New Chapter

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

I am once again beginning a new chapter in my life.  From now on, I will have a partner in all the adventures and plans and ministries God has in store for me!  That's right, everyone, on February 11, 2012, I married a wonderful man:  Almando Jean Louis.  We met in August, 2010, before this blog was even created, before I even felt called to Haiti.  God knew what He was doing when He brought me to serve Him here in Haiti.  He had more than ministry in mind, He had Al in mind.

The wedding was wonderful.  The week before was a little stressful, but the day was fabulous.  My family came down to experience a little bit of Haiti and celebrate our wedding with us.  It truly was a blessing.  We wanted our wedding to be focused on God because we want our life to always point to Him, so we included a time of worship--which we led together--at the end of our ceremony.  Worship was what brought us together in the first place.  The love and passion for our God is what drew us together.  And that is how we wanted to begin our life together--worshiping the God who worked in our lives to bring us to this: our marriage.

Looking back on that day, one of my favorite moments was when the doors opened and I saw the church all decorated for the first time.  I actually barely saw the decorations.  I looked down the aisle to the man I was going to marry.  I saw him before he saw me.  When he saw me, the excitement on his face and in his reaction made me laugh while I was walking towards him.  He threw his arms in the air and jumped off the "stage" and onto the floor where he greeted my dad with a HUGE hug!  I thought he was never going to let dad go!  We walked up the stairs together and thanked the Lord for this day...this love...this relationship.  What a wonderful experience.

The rest of the wedding was a mix between Haitian and American cultures, traditions, and languages.  God was with us.  Now we are looking forward to a lifetime of love and worship and serving the Lord together!  All for His Glory.  Always pointing to Him!  He is so good to us!

Friends, keep praying for us!  We are heading into several busy months of meeting with pastors, setting up trips, leading trips, and maintaining and growing relationships here in Haiti.  We will be needing your prayers and encouragement!

Fresh Look

Fresh look Setting up for teams to come is part of what I do here in Haiti. Teams expect to be well taken care of when they come with Praying Pelican Missions and have an opportunity to genuinely partner with a church while they serve. Besides the service side of things, we believe it is important to show the teams the beauty of Haiti.  One Saturday afternoon we decided to go on a hike to explore a possible "recreation" option for a team.  What we experienced was more than what we would have imagined. After driving through a very dry area of the country where almost everything was brown and through some very steep mountain roads, we got out of our cars as they could go no further. We were a little intimidated by the walk before us because it looked alike the great wall of china but straight up. That was just the beginning. We went up and down these steep hills, jumped over small rivers, climbed over a fallen tree, and balanced on a slippery block wall before reaching our destination: a cold spring flowing from the mountain.  The beauty of creation and the miracle of a spring in the desert made us repeatedly say and think, "wow, our God is amazing!" Surrounding the spring there is a community. A community almost untouched by the outside world. A community where transportation consists of walking or riding a donkey. A beautiful community. After wading in the water for a few minutes we began the hike back down the mountain. I saw a building that looked like a church and a man who looked like a pastor sitting next to it. I stopped to greet him.  He was the pastor of this church. We chatted for a few minutes and exchanged contact information. He expressed a desire to have missionaries come and help with his church and the school in the community.  I look forward to connecting with this pastor again soon to see if this would be a good place for a team to partner. To think that all of this was discovered because of a search for a beautiful "recreation" option. We were able to find a beautiful area, a new community, and maybe a new partnership. All for the glory of God!  Praise His Holy Name!