COMMUNIQUE 11

Communiqué #011

TO MY PARTNERS in MINISTRY

to the PEOPLE of HAITI

April 25, 2005

This communiqué has been difficult to start. The words just haven’t seemed to want to come to me. Nothing! At times, I feel empty. At times, I see Pastor Israel in everything around me. The reality has just not set in.

The children of the orphanage give me the most hope for the future. They are a living legacy of the work of Pastor Israel. During the month of April alone, we have had two sets of adoptive parents visit their children here. A total of four children have had time to bond with their mama and papa. What a blessed time this is for the adults and for the children! What a blessing it is for the ministry here!

When Pastor Israel first started talking about having an orphanage for the many children of Haiti, he was envisioning a home where the children would live for life. These children would become HIS children and he would make sure that they were fed, clothed, educated, and most importantly taught about Jesus. As they became older, he would train them in skills that would provide an income for them in their adulthood. When they reached adulthood, he would teach them to build the houses that they would live in. Adoption was a concept that he had never even considered, until missionaries starting visiting the orphanage and asking if the children were available for adoption. It was then that Pastor Israel realized what a blessing it would be to have some of the children adopted. Not only would they have a chance at a better life, but those same children could return to Haiti and give back to the country from which they came. They could return, even on a short term basis, to share their education and their professions with their people. Another blessing of adoption was that when a child left the orphanage a bed would be left open for another needy child to be brought in off from the streets. Yet another child would have a bed to sleep in, food to eat every day, a school to attend and the knowledge of the saving graces of Jesus. I can visualize Pastor Israel bouncing at the very thought! Pastor Israel had this special little “bounce” that he did whenever he got especially excited about something and it was always accompanied by the HUGEST grin possible. Pastor Israel told me that the favorite part of his ministry, next to the ministry of Saint Paul, was his ministry to the children. It gave him MUCH JOY! It is that same joy that will keep me going! Each time I see the change in a child who was near death when they were brought to the orphanage and then how they flourished after a few short months of good food and loving care, I cannot help be reassured that Pastor Israel’s work was not in vain! The photos shown below help to illustrate just such a change. Little Wisken (Ti Sonson) is shown in the January photo on the day after he arrived and in the March photo less than two months later.

To God be the Glory! Great things He has done!

Nora Nunemaker

Missionary to Haiti & the Dominican Republic

Until next time ………….