HAITI- An Overwhelming Joy

Her face has been in front of me all week.  The Homes for Haiti brochure Jessica and I designed is being printed in-house, which means as of this week, I’ve printed, cut and folded 1,000 of these brochures.  Thankfully, we have some good equipment that speeds up the process.  Even so, Miss Italienne, the recipient of the first OMS Homes for Haiti home, has been on my heart and mind a lot.

Though I only spent an afternoon with this beautiful woman, she really made a lasting impact on me, and my heart aches to think that the chaos around her has probably heightened all over again since the Cholera outbreak and rioting going on in Haiti.

Just a month ago, I was sitting on a chair in the gravel outside her house, hearing about her experience during and after the January 2010 earthquake. Matt (an OMS missionary) and Junior (one of the Haitian seminary students) translated for me as I interviewed her.

She told me about how she became a believer after she visited a Penecostal church as a teenager and noticed a power there that was different from the liturgical church she had grown up in.

“Before being a Christian, it was a miserable and sad life,” she said. “Then, I learned God would take care of me.”

If there was ever a place that would challenge this theology, I’d guess Haiti would be one of the toughest. But here, more than 20 years later, Miss Italienne still firmly believes this.  Her sincerity was evident in the joy beaming from her face.

And as I listened to her joyfully share, eager at the chance to tell others about what God had done for her…I couldn’t help but think about a verse posted on my computer at work:

“We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.”

Colossians 1:11-12 (MSG)

When I read these verses, I was struck by the fact that the strength described is overflowing in supply.  So often I go through trials only to come out on the other side with bitterness, frustration or feelings of defeat.  A lot of the time in trials, my expectation is to make it through “gritting my teeth.”  But the truth is, God’s strength is bigger than us just barely making it through—in fact His strength is SO big, that in Colossians, He says I can ask Him to bring me through a trial with joy overflowing!  I don’t know how He has that supply, but He does.

It was so cool (and convicting) to see Miss Italienne living these verses out so clearly.  She lived a hard life, and even after God provided a home for her, she still lives a hard life.  But she exemplifies a solid faith that spills over into joy.  That is unnatural but possible with Jesus, and I want to be more like that.

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you.

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."

Psalm 9:1-2 (NIV)




Check back for Miss Italienne’s experience during the January earthquake!

Beka

OneWeekend

“And God said, ‘You’re going to go up there aren’t you?’ And I went, and that’s when I committed to missions...”

We sat around a round table at Paradise Café, just a mile from OMS. The OMS Mobilization department was hosting the OneWeekend retreat for anyone considering his or her next step in missions.  These four women had already been through half of OneWeekend.  Just when you may think these participants would be ready for a break from the tough questions and deep conversation, here they were, ready to dig deeper at lunch.

As we sat down at the cafe, one of the girls, a sophomore from Houghton College, finished sharing about how she became a believer in Christ.  It was a beautiful story of God pursuing her and working out seemingly impossible logistics for her to make it to a conference where she met Him and then committed to missions.  We all sat amazed and touched by her story.  I guess what I’m getting at is it showed the Lord’s glory enough to fill you up for a day, but the beautiful thing was, then the other women chimed in, and before we knew it, each of them was sharing a story of God’s grace in their lives.  It was truly amazing.  To think that one story of God intervening in someone’s life can be so powerful and then to realize that our God is so huge that He is big enough to make that kind of impact in each of our lives.  Awesome.

Getting to know these attendees, wrestling through questions with them, praying with them, and seeing them either open to the Lord’s leading or being honest with what’s holding them back…was the highlight of my weekend.

To see each of them seek a respite in the same place where we serve and work everyday gave me a different perspective of headquarters.  It was so great!  The Lord spoke to us during this weekend. What an answer to prayer.  He showed Himself through the attendees, through the facilitators, through answering our prayers in a time of need on Saturday.  He is so huge, and it was such a blessing to spend time with these 30 adults in the exciting stage of seeking where He wants to lead them.

Beka

Where Are You Now?

Hi friends,

I'll be posting a few more stories about Haiti, but before I do, I thought I should write a quick note to make it clear that we did make it back!  Since being home, I've been able to visit World Gospel Church to participate in and share at their annual mission conference, and last weekend, I was able to visit our Haiti team in Columbus, Indiana.  Both were such an encouragement!  Now, I'm getting back into the swing of things at headquarters.

Tropical Storm Tomas is heading towards Haiti right now.  Please pray for protection and encouragement for the people there.  Pray especially for those who are homeless or living in tent communities.  While I was in Port, we experienced a thunderstorm during a tent service, and this was nothing compared to Tomas.  I can't imagine trying to sustain a tropical storm without a home.  Let's not forget about them.

I'm so thankful to have been a part of the Columbus team to Haiti. Thank you so much for praying for us and for your support.  I will definitely be sharing more about the trip!  However, as I do, I'm reminded (and I hope you remember, too) that I really have no understanding or grasp on Haiti's history or culture.  As one of my teammates put it, it's like during this trip, we were just able to dip one toe in a huge ocean. What I can share with you is what I observed as a first-time visitor, what I learned from talking with and interviewing people who are living there and what the Lord taught me while I was there.  And my hope is that through sharing these things you'll be encouraged or at least a little entertained...

Praying for Haiti with you,

Beka

HAITI- One Wild Ride...

My first morning in Haiti, I packed a small backpack of clothes and jumped on the back of the truck below.  This truck bed is where I rode for 9 hours to Port au Prince with 10 Haitian seminary students and two young women, who are missionaries here.  It was an awesome opportunity to see a lot of Haiti from the truck—both different cities/villages and the countryside.  The ride was so bumpy that I couldn’t take a lot of pictures or write, because we had to hold on to stabilize ourselves.  I wasn’t expecting Haiti to be so beautiful—the natural parts are just gorgeous, but the roads were really rough on our drive to Port au Prince.

These little bags of water were all we had for drinking water.  They are just like the sacks of milk at elementary schools in the U.S., but instead of poking them with a straw, you rip one of the corners with your teeth and drink straight from the bag.  They taste dirty—probably partly because our hands are so dirty before touching the outside of the bags—but at least it was safe water.

This trip was roughing it.  I stood for most of the first 5 hours—it’s fun to have the view and it’s easier for your body to absorb the shock this way, but the sun was also really hot, so towards the end, we all started taking turns sitting under a tarp that covered half of the truck bed.  We stopped once and bought lunch from a woman in a hut in a village we passed through.  It was a rice and vegetable mix with a fish laying on top.

Driving through Port was a whole new level of destruction and poverty compared to Cap Haitien.  There were so many more people.  Everywhere was crowded and dirty and the roads were horrible.  We traveled through Port and up a mountain to a tent community in Diquini, where the seminary students would be doing a crusade.

I wish I could’ve communicated with the seminary students more. They were so nice and spent a lot of time singing during our trip.  One of the students, who spoke a little English, tried to translate a couple of the songs meanings for me, while they sang, which was so nice.

As soon as we parked, the people in the tent community welcomed us.  They were so happy to see the seminary students.

We’d made it…nine hours and finally to a place with bathrooms—no running water…The guesthouse pictured below is where we stayed.  It had been abandoned by another mission, and one of the Haitian students got permission for us to stay there.  The house looked like it had been straightened up, but it was still pretty dirty and moldy…it looked…well, abandoned.  But all the seminary students and two missionaries said it was much nicer than the last time they had come.  One of the seminary students that came ahead of us, set up an inverter, so we could have water to shower, which was great!  Even showering in this dirty bathroom, I felt so much cleaner than when we arrived.

The abandoned guesthouse where we stayed.

View looking out from the guesthouse.  The blue tarps are some of the relief tents sent after the earthquake.

View from the back of the truck during our drive.

Passed this on our way to Port- SO beautiful!

Riding in the truck bed to Port.  The seminary students sang and used coolers and plastic bottles for instruments.

Riding in the back of the truck to Port au Prince

HAITI- Day 1

We made it to Haiti and it has already been an adventure!  I'm loving it!


Our plane neared the landing strip and alongside the runway was a grassy field maybe 100 or 200 yards wide.  I was so surprised to see children playing, cows grazing and people hanging laundry-- all so close to the planes.  The Cap Haitien airport is the smallest international airport I've ever been to, but it was more than sufficient.


The OMS field director, Brett, loaded our bags into the back of a truck, where we stood as he drove us to the OMS compound.  This was awesome!!  You could see so much and it was just fun...I was standing at the front of the truck bed, so I could see every truck coming straight at us, before Brett veered to the right.

As soon as we arrived at the compound, Brett told me I'd be leaving the Columbus team in a few minutes to stay at the seminary tonight.  Praise God- the timing worked out for me to go to Port au Prince tomorrow with the seminary students!  We'll be leaving at 5:45am.

Brett and his three-year-old, Christina, drove me to the seminary, where the other missionaries had already come from the compound for a prayer meeting.  The seminary buildings are beautiful. Modest-- but nice finished floors and running water.  I'm sleeping in a bed at least for tonight, which is really nice and unexpected!  But the small bugs running across my computer screen remind me that I'm far from home :)

Looking forward to tomorrow and what's in store.

Beka