lespwa lavi church
"Let us see that we keep God before our eyes; that we walk in His ways and seek to please and glorify Him in everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supplies." -Hudson Taylor
Lespwa Lavi began when the founder, Ricardo, felt God’s call to Verrettes. In the beginning, his vision was to disciple students through the soccer academy where he enrolled 80 students. God had bigger plans. Even as Ricardo felt led to start a larger project, the community of Verrettes was praying for him. After land was donated to Lespwa Lavi for a school, an elder in the community had a vision of the mountain with a great light shining down on Verrettes from that parcel of land. When he shared this with his neighbors, they recognized that this was from God and started a church! Within a month, the neighbors had cleared the land and built a stick and mud building to hold service in. Three seminary students were led by God to Verrettes and helped form the church government. For two years, the three worked together preaching and teaching while continuing their studies. The church congregation grew to over 150 people, some of whom cram into the tiny structure on Sunday mornings, and many who gather outside the door to listen. In 2019, one of the seminary students, Joseph Dony, took over leadership of the church and partnered with Evangel church in Bismarck, North Dakota to continue ministry and finish his studies.
The Lespwa Lavi church provides a fresh meal every Sunday for their congregation, many of whom eat only once a day. They have baptized over 70 people in the nearby river and continue to grow. The leaders provide support and mentorship for the soccer academy coaches who are leading Bible studies every week. The church has spiritually paved the way for many miracles to happen as Lespwa Lavi began, and they are an integral part of bringing hope to Verrettes.
When Lespwa Lavi hired Engineering Ministries International (EMI) to design the Academy complex, the church was meant to be built in the second phase of construction and to be a smaller building. However, the architects and engineers traveled to Haiti and attended one of the Sunday services. As they prayerfully considered their design, they ended up putting the church in the front and center of the complex, and as a much larger building to accommodate the growing congregation. In fact the electrical engineer working on the project shared with us the vision the Lord gave him “I see this place as being a light on the mountainside, never fading, constant, bringing hope to all the valley below”. Without knowing, the design team had fulfilled the prophecy shared by our Verrettes neighbors two years before.
God is moving in Verrettes! You are invited to be a part of His plan. Get involved or donate today to join the Lespwa Lavi team.
