ASAPH leaders are encouraging their students. We have set up a program to encourage students who are modeling good traits. Each month, ASAPH's coaches, teachers and committee members nominate several candidates for the Student Of The Month award. They then vote to select and honor one candidate from that list. To make the selection, they evaluate faithfulness, attitude, and the progress being made. 

The first two winners of the award were students who travel far to attend band practices.  The first winner walks over an hour from the mountains of Bassin Caiman to play trumpet in the ASAPH Brass Band. The second winner rides his motorcycle (and pays for gas) every Monday and Friday all the way from Lozandye to Pasbwadom.

ASAPH's leaders show respect for their students who are paying a price to learn. 

ASAPH is preparing a certificate and small gift (a T-shirt, or a poster) for each winner. Those gifts are made possible because people support ASAPH's ministry.  THANK YOU for being with us in the work we do! 


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Last Fall, the ASAPH administration began a program of encouragement for the young leaders who are developing at ASAPH. Andy, WEC, and Shelterline meet each month to select one leader among the teachers, coaches and committee members from across all of ASAPH's branches of ministry. That "Leader Of The Month" is evaluated according to three criteria...

1. Maturity (faithfulness, ponctuality, honesty...). 
2. Relationships with others (administration, students, fellow leaders...).
3. Accomplishments (successfully leading programs, progress...).

Our first Leader Of The Month was Mackendy. The ASAPH Bible Academy celebrated the Bible in a major program on Reformation Sunday. Mackendy led that successful celebration which will be an annual event. Teddy, Assistant Director of the ASAPH Brass Band and President of the band was the second Leader Of The Month. He led the band in preparing, organizing, and directing 4 major concerts in December. Anemson'n was chosen as Leader Of The Month after planning, organizing, and directing the student recital on February 28th. 

ASAPH leaders meet monthly to study the book of Nehemiah and to develop leadership awareness and skill. ASAPH's administration has seen real and practical improvement in the functioning of committees and groups after the leadership sessions began. Testimonies from several leaders have been even more encouraging. They site those leadership sessions as being valuable in their development as leaders. A couple of leaders credit ASAPH with helping them to become effective, mature leaders. One committee testified that lessons they learned in leadership sessions helped them to avoid ugly conflicts. 

ASAPH is about growth.  We are leading leaders and encouraging them as they grow!

Someone famous said that you will see the effectiveness of a leader in the people that he led.  ASAPH is proud of its leaders, and we celebrate them each month!   

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ASAPH STUDENT CONCERT:

Last night, ASAPH’s young music teachers directed their students in a fun and relaxed Friday evening concert on the pickleball court next door to ASAPH. This was the second year for the event.

LEADERSHIP: Because I am in the USA, planning and organizing fell to WEC, his wife, and about four or five young music teachers. Anemson’n, a recent high school graduate, took the lead in preparing for the event with the ASAPH administration. ASAPH leaders study a four-prong approach to project realization. We focus on 1) planning, 2) organizing, 3) directing, and 4) evaluating projects like this. In an early evaluation, we can say their work on this project was exceptional!

SUPPORT: Students, parents, and friends filled every chair available and stood around the pickleball court…proving strong community support for ASAPH’s music ministry.

ATMOSPHERE: The atmosphere was relaxed but positive. As is true in many concerts in Haiti, the entertainment goes on for hours. Along the way, you may see a few songs that ‘go crooked’, but you will always find true gems if you keep following along. Last night, there were some beautiful performances. Little kids shocked the crowd with their new abilities. Older students tried things they had never done…in front of a crowd. There was applause and also laughter. It was all encouraging and felt like an atmosphere where people are able to try new things.

DIRECTION: Canado and Dadou hosted the program as masters of the ceremony. Canado is a music teacher as well. He anchored the program as the “play-by-play” guy and did so with grace. Dadou is young man we call “the shadow”. He never wants to speak. He provided the “color commentary”. Last year I suggested him as MC almost as a joke, but to my surprise he accepted! He does a fine job, and the public recognizes the irony of Dadou “the shadow” holding a mic and addressing a crowd. Our community is good that way. ASAPH is all about helping people to grow! 

PROGRESS: I was obliged to watch via a live post. I saw young students of mine who played much better than when I left in December. I saw students who I don’t know well at all. They are students of my students, and they are growing without me.  That is a blessing to see.

WORK: An event like this is a huge amount of work beginning days before the event and lasting a few days after the event. WEC and the ASAPH team did everything necessary for success. It was touching to see the product via live video. That aspect alone (setting up equipment and making it work) is a huge amount of work.

BRANCH SUPPORT: ASAPH’s ministry includes several branches. Last night was the focus was the “music academy”. While they performed, the girls’ choir prepared and manned a food vending stand that added to the atmosphere. Leaders from other branches also gave time to event.

In conclusion, the February 28th concert was a great success. You can watch in on WEC’s Facebook account.

If you supported ASAPH last month (February), this is an event that you can feel great about. This is proof that your ASAPH dollars are on the ground making a difference in the lives of people in one small community on the Southern coast of Haiti. Thank you for being with us!




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This year, here at ASAPH we decided to set aside one month for each branch of ministry. It gives all of us a chance to focus our energy into a single branch for that month. In October, our focus was the ASAPH BIBLE ACADEMY.

The ASAPH BIBLE ACADEMY is a program that encourages Bible memorization. There are ten levels of Bible verses and lists that student memorize one by one. Each level contains about a dozen verses. When a student completes a level, she is awarded a ribbon. She then advances to collect all ten. At completion, ASAPH encourages the student with her own copy of the Bible.  
Since 2012, we have had hundreds of kids begin the program. So, we gathered together on Sunday October 27th to celebrate Reformation Sunday, to celebrate the Bible, and to celebrate the many people who have successfully memorized parts of the Word of God through ASAPH’s Bible Academy program.

ASAPH’s “B” band kicked off the program at 5:00pm. The two-hour program was livened up by contests and quizzes. The ASAPH BLUES TEAM improvised on the B-I-B-L-E song. The ASAPH Brass Band filled the church with the brassy sounds of a few Bible songs as well. Along the way, WEC taught about several reasons why the Bible deserves to be believed. The program’s Master of Ceremonies, Obed, spoke about the importance of the Reformation to personal Bible reading. I did a demonstration showing the huge number of manuscripts that support the legitimacy of the Bible. ASAPH’s girls’ choir joined with young men from the ASAPH soccer teams to sing a choir song I wrote from passages in Psalm 119. To end the program, ASAPH’s pop-music group (Tropic-Asaph) combined with the girls’ choir to sing a song about the Old and New Testaments.

Because of contributions by ASAPH sponsors, we were able to prepare prizes for those who competed and for those who prepared special parts of the program. Bible-themed key chains, bracelets, and magnets brought joy to many faces before and after the program. We were also able to purchase 48 T-shirts for people who completed all 10 levels of the program. Students who had recited all ten levels at any point in the past ten years were given a free T-shirt (plus it was a good way to promote the program even more!)

As I move around the community in these days following the program, I am enjoying seeing Bible keychains hanging from bookbag zippers, bracelets on wrists, and ASAPH T-shirts on young people.  
We look forward to repeating this important program next year. Each October, ASAPH will plan, organize, and direct a celebration of the Word of God. No book is better. No message is more powerful in the lives of humans.

The B-I-B-L-E. That’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!!!



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They call Summer the hot season. There's "hot", and then there's "tropical hot". Haiti in the summer is "super tropical hot". 

This year, I am enjoying summer in Pennsylvania. After being stuck in Haiti for  a couple of months due to the closing of the main airport, my Spring trip turned into a Summer trip.

I arrived home in PA on July 4th. I have been enjoying time with family. I have been here for 7 weeks now, and I have visited 7 different churches. It's a joy to connect with many of those who support ASAPH Teaching Ministry and share news with them.

Ministry continues while I am away. WEC (Erntz) and his wife (Shelterline) are keeping everything moving this summer. When I do a video call, I hear musicians practicing their instruments in the ASAPH Teaching Center. Long summer days allow for morning lessons and rehearsals. We take advantage of the free time to push students along in their development. Among those teaching music are : Anemson'n, Ritchy, Johanna, and Stanley. 

As Americans head back to school next week (mid-August), Haitian students have just learned that the opening of school across Haiti has been delayed. Due to a late finish last year, the new school year will not begin until October. Sadly, this has happened many times in my years in Haiti. For an educational system that is already behind, an extra month of summer vacation is not what students need. 

Pray for Haitian students. Their continued suffering is one of the harsh realities when gangs are allowed to do as they please.

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May 1st was Haiti's national Agriculture and Labor Holiday. A few years ago, the ASAPH Brass Band attended a program at a church where the youth prepared a "parade of professions". Kids entered the church one by one dressed up as a series of professions. They stood together and represented the "people that you meet in the street" each day.

We decided to do the same thing for ASAPH's May 1st celebration this year. We met with boys from the AAF Jr. soccer team. We chose a doctor, a bee-keeper, and mason, and so many other professions and jobs. We even selected a lawyer. We met with the girl's choir and invited them to participate as well (a nurse, a beautician, a pre-school teacher, and many others). All of these kids were tasked with borrowing clothing and other items that would make them "look the part". 

On the evening of the program. I was busy in the church with presentations. The "parade of professions" gathered outside at the front door...in full costume. I made my way to that door so that I could help them to hear their cue for entry. When I arrived and looked out over the professions, my heart was touched. Here were wide-eyed kids a bit nervous about entering a packed church. They all looked at me...hardhats, stethoscopes, and all the rest. There was even a boy with goggles and a snorkel looking up at me!  These kids had gone "all out". They WERE their profession. The motorcycle taxi driver even rode his bike into the church. People loved it. The kids played up their parts. The mason checked the wall with his level. The diver carried live fish. The policeman gently corrected some people who were sitting crooked. It was a highlight of the May 1st event!

As a missionary in a foreign culture, you try many things. Some fly. Some sink. You never know what will work. I can't imagine how the "parade of professions" could have been done any better than it was this year...the very first time.  

Enjoy a few images...

News is circulating about a new group of leaders "chosen" to lead the country of Haiti out of the current mess. International groups are proudly shining a light on the work they have done to fix the suffering country.

It doesn't seem promising to those of us here in Haiti. News reports openly admit the team was sworn in during a secret ceremony! How can that be accepted by a population? Why do "the powers that be" think this is a step forward for 9 million people?

My impression is that things will get slightly better for a while...maybe. International forces will appear in late May, apparently. They may well meet resistance, and they will then point to Haitians as being ridiculous and un-helpable.

If you will permit me, I will offer this as an illustration to show what is happening right now with Haiti...
Imagine a soccer team that suffers under very bad coaching for years. The moral and structure of the team is destroyed. The president then fires the coach, and appoints the coach's two sons to chart a brand new course for the team...effectively repeating the same mistakes all over again.

There is a saying in Haitian Creole : Se menm yo menm. It's basically like "the same old thing." Haiti has a "new council" of some kind with a fancy name. It's the same old thing. 

UN dollars will drain into the accounts of the "brave" countries willing to help Haiti this time. Haitians will sit and watch another mission come and go in their land. You can bet that we will be back here again soon. 

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Hello from Pasbwadom! 

Haiti is in the news these days, and Port-au-Prince is decaying still. The rest of the country is going about life as best we can. 

A.J. is a man I knew as a student at the WFL school years and years ago. He moved to Port over 20 years ago. He lived up the hillside, and whenever I asked him about his neighborhood, he'd assure me that the gang activity didn't affect him near his house. He was well aware of every intersection and road that he should avoid in the city. At one point, thieves stole a vehicle of his right out from under a cousin who was driving it for him. Still, he stayed in Port.

This week, he called to say he is back in Pasbwadom. He fled with his family and whatever they could fit into a vehicle. He paid big money to get past the gangs. At least he is safe now...though displaced.


I learned this week that a friend of a friend is making plans to leave Port and come live in Pasbwadom as well. He now sees armed gang members walking by his front gate. His kids are scared. They hope to be able to come out to the safe countryside and somehow make a life. 


We have seen a helicopter or two out here in our area. Americans and other nationalities are leaving in huge numbers. Private companies are carrying people...for a price.  The main airport remains closed. 

Hopelessness is something Haitians have dealt with forever.  They don't seem phased by it at this point. Bad news comes in like a river, and people shrug it off and go on with living today. 

More and more people are hungry out here. I think it may get worse soon. 

I frankly don't want to think about escaping to "safety" and "easy life". I don't even talk about that with people here. There is no "escape" for them. There is no path. 

Pray for Haitians. Pray also for those who choose to be here now. There are many of us.

Good Friday is the perfect day to reflect on choices like these. How much should we do to help another person? How much should we give to be alongside a person in real need? How much does love cost? 

For me, Calvary is clear.     

Christ on the Cross changes everything. He humbly gave away His life, and said : "Follow me."

Every step I have taken to follow Him, has been a positive step in my life. Every step away from Him has been a regret.

In a society that has "moved on" from Christ, He still invites you...to live...really live...with Him.  



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