Haiti Trip Report

Background

Some of the material I write in the “present tense,” as if it is happening as a write it. Other parts are written in the past tense. I hope this isn’t confusing to you.

Our trip, which started on March 23 and concluded on April 8th, included visits to two nations - the Dominican Republic and Haiti - as well as a stopover in San Juan on our return flight to the United States.

Day One: Departure from Washington, D.C.

As I write, we are on our way to Dulles Airport. Members of the team include John Bailey, myself, and Bernard Narh, from the Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle Campground, and Josefina Cespedes from Stanford, Connecticut (originally from the Dominican Republic). A couple of other people will join our team in the Dominican Republic. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 3:30 pm. We will be taking American Airlines.

Patrick, who is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is driving us to the Airport. We just dropped his wife off at her workplace in Washington, D.C. Through a financial gift offered by a ministry supporter, I was able to purchase this Netbook, with which I am writing this note.

Our flight will take us to Miami. We have a several hour layover in Miami before going on to Santo Domingo.

Today is Tuesday, March 23rd. Our return flight from Hispaniola (the island which includes both the Dominican Republic and Haiti) leaves on April 8th. We will arrive back in Washington on the same day.

Prior to departure from Washington, D.C., Patrick prayed for our team at the airport.

In addition to our own personal luggage, we brought eight other bags, which were filled with items for the orphanage of Pastor Luckner, that we were to visit. The weight limit was 50 pounds per bag. These items included underwear, sleeping bags, tooth brushes, a large blue plastic tarp, and some tent pegs. We also brought a couple of soccer balls. In response to the earthquake of January 12th, flights to Haiti do not require extra payment for luggage.

Security prior to departure was very tight, and for reasons still unknown to me, my luggage had to go through the security check machines twice. Despite the long security check, our flight left on time. A little baby was crying during the first part of the flight. My sense is that this baby was crying for the souls that didn’t know the Lord on the flight.

We are now about 40 minutes from landing at our halfway point, Miami.

At the Miami airport, we had a divine appointment with a pastor from Brazil, and his worship leader. We worshipped God with them in the middle of the Airport.

When we landed in Santo Domingo and were picked up by Pastor Valdez and his family. They also welcomed us to their home, where we are spending the night as I write this note.

Day Two: Winning Souls in Santo Domingo

Today was spent in the Dominican Republic. We prepared for our trip to the Dominican Republic by starting the day in prayer and the Word, looking at Psalm 95. Pastor Valdez, at whose house we were staying, joined us during the devotional time.

After our devotional time, we looked at our options related to our trip to Haiti. After considering different options, including taking a bus, or hiring a van to take us, we decided to rent a car to go to Port-au-Prince rather than taking a bus.

So John, myself, Josefina, Pastor Valdez and chauffeur drove to the rental agency near the airport. Bernard Narh, who was fasting, decided to stay at the house. While we were at the rental agency, we were able to minister to many young men who were at that location.

Josefina took the lead, and using her native Spanish tongue, ministered to a group of about 12 of them, who invited Jesus into their hearts after her explanation of the good news and invitation to invite Jesus into their hearts.

I was also able to minister to some boys who were shining shoes, who also invited Jesus into their lives to be their Lord and Savior.

I was particularly touched during this stop by a young man by the name of “Ringlon,” or something similar to that (it sounded to me like “Reagan”).

He had already accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, but I felt the Lord showing me that he had the call of an evangelist on his life. He readily received that prophetic word.

Also, a man who had two ends of his arms missing came to us asking for prayer. We ministered to him as well. The most important factor in a person’s life is their walk with the Lord, so we (Josefina and myself), ministered to him, and he rededicated his life to the Lord. We also prayed that God would grow his arms out. While we didn’t see the manifestation of that prayer, I do not want to limit God as to what He might do in the future.

At that same rental car location, a man selling coconuts and sugar cane stopped by. He gave us the opportunity to each sample a coconut. He used his machete to cut open the coconut, and then stuck a straw into it, which we used to drink the milk. After that, we ate the meat of the coconut, scooping out the white substance and consuming it.
Just at that one stop, at least 16 people invited Jesus into their hearts.

To top it off, we got a great deal on the best SUV they had available. It gets great mileage, and we will be able to use it to drive to Haiti tomorrow (Thursday, March 25).

As I drove back to the house with Pastor Valdez, he shared his views concerning the Kingdom of God, and his involvement and aspirations in the coming Presidential elections. His belief, which I agreed with, is that God is calling Christians everywhere to get involved in the world around them, being lights in a dark world, including in the world of politics.

Later Pastor Valdez and myself dropped off the youngest of his three sons at work (he has four children altogether - all of them 20 years of age or younger). This young man was totally bi-lingual, and we conversed in English.

I learned about the history of the Dominican Republic. The nation received its Independence on February 27, 1844. Later in its history, General De Gaulle of France championed the furtherance of its national identity, and he has become a hero on the island.

We had a delicious lunch. During our time at the table, the chaffeur, who was not sure of his salvation, gave his life to the Lord. So the total number of salvations that I am aware of so far today is 17.

As the evening ended, the family members of Josefina came over to Pastor Valdez’s house to visit. Several of them also were touched by the gospel message, giving their hearts to the Lord.

So as I prepare to go to bed tonight, over 20 people have given their hearts to the Lord. Glory to God!

Tomorrow, we will be getting up early to leave for Haiti, so I will retire for the evening for now.

Day Three: Delay at the Border

We left the Dominican Republic at about 7 in the morning after getting up early for prayer, worship and some coffee.

In our devotional time, we read Psalm 96, continuing from Psalm 95, which we read the previous day.

We tied all of our bags onto the roof of the car. As we left town, we picked up a friend of Josefina, who came with us.

After about 100 miles, we stopped for gas. At this place, our team saw two people come to the Lord, and one lady was in tears as the Holt Spirit ministered to her.

Later in the afternoon we made a rest-room pit stop. While we were stopped, we had the chance to minister to a couple of ladies, one of whom invited Jesus into her heart to be Lord and Savior of her life.

The next stop was the Haitian border. There was a long line of trucks as we got to the border. We found a short cut through the adjacent shrub brush, but even after that we still were a significant distance from the border.

So we decided to get out of the SUV and begin to praise the Lord, which is what we did. As we were praising the Lord, the traffic began to move, and we got back into the vehicle. After going another few hundred feet, the line came to a standstill once again. As we prayed, we first went into warfare mode, praying in the Spirit and binding the works of darkness. We then asked God what He would have us to do. We felt the Lord directing us to get out of the car, so we got out of the car and found a Dominican couple who received ministry. The lady was slain in the Spirit, and the man was also touched by God in a powerful way. Additionally, one young man invited Jesus Christ into his heart to be his personal Lord and Savior.

By now the traffic had begun to advance rapidly, so we had to almost run to catch up with our rental vehicle.

We finally arrived at the border. The officials were looking for money, claiming that new law had been passed which required this. We knew better, and after consulting with a man from Newport News, Virginia who lived in Haiti, were able to bargain them down way below the price that they had originally asked for.

I was able to share the gospel with several boys, who also asked Jesus into their hearts. We also gave them our remaining water bottles as a small gift. At the border we had another delay, as one of our team members had to have his passport stamped. We used this delay to minister to more people.

By the time we got back into the car and headed into Haiti, we had spent almost four hours in line.

We arrived in Port-au-Prince in the evening after dark and were greeted by a warm Haitian pastor. We had a wonderful supper of fried chicken and plantains, salad, and rice, after which we retired for the night.

We saw at least seven souls accept the Lord during the day, bringing the total number of souls saved to at least 29 through day three.

Day Four: El Bethel Orphanage

We started the day in individual prayer. Then, after breakfast, we had a time in the Word. Continuing our look at the Psalms, we read Psalm 97. Several people on the team, as well as Pastor Larime, had interesting comments related to the various verses contained in this Psalm. In general, it speaks of God’s greatness.

During the day, we visited the orphanage “El Bethel,” located in the city of Port-au-Prince. During the earthquake on the 12th of January, this orphanage relocated to the side of a mountainous area outside of Port-au-Prince, in order to avoid the possibility of flooding and the possibility of after-shocks within the city itself. So we then proceeded to go to their temporary location outside of Port-au-Prince.

Frankly, when we arrived, the need was very evident. A hardened expression on the face of the head of the orphanage, Pastor Luckner, revealed that they were suffering. Some of the kids had left to go get some water. Not only did they need water however - they needed food as well.

So we decided to go downtown to get them some rice. We got them ten 100 pound bags of rice. We had the food transported to the downtown orphanage in a separate truck.

At the downtown orphanage we had an opportunity to see the damage that was sustained in the earthquake. The Church building’s side wall was partially caved in, and hence was not usable.

The building next to the church was completely destroyed by the earthquake. In fact, several of the children from the worship team at the orphanage were practicing in the building when the earthquake occurred. Through presence of mind, the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God upon them, they ran out of the building at the beginning of the shaking, which lasted about 25 seconds. They all got out alive, just before the building collapsed completely.

We also had an opportunity to pray for several people at the orphanage. One lady received the baptism in the Holy Spirit as Bernard prayed for her. I (John Loewen) was able to pray for a couple of members of the worship team and speak into their lives, while John Bailey and Josefina were able to pray for the leaders of the orphanage and prophesy over them.

We had a long trip back to our house. We drove through Cite Soleil (Sun City), one of the hardest hit areas of the earthquake. The drive revealed more of the earthquake damage.

When we arrived, supper was prepared for us, which included rice, meat sauce, and salad. One of the helpers in the kitchen (Doudline) also prepared a delicious papaya smoothie, which we drank to complete our meal. We then went to bed. The women (Josefina and Belgica) slept upstairs, while the men (John, John, and Bernard) slept downstairs. Our chauffer, Junior, spent the night at his father’s house, which wasn’t that far away.

Like many Haitian, Junior sustained a serious loss during the earthquake of January 12, 2010, which devastated a large part of the nation of Haiti. His mother was killed.

I didn’t ask him to explain the details surrounding the loss, but I could only imagine what he was going through. Others in Haiti are also suffering from the effects of the earthquake. As I write this paragraph, we have just finished the eighth day of the trip. I spoke with a young man earlier today as we were in a rural part of Haiti. He said that he regularly suffers from anxiety attacks related to the earthquake. His is not an isolated incident. Others that I have talked to have also been affected in the area of their nerves and emotions. For that reason, they are very grateful for our visit. They feel that they have not been forgotten, and we have been received with open arms.

During the night, I felt a spirit of sickness trying to give me a cold, so I repeated “the blood of Jesus,” over and over again, probably for at least one half hour, until I felt a release. In the morning when I woke up, I was fine. There is truly wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb!

Day Five: Visiting the Orphanages

We started the day at Pastor Larime’s, as on the previous days. In the morning we looked at Psalm 97. Several people had interesting comments related to the Psalm.

We visited several orphanages throughout the day. The first was the saddest. Everyone was so quiet as we entered the orphanage. One of the little girls had had a serpent spirit enter her as a child. This spirit had completely disfigured her body, even reshaping her legs into the shape of a snake. She was no larger than a five year old child, even though she was eleven. Her legs as well as her entire body were deformed.

John Bailey and Bernard Narh prayed for her in faith, as did I and the other members of the team. We are believing for the complete manifestation of her healing before we leave the island. The name of this orphanage was “Salem.”

I had an opportunity to share the good news of salvation with the children at the orphanage and led them in a salvation prayer at the end of the time of sharing.

We next traveled west in the direction of the Dominican Border. This orphanage was filled with the joy of the Lord. The Bishop appeared to have done a good job of making the children feel comfortable and filled with joy.

The children there were grateful to receive ministry, which included Josefina telling them stories, and the laying on of hands, which was accomplished by the team splitting up into three groups of two each.

Day Six: Preaching on Sunday

This day was spent at Pastor Larime’s church. In the morning John Bailey spoke and I translated into French. The topic of the message was river of God, Ezekiel 47 as his main passage.

In the evening I was scheduled to preach, but rather, I decided to lead the church in worship. This opened the door to a time of ministry, during which several people received prayer.

After church, we visited Pastor Larime’s new house(s) and prayed for him and his wife in their almost completed home. On his property, he had built a duplex - one house built adjacent to the next. One of the two homes was almost completely finished, while the other still needed a significant amount of work done to it.

Day Seven: Launching Out

Started the day by spilling half the bucket of water given to bathe with. Used my towel to wipe up the water.

Later in the morning, gave laundry to “Doudline,” one of the girls who helps in the house, to have the clothes washed. We left at about 7 am for our meeting. After personal devotions, had some coffee with three slices of bread and margarine.

During our group devotions, we looked at Psalm 99. Various ones in the group had comments. Pastor Larime participated with us. Later, we visited a church outside of Port-au-Prince. We (Bernard, myself, and John Bailey), shared a word, and afterward we had a meal. A couple of young people gave their lives to the Lord during and prior to the service, bring the total number of people saved to date on our Haiti Mission to 81.

We prayed for a man who had many demonic manifestations. His arms and face were contorted. Bernard said he saw hundreds - perhaps thousands of demons leave during prayer.

We had lunch of boiled plantains, fish and sauce, boiled carrots, and fruit after the service. We then went to a different church, and we were shown our accommodations.

We were given the option to take a shower. I haven’t grabbed that option yet, but plan to do so right now, if I muster up the courage. Just came out of the shower - I did a half shower, since I didn’t have take off all of my clothes in half open shower.

During the evening service, Belgica, one of our team members from the Dominican Republic, saw an angel. The praise and worship was very strong, and it was clear that the Pastor was a man of God, since you could see a lot of joy on the faces of the congregation.

I translated for John Bailey into French, but it seemed as if few people understood what was being said. At the end of the service, there was a time of ministry. Bernard seemed to be in his element, as he ministered to a variety of problems. There were several cases of stomach aches. Bernard told the people to open their mouth and cough or yawn, permitting the evil spirits to leave as we prayed for the people and commanded the spirits to leave.

One lady started writhng around like a snake after prayer. After additional prayer it appeared as if she had received deliverance.

Day Eight: The Glory in the Backwoods

Day eight turned out to be quite an adventure. One week after we left Washington, D.C., we find ourselves in the backwoods of Haiti.

Maybe I am somewhat spoiled (and maybe that’s an understatement), but I am still not comfortable with the idea of taking a shower in an area only partially enclosed. Maybe this is what separates “the men from the boys,” but for whatever reason, I didn’t have the courage to take a shower in the makeshift apparatus next to the house where we were sleeping.

Day Nine: Traveling into the Mountains

This was a multi-faceted transportation day. We started out in car, heading toward the mountains, where we were to visit a small church. As we were going up the hill, Junior, our chauffeur, felt that the slope was too steep, so he recommended finding another means of transportation.

We unloaded our luggage, and began to walk toward our destination. Along the way, we encountered a couple of motorcycle-taxis, who took us the remainder of the way. It was quite an adventure speeding down the mountain over the rocky road. I had my eyes closed during the duration of the voyage, and by God’s grace, we were still all in one piece when we arrived at our destination.

Along the way, a motorcyle-taxi had broken down. The Lord opened the door for me to be able to lead the driver and his two passengers to the Lord.

Arriving at the bottom of the hill, one of our team members, Bernard Narh had already started to preach to the group of people gathered at the market site. He was preaching a strong word, and the people were captivated by his message. When he finished preaching, he gave an altar call and invited those who wanted to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior to come forward. He invited me to lead those who had come forward, about 25 people, in the prayer of salvation. This group of people was very eager, and with loud voices, they invited Jesus into their hearts to be their Lord and Savior. So during the day we saw at least 28 people come to the Lord, bringing the total number of salvations during our trip to 109 to date.

After the prayer of salvation, other team members prayed for various people among the group. One was a young man from the Dominican Republic, who came from a background in Voodoo. It was the first time that he had invited Jesus into his heart, and he was making a 180 degree turn-around from his former lifestyle. He asked for prayer so that he could find a job.

Another lady had a lard goiter protruding from the side of her neck. The people ushered her to us for prayer. I laid hands on the goiter, believing for it to disappear. After I had been praying for her for a few minutes, we had to leave, but my faith level still sees that goiter gone.

We then began to walk again. Our team, minus the chauffeur, who had returned to Port-au-Prince because of the insufficiency of the vehicle (we would have needed a 4 wheel drive) to handle the mountain slopes, proceeded to walk along some beautiful paths that skirted around the mountains. We went over at least two separate mountains, and after more than two hours of walking, we arrived at the church where we were to preach that night. So the total amount of time from the time we left our chauffeur unto the time that we arrived at the church was about 4 hours.

Day Ten: Distribution of Medical supplies

Today was devoted primarily to the distribution of medical supplies.

We had arrived the previous day at the mountain church. The church itself was covered by palm branches, with the frame made out of tree branches.

We were able to pray for people before they received their medicine. We saw at least six people accept the Lord during this time.

Later in the afternoon, some other members of the team were able to pray with a family of six who gave their lives to the Lord as well.

So during the day, we saw at least 12 people give their lives to the Lord. There have been to the glory of God, 121 souls brought into the Kingdom to date.

In the evening we held another service. The worship was very strong as was the presence of God.

Day Eleven: Return to Port-au-Prince

This day was spent largely returning to Port-au-Prince. We walked for about 4 hours in the hot sun through the steep mountains. Four people invited the Lord into their hearts along the way, bringing the total number of salvations for the trip to 125.

Personally (John Loewen), I got too much sun, so I spent much of the ride back to Port-au-Prince pouring water over my head in an attempt to cool myself off.

After dropping off Pastor Luckner and Jephlo at the orphanage, we stayed for a quick lunch, then returned to Port-au-Prince.

In the evening, John Bailey and myself went out to wash the car. At the car wash, we met the owner, who was a committed Christian. He said he wakes up early on a daily basis to read the Word. I got his contact information.

We then proceeded to another development. Here, we met some men from the Philippines. They were also Christians, and expressed interest in coming to our Church, if we decided to start one in Port-au-Prince.

Day Twelve: Declarations and Souls

Today is Saturday. We rested the morning. In the early afternoon, we went up to Kenscoff, an area located above Port-au-Prince. It is high in the mountains. The temperature is cool, and there are pine trees. Just past Kenscoff is Fermathe. When we arrived there, we felt led to stop and talk to some people. We handed out some magazines with gospel related articles translated into Creole.

We found a lady who spoke Creole, and she translated our message into the local language as Bernard Narh and I preached to the local people. Six people altogether invited Jesus into their hearts. As we were preaching, a couple of cars with license plates saying “CD,” (which means “corps diplomatique,“ or “diplomatic corps”) on them went by.

When added to the 128 whom we had previously seen come to the Kingdom, the six new souls that came into the Kingdom brought the total to over 130 people who have come into the Kingdom since we came to Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) on March 24.

We then went back to Kenscoff and made some declarations from the side of the road. Stretching out our hands over the valley below, we declared the salvation of souls, the liberation of the captives, and the glory of God over the nation of Haiti.

Afterwards, we returned back to Pastor Larime’s house, which we have been using as our “headquarters” during our stay in Haiti.

During the evening we went to the Joane Hunter crusade. We had an opportunity to briefly go and say hi to her prior to her ministering. The praise and worship which launched the crusade was wonderful and during the ministry time several people were healed of back problems. One young lady who had broken her arm when she was crushed by the earthquake rubble, and was in intense pain, was totally healed.

Joane prayed for people with trauma from the earthquake, and had people lay hands on their hearts as she prayed.

There were four different radio stations represented at the crusade, and the previous night, although we were not present, 40 people had given their lives to the Lord.

Day Thirteen: A Challenging Choice

Today we are faced with the challenging choice about what we are to do. We have been wonderfully blessed during our time in Haiti, and yet tomorrow, we are scheduled to return to the Dominican Republic, from where our flight to the United States is scheduled to leave on Thursday.

Bernard and I prayed to God, asking for His perfect will to be done. Later, we will talk to the group leader, John Bailey, and discuss with him the possibility of staying here in Haiti.

Day Fourteen: Souls, Souls, Souls

Today we left Port-au-Prince to go back to the D.R. Along the way we saw 38 souls come to the Lord.

The day started out significantly, at 6:30 am. Part of the group had already finished their breakfast, when seemingly out of nowhere, a group of church ladies, as if in a processional, walked through the front door of the house where we were staying, singing and stepping in unison.

They walked into the house and immediately took possession of the surroundings. As if on cue, one of the ladies would lead off with a song, and the others would follow right after her. Clapping their hands, they invaded the kitchen. Since I hadn’t had my coffee yet, I was a bit taken aback to say the least.

One of the ladies had blocked my path to the coffee pot, so I observed their prayers, still not alert enough to participate in their animated worship service. After about fifteen minutes, the lady moved, so I seized the opportunity and made a dash for the coffee pot, but for a reason perhaps only God knows, they all began to follow me, so I didn’t feel right about taking a cup of coffee, and just began to clap my hands with them.

Finally, after the prayer warriors (there were about 10 of them - all women except for one man) got back into their circle, I tiptoed to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup of coffee with milk and sugar.

This must have been just what I needed, because when I got up, I joined the entire group of worship warriors, which now included our missionary team, and began to lift up the name of the Lord with them. The women began making circular motions with their forearms and hands, which I later learned was a form of spiritual warfare which bound the works of darkness, tying up the devil and his minions, and preventing them from accomplishing their plans.

We invited the Holy Spirit to come and take control of the day, which must have been what happened, considering the results which we saw.

After being delayed at the border again, much like we had been when we went into Haiti, we were stopped several times at Dominican military checks within about the first 50 miles of entering the Dominican Republic.

After we made it through the series of about five separate check points, we decided to take a “praise break” next to the road. There was an empty parking lot in a small sun drenched village. It’s purpose was unclear, given the size of the village and the number of vehicles within it. Maybe it was created with our praise break in mind!

After about five minutes of praising and dancing before the Lord, Josefina decided to go witness to a man who was sitting in the shade of a tree on the side of the road. We decided to join her. As we did, another person joined the man. She was more open to the gospel, and Josefina prayed with her to receive salvation.

John Bailey then felt led to preach, and he invited a couple of people to step out of the car where they were sitting, and they came forward to receive salvation. We gathered in a circle, linking hands, and seven different people invited Jesus into their hearts.

We then saw some men putting up a political campaign poster across the street, so Bernard Narh, myself, and John Bailey walked across the highway (looking both ways of course to ensure that no cars were coming), and shared the good news (since I was the only Spanish speaker among us, I did the speaking) with them. All five of them accepted the Lord. John Bailey then prayed a prayer of blessing over the group.

After we crossed back over to the other side of the road, we saw a fire which was burning. Thankfully, it was not spreading quickly, so our car was not endangered. We viewed it as a prophetic occurrence, since an evangelistic fire was burning in the realm of the spirit as well. Before we left that little road side site, 15 people had given their lives to the Lord.

We continued on toward Santo Domingo. The Lord had me reading from Proverbs 8, verses one, two, and three. In this passage we read about “Wisdom” crying out from the high places of the city.

No sooner had I read this passage, then John Bailey suggested that we stop in the town that we were passing through. In the center of town, there was a public place, in the middle of which was an open covered gazebo which we viewed as the perfect place to praise the Lord and preach the gospel.

Twenty to thirty children were gathered in the area immediately surrounding the gazebo. As we started dancing, singing, and clapping, many of the children decided to join us - clapping their hands with us.

After we had sung about five verses of “Let God Arise,” John Bailey nodded at me and I begin to preach the gospel. I preached about the Cross, the blood of Jesus, and God’s love for each and every person gathered in that place. After explaining to them that they had a decision to make, Josefina finished the message by inviting those who wanted to make Jesus Lord of their lives to raise their hands.

First one, then two, then three, and then others began to raise their hands. By the time I had led them in the prayer of salvation, almost twenty of them (our count was 18), had given their lives to the Lord.

We then praised the Lord by clapping our hands, and explained to them that their names were now written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We laid hands on each child and the one adult among the group individually. One of the girls had gold dust on her cheek. I cannot say for sure that the gold originated in glory, since they were all dressed in different costumes, but it may have.

We then walked back to our car and prophesied over the town. Bernard, who is sensitive to demonic influences, broke the power of the devil over the town.

We got back into the car and continued our evangelistic mission. By now, we had seen 33 people come to the Lord during the day.

We passed a group of about 12 men who were gathered in a circle discussing something. Our drive was traveling so fast however, that we didn’t have time to stop and share with them. The Lord must have known my (John Loewen) unspoken desire to share the gospel with them, for only a few kilometers further down the road, one of our bags fell off of the roof of our car, and we were obligated to stop in a location where - you guessed it - there was a group of men gathering outside of a small building, covered by a roof sheltering them from the sweltering (to me anyway) sun.

I immediately knew that this was a divine appointment, so accompanied by Bernard, Josefina and her cousin Belgica, we went over to visit them (John Bailey and our driver were busy ensuring that our bags were tied down securely this time - this was the second time that we had lost a piece of luggage since leaving Port-au-Prince earlier in the morning)..

They knew that something was up, and all eyes were un us as I stepped into the middle of the circle. Using my (John Loewen) decent Spanish, I said “Como estan” (How is everything?“) to them and explained to them the purpose of our visit.

I jumped right into the gospel message, explaining to them that God loved them and had a wonderful plan for their lives. I then explained that through our own merit, we are not good enough to be in relation with God. Through the Cross, I explained, God had made a way so that our sins could be forgiven, and so that we could be in relation with God.

As at the previous stop, I then turned the message over to Josefina, who invited all those who wanted to have a personal relationship with God to raise their hands. One young man raised his hand immediately. It was clear that God had prepared him for salvation.

After that, three other men raised their hands, and as we prayed for them, four men invited Jesus Christ into their hearts to be their Lord and Savior. Bernard then prayed a prayer of blessing over them, which was translated by Josefina, who as a native of the Dominican Republic, speaks Spanish fluently. We then shook their hands, encouraging them to find a good local church, to talk to God (prayer), and to read their Bible daily.

We talked to a few more people before getting back in the car. One young girl, about seven, invited Jesus into her heart. The others were already Christians, and we encouraged them to continue serving God and going to church.

Altogether five more souls had come into the Kingdom, and so, by God’s grace, we had seen 38 people give their lives to the Lord during the day.

Since this was the largest harvest of any day that we had experienced since we came to Haiti, we needed to analyze what had made the difference. One of the key ingredients that we noted was the early morning prayer in the house of Pastor Lerime pryor to leaving on the trip. Although no one in the prayer group to our knowledge spoke in tongues, there was nonetheless a lot of power liberated during that time, and I believe as did John Bailey, that this prayer time set the stage for what happened during the day.

Our voyage was not over, however. We stopped at the house of an elderly lady, who presided over 15 churches. I guess that would make her a Bishop. She had two prayer requests: the first was that God would reveal to her the person who was supposed to take over her ministry, since her health did not permit her to be as active as she had one been. We also prayed for her health (she was suffering from a hernia), that she might be completely healed.

Our last stop prior to arriving at our destination was to drop of Belgica at her home. She lived in San Cristobal, which was on the way to Santo Domingo. She invited us to join us in a meal which had prepared for us. Before eating, we shared the gospel message with several of Josefina’s cousins, who had been previously involved in the church. While they didn’t recommit their lives to the Lord, their mother did, so we added one more soul to our daily total.

Prior to our arrival at our final destination, Pastor Valdez’ house in Santo Domingo, we had seen 39 souls come to the Lord. Glory to God!

Day Fifteen: The Dominican Republic

We arrived in Santo Domingo last night. This morning I started out the day in prayer and the Word. I (John Loewen) had two breakfasts - one with coffee and bread (Dominican and Haitian coffee is excellent - strong and robust - and tastes great with milk and sugar, in my opionion.

Then, a few minutes later, we had another breakfast, this one with scrambled eggs, cheese, and water.

In the evening we went to a church with a powerful praise and worship service.

I was already starting to feel weak and hot, and the next entire day I spent resting, recovering from what I believe was a brief bout with malaria.

Day Sixteen: Return to the U.S.

Today we flewt back to the U.S. Initially I was quite weak - recovering from a bout with malaria that had started a couple of days earlier - but by the time we arrived in Washington, D.C., I was almost back to 100% health.

John Bailey stayed back in Haiti, after receiving direction from God in a dream. Bernard, myself, and Josefina returned to the States, flying back to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles airport via San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As we arrived in Washington, D.C., we thanked the Lord for our His hand of protection during our trip. Patrick, who had dropped us off at the airport was there to pick us up.

Truly we give all the glory to God for an amazing, safe, and fruitful trip!