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Andy Stump was born on October 23, 1967. He is the son of Clair D. and W. Leona Stump. He was born in York Hospital and attended Dallastown Area Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 1985.
He graduated from Mansfield University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. For two years he taught music in a public school setting in a Schuylkill County school district.
In 1991, Andy met Willis Miller and the people of Water For Life at a Lutheran Youth Convention. He visited the work they were doing in Haiti and in 1992 committed to one year with Water For Life in Haiti. He arrived in Haiti on July 17th of 1992.
After one year of service in the primary school sponsored by Water For Life, Andy was called to continue serving in Haiti and has been doing so full-time since then. In Water For Life's primary school, Andy served in almost every role imaginable over the years, from sharpening pencils to administrating, from cleaning toilets to training teachers.
Andy was baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Dallastown as an infant. He grew up in that church, was confirmed there, and remains an active member of that church. In 2009, Andy chose to be baptized as an adult in a ceremony at the church where he serves in Passe-bois-d’orme, Haiti.
After 20 years with Water For Life, Andy and friends from Christ Lutheran Church in Dallastown launched ASAPH Teaching Ministry so that Andy could continue to minister full-time in Passe-bois-d'orme after Water For Life's departure. The new ministry was launched on July 17th, exactly 20 years after Andy's arrival in Haiti.
ASAPH Teaching Ministry has been able to keep Andy ministering full time in Haiti since 2012. He visits Pennsylvania about 2 times each year to keep in touch with family and mission supporters.
In July of 2022, Andy celebrated 30 years of ministry in Haiti. That same month, ASAPH Teaching Ministry celebrated 10 years of ministry...presenting Christ in a rural Haitian community one lesson at a time.
Today the ministry in Pasbwadom is growing, especially through the leaders who came to ASAPH as children years ago and are now developing into leaders.
God is good!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!
"IF SOMETHING HAPPENS..."
I, Andy Stump, being of sound mind and body, and having a decent sense of humor, have taken it upon myself to write some important things that should be noted if I happen to disappear, die, or become otherwise unable to communicate.
This is a work in progress, and should not be considered final...unless, well, unless I am already gone. In which case, it should be considered pretty final. (Not sure I will have access to my laptop after I go. 😊)
I want to address the most important influences in my life, pretty much in order.
1. God, my Creator and Redeemer, is amazing. I often sit and consider how greatly I have enjoyed my life on this planet. I am blessed. Even if the end is tragic, the beginning and the middle were incredibly good. I grew up hearing about God in church beside my parents...because they made us go with them. What a pillar that turned out to be for me! I committed to following Jesus as a young teenager. I committed more deeply after my father’s death in 1992 and ended up in Haiti as a missionary. Every path God chose for me has been great. I have lived joy, peace, and love overflowing. Through the Bible, God has kept me from getting off kilter, if that’s a real word. There has been no more steady positive influence in my life than God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Learning to hear God in the Bible has been real life. There have been dry seasons, it is true, but my Bible has been a daily I-V of truth, guidance, challenge and comfort. Some say all religion is just a crutch. They say Christians are following a make-believe sky daddy. Not me. I follow the all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal living Creator and Redeemer.
2. My parents, Clair and Leona, stand out like rock solid keystones in my life. Much of what I do as a missionary comes straight from them. They created a family that was, for me, close to paradise. So many of the good feelings that I enjoy in life connect to childhood moments...vacations, Christmases, regular evenings in the living room, meals around the kitchen table, trips in a vehicle, picnics, and birthday parties (8 every year!) I can never say enough about Mom and Dad. They were a beautiful team. In so many ways they were one...especially to me as the youngest of six. Dad was a picture of strength, but Mom was an even clearer picture of strength in the years after Dad died. (She flew to Haiti to visit me three times!) Selfless, humble, beautiful parents are a pretty good introduction to the symphony of life.
3. My brothers and sisters don’t only appear in photographs with me, but they appear also in who I came to be. As the youngest of six, I studied my older siblings. I repeated many of the things I admired about them, and I was able to learn lessons from their mistakes as well. I profited from my place in the birth order, and therefore regard each of my siblings with great respect...Sandy, Brenda, Patty, Willie, and Donald. They “ran cover” for me in many ways, and I am thankful for them. As a teenager, my family made me an uncle over and over...and even a great uncle many times as well. That was a joy...especially since I never had a little brother or sister. When I became a missionary, one of the real struggles was missing so many “family” events.
4. My church, Christ Lutheran Church, has been a persistent influence on me outranked only by my family and God Himself. Though the names and faces have all changed over the years, the Message remains. CLC is a place to belong. The teaching and preaching I received there from childhood on (especially Sunday messages and Sunday School lessons) put me on the path God intended for me. I had great Sunday School teachers I won’t name for fear of forgetting one. They opened my eyes to the Bible, and my ears to the voice of God. My pastors over the years spoke to me, especially Pastor Engelman who preached me through my teenage years and into ministry. Their weekly messages from the pulpit were not wasted. I may have slept through some when I was younger...and then again as I got older...but, God’s word has always tugged at me. It has always sustained me. My thanks to CLC and the many doors they opened to me. In recent years, several other congregations have adopted me. It amazes me how God’s family can do that. The church of Jesus Christ is universal, truly. I grew up at CLC, but many other congregations came to accept me as “their missionary” in recent years. The love of God seems to be able to fill in gaps like that.
Years ago, Chris Spain and Skip Perry from CLC visited me in Haiti, as did Michelle Anderson and her brother. That willingness to come to Haiti encouraged me.
5. My ‘family’ in Haiti helped make me into a long-term missionary. After just a few years of living with Americans in Haiti, I began living with Haitians. What a difference they made in my life!!! I learned many spiritual lessons from “the guys at my house”, as I often called them. In some ways, they were my kids, though I never claimed the “papa” role. In many ways, I was more of an uncle, or a coach, or a brother. Their patience with “the white guy” has been a blessing to me. Some would say I adopted them. It might be more correct to say that they adopted me into their culture and their lives. Wilphar, Emmanuel, Jean-Pierre, Esprenord, Jules, Jean, Erntz, Steephenson, Herold, Wesly, and Licency are all stars in my sky. They changed me. I saw the world differently after living with them, eating with them, suffering with them, and celebrating with them.
6. Water For Life played a huge role in my development as a missionary. They gave me room to grow, to try, to fail, and to continue. For 20 years I was a WFL missionary. Beginning with Willis, Leon, and Joy who opened the door for me, and then moving on to so many mission directors who came and went over 20 years, I was blessed to be part of WFL. I enjoyed many memorable meals around a long table with great people, and in a place with so little food. I enjoyed fellowship that led me closer to God. Some of the visitors came to Pasbwadòm year after year as a continued light into our lives. Others came through only once and still made an impression on me. Some in our day claim that American Christians are judgmental, mean, and hypocritical. My experience with American Christians in Haiti was the polar opposite of that. For twenty years I brushed with a never-ending stream of humble, sweet, sincere men and women who fought to live as Christ lived. We wrestled to love with real love (not the modern love that does as it pleases.)
The Help-From-Above School was the love of my life for 20 years. The staff grew with me through so many ordeals and trials. I am proud to have been a part of that school’s history. Hundred’s of sweet kids are there every day seeking to prepare for life, and it has been that way for over 30 years.
7. In 2012, a large group of people responded to my call and made ASAPH Teaching Ministry a real thing. We built buildings!!! Can you believe it? To the original board of directors, I say : “Look what we did! Amazing! To God Be The Glory!” For many years, I had been afraid to “strike out on my own” as a missionary. God moved in me, and in others, and in His time it happened. ASAPH has been like finding the perfect reed on my saxophone. With the perfect reed, everything works: high notes, low notes, soft notes, loud notes...you are completely free to play your heart out. That’s how I feel about ASAPH Teaching Ministry. It allows me to be all God made me to be.
ASAPH’s Board of Directors have been amazing. As I left WFL in 2012, I was faced with a decision. Do I connect to an existing mission or set up my own. One mission organization said I would likely regret trying to set up my own organization. They said, “Your board members will likely tire and fade away quickly, leaving you all alone.” By God’s grace, that prophecy couldn’t have been more wrong. The ASAPH board’s original members and every addition along the way have been faithful and true. Thanks Ron, Emil, George, Alyssa, Kirby, Carl, Sandy, Craig, and Nina!
As ASAPH took shape, Ron Saylor, Pastor Larry Cunnings, Paul Leiphart, Dom Sciortino, and Jack Mackley all made the journey to Haiti and blessed me and those around me. That was a special kind of encouragement for me!
8. I am a teacher. As such, I am a product of every teacher that ever taught me. From Kindergarten at Dallastown Elementary all the way to student-teaching in Williamsport, from Sunday School to Sociology, from private music lessons to community band directors, I pulled from all of my best teachers. They are too many to name. In a real way, my band leaders growing up (Elwood Olphin, Nelson Leader, Bill Hess, and Ron Hill) have all taught music to Haitian students through me. I learned from great instructors and adopted their techniques and tricks. (I learned powerful lessons from a bad teacher or two along the way as well. I became a better teacher for having suffered through that special kind of pain.)
9. As a teacher, my students have been a true blessing to me. I have lost contact with my American students, but not with my Haitian students. Many kids in Haiti grew up with me as their school administrator, or as their phys. ed. teacher, or their music teacher, or their English teacher, or their Creole teacher, or their Sunday School teacher. I have former students across the planet, from Chile up to Canada, from Sao Paulo to Paris. They work in meat plants, and they clean sky-scrapers. They are doctors and teachers. They are husbands and wives. No teacher is a teacher without students. My students made me enjoy life so many times: the smile of a kid who figured something out, the giggle of a student who finally felt comfortable, the question from a girl who used to be quiet, the shock of a boy who did something he didn’t think he could ever do. What a great job I had! Social media has allowed me to catch glimpses of who my students are today. It’s a good feeling. Their words of thanks are always cause for a deep-rooted smile.
Music groups and other teams have been a major part of my teaching ministry in Haiti. Through those activities I was able to both teach and learn. The adult choir we called “Flamme Divine” was the first of many successful projects during the WFL years. Later, the ASAPH Brass Band grew into a group that reaches from Cayes to Ti Goave. The AAF soccer team continues to change the lives of many young men. The AVJF girls’ choir is a newer project that has been fruitful in ways I never anticipated. Team-building is ministry. Jesus built a team. 😉 He has blessed so many of my teams.
Another group of “students” that left a mark on me are all of the musicians and performers that have participated in ASAPH concerts in the USA over the years. From very young to quite old 😊, they selflessly practiced and performed to help me spread the word about ASAPH Teaching Ministry. ASAPH musicians in the USA have been a direct blessing to the work here in Haiti.
10. In the tenth position, I want to be sure to remember all of the friends who followed me from some distance. My life as a missionary is filled with people who support me and the work I do, but they do it quietly. They aren’t “front row” types. They won’t appear in photos with me. BUT, they have remained steadily behind me and my mission work. I so appreciate them! I have been touched over and over by checks and messages from people who see something, or who read something, or who hear something, and it touches them enough that they get involved. That’s beautiful. I would not have spent so many years in Haiti were it not for these people. Thank you!
Conclusion: If I may quote the Muppets: “Life’s like a movie. Write your own ending.”
The real conclusion of this message is in your hands. I provide the introduction and the loooooong body of information. You are free to draw the conclusions on your own. As in all things, allow God to lead you in those conclusions. To God Be The Glory !