While leading an Adventures short term trip to Haiti, Dayna Bickham saw God set a priestess free from the bondage of voodoo.

Haiti has been steeped in darkness and voodoo for centuries. It is also a nation ripe for harvest.

On a prayer walk through the country side of Haiti, climbing hills and rocky trails, a group of short term missionaries made their way through the small village of Merger. 

At the top of a hill, waiting as if she expected them, stood a woman named Fabiola*. Dressed as a voodoo priestess, she wore rings that denoted her “marriage” to the spirit world. Each ring stood for a spirit. 

The translator told the team of young people who she was and what the rings meant. But instead of backing away or being afraid, they looked past her outward appearance. They did not see voodoo.

Instead they saw a woman who needed Jesus, a woman desperately loved by her Creator.

So they asked questions. They touched with gentle hands. They spoke the Gospel. 

Her replies upset the translator and out of frustration, the translator stopped participating in the conversation. But, the young man and young women on the team did not back down. 

Instead they began to pray. 

Albert, (the only guy in the group) prayed, “Father, divorce her from these evil things. Let her remove the symbols of voodoo and let her bring herself to you like a bride.” 

There was no translation. There was just the Spirit, who began to have his way.

As the team prayed, Fabiola began to weep in repentance and call on the name of the Lord. She returned to her house and removed every symbol of voodoo. She tore down statues, offerings, and changed out of her priestly garments. 

Then she returned with her arms full of her old life and handed it all to the team, saying in Creole, “Please, burn it all!”

She handed them matches and they watched as the outward signs of her inward bondage were burned. Then the translator and the group led her to Jesus.

Hand in hand, they prayed and darkness fled. 

When Fabiola joined us the next day for a church, where she told the story from her point of view. She said that God had been preparing her for our team. In dreams she saw our team, which is why she went out and stood on the hill, waiting for us.

God saw Fabiola in her pain, still in her sin, and called to her out of His great love. He could have used a million different ways to set her free, but he chose to use our team to lead her to Him. Her salvation had nothing to do with us, and everything to do with Him.

I have read the Lord’s prayer many times. I have prayed it myself, but never have I seen someone pray it so passionately in their own way, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done—NOW—on earth as it is in Heaven.”

That is what Albert did when he prayed for the priestess—and God showed up. 

On a hillside, in a tiny town, the Lord brought life and light where death and darkness once lived. 

And the darkness had no choice but to flee.

The team could have chosen to keep walking that day. They could have said, “This woman is being belligerent. Our translator won’t translate. We will go to people who will listen to what we have to say.” But instead, they stayed—out of obedience to God. They didn’t know God was about to set her free. They didn’t know she was waiting for them—that God had told her they were coming to tell her about Him.

They just knew they were being obedient.

Is God calling you to serve Him in Haiti? Join other adults this fall on a 1 week trip to Haiti and share His love in a country hungry for Him.

College students, check out our spring 2017 Passport trip to Haiti and the DR!