Waves of missionaries returning to Haiti as tensions subside
Missionaries who evacuated Haiti are now returning as the violence that once wracked the country has now subsided. OMS International, a global ministry whose goal is to establish and support Christ-centered Churches, has reported the return of nine of their missionaries last month and anticipates that all OMS missionaries will return to their ministry assignments in the coming weeks.
In February, OMS International reported that missionaries had been evacuated from Haiti because of the civil unrest, the chaos in the streets, and the political tension. Ministry spokesman Randy Spaght reported that armed Haitians had directly targeted missionaries of the ministry. “One of the duplexes that some of our missionaries live in was actually broken into by a band of about eight armed men,” he said. “And we had previously identified violence against us as a missionary group, as a ‘trip-wire’ event in which if that were to happen our response would be to evacuate the people.”
And so with the uncertainty of the situation, missionaries were evacuated from Haiti up until February 25 when the last OMS missionaries left Haiti. Yet in spite of the turmoil, OMS International has reported that Radio 4VEH (“The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti), the radio station controlled by OMS International has continued to stay on the air without missing a single day. OMS’s Haitain co-workers continued with the ministry so that Radio 4VEH could stay on the air. And although threats were made to the radio station, Spaght testified that, “the Lord protected it.”
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Now that the situation has improved, the missionaries are heading back in waves. While missionaries are again working in evangelism and church planting, Spaght says there are still very serious spiritual issues in Haiti. “The national church struggles to help people make a solid break with their own background and make a solid stand for the Lord without holding onto some of the voodoo fetishes.”
However, now as missionaries from OMS and other ministries return to Haiti, one-by-one, a great change is expected to take place in nation. And as relative peace is gradually being restored in Haiti, missionaries from various ministries will be returning to bring the true Peace through the Gospel.
