Mervile Eduardo was a beloved member of our Regency Children’s Home. He passed away suddenly on December 7, 2023, at the age of fifteen, from complications related to type 1 diabetes.

His diagnosis was recent, and as anyone who has experience with type 1 diabetes will know, the condition is very difficult to manage—even in the US. You can imagine how difficult it is to manage in a third-world country like Haiti. Since Mervile’s diagnosis earlier this year, Haiti has been under duress from multiple gangs, which has exacerbated the scarcity of both medical services and medical supplies. Additionally, Pastor Poyis and our children (along with many others in Haiti) have been without electrical power for months, which also means they have been without refrigeration—a necessity for storing insulin.

Despite adverse situations, Pastor Poyis did everything possible to combat Mervile’s illness. Some days, we were able to get medication; other days, we were not. Because of this, Mervile’s insulin levels were unstable, with him receiving possibly more insulin than he needed on some days, while on others, he certainly didn’t have enough. On Thursday night, December 7, Mervile went into diabetic shock; they were unable to reach the hospital in time to receive any treatment that may have been available.

In the face of this tragedy, we can rejoice for one reason: Mervile knew Jesus. About one year ago, he turned to Jesus as his Lord and Savior, was baptized soon after, and has lived his life all-out for Christ since his conversion. He lived a difficult life, yet he is now living an amazing eternity, safe in the arms of Jesus, his Savior.

Mervile came to the Regency Home four years ago, when he was eleven years old. Since then, he has become part of our family in Haiti. We thank the Lord for the amazing opportunity to know and love Mervile during that time, and we praise God for saving him. For all these reasons, we mourn his loss deeply. He became a beloved child and brother to everyone in our Children’s Homes family, and we grieve his passing as a fellow brother in Christ. Our other children are struggling. They have watched their brother and friend suffer, and they are now grieving his sudden death with much pain.

In the days ahead, would you join us in prayer?

• Pray for Pastor Poyis, as he continues to lead the children through this crisis. Pray that the Lord would give him strength as he models what it means to trust God in trying circumstances, and that God would use him to demonstrate the truth and power of the gospel.
• Pray that the children would turn to Jesus for hope and peace in this situation. Pray that the light of the gospel would overpower the darkness of their current pain.
• Pray that God would move the UN, especially the country of Kenya, to occupy and establish peace in Haiti. The UN estimates that 50% of the country is currently facing starvation, as the gangs continue taking over farmland and moving their influence further north. The suffering is significant, and we pray that God would end it.
• Pray that, beyond the UN restoring order, the country would heal. Pray that we would be able to go back in soon and be a source of encouragement, affection, and support for our children, ministry partners, and the surrounding communities.

In all of this, we know that God is at work. God is in control of every life in existence, and no one passes into eternity without the Lord willing it. Diabetes is not that strong. There is no disease on earth that is strong enough to take a body, a soul, against God’s will. Not even a sparrow can fall apart from our Father, and we, His children, are of infinitely more value to Him (Matt 10:29–31).

We mourn Mervile’s death. We are embodied spirits by God’s design—souls bound to physical forms—and every death is horrific in that it separates the two. It is right to weep. But we rejoice simultaneously, knowing that in Jesus’s physical resurrection, He conquered death. Because of Him, we will live again, in perfect bodies that will never know corruption, pain, or death.

From all of us at Connect 2 Ministries, in the US and in Haiti, thank you for praying with us.