Friends Across The Water

I received a phone call from Dr. Bob Brumly recently. He is administrating a Masters Program at the Baptist Haiti Mission in Haiti (www.bhm.org) and they had an instructor who had to cancel at the last minute. Bob had read our last ministry newsletter (and website) and saw that we were going to be teaching Biblical Storytelling in Guatemala.

Bob asked me if I would be willing to teach a class in Haiti on How to Teach the Bible utilizing Biblical Storytelling. I explained to Bob that I had a very tight schedule what with trying to get the boat ready to sail and did not think it would be possible however I asked him what the dates for the class were.

When Bob gave me the dates, I checked my schedule and found that these dates were about the only possible dates that could be worked out. As most of you know, I do not believe in coincidence. When the dates fit, in spite of my tight schedule, I began to suspect that God was doing something. I told Bob that Janice and I would pray and get back in touch.

Immediately Janice indicated that she felt the hand of God in it. I called Bob back and agreed to teach the class.

I was teaching the Biblical Storytelling methodology developed by Dorothy Miller at www.SimplyTheStory.org. The students were the cream of Haiti - Education Ministers, Directors, Coordinators, Principals, Pastors, Teachers, etc. I was impressed by the caliber of the students. Not only were they intelligent and capable but they were also spiritually mature as well.

However, this class was significantly outside of their comfort zone. I taught the class in a workshop style format which is not what they became accustomed to with the French education system. To make it even more strange, I divided the class up into small groups to do much of the work.

The first day, everything was new and they were attempting to adjust. By the second day, it was even more difficult as we really got into the meat of the class. Wednesday was hump day. On Wednesday, they managed to climb the hump and started to really have fun with it. The rest of the week was all downhill from there - picking up speed and having fun.

I was especially excited and blessed to hear the students discussing how they were going to take this back and implement it in their environments. They will be teaching the Bible Stories across Haiti. I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do with it.

In addition to the class, I got the opportunity to travel into some of the surrounding countryside along with a small group. We were led by Elsa Peterson who is the coordinator for the Child Sponsorship program for the Baptist Haiti Mission. We traveled around to visit some of the children that were being sponsored by folks from Beach Baptist Church in Fort Myers Beach.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and it shows. The conditions are appalling. To make matters worse, Haiti has also seen many years of political turmoil. More significantly, Haiti is in a place of great Spiritual darkness. Voodoo is a major force there along with all the Evil that is associated with that.

In spite of all that, the Haitian people are wonderful, beautiful children of God. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and getting to know the people. The students had all committed themselves to taking back Haiti for Jesus Christ.

It was certainly possible to see the difference that was being made across the country by the Baptist Haiti Mission in Haiti and all the various ministries that they administer. The missionaries there were truly wonderful people of God. I was blessed to work with Chris and Kelli Lieb on the class and they further blessed me as a guest in their home. They have an absolutely terrific family and it was easy to see that God has been blessing them. Additionally, I was honored to spend time with Rob and Patti Baker. Rob is the director of the mission and they took me in for dinner each night that I was in Haiti. The staff of the mission worked as one big family and allowed me to feel as if I were a part of that family. Thanks guys!

I consider myself to have been very blessed to have been a small part of what God is doing in Haiti. I have no doubt that God will take me back there again. I am excited to see what God will do.

I have included a large number (150) of pictures with this post. Since there are so many, you should be aware that it will take a little time to load up the slideshow. Enjoy!

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