Outline:
Wake up- Daily Devotion
Breakfast- Pancakes
3 Teams- Evangelism, VBS, Construction
Lunch- Spaghetti
Youth Conference
Ahoy! This is Ryan Hildebrand with the Wesley Foundation chiming in. I am a very relaxed blogger and when I get going it’s hard for me to stop. That being said, fitting in a day of my life in 45 minutes is more than a chore for me. I found out that I was coming to Haiti 28 hours before our plane left, so if I skip out on some details or nuances of the team my apologies, I barely had time to put my pants on before running out the door.
The first full day in Haiti for the Wesley foundation was by definition a VERY full one. I just finished my complaint email to the Alarm branch of sony electronics, it went something like this “Why don’t you include a score of roosters in your Tropical Sounds Plus Alarm Clock?”.
I got up with the roosters and started my day off in the best way I know how. After reading and planning the morning devotion in the 3rd chapter of 1st Samuel- we made our way to mission HQ to feast on pancakes. Our devotion was about learning how to hear the voice of God and that listening to Him is the most important thing. The plan was to start our day off at 9 and head our separate ways, unfortunately I think even the American team is starting to get the hang of Haitian time so we didn’t leave till almost 10 o clock.
We split into our various “sub teams” to accomplish our laundry lists of tasks for today. 2 groups headed to a small(er) town an hour outside of our beach paradise for evangelism and VBS. I was in the group that “evangelized”. I like to put quotation marks on stuff that isn’t a lot like what I thought was going to be in the beginning. Evangelism wasn’t the typical experience for me, no tracks and certainly no get-out-of-hell-free bumper stickers. We simply walked around the town entered some of the poorer houses and took a survey of their household status-quo and what their needs are. This is the part that is difficult (even for an extremely wordy individual) to put into words. When we walked into the “front yards” of the houses in Daniel there were no words to describe the separation I felt with these people. Outwardly we had almost nothing in common and if experiences truly define our viewpoint and our reality than I had little to offer. Jesus was what I had to give, to be honest- I had no way to give Him. It’s farely easy for me to say that “Jesus is everything to me” but I lack nothing in the way of basic, life-giving needs; with or without Jesus. I held on to the hope that my job in that moment was simply to be obedient. In my short-term affirmation and instant gratification mindset; I had accomplished nothing but putting words on paper. But the long-term relationship we were building between the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission and the small town of Daniel is necessary for the Love of Christ to penetrate a broken people group.
1st Samuel 3:1 “now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli.” Samuel was a small boy who worked for Eli, he probably didn’t do much beyond sweeping the floors and washing dishes. But it says that he MINISTERED TO THE LORD. What an honor- sometimes I think ministry always means saving souls and healing cancer through prayer.
Maybe we should all take a look at what ministry in the kingdom of heaven really looks like.
Ryan- you are wise beyond your years already. evangelism in Haiti is a whole new experience.
We were at the Mole in March of last year, months before Jody et al arrived. We (35 folks from Jacksonville IL) ran a couple of clinics for the people there.
We will be in Beauchamps next week, doing more medical work for NWHCM. Our paths won’t cross, but our prayers will.
Lynne Sheaff