Autobiography of Louimachus Mompremier (JeanJean)

I, Louimachus Mompremier, was born on November 15, 1968 as one of 7 children in the Central Plateau of Haiti. I was raised in a Catholic family as Catholicism was and is the predominant religion of Haiti. We were poor; we only had enough for meals once or twice a day, a house where the kids slept on the dirt floor, and a means to go to primary school. My father died when I was 13 years old and left my mother to try to find means for all her children to go to secondary school. She worked hard as a farmer as was able to provide for all of her children. I was able to secure a scholarship for my secondary education. But, as there were no secondary schools in the area that I lived, I needed to walk 4 hours to the nearest school. I got up at one or two o’clock every Monday morning and walked to school with a donkey laden with food for the week. I stayed in a room that my family rented with 3 other school boys during the week. And every Friday, after school, I walked back home. In this way, I received my full education. The illiteracy rate for Haiti is most often cited as 80%. The percentage of high school graduates is probably more like 10% at the time that I graduated. It was a major accomplishment in my family as well as my community.

I came to know the Lord in 1990. Haiti was the first independent Black republic in the world. But when the slaves revolted in 1791, they did so with the blood of sacrificed animals. Haiti was founded in voodoo since its conception. Voodoo is the main religion and main deterrent for advancement. The statistics state that Catholicism is 90-95% of the religion. But in reality, voodoo should be named. The Catholic church in Haiti is not like the Catholic church in the United States. I grew up in the Catholic church and rarely heard a sermon preached from the Bible. The sermons were all politically motivated. Most Catholics in Haiti are also heavily involved in voodoo. For me, I received a vision from God that told me that I must be baptized that very day. I had some knowledge of the Christian faith due to missionary efforts, but it was not real to me. After that vision, I walked to the nearest church which was 2 hours away and asked to be baptized. Since then my hunger for the Lord has not abated. I felt his call to become a pastor 5 years later and He has been faithful to provide opportunities for this to become true.

In 1994 I was asked to become a secondary school teacher for a mission school. As there were not many qualified people, I was asked to teach a variety of subjects. I taught Math, Physics, Chemistry, Spanish, and French. I had also been hired in the afternoons at another school that was 45 minutes away by bicycle. I had a major accident in 1995. I was bicycling to the second school one afternoon. I was biking down a big hill. I was hit from behind by a large truck that was going too fast because the man had actually stolen the truck earlier that day. He left the scene and I was taken to the hospital. I developed many complications from this accident. Several Haitian doctors and American missionary doctors examined me and they all thought that I would not survive. But, by the grace of God, I am still here. This accident re-affirmed my call to go into the ministry. I later had an opportunity to witness to the driver of the truck that hit me. I shared God’s love with him and prayed with him that he might come to know the Lord.

In 1996, my future wife came to work at the same mission that I was working at. Kristie (DeBoer) is a native of Orange City, Iowa. She attended Northwestern College and obtained a biology degree with a minor in Mathematics. She also has a RN degree and worked several years at the Orange City Hospital while I was studying in seminary. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We met while doing 13 vacation Bible schools in 11 weeks. When we married, I became a more integral part of the administration of the mission. I was able to get involved with more non-formal aspects of education. My passion and talents had always been to teach and to evangelize. I began a program to help the surrounding churches with training. They are quite a few churches in Haiti. Unfortunately, there are not many seminaries available and not many people that could afford them anyway. The churches are mainly lead by lay pastors who have little or no Biblical training. But they do have a heart to serve. I organized quarterly training by myself or by visiting pastors. My wife and I also created Sunday school curriculum and taught people how to teach it. We started the first Children’s church in our area and had 150-200 children attend every week.

I had the opportunity to enroll in a satellite program of a seminary based in the capital. I was able to take 8 classes with this school and profited greatly from it. In the fall of 2000, my wife and I felt that we wanted to take my education as far as we could and traveled back to the states. I immediately took a Bible survey course through Jerry Falwell Ministries. Soon after that, I found out about Trinity and began my studies with the university.

While studying at Trinity, I remained active in a church where we were living. The pastor of the church knew that my desire was to become a pastor and to return to my country where I could continue church leadership training. He helped my in many ways. The church voted to have me become an elder and this experience helped me see how a church should be Biblically governed. My pastor offered a Greek class and a preaching class to his congregation and I participated eagerly. The church sent me to many mission conferences and speakers. My wife and I attended church planting school that was sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church in 2002. All these experiences helped me to grow in my personal faith and cemented my desire to share this knowledge with my country. I also translated the book Firm Foundations from New Tribes missions into Haitian Creole so that I would have a training manual to work with.

Presently, I have been serving our Lord in my country for the past 7 months. I have been teaching lay pastors from many churches the principles of the Bible and church administration. Our ministry has been very well received. The men of my class travel 4-5 hours a day to attend the classes. They are hungry for God’s Word. We have plans to continue this ministry and hopefully, with God’s blessing, to expand it. God has been very faithful through my life.