Cornerstone School of Truth is not something we even planned to start, but praise God it was on His heart for our community of Gwo Cheval!
When we (the Lancours) moved to Gwo Cheval in 2013 we had a “working vision” of why God wanted us there… ok it was unclear, messy and unfocused, but praise God He uses the weak things to confound the wise! After about two years living with and learning from our community we were a bit confused as to what our next steps were to be. We felt like we weren’t really helping our community in the long-term ways we were hoping to. And then God dropped the idea onto our hearts, into our minds and confirmed it through our local community. We were to love, educate and raise up the next generation in our community to teach them that they are loved, their ideas change culture and their education brings freedom.
God set the plan in motion and we began raising funds, ordering supplies and connecting with some mentor missionaries in Port-au-Prince who had been running a preschool for several years. Their pre-school (Maranatha) was the inspiration and example that became the foundation for Cornerstone School of Truth. We are so deeply thankful for their leadership and help in those beginning years!
As we started building our staff, we hired the four most loving mamas we knew from our church: three as teachers and one as the cook. These women were crucial in the well-being of our family as we first started settling into Haiti – they had been the ones to house us, cook for us, do our laundry and patiently help us learn Creole. These women had come to trust and respect us and we had come to trust and respect them. We also saw that they shared the love of Jesus with not just adults, but also the children around them.
We took on 25 students in our 3 levels of Preschool that first September of 2016 when Cornerstone School of Truth (Pyè Angilè nan Verite). Maranatha had hosted our small team for training the school year before and sent up three of their best during our first week of school to make sure we started off well. What a beautiful partnership! They were such a strong support to our new team.
We learned so much that first year! And we learned so much the year after that, and the year after that, and as you may guess with every year comes new territory and new learning.
After that first year with 25 students we grew our team as the classes moved up and we welcomed 10 more two-year-olds into the primary level of Preschool. With every year we move forward we welcome more students and more team members into the CST family.
From 25 students, 3 classes and 4 staff members at the beginning, to now 146 students, 10 classes and 31 staff members. That’s 8 years of discipleship with our staff, building hope for students and their families and establishing a true cornerstone in our community where people experience the love of God and His faithfulness like never before! We are in awe of how God has moved, shifted, grown and provided for Cornerstone School of Truth. We are in our 9th year of school with so many more dreams to pursue. We continue to unwrap and discover what God is doing as we trust Him and partner with Him as He does more than we could ever ask, think or imagine!
Hallelujah for the growing testimony of Cornerstone School of Truth in Gwo Cheval, Haiti!