“There’s the church!” A sigh of relief flooded the group. After two hours of hiking (and I mean as in hiking up the side of a mountain with was pretty much a constantly steep incline) in the scorching Haitian sun, the 18 of us had finally reached our destination. A one roomed concrete church. Not only would this church be our home for the next couple of nights, but also the location of our medical clinic. “So far so good.” I thought to myself. This was my first time leading a team on a one-week outreach, and my fellow leaders and I had so far managed to keep our team alive and hydrated. As I stepped into the church I new this was about to be another crazy adventure. What did God have in store?
“Be strong and Courageous, have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you where ever you go!” These were to words that the Lord had so intelligently showed me as I walked towards the witch doctor’s house. My mind was racing with the memories of the first time I had met him, with my own outreach team in January. I didn’t want to go back, but earlier that day, as I sat on the concrete floor of the church, praying where I should go for ministry time the Lord clearly said, “ Go back to the witch doctor”. Now, there I was walking down the trail with bible in hand. The first time I had visited this man our team prayed for him, he said wanted to step away from Voodoo but had many excuses as to why he could not. Had things changed? Was he ready? I had no idea, but as I rounded the corner of the little hut house there he was standing there. “Oh Zami Mwen!” (Which is “my friend” in Creole) He exclaimed as he reached out and embraced me. He obviously had not forgotten me.
“Lord, give him a dream.” I over heard our team’s doctor Connie Kline pray, as we sat outside the witch doctor’s temple, while some of the staff and students ministered to him inside the temple. My mind was jogged “Oh the dream!” I said to myself, as I remembered the previous visit and how someone on my team prayed he would have a dream. The Lord knew what He was doing. The group returned from their tour of his little temple and joined Connie and I. Before I new it, we were all standing in a little circle, I waited and listened intently as the students took turns sharing what God had been placing on their hearts to share. Suddenly I felt the Lord release my mouth and give an me the opportunity to ask the question I had been rolling around in my mind. “Do you remember my team pray for you to have a dream?” I waited, my heart pounded, “what happens if I wasn’t hearing God right?” I held my breath, and watched, as he nodded his head. My heart leaped, “Yes.” He replied, with anticipation I asked, “ What was it about?” He thought for a moment then spoke. “ It was about change, things changed for the good.”
“He wants to pray?????” I questioned our translator as we all stood around our friend the witch doctor; this was something he would not do the first time. “ Yes he does.” I watched in a daze as the witch doctor bowed his head to pray to God with a heart wanting to walk out in change. He later explained that he wanted to change but found it to hard. Songs of encouragements flowed from the lips of our Haitian students as they began to sing songs of redemption over him. I stood their, “God what do I do? What do I say?” I waited, as our team continued to minister to the man longing for redemption, another man stepped into the picture, and little did we know that the witch doctor’s apprentice had been watching and listening.
“I am done with Voodoo, I no longer want to work with you, I want to turn to God.” My ears could not believe what was coming out of the apprentice’s mouth, as he stood amongst us, and gave the witch doctor his resignation. “Okay God, this I did not expect.” We hadn’t even spoken to this man and he was ready to lay it all down and follow Jesus. “ Well, are you two ready to renounce Voodoo, and pray for repentance?” my fellow leader Andrew piped in. They both nodded, and with their own voices prayed a prayer for redemption.
“Was this all really happening, or is this just a scam, is this witch doctor really wanting to change?” These were my thoughts as I sat in church the next morning. The were students leading the service, and as it was coming to an end I looked down the bench to see our friend (the ex witch doctor) standing there with a smile on his face. The pastor called on him. “Oh Lord are they going to except him?” I thought to myself, this was something I had feared. But as the pastor called on him, he had a smile on his face and welcomed our friend to say a few words. I held my breath. Our friend stood up and with joy and pride asked the congregation to pray for him, to pray that he would be able to make the change, and become like them. He had made a public declaration of a desire to change! With joy in our hearts, as the service closed, my team and I gathered around our friend and prayed.
