Adieu Jenny!

When we made the decision to serve in Haiti back in the spring of 2005, our sending organization, Christian Reformed World Missions appointed Jennifer LeMahieu to ease the transition of our arrival on the field. However, Jenny, who had already been in Haiti for two years, proved to be much more useful to God’s work here. So we kept her on for another seven years! Jenny has been responsible for encouraging the youth programs of the CRC of Haiti. She has worked with the Ministry of Christian Development, Timothy Leadership Training, and Strategies for Transformation. Jenny will be moving back to Michigan after visiting some of her supporters in the US and Canada. We give thanks to God for Jenny’s service. We also give thanks for Larry and Tracey Luth (of Hamilton, Ontario), who will be coming to Haiti sometime in the second half of 2012 when Larry will begin his work as Youth Leadership Consultant. Pray for Jenny and the Luths during this time of transition. Also, remember our family this summer as we will be losing close personal friends, Todd and Jen Edgerton, who are leaving Haiti and moving to Idaho. Megan Edgerton has been Hannah’s close friend and classmate in Haiti the last few years. Even though it feels like a lot of our friends are leaving Haiti, we give thanks for those who remain and those who will be coming!

Thanks to God for Success at Savannette

Savannette is a beautiful but very remote part of Haiti.  In fact, you cannot get their without crossing a river.  For the last few months, Sharon and the women of the Savannette have been planning the annual Women's Conference of the CRC of Haiti.  Every year the conference is held in a different location so that the women, many of whom travel by foot, can attend.  This year, there were 60-70 participants for the Conference which began on Friday the 22nd of June and ended on Sunday the 24th.  In fact we learned of one woman who traveled nearly 14 hours on foot carrying an infant in her arms!  Sharon was asked to preach two services and speak at two sessions during the conference.  The theme of the conference was "A Woman's Role in the Church."  In many traditional societies around the world, the churches are predominantly made up of women, children and young people.  Haiti follows this pattern.  In Haitian society, adult men are often very unstable, resulting in many broken families and a lack of men in the churches.  For this reason, women are called upon to do more than their fare share to support the church.  This is one reason why the annual women's conferences are so important.  Pastor Bruneries (pictured in front of his church) was very excited to plan and hold the conference at his church in Savannette.  In fact, he had almost the entire group of 60 women sleeping in and around his small home.  We give thanks to God that Sharon had the opportunity to participate in this important ministry.  Please pray for the Haitian family and churches--that God would encourage Haitian men to be responsible and that God would strengthen the women to manage their families and support the local churches.

Segaar-King June/May Update

Dear Friends and Family: Although “Evangelical Christian” culture has changed a lot in the last few decades, we find that people often see cross-cultural missionaries as odd—a strange breed who leave their own country to live among unfamiliar people. Actually, we are all missionaries in a sense (and not just because we all have a “mission” to demonstrate the love of God to others). Reflecting on the saints of old, the author of Hebrews (Heb. 11: 13-16) writes: “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth...If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” All Christians are living in a “country” and “culture” that is not our own. So, it is to be expected that sometimes this world should vex and confuse us—otherwise how would we know that our citizenship is in the world to come. We pray that God will convince us of our heavenly citizenship so that we can best change the world in which we live! Please give thanks for: 1. An extremely successful week of Timothy Training in 2-4 May. We had many more people (85+) than expected and graduated seven participants from the first and second levels. 2. Safety and success for a visit from a Worship and Music Team in May. The team visited numerous churches and hosted at what seems to be the first ever Worship and Music conference in Haiti. The conference and team were extremely well received. 3. Continued progress in the Vila de Woz church construction project. This week the Haitian team is putting up 24 trusses assembled with over 12,000 screws! Please pray for: 1. The annual Women’s Spiritual Conference to be held in an area of Haiti called Savannette 22-24 June. Along with some Haitian colleagues, Sharon will be teaching, preaching and encouraging the women in this isolated area near the Dominican border. 2. Visit of Zach’s parents to Haiti and our family’s trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for six weeks. Sharon is scheduled for a potential rotator-cuff surgery on Thursday the 27th of June pending results from an MRI she will have. Zach will remain in Haiti (until the end of July) and Zach’s parents will accompany Sharon to Michigan. Our whole family will return to Haiti mid-August, Lord willing. 3. The departure of our colleague and friend, Jennifer LeMahieu in June. Pray for Jenny’s transition as she concludes seven years of work with CRWM/Sous Espwa. 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

In Search of a Roof....

For many years now Vila de Woz Church has been a congregation in search of roof.  The foundation and walls are at least five years old and were constructed with the assistance of a group of expatriate Haitians from the community who were living in France and other countries.  Unfortunately, the group was not able to finish the funding after a certain influential banker in the community misappropriated the money transfer from the group (the banker since fled the community to avoid lynching).  For this reason, we were very stand-offish when the Vila de Woz project was first proposed by the CRC of Haiti.  However, we agreed to a small project to demonstrate the willingness and capacity of the congregation to manage the project.  The small project was successful and the plans for the church roof were approved (budgeted at nearly $18,000 USD) and funded generously by SON-BEAM International of Jamestown, MI.  As of today, all 25 wood trusses have been built out of the lumber pictured above.  A group of volunteer masons poured a bond beam on the walls and built a peak on the back and front of the church.  This week, Kesnel Ady and Elihu Metallus are working on fastening all the trusses to a wood sill plate screwed to the bond beam by some large threaded rod poured into the bond beam.  Unfortunately, there has been a problem with the phillips drill bits used to drive the screws attaching the sill plate to the trusses--they all broke (often the tools imported into Haiti are of low quality)!  This means an extra trip by small bus to Port-au-Prince (8 hours each way) and back to purchase new bits.  Please pray that the time lost waiting for these bits can be made up and the church can be finished on time.