My time in Haiti was action packed the whole 10 days. Even before I left the states I
experienced a small miracle. Some
how I thought our flight left at 10am but when I checked in at the kiosk it
said preflight boarding was at 7:50am!
I don’t know what happened but time warped and I even had enough time to
eat a Burger King breakfast before departing.
Haiti is still Haiti.
Trash, Rubble, Heat but still resilient Hope in the mist of a
tragedy. The week there was
a balance of checking up with our pastors, taking care logistics and setup for
future teams, and leading the 25-person team from Nebraska.
It is always a privilege to be part of leading a team. You get to see a lot of firsts from
your participants. First time
doing a mission trip. First time
oversees. First time flying. First
time throwing the toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet. First time hearing God’s voice. Those were all characteristics of the
team from Nebraska. One
particular story really stuck with me from the week.
I was leading a small group of 4, Scott, Kent, Diana, and
Marsha, who just all happen to be in their 60s, on a prayer walk through the
community. Before we went out I
led them in a Listening Prayer exercise. I said a short prayer asking God to
reveal anything that we should pay attention to on our walk and then we paused
for a minute waiting to hear from the Lord.
I asked the group if they got anything. They said no and something about how
they weren’t use to praying like that.
I told them what I saw.
When I closed my eyes I saw a picture of an orange tree. I wasn’t sure what it meant but for
whatever reason God showed it to me.
We went on our walk stopping to meet people, hear their
stories and pray with them. Two
hours had pasted and still no orange tree. I thought maybe I would see it painted on a building or
maybe on a sign, as I had never remembered seeing an orange tree in Haiti
before.
We rounded a corner and came across a school my good friend
Pastor Wilnord was constructing.
He showed us the foundation they had just laid and the 25 foot hole for
the latrine. Pastor Wilnord was
describing his vision for the school when our translator, Pierre, interrupted
and said, “Look the orange tree!�
Sure enough there it stood, off to the side of the school
growing between two walls. My team
was a bit stunted; we went over to inspect it. Yep, a orange tree. I still didn’t know why we were supposed to see it
though. We decided to bless Pastor
Wilnord by praying for him and his school.
It wasn’t until later that night that I found out how the
orange tree had significance.
Apparently something broke inside Dianna when she saw the orange
tree. Her mind became flooded with
memories of when she was a teenager, some 45 plus years ago. She remembered how she used to gets
pictures, words, and dreams from God for people. One such picture was of a black rose that so move a friend
that he turn to Christ and received salvation before he was later killed in
war.
Dianna shared with the whole group during debrief that night
how when she was growing up her church said that God didn’t speak like that to
people anymore. That those things weren’t to be trusted and best left
alone. She spoke through tears how
she knew she could hear from God but it had been so long since she had heard
his voice like that.
We prayed over Dianna.
That she would be washed clean from any curses spoken over her from
generations past that stopped her from hearing God’s voice. The following night Dianna was awoken
at 2am with a dream from the Lord.
She shared it through tears with the team in the morning. It was about trusting in the Lord. A few team members confirmed it with
what God had been speaking to them.
I believe Dianna has been released again to hear clearly from the Lord.
Who knew a simple orange tree growing between two walls
would bare such profound fruit. It
is stories like these that make all the preparations, travel, late nights and
heat, worth it all. Do you hear
God’s voice? Do you pause to allow
him to speak? I believe God so desires to speak to us all. If you want to learn more about how to
hear his voice feel free to contact to me or I recommend reading the book, The
Art of Listening Prayer by Seth Barnes.
*Note – I am still in great need of a financial support team
to raise my $1200/month of support to continue my ministry with AIM. I have not received any responses so
far. Will you please prayerfully
consider supporting me?
** The bottom picture is of me and Pastor Wilnord with the orange
tree behind us.
