Isaiah 41 :7  . . each helps the other and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding, ‘It is good.’ He nails down the idol so it will not topple. ”

The whole Sous Espwa team along with three missionaries from the Dominican Republic participated in a team building retreat at the Zanglais Retreat Center in Aquin, Haiti. Pastor Octavius Delfils, pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Port-au-Prince led the group in applying the scriptures to our work and family context on team building. We enjoyed learning, playing, swimming, eating, visiting historical sites, roasting marshmallows on a bonfire, worshiping, early morning hikes and lots of fellowship. Thank God with us for this uplifting and encouraging time together. If you’d like to see more pictures of our time together, go to Ruth’s photo albums on Facebook.

Praise God with us for providing a family to work with the youth of Quisqueya Chapel, the International church where we attend. There are over 50 regular attending youth. Please pray for Jason and Andrea that they will be able to know and minister to this incredible group of young people of all walks of life.

Howard participated in some education meetings in Nicaragua for two days to build relationships and plan for future teacher training in Haiti. We are thankful for safe travels and pray that these networks will continue to build up Haiti’s education.

In December we will have a formal luncheon in honor of CRWRC, now known as World Renew’s 50th anniversary serving God’s people worldwide. Praise God with us for the incredible work and ministry that has been done in God’s name through the CRWRC (World Renew).

We are looking forward to our daughter, Taressa and Kati Wiersema returning this December to celebrate the holidays with us. We also thank God for the way that He has been blessing Taressa in her studies and friendships at Calvin College.

A Sous Espwa partner, the Ministry for Christian Development is leading 436 participants through the one year course of study on Christian Leadership Development. Many of these participants are already increasing their involvement in their churches. Currently 35 of those who completed the course are leading others through the study, thus multiplying the effectiveness. Please pray that much fruit is produced through sharing these leadership courses.

There has been a lot of unrest in the past few weeks as people are struggling with raised taxes, increased cost of living, loss of crops due to the recent hurricanes, and various injustices that have taken place. Please pray for resolution and peace. THANK YOU!

Love,
Howard, Ruth, Natasha, Micah, and Malieke Van Dam