By Faith...

Sometimes you will meet someone who reminds you of Hebrews 11: the Hall of Faith.  This week I was reminded again of Hebrews 11 in someone I have known for a long time.  Her name is Mona, but we call her Sister Mona.  She has been serving in Haiti for 20 years but that doesn't make me think of the Hall of Faith, there is so much more to Sister Mona that does.

Good Shepherd Orphanage is where I met Sister Mona and also where 30+ kids live and many, many more find the love and care that they need.  She loves all of the kids no matter where they come from and she wants to help the ones that she can.  She knows she can't save every child in Haiti, but she can help those who are in front of her.  And she does.

Each year, Good Shepherd Orphanage hosts a Christmas party for children in the Port-au-Prince area.  They send out the buses to pick the kids up, bring them to have a wonderful meal, and receive a present before bringing them home.  This would be a big undertaking for 50 kids, but they will be hosting almost 2,000 this year at this one party.  Sister Mona loves putting all of this together so much that she has decided to bring the party to a couple other orphanages this year as well as the general hospital.  She is planning it in faith as the funds have not come in to provide for the food...yet.  God will make it happen.

Besides the Christmas season, Sister Mona works hard to help more kids get an education.  She started a sponsorship program in which the children would receive everything they need for school for a year including one hot meal a day, books, uniforms, shoes, and book bags.  This program had 22 children in it last year and 22 again this year even though the sponsors didn't renew their sponsorship.  Sister Mona is providing these things for these 22 children knowing that God will move in hearts to sponsor these children through college.  She is doing this by faith and was so excited to show me the packed book bags ready to deliver to the children when we visited her last week.

In serving at the orphanage, Sister Mona works by faith.  In life, she does too.  She considers herself a volunteer and trusts God with her every need.  God provides.  She knows this.  She trusts that He always will.  For her life and for the children.

God does the same for all of us, if we would let Him.  What a great God we serve that we could just live and let Him work.  One thing Sister Mona always tells me, "I don't even feel like I am working.  I'm just having fun!"  She just has peace from God and faith in Him that makes her find joy!  All these things are from God.  I am so thankful that I have a friend in Sister Mona who continues to show me and remind me that God is Faithful and He has a plan for each of us!

Something Familiar but Never the Same

I am currently sitting at a restaurant not far from the airport waiting for a team of 34 people to come in.  Their flight is delayed, but that's okay because it gives us a little more time to feel prepared for the upcoming week.  This is what we do before a trip begins.  We get to this side of town early to make sure we are on time for our teams, then we wait.  There will surely be many hugs and warm greetings that come as our staff trickle in as well all wearing the blue and orange PPM T-shirts.  Then we wait some more.

Once the airline website says the plane has landed, we know we have a certain amount of time before we head to the airport to wait with a crowd of people in anticipation of seeing a sea of blue t-shirts walking toward us.  We often use the saying "a watched pot never boils".  Then, they finally will arrive.

The bus ride is usually filled with lots of questions, introductions, and small talk on the way to wherever we will be staying or with a lot of sleeping people.  As the day and week goes on, we will get to know this group very well--some individuals better than others. We will help them serve well, help them process what they are experiencing, and encourage them to continue serving well after the trip has ended.  When it is time to say goodbye, we know we will be sad, but we also know that this is not goodbye forever as we are part of the same family of God.

This is always a familiar process, but each team and each individual we meet is different.  The ministry may look different and so will the time spent in fellowship.  Be praying for us this week as we serve in Mariani with a group of 34 people and 3 other wonderful PPM staff members.  This is not just another week.

Home Sweet Haiti!

After a six week visit in the states and a travel day full of interesting experiences from delayed planes to airport slumber, we made it home to our little house in Haiti.  When we left Minnesota, we had grown accustomed to the one shower a day routine of most Americans, then we remembered why we take so many showers in Haiti--it's much warmer here!  We breathed in the humid air, looked at each other knowing that we would no longer be needing chap stick.

As we were driving through Port-au-Prince we noticed some changes like the Palace being taken down, new stretches of roads, and more tent cities being emptied out as people move to more permanent residences.  We arrived at our house around mid-morning, so not many people were around.    I jumped right into unpacking and Al started putting together much needed appliances we brought with us from the states such as a ceiling fan that is now swirling above my head.

We kept ourselves busy--unpacking, organizing, and reorganizing all the while trying to wrap our minds around what is next.  We have two weeks of trips starting this Saturday that we are looking forward to, but--for those of you who know--there are a lot of last minute details that will be falling into place during the next couple of days. While you are reading this, please pray for those details to fall into place easily so we can relax and enjoy our last two days here with our family before heading out.

It happened again!

I was somewhere between St. Louis and Knoxville yesterday when the thought crossed my mind: "is this really my life?" There I was driving down the freeway, listening to worship music, sitting next to my first Haitian friend-who is now my husband on our way to visit a church that has sent multiple teams to encourage pastors in Haiti through Praying Pelican Missions and it just felt unreal. I thought about pinching myself to see if I was dreaming, but since I was driving I didn't think it was a good idea. This was not the first time the thought had crossed my mind and it won't be the last--I am sure.

The last week and a half, Al and I have been in every time zone there is in the lower 48 states. We have driven from Minnesota to Washington to Montana to Colorado to Tennessee...so far. The purpose behind the trip wasn't to see the far corners of the US, though we have seen a couple of those, the point of our driving around was to connect with and visit our dear friends and prayer warriors and share with churches opportunities to partner with us.

My brain can't quite comprehend this reality of living a life so full of love, ministry, and faith. Who am I to live this life? Who am I to serve the Lord? How blessed I am to be a child of God. How blessed I am to be a member of this family. This Body of Christ.

As we were sharing with the church this morning it happened again. "Is this really my life?" Yes. It is. And I am part of this Body of Christ that crosses states and nations! As we continue on this journey, please be praying the God's will be done in our lives. And that He is glorified in us.

Watched. Humbled. Blessed.

Something has been brought to my attention as Almando and I have finished our summer trips in August and have been traveling in the states these last few weeks.  We are watched.  Whether that is on facebook, on trips, speaking at churches, or traveling across the country we are watched by many people.  Knowing this, causes me to look at my life--at who God created me to be--and, when I look, I see that I am a mess.  

A friend came to me the other and told me that we have affected his life and his family's life.  He talks about us often to his church family and watches how his family is touched by being connected--even in a small way--to us.  Hearing his words brought me to tears.  Even now, those words are ringing in my ears. He reminded me that God is using us even when we don't realize it.  I was humbled by this reminder and realization knowing that I am still a sinful human being that God chose to represent Himself on earth.

We have been given the opportunity to speak in two different public schools in two different states and have seen God work through those times as well.  The presentation is mostly answering the questions that so many people ask about Haiti and the people living there, but we can't talk about Haiti without talking about the ministry that we are doing.  After we were finished speaking at the school today, I was approached by a young girl asking for more information.  I don't know if she knows the Lord, but I know I can pray for her and talk with her about opportunities in Haiti which include so much more than just going to Haiti for a week.  What a blessing.  How blessed we are that God chooses to use us in ways we don't expect.

So, something that God has laid on my heart is that we are indeed watched by the world and they are looking for His love shining through us. I am humbled because God is using me in ways I may never know and giving me the privilege of being His representative on earth.  We are blessed because He continues to give us opportunities to serve Him and share who He is with the world in many different ways.  Praise God for all He is doing.

He is so good!

A Changed Destination

This week, Al and I are leading a team from Michigan who have been planning and preparing for their time in Haiti for over 2 years.  That, in itself, blows me away, but there is a combination of stories that show how God really works in amazing ways in the background.  Here is a very brief version of some of the stories I have been told this week.

In Michigan...
There was a team of 22 people who had put so much time, energy, prayer, and effort into preparing for a mission trip to Haiti.  They went to a short term missions training conference in Canada and have worked together as a team to make sure they were ready.  In their hearts, they felt called to serve at an orphanage for the week that they would be down here.  They were placed to serve in Gressier, a community at the southern edge of Port-au-Prince.  They received the news that they wouldn't be serving at an orphanage for the full week, but would visit an orphanage a couple of times during the week.

As the trip approached, there were a number of things that happened that were confusing and hard for the team to accept--one of which was a pretty serious surgery on the group leaders' shoulder.  They pushed on, knowing that they were going to be in Haiti soon.

In Haiti...
Al and I received a call from our boss a week before this team arrived and asked if we would be willing to switch with him to lead this team instead of the team we were scheduled to lead.  He told us that we could change the location that the team would be serving in if we wanted to do that as well.  We talked it over and thought about the possible locations for this team to serve in.  We thought of an orphanage that has been asking us to bring a team.  We decided that we should lead this team and serve at this orphanage.  We had heard nothing about this group or their desire to serve at an orphanage or anything about them at all.

A week went by after we let our boss know that we would take this team before we talked to the group leader for the first time.  They were scheduled to be in Haiti two days after that call.  On that call we talked about the projects for the orphanage, the lodging at the orphanage, the donations the orphanage needed, and so many other things.  I could hear the group leader getting more and more excited about the upcoming trip.  We hung up the phone and said, "See you on Saturday."

On Saturday...
The team arrived a couple of hours late, but excited to be in Haiti.  We heard their stories.  They shared all the things God had done for them.  They began making themselves at home.  They started forming relationships with the kids.  They started serving.

And now...
Today, after a couple of days of great ministry, I know that God had this in mind for this team before we knew about them.  He put Al and I with this team at this orphanage for this week for a purpose.  Today, as the team was presenting the many suitcases full of donations (peanut butter, soap, toothpaste, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and so much more) from their church a couple of things were brought to my attention.  First, that the church members kept showing up with more and more donations even as the team was heading out of the church to catch their flight.  One church member even paid for ALL the extra luggage (quite a hefty fee) so all these donations could get here.  And second, that their luggage tags had all the "old" destination addresses written on them.  Sometimes we make plans and we think they are the best, but God has already determined what steps we will take.

"We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps."  Proverbs 16:9

5 Surprising and Humbling Words

The last two trips Al and I led have been in new locations where relationships are just beginning to be formed.  The pastors of these churches have been such a blessing and the teams we have led have been amazing to work with.  I have been blessed to remember not only why we do what we do, but that God continues to use us in different ways.  One way that I have been blessed, surprised, and humbled by is in hearing 5 words attached to my name.  Those words are "Will you translate for me?"

This is an exciting breakthrough for me that I didn't think would happen so soon, but God saw that it was time to give me understanding and words to translate.  It is a blessing and a surprise.  I didn't think it would be humbling, but now that those words are used so often all I can do is thank God for His provision in this area.  He is so good.

I have found that teams will often ask me to translate words and phrases for them in the past, but these last two weeks have been different because Haitian children, adults, and even pastors have asked for me to translate for them.  Wow.  Even though I always wanted to get to that point, I didn't think that it would come so suddenly.  Praise God.

On Sunday last week, Pastor Jacky called me up front and had me translate from Creole to English for the team even though there were other translators present.  He must have known I needed to be pushed just a little bit to start to have the confidence I needed to translate well and to get the first time behind me.  What a blessing.  I was nervous, scared, and humbled, but praise God that He truly did give me the understanding that I needed to translate well for the team.

I know this doesn't sound like much, but those 5 words were truly surprising and humbling to experience!  As we continue to lead teams, I am looking forward to many opportunities to use this language to be able to bridge the language barrier gap for teams to be able to minister and share their stories well.  I am also excited for the relationships that I will be able to form now with the help of God.

Thank You, God, for this blessing.  Thank You for choosing me to serve You here.  Please continue to use my tongue and my mind to bring You more glory.