DECATUR, Ala (WHNT) — Josue Lamy met Don and Susan Beach in 2012 when they were on a missions trip in Haiti.
And over a decade later, they had a bond that was more than friendly.
They were basically family.
And when Josue made the choice to take himself and his family out of Haiti, he knew who to call.
“It’s one of those deals where he was like my son in Haiti. I mean, when I left, I gave him my backpack, you know, and, uh, kind of we kind of adopted him way back when I was. We’ve maintained that contact over the years. So when he when your kid asks you for something, what do you do?,” said Don Beach.
The situation in Haiti was dire for the Lamys, living in constant fear.
“We were serving at a church and an organization at the same time. But because of the gang situation, that country close to our house, we escaped kidnapping two times, almost three times,” said Josue Lamy.
In 2023, they left and eventually made their way to the United States on June 26th, 2023.
“The first six months, I would say it was like a dream come true for us because we wanted to meet friends and family here, especially the city church family,” said Lamy.
The City Church in Decatur played a pivotal role in the Lamy’s settling in Decatur.
The Beaches, who are member of City Church, led the way with helping produce funds as well as anything else the Lamys needed.
“I heard about their need and our desire to get them to the US. We took the necessary steps to go through the proper paperwork, prepare them a place to live, and help them find jobs, and transportation. It’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get a family here and our church as a whole rally behind it financially,” said Devin Hudson, lead pastor at City Church.
“We had everything ready. I had a part of beans and rice on the stove for them to walk into the apartment was completely furnished,” said Susan Beach.
The Lamys’ lives are forever changed, but maybe more importantly they’ve changed the lives of those around them.
“They’ve opened our eyes to other situations in the world,” said Don Beach.
“They’ve changed our lives. I feel like more than we’ve changed theirs. It’s just easy. We live sometimes with one perspective and a bubble that we can live in and what we think is normal. And when you expose yourself to someone around the world that’s living in an entirely different context, it’s pretty humbling,” Ashlee Hudson, Devin Hudson’s wife.
The Lamys and the church are working to get the rest of Josue’s family out of the violence in Haiti and if you would like to help, they have started a means of donations through their church.
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