Meet JEROME
Jerome is a vodou priest who I also met accidentally. I was in Marigot with Joy and the kids on a Saturday afternoon. Joy and the kids go and minister to the children and women in Marigot on Saturdays. I happened to be visiting some people in Marigot that day. During the down time between meetings, I wandered over to our old neighbor’s home to see how they were doing.
As I approached their porch, I saw a man sitting there that I hadn’t previously seen. Destine Mavoy knew who he was, though, and introduced this man to me as Jerome. Destine then spoke to me in English and told me that Jerome was from his home town of Guillaumonde, a 2-hour walk from the village of Peredo. Destine revealed that this man was the premier vodou priest in Guillaumonde and that we should talk to him about the Lord.
"...this man was the premier vodou priest in Guillaumonde..."
I never did come to understand why he was there that day, but we seized the opportunity to sit and share the truth of Jesus and the gospel with him. He was visibly moved by what he was hearing from the Word of God, and he admitted that he hadn’t heard the gospel message of Christ that clearly before. I asked him to tell me about Guillaumonde and what he felt about the spiritual condition there.
He said that his village has no police department, no hospital, no clinic, and no doctors. As far as churches go, there is one small, Catholic church and one other large church that is home to a cult called the Heavenly Army. The Heavenly Army is a charismatic cult that labels demonic activity within the church as the work of the Holy Spirit. So there is a great need in this community for the Word of God, a Bible teaching church, and physical help in the form of medicine and a clinic.
I asked Jerome if we could make the walk and come and visit his village of Guillaumonde the following week. He obliged and told me that he feels his community would greatly benefit from hearing the truth that I had just shared with him. We arranged to go to visit Guillaumonde.
Jameson, Jordan, Destine, Latigue, and I made the 2-hour walk on a Sunday morning. When we arrived we were impressed by the natural beauty of this town. To get there, you walk up a mountain and then back down to arrive at the Southern coast. So this is a coastal community.
Food isn’t as big of a problem here (as it is in many places in Haiti) due to Guillaumonde’s position on the coast. The waters are full of conch, snapper, and other fish, and the gardens are plentiful. We went to Jerome’s home, which is a big piece of property on the water, and sat down to speak to whoever wanted to listen.
Jerome disappeared for roughly 30 minutes. But he came walking back with 4 vodou priests who he said needed to hear the gospel. So we spent the next 90 minutes sharing the gospel with these priests who were attentive, engaged and asking many good questions. By the end of the discussion they all admitted that according to what they had just heard from the Word of God that they were living in sin, that vodou was a Satanic practice that didn’t please God. In response, they all wanted a Bible and further teaching.
"Jerome disappeared for roughly 30 minutes. But he came walking back with 4 vodou priests who he said needed to hear the gospel."
While Jameson and I were sharing the gospel, Jordan was tending to a large group of people who had lacerations, infections, etc. that needed treating. We brought a basic medical bag and she did all that she could. But we all knew that we needed to come back. We had a college team coming down on a mission trip from Indiana, and we thought that it would be a great experience for them to walk to this community with us to bring Bibles, treat medical issues, and share the gospel with the community.
So we made that trip with the college team a couple weeks later and it was a great success. Hundreds of people were seen and treated for various medical issues (hypertension, infections, etc), we did surgery on several people who had tumors and infections. We shared the gospel with a large group that had gathered from the community and distributed New Testaments with Psalms to them. We also brought soccer balls and played soccer with the children on the sand of the beach. What a blessed day that was!
"He asked us if we would come to Guillaumonde 2-3 times per month to serve the community spiritually and physically."
As we were packing up to walk back, I spoke with Jerome who was overjoyed with what God had done that day. He asked us if we would come to Guillaumonde 2-3 times per month to serve the community spiritually and physically. Of course Joy and I obliged as God had opened this community to us and provided it to us as a gift—an opportunity to serve Him through serving the people of Guillaumonde. This community needs to be reached for Christ. Since we are His hands and feet on this earth, the responsibility is ours and we do it willingly. Please pray for this community. Pray that their hearts are prepared to be regenerated by the Word of God. Pray that Guillaumonde is won for Christ!!