You have probably heard of Davy and Natalie Lloyd, even if the names aren’t immediately familiar. In May 2024, you most likely heard the news about two young American missionaries to Haiti who, along with one of their Haitian colleagues, were brutally murdered by one of the many gangs that dominate the country. I suppose it’s more accurate to say they were martyred since their deaths were directly related to their mission to the people of Haiti. Their story is now told and told well in Strong to the End: The Simple Service and Sudden Sacrifice of the Martyrs in Haiti, a biography of the couple written by Davy’s parents, David and Alicia.
Davy Lloyd was born and raised in Haiti. His parents founded Missions in Haiti in 2000, intending to minister specifically to the nation’s children, which they identified as Haiti’s most pressing need. They raised their own children there as well, including Davy. He professed faith at a young age, was baptized, and eventually set out for Bible college, intending to return to Haiti and continue the work there. He excelled academically, spiritually, and socially and graduated with a determination to “live my life intentionally, in light of eternity.” He was especially motivated by three key biblical truths: Hell is horrible, Jesus is good, and heaven is great.
Along the way, Davy met a young lady named Natalie, a politician’s daughter from Missouri. She, too, took her faith seriously, and she, too, was considering how to spend her life in the Lord’s service. Soon the two were dating and considering a future together. A missions trip to Haiti sealed the deal—Natalie would marry Davy and together they would serve the nation of Haiti by serving its children. They were married in the summer of 2022 and soon set out for Haiti, not knowing their marriage would last for just 23 months.
Haiti has long been poor and unstable and has long suffered under oppressive governments and ineffective leaders. Into the leadership void have stepped hundreds of gangs that each rule pockets of the country through threats, extortion, and brutal violence. In May 2024, a couple of these gangs set their sights on Missions in Haiti’s House of Compassion, the home for orphaned children, and the compound around it. They attacked in several stages and, by the time they left, had brutally murdered Davy, Natalie, and their colleague Judes, all of whom had preached Christ to the end, seemingly concerned less for their own lives than for the souls of their attackers.
The rest of the family, back in America at the time, learned about much of this in real-time through broken phone calls and sporadic messages. Eventually they received the tragic news that Davy and Natalie had been murdered—and not merely murdered, but tortured to death, and their remains desecrated. The news soon broke across the United States and across the world. CNN and other media outlets reported on the effort to repatriate their remains. And then, just shy of their second anniversary, the couple was memorialized and buried in Neosho, Missouri, together in death as they had been in life.
I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Davy’s parents to write this book, but I’m thankful they did. It is good for us to know about those who have suffered and died for the sake of the gospel. It is good for us to learn their stories, to be encouraged by their zeal, and to be moved by their sacrifice. It is good for us to know that there are martyrs today as there have been in every day for the past 2,000 years. I hope many Christians will read this book to learn about a couple whose story deserves to be heard and whose lives were sacrificed for the greatest of all causes.
