Dear Friends and Family: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations...” When these words recorded in Isaiah 42:1 were written, they were intended to remind Israel of its own prophetic task to be a blessing to the nations. However, these words remind us of our Savior born in Bethlehem two millennia ago. Although this world is full of injustice and suffering today, we have the opportunity to work with the Holy Spirit at the task of bringing justice which will be completed when Jesus Christ comes again. May God grant you a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with his grace!

Please join us in giving thanks for:
-The work of World Renew (formerly CRWRC) on the occasion of its 50th anniversary which we are celebrating in Haiti on the 21st of December. World Renew (which focuses on community development and disaster relief) is one of the three organizations that form Sous Espwa, the collaborative ministry in which we serve.
-Great progress on addressing a dispute between two of our ministry partners over land use at a property which they both occupy. The power of Christ to reconcile us with each other is amazing! -An opportunity to teach a group of essential Haitian volunteers about the biblical principles of service. We depend on volunteers in our work in order to maximize our limited resources and engage Haitians in God’s mission.
-God’s continued protection for our family.

  Please pray for:
-Our health. We have had a number of illnesses and injuries due to the rough nature of life here. Please pray for Zach’s injured eye and injured arm to heal well and Sharon’s continued healing for her shoulder.
-Important ministry events in January, 2013: a conference with our ministry partners on 16th and a visit to Belladere on the 20-21st with two board members of Christian Reformed World Missions. -Pray for the Jacquet church construction project. The church is taking two months off from construction to raise money to continue.
-Pray for the Haitian people this Christmas. It is a difficult time of year for those who were affected by hurricanes and the ongoing food-price crisis (the price of food commodities is very high this year due to droughts, hurricanes and the international market).

Thanks for your prayers and support, Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King
Missionaries to Haiti
Christian Reformed World Missions

Challenges of Life

If you have ever built your own home, church, car, furniture, etc., you know that things rarely go as planned. Sometimes your money doesn't go as far as you budgeted, sometimes a certain material or commodity becomes scarce, sometimes you slip off the ladder and sprain your ankle. Well, our construction project to build a new church building for the Jacquet CRC has hit a few such bumps. We give thanks that for the most part, the bumps are fairly minor. First, in digging the foundation, the volunteer construction team found that the bedrock just under the surface was a lot harder than expected. Second, it seems like the entire project is just taking more time. Much time is going into the rebar preparation (the building is a reinforced poured-cement construction) because 3/4 in rebar is being used extensively for earthquake resistence (try bending a piece of 3/4 in steel rebar if you want to know why the construction is going slow). Thirdly, the church is struggling to raise enough money to pay the hired laborers and feed and house the volunteer laborers. This is because there is an ongoing food-crisis in Port-au-Prince (due to a draught followed by two hurricanes) and the fact that the Jacquet church is making payments on the land as well). Please join us in giving thanks for the progress already made in the project. Also, please pray that construction can resume after Christmas. Finally, funds are still needed to complete the construction of the building. Christian Reformed World Missions is working with SON-BEAM International and Trinity CRC of Goderich, ON, to fund the construction materials needed for the project. If you would like to donate to this project (we still need at least $10K of funding), please make your checks to "Christian Reformed World Missions" with the phrase "Haiti Church Constr 805803" in the check's memo line. Send the check to CRWM, 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560. Thanks.