John Mueller, pastor at Sonlight Church in Angola, Indiana, wanted to engage his church in international missions and mentioned it to a fellow pastor at the annual conference last year. The friend recommended Healing Waters International. Healing Waters is committed to bringing clean water to communities around the world and helping to end the global water crisis. When John met their representative at the conference, he made a divine connection that would change lives in Haiti and in 3 midwestern churches.

After the conference, Healing Waters contacted John and Sonlight’s elders to discuss a target site in Haiti. When the representative told the group that they wanted to provide clean water in Belle Anse, the group witnessed a divine connection.  The church already partners with Belle Anse to provide meals and much more through A Step for Haiti. For a year, the program founder, Greg Rathburn, a Sonlight member who works in Haiti, had been praying for a water source for the village. By partnering with Healing Waters, Sonlight Church could provide the water source, a filtration system, and hygiene training, but the cost would be double the amount of most Healing Waters projects, at $34,900. However, they knew that this connection had been orchestrated by God.

Believing that God had connected them to the project in Haiti, they reached out to two other churches, Pine Hills Church, Kendallville, Indiana, and The Remedy in Reading, Michigan – churches that already supported the ministry. In November, 2018, Sonlight committed their annual Harvest Offering to the project, raising $15,500, the most they had ever raised during the same time period. The Remedy, a 3-year-old church plant, contributed to the project in December, and Pine Hills Church, Kendallville, another 3-year-old church plant, contributed in February, 2019. Together, the two churches raised the remaining amount needed to bring water to Belle Anse.