One month ago today I
hopped on a plane with some amazing people and headed out on this adventurous
summer in Haiti. I have had such an amazing week since my last post. The day
after our waterfall adventure all of us interns spent the day preparing for our
teams to arrive. And after dinner we bought ourselves some ice cream and mixed
in some candy to make it a little more special. Some mixed in Oreo’s, some did
Reese’s Pieces, and some did M&M’s. It was an all around great idea that
turned out fantastic! It was so good to eat ice cream and candy and just enjoy
each other before the hectic schedules and crazy team members arrived.
Our teams arrived and we
got moving on ministry. My team was very evangelism focused. They had brought
solar-powered lights that were such a blessing for a community that can’t
access electricity. My team got to explore Tortuga and hand out solar lights
while sharing the Gospel along the way. It was awesome to see them jump into
action out in one of my favorite communities. On Sunday, we all went to church.
It is always such a blessing to worship with my Haitian brothers and sisters.
As we were in church I just suddenly realized how much this felt like home. To
look around and see so many friends and people who I consider family worshiping
Jesus together. To sing and dance in the name of Jesus with my favorite people
on Earth was so beautiful.
On Monday, my team set
out to hand out solar lights in the community of St. Louis du Nord. I led them
wayyyyyy up the mountain to Louloune’s house. They wanted to give her a light.
It was so amazing to see a woman who I love so much be loved on by the people I
am leading. Seeing other people catch a glimpse of the work God is doing here.
It challenged me so much to push even further to find more people to catch the
vision. As we were walking back to the mission, my team spotted two people that
needed surgery. One was a 2 year old little girl named Cherika who had an umbilical
hernia. We also came across an older woman, Marie, who used to work for the
mission who had fluid built up in her abdominal cavity. The team paid for BOTH
of them to have the medical attention and get the necessary procedures.
Tuesday was by far the
most stressful day of my trip so far. But it was probably one of the best days I’ve
had since returning to Haiti. After breakfast, I went downstairs and
coordinated the two surgeries for our friends, Cherika and Marie. That was
quite stressful to say the least. Running around and paying all the right
people was so difficult but we eventually got everyone set up. We then collected
some TOMS and set out to go hut to hut giving out shoes. My mom and sister got
to come with my group. I was so excited for them to be out doing ministry with
me. I split up my team into three groups and we all went our separate ways. I
lead a team back behind the mission where no teams ever really go. And to be
honest I was wondering why God even had us out there. We found some cute kiddos
and got to give them shoes but it just didn’t feel like we were being the hands
and feet of Jesus. I felt more like a humanitarian, like we were missing the
point of why we were there.
At the exact moment I felt most exasperated, I
saw a young boy standing in the doorway of his house holding what looked like a
new born baby yelling “HE NEEDS SHOES! HE NEEDS SHOES!” So I walked over because
it just didn’t look right. As I got closer, I saw that this baby was sickly and
that there was a twin. I called my mom and sister over to help assess the
situation. I immediately sent messages to the appropriate people to try to get
the babies into the Nutrition Program. I found out that they were 7 months old,
twin boys named Djovensky and Djovens. They weighed about 5 pounds each. I
asked the boys’ mom to come back to the mission with me. Walking back to the
mission I kept just praying for God to protect these two babies. The mom
obviously couldn’t provide for them. Upon arriving at the mission I found out
that God had been preparing us for these two boys. A few months ago, one of the
Miriam Center children, Jezila, kept getting aspirating pneumonia and it was
causing a lot of issues with her breathing. So she had surgery to put a feeding
tube in place to avoid this issue. This was all great but the mission didn’t
have any formula to give her so many teams brought in massive amounts of baby
formula. Last week, Jezila went to be with Jesus and it was so difficult to
understand. It was so hard to see God’s plan in all of that. After Jezila’s
passing we had a huge supply of formula and no babies to give it to. But then
God put Djovens and Djovensky in my path. God provided so heavily. I am so
humbled to be used by God. I am still in awe of God’s sovereignty.
Today we got to go to the
brothel and I got to bring my mom to experience the awesomeness of those
ladies. It was so awesome because all of us who went immediately said “God is
here.” He was so evident. He was so present. Even where you would least expect
to see God, a brothel in Haiti (and if you’ve been there you know how dirty and
gross that place is). God was already there even with the nasty things that
happen there. Only God knows what was happening 30 minutes before we got there
and only God knows what happened 30 minutes after we left. But God was already
there. We didn’t bring Him. He brought us there and then revealed Himself. For
the hour we were at the brothel today, we all just worshiped Jesus together. So
in awe of Christ.
Djovens
Djovensky and my Mama
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