Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

Hi from Haiti.

We have a request. Please email us at mikenhaiti@gmail.com with your mailing address. We would like to send you a updated picture of our family. Thanks,

Pat and Cheryl at the Wednesday night meeting in Solliette.

This month there was the tragic death of a fellow missionary. Pat & Cheryl Kauffman are missionaries in Solliette, about one hour drive up the mountain. This is where I have been helping with Wednesday night Bible Study. Pat and Cheryl had been with us on Thanksgiving.

A little before lunch on Wednesday, December 4, 2013, I received a call from Charlot, a Haitian that works with Pat and Cheryl. I couldn't hear very well, but I could make out that there was a very bad accident, and they needed the ambulance. After calling Ti-boutson and Aaron to get the ambulance on the way, I called Charlot back to try to figure out what was going on. I thought it was probably a mountain truck accident, with many people killed and injured. It was when I called Charlot back that I understood that Pat was in the accident.

I was here at the house with the boys. Joanna had went to market on the 4-wheeler. I panicked as there was nothing I could do except call people to send them to the accident. Thankfully Joanna arrived within about 5 minutes. I went tearing up the mountain on the 4-wheeler to see what I could do to help. I was ahead of the ambulance (my house is up the mountain from the mission). In Thoman (about half way to Solliette), I met a mountain truck bringing down 2 injured Haitians and Pat. Pat was already dead. Tiboutson took the two injured people to a hospital, and the mountain truck took Pat's body to the mission.

Meanwhile, Cheryl had heard that something bad had happened, but she didn't know that Pat had died. I had to go up to Solliette and tell her the news. She gathered a few things from her house, and then I brought her down to Fond Parisien. Thankfully, friends from other missions had already gathered to comfort her.

Here is how the accident happened. Pat was helping a group of volunteers working on the road that goes up to their school. He was hauling rocks on his John Deere Gator. He had just imported the Gator weeks before. They were coming down the mountain. He let a Haitian guy drive. They came to a tee where they needed to turn left or right. There was a huge drop-off directly in front of them. Somehow the guy driving hit the gas instead of the brakes. They flew up over a hill of dirt, ramping the gator and then they free fell fifty feet, then hit dirt and continued to roll down the cliff another twenty-five feet. It's amazing that the two Haitians weren't killed. They were not Christians and seems that the Lord spared them for a second chance.

Please remember Cheryl in the coming days. Pat and Cheryl had sold the house and business to move to Haiti. The future looks very difficult for her. Pat and Cheryl were a very close couple. She doesn't see how she can live without him. The missionary work they were doing in Solliette was something that they were doing together. 

Teaching at the Church Leaders Seminar in the mountains. 

On another note, we just finished a four day church leader seminar in Pays Pourri. This is the mountains just south of the mission in Fond Parisien. Up until the last couple of months, this area was only accessible by foot. This year we drive to the church for the seminar. The road is steep. Only good 4x4 vehicles can go up or the 4-wheeler. God gave us the opportunity to buy a Daihatsu Rocky. It is a small jeep. It has a 4 cylinder diesel engine. In Haiti, diesel is much cheaper than gas, so a small diesel engine runs a lot more economically than big gas engines. Joanna and I took money out of savings to buy this. It cost $4500 USD. If any of you would like to help pay for the Rocky, please send a check to "International Faith Missions; 333 S. Market St; Shreve, OH 44676". Make sure you designate it "Rocky for Mike & Jo".

OK, back to the seminars. We had a great turn out. We had 75 participants from 18 different churches. I taught sanctification and servant leadership. It is such a blessing to equip these church leaders to go back to their churches to lead their congregations to live a life set apart for God. Next week, we are going to do the same thing in another area in the southern part of Pays Pourri.

The illiterate class. Notice the Rocky. This is 4,460 ft. above sea level. 

The end of October we went to the ECHO agricultural conference in Santo Domingo. While there we went to a zoo. 

Joanna's sister Caroline went with us. She stayed at the motel and babysat the boys while Joanna and I were at the conference. 

Daniel got into the bars!

Usually Joanna helps Josiah with his school, but this day I was helping him.

We had all the staff over for Thanksgiving. I am grilling chicken.

Unloading Vetiver grass. We are planting it in our yard so that it can multiply.

Vetiver is very good to be planted in the mountains for erosion control. With irrigation and fertilizer it reproduces rapidly. 

  Last Sunday, our neighbors called me at 2:00 am to take them to the maternity hospital. This is the lady's 10th child. Pray that they would come to know the Lord. Our church, Red Oak, is sending the new baby's sisters to school. Below is a picture from last year of the sisters.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We want to give a special thank you to our church, Red Oak, in Blountstown who has faithfully supported us very generously over all these years. Blessings to all.  

- Mike for the whole family.