We have arrived safely in Haiti and spending some time with old friends. As soon as we are settled, we’ll be off to deliver some of the special gifts we brought. (Nothing like playing Santa when it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit.)
Despite fatigue from traveling overnight, we want to maximize this window of time to re-connect with some ministry leaders and friends and cover some new territory as well.
More to come…
Just a few minutes here at the gate en route to Haiti. This trip is going to be similar to the two trips I made last February when we needed to assess the situation and determine where we could help and be most effective, and develop longer-term partnerships with local ministries. After one year of labor and learning, we’ve reaches the point where we need to re-evaluate our effectiveness and also to reach out to ministries that we have met in the past year but haven’t had the opportunity to pursue.
We would value your prayers on this journey for God’s wisdom and direction, for His providence to be clearly revealed, for smooth transitions and appointments, for understanding despite language differences, and of course for safety and good health as we travel and for our families at home.
More soon!
I think all parents are acquainted with the maxim that “silence is golden.” But the Lord was speaking to me this morning as I walked my dog, reminding me that when it concerns God and His Kingdom, there is no place for silence. I felt His gentle rebuke of my spirit that I haven’t been lifting up His name with the frequency or volume that He merits.
Here are some of the things I must belatedly trumpet:
Each of these is true and needs no explanation. But God has illustrated each of these in my life recently, so I will give Him the honor He deserves and address why He put them on my heart:
Yes, there are moments in life when the old axiom about silence being golden can seem true. But never when it comes to the glory of the Lord. Lift His banner high!
For those in the Southern California region, we’d love for you to join us at the Haiti Benefit Concert at 6pm this Sunday, January 23, 2011. The event is being hosted by Crossline Community Church and there is no charge for admission, though it will be preceded by an all-you-can-eat international dinner for $10 beginning at 5pm. (Dinner will be only $5 for those who purchase a $20 raffle ticket to the drawing for a “missions experience for 2 to Haiti.”) Raffle tickets and dinner tickets will both be for sale on site, though again, the concert is free.
The music will be performed by Factor V, featuring Martin Gerschwitz of Iron Butterfly. There will be a free will offering taken during the program, and the winning ticket of the Haiti raffle will be drawn at the conclusion. (Winner not required to be present to win.) All proceeds will go to support the ongoing ministry in Haiti.
Here is a moving video which is an excellent wrap-up and moving video of last month’s recent mission trip to Haiti. Thank you to Jake Hart for his work producing the video. To answer the inevitable question about how to get a hold of the soundtrack, you can purchase ‘ “Hold On” by Rapture Ruckus from iTunes, Amazon or your favorite media store.
We’re grateful for your partnership with The Global Mission!
Which do you prefer: the journey? or reaching the goal?
Day 4 brought near completion of our major project – the concrete for the basketball court.
But by now I’m losing track of the days. I’ve been so deeply engaged in leadership and problem solving, all I really know is what happened, but not when.
I know we loved children and taught them about Jesus. I know partnered with pastors and their churches. We prayed with families, worshiped together, shared the Word. Bonded. Loved. Cried. This is a group of young men and women who have left everything they knew to minister the life and love of Christ to people hurting deeply.
It hasn’t been perfect because we aren’t perfect; circumstances aren’t perfect; we are just fragile containers whose cracks and gaps are windows for God’s glory to shine.
I’m tapping this out with my thumb as I hold the phone in my one free hand as we drive from Port au Prince to the Dominican border. We are on a new journey with a new destination since our airline cancelled this week’s flights. Great symbolism, as none of us are the same any more. We are new people with changed hearts reaching for new goals.
We’ll keep you posted along the way…
My analysis reflects no one’s opinion but my own and makes no claim to prophetic revelation. It is simply my political insights and social and spiritual assessment.
Key players:
Celestin – represents status quo as the son in law of the current president. His political party UNITY is the establishment.
Manigat – her late husband was democratically elected president in 1988 and served four months before a military coup deposed him. She is 70 years old but represents change and diplomacy.
Matelly – a wildcard in the election, a pop music singer and celebrity, represents the anti-establishment and unknown transition.
The results announced last night had no candidate had achieved 50% of the vote required to win. Manigat led with >30%, Celestin had >20% as did Matelly, less than 1% behind or about 6800 votes. The commission interpreted narrowly and announced a mid-January run-off between Manigat and Celestin.
The electoral process allows for 72 hours for candidates to protest. Matelly and Celestin have reportedly already lodged appeals, which will then be reviewed and ruled on Dec 20.
Meanwhile, demonstrators allegedly lit the UNITE party headquarters of Celestin on fire. There are many dubious unverified reports of violence, but this was apparently witnessed by AP journalists.
Some people are looking for any reason for violence – politics, cholera, poverty. I don’t minimize these concerns and crises. But the reaction is an inappropriate response.
I believe once there is clarity in the process forward, the violence will subside – at least for the time being.
The people of Haiti are crying out for help. They want help to feed their families. They want a hope and a future. They need Jesus. It is not my place to endorse a candidate, but I do believe (strongly) that a new government has a potential for change that will not occur with the ruling party.
I anticipate that our team will have safety to operate in Haiti until our return. While here we will continue a vigilant day-to-day & moment-by-moment supervision of our Christ centered outreach to Haiti.
I’ve got to start working on this earlier in the day!
Obviously, with the results of the presidential election tonight, at least 50% of Haitian voters are disappointed, and we are taking safety and security quite seriously.
Tonight, rather than the scheduled outreach, we stayed in and spent time with the boys here in the care of the Center of Hope. We had a time of “verbal worship” as we listened to one another answer two questions: how has God revealed Himself to you? and how has that changed your life?
The Haitian, American and Dominican stories were so beautiful and moving. Jesus was lifted up and many tears rolled down. Common themes touched on hope, grace, purpose and forgiveness. What an amazing group of people. What an awesome God.
We’ve only been together for a bit more than 48 hours, yet this is a family!
Most of the day was spent working on the basketball court. Mixing water, sand, gravel and cement. Pumping more water from the well (no, not for drinking.) a bucket brigade passing the concrete mix down to the forms, pouring it out, passing it back empty. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Making the backboard from scratch since the airline reps at LAX refused to allow us to bring the one we purchased (after clearing it with them by phone.) Measure, cut, paint, mark. Prune the tree overhanging the court. Dig the hole for the pole.
We had some great breakthroughs today too. We don’t mind hiring locals for pay – providing jobs is beneficial for the community. But we’ve also been trying to engage people in helping each other. Today we had a good group from the community join us to help build THEIR court, which is great and encouraging progress seeing increased ownership.
Also, we connected with several new people and organizations who we have been hopeful to develop future relationships.
Much to pray for, much to praise for.
Now we are beginning a new day, starting with team devotions in the Word, then onto breakfast and pouring more concrete to finish the court.
Many are asleep, but a handful remain awake playing “telephone pictionary.” I know the emotion of the day, the spiritual insights and the visceral images are now being expressed through loud laughter and silliness.
It’s been a full journey already, from packing to airports to a new language and culture. The immense poverty, the unappealing smells, the basic food. But we’ve seen so many smiles today, and already have been meeting so many needs.
Today there was a soccer game in an open field, and VBS for younger ones, and all of us in a ring praying together with our Haitian neighbors. Games at a youth outreach, worship singing Mighty to Save, and Jorge sharing how Christ changed his life via translation.
Tomorrow we begin our day in worship and a devotional at 7am local time, breakfast and then getting rolling on projects including a basketball court for the community. More stories, more pictures, more names and stories of changed lives to come.
Writing from the plane now. The trip started off for me in a whole new way. This veteran trip leader left his passport, wallet and cash for ministry projects on his desk at home. Never done that before. Had to run home before we even left for the airport. I had to remind myself that I was so busy taking care of everyone else, I needed to take care of me too.
Once we’d gathered and prayed we packed all twenty of us into our transport (thx Erik & Grant) and got up to LAX without any issues.
A few more moments for prayer when we learned that American Airlines was enforcing a new embargo against traveling with oversize bags, crates, tubs and boxes. Jourdan initiated a moment of prayer for an exception – to no avail; but we now could rest knowing God had a different plan for us. Our crew quickly got to work repacking into alternate luggage (abandoned suitcases provided for free by AA desk staff), even breaking down the basketball goal into our new bags. (We had to leave the plexiglass backboard behind.)
It’s been uneventful since then, getting through the TSA bodyscan, some dinner in the terminal and boarding our flight to Miami. All too soon we will arrive in the middle of the night – 5am ET but 2am to our bodies.
So it’s time to get a few short hours of rest before we get on our way…
More to come, more to pray… (Please get all our bags there, Lord!)
P.S. In Miami now.
Register once, and every time you shop via smile.amazon.com, they donate to us!
