For decades Pastor Makes Ulysse has been pastoring a small congregation in the mountains of Gwo Cheval, Haiti. One prayer this church family had was that God would send help to their community. Being a farming community with limited transportation (think mostly donkeys and mules) and far from any big city, access to healthcare and good education seemed a dream. But this small community (and other church communities in the area) kept praying that God would see them, hear their cry and send help. They believed God had more for them than simply survival.
The first way God answered that prayer was when a medical clinic run by the Mennonite church was established in the neighboring village of Oriani in 2010. Hallelujah! Though limited in medication and medical procedures, this clinic brought much needed knowledge and care. They were even able to provide ambulance services down the mountain to the closest hospitals (3-5 hours away… depending on road conditions on the mountains and traffic in the city). And the community was thankful and cried out for more.
In 2011 Pastor Makes had a dream that a group of twenty “blan” (whites) would come and visit their remote mountain village and that two from that group would end up living with their community and bring much needed resources and help. In March of 2012 a team of twenty(ish) mostly twenty-somethings from a small church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin came for a visit (how this connection even happened is another story for anther time). This vibrant, on fire for Jesus crew were driven up the breathtaking mountains of southeast Haiti in the back of pick-up trucks on three hours of winding, cliff-hugging, rocky roads to find themselves arriving at the tiny church of Makes Ulysse. To say that Makes and congregation were beside themselves excited for this group to be there is quite the understatement. God told them in a dream and so they knew it would happen… now the question is, which two of this group would be joining their community?
Jesse and I (Kirsten) were on that trip. And although we weren’t anywhere close to being married or dreaming of a life together establishing a ministry in Gwo Cheval – God was planting seeds of a deep, deep love in our hearts for the enthusiastic Pastor Makes and their small, but mighty church community. God was just about ready to fulfill the dream He gave to Makes so that Jesus would be glorified and that His children in Gwo Cheval would know that He see, hears, cares and acts.
This was the beginning of Cornerstone Haiti.
(Stay on the lookout for more of the story!)