Four years ago Haiti was a common name on the tongue of many Americans. Hell on earth, chaos, destruction, voodoo, desolation, evil, loss, pain, and need, were a few of the words spoken frequently alongside the topic of the earthquake that shook this nation to its very core. Sitting here this afternoon looking out into the grey sky, floating clouds, sandy mountain tops, the slight breeze kissing my face, I can not help but feel that I have entered not hell, but some unique version of heaven.
The first evening traveling into Port-au-Prince, I could tell that there was something mysterious about this place. Groups of people lined the streets and sidewalks in the dark of the night, eery music mixed with badly mixed pop hits blared from every shack and tent we passed, and fires burned in gutters and front yards. A certain darkness lurked around the city, like a fog, that much was certain. However, something spoke out of the blackness which surprised me. The evilness was not encompassing, but lingering, evident, but weak, present, but not powerful. Like a song thats going out of style, whatever it is that has ruled these people and this country for so long, its presence is being desired less and less, as God is moving in, taking back what is his, and taking it by storm. This was illustrated during my first afternoon as huge bolts of thunder cracked the sky in half with ferociousness, and I could feel the power, the plan, and force behind what God is doing here; and he’s not slowing down.
The organization we are working with this month is amazing. First of all, The Village of Hope is home to 65 orphans. They’ve been given a loving home, education, food, and movie/dance party’s which I frequently crash when i’m not busy with team stuff. God has put the teenage girls on my heart, and the other day I felt him prodding me to go visit the teenagers and take nail polish. When I got to there little room they were all sitting on the floor, and had just pulled their nail posh out right before I had arrived! I pulled my pink polish and sparkles out of my purse, which automatically dropped the barriers they put up. They are teenage girls who I think get exhausted from visitors and missionaries coming through so often, and becoming quick friends and then saying painful goodbyes after a weeks time. Thus, they are pretty guarded. I was able to let them know that we are here for a whole month, and I just let them braid my hair and listen to Justin Beiber on my phone. Its a bless and be blessed situation, and its brought me a ton of joy. MOH also serves Haitian villages daily with their Clinic of Hope, mobile medical clinics, community health program, and prosthetics lab. Its incredible! They also provide wholistic education to thousands of children every day, with an academic, nutrition, and gospel oriented curriculum, and provide 54,000 Haitians with meals each day as well. One of my favorite aspects of their mission, is the way they invest heavily in helping the villages around here become self sufficient by empowering leaders in the village to stand up in the name of the gospel, and organize whats going on in their community . This ranges from keeping track of the number of children, the number of believers, whose house needs painting, and who still needs a mango tree planted in their front yard. Important things such as spirituality, and smaller things such as plants and paint, are accounted for, which is necessary when trying to rebuild and advance these peoples livelihood which was essentially destroyed. (http://www.mohhaiti.org)
So what does this month look like for me? Well like I said, I am in heaven. The first week was VBS, and I was fortunate enough to receive the job of walking the two-four year olds to the different stations. I am not kidding, I literally had Haitian babies just clinging to me with everything they had, crying out to be held and kissed and loved. These people are insanely beautiful, and the little ones are like chocolate cookies. I can’g get enough of their cheeks. The translators we worked with were incredible, they walked around with us just loving on the kids and speaking truth over them, and translating what we wanted to convey, in such a beautiful and heartfelt way. Their passion for their people and the future generation was so lovely to see, we have been lucky to work with them. Often in the afternoons we will go visit villages, and just sit on porches with people to hear their stories, pray, hold their kids, talk about the gospel, and hear stories of what they lost in the earthquake. This can range from anything from husband, to kids, house, dog, or everything. The beautiful thing is that their hope as a nation grows even in the pain, you can hear it in the way they speak, and the faith they have when they ask for prayer. Last Saturday we visited a village with a large deaf community, and I went with the group who went to speak sign language just to offer prayer and basically just be there. One of the deaf men we met was named William, and when I had a translator sign to him that my dad and brother are named William he got so excited, I literally thought he was going to pass out. He signed that me and him were friends for life, best friends forever, and we took about one-hundred pictures together. It was pretty powerful to feel his joy. He is currently unemployed, as are 70% of the Haitian population. The poverty is excruciating. Anyhow, his prayer request is that he could get a job so he can marry his girlfriend and provide for the next baby; it pained me to hear that the first one starved to death. However, even in all of this harsh reality, he showed me the power of joyful emotion and the beauty of genuine human connectivity, and again it was a blessed and be blessed situation where God showed up displaying love and mercy.
Naked babies running into my arms, worshipping in Creole, happy times with other racers, so much freedom, so much love, growth in the Lord, continued vulnerability, song writing, star gazing. A holler out to my London goddess Brogan; love making new friends and getting to do life with so many new people i’m meeting along the way. Such a month you guys, I feel blessed beyond belief. I could could honestly go on and on, but this blog’s turning into a novel.
Please be in prayer for my squad as a unit as we have been combatting a fair share of spiritual attack, (It is all squad month so all 45 of us are here together). Most importantly, please be in prayer for Haiti that God will continue to work here and that his hope would continue touching the minds and hearts of these people. I have been horrible about taking pictures, but i’ll try to do better I swearrrr. Praying for you guys, and Love you lots!!
xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox
– Lex
