The Heavens Opened Up

I haven’t felt like doing very much in the first week that I have been in Haiti because of heat, exhaustion, and feeling overwhelmed. I literally did what I had to do every day just to get by. On Thursday we had the day off and I slept most of the day. I was really struggling but then God brought a gift in the afternoon. It started to rain and then it poured. I now understand what it means when people say the heavens opened up and it poured. We had rain coming from every direction, a river down the road next to the Mission, and to top it off the second story of the Mission (where we live) started to flood in the hallway outside of our doors. We were panicked because we didn’t really know what to do. Kerry and Joy, and Steven and Autumn (a lovely couple who helps run the Mission since Kerry and Joy have so much on their plate) were in Port dropping people off at the airport. It was like we were in a hurricane! We closed all the windows and put towels in front of the rooms that were already flooded and started trying to get rid of the water any way possible. We ended up using a broom, bucket, and a welcome mat to push water down the stairs and throw it over the ledge. After about 20 minutes, we had removed most of the water from the hallway. We were happy, successful, and drenched from head to toe. This cooled us all down and began to turn my health around.

The second thing was something I learned in bible study on Thursday night. We had talked about what we had to give up to be here, how it was all in God’s plan for us, and how we need to be dead to ourselves. We are here on this earth for 1 purpose, to serve God. In order to serve God to the best of our abilities we have to be dead to ourselves. If we strive for this, we shouldn’t be easily offended. We should not care about what other people think or say about us because we are here to serve God. What an eye opener! I am not here to serve myself or have expectations of how the day will go. I am here to serve God however that might look, serving my roommates, our cook Madame Remann, the children, Kerry and Joy, Steven and Autumn, and the people of the village. God has control so give it to HIM!

God Moment: Waking up in the middle of the night without power (typically 2-4 times a night) without sweating! Waking up on Friday feeling like me again! I am a totally different person from the first 6 days of this adventure. It’s on now! Bring it on!

Word/Phrase of the day:

Mwen pa konnen: I don’t know (I say this more than anything else right now)

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!