Transition Update

As mentioned in a previous post, in the past year HAFF has been moving in the direction of turning the secondary school over to the community. In mid January, it became clear that there was a certain amount of community resistance blocking this transition process. Thus, at the beginning of February, the HAFF board called the missionaries to return to the US for consultation. In the meantime, a group of key HAFF employees were tasked to gather a number of HAFF employees and some community leaders together to come up with some scenarios and suggestions.

The HAFF missionary staff spent 3 weeks in southwest Florida in intense meetings and brainstorming sessions. The missionaries then scattered to their various homes around the US – Georgia, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Florida – and continued to meet via email, phone and Skype conferences. There were also phone calls to Haiti to individuals and a conference call with key HAFF employees, the missionaries and the HAFF board. As a result of these meetings and phone calls, a new approach has been suggested. The board sent a delegation – missionaries Greg and Barb Van Schoyck, Carla Wilson, Connie Curilla and board member Rhoda Beutler – to Haiti at the end of March to meet with various groups of people and flesh out the new idea.

The week of meetings was fruitful. The welcome by the community was overwhelming. A men's choir came to pray with the missionary staff and a local church held an evening prayer service at HAFF. The delegation returned to the US April 4th with thoughts and ideas to propose to the board. We pray that God will work in all our hearts to know His leading, to be bold in moving in the direction He is calling us, to be gracious to all involved, and truly trust Him. Our desire is that He will be glorified not only in the result but also in the process of this transition. We are asking for strong prayer warriors to lift HAFF's transition up to the Lord. Won't you consider partnering with us in this prayer?