God Wins!

The Villa de Woz church with its new wood-truss roof

The view outside the church where vetiver, a plant producing perfume, is grown

Isn’t it interesting how God can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?  In the hills above Le Cayes, one of the larger towns in Haiti, sits Villa de Woz, a collection of several houses, a half-completed road, an unfinished foundation for a school, and a church without a roof.  Anyone with some knowledge of and experience in Haiti would not be surprised at the half-finished nature of the village, because the story of Villa de Woz is oft-repeated.  A handful of expatriate residents of the village immigrated overseas, made a living, and sent their savings back home to assist the community.  The goal of these immigrants was to build a road, a school and a church in the village.  The result was somewhat less impressive.  The person that they had chosen to administer the funds, a director of a local bank branch, pocketed at least half of the money transfers, leaving the projects barely started or, at most, half-finished.  Eventually, the residents ran this bank administrator out of town, but the money was lost (a Haitian would say: "Kob la te kraze" which, translated, means "the money was trashed").  When our partner, the CRC of Haiti, suggested helping finish the Villa de Woz church building, we were incredulous.  Could a successful project be mounted in a village of half-finished ones?  But God continued to convince us.  Eventually, after doing a small "test project" with the church, our donor SONBEAM International developed plans to put a truss roof on the church.  12,000 screws later the building and roof were finally completed.  The Villa de Woz church stands as a testimony that despite evil intentions, good can come about when serious Christians seek the Lord's will together.  We attended the dedication of the church building last April in the beautiful mountains of Haiti (see above).  Please pray for the Villa de Woz congregation as it discerns what direction God is leading it in ministry to its community!  Give thanks that, in the end, God wins!