Last Day for Texas Tech…

First of all – let me say that Pleasant Valley made it to the Mole today around 5pm! We had dinner together and then Jose helped them get settled in on the property! They didn’t’ get a chance to blog but they wanted to let you all know they are here and ready to serve!

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Wow. We serve such a mighty and powerful God. There is nothing and no one more powerful than He, and there is nothing we can do to separate us from His love. That truth has been made known this week. God has been physically, spiritually, and emotionally breaking the bondage of His children of Haiti long before we arrived, but He chose each of my teammates and I to walk along-side Him this week and partner in spreading His love and good news.

I have been blessed beyond measure to see my brothers and sisters step up to the plate and be bold for Jesus. The body of Christ is made of many parts – from the hands, to the knees, to the heart, and even the pinky toes – and each part is needed to bring the gospel. One can’t do it alone. This week I have seen the body of Christ walking, reaching, loving, and serving as one.

Before this week, I have only traveled outside of the country one time, and it wasn’t for a mission trip. This is the first time I have really been challenged outside of America to walk in God’s presence everyday. I was apprehensive before coming, mainly because I didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea children climbing on me and following all over town just because I am a “blanc”. Yet God has stretched me further this week than I have ever imagined. He blessed me by allowing me to see His heart for these people, and giving me the compassion to have my heart break for them in the same way that His does.

Today was our free day; we didn’t have the same structured plan to we have had the past for days. We had the opportunity to take the day off and spend time resting or enjoying the beautiful beaches,  but we still didn’t feel like our work here was complete. So this morning the team and I went walking through the community asking the parents to allow us to take their precious children with us to the beach. To see the children running, swimming, and playing in the sand was wonderful. Although many children lack shoes and pants to wear,

they are so filled with joy. They don’t let their lack of material things hinder their joyful spirit. These people here don’t have the many luxuries we have at home, but that doesn’t mean they live in poverty. Many people here know Christ and praise Him, and because of that they are blessed beyond measure and more than running water and shoes for their feet can bring. Greater is He who is in him, than all the riches of the world.

After spending the morning with the children, the group divided and went to serve how we felt called this afternoon. Many of the men went and played basketball with the teens of the community.  Others went and learned how to perform development tests on the orphans. Another nine of us went to do hut-to-hut evangelism.

Both Casey and I felt called to talk to a witch doctor, but neither of us had really communicated that to the other. After breaking into groups of three, we headed in different directions, Casey and I going separate ways. I didn’t exactly know if that was the right idea at the time, but we did it anyway.

Mo, me, and our interpreter Rose, went first to a witch doctors house. She wasn’t there, but we spoke with her husband. He claimed to be a Christian, but he wasn’t very receptive of our questions. Our translator said he was lying when he said he didn’t practice or believe in voodoo, because he wouldn’t be living in that house if he was a practicing

Christian. Soon after she showed up and was not receptive at all of us being there and began cursing us. So we thanked them for talking with us, prayed over their house and grounds, and left. The next house we went to was a witch doctor’s house too. The gentleman said he used to be a Christian and that his parents were Christians. His reasoning for becoming a witch doctor was because once when he stored his money in a safe place, he came back later and found that the spirits had taken his money, and later, destroyed his business. He felt that the spirits called him to be a witch doctor. At this time, I knew God was wanting to speak through me, but I didn’t know what He wanted me to say.

All I could think was that I wished Casey was there with us. In the next few seconds, he, Abby, and Shannon walked over the hill. After joining us and being filled in on what the doctor had told us, Casey heard a word of God for the doctor. God was calling him to turn back to Jesus and become a priest, and when his money went missing, God was wanting the doctor to cry out to Jesus so that he could bless him and his family. Instead, it broke God’s heart. After hearing the good news, I was overcome with the Spirit.

God put in on my heart to encourage this man to step up to the calling that God was calling him to. He said the priests here didn’t preach God’s message, only what their flesh wanted to say. But God’s word for him was that he was blessed by God to be a leader, and he was being called by God to change his ways and preach to his community what God was wanted to say to his children.

The entire time, the man was nothing but receptive and curious, and told the translator as we prayed over him and left, that the words I said made him nervous and it was a feeling in his heart he had never felt before. My heart is breaking for this man. I desperately hope he heard God’s calling on his heart today, that he will be the change that Haiti needs to see. It was obvious God was at work in the man’s heart before we arrived and I know he will continue to work after we leave.

This week has changed me. I have learned and grown so much. I am leaving here with the impression that Haiti is not a country living in bondage of Satan, but a country fighting to live for Christ. I thank you for each of you reading this for the prayers showered upon us this week. They were much-needed and don’t go unnoticed.

Thank you for partnering with us from where you are to serve the kingdom. You helped change this country, even though you weren’t here, and your work doesn’t go unnoticed by this team and by God. Thank you so much!!

In Him,
Marie

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Hello all- Emily Clifton here.

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday….

Okay sorry, just kidding! I couldn’t resist.

But it is Friday.It’s 7:48. That means our time in the Holy Mole-y is way too close to over.

Today was our last day.

I’m not ready for that. Today, as we wrestle with closure, I wanted to share with you what the Lord has shared with me.

Today we saw more sick babies, more broken teenagers, more calloused adults. We spent more time with our beloved interpreters, we played with more orphans,and we took one more cold shower. I couldn’t help but wonder- “Jesus (Jezi), what is your plan for Haiti? JESUS! What is your plan?!”

This skirt I’m leaving- it’s not going to help the girl in my small group that looks at me with so much pain and knowledge in her eyes that I can hardly function. When it wears out, she’ll still be left with questions about all the evil around her. When the yarn on the bracelets that we gave fall apart, will the people in Daniel remember the story of David and Goliath- that they have nothing to fear with God on their side? Will that baby that I took to the beach ever feel your love?

Will the fungus on his head, his swollen belly, or his disconnected parents get to him first?

But quietly, Jezi reminds me that I’m not asking the right questions.

“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.”

Habbakuk 1:5

If Jesus (I like to call him Jehovah Shammah- The Lord is Here/The Lord is With Me) had told me in high school that I would go to Texas Tech, I would’ve told him he was “crazy”. If Jehovah Shammah had told me a month ago that I would be in Haiti at this very moment, I would’ve told him that what I really needed was to sleep for about a week and a half, not travel 2,000 miles.

But, here we are. Here we are and God is showing attention to the teenagers that no one cares about. Here we are and Jesus is encouraging Joslyn, an interpreter with a giant heart for the Lord.

There I stood, holding the hand of a girl whose parent’s practically shoved her out of their house when we told them we were taking kids to the beach for a few hours.

Here we are calling voodoo priests and witch doctors to return to their first love.

Here we are inviting people away from fear.

Here we are bringing clean water to Ka Pa Fu. Here we are, and here God is.

So at 8:17, I want to tell you with boldness that God has a plan for Haiti. I want to tell you with boldness that He wants so much better than we imagine on our own. More than clean streets, more than sleep, more than peace in the midst of chaos.

Are you getting the picture? He wants more. More than we ask or imagine. More than my heart can understand.

So it is with great peace that I leave you with this- We have left foot prints in cement. Impressions that will not soon be forgotten, and hallelujahs that will not soon be silenced.