DECEMBER 2022
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May the joys of Christmas fill your holidays as you connect with friends and family in remembering the birth of Christ. It is the hope of the Gospel that brought us through 2022 and will take us through 2023 as well.
This, my friends, is my last newsletter to you but not the last you will receive. At the beginning of 2023, I will be leaving Vine Ministry and moving on to other challenges. Vine Ministry is now in the hands of a very capable Board of Directors with Greg Golden as the Executive Director.
These last six years have been filled with many amazing challenges and has brought many wonderful memories I will cherish the rest of my life.
Our first trip to Haiti in Christmas of 1993 still lingers in my memory as we learned first-hand what life was like for my parents living in Petionville. We took in the sights and sounds that were very new to us but were daily experiences for my parents. The smell of charcoal used for cooking. The sights of watching the cleaning lady wash our clothes by hand in a small tub. The sounds late into the night of music from the Haitian club not far from where we stayed and chickens and small animals greeting the early morning with crowing. Each morning Gracis, the house boy, made Haitian espresso and served it in a demitasse.
We will never forget Christmas breakfast at the Hotel Montania. Today that hotel has been rebuilt after being destroyed in the earthquake of 2010.
Many things have changed since that first trip. One thing that has not changed is the long drive into the mountains to where we stayed. Congested traffic always moves slowly and requires a vigilant eye to pedestrians, tap-taps, motorcycles, and other vehicles. It took several trips to Haiti before I was confident enough to be the driver. Now, I prefer to be the one driving. That first trip was filled with many things we had never seen nor experienced in the USA. Haiti, a third world country, is doing what they can to bounce back from disaster after calamity.
Most Sunday mornings at Vine Church, members meet for worship, preaching, and gratitude for God’s faithfulness. Those who attend usually walk up to 6 to 10 miles risking their life due to gang violence. Their attitude is this, “the only thing left is the hope of the Gospel”. As Pastor Daniel was preaching on Isaiah 12, a song of praise, three people were saved, two ladies and one man.
Isa 12:4 In that day you will say: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name.
Make know among the nations what he has done and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Thank you for your faithful support this last year and may God’s continued favor rest on you, your family, and Vine Ministry in 2023.
Please take note of our new address:
Rev Greg Golden, Executive Director
P.O.Box 1435, Indiana, PA 15701-5435
412-965-5505
www.vineministry.org
James and Jo Dick 574-534-8325 jim@vineministry.org
Evelyn Dick 229-291-3480 Haitibabemema1@aol.com
Greg Golden 412-965-5505. greg@vineministry.org
Evelyn’s book, Life on the Edge, “34 Years of Ministry in Haiti”, order by sending a donation of $15.00 plus $3.00 to Vine Ministry, PO Box 967, Goshen, IN. 46527
Or order securely on our website, vineministry.org.
Find the Kindle eBook version on Amazon.
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