Dear friends,

"Can a bokor put a person's soul in a bottle?" Pastor Amors asked thoughtfully looking around the room.Some of the workshop participants giggled and whispered to each other.By the low murmur from the group, obviously there was a difference of opinion among them.One counselor remembered a lady who abandoned her spot in the market when she found a bottle lying on the ground exactly where she normally sat selling produce.A nurse remembered a bottle brought to a neighbor's house by some unknown individual.In each case, the individuals "under attack" were overcome with fear.

Another counselor told of a young woman who arranged her dirty laundry in a basin one evening for an early start to wash at the river the next morning.In the night, her yellow t-shirt disappeared from the stack.Immediately she remembered a serious argument she'd had the previous week with a lady who accused her of stealing her soap.They had hurled insults and fists at one another.This missing t-shirt certainly indicated an act of revenge.The young woman developed a severe headache.She hastened to the local bokor for help in securing protection.After paying him a large sum of money, he prepared a concoction in a bottle.For another large fee, he would come the next night and "surround" the house and yard.The young woman hesitated since she lived in her mother's house and so would need permission from her mother beforehand.Regardless, the bokor appeared the next night, bottle in hand.A long, loud discussion ensued.The young woman's mother and her neighbors wanted no part in the deal. Finally the bokor gave up and went home.The next morning the young woman noticed a scrap of yellow fabric protruding from a hole in the wall behind the bed.She investigated and found her missing t-shirt.A rat had dragged it there to make a nest.The fears, the arguments, the funds wasted on a bokor's false services were for nothing! The woman wasted no time in sending for the church leaders to pray with her. She accepted Christ immediately, thanking God for delivering her from evil. Her headache resolved.

Patients daily come to us with diseases in their physical bodies, which if we ask, originate in their souls.Last week we organized a five-day seminar on healing the whole person for the staff of the Danda clinic and 3 other rural, mission-related clinics in northern Haiti.Pastor Amors, four other missionaries, and I have spent months preparing for it.We talked together about health, how Jesus healed, the emotional and spiritual problems we face daily, and the healing power of the blood of Jesus.We practiced interviewing skills, and explored how our clinics might more effectively bring our patients life in harmony with God, with themselves, and with others, a harmony, which restores health.

Near the end of the week, Pastor Amors leaned forward in his chair."Can the bokor put your soul in a bottle?" he pointedly asked the participants.He warned us that as we are effective at our task of bringing healing through Christ, the enemy around will increasingly "go hungry".From Ephesians 6 we examined the armor God has for us.Pastor Amors exhorted us daily, put on this armor as he rose from his place in the circle, and took three certain strides to the center of the room.As servants for the Living God, we are protected.We can put our souls in God's bottle for sure protection.

Please pray for the staff of the Danda clinic as we seek to work together more effectively for the true healing of our patients.We need God's guidance, sensitive spiritual ears, and God's protection.

Wayne & Katherine Niles