Return To Haiti

March  2018

Greetings dear friends and family,

We are excited to let you know that on January 25 we returned to full time service in Haiti! It was mid-December when we learned that the financial support required to return to the field was either pledged or in hand. The Board of International Ministries then voted on December 31 to call us for another two years of service in Haiti where we will continue our holistic health ministries and also be ready to respond to requests for medical ministry assistance in fields outside of Haiti.

We are amazed, humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of love and support with which we have been blessed. Thank you to so many of you who have worked with, prayed for, financially supported, and encouraged us over many years.

We are happy to be “home” and settling into the guesthouse on the university campus of UCNH in Haut Limbé. In the short time here we have been busy getting organized and helping to host teams. Steve is consulting in two clinics as well as trying to get our two trucks repaired.

We will keep you updated as the work unfolds.

With gratitude and love,

Steve and Nancy

The Amazing Dryer

Upon returning to Haiti we were happily surprised to find the old propane dryer still in working order! Usually we dry our clothes outdoors on the clothes line in Haiti’s plentiful sun, but on rainy and cloudy days we rely on the dryer that Belle Romeus gave us in 2005. Old even then, it has been drying clothes during rainy spells ever since! We thought you would enjoy a picture showing just how miraculous it is that the dryer still works! Looking at it makes us smile and shake our heads in amazement. Maybe it will give you a chuckle too.

Missing Mueller

It was a bittersweet experience landing in Cap Haitian, knowing that our dear friend of many years, Mueller Jean-Jacque, would not be greeting us as he did so often in the past. Mueller died last November in a tragic motorcycle accident. Since arriving we have been able to visit his wife and daughter, trying to bring comfort and encouragement. We are glad to be back in Haiti but at the same time are missing Mueller so very much.

Grand Goave Church and School Rebuilt

It seems like only yesterday that the church in Grand Goave, Haiti lay in ruins. Today, it is a whole, beautiful building, stronger than it was before the 2010 earthquake brought it down. In the aftermath of the quake the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptists partnered in relief and development ministries. Many hard working CBF/ABC teams labored alongside their Haitian brothers and sisters,in partnership with the Haitian Baptist Convention, to complete the reconstruction. Today, the efforts to develop and maintain holistic ministries enthusiastically continue.

Last week we embarked on a cross-country trip to Grand Goave with fellow IM missionaries, Nzunga Mabudiga and Kihomi Ngweme, where we met with the ABC IM Area Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Adalia Guiterrez-Schellinger, and a group of Haitian Baptist leaders. We also met with a team of American Baptist volunteers from Pennsylvania, (ABCOPAD) who were there to build houses for widows and their children.

Adalia had the opportunity to see first hand all that had been accomplished at the Siloe School and Church. The school is now filled with students learning 5 days a week. The church is filled with song and prayers on Sundays. As it was special for us to be at the dedication of the new church a few years ago, it was again a special moment for us to celebrate communion there, our first with this congregation.

While staying in the home of CBF missionary nurse, Jenny Jenkins, we enjoyed a great time of fellowship and lent a hand sorting medicines for use at mobile clinics in a nearby mountain village.

Servant Leaders’ Meeting – Grand Goave                  Christian Health Evangelism Team Meeting           Preparing to rebuild – Grand Goave                                Under construction – Grand Goave School

Touring The Southern Peninsula

With meetings in Grand Goave completed, Nzunga and Kihomi encouraged us to join them on a drive around the southern peninsula to Les Cayes, the third largest city in Haiti. It is about a three-hour drive west and south of Grand Goave and an area we had heard about but never visited. Our skilled driver and mechanic, Ti Pierre, drove us over the mountains. The panoramic views, often on hairpin turns, were breathtaking! The roads in the south were amazingly good, and the chain of mountains called the Massif à Hotte so beautiful as was the Caribbean.

After the tour we were very thankful to arrive home safely in Haut Limbé and ready to once again serve our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Winding river-Massif mountain range                                           Cathedral in Jeremie                                             Steve and Nancy in Jacmel                                                               Mountain lake near Les Cayes

Contact Information

Holistic Health Ministries 
ABC International Ministries/CBF Global Missions
https://internationalministries.org/author/ns-james/
http://www.fellowship.info/james
Mobile: 828-284-7818
Email: jamesinhaiti@gmail.com
Mail:
Agape Flights #1369
100 Airport Ave
Venice, Fl 34285