Segaar-King June Update

Dear Friends and Family:

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul discusses the trials that Christians pass through during their walk of faith.  He concludes, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  We are entering a period in our ministry where we will need to rely even more on God’s faithfulness.  Currently, we are the only staff members of Christian Reformed World Missions working in a ministry where only a few years ago there were four full-time positions.  It will be painful to let go of the many tasks which we cannot do.  Also, pray that we will achieve some kind of balance in work and family life to avoid burnout.    

Please join us in giving thanks for:

1.    A successful but tiring trip to Grand Rapids.  We emptied Sharon’s parents’ house of all our belongings before the sale closed.  We also had a few well-needed days of vacation before returning to Haiti.

2.    A good farewell for our colleague, Larry Luth.  Larry will be living in Ontario and working for the company that employed him before he came to Haiti.

3.    The appointment of Cody and Jessica Zuiderveen as missionaries to Haiti.  It will take at least six months for them to go through the preparation and fundraising process.

Please join us in prayer for:

1.    A new year of ministry beginning on July 1.  Pray that we would be attentive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we work on new ministry plans, budgets, etc.   

2.    The political situation in Haiti.  Haiti’s Electoral Committee has overturned the 2015 presidential elections and is planning for new elections in the fall.  This has created a lot of opposition from the political parties who did well in 2015.  Pray for cool-heads and wise decisions.

3.    The women’s conference in Jacmel (on Haiti’s south coast) beginning July 1.  The women of the CRC of Haiti, along with Sharon, will be taking two days for prayer, reflection, and bible study.  Pray for a safe trip and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

4.    Interest from our supporting churches to send Service and Learning teams to Haiti.  We have an exciting project for 16-17. Contact us if you or your church is interested.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

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

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions 

My Brother's House

Pastors and church leaders like Jan learn about pastoral care, stewardship, preaching, teaching, and other practical topics.

Barren salt flats peppered with cacti, thorny bushes, and a few low hills spread as far as the eye can see.  Dust devils, resembling miniature tornadoes, whip up enough dirt to choke those unfortunate enough to be passing by under the blistering desert sun.  This  is not Arizona or New Mexico.  This is the critically underdeveloped and environmentally degraded northwest corner of Haiti.  This where Jan (John) lives, a young man who took a course on Christian stewardship with us a few years ago.  After learning about Scriptural principles of resource management, Jan  challenged his brother, who lived with his young family in a mud-brick hovel, to start saving a few dollars a day to buy construction materials (blocks, tin-roofing and steel rebar).  After about eighteen months, Jan and his brother collected enough materials to build a simple masonry house with a tin roof.  Now Jan and his brother have nearly completed the new home.  Soon Jan’s brother, his wife, and the rest of his family will have better housing to protect them from the harsh environment of Haiti’s northwest peninsula.  These are the practical blessings that God is giving the work of Timothy Leadership Training in Haiti.

It Keeps Going and Going and Going

Despite political instability, the Haitian flag flies proudly over the newly-dedicated Earthquake Memorial.

The theatre that is Haitian politics continues to trouble the country.  During the fall of 2015, Haiti should have elected a new legislature, president and local representatives.  The elections, bankrolled by foreign counties, were to have three rounds.  Two rounds happened last fall, but the third (the run-off presidential election) never occurred because of protests and accusations of fraud.  Without a new president, the outgoing president installed an interim president, who was charged with holding the final round of elections within three months.  During this time a verification committee was appointed to study the first two elections.  That committee audited 25% of the election results and found  nearly 700,000 untraceable votes.  The committee recommended the annulment of the 2015 elections, to which the interim government agreed.  New elections are to be held in October 2016 and January 2017.  What does this mean?  More political instability hindering Haiti’s development in 2016-17.  Recently, Haiti's parliament has been unable to vote to extend the mandate of the Interim President Privert whose term began in February and expired several weeks ago.  Privert will continue serving until his mandate is renewed or another interim president is chosen. Pray that wisdom and honesty will prevail in the Haitian government’s planning of new elections.

Historic Congregation Gets New Roof

Pastor Eli prepares the beams that will hold the roof trusses.

The facade of the Ounamenthe church

Galvanized steel trusses will resist the termites and rot that destroy so many church buildings in the tropical environment of Haiti.

The members of the first Christian Reformed Church of Haiti, the Ounamenthe congregation, have, for the first time in many years, a solid roof over their heads!  This congregation was originally planted by and connected to the Iglesia Christiana Reformada de La Republica Dominicana (ICRRD), the denomination where many of the original pastors and members of the CRC of Haiti came from.  These founders were Haitian-Dominicans who returned to Haiti during the 1980s when the Dominican government was persecuting Haitian immigrants.  Upon their arrival in the Haitian border-town of Ounamenthe, these Haitian-Dominicans planted the first congregation of the CRC of Haiti.  During the early years, many other CRC of Haiti congregations took root in the countryside surrounding Ounamenthe as well.  However, the roof of the original Ounamenthe church, built in the 90s, was collapsing because of age and termite damage.  Though the congregation was extremely motivated, the galvanized metal trusses needed to resist insects and elements were too expensive for it to purchase.  SONBEAM International provided plans and funds to fabricate the trusses along with a generous donation from a foundation in Fremont, MI.  The construction team from the CRC of Haiti (Pastor Eli Metalus, Kesnel Ady, and Edouarnus Estivil) provided leadership for the project.  Finally, the Ounamenthe church itself provided the manual and skilled labor needed to install them.  Unfortunately, the project was many months behind schedule because the metal truss fabricator's warehouse and plant was flooded in November, 2015, damaging the steel rolling machines used to fabricate the trusses. We give thanks to God that the Ounamenthe congregation can benefit from this new roof.  It is a small reward for the many years of faithful work and church planting on behalf of Christ and the Gospel.

Segaar-King May Update

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Michigan!  Over the next few weeks we need to accomplish a few mundane chores.  First, we need to move our stuff out of Sharon’s parents’ basement as they are selling their house.  Second, we have to attend to a number of doctors’ appointments for our family.  And finally, Zach needs some library time to make a few revisions to his Ph.D. dissertation.  We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends as well.

Please join us in giving thanks for:

1.    The completion of the Ounamenthe church construction project.  For the first time in years, the church members have a solid roof over their heads.

2.    A good visit to Jean Rabel to train twelve key leaders in sustainable community development.

3.    A well-attended Timothy Leadership Training seminar in May.  We trained 80 leaders in key ministry practices like preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and stewardship.

4.    A safe trip to Michigan.

Please join us in prayer for:

1.    New missionary appointees for Haiti.   

2.  The political situation in Haiti.  An independent commission published a report recommending that last fall’s election results be thrown out because of fraud.  While many welcome this decision, the winners of last fall’s elections could violently protest. Furthermore, the interim government put in place to hold elections has overstayed its mandate and no election has been held.  Pray for cool-heads and wise decisions.

3.    The women’s conference in Jacmel (on Haiti’s south coast).  The women of the CRC of Haiti, along with Sharon, will be taking two days for prayer, reflection, and bible study.  Pray for a safe trip and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

4.    Rest and renewal during our trip to Michigan.  We are feeling pretty fatigued and a little overwhelmed by what needs to happen before we go back to Haiti.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

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

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions 

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.