Staffing and Building

This week finds Al and I separated by a mountain range. Literally. Gressier is on the northern coast of the southern peninsula and Jacmel is situated on the south coast. The miles are not that many but the almost two hour drive winds through one of the mountain ranges of Haiti. On my side of the mountain range, Bityah and I are staying in our normal daily routine of me cooking and her napping.  While she is napping, I have been working on staff schedules, coordinating trip set up with other staff and working through emails praying that nothing gets missed.

It's getting to be a daunting task getting all those trips staffed. I try so hard to be fair so all our staff serve on an equal amount of trips. They all want to serve well. They all want to serve much. I believe we now have the quantity and quality of staff members we need to lead the many trips that will take place this summer. All for God's glory. I have to remember that as I am praying through the schedule and placing staff members where I think they are needed. Pray with me, friends.

Al is in Jacmel serving with a team of eight. Woogy, the pastor of the group has been coming to Haiti with teams since 2010. Often, he brings a youth group that focuses on sports and children's ministry. This time it's an adult group and they are here to build.

On the previous trips Woogy's team visited an orphanage. The pastor's vision was to add on to the orphanage so the boys and girls would be separated more. In almost 2 years, nothing changed. Woogy and his church decided it was time something was done. They felt the call to come and build. So here they are. Building. Making a difference for these children. Making a difference for the Kingdom. 

So, there is a mountain range between Al and me this week. We are both serving. We are both wishing we could be together--I can't pretend that it's easy. So be praying for us friends. Pray for the ministry. Pray for us and our family. Pray that God would continue to lead and guide us.

Refreshed and Exhausted

Last week flew by so quickly. But, why? Al and I have been incredibly busy with different things. He was busy with meetings with pastors, visits to communities, responses to emails and preparations for our staff meeting while I was busy communicating with staff, writing and updating our staff manual, and preparing for training with our staff. The time flew by as I tries to think of every possible scenario our staff may encounter and every policy they need to be aware of and I became tired. At the end of Al's day, he would find himself energized and me exhausted most of the time. 

The time for the meetings came and we were delightfully more prepared than we had ever been. We even got a good night of sleep the night before the meeting. We planned to spend some time in worship, but didn't realize how much time. And. It. Was. Awesome. We covered what we needed to cover and had good discussion about being a servant of God and signed all the places we were supposed to sign and spent time in fellowship with each other and, somehow, God multiplied our time.

The piano, the drum, the guitar, the voices. All in harmony. All praising the only One who deserves praise. Song after song and then a switch in languages. Beautiful. For the audience of One. 

At the end of the day I felt refreshed and exhausted at the same time. The long day may have worn me out but it energized me to be in the presence of our King.

A wonderful day.  I am blessed even when I am busy. God even sent another blessing as we were going to sleep. Rain. I fell asleep a very happy and blessed and refreshed and exhausted person that night. 

Thank You, God for the blessing of serving You, worshiping You, and resting in You. Amen.

All that land.

When my dad was here last fall, he spent a day "working traffic" with a good friend of ours. That means he spent a day on a crowded--3 adults to a seat and people standing in the aisle--school bus in the middle of the overpopulated city of Port-au-Prince (population 4 million-ish). The bus made its route back and forth from downtown to a northern suburb on the streets filled with vehicles and so many people going about their day. At the end of that day, my dad could just not get over how many people he had seen. Every once and a while, he would shake his head and say, "I just can't believe all the people." Even when he tells this story, he still shakes his head in wonder. 

Every day many people leave the states and land in this cement city full of people. Many people don't get out of it before heading back to the airport to see more of Haiti. They see all the people and rarely here what I did when Al got back from a day trip to a "farm". He shook his head in wonder and said, "all that land..."

Outside of Port-au-Prince there is a while different side of Haiti that so few people get to see or experience. Mountainous beauty, calm lakes and rivers, and fields of fertile ground waiting to produce a crop. Al saw all of this yesterday but what astounded him the most was the sheer vast amount of land that was rich for farming but was not being farmed.

One of our partnership communities owns a lot of land and the leadership has a vision: to farm. Farming and agriculture has been a staple for the economy of Haiti for a very long time, but it is dying and creating this great contrast of the mass of people in the major cities and the mass of land sitting there needing to be worked. 

Our partners want to see this land worked but are unsure how to do it effectively and efficiently. We are praying about how to best encourage them in this great endeavor that would provide jobs and a local food source for the community. Be praying for them. Be praying for us as we continue to encounter different opportunities and pray through how to best proceed. 

There is so much going on in Haiti both in the bustling city with so many people and in the countryside with all that land. 

One Night

You know that old hymn "Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul"? Well, we have it here,too. Only it's translated "heaven came down. It fills my soul with joy". That has me thinking. I love the reminder of the joy filling my soul. 

It was 10:30 pm here and from the church up the hill I heard this song sing in thanksgiving to the One joy-giver. Sometimes hearing the music and noises around me frustrates me as I am trying to sleep or Bityah is sleeping, but not this night. This night I happily hummed along to song after song. I listened to the harmonies. I could almost hear the angels sing along. I looked up the hill and thought about what the scene looked like as I had been there before. 

The woman in the flowered dress with her eyes closed and hands raised singing and swaying. The youthful sixteen year old girl marching back and forth across the platform with the microphone in one hand and other hand lifted high worshipping the King and inviting others to do so. The twenty-something guy off to the side finding the harmonies and passionately praising. The little boy that has rhythm and dances along to the drum beat. 

"Mesi Senye" I hear as the song ends. "Thank You, Lord." It's said and repeated several times and I picture the hands raised and waving side to side. Then clapping. Applause for the One joy-giver. In my mind's eye, it's a beautiful sight. 

On this night, the noise did not bother me. On this night, my heart was filled with joy. On this night, a little bit of heaven came down and filled my soul with joy.

On the Road Again

Yesterday, we hit the road again.  It was kind of like old times, except this time we had a car seat, pack-n-play, and two diaper bags with us.  That means Bityah came with. We left our house and headed south toward Les Cayes, where we would spend the next three days.  I felt like the truck wanted to go faster all the way there, but Al held it back because Bityah was with us--crazy how that changes.  We drove through the mountains and saw the beautiful scenes of valley towns and splashing ocean waves on rocky or sandy beaches.  This is January in Haiti.

We may not have a lot of teams this time of year, but we definitely have a lot of work to do in preparing for teams to come!  Now is the time for meetings with pastors, finding new staff, searching for new lodging locations and forming new contracts with all those involved.  Contracts that will improve accountability and consistency in ministry. Staff that will represent Christ and their country well.  Lodging locations that will make our teams feel safe and comfortable and offer them a good night of rest each night.  Pastors who have vision for their church and their community.

This is why we took the little road trip.  This is why.  We met with a couple of previous partnership pastors yesterday to set up weeks for them to have teams come and encourage their ministry.  I love what one of the pastors said when he told us about the projects he would like to see in his community this year:  a library/community center and a public playground at the beach.  He wants to his community to see that his heart is not just for his church--it's for the community. So many times communities get "stuck" while the church buildings grow and grow.  He doesn't want that to happen in his community.  He has a beautiful vision.

Al met with a new pastor this morning who has definite vision for his community.  Once the two of them got started, the pastor fell in love with all the ideas Al had for community development and is hoping and praying that a team would come to his community soon.  New pastors are fun to meet with because we get to see their heart and their eyes light up when they talk about what they are truly passionate about.

Me?  Well, Bityah is with us now, and she is my main ministry and our pastors love meeting her.  I get to the meetings when I can, but I love seeing Al's joy when he briefs me on each meeting.  He shares with me the exciting new finds and maybe something funny the pastor did or said.  I know that God is doing a great thing here!  New partnerships.  Strong community development.  New staff.  Solid friendships.  Moving forward.  Getting ready.  Ready to share the love of God.  In communities.  With teams.

Pray for us as we continue forming these partnerships and growing our relationships with these wonderful pastors.  Pray for them as they march on sharing the Gospel in their communities--pray that they find encouragement in our presence.  Pray for those teams coming to serve.

Pray.

My Day in Pictures

On Friday, Al came home from a long day with a headache--he had waited too long to eat, but he was so excited to share his day.  He asked, "Do you want to see my day in pictures?"  I, of course, said yes!  He left that morning and headed north of Port-au-Prince to a place called Thomonde.  He was checking out a potential ministry partner for our future teams.  He went with Gens, another Haiti staff member, and Pastor Josue, a pastor we currently partner with in the Port-au-Prince area.  Here is what he saw.

A School and Church that has been started but never completed.

The inside of the church and what they currently use as the school.

The chalkboard.

The Altar

Repairs Needed.

The ouside

Where they would like to add on.

A beautiful entrance.

To this hotel.

Lovely

Captures the eye.

Another walkway

One of the rooms.

Exploring the hotel.

A waterfall.

Seating

Meeting room.

The garden

Breath taking, isn't it?

The wall.

A hospital on the way home.

Parking and walkways.

Welcoming

Still more construction.

The Hospital.

Waiting room.

How it came to be.

One last look.

That was his day in pictures.  The beauty of Haiti--where there are still needs.  The progress that is being made.  All in all, it was a good day for him--despite the headache.  I enjoyed hearing the stories too.  I hope you enjoyed his day in pictures.

Please continue to pray for us and our partnership pastors and communities.  We have many more to find and encourage.  Pray for this one specifically in Thomonde.  Pray for the team that will serve there hopefully this year.  Pray for the administrators of this new hospital.  Pray.  Pray through the pictures.  Pray that God would continue to work in Haiti and make His name more famous through us.

How does one remember?

4 years have gone by. 4. I remember that day. Where I was when I got the call from Matt. I'd never been there before. Never met anyone from there. Why would I care? Somehow I did. My heart broke when I heard the news. When I saw the pictures. I didn't know then that the "there" would turn to "here". Haiti. 

Before the earthquake that devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince, I had never visited here. Where I live now. Where my husband grew up. Where his family lives. Here. Haiti. That day, 4 years ago, the thought didn't cross my mind that my future husband was in the middle of a terrible natural disaster that could have claimed his life. I didn't think that at all. My heart simply broke for this city and the millions of people affected by this tragedy. I didn't think I was one of them, but somehow I was.

I am reminded today of that day. A tragic day that somehow impacted my life. A day that impacted the lives of so many I now call family and friends. 4 years ago.

Today, right now, people are gathering at churches where testimonies will be shared. Where people will celebrate and praise the God that saved them. Where there may be moments of silence to remember those lost. There will be much rejoicing because we are here and God is shining a light in Haiti. 

What a great way to remember. Celebrating, rejoicing, praising God for the life you have. The church here amazes me. I remember that day with my family and friends here. 

Continue to pray for Haiti. For God's name to be made famous here. For Haiti to be a light even as we remember that day.