(Photo courtesy of Michelle Walz)
Haiti (MNN) ― Can you imagine living on an island and yet never seeing the ocean?
According to Ron Sparks with Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM), that is the case for many kids who live in the mountain region of Haiti.
So when Haitian kids go to BHM’s summer beach camps, it’s sometimes their first experience with the Caribbean Sea. Sparks says, “They live up in the mountains or the highlands, and they never get away from there, and so they’ve never gotten close enough to put their foot in the ocean.”
BHM holds these beach camps as a ministry for kids on the coast of Haiti, just northwest of Port-Au-Prince. Kids who attend get the full “camp” experience as well as hear the Gospel message.
And it’s not just Haitian kids who attend. According to Sparks, “Two groups of American kids came down this past month and had a great experience in Haiti working with Haitian kids.... Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the American campers was baptized.”
However, improving their beach camp ministry hasn’t always been easy. With the earthquake back in 2010 and all the devastation that came, BHM funding has gone towards more immediate projects.
But now Sparks says, “Just in the past year, there has been a tremendous amount of effort put in there and additional funds that have been donated to help bring the camp itself up to where it needs to be to really be a great place for kids to experience.”
BHM is also rejoicing over the work of the Holy Spirit in other parts of their children’s ministries such as their school programs.
“We’ve got about 350 schools with about 65,000 students in the schools. They have spiritual retreats each spring. And we’ve just gotten the numbers back and the results of the spiritual retreats this year. Over 2000 Haitian children accepted Christ as Savior.”
“We’re just thrilled to see this response and openness to the Gospel,” says Sparks. “If people wonder if their prayers really have any results, I’ll tell you, we can point to a couple thousand kids just in the past few weeks who have accepted Christ as their Savior, and even an American teenager who went down to participate in a beach camp who accepted Christ.”
Please continue praying for BHM and their work in bringing relief and the message of Christ to Haitian kids. To partner with their ministry, click here.
