Where it all began....

I wrote this 'journal entry' in April of 2008 after the Lord began instilling Haiti on my heart...This is how my Haitian Journey began...call me crazy, or God just knows how to get my attention:

I am writing this to, one ask for your prayer for me and my calling and two ask you to pray for Haiti. In November  of last year (2007) I was watching a show where I saw some Haitians trying to escape the awful life of their home country; and I started crying.... I am thinking why am I crying? I was not even really aware of Haiti at that time, what it was? Where it was? And why it affected me. About a week letter I got a magazine from World Vision and they had a two page article on Haiti....talking about the poverty and the malnutrition of the majority of the children there. Again, I began crying. Still curious to what this meant to me... On my mission trip to Mexico, I was sharing this with my Team Leader and she began sharing with me about a trip to Haiti that she had taken...and again, the tears? Why is this? I began praying about it a lot and the Lord was slowly revealing to me, "Rebekah, listen this is where I want you to go." Still unsure of why or how, I continued to be in prayer. A few weeks after coming home from Mexico I log onto Air 1 and the main page is about... can you guess? Haiti! It was talking about the Hands and Feet Project by Audio Adrenaline. In 2004 Audio Adrenaline began building an orphanage in this ridiculously impoverished country (the poorest country in the western hemisphere) Shortly after this I am preparing for my trip to Panama and hours before we left I met a lady who had an accent (I am intrigued by accents) so I asked her where she was from....she preceded to tell me Germany and began to tell me of all of the traveling she had done. I told her I enjoy traveling and she said "Maybe one day you'll go to Haiti?" What the world? Really? Who says that? I can see maybe one day you'll go to Germany because that is where she is from...or maybe one day you will go to Europe because 'everyone' wants to go to Europe. But NO she said "Maybe one day you will go to Haiti." I could not get this simple statement off of my mind. So I continued to  prepare for Panama, the next day we arrive in Panama... our first day of ministry my little brother came up to me and said "Rebekah! This guy is from Haiti!" What? I am in Panama and there is a Haitian man doing ministry with us. I hear you Lord I hear you! I began talking to him telling him I want to do mission work full time. On our last day there we were all standing in line giving all of the Panamanians hugs and I see Anthony (my Haitian friend) standing off to the side so I leave the line to go and give him a hug. He asked me "Rebekah, why are you crying?" I said because it is difficult to leave and he said "it is just an opportunity for more missions work, be excited!" We said our goodbyes and he was gone....almost as if he were never there. We arrive back in the United States and my oldest brother attends District Assembly (a meeting of Nazarene churches district wide) in the middle of the day he sends me a text, "Rebekah I've got you a contact for Haiti" the representative of the Caribbean region was here in Sacramento! You may say, Oh this is all coincidence, but no its not. I know clearly the calling my Lord has for my life. I am excited and terrified at the same time. After doing research I have learned a little about this country......Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, about 55% of the population practices voodoo and the average person lives on $1 a day, in a country where a gallon of rice costs $6. My reason for being so persistent in pursuing this calling........how can I sit here in the comfort of my home and country where God has placed a distinct calling on my heart to a country who finds their hope in the Devil? I CAN’T DO THAT! Voodoo is purely evil and the devil is at work in that country.....I know I can’t do everything...but I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH. So please, I ask that you will keep me in prayer as I pursue this calling for my life and please keep Haiti in your prayers as well........as the cost of food continues to get higher and the average a person makes is staying the same. Pray for the tension and the riots to stop, pray for peace in a country that is consumed with evil...............
Please

Excited to pursue His call,
Rebekah

That entry was written nearly 3 years ago, my knowledge and perspective of Haiti has changed dramatically since then...Yes, Haiti is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and yes, a large majority of the population still practices voodoo. However, Haiti is the most beautiful place I have ever been, and a near revival has begun sweeping over that land since the devastating earthquake in 2010. But one thing that has not changed is how clear the Lords calling on my life is. I have never experienced a love for a place like I do for Haiti, nor have I experienced a peace like I do when I am there...God is moving in Haiti and He calls us to go where He is moving...