That Still Small Voice

Wow.  It has been quite a while since I have last blogged.  It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of all that goes on around here.  Between the special needs home, the orphanage, the elderly home, the clinic, the birthing center, the nutrition program, and so much more there is always something to do around here.  Something that God has been teaching me is to listen for that still small voice in the midst of the busyness.  It is often the things that we don’t think we have the time for, or are not in our immediate plan that God uses to impact or bless us the most. 

A couple weeks ago I went to our campus in the Mole to do my health evaluations on the Mole and another community in the area.  My time was spent going around the communities to visit people and places such as water sources, clinics, midwives, nurses, and different families.  One afternoon my translator (and dear friend), Lunes, and I were on the way to visit a midwife in community.  We left later than we wanted, and her house was farther than we wanted to go.  On the way there, a little special needs boy caught my attention.  He had the most beautiful smile.  I spent a little bit of time talking with him and then continued on my way.  As we continued walking, I heard that still small voice.  I told Lunes that we needed to stop at their house on the way back.  When we stopped at the house, the children were eating unripen breadfruit.  Lunes took one look at it and pulled out his wallet to give them money to get something better to eat.  This was such an example of Haitians serving other Haitians, and something that really impacted me.  We spent time with the family that day, and were able to spend time the next couple of days praying with them and loving on the children.  One day we were able to go to the market and pick out a bunch of groceries for the family.  The last thing we picked up was a few pieces of candy for all of the kids.  They were so excited for this!  As much as I hope that we were a little blessing for this family, I know they were a big blessing for both me and Lunes.  

      John-Wisley, the special needs boy                  Me and John-Wisley's family         

Another example of this happened last Friday.  We have an outreach program for families with special needs children to come and receive physical therapy, occupational therapy, and encouragement once a week.  There are roughly 45 families that come throughout the week for outreach.  I have been going to outreach every Friday with my friend Wadley, so I have gotten to know a couple of these families.  They are such an inspiration!  Raising a special needs child anywhere is hard, but it is so hard here, where special needs children are seen as a voodoo curse.  In a country where it is common for special needs children to be abandoned, it is so encouraging to watch these mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, or siblings loving on these children and taking an active role in their therapy.  Last Friday, we had a family bingo day.  The lady I was sitting beside had a daughter with down syndrome.  The lady either could not read or could not see, so she was struggling with bingo.  After every number was called, she would ask me if she had the number on her card.  I would help show her if she had the number so she could put the marker on the card.  Eventually she won a round, and I have never seen someone more excited to scream BINGO.  Though I enjoyed watching her yell this, I enjoyed watching her give her prize of a bag of cookies to daughter even more.  Her daughter was so excited, and I know the mother was so excited to be able to give her daughter a treat.  As she was leaving later in the day, she came back to find me and give me a hug.  She just kept saying “thank you so much.  God bless you.  I will be praying for you.”  What a response for me doing something as simple as helping her put markers on a bingo card.  Though I had not intended to help this lady during family bingo day, I was so blessed by it.  Though I did not come to Haiti with the intention of spending my Friday afternoons in outreach, I would not have it any other way.  I am so thankful for the friendships that are growing there. 

Wadley after winning a round of Bingo!

One of the families all dressed up for Bingo

                                          

Listening for that still small voice is something I am struggling with every day; however, these two examples have shown me how rewarding it can be to do something that was not in your initial plans.  It may be something as simple as stopping to talk to someone when you were intending to go somewhere, or it could be a bigger change.  Though it is easy to get lost in busyness, it is in these moments that God’s presence is revealed. 

My Time With Blue Grass

It is about time that I blog about everything that went on when Mom and Mark were here.  The ten days were extremely busy, exhausting, fun, encouraging, and so much more.  I loved having the Blue Grass team here.  It was so fun to serve along side Mom and Mark.  I also loved watching the team love on the people that I love. 

 

My beautiful Haitian family with part of my American family

 

The week and a half with them started out a bit different.  I actually left campus the day after the team got to campus.  We had another team that was traveling to their neighbors project communities, and I was able to tag along with them.  While I am in Haiti, I will be traveling to all of our neighbors project communities to do a health evaluation on them.  It is the hope that we will be able to identify their biggest needs and start working towards ways of meeting these needs.  I was able to travel to Beauchamp and Mayette and meet with the pastors in these communities.  This was such an affirmation to me that I am doing what I need to do.  The first question I asked  (before I really explained who I was or what I was wanting to do) was “what do you think that the biggest problem is in your community?”  In both of these communities, the pastors said that their biggest problem was health. Both of these communities are currently fighting cholera and high childhood mortality rates, but there is no clinic or health facility within a two hour walk of them.  I was particularly inspired by the pastor in Beauchamp.  Pastor Luke shared with me both the physical struggles and the spiritual struggles of life in Beauchamp.  The physical struggles included the fact that the closest water source  is a two and a half hour walk (one way) away and the local school closed down.  However, it was the spiritual struggles that Pastor Luke was passionate about.   He said that in the last survey, 275 habitats were identified in Beauchamp.  He also said that he tried to count how many witch doctors were in Beauchamp, and he had to stop counting at 42 because it was so discouraging.  Beauchamp is a spiritual battlefield, but I was inspired by Pastor Luke’s passion for this community. 

 Mayette, Haiti

After a couple days, I left Beauchamp for La Baie.  It was quite an adventure to get there.  My interpreter, the moto driver, and I all climbed onto the motorcycle with our bags and left.  The ride was up and down these little rocky dirt paths.  I knew it was not a good sign when my interpreter kept saying “this isn’t safe!”  We may have gone the wrong direction twice, but we made it!  Though the trip was an adventure, it was so cool to be able to pass by these remote villages and see what everyday life looked like there.  Blue Grass met me in La Baie, and they never stopped.  The first thing that we did was grocery ministry.  The group had bought groceries while they were in Saint Louis, and we started hiking up the mountain with the groceries and a creole Bible for each house.  There were a couple houses that we knew that we wanted to go to, and we were able to stop at them.  We once again stopped by the house that the mother had died.  The daughter shared with us that it has been very hard for her since her mom died because she really misses her.  I pray that our devotion brought her a little peace and that the Bible that was left will continue to bring the family peace.  While we were walking with the bags, I told the group that we would go to whatever houses we felt like God led us to for the remaining grocery bags.  We nearly passed one house, and Mark said that he felt like we should stop there.  Mom told him to speak up, so he hollered at the group to stop.  We walked up this hill to the house.  The man who lived there had a nasty wound on his leg.  He had had it for a long time, but he could not get it to go away.  Mom was able to talk to him about it some, and the next day she brought him everything he could need to take care of it and clean it.  She went through how he should clean and wrap it, and he was very responsive and thankful.  It was so neat to watch her in her element.  The main thing that we wanted to do in La Baie was a two day sports camp.  We gave out wrist bands so that we could keep track of how many people were there.  The camp must have been pretty good because this little boy made his own bracelet so that he could come!

He got to stay :) 

We learned a lot the first day of sports camp and were able to make the second day run great.  I loved watching the integration between the boys in our orphanage and the community.  It was also such a good opportunity for us to open our doors to the community since we hosted the camp on the mission’s property.  Everyone at the camp not only got to play sports and do different activities, but each day they were also able to hear a devotion and be prayed over.  That was our ultimate purpose.  We were also able to do a VBS for the children who could not attend our sports camp, which was so much fun!  At La Baie, I was also able to do my community evaluation there.  Mom was able to join me for this, and I am very thankful for that.  We went through the questions with the campus director, and then we were able to hike to another town to meet with a lady who runs a clinic there.  This adventure started out a little discouraging because I wanted to see the water source, but no one knew where it was.  We then got to the clinic, but it was closed.  I felt like it had been a bit of a wasted trip, but then someone said they thought they knew where the lady lived.  We walked to her house and were able to interview her there.  At the end, we asked her about the water source.  It ended up being right behind her house, and she took us to see it!  The group was also able to spend a lot of time with the orphan boys.  They loved on them, and played hard.  There were many soccer games, hugs, laughs, and love. 

 

Blue Grass with the orphan boys

After returning from La Baie, there was still a lot of ministry to do!  We were able to do the bracelet boy bible study and once again pray over each boy individually.  Every afternoon before and after La Baie, the group would visit different bracelet boys’ houses.  At their houses, we were able to meet their family, pray over them and their needs, and give them a Creole Bible.  I loved watching the group invest even deeper into the bracelet boys’ lives, and I loved watching the boys respond to that.  Leah was actually able to visit Frankis’s house and pray over his family.  Frankis is the boy that she had been praying over for the last year through the prayer ministry we started last year. 

Leah with Frankis's family

The team was able to go to Ansefalour to do a VBS and pray over the voodoo monument.  That is a huge opportunity to be lights in the midst of darkness.  We were also able to take the Miriam Center kids to the beach.  This was so fun to participate in.  For the last two years, I had been trying to get our team to go on a trip with them, but it never worked out.  I am so glad it was able to work out this time.  The ride there might have been the best part though!  It is hard enough to hold yourself on a tap tap, but it is even harder when you have kids on your lap!

 

Mom with John Kerry and me with Wadly

There were so many more things that the group was able to do from going to House of Hope to visiting families, to hanging out with the gran moun (elderly people) and orphans.  I am so thankful for their acts of service and sacrifices that they made in order to get here.  I am also thankful that I was able to join their group and serve along side of them.  Thank you for your prayers while they were here, and for your continual prayers after they leave.  

Surgery Week

Last week I blogged a little about Haitian church, but I did not really go into anything about my time here.  It has been a longer adjustment than I thought, but I have loved my time here so far.  I love seeing positive changes in the way things are working on campus.  There is a new room for the Miriam Center, which was much needed.  I am so excited to see how God uses that room to bring visibility to some of the children who are often left out this summer.  It has also been so good to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones.  It adds so much to the relationship when you are able to say that you are staying longer than the typical ten days. 

 An "old friend," Jacob

A new friend, Wadly

For the past week or so, we have had a surgery team here.  It has been pretty cool to watch them in action.  I have spent a lot of time in the surgery wing trying to help make sure things are running smoothly.  I have found that my time there has been filled with extremes on both ends.  There are happy moments when the surgeons are able to change people’s lives.  After one of the surgeries, the man who was operated on said “Thank you so much.  Now I can go to church, I can go to the market, I can go to town.” One small operation was able to completely change his life.  However, there are also difficult times.  One boy came in for a surgery and the doctors found a mass.  They think that it could be cancerous, and they are taking it back for biopsies in the States.  We were able to find a place that could treat him if it is cancer; however, that place is in Port-au-Prince.  He lives on Tortuga Island.  If it is cancer, it is likely that he will not be able to get the treatment that he needs.  Though this has been and could be really hard, I am so thankful that we were able to build a connection with this family.  I have really enjoyed getting to know Pastor St. Verdi, the pastor of the mission church more this week.  He has such a heart for this community, and he has really demonstrated that heart.  He has prayed with every patient prior to them going into surgery and is planning follow up visits to check in on some of them.  Not only does this build a connection between the church and the patients, but it has also been an opportunity to share the peace that our Lord and Savior brings. 

As I was doing my quiet time this morning, I asked God to remind my why I am in Haiti.  Wow, what a reminder he gave me.  This morning I went into surgery wing, and the first patient was a little boy whose fifth birthday was today.  As he went back, Pastor St. Verdi went to pray with his grandmother who had brought him.  I noticed that she was crying, and something told me that I needed to try to comfort her a little.  I sat with her and hugged her, patted her back, and tried to bring a little sliver of comfort as the surgery went on.  (Surgery is a very scary thing for Haitians, as it is not common/typically does not have high success rates.)  I went to check on the boy, and I came out and told her that the surgery was finished and he did very good.  She immediately started saying “Thank you Jesus.  Thank you Savior.”  As we walked arm in arm to see her grandson, she was singing praises the whole time.  As we were sitting with the boy, she started to share with me their story.  She said that the boy’s father told her he would kill her if anything happened to his boy.  She told us how the boy’s mother left the father, so the father did bad things to the boy to try to make the mother suffer.  She said that she tried to take care of the boy, but she could not send him to school or anything.  She then asked if the mission could take the boy.  The love that this grandmother has for her grandson is extremely evident.  I cannot imagine what it took for her to get to the point of asking someone else to take her grandson.  I knew that taking the boy was not the answer, so I went to get Pastor St. Verdi.  He was also impacted by their story, so we went to talk to the people in charge of Northwest’s programs.  Long story short, we were able to get him into a program and registered for school next year!  His grandmother told him that today was the best birthday for him because he will be able to go to school next year.  It was so awesome to play a little part in this, and it was definitely that moment I had asked God for.  At northwest, we say that we are about people not projects.  This was a perfect example of this. 

Me, Rolson, and his grandmother before we registered for school

 

Overall, though there have been hard things to see this week, I am so thankful for the relationships that have been built and the lives that have been changed for the better.  I am looking forward to more of these as this next week is also full of surgery.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement.  I cannot wait to see what all God does while I am here.  He has already been evident in so many ways.

Lessons From Haitian Church

There are a lot of things that Haitians do extremely well, and church is definitely one of them.  I do not think that you can go to church in Haiti and not be inspired, encouraged, and challenged.   The only way I can think to describe it as is a little glimpse of Heaven. 

Church in Haiti is a big deal.  Everyone wears their Sunday best.  Their Sunday best could be a ball gown, or a pair of gym pants with dress shoes, but they do whatever they can to dress nice.  Everyone walks to church, and many people walk from very far away.  The worship is incredible.  Everyone sings, everyone claps (even if you cannot find the beat like me), everyone waves their arms.  There is dancing, tears, and prayers.  Their way of worship is such a biblical way of worship.  Their acts of reverence to God do not stop there.  Even though most Haitian families live off less than a dollar a day, they still put whatever they can in the offering basket.  During prayers, they do not get frustrated when the prayer goes a little too long.  Rather, they get on their knees and pray along with the pastor. 

Not only was I inspired by this, but I was also challenged in church.  During church, I was reminded that church is not supposed to be a place of comfort.  Rather, it is supposed to be a place where we go to worship, encourage, and learn with other believers.  Haitian church is anything but comfortable.  There is no air-conditioning, and it is so hot.  Everyone is crammed together.  The benches are made for about three people to sit comfortably on.  Today, my bench had eight people.  Even though it is hot and crowded, church services last over two hours.  The Haitian people do not go to church for the donuts or the appearance or any other reason.  No one would sit that crammed in such a hot area for that long just because.  They go for the reason we should all be going to church: to worship our creator. 

Now my question is: are we going to church for the right reason? Would we continue to go if the air conditioner was broken and everyone had to sit on the front few pews?  Do we respect God by dressing our best for church?  Do we worship with no reserve?  Do we stay faithful in offering when other needs seem greater?

As my perspective of church has been and will continue to be challenged and changed, I challenge you to think about all of this as you go to church next week.  Don’t just go because it is a habit, but go to worship our Savior. 

Part of my Haitian family after church.  From left to right: Jumar, Richie, Yoli, and Niason

Much Madness is Divinest Sense

“What are your plans after college?”  This seems to be the dreaded question for most people my age right now.  The quicker graduation approaches, the more often you hear this question.  Unlike a lot of people who are dreading this next step after college, I am counting down the days!  Two weeks after graduation I will be heading down to Haiti to start my long-term track there.  I will be going through Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (the same organization I have previously gone with).  The next step for me in their long-term missionary candidacy is to complete a “long” internship, which will be from the end of May to just before Thanksgiving.  After this internship, I will be able to spend some time with family, evaluate where exactly I see myself in Haiti, and start fundraising for the long-run. 

Since my first trip to Haiti in 2009, I have known that God had more in store for me there.  I just did not know exactly what that meant (and I still cannot fathom the depths of His plans for me there!).  However, He did give a little guidance after my three-month internship with Northwest (in 2012).  During the semester after this, a professor encouraged me to write one of my research papers on sustainable healthcare in Haiti.  This opened a huge door for me.  I had always loved health, but I thought that it would not be a part of my life after I felt God was steering me away from the medical school track.  However, sustainable healthcare combined business and health.  Throughout writing this research paper, I fell in love with the concept of sustainable healthcare.  I was able to add public health to my degree, and I have spent a lot of the last two years continuing this research.  God has opened so many doors for me in this area from meeting different contacts to attending the global medical mission conference this past November. 

During my trip to Haiti last summer, I was able to talk to some of Northwest’s leadership about my future in Haiti.  Little did I know, they were planning a community health development project.  Northwest does a ministry called Neighbors Projects, where different churches in the United States are partnered with a community’s church in Haiti.  Northwest had been looking for ways to further develop these communities where they have churches, and one of the ways they were looking at was through public health.  God’s timing never ceases to amaze me, and I am so excited to partner with Northwest in this endeavor.  Community health development will be my focus this internship.  Health is not only a need in every community, but it also opens a door for a way of evangelism.  I cannot wait to see how God combines community health and evangelism during this internship.  I anticipate this internship being a lot of learning, and hopefully a bit of doing.  I cannot wait to see how God stretches me, teaches me, and uses me. 

While I am so excited about working towards my calling in Haiti, this is something very different than what I am “expected” to do.  I recently had a professor tell my class that as graduating business students from Georgetown College, we would be the ones making the most money.  I am expected to go from here and either continue my education or go into the workforce and start working my way up a company.  I would not mind doing this; however, I would rather do what God has called me to do, even if that is often the unexpected.  A line from one of Emily Dickenson’s poems says “Much madness is divinest sense.”  I love this quote because I see this in my life.  To most, being 22 years old and moving to a third world country seems like “much madness”.  However, that madness is “divinest sense,” or what God has planned for me.  During one of our recent sermons about faith, my pastor said “Faith sees what reason cannot – faith goes beyond reason.”  There are so many examples of this in the Bible: Noah building an arc, Moses being put in the river, the paralytic’s friends cutting a hole in the roof to lower their friend to see Jesus.  None of these (and so many others) seemed reasonable.  However, through the faith of these people doing the unreasonable, God’s plan was done.

Sometimes I find it hard when people tell me I should be getting a master’s degree, finding a job, worrying about retirement, or paying off students loans instead of going to Haiti.  For a moment, comments like these make me question what I am doing.  However, God is faithful, and He has encouraged me in so many ways.  I spent this past week in Tampa with my best friend for spring break.  The first night there, we were driving around to see what was around our hotel.  Wouldn’t you know, there was a Haitian restaurant pretty close to it!  We went for lunch one day and were able to not only enjoy a yummy Haitian meal, but also talk to some of the Haitian people who owned and visited the restaurant.  We were the only Americans in the place, so I felt a bit like we were in Haiti!  Later in the week, we went to a bakery for breakfast.  As we were walking in, I noticed a Haitian flag on the door.  The owner was from Haiti, and had a little Haiti store inside!  Little things like these remind me that as unconventional as it may be, going to Haiti is what I am supposed to do. 

If you are interested in supporting my journey in Haiti, please contact me at tckarenbauer@gmail.com.  I will also be selling these t-shirts for $15 as a fundraiser!  If you would like one, let me know! They say "spirit lead me where my trust is without borders" and "Haiti 2015"

In closing, I ask for your prayers as I prepare to finish school and head to Haiti.  There is a lot that needs done in a little amount of time!  I also ask for prayers of peace for both my family and myself.  Though we have known this day was coming, it will still be hard to saying goodbye.

Trip Number 5

Unfortunately, due to a couple extremes (getting sick and then preparing for a trip to the other side of the world) this blog has not been on the top of my to do list.  However, the sickness gave me more time to reflect, and the 16 and 9 hour flight gave me time to type.. so here I am!

On June 5^th, 5 Blue Grass students, 1 recent Blue Grass graduate, my dad, Cameron (my best friend) and myself all left for Haiti.  This marks my 5^th trip to Haiti, but it was the first trip for 4 of the students!  I knew God had big plans for this trip before we even left.  He opened so many doors in the planning process from raising money, to getting necessary approvals, to raising donations, to still providing when one of the students was rejected for a passport.  His hand was evident is so many ways. 

Boy did HE have plans for this trip.  Both this team and the trip were amazing.  Not only was the team the hands and feet of Jesus, but they were also the voice of truth in a country that so desperately needs the truth.  This team went beyond just serving the people, and truly exemplified Christ through ministering to the people.  As a leader, I loved watching them overcoming the culture shock and stepping into what really needed to be done: spreading the Word of God. 

This change was most evident to me our fourth day in Haiti when we went to La Baie.  Saint-Louis-du-Nord, where the main campus is stationed, is in the northwest zone of Haiti.  The northwest zone is the poorest zone in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  By our standards, Saint-Louis is the definition of poverty.  However, by La Baie standards, Saint-Louis is a mansion.  The drive to La Baie is about 2 hours, and on the way you go from lush tropical scenery to desert scenery.  Then you get to La Baie, and it looks like the place they film on all those sad tv commercials.  La Baie is where grass huts are a reality.  La Baie is where it is rare to see a child who is not malnourished.  La Baie is where the students fell in love with Haiti. 

Northwest has a campus at La Baie that houses about 40 orphan boys.  We spent time with them, and everyone on the team thoroughly enjoyed getting attached to them.  They are such fun kids to be around.  However, after spending the morning and early afternoon with them, our day was just getting started.  Last year, we did a hut to hut ministry at La Baie.  We hiked up in the mountains where the poverty keeps getting worse even when you think it cannot get any worse.  The memories of the families we met on this journey have stuck with last year’s team every since.  About a month before we left, God told me had more in store for this year’s trip to La Baie.  Not only did he want us to hike back up this mountain for more hut to huts, but he wanted us to bring groceries with us as part of our ministry.  Through money from a donation taken up at school, we purchased 6 bags of groceries at the market.  (This was also an experience for the team as the market makes our farmer’s market look like paradise).  I love doing this because while we will eventually use the groceries to bless families, by purchasing them at the market, we are putting back into the local economy. 

We started up the mountain at the hottest part of the day carrying these extremely heavy bags (filled with everything: flour, sugar, noodles, beans, rice, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, bleach, etc.).  Boy was it exhausting, but the reward was incredible.  We were able to reconnect with some of the families we had previously met, and bring a little relief for them in Jesus’s name.  Not only were we able to tell them God sent us with groceries for them, but at each house a different student shared the gospel with these families and prayed over them.  THAT is what we went to Haiti for. 

While each of the 6 families we were able to share with were special, there were two that stuck out: a high and a low.  The high was a house we had visited last year.  Last year they asked us to pray over their sick daughter that she would get better and be able to go to school.  Not only did this family report that their daughter was healthy, but she was also attending school in Port-au-Prince.  What an answered prayer!  While God had said yes to that prayer, sometimes He says no.  Last year we visited a house where the mother was very sick.  She was laying in the middle of the floor in misery.  We prayed over her and begged God to heal her.  However, when God took us to that house this year, the father informed us she had passed away.  I’m not sure why this was and still is so hard for me to understand.  One of the students shared an amazing devotion about overcoming hardships through Christ.  There was not a dry eye there.  I’m not sure how to put in words the emotions that were felt in that house.  While the sadness was overwhelming, from the group and the family; God’s presence was there.  He sent us back to that house for a reason, and I pray we were a sliver of comfort in what I am sure has been one of the hardest years for them. 

We finished that day doing two Vacation Bible Schools: one for the neighborhood where we had 185 kids, and one for the orphan boys.  Each was uniquely special.  While this was a crazy busy day, this is the day that I watched the team become missionaries: people striving to serve God by spreading the gospel.  That was the most rewarding thing of the trip for me. 

The other rewarding part of my trip came from the group that holds a special place in my heart: the bracelet boys.  This is the group that has tugged at my heart since my first trip before they were even the bracelet boys.  This past year God has put a ministry in my heart to create prayer warriors for these boys.  This ministry is currently in the works, and I would love to share more about it with you if you are interested!  Part of this ministry involved getting to know each of the bracelet boys even more than I already did.  It meant sitting down with each one individually and finding out their personal stories.  Wow.  While I knew most of these boys already, I did not know many of their stories.  I did not how each one got to the place they are at today, and boy did it make me even more passionate about this ministry.  These boys have been through so much from parents dying to giving up food in order to go to school.  Their struggles are something I will never be able to relate to; however, hearing them has made me appreciate these boys even more. 

Not only did I get to sit down with each of these boys, but we also had a group Bible study with them.  One of the boys on the team led it, and did an amazing job.  I have never seen the boys so attentive and receptive.  At the end of the Bible study the team split up and each bracelet boy was prayed over individually.  While I know this is something no one on the team will ever forget, I also believe these boys will never forget that moment either.  God was moving in that chapel.

This trip had serving in it.  From getting on our hands and knees to wash the feet of the elderly, to standing up for the special needs kids who are so looked down upon, to loving children all around the northwest zone, the team served the Haitian people and therefore served God everyday.  This trip had teaching in it.  From the grocery ministry to bible study with the bracelet boys, to sharing the gospel at the jail, to sharing with the brothel ministry, this team taught about Jesus’s sacrifice.  However, the biggest part of this trip was prayer.  There is always a reason to pray, and this team took advantage of that.  We prayed over the bracelet boys.  We prayed over numerous people with chikungunya.  We prayed over the people we encountered in the jail and then went outside to pray for the corruption of the jail system.  We prayed for each other.  We prayed for different families.  I cannot think of anything better we could have done.  It was in these moments, in these prayer circles, in these hands that were laid on people where I saw the team’s heart break for Haiti and for the Haitian people. 

As a leader, this was a rewarding and an encouraging trip for me.  God used this team, and I truly believe He will continue to use this team both back home and maybe in Haiti again one day.  On a personal level, this trip was such a blessing for me.  I was able to reconnect and grow closer with my Haitian friends.  I was able to pray for the safety and protection of my Haitian family.  I was able to discuss my future in Haiti with Northwest staff. 

On a closing note, I ask for prayers in two major areas.  The first is prayer for me.  I have a lot of big decisions to make these next few months about my future.  While I know God will lead me in the right direction, I can’t help but be a little nervous about it all.  The second, and biggest prayer request, is for the Haitian people.  Chikungunya is taking over Haiti.  Every day I saw more and more of my friends come down with it.  While this disease is rarely deadly, it is absolutely miserable.  I was miserable, and I was in the States for half of this sickness.  I ask that you pray for the people who are coming down with it.  The people who have high fevers in the already hot climate.  The people who still have to hike up and down mountains with the severe joint pain.  The people who do not know what cold beverages are.  The people who do not have access to Tylenol.  Pray for the people who are suffering.