee was the installation of a retaining wall. When we first built this facility the decision was made to put the boys dormitories on the hill. This was before we
started implementing more rigorous engineering standards. It became necessary to add the retaining wall to ensure that the hillside did not collapse below the buildings. The Dominican Republic Rotary International funded this project.

Sud, Bighouse Orphan Village – At this facility we were able to install a security wall around the facility. This area outside of the city of Les Cayes has a lot of voodoo activity and having this security wall is helping the children feel much safer.

River bank after last flood

Sud, Cherette Facility – This facility sits on the edge of a river in the Sud Department. The storms this year have cause this river to flood multiple times. We have been able to build a large retaining wall, however, the flooding has been so bad that the damage to the river bank has extended much further upstream than we were able to address. We are still reviewing our options with this site and are blessed to have a civil engineer coming down on a short-term trip after the first of the year to continue to assess the problem. He was the designer for the solution that we put in place.

Sud, Les Cayes #1 – This is one of our larger churches in Haiti with a weekly attendance around 4,500. We will be working with one of our donors before the end of the year to put in a cistern and solar-powered pump to provide water to this church and the surrounding community.

Sud, Savannes – Savannes is an area within the city of Les Cayes that has been deemed as one of the roughest areas in the city due to drug and gang activities. Last year we planted a church there and this year we were able to finish it and start having services there. We also have some partner churches from the Chicago area that are going there on a regular basis to do church related work and medical clinics and we are seeing an enormous impact on the community. We are now in the process of seeking funding to build a school and medical clinic on the church property. Hopefully I will be reporting on these next year.

Total Value – Thanks to your contributions to this ministry and my personal support to do this work I have been able to manage approximately $800,000 worth of projects this year. Many of these projects have been completed and some are in the final stages of design and fund raising. Thank you again for making it possible for me to be able to do this work.

Micro-Businesses

One area of the ministry that I am also getting involved in is the establishment of micro-businesses. We work with donors here the United States and Canada that desire to help the churches that we plant become self-sustaining. Some of the micro-businesses that I am investigating and will soon be putting together business plans for are ice factories, tilapia farms, poultry farms, and cyber cafes. This is a whole new area of expertise for me so please be praying for me as I develop the skills needed to do this effectively. I will also be working next year to build relationships with donors outside of our normal church circle to donate funds to these activities.

Travel for 2011

One question that I often get asked is when will be my next trip to Haiti. In 2010 I traveled to Haiti ten times for a total of eleven weeks. Most of this travel was related to the earthquake and getting up to speed on ESMI and the work that we are doing in Haiti. This year has been different. I have been able to travel to Haiti for a total of four weeks so far. However, I have also traveled to Florida, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Chicago, Indianapolis, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and California to participate in various meetings with donors, organizations, and conferences to help build the ESMI base
of partners. It is a blessing to have such a dependable team in Haiti to work with so that I can manage the projects remotely and leverage my ability to work with donors and supporting organizations here in the United States. As my personal funding gets more stabilized I will be travelling to Haiti at least once per quarter.

Personal Fundraising Status

As I have shared in past updates, our ability to do this work is based on the generous support of friends and family like you. Many people that we run into still believe that this is something that we do in our retirement years. Unfortunately that is not the situation. This has become my new career and it is such a blessing to be able to use all that I have learned working for big business to make a difference in the lives of those in desperate need. My salary now comes from donations from people like you. As you can see from the news above there is a lot of work being done with your investment with so much more to do.

We have been blessed with enough donations this year to keep us fully focused on doing this work. Below is the last report that I submitted to the ESMI Board of Directors so that they were aware of how we are doing on our support. January begins a new year and we will be starting from scratch again. If you would like to provide either a one time donation or a recurring (monthly) donation to keep us doing this work you can do that on our website at Donate for David Short. It is also important for you to know that 100% of these donations go to what you are designating them for. ESMI operates with no administrative overhead.

Once again we want to thank you for your ongoing support in the form of thoughts, prayers and financial donations. This coming February will be the two year anniversary of doing this work in Haiti and it has only been able to be accomplished by your support. We will be praying for you and your families throughout the Christmas season.
Thanks…

David B. Short, PMP, SCPM
Projects and Development Director

ESMI, greets you this holiday season. Christmas is a time of great gifts and celebrations; everywhere there is joy, happiness, and peace. Christmas can also be a time to receive a small gift from someone even though you may not deserve it.

This year, ESMI would like to appeal to your generosity to help the children (in our churches and orphan villages) with the opportunity to experience the splendor of the Christmas season. Over the past 16 years ESMI has had the opportunity to have many children come under our care. Some are orphans, some have been left at our facilities because their families cannot take care of them, and some are students in our schools and members of our churches.

Many of these children were deprived and they did not have what was needed to become good citizens later in their lives. Some of them have been abandoned, left alone and without any protection. To survive, they begged in the streets and sometimes like dogs, searched in the trash to survive. These children had no childhood, no dignity, no life and no future, facing humiliation, discrimination, hunger, nakedness, deprivation of affection and love, and lack of health care.

This year, we would like to organize a party for these children so that they may finally have a taste of the flavor of Christmas. Each child would be given a small gift and we will have a party with songs, a meditation, skits and a movie.

We know that it is late in the season to be making these plans, but who says that Christmas cannot go past December 25th. Would you be able, or willing, to give $25 gift toward a child for what might be their first Christmas celebration? This is a big undertaking because we have 750 children that we are hoping to bless.

Follow this link to make a donation towards the Orphans’ Christmas Celebration. The donation button is located near the bottom of that page.

“I thank my God every time I remember you.
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel…”
Philippians 1:3-5

Greetings My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

This Thanksgiving, I first want to thank you for your prayers as we come to the end of another hurricane season. I want to thank you also for how you responded to the two recent floods in southern Haiti with your financial gifts.

With your funds, Pastor Nirva of Cherette was able to replace the basic items, such as cooking utensils, clothing for the children, etc., that were lost in the flood waters.

Then always, after so much rain and flooding, the spread of cholera becomes another great threat. With the funds you sent, we purchased more of the filtration buckets for distribution to the communities affected.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve our community in such a practical way. Our people thank you also and are appreciative of your love and care for them.

We want to also thank you, our partners, for how you enable us to minister to the next generation of Haitian leaders…the children. This video shows the children in Jeremie singing “Bondye Bel.” Several of those in the video are the ones who were in the Carrefour Children’s Home, Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck on January 12, 2010. We are grateful to the Lord for how they are adjusting to their new home and city.

Praise and Prayer Report

• Thank God for how He is enabling His churches to grow. BonBerger, Savannes and Bon Borger, Les Cayes are growing and are seen as landmark churches in the community.
• Many of you were in prayer over the summer for Pastor Wilio Boyer of Port Salut. Pastor Boyer met in a terrible motorcycle accident on his way to church. He was in a coma for over fifteen days. Doctors thought he would not recover because of the severe head injury but praise God, Pastor Boyer is back preaching the word of God in Port Salut.
• Pray for me as I prepare to give a Marriage Seminar in the city of Les Cayes the third week of January, 2012
• Pray as I seek to raise the needed funds of $10,000 to re-open Radio Shekinah, Les Cayes. The station reached over two million people in southern Haiti. This outreach was very beneficial to the community not only for its Biblical teaching and Christian music but also for the training and discussions relevant to all the listeners such as farmers, community leaders, etc.
• There are about 100 churches and leaders in S. Haiti seeking affiliation with the new denomination, the “Reformed Churches of Haiti.” Pray for wisdom as we put the Credential Committee together.
• Our older children have grown up here in Haiti for the last fifteen years, and this year it was time for them to return to Canada to continue their education. Please pray for their adjustment.
• My monthly support is currently behind by about 25%; pray for God’s provision as the year draws to an end.

Pastor Boyer

Martina and I thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support of us as we serve the Lord in Haiti.

I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him in Haiti. We’ve been here ten months now and it hasn’t been an easy adjustment. There are many challenges that we have faced and continue to face almost daily: challenges with the children’s health; car incidents and accidents; limited electricity and plumbing at times; the heat (it still feels like summer in Jeremie); different pace of life- a bank errand that should take 30 minutes ends up taking four hours when the van radiator overheats and so I never know when I leave my home what time I’ll return because, here in Haiti, life is definitely unpredictable; and the list goes on. Then just recently, Sharon met in a serious car accident in Miami in which the car she was driving was totaled. All these can be discouraging but we cling to God’s faithfulness and His word of encouragement from 2 Chronicles 20:15b: “This is what the LORD says, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’” Through all these and others, we’ve seen God’s protective hands. Thank you for your faithful prayers on our behalf that has kept us encouraged.

I thank God for the executive team He has put together to share the weight of ministry as we serve our sixty-plus pastors, their congregants and surrounding communities; the 6500 school children and their teachers; the 1400 orphans and their care-givers; and as we train pastors and leaders for the other departments.

• Bryan Clifton serves as our Chief of Staff filling in the gap between our US and Haiti staff as well as focusing on the orphan ministry.
• Dale Austin, US Field Director, oversees our short-term teams and we praise God for the more than 500 team members who have served this year in Les Cayes, Port-au-Prince, Gonaives and Jeremie.
• David Short, ESMI’s Project/Development Director, is developing the new construction projects in Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, and the seminary/university in Jeremie, and is doing an excellent job at keeping everyone informed on the different projects.
• Bresile St. Germain, our newest staff person, serves as the Leadership Development Coordinator. In the recent training in Jeremie, one pastor commented that the seminars with Pastor Bresile are enough to bring about revitalization in the Haitian churches. Praise God for how He continues to use this servant.
• Louis St. Germain has been working this year with Pastor Nicolais, whom you will meet in another update, on developing the new denomination: L’Eglise Reformee d’Haiti (ERH), translated “The Reformed Churches of Haiti.” Louis is also overseeing the development of three presbyteries as he works with Pastor Woodman in the Artibonite department, Pastor Moril in the Grand-Anse department, and Pastor Mongerard in the Sud department.

I’ve been focused this year on mentoring and coaching pastors in creating strategies for healthy church development. In the coming weeks, I hope to introduce you to some of these leaders, and to share how ESMI is coming alongside these men to enable them to preach the gospel effectively.

Praise and Prayer Requests

• Praise God for our US pastoral colleagues who came alongside us in conducting seminars focused on: “The Pastor and His Prayer Life,” “The Pastor and the Word,” The Pastor and His Ministry”, “The Pastor and His Family.” These have been refreshing for the pastors who have given testimonies of how these have impacted their ministries and their relationship within the home.
• Praise God for the 147 conversions since the Dr. Nicholas Chapel opened its doors in mid-September. Weekly discipleship and leadership training classes are being conducted. We praise God for how He is changing this community one soul at a time.
• Praise God for His continued protection over us as a family
• Praise God for the two completed buildings in Phase 1 of developing the seminary/university in Jeremie: the Dr. Nicholas Chapel and the Multi-Purpose Building, to serve the immediate community and those in the surrounding Grand-Anse department.
• Urgent Prayer Request for two new 4×4 diesel pick-up trucks for the ministry. The rough terrains, gas mixture of water and kerosene, high gas costs, high maintenance cost on these older automobiles, etc. have taken its toll on all ESMI’s vehicles. The cost to purchase one in Haiti is $33,000.
• Prayers for needed funds for new church plants
• Prayer to complete Phase 1 of the seminary/university. After the earthquake, there is an estimated 21,000 college students who returned to the Grand-Anse department. Our goal is to target these students for the University of Jeremie.
• Prayers as we begin registration for seminary classes. We’re thankful for ESMI’s partnership with MINTS (Miami International Seminary, Miami, FL).

Again, Sharon and I thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support of us as your missionaries here in Haiti. To God be the glory!

The Dr. Nicholas Chapel (Left) and Multi-Purpose Building (Right)

Leadership training in Gonaives (November 1–2, 2011)

Service in the Dr. Nicholas Chapel - 1

Service in the Dr. Nicholas Chapel - 2

To see more about what God is doing through ESMI, visit our website: www.esmihome.org.

Melissa and Stanley

On Thursday of our week in Haiti, the October team traveled to Cassamajor, a church plant and orphanage about 45 minutes away from our home base of Cambry. After negotiating a rather treacherous turn around a washed out creek bend, the old school bus we traveled in had to back up the final leg of the road to the village. Within minutes of arrival, the medical team began to set up for a full day of work, and our first patient, a teenage boy from the orphanage, arrived. As he sat alone on the bench outside the clinic in his neat blue checked school shirt waiting to be seen, I was drawn to him by his sweet, sincere face. I asked him, in one of the few creole phrases I knew, “What is your name?” The reply came back in English, “My name is Stanley.” I admit I had to suppress a chuckle at the decidedly un-Haitian sounding name. His English wasn’t perfect, but good enough to break down that frustrating barrier of language that plagued us during our trip. He told me how he and his sister had come to the orphanage after his parents died in the earthquake. As we chatted more, I discovered that his English skills were a result of a summer course the pastor, and orphanage director, had put together for the older orphans. When it was time for his exam, Stanley and I said goodbye, but he had an amazing request for me. It wasn’t the usual desire for my sunglasses or my watch or even candy. This precious boy asked if I could get him a French/English dictionary. The educator in me leapt for joy! “Yes, Stanley, of course I can get you one. I will send it back with the team coming in November.” He thanked me profusely and with a hug, left.

That wasn’t the end of Stanley that day. He found me again, excited to show me something. I couldn’t quite understand what it was, so he simply led me to the pastor, spoke for a moment in creole, and then we started off together towards the pastor’s home across the street. When I arrived, the pastor’s wife kindly seated me in a chair in the foyer. Stanley sat in a chair next to me and soon a guitar appeared. Stanley was also learning to play the guitar and he wanted to show me his progress! For the next 30 minutes, I listened and sang along as Stanley and the music director from the church played a range of recognizable hymns and choruses. It was a precious moment in time that I will never forget!

Stanley found me again later in the day, this time with his English teacher in tow. The teacher reiterated the need for French/English dictionaries and asked for one of the most basic of teaching tools- a world map. I was delighted to promise a delivery of 10 dictionaries and two maps in November.

My last encounter with Stanley came right as we left. I gave him a final hug and a smile and praised him for being such a kind and diligent boy. He very quietly and shyly asked for one more thing. He said, “Do you think you could get me an English Bible?” “Yes, Stanley, I can get you a Bible.”

Stanley has become for me a symbol of hope. Hope for the future of Haiti. Stanley epitomizes what I saw over and over among the children I met. He is bright, eager to learn, and loves the Lord. His pastor, or “Father” (as the children call him), has the foresight to understand that education is the key to a better future. He is using what limited resources he has to give opportunities to the young people in his care to learn skills such as English as a second language and music. And most importantly, Stanley is part of a community that prays. When we arrived in Cassamajor, a weekly prayer meeting was in progress. The church on campus was filled with men and women who commit to pray each Thursday from 6:00 am to noon. Six hours of nothing but prayer in a hot, sweaty, dark, building. Prayer to a God who knows. Who loves. Who is coming again. Yes, Stanley, there is hope for you.

It is through the loving actions of people like Melissa that the Stanley’s of Haiti are getting a new hope in their lives. If you, your church, or civic group would like to participate in one of these trips let me know.

David B. Short, PMP, SCPM
Projects and Development Director