Aug. 27, 2024
Praises:
--men's conference was wonderful with 13 men giving their lives to Jesus for the first time.
--Praise God for continued safety in our area
--theological students held a week-long revival at our church for the university students and community members. 27 students re-dedicated their lives or gave their lives to Christ during this special time
--medical students from our school went out into several communities and spoke door-to-door with families about the importance of health care. It was a blessing to the community and the students and they will be going out again next week.
--Two new churches decided to pack meals for UCI's school lunch program and nutrition centers
--Kerri and Tana found an apartment together in the Twin Cities and Kerri started her job as a health educator for refugees. What a praise!!
Prayer requests:
From a recent FB post that I sent out--
Updates on Haiti:
With the arrival of the initial Kenyan Troops we saw gangs spread out further into the more rural areas. There is concern that when additional troops arrive the spread could be even more affecting areas that so far have remained relatively safe compared to the gang hot spots…
.gangs pushing towards Arcahaie, but the people of Arcahaie are holding them back in Bercy. At least 10 individuals were killed during one incident…gangs are more frequently visiting homes and businesses, asking for a "tax" to stay open, even a clinic has been asked to pay.
Gender based violence is a very real concern with reports coming in about a home that was taken over in the area where gangs are now holding a woman/women for sex trafficking and forcing children to run their errands and/or rape…
One facility reported seeing about 10% more patients recently, and seeing more burns of kids due to being displaced in unsafe situations. Malnutrition up 2% last month…
Gangs are still in control of Route #1.
There is a lot of gang activity…several individuals [gang members] killed by the community. Individuals killed both Sunday and Monday of the past week. Victims coming in for medical care with wounds that look gang related are being provided care, but then are being interrogated - which has led to some arrests.
Kenyan officers have been sent to the DR for care as a result of gang injuries.
A young patient …with needs for neurosurgery has passed away. There were no shunts available in Haiti when she first needed surgery, they were able to get shunts brought in and she had two put in. Unfortunately complications followed and this young patient has died.
Surge of refugees from PAP…
Clinical services remain operational, one organization reported, they are still seeing displaced families and victims of violence. Fuel is very expensive and scarce. Food is arriving but it is very expensive. One organization reported they haven't been able to get any shipments of supplies in the past 3 months, due to the routes being closed by gangs (giving limited access to passage) and extremely dangerous.
--pray for our youth camp happening Thursday to Monday! The youth need to see God's way is so much better than the gangs and their violence.
--our nutrition clinic attendance increases each week. So many kids coming from the South that are very malnourished.
--our Christmas gift give-away program begins soon. I can't say what a big deal this is for the kids. They look forward to it each year. Pray that many, many children will be blessed with a gift of love and be able to learn about who Jesus is and why He came!
Thank you for your prayers!
Aug. 1, 2024
Praises:
-UCI's first men's conference was about becoming a man of God. The men were encouraged to invite their neighbors and friends that were not walking with the Lord. Fourteen men gave their lives to Christ at the conference for the first time. Two men that were former witchdoctors renounced vodou and accepted the Lord as their Saviour. They tore down their house of vodou worship and all of the vodou items in it when they returned home. Many, many of the men re-dedicated their lives to Christ at the conference!
-The nursing class had their pinning and capping ceremony. This ceremony is such an encouragement for these students to commit their lives to upholding the nurses' motto to help others.
-Construction on the school in the marketplace, new professor housing, the solar project for the primary and high school, and administration building is going very well.
-Praises that God continues to provide food aide for the many that are having a hard time finding enough food to feed their families
-Praises that the Haitian police and Kenyan peace-keeping forces are making efforts to curb gang violence
Prayer requests:
-Prayers for the construction projects to be completed before school starts.
-Prayers for the volleyball tournament on Aug 8-11 and the youth conference that will be held at the end of August
-Prayers for our push for more evangelism and discipleship to happen on our university campus by the theological students
-Prayers for the widows' event happening this Sunday. May these precious widows and widowers be blessed by the teaching, fellowship, and aid they will receive.
-Prayers that the country will remain stable enough so that school will be able to start on Sept 9. This would be the first time that school would start in Sept for at least 5 years.
-Prayers that the gang leaders of the major gangs would be arrested and thus disband the gangs that are still practicing kidnapping, extortion, violence, and more
July 1, 2024
Praises:
-Jeanjean and other UCI staff members visited our mountain church plant, Bas La Riviere Church. There was an enthusiastic response from the church and everyone was blessed and encouraged. There are 26 people waiting to be baptized! JeanJean encountered 2 witchdoctors on the hike back down the mountain and talked to them for a long time. They were very interested and invited him to come back for further discussion. JeanJean will also notify Pastor Luckson to follow up with them.
-Many people in church in Caiman, as well. Many university students help out with our church services.
-University is going strong. First semester is finished and the second has started. The administration has been able to initiated many new programs such as book clubs and debates.
Prayer requests:
-Men's retreat on July 23-24. The topic is Spiritual Leaders of Family, Community, and Country.
-Construction over the summer: new professor housing, 2nd story on the satellite school, solar system for the high school, and some community houses.
-Nutrition clinic is overflowing with moms and babies in need of help. God has blessed this program tremendously!
-The Council of Ministers are doing well in Haiti and are cracking down on gang violence through the Haitian police and the Kenyan peace-keeping forces. They have arrested one gang leader and the Kenyans are closing in on other gang territories. The gang responsible for the deaths of the American missionary couple and the Haitian pastor have not been apprehended. Barbeque, a notorious and very vocal gang leader, is also at large.
June 13, 2024
Praise:
-JeanJean made it back to Haiti!
Prayer request:
-discernment on whether JeanJean stays and Kristie joins him or if Jeanjean returns to the U.S.
May 30, 2024
Praises:
--wonderful travels around the Midwest and California. We have felt God leading us to help people understand the situation in Haiti and how to pray AND to rejoice in how God is working in the midst of these difficult times. He is always in control!
--more witch doctors have come to saving faith in Christ Jesus in the continued revival happening in our church plant in the mountains
--food relief continues at UCI even when JJ & K are in the U.S. Many people are being helped--many are displaced people from Port-au-Prince
--the university finished their first semester on our scheduled time!
--Kerri's graduation from UNI in psychology and community health
--construction has started on the satellite school's (UCB) 2nd floor addition and a dorm for many professors that want to live at UCI and not return to the cities. A solar system will be added to the high school.
Prayer requests:
--the Council of Ministers are tasked with stabilizing the government, but there has been a lot of division about decisions to be made. The 7 voting members voted on a president (they are planning on a 5-month rotation of the president position with all 7 being able to hold that position). A prime minister was voted in, but there are discussions about this.
--The Kenyan peace-keeping force is delaying their entry into Haiti and have been changing their plans several times. The U.S. military is continuing construction of a base of operations for this Kenyan force. The Kenyan force is asking for medical facilities and helicopters and many other things before coming to Haiti.
--The gangs that killed the American missionary couple and the Haitian pastor are known, but there has been no movement towards arrest. The US embassy in Haiti sent a strong message that they will be punished, but we haven't seen or heard of any progress.
--There have been over 2,500 people murdered in Haiti since January 2024. These are the known victims, but probably do not include those that died because there are no medical facilities available since gangs have taken over hospitals and prevented shipments of medicines and forced medical personnel to flee. It also probably doesn't reflect people that have died due to lack of food.
---UCI will be holding its first men's retreat in July!
Thank you for your prayers!!!
April 26, 2024
Here are our PRAISES:
--a beautiful university graduation finally took place and so many were blessed
--Jeanjean and I have been talking to many people and churches about UCI/Haiti. We have been traveling a lot, but it has been a blessing. We enjoy the time together and we are re-energized by sharing how God is working. We have also feel so loved.
--A partner church packaged over 158,000 meals for Haiti that we will use for our school lunch program
--we will be packaging some different types of fortified meals in Des Moines and hopefully getting other churches excited about this possibility
--the container with meals should be delivered in May
--we have a sponsor that wants to help us put solar energy in the high school
--we have had several people step up to help us fund the expansion needed for the UCB satellite school--we are getting close to realizing our goal for this!
--we have 2 new churches that are considering partnering with UCI. We love getting more people excited about missions
Prayer requests:
--please pray for the 9-member council of ministers that was successfully installed yesterday.
--traveling mercies as JeanJean and Kristie travel around the midwest, the west coast and the east coast. We anticipate that the airports in Haiti will open up soon to make it easier to travel back to Haiti.
--Kerri will be graduating on May 11! She will be graduating with honors with a psychology & community health, emphasis in women's health majors. She has an internship in public health in Waterloo and will be working with Haitian immigrants!
--pray that we continue to find food to help people with struggling to eat and help people in Port-au-Prince. We are also distributing seeds for people to plant gardens as we are leaving the 6-month dry season and the rainy season is starting. It is always good to help people grow their own food.
March 26, 2024
Praises:
--Harvest Festival at the church was a glorious celebration of how God is still at work in Haiti. Over 16 partner churches celebrated with us in a service that lasted from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Over 1200 people attended and were fed. 74 people were baptized--9 of them former witchdoctors!!! What a wondrous Palm Sunday
--Franck and his wife (see last month's praises) were married before being baptized during the Harvest Festival.
--Banks have opened, we are finding food from contacts all over the north of Haiti and the D.R., and we've been able to help over 600 families receive food in these difficult times.
--We have 3 construction projects that we are able to start since the banks have re-opened and we can get funds. 1) Bois Couleuvre church construction, 2) more teacher's housing in the village, 3) cement floor and benches for our church plant in the mountains, Bas La Riviere. This will provide much-needed jobs for many and be a blessing in many ways
--Safety continues in our area
Prayer requests:
--We were unable to have our graduation or employee appreciation dinners due to the country's unrest. Pray for us to find a date that will be safe for all the participate
--The prime minister resigned from office last week and that put an end to the nation-wide protests. The capital still remains under the control of the gangs. Looting, burning of houses, killing, raping, extortion are increasingly common. A 7-person interim government was chosen after the PM resigned, but they are having problems with internal conflicts and having any authority to do their mission which was to stabilize the country in 18 months so that elections could take place
--Pray that we can continue to help the many internally displaced families that are coming into our area from the south. Many of them have nothing with them as they fed the violence of the capital. We have heard many horror stories from these families.
--Pray that we are able to find professors at the university level to teach all the required classes. There are so many professors leaving the country.
Feb 28 , 2024
Praises:
--Franck and his wife (the former witchdoctors) praying to accept Jesus as the Savior after decades of leading vodou worship and years of prayer and evangelism. He and his wife will be baptised at our harvest celebration.
--We continue to hear great reports of what God is doing with our university graduates around Haiti. We are so thankful for their ministries. This encouragement is so needed as we are one of the only universities able to continue during these very turbulent times--PTL. It is very challenging to keep the university going, but we see the fruit.
--work is progressing very well in our church and many are excited to see the beautiful improvements. It is yet another example of God providing in tough times.
--our area has remained free of gang violence. We had some bad apples in our community that tried to set up an operation where they stopped vehicles by throwing rocks and glass bottles and then demanded money to pass unharmed. The rest of the community put a stop to this, thankfully.
--Preschool--High school started up again on Monday. We had many parents that kept their kids home because they wanted to be sure there would not be any gangs that would come to stop the kids from going to school. But, a lot of families sent their kids to school this week. We fully expect that more will be coming this Monday. This means the kids that need our school lunch program and protein program are able to find that nourishment
Prayer requests:
--Most of the unrest is due to people demanding that the current prime minister step down from power so that elections and better government can take place. He is still refusing to relinquish any power. Pray for God's way to be accomplished is a peaceful resolution.
--For our employee appreciation dinner to happen. We had to postpone due to reports of country-wide violence happening and the national news advised everyone to stay home. We really would like to encourage all the faithful employees of UCI
--For our graduation to happen on March 21. We have not been able to have a graduation for 2 years. A graduation is something to celebrate and we would like to honor these student's hard work. We want it to be safe, however. Please pray for discernment by the administration as to whether we should persist.
--We received enough funds to start construction on the expansion of our satellite school in the marketplace. Pray that we can start as soon as the school year ends and we can stretch the funds!
--Pray for all the students from preschool to university that are struggling to pay for their tuition costs. We have maxed out our available scholarships, but have hundreds asking for financial assistance.