September 2025 - Hospital Ministry and A New Home

Karen Rumple
Jul 1
4 min read

Grace and Peace Newsletter July, Aug, September 2025 Edition

Clarita Pierre

Clarita Pierre was in the hospital the day our evangelism team was there ministering to the sick through prayer and sharing the Gospel. Clarita was recovering from wounds she sustained when her husband attacked her with a machete. She had traveled over an hour just to reach the hospital, from the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Clarita is Haitian but lives in the Dominican Republic. Our team shared the Gospel and Clarita said she wanted to renew her commitment to the Lord. She told us she walked away from the church several years ago over the hypocrisy she saw in her church. No real surprise there.

Freedom In Christ

Bill and I have worked tirelessly to share the freedom Galatians teaches us about. The greatest freedom discussed in the book of Galatians is the freedom believers have in Christ—freedom from the law, from sin, and from the bondage of trying to earn salvation through works. Paul emphasizes that salvation comes by grace through faith, not by observing the law, and that this freedom should lead to a life led by the Spirit.

The Weight of Legalism

We are in our 26th year of sharing this same message, trying our best to enlighten a wonderful loving group of people who have been indoctrinated since the early 1950’s. They believe if they don’t wear their hair in a bun and a white blouse and long skirt, they are not Christians. If they don’t go to church 4-5 days out of the week, they are considered to have fallen away.

Walking Away and Being Ostracized

From 2018 to 2020, Clarita walked with the Lord, having been invited by her neighbor to church where she said the prayer of Salvation. She was happy, content and loved going. Out of nowhere, 2 years in, she began to become uninterested. Was this because she can’t read the Word? Was it because she struggled following the many rules the churches there place on their members? Was there a misunderstanding somehow? All of the above? She is not really sure. Once she missed church, she was ostracized.

No one from the church checked on her. No one from the church even tried to visit to see if she was okay. And none of them would talk to her from the day she was ostracized. It’s a very ugly reality we see over and over and have worked tirelessly to help change that. Now, in a few of the churches in our town it has changed, but mostly in the churches where not a lot of poor attend. Only a few of the churches where the poor attend have been willing to change.

A Prayer for a Good Church

Clarita never forgot all of the good she learned in those 2 years, so after we shared the Gospel with those in her hospital room, we asked her if she would like prayer and she said she wanted to rededicate her life to the Lord. Our prayer is that she can find a church that is not legalistic. She said she knows of one in Santo Domingo and also Batey 6, a predominantly Haitian Village. Please keep Clarita in your prayers that she finds a good church.

Widow Eloisa Monte Betances: A Safer Home

About Eloisa

Next we would like to share about one of our widows, Eloisa Monte Betances. Eloisa is 64 years old and has been in our Widow program since August of 2024. She is a Christian and has walked with the Lord for many years. Eloisa has one son who is 40 years old. Her son has 5 children and 6 grandchildren. He has not been able to help his mother much financially because he himself is poor and has the cultural obligation to help his children and grandchildren. You can clearly see the condition of Eloisa’s home before we started to build.

Before the Build

The photo with the pink siding shows just a drop of what she had been “keeping” on that side of the house. We would consider it garbage, but she considers all of it assets. She also had a large pile of old cement block in the front of her home. There was not enough for us to build her house with, so we explained if she got her son and his children to help her clear out the side of the house and to move the block, we could then come in and build her a new home.

Working to Make Way for a New House

I would have to say this particular build was extremely time consuming as she had a lot of things in the house, her assets, that had to be considered when we went to build. Finally after almost 10 days, it was finished and painted. Eloisa really did everything we asked and worked tirelessly with our crew to make way for a new house.

A Safer Place for Eloisa and Her Granddaughter

Eloisa is also raising her 3-year-old granddaughter, so her new home is a much safer place for her. Our town is located in a cove of mountains, so when hurricanes come, we can get damaging hits from the side as it passes us. Eloise and her little granddaughter are much safer now to withstand these storms that will most definitely come.