Pastor Jean's Loss

Many of you know Pastor Jean Chery. He has worked for RMI many years as our liaison with the MEBSH organization, the churches, and the pastors. He is also very involved with all the teams that come to Haiti to visit their sister church. We turn to him many times to get his input on Haitian culture and how to proceed with many issues that arise here.

Pastor Jean's father passed away early Thursday morning. He was 92 years old and had been sick for some time. They had to amputate his foot, but infection spread so they went back and amputated part of his leg. That was really painful for him and hard on Pastor Jean. Then to add to that pain, Pastor Jean then lost him. The good news is that he is with the Lord now.

Pastor Jean and family have been out a lot of money through all of this and will have more expense with the funeral. If you would like to contribute to him please send funds to RMI Florida with an explanation that it is for Pastor Jean's father's medical and funeral expenses.

Pastor Jean's Father Passed away last night...

Greeting Everyone,

Pastor Jean Chery just called me this morning at 7:30am to let me know that his father died last night. His father had been sick for sometime now and had been going to the hospitals for help but God had another plan and took him home last night. Please pass this information on to others and keep him and the family in your prayers.

May God Bless You All,

Gary McLaughlin

New Horizon and a Haitian Lumber Mill

If you looked from the North across Cité Lumieré you used to see a large "Christmas Tree" looking tree in the vicinity of our house. Those types of trees are called Norfolk Pine. It is said that the wood is so strong, unlike other types of pine trees that they are used to make masts for large sailboats.

This particular tree has long been a type of landmark for the area. You could see it from the main road that goes into town as well as from other places. On a clear day you could even see it from the mountain with a good pair of binoculars. But no more!

We have long feared that this tree, though beautiful was a danger to our home. In recent years it has begun to lean over towards our house. Now where we come from in Texas this would not be a problem. However, there is one big difference between Dallas, Texas and Les Cayes, Haiti. Hurricanes!!!!!!

About a month ago we decided to see what it would take to bring this tree down. After talking with a local missionary we decided to hire someone to climb the tree and cut the top part off section by section.

It was quite a sight to watch this old Haitian man climb the tree, tie off a section and then cut it and lower it gently to the ground.

 

He did this several times until about half the tree was gone and the pieces got so big that they threatened to pull him from the tree.

Several days later a missionary friend brought his chain saw over. We put ropes around the tree to try to guide it safely down during its dramatic timber. You see our house is on one side, a driveway with a big almond tree on the other side, and an ornate metal fence surrounds it all. The problem was, we could cut out a section of fence, but then the tree would have to fall perfectly to miss the house, driveway, and land between a water hydrant and a cement pole used to wind up and store a garden hose.

As you can see, there was very little margin for error.

We tied the ropes and with several guys pulling to try to guide the tree, we held our breath and prayed as we watched our friend start cutting this monster down.

It started to fall! Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

It landed with a boom that rattled our teeth and sounded like the Walls of Jericho coming down.

We couldn't believe it. The tree had landed perfectly.

 

It was as if God had grabbed it and lowered it to the ground.

It was no sooner on the ground than the man who did the first cutting up in the tree was stripping it of its bark.

One my way home today I noticed that a scaffolding had been erected to make some planks out of the tree.

Waiting for the saw!

Who needs Home Depot? Welll, I would love a Home Depot here, but the Haitian people somehow come up with a way to do things.

I guess necessity truly is the mother of invention and we have a new look to our horizon!

A Pastor's Letter of Introduction

From: MEBSH Baptist Church at Lievre

To : Lakeline Church, USA

Subject: Introduction letter

Dear Beloved,

I greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? How are you doing in your church? I hope that everything is going well for you.

It is a pleasure for me to write this letter to you just to present myself and my family to you as the new Pastor of the Lievre Baptist Church. My name is Pastor Onor Toussaint. I am 55 years old, and I have been Pastor for 20 years. I was the Pastor for 3 churches before I came to the Lievre Baptist Church as pastor and also the Director of the District.

My wife's name is Yanique Toussaint and she is 35 years old and a nurse. She is a servant of the Lord working with the ladies in the Ministry that God entrusted us.

God has richly blessed us with 2 beautiful children and their names are:

Bina Toussaint - 10 years old and in the fourth grade (Primary school).

Altama Britney Toussaint - 4 years old and in the second year of Kindergarten.

I bless the name of the Lord for bringing me here. I realize that I have a lot of work to do for him here seeking more souls for him, working with the people in the community, and doing outreach every week. I am very happy to work with Lakeline as my sister church in the US. Since I arrived here, the Christians have told me many good things about you. They told me how you helped our kids with school and supported the churches in the district in many ways. I would like to say thank you for that and I believe that God will bless you.

I am looking forward to meeting you as Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Do you have a trip planned for 2009? I am praying that God will provide a way for me to see you next year.

May God richly bless you and protect you all!

Your Brother in Christ,

Pastor Onor Toussaint