October 22, 2009
Greetings,

Let me start right off and say sorry for the delay in our updates. We have been extremely busy with mechanical repairs. Here are a few pictures.

The wiring harness in this car was a mess, Cullie managed to get the air conditioner to work again.

Now for the story of my trip to Thiotte. A couple of weeks ago Cullie went with Joel, a fellow missionary, and two Haitian young men about 80 miles south east of Port-au-Prince to a village near the Dominican border. The Landcruiser was packed the night before with speakers, amp, generator, projector and our necessary over night gear, oh yes, and my bicycle. They left the house at 4:30am, the first hour of the trip was on paved roads then it was up the mountain, down the mountain, through the river bed (the river bed was the road), back up the mountain. At this segment they were halfway to their destination, approximately 3000 feet elevation in a pine forest. Yes, there is still a pine forest in Haiti.

After a short break Cullie got on his bicycle and rode the rest of the way to Thiotte, approx. 2 ½ hours by bicycle. It was more up and down with the final 30 minutes a descent into Thiotte. From a cyclist stand point it was an awesome ride, views were breathtaking and being able to interact with so many people along the way made it a ride of a life time.

Joel and the rest of the crew arrived an hour and a half after Cullie, they had stopped many times to take pictures and talk with the people. Thiotte is a very fertile area, heavy in vegetation. Wherever you look there are coffee plants, grape fruit trees, orange trees, banana trees, yucca plants plus tropical flowering trees and plants. They ate a late lunch at the Haitian pastor’s house where they stayed. After letting his lunch settle Cullie got on his bicycle and rode all around the village inviting people to come to the movie, Grace Incomparable, which would be shown the next night. By 7:30 that evening Cullie and Joel were sound asleep after a busy day.

Saturday morning started at daylight, you could hear someone splitting wood for the stove so the women could prepare breakfast. After breakfast the pastor took them through the village and then gave them a tour of a coffee plantation/co-op. In America we have our trusty banks, in this village they harvest and save coffee beans which they cash in by the pound when they need money for school, medicine or whatever arises.

After the tour they had lunch and Cullie got back on his bike, rode around the village inviting people to the film. He returned to the house, cleaned up and they went to the church to set up for the film. With everything set to go they cranked up the generator, turned on an outside light and the evening began. When the music started to play the people started poring in. The film was shown to a packed out crowd of approximately 500 people.

At the end of the film Joel turned the service over to the pastor, he gave a closing prayer and they all went home. Joel preached the next morning, Sunday, at the church and 60 people came forward to accept Christ after seeing the film the night before. Cullie and Joel were blessed to witness the hand of God moving among the people.

We will continue this tomorrow in another email with pictures of Thiotte.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support on our behalf. We serve a Mighty God.

In God’s Hands,
Cullie, Sandy & David