By the grace of God, the work of the Haitian Orthodox Mission continues to strengthen.  The generosity of many faithful folk in the US and abroad has played a major role in the work in this most impoverished nation in the West, where many of our brothers and sisters in the Faith live in poverty unthinkable to most of us.  Without such help, the acquisition of property, any property whatever, would be unthinkable: the average Sunday offering at any of the missions is less than a US dollar… and that represents considerable sacrifice for those who offer. 

During his visit to Haïti last December, Bishop Michael ordained Amboise (here and in the cover photograph) a reader, that he might better serve both the parish of the Nativity of the Mother of God, and the faithful living in the LaPlaine region — where he is also director of the Collège St. Nicolas.  At that time, Vladyka visited the LaPlaine region… and the piece of ground you see here, which was offered for sale… at a price unthinkable at the time.  Vladyka told us we should buy it — but with what?  A few months later, we did indeed have the resources for the purchase and, amazingly (property tends to move very quickly in Haiti), it was still available.  The agreement for purchase was concluded in July, and by the time I returned in September the necessary survey and legal preparations had been made, and the property turned over to the Mission.  Adjoining the Collège St.-Nicolas and Amboise’s home, it is well suited for a small chapel and, God willing, a badly-needed clinic at some future time.  In the immediate present… upon revisiting the property, I discovered to my astonishment that the collection of tarps (under which a family lived at the time) which had obscured one corner of the property had also obscured a building… a finished room about 12' square, and an unfinished (no walls or roof) bathroom, with all plumbing rough-ins in place, and a septic system underway.  Work is already underway to make the plumbing usable and finish gaps in the enclosure… so the property, now dubbed the “Habitation Ste-Marie d’Egypte” may serve as a place for someone to live… someone special, to begin with, if all develops as we hope. 

A number of people responded warmly to the difficult plight of Juliette, who has spent her entire life on the streets of Les Cayes (where a growing group of faithful, baptized and preparing for baptism, are actively searching for a semipermanent location for regular services).  She continues firm in her desire to enter into a more stable life and resume her very limited, long-abandoned schooling.  We had money to help with living costs and schooling… but no possible place for her to live.  The Lord seems to have provided that place, hidden behind all those tarps! 

Living at the Habitation, Juliette will be next door to Amboise and his family.  She will be able to resume her long-interrupted basic schooling as a special student at the Collège St.-Nicolas, and begin (also as a special student) vocational training at the vocational/technical school conducted by Fr. Grégoire and his colleagues.  She will, of course, need assistance with living facilities and costs for quite some time to come.  As a matter of policy, general Mission funds are not used for specific individuals’ needs:  please remember Juliette not only in your prayers, but also in your offerings. 

Meanwhile, at Les Cayes — the seeds of yet another mission parish are steadily growing.  The morning after I arrived in Port-au-Prince, Fr. Grégoire and I left for the southern coastal city to serve Vespers and host an open-ended question and answer session afterward.  Recently-baptized members of the small community there had done their best to organize the meeting in advance; but as so often in Haiti, nothing worked quite as planned — neighbors of the friend of a friend who had agreed to lend a room for the service decided we must be some kind of strange voodoo group (to be sure, we scarcely look like Roman Catholics, Protestants or Pentecostals!), and persuaded her to cancel the invitation.   

It was not the first time (for one reason or another) that such a last-minute change of plans had occurred in Les Cayes.  Once again, after a delay of an hour or so, we found ourselves in a new meeting place (and me wondering if the six-hour trip from Port-au-Prince was to no avail).  By the time we began Vespers there were nearly a dozen people crowded into the small room… and by the time we finished, perhaps double, spilling out onto the porch.  How does it happen?  I got a clue, when I saw one of the members of the local community (once a new meeting place had been agreed upon) speed off as a passenger on a motorbike… to make the rounds of homes, informing those who had said they would be coming of what had transpired.

Ask yourself:  What would happen in your parish if a weekday Vespers service had been scheduled, and a few people arrived at the agreed location, only to find it closed?!

The trip over the mountains to Jacmel the next day was leisurely (for a change!), graced by a dreamlike luminosity which seemed all but enchanted.  The beauty of the trip never fails to astonish me… but this was truly exceptional.
The too-short visit to St. Augustine’s was fruitful:  vespers both evenings (the small chapel insufficient to hold the people who came to pray); the necessity to renegotiate the lease on the chapel for another two years; further exploration of the possibilities for purchase of a permanent property for the mission (nothing “live” at the moment, but it is obvious that anything large enough for probable future needs is going to cost at least $20,000).  We have leased a single room with bath (physically part of a house across the road from the church, but built without any interior connection to it) for housing visitors (especially Fr. Grégoire, who plans monthly visits, for which hotel accommodations are too costly).  Thanks to the generosity of several contributors to the Mission, with funds specially designated for education, all of the children (mostly teenagers) of St. Augustine’s were able to continue their schooling this year.  We dream of the distant day when it will be possible to have our own school there, as well as a permanent church building.

A notable change has occurred at St. Augustine’s: the original congregation was almost entirely teenagers; Guillaume and Angelina, in their 20’s, were the oldest members of the parish; now at least half the congregation is made up of somewhat older people and their young children.
Nine catechumens from St. Augustine’s were among the fourteen baptized in Port-au-Prince on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos; Fr. Grégoire baptized nine more (six adults and three infants — adults in the sea, infants at the church) during his October visit.  

The temple feast in Port-au-Prince was an occasion of great joy, as always.  The newly-illumined faithful joined with a large number of other visitors from Jacmel and Les Cayes, perhaps almost equal in number to the “local folk”.

Regrettably, the combination of the serious cost of travel from such a distance and equally serious political disturbances in the north prevented any of the faithful from Cap-Haïtien from travelling.  I had already planned a visit to Le Cap for this trip (it had been two years since the last)… and thought it wiser to fly, avoiding the arduous seven-hour drive each way, and the distinct possibility of being trapped somewhere en route by political problems.  It was a wise decision… though not without its amusements.  Indeed, the threat of major street demonstrations in the city Saturday night resulted in my serving a solitary vigil in the hotel room (which we had decided to use for services, rather than the tiny space which had to serve at the time of my last visit).

Sunday morning was an entirely different matter.  Just as I finished the proskomedia, the entire congregation arrived en masse — eighteen of them.  A slight interruption to settle with the tap-tap driver who had brought them all from a gathering point, and the Divine Liturgy continued in the relatively spacious hotel room — a desk pressed into service as the holy table, the water-stand as the table of preparation, the faithful crowded between and around the beds, the precious Cross and two icons the only adornment.  Simple, and glorious.  Afterward, on the hotel veranda, soft drinks, questions, responses (slow, as most of those gathered spoke French little if at all, so continuous translation and re-translation was necessary).  Fr. Jean’s sister Marie, the “anchor point” of the fledgling St. Nicolas Mission at Le Cap, told me there were at least a half-dozen people, travelers from the distant countryside, absent out of fear of the unstable political situation.  Despite the difficulties of the trip, Fr. Jean hopes to be able to visit St. Nicolas monthly… and we all pray that the thus far fruitless attempts to find a stable meeting place for the little mission will soon succeed.  God willing, perhaps something will be found in time for the parish feast in December. 

And thus the life of the “little flock” grows, by the grace of God and through your prayers and generosity.  

Forget not… “When I was thirsty….”