Goodbye and Thank-You to the Luths

Larry expertly installs the roof trusses of our new addition in the blazing Haitian sun.  Fortunately, Larry never fell!

For the last 3.5 years, we have had the pleasure of working with Larry Luth and his family.  Larry and Tracy are from Ontario where Larry worked in the petroleum distillation industry.  During the years preceding their arrival in Haiti, Larry and Tracey developed a desire to adopt from Haiti, eventually adopting two boys (one of whom is our son's friend) after their biological children had grown and left home.  Larry also took a number of classes in leadership development before coming to Haiti.  Larry's primary work in Haiti has been to jump start our ministry to young adults who make up the majority of the Haitian population.  He started IMPACT Clubs, a youth small group ministry that we are using with great success.  Larry's final job with Sous Espwa and CRWM in Haiti was coordinating the office addition project which some you worked on last winter.  The good news is that the project is nearly complete.  We are putting in the stairs, the ceramic tile, and the ceiling right now.  When complete, the addition will allow Perspectives Reformees of Haiti (PRIHA), a ministry of Back to God Ministries International, to move their office alongside CRWM and World Renew.  Thanks to God's grace, Larry's hard-work, and the contributions of our support network, this project is about to succeed.  Larry will work in the Ontario for the same company that employed him before coming to Haiti.

Back to Nouveau Kiskeya

The rugged but beautiful shoreline of the Jean-Rabel area.

Our training team went to the area in April.

Two participants enjoy stimulating and challenging bible study that is part of the TLT program.

One feels very small confronted by the vastness of the sea and the impenetrable hedge of cactus and thorns in the desert landscape around Jean Rabel. 

In 2011 a group of pastors in the area of Jean Rabel met at the guesthouse of the Nouveau Kiskeya Project just a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean.  At the meeting in 2011, our ministry team presented Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) as vehicle that could, with the concurrence of the Holy Spirit, bring about growth and renewal to churches and Christian leaders.  For three years we trained this group of pastors.  After the final training in July, 2014, we empowered the group to organize and spread the training.  TLT yielded some good results.  One very impressive story comes from Marc who took the training on Christian Stewardship.  Afterwards he sat down with a brother whose family lived in desperate poverty in a mud and palm-frond house.  Marc and his brother made a plan to save money to purchase cement blocks, wood trusses, and sheet metal roofing for a new home.  By April, 2016, they had amassed all the materials necessary to build the new house.  This is an amazing result in an area where people are living on less than one USD per day.  Furthermore, the last year has been characterized by massive drought and crop failure in the Jean Rabel area because of the El Nino effect. It was a blessing to hear Marc's story and the stories of so many others who have been using TLT in the Jean Rabel area.  At the end of April, 2016, we spent three days with the group of pastors doing further training and coaching.  We pray that through these efforts and God's blessing, the work of TLT will yield fruit in this isolated but beautiful area.

Segaar-King April Ministry Report

Sous Espwa Team Members and Their Families

Dear Friends and Family:

People often ask about our biggest challenge living and working in Haiti.  One big challenge is transition.  Since 2011, one missionary has resigned from our Haiti team every year.  As planned, our colleague for the last four years, Larry Luth, will be permanently departing Haiti in a few weeks.  However, we didn’t plan on the resignation of Larry’s replacement, Cory Grimm, in April.  Admittedly, we feel a great burden to continue the work started thirty years ago by CRWM in Haiti.  However, we are thankful for all those valued colleagues who have sacrificially given of themselves for the sake of the work in Haiti and returned to North America.  Pray for the Luths as they go through this challenging transition.  Pray also that God will provide a new missionary to serve with us in Haiti.

Please join us in giving thanks for:

1.  Progress in building an addition for our mission office and for the Ounamenthe church construction project.

2.    Safety and success for our trip to Jean Rabel to train eleven church leaders in “Sustainable Community Development.”

3.    Continued healing for Zach’s broken clavicle.

4.    Safety and health.

Please join us in prayer for:

1.    New missionary appointees for Haiti.   

2.    Our “Street Psalms” program in which we assist Haitian church leaders to minister to gang members and the urban poor, two classes of people under-served in the evangelical Haitian churches.  We will be evaluating it and planning new strategies in early May.

3.   Three days of Timothy Leadership Training 11-13 May.  Pray for a good group of participants that are ready to apply what they learn to their ministry.

4.    A good conclusion to the school year for our children and safe travels in June.  We will be taking some well-needed time off.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Vivian, Isaiah and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions