Segaar-King July Update

Dear Friends and Family:

 

Greetings from Michigan!  We hope you are having a good summer!  We have been in Michigan the last five weeks now and are planning to leave for Haiti on August 9.  We are sorry if you haven’t heard more from us this summer.  It has been very busy catching up on a year’s worth of medical appointments and business.

 Please join us in giving thanks for:

-Some good news regarding our family’s health.  Sharon’s knee is healing well.  Unfortunately, we just found out that Hannah will have an operation on August 6 to remove three suspicious moles from her skin.

-Zach is making good progress on writing his dissertation—about 75 pages written!  All the time to do research and study Scripture has been refreshing.
-A great opportunity on the 27-29^th of July for spiritual renewal.  We spent the weekend at the Hermitage Community, a spiritual retreat south of Kalamazoo, MI.  We prayed, meditated and spent a lot of time enjoying good food, rest and God’s creation.

 Please join us in praying for:

-Hannah’s operation on August 6 (see above).
-Our safe return to Haiti on August 9 and the new school-year which begins on August 12.  Esther will be starting Pre-Kindergarten!
-An unbelievably demanding August filled with ministry events.  We will be teaching our theology students, hosting the second annual Music and Worship Conference, and attending the annual General Assembly of the CRC of Haiti.  Please pray for the Music and Worship Conference—many of the preparations need to be made in our absence.
-Our supporter and former pastor at Fuller Ave. CRC (who ordained us and baptized our children), Rev. George Vander Weit.  He has been missing from his home in southeast Michigan since the 5^th of July.

 FOR MORE PICTURES, STORIES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MINISTRY AND FAMILY, PLEASE SEE OUR BLOG AT segaarking.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King
Missionaries to Haiti
Christian Reformed World Missions

Pastor Merisier Bruneus

Merisier Bruneus, the pastor of Savannette Christian Reformed Church, standing beside his church

Savannette is located dangerously close to a river (which is prone to flooding) at the bottom of a u-shaped valley at end of muddy two-track several miles from Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic.

Pastor Merisier Bruneus, the pastor of the local Christian Reformed Church in Savannette, is a symbol of his village.  Savannette is a small unassuming place a few miles from the border with the Dominican Republic.  Barely five feet tall, Pastor Bruneus has a wiry and muscular frame from decades of climbing up and down the mountains lying between his fields and his house.  Most of the people in Savannette of Bruneus' generation are short--possibly a genetic trait, but more likely the result of a low calorie diet (i.e., a famine) in young childhood.  Like his neighbors, Pastor Bruneus' cement block house is always full.  It is full of his own children, nieces and nephews, and friends and other family members.  Pastor Bruneus' church, made of sheet metal roofing and a rough-hewn wood frame, resembles many of churches in Savannette too.  At noon on Sunday, near the end of the church service (which started around 8 AM), the interior of the church feels like an oven as the heat radiates off the burning hot metal sheets and roasts the 100 or so people packed into it.  Pastor Bruneus has planted four other churches in his community.  If you ask him where they are, he orientates himself to their locations by pointing at waterfalls visible on the opposite side of the valley.  If you ask him how long it takes to get to one of the churches, he will say five hours on foot, and then correct himself by noting it would take a person like you more like seven hours.  Pastor Bruneus is humble, openly pointing out that study is not his gift.  If a task requires a lot of reading, he will push forward his son, Bruneus Killick, who teaches at the local primary school, to take his place.  Pastor Bruneus is a quiet leader.  Sometimes you won't hear him say a word during the course of a three-hour-long meeting.  But among all the pastors that we work with, Pastor Bruneus is one of the ones we respect the most.  He doesn't make a fuss.  He works hard and gets the job done.  He is loved by his parishioners and respected by his community.  Please pray for Pastor Bruneus and his congregation as we are hoping to provide some funds so that he can build a new church.  He will need a lot of patience to organize the work and to find volunteers for the building.  We will need to find a donor willing to cover the budget of around $22,000 USD.  Step by step, God is building the Christian community in Savannette, both physically and spiritually.  Pastor Bruneus and his family have an important part in that construction!

Segaar-King June Update

The Segaar-King family pose for a photo by Sous-Zabet (trans: The spring of Elizabeth).

Dear Friends and Family:

 Greetings from Michigan!  We give thanks to God that we arrived safely in Grand Rapids after a long trip from Port-au-Prince to Chicago, from Chicago to Macomb, IL (for a funeral service for Zach’s grandmother) and from Macomb, IL to Grand Rapids.  We will be in Grand Rapids until Aug. 9 for Zach’s continuing study.  We will have to keep up with some ministry activities from Michigan as well.

Please join us in giving thanks for:
-A good visit from Peace Community Church (Frankfort, IL) in June.  The team of three helped the Haitian construction team pour one third of the roof of the Ministry for Christian Development conference center. 
-A good report from the orthopedic doctor for Sharon.  After an exam and several x-rays, her doctor in Michigan believes that her kneecap is not broken after all.  Instead she has a bone spur and a large hematoma (bruise) that needs physical therapy.
-A good visit from a group from Calvin CRC of Holland.  Randy Bouwer from Calvin CRC will be helping us lead music and worship conference with several of our Haitian colleagues when we return to Haiti in August.  Please pray for the conference as most of the planning will have to be done in our absence!
Please join us in praying for:
-The annual women’s conference in Belladere, Haiti.  The event, which was planned for the end of June, was cancelled because the local leaders could not get the event organized on time (one leader delivered a baby prematurely and the other became seriously ill).  The event was rescheduled for July 19-21.  Pray that the participants would not be discouraged.
-Focus and energy for Zach to work on his dissertation on New Testament Missiology while balancing a number of family and work obligations.
-Healing for injuries untreated in Haiti and refreshment for our return to Haiti in August.

 FOR MORE PICTURES, STORIES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MINISTRY AND FAMILY, PLEASE SEE OUR BLOG AT segaarking.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King
Missionaries to Haiti
Christian Reformed World Missions

The Bees, The Bees!

Agriculture is the most important economic activity for Haitians.  Despite the fact that the majority of the country is rocky and mountainous, and a good portion receives very little rainfall, you will find farms nearly everywhere.  Of course, not all crops can be grown everywhere.  Rice and sugar-cane are farmed in the low, flood-prone areas.  Carrots, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, yams and other tubers are grown in the high elevations.  Guinea corn and cassava are grown on the rocky and dry plains.  Peanuts and beans are grown in well-watered plateaus.  Everywhere you can find mango, avocado, coconut, citrus and other trees as well.  What almost all these crops require, however, is pollination.  There are a handful of Haitian farmers and entrepreneurs who keep bees.  The husband of Hannah's fourth grade teacher is one of these!  We got to check out some of his hives (and the several hundred thousand bees that live in them) this June.  He hopes to make a little money selling his honey, which, we can say is really, absolutely fantabulous.  His dream, however, is to teach Haitian farmers how to keep bees to pollinate their fruit trees and other crops.  The honey was worth the visit despite the fact that Zach got stung on the nose (he thought it was too hot to wear the protective suit that our kids wore).  Please let us know if you are interested in purchasing any of this honey and we would be glad to put you in contact with our friend!