Thanks in Advance

Isn't it amazing when our desires line up with God's? No, I guess it really isn't amazing. What is amazing is when I allow God to direct the desires He has given me. When that happens the most beautiful peace covers me like warm comfort.

This isn't exactly one of those times.

I LOVED everything about my trip to Haiti with bgm and New Missions. God's meticulous orchestration of every detail was as exciting as actually being in Haiti. I told many people before I left in March that I knew it wouldn't be my only trip to Haiti.

As soon as we returned home I sat my sights on a return trip in November. It was exciting to think I could go back within the year. Imagine my surprise when God called me to return with the July group. Wow!

You know I actually asked, "Are you serious God?" I'm sure He rolled His eyes at me for the umpteenth time in my life.

I do want to go back to Haiti as many times as God will allow me. I just didn't think He would call me so soon, or in JULY. Do you know how stinking hot AND HUMID Haiti is in July? Well technically I don't know myself, yet, but I know how hot it was the first week of March and that was winter! I showered twice a day. And let me tell you, this girl doesn't glisten, she sweats - like a man.

I know it isn't about me, but I am SO hot natured it can't be normal. Every picture of me on the Great Wall of China shows me with a beet red face from heat. And I have survived a mission trip to the interior of Mexico during Summer so I know I won't actually die.

Women older than I have laughed and said, "Just wait until menopause." Are you kidding me?? I have serious fears of spontaneous combustion when I enter into menopause.

So while I am hungry to return to Haiti I've been less than thrilled to face the heat. Nonetheless, God has called and I really am excited to go. Not even the heat can keep me following this beautiful, thrilling path.

Another area of excitement for me is seeing God provide for this new adventure. Admittedly I am also a dash anxious as I am still quite short on funds to pay for the trip. That small bit of anxiety is able to keep God's peace out of reach. Each day I have to remind myself that God wouldn't have called me if He didn't plan on furnishing everything needed.

So, dear friends I would greatly cherish all prayers you would express on my behalf. Please pray for God's provision both financially and spiritually.

Thank you dear ones.

p.s. I still hope to return in November if God will let me. Click here for a video of our March trip.

A little more Haiti

Cara Bergthold took this picture as we drove through Port au Prince. And yes, those are houses made from available scraps. We also saw cinder block homes that seemed to be more "middle class."

This is a small portion of the Port au Prince "Wal-Mart" we passed on our way to the mission on Saturday (3/1/08).

Haitian security fence. The broken bottles are dried into the concrete. We saw several of these fences as we traveled both in the city and country.

Mike Wilson took this photo at the Leogane Christian church we attended Sunday (3/2/08). The church was almost 50% children and several of them came to sit on the benches with the visiting Americans.

Notice the tin roof and concrete window openings. I think I lost 3 inches during that service from sweating. However, the 45 minute ride to and from the church was cool and enjoyable. I rode in the back of a pick-up that had a bench on either side of the bed. What FUN!

We took part in the Lord's Supper at the church. Brent told us to participate and I understand the implications if we had rejected. Still, I was a little upset because the wine was real (and had a kick). I haven't had any alcohol in almost 19 years and didn't want to break that streak. The abstention from alcohol was a commitment I made to God when I was 22. However, I realized on this trip that I, unintentionally, had been holding on to my "alcohol free streak" more than the commitment itself.

Pride is so crafty. It sneaks its way into areas when we aren't paying attention. I haven't missed having alcohol in my life and am happy to use this as a opening to share part of my relationship with Christ. However, I can look back and see that in the last few years I began to feel proud of the fact that I had given something so completely to God.

Funny what God does with our pride. Thank you Lord for putting me in a situation that ruined my streak and put my focus back on You. And how fitting it was in a place that, while is now a church, was a rum factory in its former life.

Wednesday (3/5/08) we went to the New Mission High School. We held a chapel service for the the 7th - 9th grades. We sang a couple of songs in Creole and the students sang a song in English with us. It was quite enjoyable.

The students get one uniform a year. During our trip we cut enough fabric to distribute to about 1,400 students to take to a village seamstress. As each student left with their fabric we prayed over them in pockets on the porch of the school.

Another Cara Bergthold photo. This is of the children after receiving their bags of rice. They are trekking back up Mount Tibukon to their homes.

After the rice feeding Thursday (3/6/08) we had sponsored child day. I was able to eat lunch with Melissa Leaver's sponsored daughter Nadia. Nadia is beautiful and quite shy. Nadia's brother visited the mission with her but they weren't able to stay long. I hope Mel is able to meet Nadia in person someday.

New Missions - Haiti

Here is the second installment of Haiti photos and captions. The shots today are of the New Mission campus and surrounding sights.




The last standing plantation in Haiti. As our group was leaving I ran back to snap one last photo. This view is through one of the front doors up to a second floor doorway. I was intrigued by the still-intact banister.



Haitian plantations were destroyed during the 1871 slave revolt. The slaves turned on their white (French) masters and burned the plantations. No one is sure why this structure was spared. This house is a 5 minute bus ride from the mission.

Brent walked the grounds and showed us the entry to the wine cellar, the courtyard boundaries, and the limestone steps that led to the house. Limestone isn't found in Haiti. The steps were made from the ballast stones from the slave ships.






This is the morning view from the mission pavilion. Such serenity. It was also common to see cows walking down the beach, with and without a human. Unfortunately the beach is quite polluted and not suitable for swimming. That fact doesn't diminish the beauty of this view.





My attempt at diagramming the mission campus. Our buses entered from the bottom left corner and parked next to the screened-in dining hall.

Cara Bergthold took this picture of the campus. She is standing with the pavilion and ocean to her back.

There isn't any hot water in the cabins but I was so hot most of the time I didn't mind. I took a minimum of 2 showers a day - lunchtime and dinnertime. However, no one in my cabin took a shower in the morning when the temperatures were in the low 70s, brrr.

Sunset at the mission, facing west from the pavilion. The beauty of God is everywhere, even a 5th world country... especially a 5th world country because there isn't as much chaos to pollute our vision of him.

Life is simple in Haiti. Love is simple in Haiti. The Haitian Christians love Jezi with unashamed abandon. I pray I learned well from their beautiful example.

Haiti, March 2008

I cannot possibly post all my pictures, but I will choose several to share with you. This will be an abbreviated pictorial journal and will be continued in the days to come.



Monday (3/3/08) we climbed the mountain at Tibukon. The New Mission elementary school sits at the peak of the mountain. We took the foot trail and there were times when the path was only a step wide.
When we reached the top we presented briefcases to all the teachers, and the pastor (director of the school). Each case contained teaching supplies and a new watch.
We didn't tell the school we were going to visit. The children were so surprised and excited to see us. As they sang songs for us this little girl danced. The joy we saw on the faces of these children overwhelmed me.
I began to cry at the beauty that surround me in this impoverished village. I walked away from the pack of children that surrounded me because I didn't want them to see me sobbing. I made my way to a clump of my friends to shield my tears. When I looked up Aaron Loy nodded and told me he had the same reaction.


On Tuesday (3/4/08) we returned to Tibukon to distribute over 200 backpacks filled with school supplies to the school children. Thank goodness they met us at the bottom of the mountain. I'm not sure we would have made the 45 minute hike two days in a row. This beautiful child was waiting in line to receive her backpack.

Cara Bergthold was one of two nurses in our group. Tuesday evening (3/4/08) we went to a neighboring village to distribute shoes. I assisted Cara as she conducted a "backpack clinic" for anyone needing attention while the shoes were being distributed.

The village sounded the alert that we had shoes, and people came from other areas in a matter of minutes. As soon as the last shoe was given away we calmly but hurriedly left the area per our interpreters instructions.

(Thanks to Melissa Leaver for collecting shoes through TRBC.)

Thursday (3/6/08) we went to Tibukon again to conduct a rice feeding. I scooped rice with a large, somewhat rusty, can. Each child from the elementary school received 3 scoops of rice in a bag. It was enough rice to feed an average family for three weeks. The leftover rice was given to the pastor (and school director) of the Christian church to feed his congregation.

This is my new friend Yaguel who was one of our interpreters. The BGM (Brent Gambrell Ministries) girls call him Muscles because he is ripped. I decided to call Yaguel by his name because he took such care to practice my name until he could say it correctly.

I love Yageul's smile. He told me it would please his heart if I, and others in our group, would return to Haiti.

(Notice how much I am sweating and Yaguel is completely dry. This is winter for Haiti and at night when the temperature drops into the 70s the Haitians are cold!)

Sunday (3/2/08) we walked down the beach from the mission to the neighboring village of Bord Mer La'Salle. Brent told us it is the poorest village he has ever seen.

As we walked along the beach we picked up several "hitchhikers" that wanted to follow along. We had such fun walking, holding hands, and swinging the children around.

Beth Tucker is a college student on her first trip to Haiti. She had such fun with the children at Bord Mer La'Salle. The house behind Beth was one of the larger homes I saw.

Many of the children were naked and had distended bellies from malnutrition. We sent groups back to the village 4 times to help the people in Bord Mer La'Salle in several ways.

Wednesday (3/5/08) nurse Jenny asked if I would like to return to Bord Mer La'Salle to assist her as she cared for children. Jenny had the names of nine children that required medical attention. It was quite late when we left for the village and the tide was coming in so we had little time with which to work.

We tried to keep to our list of nine children but of course that was a goal at which we didn't mind failing. In the end Jenny treated about 15 people before we had to leave.

This little girl was standing, watching us at the pavilion (built by BGM) as we treated children.

A little taste of Haiti

Here is a snippet from my trip. I will share more later this week. Thank you for all the prayers. We could feel the prayer blanket covering us.

We saw this precious little girl as we did door to door evangelism in Tibukon. She was full of smiles until we started to leave. As my group began to walk past her I bent down in front of her and blew a kiss. She began to cry, and I felt bad. Later I was told that in all likelihood she had never seen a blan (white person) and now she was surrounded by seven of us walking past as she sat in her tiny chair.


Everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles. It was amazing to see people that had nothing were able to find joy and smile. For the most part, villagers were happy to see us because they knew we were there to provide help in the form of supplies, food, and medicine. However, the most important help we offered was God's word and the story of Jezi.