Kristie and JeanJean Mompremier, and their 2 daughters, Tana and Kerri, serve as missionaries in Haiti. Below is their recent newsletter.
Dear Friends;
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
Do we believe this? In 1804, Haiti received their independence. The slaves of the island of Hispaniola had been baptized into the Catholic church per force but continued to practice their voodoo at night. The plantation owners allowed this as they believed this would appease the slaves and keep them from revolting. In 1804, the head witchdoctor held a huge ceremony in the North. After calling on all the spirits, the leaders killed a pig and had the people drink its blood. Afterwards, they told the people that because the pig's blood was in their bodies they would have to fight against their masters or the spirits would kill them. This lead to the revolution and the establishment of the first Black republic. But after 205 years of independence, this foundation has proven itself unstable. We believe, however, that 2 Chronicles 7:14 applies to Haiti as well as all countries. We are claiming Haiti for Christ. All the pastors of UCI are committed to seeing people claim freedom by the blood of Christ, and not by the blood of the sacrificed pig. We need your prayers for this island!!
Because of the blessing of the new truck, JeanJean has been able to visit most of the pastors that attend his training classes. UCI feels that training the pastor is just the start. The whole point of the training is to send this servant of Christ back to the community to impact them. It is to be a holistic ministry. JeanJean was struck by the physical poverty and the challenges these men face-walking 11 hours to get to class, being one of them. But he also saw how the Word of God is making a difference. God is hearing the cries of His people and is working. We wholeheartedly believe it is through the local church that Haiti, and the world, will change.
JeanJean's mom has been gone for over 4 months now. While she was living, she had taken care of many, many people. At the time of her death, there were 5 young people that were living with her. All of them, except one, have parents; but the parents are unable to take care of them. These 2 girls and 3 boys were good friends of ours but our role in their lives have changed. We used to be able just to chat with them about general things. Now, however, we need to know if they have eaten for the day, if they are doing well in school, if they have good shoes and if they coming home before dark. The 2 girls are staying with us. It has been a stretching but a good experience for us. Through this, God has put a burden on our hearts for the rest of the youth in our community. After much praying, (afterall we didn't plan this!) we decided to start a youth group. We've met 2 times already and we are excited by the response. The kids were eager to participate and share with us and their peers. We are going to focus on 3 things: Bible study--knowing the Word, service--to widows and those in need, and fun--God wants us to be joyful. The kids agreed to all 3 areas. We ended our last meeting by blessing 2 widows in our community by picking up the trash in their yards. We had a lot of fun doing it. I love how God works! We had over 50 kids come--do we need to start a middle-school ministry? Yikes!
We want to share just a little more about the various ministries of UCI for 2009.
Nutrition Centers: We have been able to open 2 more centers in 2009. We have found the centers to be such a good avenue for evangelism. The parents are blessed because their kids have regular food. So many of the kids eat only once a day--if that. And they want to hear more about the gospel. They begin to believe that God is faithful and will take care of them. They don't have to fear. We found out one thing, though. There are many communities that want to have a nutrition center in them. We now have a big waiting list. We will trust and wait on the Lord.
Women's leadership classes: Pray for the 12 new women in our classes. Many of them walk very far to come to class. Also pray for Madanm Saul who has taken more leadership in the class to free up Kristie for other jobs. She is a godly and capable woman that loves to help other women for Christ.
Agricultural branch: Saul and Edner and Odelique have expanded the nursery by a third. Last year, the nursery was planted with sour orange that was subsequently grafted to produce sweet orange, grapefruit, and keylime trees. Much of the labor was done through volunteers from different churches. After receiving training in grafting, the workers received the trees to plant at their homes and churches. This year, UCI has expanded to include mango, breadfruit, coffee, cashews and reforestation trees in addition to the citrus. We will continue to train men and women in grafting. Another aspect of this branch is our pig project. We recently did another census of the pigs that were given out. Saul is very pleased to report that more and more pigs are being born and distributed in the communities.
New employees: One of the biggest blessing in having a mission in Haiti is the ability to provide jobs for people who desperately desire to work. We welcome Odisson as driver, Pastor Clebert as assistant in JeanJean's training, Madanm Petipon as nutrition center leader, and Wanes as UCI's new national missionary. We have always felt very fortunate in the employees that God has brought. The employees and the UCI board here in Haiti take real ownership in UCI's vision.
On behalf of the UCI boards--both US and Haiti--we want to thank you for your generosity and we are praying that the Lord will bless and keep you always.
In His Hands,
JeanJean, Kristie, Tana and Kerri Mompremier
Dear Friends;
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
Do we believe this? In 1804, Haiti received their independence. The slaves of the island of Hispaniola had been baptized into the Catholic church per force but continued to practice their voodoo at night. The plantation owners allowed this as they believed this would appease the slaves and keep them from revolting. In 1804, the head witchdoctor held a huge ceremony in the North. After calling on all the spirits, the leaders killed a pig and had the people drink its blood. Afterwards, they told the people that because the pig's blood was in their bodies they would have to fight against their masters or the spirits would kill them. This lead to the revolution and the establishment of the first Black republic. But after 205 years of independence, this foundation has proven itself unstable. We believe, however, that 2 Chronicles 7:14 applies to Haiti as well as all countries. We are claiming Haiti for Christ. All the pastors of UCI are committed to seeing people claim freedom by the blood of Christ, and not by the blood of the sacrificed pig. We need your prayers for this island!!
Because of the blessing of the new truck, JeanJean has been able to visit most of the pastors that attend his training classes. UCI feels that training the pastor is just the start. The whole point of the training is to send this servant of Christ back to the community to impact them. It is to be a holistic ministry. JeanJean was struck by the physical poverty and the challenges these men face-walking 11 hours to get to class, being one of them. But he also saw how the Word of God is making a difference. God is hearing the cries of His people and is working. We wholeheartedly believe it is through the local church that Haiti, and the world, will change.
JeanJean's mom has been gone for over 4 months now. While she was living, she had taken care of many, many people. At the time of her death, there were 5 young people that were living with her. All of them, except one, have parents; but the parents are unable to take care of them. These 2 girls and 3 boys were good friends of ours but our role in their lives have changed. We used to be able just to chat with them about general things. Now, however, we need to know if they have eaten for the day, if they are doing well in school, if they have good shoes and if they coming home before dark. The 2 girls are staying with us. It has been a stretching but a good experience for us. Through this, God has put a burden on our hearts for the rest of the youth in our community. After much praying, (afterall we didn't plan this!) we decided to start a youth group. We've met 2 times already and we are excited by the response. The kids were eager to participate and share with us and their peers. We are going to focus on 3 things: Bible study--knowing the Word, service--to widows and those in need, and fun--God wants us to be joyful. The kids agreed to all 3 areas. We ended our last meeting by blessing 2 widows in our community by picking up the trash in their yards. We had a lot of fun doing it. I love how God works! We had over 50 kids come--do we need to start a middle-school ministry? Yikes!
We want to share just a little more about the various ministries of UCI for 2009.
Nutrition Centers: We have been able to open 2 more centers in 2009. We have found the centers to be such a good avenue for evangelism. The parents are blessed because their kids have regular food. So many of the kids eat only once a day--if that. And they want to hear more about the gospel. They begin to believe that God is faithful and will take care of them. They don't have to fear. We found out one thing, though. There are many communities that want to have a nutrition center in them. We now have a big waiting list. We will trust and wait on the Lord.
Women's leadership classes: Pray for the 12 new women in our classes. Many of them walk very far to come to class. Also pray for Madanm Saul who has taken more leadership in the class to free up Kristie for other jobs. She is a godly and capable woman that loves to help other women for Christ.
Agricultural branch: Saul and Edner and Odelique have expanded the nursery by a third. Last year, the nursery was planted with sour orange that was subsequently grafted to produce sweet orange, grapefruit, and keylime trees. Much of the labor was done through volunteers from different churches. After receiving training in grafting, the workers received the trees to plant at their homes and churches. This year, UCI has expanded to include mango, breadfruit, coffee, cashews and reforestation trees in addition to the citrus. We will continue to train men and women in grafting. Another aspect of this branch is our pig project. We recently did another census of the pigs that were given out. Saul is very pleased to report that more and more pigs are being born and distributed in the communities.
New employees: One of the biggest blessing in having a mission in Haiti is the ability to provide jobs for people who desperately desire to work. We welcome Odisson as driver, Pastor Clebert as assistant in JeanJean's training, Madanm Petipon as nutrition center leader, and Wanes as UCI's new national missionary. We have always felt very fortunate in the employees that God has brought. The employees and the UCI board here in Haiti take real ownership in UCI's vision.
On behalf of the UCI boards--both US and Haiti--we want to thank you for your generosity and we are praying that the Lord will bless and keep you always.
In His Hands,
JeanJean, Kristie, Tana and Kerri Mompremier
JeanJean and Kristie, Tana and Kerri,
ReplyDeletePraise God for the fruit that He is producing through your faithful service in Christ! I trust that he will continue to guide and provide, and may He continue to increase the faith of friends in Haiti all the more.
Thank you for being the aroma of Christ in all you are doing!
Our prayers that all of Haiti would know abundant life in Christ,
Laura