This update is one of my favorites so far! It highlights our amazing ministry partners in Haiti. They sacrifice tremendously as they serve God faithfully in Haiti. We are so blessed by their friendship and partnership as we minister to orphan children in the Jeremie area and beyond.
-Erica
Our team has been blessed to eat dinner each night at Pastor Dony’s. However, that means that most of our team had not had an opportunity to see downtown Jeremie. We were able to do that first thing this morning.
We then proceeded on to the beach for a swim. The tide was MUCH higher than when I was here last. We were not even able to make it out to the sunken submarine.
After quickly cleaning up and eating lunch, we headed to the orphanage for VBS. Our message today was on loving our enemies. We told them the story of the Good Samaritan. After acting out the story, the kids were asked who their enemies where and that they needed to pray for them. One girl started yelling out other kids names!!!! We have all laughed about this.
We attempted to show them the rest of Chronicles of Narnia this afternoon, however the generator ran out of gas……no refunds were given:)
After dinner this evening we were blessed to have Pastor Dony share with us the vision for ESMI. Each time I hear it I learn a little more. Therefore, I’m going to recap it briefly.
ESMI has four legs of their ministry – Evangelism, Education, Empathy and Economic Development. Most of us have heard the explanation of each of these legs. I’m going to only include things new things I learned.
Evangelism
A new church was started at the university in September. Since then 240 lives have been saved! Praise God!!!
There are 250 pastors in the ESMI organization. They are currently working on training them and developing resources for deeper messages for their congregations. There is
The country has a 70 percent illiteracy rate. ESMI currently has 39 schools with 6,500 students.
Education
There is a 70 percent illiteracy rate amount Haitians. ESMI has 39 schools with 6,500 students.
The next goal is to build dormitories at the university for future students. The last three years of school will be done at the university (finishing school).
The school at the orphanage currently goes to the 7th grade.
Empathy
A few weeks ago one of the couples in the community went into labor and was not able to deliver the baby. She needed a C-section. Pastor Dony loaned them their car to drive the 7 hours to have the operation. The mom ended up having the child in the car 3 hours into the drive. The family has not been saved yet, however they are attending e church. God uses many methods to reach the lost! Pray for this family.
The orphanage plans to bring on 25 additional kids at a time until they reach 200. The plan is to stay at this number for some time to make sure it is manageable. The next 25 kids will be between the ages of 5 to 7. They will come from the surrounding communities and have already been identified.
They are working on bringing on some Papas to have some male role models at the orphanage.
The church is ministering to the local widows. The other members of the church brings extra supplies and part of the offering is given to them.
Economic Relief
There are a few “businesses” that have been started – a dump truck, ice house and agriculture. The current undertaking is to start a chicken farm. The property has been purchased and construction has began. The plan is to have 6 chicken coops that will hold 1,000 chickens each. Two of these coops have already been funded.
At one point there were 2,000 orphans in the ESMI organization. Many have been reunited with their families. Currently there are between 1,200 to 1,400 children.
There are 21 ESMI orphans studying at the university in Cayes.
There is a plan to allow some of the students to go to university in the USA with an American sponsor.
ESMI has 700 employees – 7 executive level employees, zone coordinators, campus pastors, momma’s, teachers, etc.
What a blessing it is to be here! I fall in love with these kids and the country more each day! What a PRIVILEGE it is to serve along side ESMI!
-Kim Powers