His Heart for Haiti

A new phase of service! We are thankful to have a contract this coming year with HarvestCall as we continue to work and share the gospel in Haiti. We’ll be based in Ohio but travel there every few months. We will continue to partner with Child Sponsorship as we seek ways to keep improving the program. Lord willing, we look forward to going down in October to get back into the swing of things. It is a blessing to serve. God is great!

Another good opportunity! For several months Mike has been enjoying another new experience; working at home as he contracts graphic design projects with Array Creative in North Canton (one of his previous bosses and a co-worker are the managing partners). He never imagined he would be able to work from home. All those years he used to drive 30 or so miles to work hopefully are over. God is good!

A new baby! Joab and Trinity are proud and happy new parents of Jaylah Faith, born on July 4. Susie got to be at the hospital through the entire delivery! Our first granddaughter (second grandchild) is adorable and we love seeing her as often as possible. Joab and Trinity are adjusting to getting a lot less sleep but they are so thankful that the delivery is behind them. God is merciful!

Our own “baby” is already 16! Grace is working at the Bauman Orchard Corner Market this summer and really likes it! She enjoys stocking the fruit and vegetables and manning the cash register, too. She is looking forward to her senior year and has recently been out with her friend, Elise (and her camera), finding ideal spots for senior photos.

Sponsored school reports are in! After several years of disruptions between the earthquake, Covid and instability in the country, we have finally been able to check a large percentage of schools. They are still dealing with so much damage! In one place everything in the area was flattened except for three homes. Schools have functioned this entire year in improvised ways: in temporary shelters or under roofs made from tarps or scraps of tin. Of the 125 schools we work with, half experienced significant damage and another quarter had some damage from the earthquake a year ago.

Sponsor a school! Sponsorship is a wonderful way to directly help a school in Haiti keep operating. Most families cannot even pay the small tuition fee required per student for attendance, but a sponsor changes everything! Monthly funds will help pay the teachers’ salaries so the teachers can teach and the students can learn. Thanks to many current sponsors for your love and kindness. Know you are making a real difference to a community in Haiti!

If you have questions or are interested in school sponsorship, you can contact us directly or contact HarvestCall at:

Apostolic Christian HarvestCall
Child Sponsorship Program
PO Box 36
Morton, IL 61550

phone: (309) 266-6080
email: childsponsorship@harvestcall.org

Our email: mswalder91@gmail.com

Ohio. We had no idea when we left Haiti for our furlough in June last summer that we wouldn’t be back for a long time! In fact, it wouldn’t be until late January that we would return with Grace for a two-week visit. Between visits we have worked remotely on many Child Sponsorship projects as we continue to support the program as much as possible.

Susie’s parents have continued to decline and in December dad moved into the same nursing home where mom lives. We cleaned out his apartment and were blessed with some of our parents mid-century modern furniture and other keepsakes to fill up our rental house even more.

Haiti. We went to Haiti in January for two weeks to see Joab and Trinity and to get some ministry done as well! We were able to spend time with Joab’s family and make a meal for them, go to the beach, re-engage with the staff at Child Care, go on an all-day school visit adventure and teach a seminar on salvation at the local IRD trade school. It was a special time! We were surprised to experience several strong aftershocks while we were there.

God is so good! Joab and Trin are expecting their first child the end of June. Then Evan and Leah announced they are expecting their second child in September! We can hardly wait to meet these new creations of God. We are looking forward to the Télusma’s coming back here soon as they prepare for the arrival of their Haitian/American baby.

1 Corinthians 13 concludes by saying that love is the greatest gift of all. We have seen first-hand through the summer months that God’s ways are wonderful and God’s gives perfect gifts!

In early June we moved Trinity down to Cayes as her teaching responsibilities had ended in Bonne Fin. We were amazed at how ready she was to move back to the U.S. and on to the next (and then unknown) chapter of her life. It was only a short time before she was fully aware that she would not be leaving Haiti anytime soon. God provided a totally unexpected, new direction! Although friends for years with Joab Télusma, a wonderful Christian man, God opened their eyes to see his plans for their future together.

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Love was growing! We returned to Ohio in June and Joab went to Indiana for a summer job. Trinity and Joab announced their engagement in July. It didn’t take long to realize a wedding needed to happen soon. Because of his visa, Joab had to return to Haiti by the end of September! So we dove in and set a wedding date of Sept. 12.

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Then the 7.2 earthquake struck southern Haiti. We were so affected by the calls we got and the images we were seeing the first days and weeks. It was going to be another long road to recovery; probably longer than the hurricane five years ago. So many churches and schools were flattened or nearly destroyed. It seems impossible that school can start in October this year. It seems like there are unending challenges for the Haitian people.

September arrived and Covid was increasing! Were we going to be able to have a wedding? But God again opened the way and we were able to celebrate on Sept. 12 with friends from Maine to California, from the Carolinas to Florida! It was a beautiful day and many wonderful memories were made. We praise God! He is so good! Trinity and Joab chose John 17 for their wedding message:

“The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one: I in them and You in me; that they may be perfect in one, and the world may know that you have sent me and you have loved them and you have loved me.” John 17:22-23

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Trinity had picked “TJ” (Trinity/Joab) as their nickname as a couple before we decided that the rehearsal dinner would be at TJ’s! Coincidence?

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We also enjoyed a trip to Tennessee in late July with Evan, Leah and Eugene! We stayed in a cabin on Signal Mountain and took same day trips to Chattanooga. On the way home we stayed a few days in the Smokey Mountains too.

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Gospel-Centered Community Development in Haiti (GCCD)
It has been a year since HarvestCall started its new community development program! We have really enjoyed mentoring and working closely with Pastor Peterson Benjamin who is contracted as the administrator. He is a faithful and motivated young MEBSH pastor with a heart for teaching and training. Pastor Peterson handles the material translations, scheduling and leading trainings, visits, follow-up and reports.

The Truth Centered Transformation program (tctprogram.org) has ten training modules that are spread over five years and the training includes the entire church. First the pastors are taught the material, then they in turn teach their congregations. The ten trainings cover many life applications from evangelism to money management and stewardship, agronomy practices to church and family relationships. The churches have the opportunity to learn and pray together to come out of poverty, whether spiritually or materially, with no financial assistance provided. At this time, 25 churches have started the training and several are ready for Module 3.

The program directly confronts some of these lies Satan feeds to the poor:
• We were born poor and we will die poor.
• We are so poor that we don’t need to give. Other people should give to us.
• God only cares about spiritual things.
• Work is a heavy burden. It is good to work as little as possible.
• We can’t change our lives without finances from someone else.
• Some people are better than other people. We are not important.
• The gospel only affects our spiritual lives.

After each training the churches decide on an Act of Love that they must do together. Some have started outreaches into their communities for the first time, visiting the sick and helping with medical needs. Some have taken food to local prisons and several have put their money together for various outcomes. In any case they are now thinking of their neighbors and it makes quite an impact within and without the church. We are hearing good reports and some have come to Christ because of it.

The committee in the U.S. was finally able come see the initial progress first-hand. They enjoyed a meet and greet session with many pastors, and then we drove them to visit some of the pastors at their church location to learn more about their individual challenges and opportunities.

With special thanks to many friends in Ohio, we have been able to assist Madam Yadley in totally restoring her home (she lives on the second floor with her three children)! She was so happy and thankful to God that she had a huge celebration with all her family and neighbors!

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After teaching in Bonne Fin for two years, Trinity packed up the school as the remaining missionaries at the hospital will be leaving by the end of the year. She moved back to Ohio as we returned in June.

“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6:10

We love the Haitian spirit of making do with what they have. Degaje is the creole word we often use that means “making do.” Where there is a will there is a way! Whether it’s how they drive, lay ceramic tile, or alter clothes, it all reflects the way they have to live with flexibility and making do with less.

In a similar way God takes the broken pieces and the ugly parts about us and puts them back together in Christ. He sees our potential! He puts us in the church to be better together. He makes something beautiful out of our life!

Trees are another example…you just build around them!

The Easter sunrise service this year was a success…the rain held off long enough to gather on the Child Care roof!

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Starbucks coffee for a month or sending a needy child to school for a month? It’s probably the same price.

Buying something you don’t really need or giving a child great hope instead? There is no price tag!

HarvestCall Child Sponsorship exists to provide a way for open hearts to share with another the privilege we likely take for granted…a basic education. Many children in the world cannot go to school for the simple reason that their family lacks the funds to pay for tuition, books, uniform and a backpack.

• The enrollment rate for primary school in Haiti is 57%, and fewer than 30% of the students reach 6th grade.
• Secondary schools enroll 20% of eligible-age children.
• Haiti’s literacy rate is 52.9%

Those that don’t go to school are never able to read a Bible or story book themselves. They are not able to write their names and they lack basic math skills through life. We know some of those people. They work in our homes, they work in our offices at the most menial of jobs. They don’t want their own children to live like that!

Sponsorships through HarvestCall are available from preschool age up to trade school or university. You can also choose to sponsor entire schools in Haiti. Your funds will go to help pay the teachers so that the families can pay less and so the schools will stay open. It is a huge opportunity because we are already affecting over 10,000 students this way!

You can either contact us directly about kids we know that need help, select a child on the HarvestCall website, or through the Child Sponsorship office (all contact info at the end!).

We encourage you today to start sponsoring a child or an entire school; and if you already do, consider sponsoring another!

For more information or to select a child or school visit: harvestcall.org/child-sponsorship or write: ACHC Child Sponsorship, P.O. Box 36, Morton, IL 61550.

We just celebrated 30 years together…but separated. There are many surprises in life but God helps us face them one at a time by his grace. After over three months apart, we are looking forward to being together again as Susie plans to return to Haiti next week with a team!

While missionary life involves many blessings and you really see God at work, there are sacrifices and surprises around every corner. Our favorite word to describe all of that is “flexibility,” meaning the greatest work God is doing is probably in us. It’s awesome to know we have a God that walks with us on the mountains and in the valleys too!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

We are entering a very beautiful time of year in Haiti. The drier, dustier season is giving way to the rainy season. While the kreyol language has spring, summer, fall and winter in it, there are really only two seasons, dry and wet! It is always beautiful here, but now the fruit trees, fields and flowers really produce. But it makes sense…it’s a jungle!

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Most of the missionary houses here are on solar at this point. We were very thankful to receive the former solar panels from the guest house so we could also profit from the nearly constant rays. Child Care is positioned to be next!

This year we are separated for the holidays. Mike, Trinity and Grace are together in Haiti as Susie went back to Ohio to stay with Grant, help out with her dad, and eventually go see…our new grandson in Illinois!!

Welcome to the world Eugene Richard Walder, born to Evan and Leah December 23!

Backing up a bit now…we returned to Haiti the end of September and almost immediately were able to move to another missionary residence at Cite Lumiere. It was a lot of work but we really like it at the “new” place!

Soon after we moved we had a few waves of visitors! First, Grant came for about three weeks! We had him fly to Jeremie and picked him up there. It was a lot safer and way less traffic than driving in to Port-au-Prince. We sure had some fun times with him!

Next, Rich Pfister and Rob Lehman came for a week to support Child Sponsorship in a list of ways. We enjoyed these guys, their generous time and great encouragement to our ministry here!

Most importantly, we are thankful to God for His provision through seven years in Haiti. We moved here December 17, 2013! There are so many stories but the bottom line is God is always faithful!

Family, friends, summer jobs and summer activities! We were blessed with a home in the country to stay in this summer. We call it “the big cabin” as it is an original 1950’s ranch that has been furnished with love by several friends. We enjoy the yard, fire pit and sunset views! We often think of Stan and Gloria Hartzler who welcomed us into their home the last five summers. That was such a blessing for us, but now they have retired as our church advocates. Paul and Kristen Klotzle have picked up that role and were the ones to find this home for us.

Trinity returned from Haiti in June and was a bridesmaid in the wedding for her friend Sidney (Schar) Rupp! She and Grace have been making lots of fruit boxes at Bauman Orchards while Mike has also been working at their busy Corner Market. Susie takes special care of her dad in his apartment nearby the Rittman nursing home and also taking him often to see her mom through the window at the Home.

Evan and Leah have traveled twice to spend time with us and we went to Illinois over the fourth of July as well! We had good times being together whether at the lake, touring in Holmes County, or waiting for a seat at a restaurant. The best Father’s Day gift was finding out we will be grandparents at the end of the year! Grant has been working overtime at Schaeffler in Wooster after going back to work in June. He works second shift so we have to catch him either in the morning or on a Sunday!

We have all also enjoyed quality time with friends; whether to sit by a fire, having a breakfast or dinner together, or catching up at church. Many helped donate food for our summer shipment to Haiti. Thank you for all your love and encouragement! 

Passport renewals! It had to be this summer of all years that we would need to renew our passports. It is a real dilemma with longer wait times for getting them back in the mail. We are trying to patiently wait for God’s timing so we can return to Haiti. You are a big God with complete control, but could you just expedite them for us please?

Meanwhile, things march on in Haiti! Many schools were only open three or four months all of last year between the rioting and Covid. Now the schools have reopened early to finish the 2019-2020 year from August to October.  In October the 2020-21 school year will start. We are thankful all the kids won’t lose a year of school!

GCCD training has started! God’s Word is what will change lives and communities in Haiti and around the world! Pastor Peterson Benjamin taught the first module for the Gospel Centered Community Discipleship (GCCD) initiative we are working on for HarvestCall with selected pastors, their churches and communities. He trained the facilitators but he is also going on location to support and help them teach. This is crucial so we can make adjustments as needed to improve the training in the future for the Haitian context. 

Prayers are needed! The situation that the country of Haiti finds itself in is complex. Satan is actively working at the political level and otherwise. But God is working even more! We need to ask God what he is doing in Haiti today and join Him. God is not finished until every heart is reconciled and all wrongs are made right. Satan is already defeated so we must not give him any territory, including the beautiful country of Haiti!

“And Jesus looking upon them said, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27

 

 

God knows! That is something Haitians say all the time. This describes well the last few months. “God knows” just covers it better than anything else…because it is so true!

Because of Covid-19 Susie and Grace had flights to return to Haiti that never materialized. So they moved into Grant’s new apartment and made the best of it while we waited. As the months continued on it became very obvious that I had to return to the U.S. if we were to be together again anytime soon.

Because of Covid-19 the new Community Development program we are helping with has slowed down. Pastor Peterson recently qualified and met with pastors about the program, but we are not able to begin the training until larger groups are allowed to get together. In retrospect it has been a blessing to have lots of time for he and I to work together and be positioned to start the program well.

God provides! Last week I was able to fly back to Indiana with missionary Jan Gutwein on his personal plane. Once the day was worked out things moved along quickly, and we were soon airborne! We dropped off two other missionaries in Florida, Sheila Moser and Diane Vrooman. The flights from Haiti to the U.S. and from Florida to Indiana were long and interesting, but our reunion with our wives was the perfect ending to the day!

God cares! After Susie picked me up in Indiana last week we began a two-week quarantine (and late anniversary get-away) together in Holmes County, Ohio. I was exhausted and we were thankful for these days to catch up, pray and reassess. How long until we can return to Haiti? God knows that too.

Trinity continues to teach at her little school in Bonne Fin. She will be busy moving into the new school once the school year is over soon! She is hoping to come back during the summer but that isn’t certain. Grace has her eyes on the goal of finishing her freshman year soon. She is thankful that her teachers in Haiti have been working with her almost daily by internet. She has been enjoying her Ohio friends a lot since her stay here has been extended again!