Category: Ayiti 🇭🇹

It’s been on my heart to try and write about my 3 weeks in Haiti but have been at a loss for words to fit it all into a blog post. Here are some of the highlights of my time & the beautiful people I got to serve and build relationships with during my stay. 

This is Yolle! In June of 2017 Yolle moved to Haiti to serve as a missionary after hearing the Lord’s call on her life. Every week Yolle serves the women and children in the communities of Jacmel and Beaudouin thru prayer, counseling, Bible study, and one-on-one discipleship. It was such a joy to stay with her for the 3 weeks I was there and witness the beautiful work the Lord is doing in and thru her.

This is Sephora, one of the girls Yolle is discipling and pouring Jesus’ love into. She is a beautiful young girl inside and out & I had the chance to begin teaching her guitar while I was there. Yolle said that Sephora’s goal at the beginning of the year was to learn guitar and was so excited for the chance to learn! She is such a fast learner and we really bonded. I saw how quickly these young girls have been forced to grow up because of their circumstances. But in contrast, I also saw how they are hungry for God’s Word and how grateful they are to have Yolle as a godly example and someone to turn to for encouragement and guidance. 

In the months leading up to my trip, my community and church blessed the people in Haiti by providing 25 backpacks filled with necessary school supplies, jewelry-making & sewing supplies, and enough supplies to make 30 care bags for the women we would be serving. To see the expressions of gratitude on the faces of the children, their parents, and the women was priceless. 

This is Echo+! Echo+ is a small-business that is a ministry of the church in Beaudouin; it is the first store in the community to serve cold refreshments  and opened the first week I was there. They currently have 4 employees who each underwent a training course that taught them the importance of providing excellent service and how their job can be an opportunity to share the love of Christ with everyone they see.  It is amazing to see the dignity they now have being able to earn an income and provide for themselves and their families. 

This is Gladys (middle), Kevinson (L), and Hilda (R)! Gladys’ husband, Lukeson, and her are active in their church, love the Lord and are honoring Him in the way they are raising their family. The love of Jesus is evident the moment you step foot in their home. It is truly beautiful to see. Lukeson is also pictured below helping lead worship at the orphanage! Their witness stands out and shines bright because it is not the norm.

These are photos from the orphanage in Beaudouin that Yolle visits every Friday and Saturday. There are 30+ children who live here; each ranging in age from 2 to 17. During our time we would sing worship songs and have a time of Bible lesson and activities. We celebrated 5 of them who had recently had a birthday and took a group of them to the beach. I was able to talk to the Pastor who established the orphanage and his wife who is the Director; they said that their greatest prayer request is for food for the children each day. It is heart wrenching and the need feels so overwhelming and desperate. The Lord continuously reminded me of verses like Psalm 10:14 that says: “But You, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; You consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.” I know God sees and His heart is for them; my prayer is that each of them grow to know Him personally and depend on Him for their daily needs. I know that our God is a God who answers prayer and His ear is attentive to their cries.

One of the last events I got to be a part of was a woman’s night hosted at Yolle’s home. There was a meal prepared for the ladies when they arrived and we had a time of worship, prayer, and encouragement. Earlier that day Yolle and I had written out Bible verses on index cards to pass out to each of the ladies that would be coming. After our time of prayer we asked them to read their verse out loud & share if it spoke to them specifically. It was beautiful to hear a number of women share how the Lord had spoken to them thru His word and comforted them in what they were facing. Afterward we washed their feet, painted their nails, and gifted them with a bag filled with hygiene and beauty products. It was so wonderful to see how blessed and grateful they were at the end of the night. Despite the difficulties they are facing internally and externally, there was such tangible joy and it was so priceless to see them enjoy a night of rest and encouragement.

Please keep the believers in Haiti in your prayers: the church and their leadership that they would be strengthened in their faith and encouraged as they continue to spread the good news of Jesus’ love and salvation.

 

(to read part 1 click: here 😊)

When I was 21 I got the opportunity to go back to Haiti in August of 2016.  I had been teaching preschool full time for 3 years and I had a lot of the same questions in my heart that I had in 2013: I didn’t know what the future held and I was praying for wisdom and guidance.

I felt that I was at another cross-roads but I didn’t want to be led by my emotions and I wasn’t sure if this trip would be as impactful as the last.  During that second trip I kept thinking over-and-over again: “Lord, what is this? Is this something that is not going to leave me? This longing and love for this community?  Will I ever be the same or be able to move on?”

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love Him? - James 2:5

I walked away that week knowing in my soul that I would be back but I didn’t know how or when.  When I got home I talked to my parents and they encouraged me to embrace patience because if it was the Lord’s will it would happen in His time.  At the time I selfishly did not want to hear that but I knew it was necessary. Looking back I see God’s wisdom and purpose being worked out in it all.  I needed to learn (and still am learning!) patience, surrender, and trust.  I’ve learned that the work He has to do in our hearts is of far greater importance than anything we can do outwardly. A life surrendered to Him starts in the heart and continues in the heart.

My preschool class graduated in June of 2017 and the Lord provided me with a new, amazing job opportunity; thru a lot of change over the past 2 years I surrendered my dream to go back to Haiti because it seemed too far gone. I prayed that He would make it clear if it was in His will but I also doubted; thinking: “there’s no way I’ll be able to go back,” and “I should stop hoping in something that wasn’t meant to be.”  But God has been so gracious to give clear guidance and answer specific prayer requests that my parents and I have been committing to Him over the last 2 years. On Tuesday I’ll be leaving to Haiti again for 3 weeks and I am so grateful and humbled.  I am full of expectation and I cannot wait to see what Jesus is going to do thru this trip.   ♥️

Since my first trip Jesus has been teaching me to get comfortable with stepping outside of my comfort zone.

I want to get comfortable with the discomfort of stepping into something bigger than myself, something that only God knows the outcome of.  Something that scares me but causes my faith to grow.  Something that requires risk and humility in saying “I don’t know where this’ll lead to but I’m saying yes and walking in faith one step at a time.”

Life is found in pouring out, when all I have to worry about is myself and my comfort, life is miserable.  But He is constantly reminding me never to forget that He is the Source.  He is the One who our fullness comes from.  He is the Living Water, the Bread of Life, everything we need to face each day: He is strength and grace for whatever lies ahead.

The Christian life is not one of perfection or even striving towards perfection (and we do a great disservice to others when we act like it is) — it’s one of honesty,  repentance and running towards Jesus.  Every day I am faced with my old self: my pride and my selfishness. And every day Jesus reminds me that I am a new creation and that my old self is dead, buried, and I am alive in Him.  That is the walk of the Christian:  Freedom in Him, no longer bound by sin and self. Free to love Jesus and love others how He has loved us.

 

“The prayer is not asking that
I’ll be propelled into something bigger for this world.
The prayer is ‘reduce’
— Make me smaller.
Help me get out of my own way.” – Hannah Brencher

Throughout my middle & high school years I never had a desire to go on a missions trip. I had people close to me who had gone on missions trips and came back changed and I didn’t know if I was ready for that to be me. I knew that going to a different country would expose my ignorance and comfort and I would come face to face with a need bigger than anything I was capable of filling. I was also scared of the emotional side of it because I knew that emotions fade and I didn’t want to come home passionate and moved by what I had seen but go on living my comfortable, first-world life…so I figured it’d be safer to stay home and kept telling myself “I don’t need that.”

That is until I had the opportunity to go to Managua, Nicaragua in 2012; which led to going to Jacmel, Haiti in August 2013… I was 18, had just graduated High School in May and I remember being overwhelmed with so many questions.

Every time I turned around someone was asking me the same questions I was asking myself and it frustrated me because I didn’t have answers. 

I knew God promised to guide me; but when? When would the answers come?  Should I go straight to college? What major should I choose? Where should I work? Worries like: “I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life?!?!” occupied my mind.  

I am so grateful that my parents were never the ones asking me these questions or putting pressure on me. My dad always said “I don’t even know what I’m doing with the rest of my life!” — he reminded me to walk in faith and not by sight. It was scary because for the first time my life wasn’t mapped out.  Can you relate to feeling like you’re stumbling, taking your first “baby steps” out in faith, not sure where they’ll lead and wondering if you’ll be able to walk? . 

In the middle of that season I set off on a plane to Haiti….

I learned that one week cannot do much to make a lasting impact on a country but one week can do something immeasurable in one’s heart. 

During that week my heart changed.  I learned that nothing makes you take your eyes off yourself like being surrounded by children and people who have a hunger in their souls for Jesus. I learned that nothing brings more joy and fulfillment than when we are filled with Christ’s love and then pouring into others as a result … I see how Jesus knew that I need to be there to come face to face with my own selfishness, my own pride, and my own poverty.  I learned that I have so much more in common with people across the world than I had ever thought before. I learned that I was desperate for Jesus to soften my heart. My heart was impoverished: I just had material abundance to distract me.  My heart was hard and I had been too stubborn to step out of my own world into the hurt, suffering, and need of another’s.

After 1 week in Haiti I knew that I wanted to spend my days pouring into others. I had a passion for serving kids so I came home and applied for a job teaching preschoolers which, to my amazement, I got. I also started taking some Early Childhood Education online classes at my local community college. I learned quickly that life is not easy and although I knew God had opened the door for me to be a teacher it was still hard; but I knew it was worth it.  I learned that real life can be monotonous but you can choose gratitude and look for the beauty in the mundane, because it is there: I got to go to a classroom full of kids that my heart loved and I knew that I was where God wanted me.

Then, in 2016, I had the opportunity to go to Haiti again & I wasn’t sure what to expect…