Pastor Merisier Bruneus

Merisier Bruneus, the pastor of Savannette Christian Reformed Church, standing beside his church

Savannette is located dangerously close to a river (which is prone to flooding) at the bottom of a u-shaped valley at end of muddy two-track several miles from Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic.

Pastor Merisier Bruneus, the pastor of the local Christian Reformed Church in Savannette, is a symbol of his village.  Savannette is a small unassuming place a few miles from the border with the Dominican Republic.  Barely five feet tall, Pastor Bruneus has a wiry and muscular frame from decades of climbing up and down the mountains lying between his fields and his house.  Most of the people in Savannette of Bruneus' generation are short--possibly a genetic trait, but more likely the result of a low calorie diet (i.e., a famine) in young childhood.  Like his neighbors, Pastor Bruneus' cement block house is always full.  It is full of his own children, nieces and nephews, and friends and other family members.  Pastor Bruneus' church, made of sheet metal roofing and a rough-hewn wood frame, resembles many of churches in Savannette too.  At noon on Sunday, near the end of the church service (which started around 8 AM), the interior of the church feels like an oven as the heat radiates off the burning hot metal sheets and roasts the 100 or so people packed into it.  Pastor Bruneus has planted four other churches in his community.  If you ask him where they are, he orientates himself to their locations by pointing at waterfalls visible on the opposite side of the valley.  If you ask him how long it takes to get to one of the churches, he will say five hours on foot, and then correct himself by noting it would take a person like you more like seven hours.  Pastor Bruneus is humble, openly pointing out that study is not his gift.  If a task requires a lot of reading, he will push forward his son, Bruneus Killick, who teaches at the local primary school, to take his place.  Pastor Bruneus is a quiet leader.  Sometimes you won't hear him say a word during the course of a three-hour-long meeting.  But among all the pastors that we work with, Pastor Bruneus is one of the ones we respect the most.  He doesn't make a fuss.  He works hard and gets the job done.  He is loved by his parishioners and respected by his community.  Please pray for Pastor Bruneus and his congregation as we are hoping to provide some funds so that he can build a new church.  He will need a lot of patience to organize the work and to find volunteers for the building.  We will need to find a donor willing to cover the budget of around $22,000 USD.  Step by step, God is building the Christian community in Savannette, both physically and spiritually.  Pastor Bruneus and his family have an important part in that construction!