Funeral service held for American missionaries killed in Haiti

Mourners gathered at Bible Holiness Assembly of God in Neosho, Mo., on Tuesday morning to remember the lives of Davy Lloyd, 23, and Natalie Lloyd, 21. They were serving at a mission in Haiti on May 23 when they were shot to death, along with Jude Montis, 47, the director of the mission.

Click here to view a video of the service. WORLD presents this video with permission from the couple’s families.

Well over 2,000 people expressed their love and support on Monday during visitation services, said the Rev. Timothy Laurito, the pastor at Bible Holiness Assembly of God Church. He called the Lloyds a young couple with spiritual maturity well beyond their years. Their deaths should be a rallying cry for their generation to give everything they have for Christ, he said.

What did they have to say about the couple’s work in Haiti? A family member said Davy was strongly resolved never to give up mission work in Haiti. The family member said that when Davy set foot in the United States, he was already planning to go back to Haiti. When Natalie and Davy started dating, and she visited the country for two weeks, he said her family knew they’d lost Natalie to Haiti. He added, “Little did we know we were gonna lose her completely to Haiti—her and Davy both.”

What did they have to say about the couple’s murder? One of Davy’s former pastors told the mourners that if they took the killings at face value, it appeared that evil, death, and violent gangs had won during the night of May 23. But citing a passage in Romans, he said that the Lord had won, the Gospel had won, and Montis’ ministry had won. He referenced Isaiah 52:7, which states, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” When the bodies of Davy, Natalie, and Montis were recovered in Haiti, it was learned that Davy and Montis’ feet were together. The family decided to bury Davy’s foot with Montis in Haiti in a show of solidarity, the pastor said.

What did Davy and Natalie Lloyd say about service? The mourners drew comfort from recordings of the Lloyds worshiping in church services. In one, Natalie can be seen singing and playing the song “Jesus is the Answer” on a keyboard. In another, dated March 2020, Davy is seen preaching from 1 Corinthians 13. He tells the crowd that they may face trials, but “when we get face-to-face one day with God…all the questions, all the doubts, all the fears—all that is gonna make sense then.”

The Lloyds are scheduled to be buried on Tuesday afternoon in a private graveside service.

What is Missions in Haiti Inc.? According to its website, Missions in Haiti Inc. was started by David and Alicia Lloyd, the parents of Davy Lloyd, in 2000. The organization’s “About Us” page says its purpose is to set Haiti on a different course by ministering to the country’s children, which it describes as malnourished, uneducated, and directionless.

Dig deeper: Listen to Jean Marc Brissau, a staff attorney for the Notre Dame Law School Global Human Rights Clinic, explain the latest efforts to disrupt Haitian gangs on The WORLD and Everything in It podcast.