Distressed but not Discouraged
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
We are living one of our worst nightmares in Haiti’s history these days. We are deprived of everything: safety, peace, food, water, gas, school, hospital, and freedom to move from place to place. Since the second week of September, every single day, thousands of people have taken to the streets of our cities asking the minister to resign over accusations of sterility in politics, corruption, and involvement in the assassination of the former president. He has almost quadrupled the price of diesel fuel within a year. During those protests, some People get hurt. Others get killed, beaten and or get jailed.
People loot government buildings, schools, NGO facilities. They even made several attempts to loot our school in Gonaives as well, but God intervened in ways beyond my understanding, and they failed in looting our school. Our streets are the dirtiest ever. Barricades after barricades, and sometimes they are not even 50 yards apart. Those happenings are stressful and distressing.
We are at the point where every day, companies and service institutions are stopping their services because of the complete absence of fuel in the pump and the safety of their personnel. If one happens to find a gallon of gas in the street, it may be diluted with water and is in the proximity of 30 USD. Country people cannot come with their produce to the market because of the problem of fuel and the unending barricades, which are all over our streets. As a result, hunger is at a very scary level. At the present, over 4 million people suffer from chronic hunger. The number is escalating daily. Needless to say how burdensome that is for those of us who are in ministry.
School was supposed to open a month ago. It was postponed until last Monday. Now, the government cannot even give a tentative date when school will open. The situation is chaotic. Everyone is affected by the situation.
Nevertheless, we are not discouraged. We do not lose hope. We still believe that God will deliver Haiti from the hands of heartless, corrupted, and godless politicians. These events only tell us how important it is to continue to engage in evangelizing and educating the people of Haiti. We strongly believe the day will come when tomorrow will be better.
I am thankful for all the missions involved in Haiti because without those efforts, the situation of Haiti would be ten times worse. I am thankful for all the brothers and sisters who take time to pray for Haiti. Do not be discouraged. Please continue! I am thankful for everyone who shares with Haiti the earthly blessings that God has given them. Thank you!
The wonderful news is our people have not lost faith in God. They trust Him even more knowing that He is the only answer to our problems. Consequently, people walk miles, even in our city churches, to come to communal worship. People who cannot come to worship with us in person, worship with us via the radio or Facebook (if phone service or the internet works). Believers of all stripes of Christianity use our radio station to be fed spiritually.
We have not been able to do much in terms of construction because business doors cannot be opened, transportation of material is impossible. Yet we do make some small progress. People continue to surrender their lives to Christ in baptism. We are more and more emboldened by the assurance that God is protecting us from every single attack we know of.
Brothers and sisters, there is no reason to be discouraged when God shows daily how mighty His hands are to protect us and to provide for our daily needs. Let me give you one example. Every week I need six gallons of diesel fuel, enough to hold the Bible study on Wednesday and the Sunday services. Would you believe that God has always provided those six gallons and not more than that. Someone always has that much to give us. God is Good!
Thanks to Doug Delp and Doug Henry for providing that motorbike to Jean Gilles. It has helped both of us to continue to do ministry when we cannot go anywhere with four wheel vehicles and with one liter of gas we can do quite a bit. God bless you!
- Please pray that:
+ the government could hear the cry of the people
+ for God’s continuous provision for Living Water to operate daily
+ for funds to continue to impact Haiti for Christ
+ for the hunger dilemma
+ for our construction projects
+ for gas to be at the pumps
+ for more souls to continue to surrender to our Lord Jesus
Pray as the Lord leads you in the best interest of Haiti.
May God continue to bless you and yours,
Salonique Adolphe and team