The month of July has been a unique time in relation to our outreach ministries in Haiti.
On Monday, July 14, 2014, Yvrose Johnson left Lexington, KY, to drive to Miami, FL, then fly back to her native Haiti.
She will begin a new “full-time” mission work in her village of Dufailly. This is something that has been on her heart for the past few years. Yvrose feels that she has been blessed by God, now she wants to be a blessing to those in Dufailly.
As the director of her “sending organization,” I’ve felt a little like a parent watching a child leave the house and head out into the big world. Over the past few days, I have asked myself several times things like –
“Did I do enough to get her ready?” and I have prayed often that she’ll “make it out there.”
While Yvrose was leaving, our good friend & ministry partner Dr Sule Jean Marcel was with us for a few weeks visiting from Haiti. While here, we’ve attended the North American Christian Convention, worked weeks of church camp and have spoken to several different churches.
On July 16, 2014, Chuck Perry and I took Sule to visit the Cane Ridge Meeting House outside of Paris, KY (see picture below).
This was the site of the great 1801 Revival that began the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. It was his first time seeing this and it helped him connect to our past as a church movement.
Here’s some more about Yvrose, Sule and the work in Haiti:
Yvrose Johnson returning to Haiti
as a “full-time” missionary
In 2008, a partnership was formed between Mission Journeys/Teen Mission and Kendell & Yvrose Johnson in the village of Dufailly, Haiti, located 40 miles from Port-au-Prince in Central Haiti.
Kendell passed away in 2010, but through this partnership, Yvrose has continued to oversee a vital Christian mission outreach in Central Haiti through the Dufailly Christian Church (established 2004) and a Christian school (established in 2009) that has nearly 200 children enrolled.
For the past few years, Yvrose has resided in Lexington, KY, traveling back and forth from Haiti several times a year. However, Yvrose now desires to return to her native Haiti to serve as a full-time missionary. She is working hard to raise some extra support in order to live permanently in Dufailly.
Yvrose’s presence would help make an on-going medical clinic (pictured below) possible as well as reinforce the current ministry of the church & school.
The church continues to average around 85 people per Sunday and the school now has 6 grades and 190 students.
To make this possible, we figured we needed an additional $1,000 income per month to make Yvrose’s move back to Haiti a reality. We have around 50% of this already pledged. After much thought and prayer, we’ve decided to move forward with plans for Yvrose to move back in July, 2014. We ask you to consider adding Yvrose/Mission Journeys/Teen Mission to your regular mission giving for this year (and/or next).
Yvrose is pictured below being prayed over by several leaders of the Fox Creek Christian Church (Lawrenceburg, KY). A commissioning service was held there on Sunday, June 29, 2014.
THANKS again to Fox Creek Christian Church for all their help with the ministry efforts in Dufailly, Haiti.
Please keep Yvrose in your prayers as she travels back to Haiti to begin full-time ministry in Dufailly!
Carrefour-feuilles Update
Over the past two weeks, we’ve had our good friend and ministry partner Dr Sule Jean Marcel in Central KY visiting with us. Sule is a Haitian-born doctor and minister.
In 1994, Sule (a Bible College student at the time) was asked by some of his family members to come and start a church in a section of Port-au-Prince called Carrefour-feuilles.
The Carrefour-feuilles Church of Christ had their first worship service on April 24, 1994, with 13 people in attendance in the morning and 22 people in the afternoon.
A school was started at the church building to meet the educational needs of the young people in the community.
As the church and school grew, there became a need for more space. The church purchased property in November, 2007, and construction of the first building (a medical clinic) began in December, 2007. Construction of the church and school building began in January, 2008.
Work on the property came to a halt on January 12, 2010, when a massive earthquake rocked Haiti, destroying most of the church/school building in Carrefour-feuilles.
I first met Dr Sule at the North American Christian Convention in June, 2006. He wanted me to bring a group to work with him in Haiti for several years. After a visit in the summer of 2010, I brought a team in 2012 and we’ve been working with him ever since to help rebuild the facilities there.
The church has moved into the new facility and now has close to 300 people coming to worship on Sundays! The Willisburg (KY) Christian Church gave $7,000 for the completion of a new classroom/educational wing last Thanksgiving.
On Sunday, July 13, 2014, Dr Sule (pictured below right) and I thanked the Willisburg CC in person and gave a plaque, dedicating the new classroom in honor of their preacher Greg Bowen (pictured below left).
The pictures below show a few of the many baptisms this year at Carrefour-feuilles; some have taken place in the ocean while others in a pool Sule and I purchased at Toys R Us here in Lexington, KY.
Want to go with us on a mission trip to HAITI?
You can go as part of a team or you can schedule a trip for your church group (you’ll need 10-12 for a team). Check out the following trips:
Upcoming Mission Trips to Dufailly
October 04-13, 2014
December 29, 2014-January 08, 2015
Late January/early February, 2015
Upcoming Mission Trips to Carrefour-feuilles
February 19-28, 2015
June 01-09, 2015
God bless, Greg Herriford – Executive Director
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