Segaar-King September Ministry Report

Dear Friends and Family:

This fall as we have been visiting churches we have been talking about God’s compassion for lost and suffering people and what it means for us.  As God’s people, God calls us to have his “heart.”  Thus, compassion should motivate us just as it did Jesus, who after seeing “the crowds...had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).  We thank you for giving us the opportunity to prepare Haitian leaders for the important task of showing God’s compassion to the lost and suffering people in their communities.

Please join us in giving thanks for:

-A good start to our support raising.  We are looking forwarding to visiting you and your church this fall.  In October we will be at 2^nd CRC of Allendale (5^th am), Jamestown CRC (12^th am), Calvin CRC of Grand Rapids (12^th pm), Calvin CRC of Holland (19^th am) and Eastern Ave. CRC (19^th pm).  

-Improved health for our family.   Half of our family started weekly allergy shots.  Also, we have all been to the dentist and we are working on getting everyone in for doctor checkups. 

-Our new ministry colleague, John Vanderstoep, has taught some of our training sessions in Haiti.

-No damaging storms in Haiti so far this hurricane season (with still a month to go).

-Joyful fun activities.  Sharon sings with Calvin’s Oratorio Society, Hannah is in theater and plays the flute, Zach bikes, Esther swims, Isaiah plays soccer and Vivian plays the violin.

Please join us in praying for:

-Peace and understanding as the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti goes through a major leadership transition and an ongoing financial crisis.

-Our radio ministry, Perspectives Réformées that is going through a time of transition as it seeks a new bible correspondence course and a new direction after the departure of Paul Mpindi, the long-time voice of the French-language radio program broadcasted in Haiti.

-The Timothy Leadership Training seminar that will happen in Haiti on 16-18^th of October in our absence.  Pray especially for good promotion and good turnout.

-Our children as they adjust to the new academic and social environment at school.

-Spiritual renewal as we will take three days in October to refocus on prayer and spiritual discernment.

 -Zach as he tries to find time to work on his New Testament dissertation and Sharon as she begins her Clinical Pastoral Education in mid-October.

Please see our attached September newsletter!  We have published a second new video about our ministry in Haiti on YouTube at http://youtu.be/QOdt5_OCOdM

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, Vivian, Isaiah and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions 

Thank You for Your Support

Most people are surprised to learn just how expensive life and ministry are in Haiti where the costs of food, fuel and other items are 50% more than in a medium-sized American city.  Without your generous support of our ministry, our family could not live and work in Haiti.  Your support pays our salary, housing, travel, health insurance, minister’s pension, and administrative requirements. During our last fiscal year, we met our support raising goal.  This fiscal year (beginning in July), our sending organization, Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM), is asking us to raise $113,500 USD.  We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting or continuing supporting our work in Haiti.  Thank you for making our life in Haiti possible.

A Big Vision

The Northwest Province of Haiti is known for its beauty.  It also known to be the “graveyard” of big non-government aid organization (NGO) projects.  Broken-down irrigation projects, faded plaques announcing failed agriculture initiatives and shuttered clinics dot the region.  There are plenty of reasons why these projects have failed, most of which lie with mismanagement of the NGOs themselves.  However, one reason for the failure is that the perspectives of the local population which contribute to their situation remain unchanged.  Our work with Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) aims to leverage spiritual growth in Christ to bring physical change in communities.  For example, Pastor Tardieu (front row, second from right in picture above), has covenanted to teach Christian stewardship to 300 leaders.  He uses TLT to teach not only faithful tithing, but also the importance of faithfully developing livelihoods to better support family, community, and  the poor.  Pastor Tardieu labors to change the popular belief among his neighbors that they are merely “poor Haitians” who can never change their situation despite their faith in Christ.  In contrast, some big aid projects have avoided addressing unhealthy perspectives and beliefs that contribute to poverty.  Please pray for Pastor Tardieu and his TLT teams as they try to make the kinds of changes that have eluded the NGO community and its millions in the Northwest Province.

A group of graduates from the TLT training in the Northwest Province pose with the trainers including Zach

A Sister of the Roses

Sister Francois has been connected to Viladewoz (translated, “Villa of Roses”) church for most of her life.  In fact, the church was built a few feet from her home.   Pastors and projects have come and gone; but every day, Sister Francois faithfully hosts bible studies, worship services, and youth groups at the church.  Because of her patient advocacy, SONBEAM International purchased building materials to help church members cover the roofless church building with a new truss and sheet-metal roof.  She even encouraged her nephew, Joslin Fevrier, to attend our theological training courses so he can serve the church as pastor.  Sister Francois is exactly the kind of woman that we have been trying to reach through Sharon’s work with the women’s ministry of the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti (CRCH).  Sister Francois hosted the annual Women’s Spiritual Conference in June, 2014.  The goal of the conference was to equip and encourage Sister Francois and other women who are deeply engaged in the life of the church.  

Sister Francois sings with a group of women from the church

Helping Teachers, Helping Schools

School teachers and directors study pedagogy together as part of the CRWM Christian education project

In Haiti, there are only enough government-supported schools to serve a small percentage of the ever increasing number of school-aged children (as there are about five births per woman, a large percentage of the Haitian population is children).  Haiti's protestant evangelical churches are filling that void in primary and secondary school education.  Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM) in Haiti encouraged one of the denominations that we partner with, the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti (CRCH), to find out just how many Christian day schools were operating out of its local churches.  Pastor Romelus Dieusibon was given the task of this research and he was shocked at what he discovered.  Out of a denomination which, at that time had 35 churches, nearly 20 of them operated a Christian day school.  Most of these schools had little or no assistance from the Haitian government or other organizations.  After learning about this situation, CRWM worked with Pastor Dieusibon to provide these teachers, who are paid less than $5 per day, with the opportunity for training in pedagogy and integration of the Christian faith with academic subjects.  In August, Pastor Dieusibon invited a hand-full of educators to share several days of training with thirteen CRCH Christian school directors and teachers.  In addition to training, CRWM has been assisting one school in Layay (near the Dominican border) with an income-generation project that we hope will help support the school along with tuition.  The plan was to buy a peanut husking and grinding machine and install it at the school for Layay farmers who grow lots of peanuts and have to travel long distances for processing. There was a setback when the fabricator of the machine was robbed in the Dominican Republic where he purchases motors and parts for the husker/grinder.  Pray that Pastor Dieusibon would be able to push forward the training and income generation aspects of the project despite this setback.  If you would like to support the project, please send donations to CRWM with "CRCH Education Proj 805897" in the memo line.  We need approximately $3,000 USD for this project.

Segaar-King August Ministry Report

Dear Friends and Family:

Please join us in giving thanks for:

-Some improvement in our pain level from the chikungunya virus.  We are looking forward to a visit to the doctor a few days after returning for some long-term help.

-The fifteenth General Assembly of the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti.  During this assembly, a new president, Camelus Anger (pronounced “Anje”), was elected to a five-year term.

 -A successful visit to the Jean-Rabel area for a Timothy Leadership Conference.  We had expected about forty pastors, but, because of the chikungunya virus, only half the expected number were present.

Please join us in praying for:

-Our continued ministry in Haiti while we are in Michigan.  Our Canadian colleagues Larry Luth and John Vanderstoep will continue in our absence.

-A good transition from Haiti to Michigan for our family.  Pray especially for our children, Hannah (who will be in 6^th grade), Isaiah and Vivian (who will be in 3^rd grade), and Esther (who will be in kindergarten).  Pray that our ministry partners and supporting churches will receive our ministry reports well and continue to support our ministry.

-Pray for peace and understanding as the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti goes through a major leadership transition and an ongoing financial crisis.

-Pray for wisdom for Haiti’s leaders as four years’ worth of election delays mean that only the president and a handful of parliament officials are serving valid mandates, creating instability in the country.

-Pray that qualified teachers could be found for the theological training programs that we participate in during our absence.  Pray that God would bless the students and help them to grow in their faith and ministry.

-Pray for Zach and Sharon as they seek to grow in their knowledge and ministry skills—Zach will be trying to finish his Ph.D. dissertation and Sharon will be doing Clinical Pastoral Education.

We have published a new video about our ministry in Haiti that can be found at U-Tube at http://youtu.be/M9FD3MrBk6w If you have four minutes free, take a look and enjoy!

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, Vivian, Isaiah and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti

Christian Reformed World Missions

Our girls enjoy a brief visit to warm Haitian sea-side before returning to the cold climate of Michigan