“Joy despite the tears”
Greetings and Happy New Year in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.
The year 2020 has been very difficult in many ways. Churches around the world have had to close their doors because of a world pandemic. In Haiti, violence, political instability, and Covid closed our places of worship throughout the country. In 2020, we had a lot of tears because of trials, tribulations, fear of death, two church members including our associate minister being kidnapped, and many evangelistic plans neglected.
However, we have survived and have had much joy in spite of all these difficulties. We have restarted our services and the response to the gospel has been a source of great joy. This year we had 142 baptisms including 62 young people converted from the summer Youth Camp. These young people came from 10 different communities, therefore planting the seeds for the church of tomorrow in these areas.
For a while, the government only allowed groups of 10 people to meet. One of these groups was doing so well, we decided to allow this group to become a new church in an area just outside of Port-of-Prince called, “Jerusalem”. Praise God! The Covid problem spun off a new congregation of the Church of Christ! Pray that this new church can duplicate the zeal of the first Jerusalem church as recorded in Acts 2.
We continue to broadcast the Gospel through both radio and television. These broadcasts continue to generate many contacts that have led to several baptisms. We are especially pleased with the success of one of our broadcasts streaming through Facebook.
The Delmas school of Preaching is doing well. 45 students are on course to graduate in December of 2021 after four years of training. This school is recognized by the state of Haiti to offer bachelor’s degrees in Bible and in Ministry.
We want to thank you for your continued prayers and support this past year. Many of you have helped us acquire an adjacent property to the Delmas church which is now being used for church parking and activities. God be praised!
We still have challenges ahead. We are striving to help the Haitian church in Santiago, Dominican Republic where Carlite Berlo is doing an outstanding job preaching the gospel. The church is now looking for help to purchase a building. Also, the new Jerusalem Church of Christ is looking for furniture.
Again, we constantly thank you for your prayers and support as we embark on a New Year of preaching and teaching the Gospel in Haiti.
In Christian love,
J. T. Elmera