Two years after a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the country, the people of Haiti are still struggling to put their lives back together. They also continue to struggle with another dangerous force, one that can kill them spiritually—vodou.

Terry Schultz, WELS missionary in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is sharing the messages of the Bible and the comfort of the gospel in this land often described as "70 percent Catholic, 30 percent evangelical, and 100 percent vodou."

Schultz's work is based in the region of Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake and the recognized epicenter of vodou. More than half a dozen vodou temples are within walking distance of one of the orphanages that he serves. WELS through Christian Aid and Relief continues to provide humanitarian aid to 19 orphanages in this area; headmasters of 8 orphanages attend classes taught by Schultz and Rona Abraham, a Haitian national pastor. The plan is for these headmasters to share the message with the children in the orphanages.

While Abraham teaches an adult confirmation course, Schultz uses storytelling and drawings to share what the Bible says in contrast to vodou beliefs. Schultz prepares for these classes by reading books as well as by talking to vodou priests and adherents whenever possible. "When you're in class and ask who's seen a zombie and half of the hands go up, you better have done your zombie homework," he says.

In his studies, Schultz is discovering that adherents to vodou, an African-based, Catholic-influenced religion, believe in and worship many different spirits and gods. "They do not conceive of God as a loving, caring God," he says. "Bondye [their name for Creator God] made the world but is largely absent from people's lives. All the action is with the spirits; they're the ones that can impact your daily life."

Sin and grace are also foreign concepts. "What we call sin is conceived as relationships out of balance," says Schultz. "If your relationships are off balance, there will be consequences in the world." According to Schultz, the people work with vodou priests to determine what is off balance in their lives and what must be done to appease the spirits to bring balance back. Vodou priests conduct ceremonies to contact the spirit world (resulting in spirit possession) or use other forms of divination.

And while zombies are a Hollywood movie phenomenon in the United States, they are all too real for many Haitians. Vodouism teaches that a person is made up of five different life sources, two of which are souls. When a recently dead person is (supposedly) resurrected by the vodou priest and his soul redirected into another person, the resurrected yet "soulless" person is said to be a zombie. Zombies are not feared, but many Haitians fear being turned into zombies.