I can’t believe it!! I just can’t believe it!
That green tent that has set on our property for almost 6 years is finally down!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!
When we moved to Mole St Nicolas in May of 2010 – the first thing we had on our property was that big green military tent – which we called our church!
Honestly for me – that tent encapsulates a lot of sad memories.
- The mayor and police told us that the tent was an eyesore for them as they drove to the beach. The government actually made fun of us!
- While the school was going up and the campus was beginning to grow – we were teased by the community about that tent. They told us that their curses were working because every time we thought we had funding – it fell through.
- I remember when we had to let go of our last pastor 3 years ago for stealing from the church – amongst other things. He got a group of people together (most not even from our church) and asked for a meeting in the tent. While Jocelyn, Pierre, Jose, & I were explaining – he jumped up in anger and almost punched Jocelyn in the face.
- Later that night his people set our podium on fire and it burned completely – along with the back part of our church tent. The podium was also storage. This is where we had all our bibles, songbooks, baptism certificates, offering plates, communion trays, and other church material. So we had to shorten the tent length and rehang material to make up for the part that was burned.
- A few months later there was another voodoo service in front of the tent and the candles they used caught the church doors on fire.
- A few months after that there was another voodoo service that resulted in another fire that required more cosmetic work and shortening of the tent again. Luckily our staff lived on campus this time and put it out before it burned the whole church down.
- When we told the community we were going to build a new church back in April – the voodoo services started back up again. None of them resulted in any fires but we constantly found remnants of their services along the church property.
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December is our busiest month. We do a lot of cool things to engage the community and celebrate the birth of Jesus. When we found out the inside of the church would be ready by the New Year we wanted to make the month even that much more special!
SO…throughout the month of December we gave out 900 packs of shoes/clothes/toiletries during our 10 Nights of Christmas Movies, Church Services, & our Christmas Eve Granmoun Lunch.
We wanted EVERYONE to celebrate the goodness of God & the opening of our church….a church that hundreds of villagers literally had a hand in.
As you may remember – my dad hired anyone who was willing to work no matter their background. I remember at one point there was 100 people on the property helping us pour the foundation.
The mayor/town officials said that this is the first thing built in the Mole that everyone got to have a hand in. And although many of them may never attend our church – they all still take pride & comment on it’s beauty!
http://molehaiti.org/2015/06/15/church-construction-update-1/
http://molehaiti.org/2015/06/18/church-construction-update-2/
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On New Years Eve we held our First Church Service!!!!
We rung-in the New Year thanking God for His great provision. Jose, Malaya, Dr. Lillpop, and I got out the streamers (cause you know I love me some streamers) and all of us were decorating the church & benches for our evening service!
They were still plastering a few things inside the church as we got ready for the night. So there was a ton of cleaning/sweeping that still needed to be done.
Soon Momma Gigi, Mme Nene, Mr. Nene, Elirose, & Pierre joined us! We had so much joy & laughter as prepared our church together!
While we were working – we looked out the window and saw that green tent sitting there. We all agreed that the tent represented a hard past and we no longer wanted it sitting there.
I had the great idea to burn it down! I mean they tried so many times right? We could just set off some fireworks and go ahead and blow it up!! LOL!!
They were thinking something less dramatic. 🙂
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I was reminded of when President Reagan said: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
Our last team until March left this morning.
Though way less dramatic – although still pretty dramatic because it’s me– I said: Jose, tear down this tent!
And today that tent came crumbling down to the ground! Well….it actually took 3 hours and it required Jose, Pastor Agenor, Pierre, & 12 of our construction workers.
But still – it is an event for the books and for this village!
Instead of blowing it up like I kindly suggested, we are instead giving it to Pastor Agenor’s home church in Berger. They have been meeting under a thatch roof & wooden frame that can’t keep out any rain. They are very excited to receive it and we know it will be such a blessing to their community.
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We are still waiting for our new church instruments – the first ones sank in the boat back in September. We are hoping they will be here by late February!
We will host an Official 5-day Dedication Revival just before Easter and again will pass out bundles of donations to help celebrate God’s provision, the resurrection of Christ, & the resurrection of HIS church!
