French Bibles for IPB Students

When HAFF founder, Lila Clark agreed to open the Institut Pratique de Bohoc (IPB), the secondary school at HAFF, she did so having as one goal the training of young adults to have the reading skills to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). It has been a dream of many years to be able to give all the students at IPB a Bible. While the students attend devotions each morning and an hour of Bible class each week, few of the students have personal Bibles or even a family Bible at home.

Through the generous gifts of one main donor and several others, HAFF was able to purchase 9 cases of Louis Segond French Bibles (analogous to the King James English Version) – 288 Bibles. Clicking on any photo in this post will open a larger photo.

Clockwise from top left: EC members
Derold Mompremier, Carla Wilson,
Executive Assistant Edouine Victor
and Justin Mompremier.

The last week of May was also the last week of school. A group from the HAFF Executive Committee (EC) in Haiti (see photo collage at left) took turns on several days that week to distribute the Bibles to the students, class by class. As the Bibles were distributed, an EC member or the teacher of that class would explain to the class about the worth of the Bibles and what it means to be a Christian school. Justin told one group of students, “This is a sword that you will want to keep by your side all your life.”

When the Bibles were distributed in their classes, French teacher Youseline Pierre-Louis and IPB headmaster Phanès Charles commented that it was important that the Bibles were in French since the students could improve their reading comprehension and vocabulary immensely by frequent Bible reading. They also explained that it was a great source of French grammar and examples of the many French tenses.

Headmaster Charles added, “Many students cannot buy a Bible. These Bibles will have a great spiritual impact because the students will grow deeper in God's word.”

The photo collage below shows Justin giving the 13^th grade (Philo class) their Bibles. Philo student Berdwentz Jean said, “The gift of these Bibles is valuable because it can help students understand the Word of God and put it into practice, especially if they memorize it. As students in the school respect God, love him and fear him the school will advance.”

The Philo class receives Bibles. Clockwise from top
left: Praising God for a new Bible, Receiving a Bible
with joy, Berdwentz a worship leader at a local
church with his Bible, A happy Bible recipient.