Texas Tech 2014 – Friday

Hey family and friends! It’s Katharine Jenkins here!

Today we experienced our last day at the Mole (wipes away tears). At 1 AM we will get on a bus and adventure to Port Au Prince, and by adventure, I mean adventure. Most of you will remember that our bus broke down the first day and allowed us to play with the children of a small village, but we’re hoping that this bus ride is a little less eventful. But, even if we do break down, I pray we break down in a village with kids to play with!

This morning, we travelled by motorboat to a small fishing village with a population of about 50 people. We had an amazing time interacting with the people, and we were SO encouraged when the people there brought out Bibles, despite the lack of church services offered. Some people in our group got to learn how to skin and gut a fish (myself included!!). I’m definitely thinking about changing my plans to major in fish selling.

After lunch, we had the opportunity to take some of the young children from the orphanage to the beach. It made me so happy watching them play in the water and have a genuinely great time. The people of Haiti have taught me so much: what love looks like despite barriers, trusting no matter what, and what a hunger for knowledge looks like. I have also been incredibly blessed by my AMAZING small group. We have grown so close in such a small period of time, and God is so good in His sovereign plan. I am so very sad to be leaving, especially because I was just starting to get comfortable, but I leave Haiti with a growing faith and trust that God is working in the Mole.

Really quickly, I want to give a couple of HUGE shout outs!! To my Aunt Sissy Bessie for her amazingly encouraging and unexpected comments that made me feel so loved. A shout out to my cousin Nick for commenting, making me feel special and loved, and having faith in me. A shout out to my Fairchild family for keeping up with me and loving me through so much. I love each of you incredibly and miss you immensely!!

Thank you so much for your love and faith. To my mom, dad, brother, and sister, thank you! Thank you for sharing the blog site and supporting my desire to go on a mission trip. I know it’s been a difficult week, but I’ll be in the states soon and can’t wait to share my experiences with EVERY ONE of you!! Also, thank you for all of the support from team member’s families. You are all such blessings. Thank you, thank you, thank you. God has blessed me so much with such supportive family members and the experience of a lifetime! I love each of you!!

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Bonswa y’all!  It’s Allison Duncan here.

I think everyone here can agree that this has been one of the most unforgettable and life changing weeks of our lives.  I know it has been for me.  The people of Haiti are so full of joy, and they have a hunger for the gospel that is unlike anything I have ever seen.  These people know they need a savior, and they are so excited and curious about this God that we travelled thousands of miles just to tell them about.

Despite their hardships, so many people here are full of the joy of the Lord. It is so encouraging.  As Katherine said, today we went to Ka pa fu, a small fishing village about thirty minutes away by motorboat.  They were so eager to hear us share the gospel.  God spoke through us today and used us to touch the lives of the people there.

As sad as we are to leave Haiti (and believe me, we are VERY sad), we are excited to get back home and put everything we learned here to use.  This trip is only life changing if we allow it to be. That is something we all realized today.   As many people are hungry for the gospel there are in Haiti, there are just as many in the states.  There are people we speak to every day that need to hear the gospel, and it’s our job to share the love of Christ.

We can’t wait to see y’all! Reading your wonderful comments has been a bright point in our days.  Much love, Allison.

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Hello Mom, Dad, family and friends!

This is your lovely daughter Brittnee. whom you supposedly haven’t seen or heard from -.- I’m doing well if you were worried…. But I have been having a great time here speaking about the Lord and meeting the wonderful people of Haiti!

I have just been too busy to blog so I just decided to blog today because it is our last day. Today I had the pleasure of going to a small and very poor village called Ka pa fu. I saw a young girl there who was sick. She had bumps all over her mouth that looked like huge warts. I’m not sure what the medical term for it is called though. But anyways, the Lord led me to talk to her, so I did. I took her to the side in private to talk to her only with a translator. I could tell that she was very shy and insecure about her sickness on her mouth. The young girl said that she was not born that way, but the bumps began to show up when she was 8 years old. I began to tell her about my story, about me being born with a Cleft lip.

I told her that as a child I had very low self-esteem and that I used to get picked on about how I looked in school. I used to always wonder why God made me this way. I used to cry so much through out my whole life because I’ve always thought that I was ugly because of my nose and the scar on my lip. But as the Lord began to heal my heart, he told me that He made me this way for a reason, to help those who are going through the same thing that I went through as I child.

As I was telling the young girl this I noticed that she kept looking down to the ground, and covering up her mouth. I began to tell her that everything she is doing right now is exactly what I used to do as a child except I would cover up my nose. She began to smile and laugh. I told her that the Lord has sent me to her because you’re his child and calling out to you right now. He has made you this way for a reason, and He has made me this way for a reason. I told her that the Lord will use her to speak to young girls about any sicknesses or defects that they have just as I am doing to her. I told her that the Lord does not look at people as humans do, such as their outward appearance, but instead he looks at their hearts!

After I finished speaking some words of encouragement, I prayed for her, and took a picture with her. She wouldn’t smile at first, but once when she turned her head to see me smiling, she began to smile as well. I could tell that she was not used to smiling, or even taking pictures.

Before I got into our boats to leave, she ran to me and gave me a seashell as a parting gift! I was so happy!!!!! Even though she did not have much in her small village, she still thought of me to give me something to remember her by! God is so awesome.

My whole life I’m wondering why I was born this way and it was all to further his Kingdom, to speak to people who are discouraged about their defects so that I may encourage them!

A year ago I would have never thought that I would be serving the Lord on a Mission trip in Haiti! But I know in my heart that the Lord has a plan for me, and he is going to use me in many ways that I would have never thought were possible. Praise the Lord! But ok that’s my story for today and I will have many more to tell when I get back to the U.S.