Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

As of November 13th, we have completed four years of ministry here in Nassau.During much of the past four years, we have often asked ourselves what we are doing here and why God has brought us to this country.Looking back, we can now see how God has been working through us, even in the small things, to accomplish his work.

For me (Estela), working with immigrant women from Haiti has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life.Most of the women whom I work with leave Haiti due to the dire economic situation in that country.But when they reach the Bahamas, they are greeted with more hardship and poverty and even more seemingly insurmountable barriers to a better life.They can't speak English.They can't find work.And out of desperation, many turn to prostitution or choose to live with men (many of whom have spouses and children in Haiti) out of wedlock in order to survive economically.Inevitably, liaisons with men lead to pregnancies and children, which in turn lead to greater economic needs, which ultimately lead back to more illicit involvement with men to survive.It's a bitterly vicious cycle that seems to have no end.

Sometimes I ask myself how these women manage to survive.How do they keep on going?And the only answer that I have found is that there is hope.Just as the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years was able to keep on going with the hope that she might someday be able to touch Jesus and be healed (Luke 8:43-48), many Haitian women are living in the Bahamas with the hope that someday their lives will be changed too.In order for this change to happen, most of these women spend the days that they are not working in prayer and fasting at the church.While we can all certainly learn something from these women's dedication to prayer, I believe that prayer is not, in and of itself, sufficient to solve our problems.In order for our prayers to be successful, there should be some kind of effort on our part.In Spanish, my native language, we say ayúdate que Dios te ayudara—help yourself and God will help you too.In that spirit, I have spent most of this past year trying to provide some alternatives to the women at Emmaus Baptist Church who would like to improve their situation in life.We have been meeting three times per week to learn embroidery, practice conversational English, and spend time in prayer and Bible study.Eventually, I would like to develop a community center for Haitian women that would allow us to offer these same opportunities and more to a much broader segment of the Haitian community.

Rose Maude's situation is typical of many of the women who I work with.She came to Nassau four years ago.Because she didn't know how to speak English and was unable to find a job, she ended up living with a Haitian man (who happens to have a wife back home in Haiti).This arrangement, however, did not solve her problems.Soon after they began living together, the man started to physically abuse her, beat her, and do many bad things to her.Eventually she got pregnant and had a daughter with the man.Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to go to their home to talk with them and counsel them. Later, Rose Maude left the man, even though she still had no means of supporting herself.While I tried to help her out when I could, it wasn't enough.Now, she is living with the same man once again and having the same problems.Unfortunately, there are dozens, indeed hundreds, of Haitian women in the Bahamas who are just like Rose Maude.Until we can provide them with a place to go and skills to support themselves, they will have little true hope.While we may not be able to help all of these women, I believe that God is calling us to do more.With your continued support, I pray that we can continue to develop this ministry.

Schweissings to Return to Denver, Colorado For Home Assignment

After four years in the Bahamas, we're preparing to return to Denver to begin our year of home assignment on December 23rd.This will be the first time that we've celebrated a white Christmas since 1999.So in addition to the normal culture shock that often accompanies reentry into one's own culture after many years away, we're also anticipating "winter shock" after having spent the last four winters in the tropics.

Since we will be based in Denver, our main priority for home assignment will be to spend as much time with ABCRM churches as possible, especially rural and small urban churches that don't normally receive visits from IM missionaries.If your ABCRM congregation is interested in scheduling us to speak at your church or to participate in a special event during 2005, please submit a request to RSchweissing@msn.com.Of course, some of our time will be spent visiting and speaking to churches outside our home region as well.If your church is in another ABC region and would like to schedule us to speak, please submit a request through your regional office.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that we have received an invitation from the Mission Baptist Consortium of Churches to return for a second term of service.Thus, we look forward to resuming our current ministries when we get back to the Bahamas in January 2006.

THANK YOU!

As always, we greatly appreciate your continued prayers and financial support, both of which make our ministry possible.

Serving Christ in the Bahamas,

Rev. and Mrs. Daniel M. Schweissing

Of course, e-mail is normally the fastest and most efficient way to reach us.

E-Fax:928-222-6398

E-Mail:dan@haitianministries.net

estela@haitianministries.net

Visit our website at http://www.haitianministries.net

Subscribe to the Haitian News Update at http://www.yahoogroups.com/subscribe/HaitianNewsupdate

"Se pou toupatou sou latè yo rekonèt gwo pouvwa li."Sòm 72:19