The offer seemed to be the last chance for Patrick, who couldn’t find a job to feed his wife and three children. For $40, a boat operator would take him from Haiti to the US, where he would one day get rich. Selling most of his possessions, Patrick came up with the $40. Instead of landing on the shores of opportunity, however, he was dumped on a sandbar near the Bahamas. For three days, he and his companions suffered with no food, water, or shade. Several times during the ordeal, Patrick walked to the end of the sand bar, looked up into the sky and said, “God, I’m sure that You see us. If You care about us and if You would help me to get back to my wife and children, I promise I will find out more about You and will serve You for the rest of my life.”
Finally the US Coast Guard found them. Compared to Haiti, the US jail where Patrick was detained seemed like paradise. There he was given food, clothes, and even spending money. But all these were stolen shortly after Patrick was returned to Haiti. Now he was stranded in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, with only a tattered t-shirt and pants held together by safety pins.
With all that had happened to him, Patrick forgot his promise to God, but God did not forget him. After weeks of living on the street, Patrick ran into Tony, an old friend from his hometown who was living in Port-au-Prince’s slums. Tony had become a Christian and had asked missionary Leo Sandgren to start a church on his front porch.
Through contact with Tony, Patrick was reunited with his family, who came to live with him in Port-au-Prince. Patrick was overjoyed to be together again, but how could he feed so many when he was barely surviving on his own? A voodoo witch doctor made Patrick an offer—he would promise him a job if Patrick would promise to give him the child his pregnant wife, Josette, now carried.
Wrestling intensely with the choice all the way home that Sunday, he passed by the front porch church and heard Tony preaching, “Do you have a problem and you don’t know where to turn? Turn to Jesus. He’s got the answers. Just come to Him with all your problems.” Patrick then remembered his desperate prayer on the sandbar. He stayed to listen and by the end laid his problems and his sins at the cross. He was overjoyed and rushed home to Josette, who immediately gave her heart to Christ also.
Patrick and Josette found God faithful, and they served him wholeheartedly in gratitude. Soon after his salvation, Patrick found a job helping missionary sisters Rachel and Evelyne Metzler set up a camp. Patrick eventually became the pastor of Grand Goave Baptist Church. He was a zealous witness and aroused the hatred of those who practiced voodoo. But by seeing Patrick’s integrity and forbearing kindnesses, many of these were won to Christ too.
Tragically, Patrick died at a young age. He had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion years earlier. At his funeral, all of Grand Goave attended, a testimony to how much Patrick was loved and respected. The Maranatha Baptist Church in Grand Goave is a continuation of the life and legacy of Patrick. The facility was renovated and enlarged in 2004, and on its property are a primary and secondary school. The church has a pastor and three deacons. It stands as a beacon in the midst of three enclaves of Voodooism in this region.