I'm Burning

Here is the bus we take everywhere sitting on the road in Montrious

The first couple days have been encouraging, hard, frustrating, overwhelming, but also familiar. I keep telling myself, “Yep, I’m in Haiti again.” I still can’t believe it. I am so blessed to be here with 6 wonderful girls who love the Lord and who have the same goal as me, to love others as Jesus Christ did. Kerry Reeves is “The Man.” He is the one who runs New Vision Ministries which entails 9 different ministries that he is currently working on. Something that Kerry said on Sunday really struck a cord with all of us. He said that we are here to love on the Haitians and that we probably will not see very much fruit from our labors while we are here. He has been working with the same people for over 2 years and just a few weeks ago he finally saw the first fruits of his labor. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t affecting people’s lives every day by our actions. What we do here every day will send a message to the kids at the Mission (New Vision’s orphanage), the fisherman/woman in the village, and the students at the school. We are here to show God’s love and act with the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If I can do this, I will act significantly different than the people of Haiti. In Haiti, people will give their life to the Lord, Allah, Messiah, ect. everyday with a different mission group in hopes of getting something out of it (water, food, clothes). Without changing their lives, this means nothing. We are trying to prevent that by showing our actions, disciplining, but not asking them to make a decision to follow Christ. I needs to be a heart changing experience not driven out of getting much needed resources that they go without for day or weeks at a time. This will come at the right time, whether we see it or not. It is not done in vain. God has each and every one of us here for His work and His glory. I pray that God uses my gifts in every opportunity possible. 

My God Moment: I am teaching 6-12^th grades, middle and high school science and math. Talk about a lot of subjects and books! Thank the Lord that I have a teacher’s edition for every book that I will be teaching from. Some teachers have been complaining that there are too many different curriculum books that we can’t use them all. Haha who would have thought that to happen?

Something fun that a friend did when she went on a trip…thanks Jen!

Words of the Day:

Sak Pase: What’s up?

Nabule : I’m burning

That’s a good thing! It has the same meaning as I’m chilling but you can’t say that in Haiti since it’s never cold! And very ironic since I've been burning up since I got here. It's hard getting use to the heat!

Beauty out of Ashes

We, as people, have ashes. No one can deny that because we live in a broken world. At cross-training this week we focused on putting our ashes to rest and seeing the beauty that has come out of it.

Isaiah 61:2-3 

“to comfort those who morn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord

for the display of his splendor. 

God has made all of us beautiful in our own special way and we can already see as a group of 6 girls how God has laced our lives together before we even stepped foot into a house in a senior community mobile home park in Hollywood Beach. We each in some way have a part of each other’s story intertwined in our own. God is going to use us in some amazing ways. We have had team building exercises, testimonies told, solitude, fasting, conflict resolution, debrief training, learner/servant training, bible study, and the washing of feet all within the first 4 days of meeting each other. What a journey! We will arrive in Haiti in a little over 24 hours from now and I can’t wait. If God has already brought beauty from our ashes in the first 4 days, I can’t even fathom what beauty He will show and teach us in the first day, first week, first month.

Lord, I pray that we become your hands and feet. We are your servant, there to serve the people of Haiti. Teach us and show us how to be like Jesus and put you in the forefront of our lives. We want to show through actions who you are to the people of Haiti. SHOW US HOW.