Tension: Hope and Redemption

***First I have to apologize for the lack of posting on our Haiti trip - we had some trouble with the internet (not a surprise in a 3rd world country) and were unable to get the blog to open on the iPhone we had.  Hopefully our facebook pictures and updates somehow made it to your world these last few weeks.

Here's the thing about Haiti... you always leave with tension.  People there live in the tension day after day.  This time feels like more struggle and more tension than I've experienced on most of my other trips.  Tension between being overwhelmed with hope at what God is doing there and consumed with a longing for God's redemption of humanity in a desperate culture.  

There is so much darkness about Haiti - the people are beat down, broken, tainted and enslaved to a cycle of poverty that's worse than anywhere I've been.  Because of this cycle and such government corruption, it is INCREDIBLY difficult to bring about change.  We can try our "American" systems of change, but what works here is never going to work the same there.  Everything is different.

I found myself frustrated by the systems we've spent the approximately 4 years trying to implement falling apart.  We've discovered that what we thought was a marketable, sustainable model went awry when the supply could not meet the demand - or when the Haitian people turned on the system and on each other and tried to do it their way because loyalty, trust and perseverance are not virtues in a culture where survival is key.  You do what you need to do get ahead.  Period.  Change must start on the inside - your character has to be made and re-made.  Deflated, I cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus - redeem your people."

Our American partners there can get easily beat down by the darkness, the frustration, the tension, the hopelessness.  It's hot.  It's humid.  The power is rarely on.  Pumping water gets old.  Resources are incredibly expensive.  Things take about 20 times as much effort as they do here.  There's no respite.  Yet the commitment and calling of these people keeps them in these communities.  Life is hard in Haiti regardless of our nationality.  Deflated, I cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus - redeem your people."

The education system is broken - kids are in school for a mere 3-4 hours a day and are functioning at a grade level much below their age.  How do people get ahead without quality education?  The expectation of these kids is that they will get a Haitian high school diploma (the equivalent of an American 8th grade education) and then be put back into a society filled with unemployment, infidelity, and dependence on foreign aid.  Something's gotta give.  Deflated, I cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus - redeem your people."

But God is faithful.  He is alive and working in Haiti.  There is HOPE.  

I see HOPE in a bead program where 12 women are learning a marketable skill that could provide them with a job, a future, a way out of the poverty cycle.  I see them working on their own time - carefully cutting paper and rolling into beautiful beads - glazing it and letting it dry.  They are trusting the process and believing that this work will ultimately pay off.  Because Kelsea and our partners there love and believe in these women, they've created a potentially sustainable way to bring hope to 12 broken women.

I see HOPE in people like the Cowley's, the Hatten's, the Byxbe's and Kelsea giving up their entire lives and choosing to serve in Haiti - choosing to empower, to educate, to love, to walk with these beautiful people.  We had the gift and privilege of getting to spend some real time with Kelsea who is undoubtedly living out the gospel in Montrouis.  (We also got to surprise her by bringing her dad!)
She is loving as Jesus loved and serving as Jesus served. She literally moved into the neighborhood - into a house with water she has to pump, no electricity and mosquito nets to be able to minister to, love and understand the Haitian people.  I dare say nothing communicates love more than that.

 

(Kelsea and her dad, then Kelsea & her roommate Kourtney at their house)

Kelsea runs a Bible study with the women in the village and she and Wesner run an English program for the men and women of the fishing village.  They are truly servants who are empowering the people of Montrouis.  Here's a video of Kelsea & Wesner's English class (that is outgrowing the space!)

We also had the amazing opportunity to be witness to her engagement to Philipson - a mighty man of God who has done more for Haiti than most people I've met.  He loves his country and desires to see lives changed - he's pioneered a prison ministry where hundreds have come to Christ & worship still happens every Sunday, he started a brothel ministry where entire brothels have been shut down because the women met the Lord and were given a new sense of purpose for their lives.  As Kelsea and Philipson begin their life together in Haiti, I cannot help but well up with HOPE and excitement for how God will use them to change that country.

(Vernon - Kelsea's dad and the soon-to-be newlyweds!)

I see HOPE in what Pastor Caesar is doing with feeding and educating over 1500 kids a day.  This man has a heart for his country - for bringing about change and doing his part to give kids a future.  I'm inspired by his humility, his trust in God's provision and his perseverance.  His hope is to continue to expand this amazing ministry.

(Just one of the six education/nutrition sites that runs each day)

I see HOPE in the 14 kids that live at the Mission (the children's home).  We are discovering that the best skill we can give those kids is to teach them English.  If they have an American high school diploma and know English, they have a skill that no one can ever take away from them, they are incredibly employable and they have an immeasurable sense of self-worth.  In the fall, all 14 of these kids ranging from 3-14 will leave the Haitian school system and begin an education in English and French.  This will change everything for them.  Life will look differently because our partners have a vision to give them a hope and a future.  It will not be easy, but I cannot wait to go back and see the progress these kids are making and the pride they have as they learn a skill not many possess in Haiti.

(Elise - who lived in Haiti for 9 months & Kimberli - one of the mission kids, a joyous reunion)

Anyone that lives in Haiti must be resilient - it's a hard life and it's not always easy to find the good in things or to see God at work.  We are thankful for our American partners and the Haitian staff that have so much to teach us.

(Wesner, NVM Haitian staff and Parkher - a member of our IMPACT team)

We are grateful that you've joined us on this journey and want to give you a few ways that you can practically help these people change their future...

1) Keep your feelers out for teachers... we have a need for 2-3 teachers in different age ranges starting in September. Click here to email us if you or someone you know is interested.

2) Get on board to help us start "bead parties" here in the states.  Offer to host a party at your home where you'll take the Haitian beads, have people at your house and make jewelry together.  When we're up and running, we'll provide you with a kit (a promo video, some materials, beads, etc).  Email us to sign up now and we'll get you details once that is up and running.

3) Help us expand the feeding/education program that Pastor Caesar is doing.  He has 1500 kids involved now and is needing a roof for one of his buildings before the rainy season.  Email us if you're interested in helping with that project in any way.

4) Sponsor a kid - some kids we are in relationship are in need of sponsors for school as there is no such thing as free public education in Haiti.  Click here to start sponsoring a kid in Montrouis.

5) Sign up to come on our January trip and catch the vision for yourself.  Click here to fill out an application.

We are so thankful for your part in this Haitian journey.  We are thrilled to get to live in the tension with these people where we long for redemption, but yet we are filled with hope.  We join in one voice and cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus."  

***More to come on trip details - medical/dental clinics, time with the mission kids, ways you can pray, etc.

Mighty to Save

 Kerry wrote this morning:

When we moved to Haiti in 2009 we believed that God was calling us to live by a different model of ministry. We truly believed that God has a deep love for His Haitian children and a plan to lift them out of their despair and into lives of freedom through knowledge of His love. We believed that if God has a plan to do work then He Himself had the means to fund that work. We believed that if we would be faithful to throw ourselves completely into finding what God wanted to do and then spent our time in that, then He would send the money to do it. I did not want to spend several months each year doing fund raising when instead we could be rescueing babies and taking care of the sick and dying. I was totally unsure how it would all work out but truly believed God would provide the funds.

In July 2010 the river in Montrouis flooded due to many factors including a poorly designed bridge and extensive deforrestation. The flood washed away many homes in our fishing village leaving dozens of single moms and their kids homeless. Tents were provided but that was almost a year ago and the tents have been destroyed. We felt God wanted us to reach out to these desperate women and give them hope.

We had a friend that agreed to help us rent homes for 18 of the women. But we did not want to stop there. Paying for someone's house as a handout is more detrimental in the long run than helpful. So instead we decided to start a program for these women to reach out to their own community. Joy has a heart for the elderly and widows and we were already taking fish to many widows in our area on a weekly basis. But Joy had a desire to start a "Meals on Wheels" Haiti style. So we are now taking the 18 single moms that are the outcasts from their society. Many have multiple children from multiple men. All are uneducated and fundamentally illiterate. Most have been raped and abused. We want to help them become active participants in changing their community and their lives. We want them to know that God has a better plan for them and that although they have never believed it, they are valuable and lovable and loved.

In order to be in our housing program the women had to agree to several conditions. First of all they have to come to weekly Life Lesson classes. These classes involve life skills training like hygeine and mothering skills. It also involves Bible study that teaches them abstinance and the true value of their body and their lives. In addition to the classes the women agree to work in our feeding program. They will come three days per week to prepare and deliver the hot meals to the elderly shut-ins. They will also be taking clean water and vitamins. We are training them to look for signs of illness and to spend time with the client. Our goal is to help them understand the principle of investing their lives in others.

The first two days they work each week will go towards paying for their house we rented. The third day they will get paid and taught how to mange the money.

The program will feed about 150 hot meals per week and employ the 18 single moms. We pray that in the long run the effects will change many families and help many to come to know the love of Christ.

I did not know how we would pay to fund the program but we went ahead and started renting all the houses. This past week a man we met while here in Haiti called and said he and his wife really wanted to find a program they could get involved with. I emailed him the outline of Meals on Wheels and he called me tonight and said they had all the expenses covered and would start sending a check every month to cover all the costs. God had a plan. He chose by grace to reveal it to us. We started it by faith. And He provided the funding. In the words of Hannible from The A Team, "I just love it when a plan comes together!" 

This is exciting news from Haiti.  This week they are doing medical assessments on the elderly in Montrouis and will determine those who have the most dire need to part of the new feeding program.  God is so faithful.  Just a month ago, I remember conversations with Kerry about how he was going to get all these women employed & housed by July... 

OUR GOD IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. 

Glimpses of Hope

On Sunday afternoon in Haiti, we were sitting at the snack bar, enjoying some sandwiches for lunch & talking about what life would bring once we got back from Haiti.  Jarred told me he was planning on going rock climbing at a national park in Utah in the month of April.  To which I said, "Why don't you come back here?  They need you here way more than the rocks do :)"  Jarred is a PA (Physician's Assistant) and has an incredible giftset (medical and non) that is ridiculously useful in Haiti.

Long story short, Jarred is back in Montrious.  He is there through the month of April and in the 4 days he's been there has already done his fair share of ministry.  When we were there last month, we met this little guy named Johnny.  He had some sort of incident in November - they're not sure if it was a stroke or what but a kid who was normal - able to speak, walk and play can no longer use the right side of his body.  We found him at his home just sitting in this chair.  He doesn't move... all day unless his dad takes him somewhere.

I will never forget standing outside Johnny's home in the fishing village, tears streaming down my face and hearing Jarred & Holly (our team doctor) say, "There's nothing we can do for him.  This will be his life."  He's a kid for crying out loud.  It is SO unfair.

When we got home, we decided the least we could do is try to get him a wheelchair.  Someone donated the perfect size wheelchair and today Jarred posted pictures of Johnny's glimpse of hope.  I know we can't save this little boy and he'll never walk or talk again, but we can make the time he has left on this earth better.  And from the pictures and the way Jarred talked about it today, the ear-to-ear grin and him spinning in circles in the wheelchair is just one of the reasons Jarred needed to go back.

It is Christ using his people to reach down to the least of these and say, "You're worth it.  You matter. " And that's awesome. That's the gospel.