I know I speak for the other ladies when I say that it was such a privilege and a joy to be on the island for the Global Day of Prayer. We felt a real connection with the world-wide movement of praying Christians that day and we felt blessed to be the ones on the island with the 2 evangelical Christians. Thanks for all your encouragement.

May the Lord bless you in your future plans and as you approach the final leg of this decade of prayer.

With heartfelt thanks,
Gail

Report on St. Pierre and Miquelon – Global Day of Prayer Weekend, May 31, 2009

Feeling the call of the Lord to go to St. Pierre and Miquelon were Gail Whyte from Stoney Creek, Terry Long from Ottawa and Nadine Matthews, (accompanied by her daughter Olivia) from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Arriving on Friday the three stayed at the home of Mme. B., a local widow who has lived on the island all of her life.

Background on the Church and Mme. B:

Mme B, who is seventy four years old, is a fellow believer who became in her words a “new creature in Christ” in 1990. She left the Roman Catholic Church, which is the only church on the island. Shortly afterwards, a pastor came to start an Evangelical Church, which Mme B. attended. The church ministry was difficult consisting of four members that met in the pastor’s home every Sunday. After six years he returned to his country. That was one and a half years ago. Incredibly, the only evangelical Christian that he knew of in the entire region was Mme. B. That is the contact name that he gave to Gail and how we came about to stay at her house.
Mme. B. has had a strong testimony of the Lord since 1990 but to the island she is considered a cultist. The first day that we were in town we were told that she is crazy because she believes in Jesus. She has faced many hardships socially and even with regards to obtaining basic needs of fuel and water for her home. The store clerks do not speak to her. She has two family members who will not speak to her.
Mme. B. spends most of her time listening to the Bible on cassette tapes, praying and writing and singing songs that the Holy Spirit gives her. We were deeply touched by her strong devotion. She is a prayer warrior. She has prayed for a year and a half (since her pastor left) that the Lord would send her someone to encourage her. She was overjoyed that we were coming. We were humbled by her insistence to treat us as honoured guests. I suspect that she is legally blind but she served us impeccably even though she could not afford to do it.

About St. Pierre

The majority of population is found on St. Pierre. The fishing industry collapsed and is starting to rebuild. Most of the buildings and roads need repairs. Everything is imported so everything is very expensive. The people are friendly. There are some affluent homes but most are very modest. Almost everyone receives some type of social assistance from France. The area seems somewhat depressed with a very low ceiling of motivation to rise above the status quo. Nadine did some research on the territory and discovered that there is no record of bloodshed or massacres on the land. It is interesting also to note that we did not see any significant evidence or influences of new age, psychics or eastern religions. The culture is centered around the Roman Catholic traditions. We did not visit Miquelon. It is considered an environmental sanctuary dedicated to preserving their natural resources, wildlife and sea life.

Prayer Assignments on St. Pierre:

1. Prayer Walking
   On Saturday morning we all walked around the town on our own to do some listening and prayer walking. Terry prayer walked the harbour and the property of the church. Nadine stayed in the centre-ville. Gail went into the church and engaged in some deep intercession in the sanctuary. We met up and decided to all go back to the church and do some more praying inside. We were encouraged with the spiritually open atmosphere to pray in the building and attributed it to the intercessional ministry of Gail before we got there that opened a way for us to pray. We sensed some signs of encouragement in the building and with the congregation.
2. Staking a Witness for the Lord
   Saturday afternoon we felt led to take a wooden stake that we brought from Ottawa and to cover it in scripture and to nail it into the ground. It was a primarily a stake of witness to the Lord based on the scripture of Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it” – including St. Pierre and Miquelon. Other encouraging scriptures were written by all of us. We felt led to put the stake in the ground at a specific place in the harbour. Some amazing things happened during the course of this assignment.
3. The Lord was gracious as we walked there to bring a thick blanket of fog to completely cloak us and conceal us from the road while we did this. We prayed, sang and read scripture. We felt that this was a picture in the natural of being spiritually covered and hidden in Christ and concealed from the enemy. The fog lifted later that afternoon.
4. The tide started flowing in as we started to pray and felt that this was symbolic of some new spiritual movement or freshness coming in.
5. As Gail was reading scripture from Isaiah 60, Nadine at that moment actually found euro coins so we felt it was symbolic of the silver and gold that was talked about in the passage and we prayed for prosperity and financial blessing to come to St. Pierre.
6. At the end of our scripture readings the church bells started ringing profusely much like you would hear at a wedding or a grand announcement. We felt this was symbolic of great affirmation and a response of joy bells to the scriptures and prayers that were prayed.
7. We could only drive the stake in 2/3 of the way because of the rocky soil so we needed to cover it up with remaining rocks and pebbles which would be a messy and time consuming. Nadine discovered a bucket nearby that the Lord provided just for us so we could complete the task with ease.

Global Day of Prayer Service, Sunday May 31, 2009
This was not only the main purpose for the visit but also the highlight of the weekend. Sunday morning we had the GDOP service in the home of Mme. B. She invited a young lady named G. who helps her in her home each week. We were thrilled that G. came and after speaking with her it was evident that she too was a new creature. G. however has seen the degree of persecution to Mme. B. and is not vocal in her faith. She also feels very alone in her faith. G. and Mme. B. started the service by singing the French national anthem and we opened in prayer. The service was mostly in French but with some English prayers as well. Each of us in turn read the French scripted prayers and responded all together where indicated. We sang some songs and Mme B. sang one of her songs that she wrote. We all stood and held hands and prayed for St. Pierre and Miquelon at the end. It was very moving. The Lord was there among us and we could feel his presence, power and pleasure on us. We also made sure to pray for G., to encourage her in the Lord and bless her and her husband who came to pick her up. We left her the French Daily Bread, the Watchmen DVD called the “Home Coming” and other teaching resources from the National House of Prayer, all in French for which they were very grateful.

Prayer Requests for St. Pierre and Miquelon:
The situation of these two believers touched us. We assured both that we would keep in touch. Nadine may actually connect with G. who expressed interest in coming to a church in St. Johns. Nadine also knows some connections of Mme. B and will follow up on those. Mme. B. prays daily that the Lord would send her other Christian friends and visitors to encourage her and pray for the island. Please pray that the Lord would continue to encourage both of these ladies. Please pray that some would answer the call to consider a ministry visit. In addition for individuals to come and pray, please pray for churches, youth groups, outreach teams, and ministries, especially French speaking ones that would consider coming for a week or even a weekend to minister. There could be an open window for cultural expression in St. Pierre for festivals etc. and they possibly would be open to an arts venue like singing, dance, street miming, etc. Summer mission’s projects should be considered as well. Mme B. is in some declining state of health physically as well as showing some signs of becoming forgetful. Please pray for her future care and health. There are no retirement homes on St. Pierre.

If anyone should like more information on the island or about the individuals, mentioned in this report, please contact any one of us and we would be happy to help.