1.28.2011

Baby Steps of Victory

I sat down to interview these two beautiful girls from the village a few nights ago to write these peices for something that Betty and Gersan needed. They were both counselors at camp a few weeks ago. Their stories are a testament to the freedom that comes through Christ. Please be praying for them and for the rest of the village. While these girls have incredible stories they still have a long way to go. Living here is so much different than living in North America with all the biblical resources and bible studies and solid churches with good foundations. Churches with good, biblical foundations are few and far between here. Pastors with good, biblical foundations are very rare. Bible studies for new believers are non-existent in this area. Church is based a lot on appearances and not real biblical life.

The longer I am in this area the more I see the needs. I have pages and pages, and many thoughts for things that need to happen here. Things that could set these people free. Even the ones that are "free" from hell and know Christ as their Savior are enslaved to SO many sins. I am not saying this as if I am not a sinner, or as if christians in America are perfect. I AM a sinner. American christians are NOT perfect. But we do have resources. We have people to disciple and teach us. We have solid churches to plug into. We have support groups to encourage us.

These people don't. Pray for this village. It is so very broken.

But there are baby steps of victory being made every day. Here are two examples.


Sandrine Pierre is a gorgeous girl that lives in the village of Ti Guinea. She grew up being involved in the voodoo ceremonies that her dad, a voodoo priest held in his temples. When the church in Ti Guinea started she could hear the singing from the services and always wanted to attend. She started coming to church because she loved the singing so much. She told me that while she was there she heard that Christ came for her, died for her and wanted to wash her sins away, and she accepted that gift. When her dad found out what she had done he rejected her and refused to acknowledge that he knew her. He doesn’t talk to her or pay for anything and he tells people that he only has four children, not five. He told her that he hopes her new friends at the church will take care of her because he isn’t going to support her anymore. After a while her mom came to church and accepted Christ also, and recently her brothers and sisters started attending church as well. Her dad has realized that it is inevitable that they will come to church, but he as forbidden any of them to accept Christ. We are encouraged by Sandrine and her mother’s story and hope and pray for the rest of her family, including her father to see, and accept Christ as the Lord of their lives.
Blemise Colas sat down with me tonight to tell me about how her life has been changed because of Christ. Blemise is in 9th grade, 22 years old and one of 7 children. She lives in the village of Ti Guinea, Haiti, where Jacob’s Well Camp is located. Blemise told us that she did not grow up in a Christian home, in fact, her father is a voodoo priest. When she was a little girl she used to go and watch the voodoo ceremonies as her father preformed them. She began to live a life full of worldly things, got involved with men, and some other bad situations. Blemise became interested in church and would have her friends tell her where the churches met, but she was very sad because she didn’t have anything to wear to church. In this culture it is important for people to dress up in dresses and skirts for church, and keeping  up appearances is very important. Eventually one of her gave her some clothes that she felt would be appropriate for church, and that is when she started attending church and accepted Christ. She wants more than anything for her family to accept Christ too, and prays constantly for their salvation. She even told us that some of her friends think she will go crazy because she is praying and talking to Jesus all the time. Her brother started coming to church not long ago because he was sick and demon possessed. He accepted Christ, but is now walking away. She prays often for the salvation of the others in the family. Her father, the voodoo priest is glad that she has been attending church because then she will not be under the bondage of slavery to the devil that he is. He has tried to resist the demons before and they possessed him and caused him to walk all the way from our village, Ti Guinea, to Port Au Prince. He is fearful of the power that the demons have, and we, along with blemise are praying that he will come to realize that Christ is ALL powerful and can set him free from the chains of darkness and sin that he lives in.

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