While he sticks out in the classroom for his level of interest and sharpness, it is Rodolphe's testimony that has most made a mark on me. Over and over, the Lord has helped Rodolphe distinguish His truth from the world's lies, and over and over, Rodlphe has chosen The Way. I loved hearing not only about how Rodolphe came to the Lord, but also how the Lord brought him here to Emmaus...hope you do, too!
I was born into a
Haitian Catholic family, and I grew up in the Catholic Church and worked as one
of the altar boys. My father has 10
kids, but I am the only child of my mother.
When I was young,
I had big health problems and was sick for a very long time. I was praying to a saint in our church, and
they put me in front of this saint's statue and kept telling me to pray to it
and it would lift my prayers to God, the statue of some man.
As I was praying
and praying before this statue of a dead human, it didn't seem right. I knew something was missing. That guy was just a guy like me. A good man, surely. But a sinner.
I had been taught at our church that every man was a sinner. And so here I was praying to a sinner, and a
dead one, and a statue, at that.
I wanted something
different. The Haitian Catholic Church
tried to do lots of things for me and to make me well, but finally it was a Baptist
Pastor who prayed for me to the one true God.
I took part in a big evangelical effort they did, and became a
Christian. Now, I prayed to God, through
Jesus. Not a sinner. And Not dead. And not a statue.
I was in the
church, but I was alone. My family said
Christians were poor people, and asked if I wanted to be poor. I stayed with my family, but there were many
troubles with my new faith for my family.
My mom became very sick, and our family was so poor with so many kids
that we were unable to get her any help.
Without help or medicine, she died, 10 years ago this year.
I kept hearing of
this English program in Vaudreil, and I enrolled and started learning English
there. One day, an evangelist named
Stewart from Kentucky came to class, and started sharing with all of us how to
be living fully in Christ. I saw clearly
that I was NOT living the full life in Christ that He had died for, and
re-committed my life to Him and committed to being back in the church.
One day, I went
to an English church service on Sunday afternoon at the Radio station. It was Thanksgiving, and the preacher that
day was Matt Ayars, the president of Emmaus.
I spoke to him afterwards, and he gave me his card and told me a little
bit about the Seminary.
I had some
interest in studying law, but upon my new life in Christ, I realized I wanted
to study not the law of fallen man, but HIS law. I wanted to be functioning for Him, and see
Him as the one and only hope for Haiti.
I see that today
in Haiti, there are so many churches in the city and so many asking for Him
outside the cities. I would love to be
able to work in those places, bringing the true Gospel.
If you have any problems or questions or need help, please email and we'll get right back to you!
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