I just wanted to send you an update to let you know that I'm doing well in Haiti. It's so crazy here, I've never been anywhere like it. No orphanage in Mexico or place in China that I've seen can compare with the destruction and darkness in this place. But on the flip-side like you might expect of Him, God is so strong in this place. The orphanage we are at immediately tore me apart, to see 20 kids packed in one room with 4 nannies screaming and hitting each other. But as the days progressed we began to realize that in this orphanage, though there is little space and it is always a fight for attention the presence of God reigns and His spirit and a spirit of protection and safety in the midst of a city full of very little safety overwhelm us and the children there. Pierre is the Haitian orphanage director, he is soft spoken and humble, his smile lights up a room and they are so generous to us. Pierre took us to some land that they just bought out of the city yesterday, n the countryside surrounded by the beautiful mountains. He told us his vision for the 6 acres of land there, an orphanage that is self sustaining, where we can farm our own crops with a guest house for the teams that come to build and to teach and love on the kids. This one would be able to house kids until they were 18. The goal would be to raise up this next generation with the knowledge of Christ and firmly in the Bible. He said there are many intelligent people in Haiti, but the problem is and always has been the heart. That's why we will start at the heart. The center of our land will be the chapel he said, and in his vision he sees he knows he wants to have a red flag, (the blood of Christ) and a white bird, the Holy Spirit. I can't remember what he said would be on it but i think he said Jehovah something will be written on it, but it will mean, where the spirit of God is nothing can harm us. We got to touch this dirt, this hope of a new land, much like that of the Israelites. As we read Isaiah and Joshua we know that these same promises are happening here, a land for the people who will rise up out of the dust.
I've NEVER seen a place that is this hopeless. Not the indian reservation in North Dakota or the homeless shelter in Ohio. I'm remembering all of these missions trips I've been on and the things I've learned, and until recently I think I've been fighting the idea that maybe this place I've been called back to. I've been so open to "ending up" in China lately, but it's hard to really think of anything when I know I'm going to Guam soon. Really I just want to be where people need and know they need. As we were all asked to describe our thoughts of the land we said things like awe, wonder, excitement....Angie, the lady who has been here for the last 9 weeks and takes care of more than any of us even know, said the word for her is anxiety. She explained that it makes her fear we won't come back. She fears that we won't realize that we have to be apart of that vision, we have to tell others of the need here and the hope here and of what God is doing in this place. We need to bring others to this desolate place because the government doesn't let orphans get adopted for at least 2 years. It's really expensive because they know the longer they have you wait the more money they can get from you. You have to be 35 or married for 10 years and the process is ridiculous. Never the less many children are adopted and many families are willing to go through all of the struggle to get these children out of Haiti and into families where they are loved.
But what will happen to Haiti? Will these children grow in the love of Christ and hear the call to come back and change the land they came from? Maybe the adopted children won't but for those who are stuck here we can only hope and pray that this is the seed being planted to bring about true change in Haiti. This is how we begin at the heart. This is how we obey Christ, by "visiting the orphans and widows in their affliction" James 1:27
Mary is counseling the children by playing with them, finding out their stories and giving them a chance to be known one on one away from the other 69 kids, if only for a little while. We heard from the nannies, almost all of them live in tent cities. I rested on the porch with a stomach ache as I listened to the translator tell Mary that the nanny I love, "super nanny" who sings and prays over the children for hours at nap time and all day long that her 2 year old daughter was crushed and killed in the earthquake. She said she wasn't a christian at the time but found Jesus after this. She said she fears her daughter might be in hell because she didn't know Jesus and maybe her daughter died because she would grow up to be a horrible person. It is not easy to separate their culture of voodoo from who Christ really is and what the Bible says. Mary added today that being illiterate keeps many of them from separating the two. God and Jesus are written everywhere. Everything is religious here because that gives hope, but just like in the states and everywhere else I guess....You never really know, only Jesus knows if they are His.
Anyway the nannies who live in the tent cities...we learn there are thousands of people in tons of different tent cities that we drive past. any empty field or lot or pile of rubble at time has become home to these people, most of which may never have a home again on this earth. Mary said the nannies probably get raped, beaten and robbed. Most do not have husbands we guess, but in the midst of the tent cities they are definitely not safe. They say at the orphanage they are safe and happy, but they cannot be fully happy knowing what they will go back to at night.
Pierre's vision for the land is also to have a place for the nannies to sleep. So that instead of night and day nannies the children will have family structure to grow in and be loved by.
Jesus we want this vision so bad. And it is so brilliant and as Ashley said so "kingdom minded", we know it is from You and we see You in this hope and this land and these promises you speak to us from Your word.
We need people to not forget. We need to not forget. I hate raising money. I hate being sick from the germs of another country. But I cannot ignore the need for workers to be apart of this beautiful vision. I want the nannies to have a safe place. I want the children to know the truth and not be confused. I want them to have hearts to help their own people understand the truth.
If it were my vision I would say burn and bulldoze the whole city and settle in some remote mountains and start from scratch. but YOU Lord, you plan to raise up children from the dust heal the broken hearted, moving stone by stone.
The analogies of dust and destruction are endless in this place. I think you get the point.
Anyway........this was never my dream. But this is what I'm always talking about. I want to be somewhere where people need. They know they need. And there is something I can do. Some skill I can add. Some love I can give. And it will test me and try me.
I don't know what that means for me yet, but I don't think this will be my first and last trip to Haiti. I hate the idea of raising money again but I will be tested and tried in whatever way God sees fit, and this is the kind of cause that is worth dying for. Christ died for children like these. for the robbers and rapists here even...and only a heart change can change this place.
I've NEVER seen a place that is this hopeless. Not the indian reservation in North Dakota or the homeless shelter in Ohio. I'm remembering all of these missions trips I've been on and the things I've learned, and until recently I think I've been fighting the idea that maybe this place I've been called back to. I've been so open to "ending up" in China lately, but it's hard to really think of anything when I know I'm going to Guam soon. Really I just want to be where people need and know they need. As we were all asked to describe our thoughts of the land we said things like awe, wonder, excitement....Angie, the lady who has been here for the last 9 weeks and takes care of more than any of us even know, said the word for her is anxiety. She explained that it makes her fear we won't come back. She fears that we won't realize that we have to be apart of that vision, we have to tell others of the need here and the hope here and of what God is doing in this place. We need to bring others to this desolate place because the government doesn't let orphans get adopted for at least 2 years. It's really expensive because they know the longer they have you wait the more money they can get from you. You have to be 35 or married for 10 years and the process is ridiculous. Never the less many children are adopted and many families are willing to go through all of the struggle to get these children out of Haiti and into families where they are loved.
But what will happen to Haiti? Will these children grow in the love of Christ and hear the call to come back and change the land they came from? Maybe the adopted children won't but for those who are stuck here we can only hope and pray that this is the seed being planted to bring about true change in Haiti. This is how we begin at the heart. This is how we obey Christ, by "visiting the orphans and widows in their affliction" James 1:27
Mary is counseling the children by playing with them, finding out their stories and giving them a chance to be known one on one away from the other 69 kids, if only for a little while. We heard from the nannies, almost all of them live in tent cities. I rested on the porch with a stomach ache as I listened to the translator tell Mary that the nanny I love, "super nanny" who sings and prays over the children for hours at nap time and all day long that her 2 year old daughter was crushed and killed in the earthquake. She said she wasn't a christian at the time but found Jesus after this. She said she fears her daughter might be in hell because she didn't know Jesus and maybe her daughter died because she would grow up to be a horrible person. It is not easy to separate their culture of voodoo from who Christ really is and what the Bible says. Mary added today that being illiterate keeps many of them from separating the two. God and Jesus are written everywhere. Everything is religious here because that gives hope, but just like in the states and everywhere else I guess....You never really know, only Jesus knows if they are His.
Anyway the nannies who live in the tent cities...we learn there are thousands of people in tons of different tent cities that we drive past. any empty field or lot or pile of rubble at time has become home to these people, most of which may never have a home again on this earth. Mary said the nannies probably get raped, beaten and robbed. Most do not have husbands we guess, but in the midst of the tent cities they are definitely not safe. They say at the orphanage they are safe and happy, but they cannot be fully happy knowing what they will go back to at night.
Pierre's vision for the land is also to have a place for the nannies to sleep. So that instead of night and day nannies the children will have family structure to grow in and be loved by.
Jesus we want this vision so bad. And it is so brilliant and as Ashley said so "kingdom minded", we know it is from You and we see You in this hope and this land and these promises you speak to us from Your word.
We need people to not forget. We need to not forget. I hate raising money. I hate being sick from the germs of another country. But I cannot ignore the need for workers to be apart of this beautiful vision. I want the nannies to have a safe place. I want the children to know the truth and not be confused. I want them to have hearts to help their own people understand the truth.
If it were my vision I would say burn and bulldoze the whole city and settle in some remote mountains and start from scratch. but YOU Lord, you plan to raise up children from the dust heal the broken hearted, moving stone by stone.
The analogies of dust and destruction are endless in this place. I think you get the point.
Anyway........this was never my dream. But this is what I'm always talking about. I want to be somewhere where people need. They know they need. And there is something I can do. Some skill I can add. Some love I can give. And it will test me and try me.
I don't know what that means for me yet, but I don't think this will be my first and last trip to Haiti. I hate the idea of raising money again but I will be tested and tried in whatever way God sees fit, and this is the kind of cause that is worth dying for. Christ died for children like these. for the robbers and rapists here even...and only a heart change can change this place.
Lisa
You are amazing my sweet Lisa..I'm so glad you, Ryan & the rest of the team were given the chance to experience Haiti..the good and the bad. I know you all learned a lot from this trip and I know God will continue to use each of you were you are needed.
ReplyDeleteI Love You,
Momma Shelley
That was suppose to be where you are needed..lol..I went to Crane High
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