April 2018 Newsletter
Sunday, October 28, 2018
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people-kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people...”
1 Timothy 2:1-5 (NIV)
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It is a tremendous blessing for ESMI to be focused on the training of Haitian leaders for evangelism and church planting. To entrust these men with the Gospel message, that has the power to transform a people and a nation, is our passion. If the Church is to be God’s vehicle for the Gospel message to go forth, then the training of these pastors to lead their local churches is of utmost importance.
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| Here’s a brief update and prayer requests as ESMI shares the Gospel message using the four E’s: |
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EVANGELISM
Church Planting and Leadership Development
-Thankful
for our US teaching pastors: Neal, Jordan, Sean, Tom, John who served in
Jeremie, Les Cayes and Gonaives. Their teachings covered: Preparations in
writing a Haitian-Creole Bible Commentary, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit,
Principles of Leadership Development, and Eschatology.
-Monthly
leadership training continues in Cayes, Jeremie, Gonaives, and Mirebalais with
the Reformed Churches of Haiti (RCH) pastors along with the monthly presbytery
meeting
-La
Hatte church plant in the back hills of Jeremie is now completed.
Thankful for our partner who made this possible. May the Gospel message be
clearly preached and lived out by all who enter and leave this building.
-Praise
God for recent funds to do four more church plants. One new church plant
will be in the Nippes Department/State and will be led by an experienced leader who has
pastored a church of 6,000 in Port-au-Prince. Under his leadership, ESMI
hopes to develop RCH’s fifth presbytery. Pray with us.
-This
year, we were unable to secure the needed resources for the annual pastors
retreat in Jeremie in May. Pray that God will provide the resources for
next year. This has always been a spiritually refreshing time for our RCH
pastors across the island as they gather for four days of training and
prayer, and then leave with Bible study books to build their “libraries.”
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EDUCATION
We praise the Lord that the University of Jeremie (UJ) is now in its fifth
year and getting ready for the first graduating class. Pray for these graduates
from the School of Business, Nursing and Theology to make an eternal
impact for Christ in their communities
-Thankful for the University of Iowa professors and their partnership in the
fields of nursing and business
-Praise God for ministry partner who made made it possible to upgrade the Lundi
Medical Clinic to have a second floor for UJ’s School of Nursing classes
and a practicum site.
-Pray for UJ’s newly appointed Academic Dean.
-Pray for partnership with US ESOL (English as a Second Language) students to
do their internship with us at UJ. The goal is to have our UJ students
speak and write English by their second year.
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EMPATHY
The Lundi Children’s Village is undergoing changes. Pray
with us as we now have a new director and new house mothers who are all
certified nurses. Our older boys and girls have now moved to new
campuses: Boys Transitional Home and Girls Transitional Home. These older
boys and girls are required to learn several trades while completing their high
school studies. They do this at ESMI’s Vocational School (CESPUJ) in
Jeremie.
-Praise the Lord for the newly built “Transition Home” for 16 of our older
boys. Thankful to ministry partners who contributed to this
building. Pray for the bonding of these boys with their new house
parents: Pastor Amos and his wife.
-Very
thankful for our five US medical teams for serving in Les Cayes, Duchitie (a
new church plant), Jeremie and Gonaives. Because of their ministry, we
have heard of at least 60 people coming to know the Lord. With every
community medical clinic, there are always church leaders to pray with and
present the Gospel to the patients before they leave.
-Praise
God the Emmanuel Children’s Village in Jeremie now has a medical clinic to
serve the children and their community.
Village who are sick and currently following medical treatment.
-Pray for the US summer teams as they serve in Les Cayes, Jeremie and Gonaives.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
We are thankful for the ministry partnership with Just Hope
International, Inc. in developing the Widow’s Empowerment Program (WEP) by
providing small business loans to these ladies. This program was
introduced in Cayes this past January. Through this empowerment loan
program, local businessmen were challenged to be a mentor/counselor to one of
the 18 women.
Inauguration
of the Widow’s Empowerment Program (WEP), Les Cayes-Jan. 2018
The inauguration of this program had several Les Cayes
businessmen and dignitaries encouraging these ladies as they received their
loans. The program was introduced in Jeremie last year and continues to
do well by God’s grace. These ladies have been faithful and punctual in
the repayment of their loans. Here is what one widow had to say about the
program: “Before I was dependent on the church and still went to bed with
an empty stomach. But now, I can give to the church and take care of my
family.”
-Pray with us for the continuation of the water business in
Jeremie and the restart of the chicken farm on a larger scale
-Pray for wisdom to develop strategies and raise resources to
start new businesses in the different departments/states, with a focus this
year on Gonaives.
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HAITIAN-AMERICAN CHURCH PLANTING IN CENTRAL
FLORIDA
Thankful to the leaders of Covenant PCA, Melbourne, FL for their commitment to
pray and keep us accountable as we start a church plant in Central
Florida. The hope is that this plant will be a training ground for other
Haitian leaders to be sent out across the state of Florida where there are
approximately 480,000 Haitians. Please pray with us and for us as this
work moves forward.
-Thankful too for our Korean PCA brothers who are also committed to see this
church plant develop and have encouraged us with their fellowship and prayers.
-Pray that this summer I will be able to visit Boston and Montreal, Canada to
see about church planting efforts between our denomination and the large
Haitian communities in these cities.
Fellowship
with Korean PCA Brothers-March 2018
God is doing many other exciting things within our Haitian
communities. We are thankful for your partnership to pray and be
involved. As I reflect on 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and read through Prayer for the City: Bootcamp for Urban Mission by
John F. Smed with Justin Hwang, I am challenged to pray for my Haitian
co-laborers. In each of ESMI’s four E’s, a Haitian pastor or a team of
Haitian pastors is involved. Will you join me to pray…
…for their personal preparation for spiritual battle
…for their character to be blameless, their lives to be lived faithfully, and
their preaching to be truthful to Scripture
…for them to minister with grace and security
…for their preaching to be empowered and simple
…for their personal protection, health, energy, and wisdom
…for their congregations to grow in holiness, love, unity, and empowered by the
Holy Spirit
…for them and their congregation to have a heart for the lost
I trust that you will also pray the above for me and my family as we serve in
Haiti and the USA. Pray also the needed resources for the ESMI leadership
team to be raised.
Fully believing in God’s faithfulness, and thankful for your
prayers and financial support, we remain…
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| Dony and Sharon |
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General
04/03/2019 - ESMI Education in Haiti: Where
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01/01/2023 - A Look Back at 2022
09/14/2022 - Summer Update
04/21/2022 - Spring Update
12/30/2021 - Year In Review
10/18/2021 - Looking-Beyond-Haitis-Turmoil
09/27/2021 - Phase III - $500,000 Matching
09/06/2021 - Bless the Lord, O My Soul Mon
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11/16/2020 - Giving Thanks in the Midst of
08/11/2020 - Ministry Amidst Pain, Loss, an
04/15/2020 - Ministry Amidst COVID-19
01/11/2020 - Happy New Year 2020!
12/19/2019 - God's Intervention - Answered
12/02/2019 - Thanksgiving Update - Food Rel
11/26/2019 - $50k Matching Fund
11/26/2019 - Update-Food Relief Effort
11/02/2019 - Haiti-ESMI Prayer Request
10/24/2019 - Haiti - A Country in Turmoil,
10/08/2019 - Keep Praying With Me for Haiti
10/04/2019 - Help Me Pray for Haiti
09/27/2019 - Update from Dony and Sharon St
05/21/2019 - Haiti News Spring 2019
04/23/2019 - CLT March 2019 Board Meeting
03/06/2019 - March Update: Continued Constr
02/20/2019 - Feb Update: New Church Buildin
02/07/2019 - Another Gonaives Church Plant
02/07/2019 - Gonaives Church Plant-Pastor E
01/23/2019 - University of Jeremie Celebrat
10/28/2018 - April 2018 Newsletter
10/28/2018 - October 2018 Newsletter
01/03/2018 - 2017 Year End Update
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