In the Fall of 2016 ABCNJ received an urgent request for help from IM Missionary, Tim Long. A recent flood of Haitian Refugees, many of whom had been brought to Brazil to work on the facilities for the Rio Olympics, were showing up in Tijuana Churches looking for assistance and hoping to reach the United States.

The Churches in Tijuana opened their hearts and buildings to these weary travelers, but a barrier remained – language. None of the Mexican pastors spoke French or Creole, and none of the refugees spoke Spanish.

And this is where ABCNJ was able to help. The American Baptist Churches of New Jersey has the largest number of Haitian congregations of any region in our denomination. So Tim Reached out to see if we could bridge this gap, and ABCNJ answered the call.

Two representatives from ABCNJ, Dieunonne Merivnil and Junia Nicolas (both from Haitian Baptist Church at the Crossroads) travelled to Tijuana with financial assistance, and a message of hope.