Sunday, March 27, 2011

This adventure is rapidly approaching...

As I sit here in the comfort of my home, trying to do homework I am reminded that in just under 6 weeks I will be in Haiti, with children that I love more than anything...But this adventure is also becoming a reality..I am a tad (ok maybe alot) nervous about this, this is a HUGE step of faith for me to take. Today I started going over my finals schedule and choosing which day would be my last day of work, and it hit me, as soon as I put in my two weeks I am trusting that God is going to take care of the rest, and I hear "Go, Rebekah" and I want my heartfelt response to be "I will go Lord, I will go where you send me" but my initial response is "HOW, Lord? How?" and He replies "Cast all your anxiety on me, because I care for you.." (I Peter 5:7) I am praying for strength right now to TRUST in the bigger picture, but as we know when we are doing what the Lord is calling us to do Satan does his best to distract us... Then I hear "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. " (I Peter 5:8-9) I have so much to say, but no words to put to my emotions...So I ask that you will be in prayer for me as this adventure rapidly approaches. I finally finished my support letter and am going to post it here for those of you whose addresses I do not have. Thank you in advance for walking through this journey with me...

Four years ago, I had no idea I would be where I am, it was just a dream, preparing to move to Haiti. As many of you know we just returned from our third trip to Jacmel, Haiti to work at the Hands and Feet Project. While in Jacmel this February the Lord began stirring very earnestly in many of hearts that we were to be more involved with Hands and Feet on a more than ‘once a year’ basis. For each of us this adventure looks different, but I am excited to see the doors that open for each of us who have begun this journey.
For me, this journey is beginning very quickly. My degree program at school requires that I do an internship, so upon returning from Haiti I met with my advisor and he said I could most definitely use an internship with HAF to fulfill this requirement (this made me very excited!!!) So, I applied with HAF and was accepted after a couple of weeks of impatiently waiting! I committed to serving for three months! I will be filling a couple of different roles while at HAF as well as being prepared to be flexible, after all it is Haiti :) I will be the ‘group coordinator’ for teams that are coming in to volunteer, I will be in communication with teams prior to their arrival as well as organizing projects for them to do while at HAF. This will relieve a lot of responsibility from the directors so that they can focus on the overall functioning of the children’s village. I will also be organizing the new child sponsorship program; I will be updating the sponsors of the 54 children at HAF once a week with photos and updates of their progress in school, spiritual growth, etc. I am so excited to be able to support them in this way, and am excited to learn from what HAF has to offer…
I will be leaving on May 5th, to head home for a few days to spend some time with the family before heading to Haiti with my younger brother Cameron (he will be serving for three months as well!!) In order for me to take this internship I have quite a large amount of money to raise, in a very short amount of time…I need to raise funds to cover my airfare to and from Haiti, to cover my rent while out of the country so I still have a place to live when I return in August to finish school, to purchase supplies that need to be brought in since they are difficult to obtain there, and I would also like to give HAF a portion of the money to help off-set my cost of living while there, since they will be providing my room and board…. All of those expenses add up to approximately $5,000 that I have to raise in just under six weeks. I am quite nervous since it is such a short amount of time, but I have also seen the Lord do much bigger things than this... This is where I could really use both prayer and financial support. Moving to Haiti for three months is a big decision for me, but I believe it is the right one. Through this process over the last couple of weeks, I have felt the Lord asking me to trust Him in the bigger picture, not only that He will provide my financial needs, but that He will provide for me while I am there, emotionally and spiritually, and that He will provide for me upon my return home.
So I ask, if you would please take time out of your day to stop and pray for this journey my brother and I are about to embark on, and ask the Lord how you can be a part of it… Pray for protection for us upon preparation for this trip, we know and are aware this is when Satan will do his best to start attacking, and I assure you he already has. Pray for protection while we travel, while we are in Haiti, and when we prepare to return home. Pray for our hearts, that we are able to deal with whatever may come our way, pray our spirits are protected and that we would wear the armor of the Lord each and every day… And lastly, if you feel you are able to support this internship financially please contact me… As I stated earlier I have a very short amount of time to raise a large amount of money so all of the support I can get is very much appreciated! If you feel you are able to support financially you may mail me a check (email me for my address) or you can click on “How you can help” on the right hand side of the screen which will take you directly to my ‘chip-in’ account, and you can donate via PayPal. Mailing a check would be best, but if you prefer to use the internet feel free to use the ‘chip-in’ account. I will also be updating my blog as this journey continues, so, check back frequently for updates! Please feel free to share my blog with your friends and family as well, the more prayer and support we have for this journey the better!!
Thank you so very much for taking time out of your day and busy schedule to read this letter and pray for me…. I could NOT have taken these trips to Haiti over the last three years if it wasn’t for the support of my family and friends, and I need you to know how much I appreciate you and your support! Thank you for helping me get to my kids in Haiti and I look forward to walking through this journey with you!!!
<3 Rebekah

Clinging to this scripture:
Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

How you can be a part of this journey...

So I dont know if you have taken the time to read the 5 entries that give you the background of our trips to Haiti...if not, I pray you will take the time to allow the Lord to speak to you through our experiences, in whatever capacity that may mean. Yet, I understand life is busy for all of us so if you have yet to read I forgive you :o) But please take the time to read this, how you can be a part of this journey.
In 2007 the Lord placed a VERY clear calling on my life to serve in Haiti, specifically with the Hands and Feet Project Childrens Village (HAF); and now, 3 1/2 years later things are finally falling into place. I have been accepted for a 3 month internship at HAF. It has been a long process to get here, and the fact that it is finally here, to be honest, terrifies me. There are so many details to be worked out and a lot of money that needs to be raised in the next eight weeks in order for me to follow this calling that the Lord has placed on my life. I posted all of our old journal entries to give you some insight into how important this internship is to me as well as those who have been a part of this journey.. This internship will fulfill two of my courses at school, as well as give me some good insight into whether or not I am supposed to live in Haiti full time. But I need your help. This experience has been very humbling and I am sure it will continue to be...In order for me to go this summer I need to raise approximately $5,000 in just under 8 weeks...this is scary but I have seen the Lord provide and I trust that He will in this process also. I have to raise money to cover my airfare as well as cover my bills while I am gone this summer, so I will still have a place to live when I return to finish school. I would also like to give HAF a portion of that money to help offset my cost of living while I am there..Even though it is not required I understand how important it is for them to help these costs be off-set. The Lord is stretching me in huge ways and asking me to trust Him in the bigger picture, I know without a doubt in my mind that I am supposed to be in Haiti this summer, but that comes with a lot of anxieties and sacrifices that I will have to make, but I am ready and willing to go where He is leading me... This quote is perfect for what the Lord is calling me to : "But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through" - Francis Chan. The Lord is calling me to make some huge decisions and I cant do it without your prayer... I will be selling my car and pretty much anything that is not necessary for me to take to Haiti, I will also most likely have to quit my job and pray that I get re-hired when I return, this is part of trusting Him in the bigger picture. So will you come alongside me? Pray for me daily, to continue to surrender and allow the Lord to take control! Pray about it, and if you feel led, I also need the financial support, I don't see how I am going to raise this $5,000 in under 8 weeks, but if I did see than God wouldn't be God would He? If you have any encouraging words Ill take them :o) and if you feel led and able to donate financially please email me at rebekahpeoples@aol.com for info on how to do so...Thank you for walking with me in this journey we call life....
<3 Me

Haiti 2011- 5,200 words later

The following is my journal entry from our most recent trip... I hope it gives you some insight into our time in Haiti..Again thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this and be a part of this journey with us...

*Haiti 2011*
*DISCLAIMER- FIRST OF ALL THIS ‘JOURNAL ENTRY’ IS EXTREMELY LONG, BUT BARE WITH ME AND READ THE WHOLE THING, I PROMISE YOU WILL BE CHANGED. SECOND – SOME DESCRIPTIONS MAY BE GRAPHIC BUT THEY ARE REALITY. THIRDLY- READING THIS WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO GO TO HAITI….* ENJOY :O)
Haiti 2011 has already come and gone, at least the February trip :o). It is so hard for me to believe that this all started approximately three and a half years ago when I felt the Lord was telling me; no actually screaming at me, “Go to Haiti”, and the journey began walking blindly through open doors. Now, here we are three years later, having taken 19 people to Jacmel, Haiti; 5 of which have returned every year… I am not even quite sure where to begin, besides stating that the Holy Spirit has begun wreaking havoc on a lot of our hearts. This trip was very different than the previous 2 years, we learned a lot about living in the tension in between community and justice (thanks Leslie Jordan for wording that so well). I went on this trip having absolutely no idea what to expect. The things that were comfortable to me had been removed, and new things were happening. What did this mean for Hands and Feet and our relationship with them? Well I will do my best to explain…
While in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida while trying to ‘prep’ the team for what to ‘expect’ (maybe I forgot for a moment that we were traveling to HAITI, you can’t ‘expect’ anything ha-ha) once arriving in the Port-au-Prince airport; I shared with them the chaos that would ensue upon exiting the airport, people everywhere, literally trying to take your belongings. I stressed the necessity of keeping your things close to you and staying with your ‘buddy’. Well let’s just say our airport exit was the first of many things that would be different about this trip. We exited the airport, ran directly into “big” our Haitian friend who helps us with our bags every year, who is a friend of both Pastor Drex and Pastor Lex. There had been a new awning built with a fence preventing people from trying to grab your things, it was so easy it was nearly uncomfortable. We still weren’t sure of whom our driver would be, but we trusted that Big was taking us in the right direction. Shortly before arriving in the parking lot Frantz (our driver) met us and took us to our cars to begin our journey over the mountain. We put our luggage in one vehicle and the entire team loaded in the other van with our non-English speaking driver (it is moments like those that motivate me to learn creole). He did his best to keep up with Frantz who was driving the vehicle with our luggage in it, however, I don’t think Haitian drivers understand the concept of caravanning, but it is all a part of the adventure right? :o) We stopped just outside of PAP to meet Drex, Jo & Will to drop off some supplies. Since there are many items that are more difficult to access in Haiti we bring in as much as we can. It was nice to see familiar faces! After leaving them we still had about a two and half hour journey over the mountain. Even though many of us were exhausted few of us actually slept on the drive over because we wanted to take in as much of the country as we could. During the drive over the mountain I realized that the people of Haiti had actually made quite a bit of progress in cleaning up from the earthquake. If I am completely honest I had expected the exact rubble to still be in the same place in the road that it was in April of last year, and that we would just drive around it. But to my surprise that was not the case, yes, there is still a TON of work to be done, but progress is evident. I hope that gives some encouragement to those of you who donated to earthquake relief, but that is a whole other topic of conversation. After our four hour journey to travel forty miles, we finally arrived in Cyvadier at the Hands and Feet Project! Pulling up that driveway with palm trees and approaching the rod-iron gate gives me a feeling that I cannot explain. It brings me back to a place nearly three and a half years ago when I would research HAF on YouTube trying to best prepare myself for traveling to Haiti and watching videos of that driveway entrance…It reminds me of how far the Lord has brought me on this journey and being able to see the other side is surreal. I wish I could explain my emotions to you, but watch this video and catch a glimpse of the driveway to our home… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8qLuqHed4Y , 2:17 is where the driveway entrance begins… We pulled into the gate and exited the van and the first thing we hear is “Jesse!” That’s it, that moment summed up why we go every year… It has been ten months since we were at HAF and these kids were calling our names. My first thought was, “maybe the staff told them we were coming” then they asked for Tasha, Mark, and Steve… They missed those who were usually with us! Children amaze me… This is why consistency has been a part of our vision from the beginning of this journey. I have walked away unfulfilled by too many trips. We invest our time, money, lives, and emotions into individuals for a week or two then head back to the states and never see them again… Where is the hope in that? It shows me that people always leave... I don’t say that to say that these trips aren’t effective but I do not believe that they can create intentional relationships, but rather damage them… Again, this is why consistency has been a part of our dream for these trips.
After greeting the kids (who remembered all of the ‘veterans’ by name :o) ) we went inside and met with new staff – Diane, Ken, Emily, Stacie, Cameron, Josue & Fanel. We did some ‘ice-breaker’ type things to get to know one another. Sitting around the tables in the dining room just gave me that overwhelming sense of home… It was hard to believe that it was only two years prior when Brittaney, Tessa, and I sat at those same tables learning kreyol from ‘Papa Drex’ and having him teach us to play farkle :o)…It honestly felt like we had never left. The staff shared with us their vision for HAF and some of the ‘technical’ things that had changed. It was exciting to hear their passion and excitement for HAF and to see their love for the kids! After our introductions we relaxed, unpacked, and loved on our kids… We were able to meet the seven newborns (this is the most newborns HAF has had since opening!) One of the children’s homes that we had helped recovery in 2009 from Gustav was now the home of the newborns, and it looked amazing! After winding down for the evening everyone was pretty exhausted so they went to bed, except for Brittaney, Hannah, and I…We stayed up for the next couple of hours just chatting about what we thought the upcoming week would hold and discussed how far we had come on this journey. Around 11 pm it started to pour, like Caribbean island pour, ha-ha, so we look outside and one of the nanny’s is trying to grab all of the kids clothes off of the clothes line, so Britt, Hannah, and I run across the yard and help her, let’s just say I was soaked, like I had just jumped in a pool… good times. After our water adventure we decided it was best to get some rest since we had an early morning at church and helping in the nursery… Sunday morning half of our group attended church and half stayed back at HAF to help in the nursery so the nannies could attend church. It was so peaceful to just sit and hold the little ones, and I am going to speak for Brittaney for a moment, but this is when her life took a dramatic turn :o) This young girl who was not a ‘baby person’ fell madly in love with a baby named Schneider :o)…She held him, changed him, fed him…it was beautiful… Brittaney’s motherly instinct kicked in very quickly and it was exciting to be a part of that.. That is part of what made Monday so difficult…. Baby Schneider was simply being nursed back to health by HAF because he was very ill from the water that his mother was making his bottles from, from the tent city they were living in just outside of town… He had been there a little over a week and was slowly getting healthy when his parents decided it was time to ‘take him home’ they came in Monday morning and picked him up, this was emotional for all of us, especially Britt. Diane explained to his parents the importance of using the water she had given them and told them if he gets sick to bring him back or take him to the hospital, they said ‘ok’ but we knew it would be a matter of days before he returned extremely ill. We prayed over him and with his parents, that they would be humble enough to ask for help if needed and they would not take pride thinking that they know best, but rather to trust Diane’s advice. Well, let’s just say our intuition was right. Within 24 hours baby Schneider was back at HAF. Diane had gone to the market and ran into his mother and asked where Schneider was and how he was doing; His mother said, he is back at the ‘tent city’ very sick again. Diane told her to bring him back but this time she would not be able to pick him up for at least a couple of weeks, it was necessary to bring him back to full health, so later that day Schneider arrived back at HAF and Brittaney made her home in the nursery :o)
Monday was also a life changing day for my brother Cameron and I…Emily (the Pierces daughter) has a hospital ministry that she participates in, actually she is the only volunteer that Hospital St. Michele has. You see, in Haiti if you do not have family or friends to bring you your prescriptions or bring you food, you don’t eat or get necessary meds. In addition to administering shots and filling prescriptions, among many other things, Emily stands in for those who don’t have family or friends to bring them things that are literally necessary for life. On Monday, Cameron and I went with Emily to St. Michele’s and Sisters of Charity, where they house the terminally ill, those dying of TB and Aids. We arrived at the hospital and upon arrival the patients faces as well as the staff literally just lit up when they saw Emily, within a few moments I was able to tell how much of a difference her ministry had made and was continuing to make…beautiful. First, we sat and visited with a prisoner who has a broken hip, but since he was a prisoner he was even more of an ‘outcast’ than the other patients, he would receive little to no attention by the staff at the hospital, basically, if I am honest he was left there to die. Emily brought him in a meal and I don’t know when he had eaten prior to that moment…At that moment I began to see this man through the eyes of Christ, I didn’t care that he was a prisoner or what he was in prison for, all that mattered was that he experienced the love of the Lord. He was a sweet man who hugged Cameron and I and was so grateful for his meal…After visiting with him for a while we walked over to Fawnya, a 15 year old girl who was literally in her last days, Aids was slowly taking her life…She was literally a skeleton with a layer of skin over her… but somehow she managed to smile when Emily and Stacie hugged her…She was pretty ‘drugged-up’ and Emily said she was typically more coherent than she was at that moment so we were unable to spend a lot of time with her. I had wondered how she acquired HIV, her mother was sitting there and she looked healthy, surely she didn’t get it from her mom. Well, I was wrong, she did get it from her mom but her mom was treated, Fawnya wasn’t, Why? I don’t have that answer. Fawnya also suffered from intestinal problems and they were going to do surgery later that week…As of today I don’t know if that beautiful girl is still alive… We saw many things in the hospital that day, a lot of which I have yet to process, but the Lord is good, and Emily is showing the love of our Lord every day in that place. After we left St. Michele’s we went to Sisters of Charity, the same place we went in April 2010 to visit baby Mackenson who was being treated for Aids – which turned out to be a false-positive, now he is living at HAF :o) Praise the Lord- What we didn’t know when we went last year was that Sisters of Charity also has a home for the terminally ill in the back…this is where we visited. We went into the girls home were there were about 10 girls all different ages who were dying of HIV or TB, we sat and chatted with them and one of the girls kept showing me her nails that Emily had helped her paint a few days before, it’s the little things that matter. We then proceeded to the guys home which also had between ten and fifteen men who were dying of the same diseases… It’s amazing the strength the Lord gives you when you need it most, here we were sitting with these men that had an extremely contagious disease (TB) and we didn’t care, all that mattered in that moment was that they experienced love… Luckson was the man we spent most of our time with…he is a Christian and he shared his testimony with us. He said whenever he has a problem Jezi (Jesus) is who he calls, and Jezi is who has given him the strength to fight this battle…He said the Lord has brought him Emily and the Lord has blessed him with the ability to meet us…I never saw his smile leave his face. Luckson was being treated at the hospital but because he could no longer pay for treatment they basically kicked him out, he knew he needed treatment if he had any chance of survival so he went to HAF, found Emily and told her the situation, she took him to Sisters of Charity where they took him in, saying they don’t turn anyone away… Pray for Luckson, he lost his mother in the earthquake and his sister is living in Port-Au-Prince and doesn’t know that he has terminal TB. What a blessing it was to meet that man… After leaving the TB and Aids ward we walked to the back, this is what I have yet to process, so bear with me… We walked to the back and said hello to the older patients. Yet, in the very back sitting in a chair was a man with Cerebral Palsy, I am not sure how old he is I think it’s safe to guess he’s in his late twenties, possibly early thirties. He sat there with his mouth open literally drooling all over himself, Emily wiped his face and kissed him, he smiled. But this man, whose name we don’t know because he is unable to speak, was covered, and I mean covered with swarming flies… I was nauseous; this man is a human being and was covered in flies as if he were a dead animal!!! Lord, give me the strength to endure this… The worst part of it all is there is a simple solution, he needed to be bathed! Because of his lack of control over his muscles it was difficult for him to close his mouth, causing the drool, causing the stench, causing the flies!  Ugh, I am sick…Lord show him your love, show him his worth in you…I’m crying as I am typing this. Can I help him? All I need is soap and water… In Haiti if you have a disability you are basically considered an outcast, if we get biblical those with disabilities in Haiti were the lepers in bible times. If you can’t get give back to society why should they help you? Lord, change their hearts… Our Monday in Haiti reminded me of Matthew 25 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” In a matter of a couple of hours we had experienced every one of these individuals and we would have been out right sinning if we didn’t love them as Christ called us to in this passage - thankful for opportunities.
Throughout the week Teresa, Jesse, Adam, Hannah & Annie were able to visit the hospital and Sisters of Charity as well, you will have to ask each of them to share with you as all of our experiences were different.
As the week went on we had a great balance of serving HAF by building beds, painting beds, painting rooms, cleaning houses, organizing the depot, power washing the porch, falling down the power washed porch and acquiring a huge bruise :o),sang worship songs with two Haitian men in their backyard in both Kreyol and English,  participating in the feeding program for mothers,  as well as continuing our relationships with the kids, and nurturing new relationships with the staff. We took the kids to the beach, built motes, buried one another in the sand, had a dance party in the yard, spent a day at the cove with our team and the staff, traveled down some bumpy roads in the back of a pickup truck, stayed up late every night worshipping through music, big thanks Travis, Josue, Ken & Zac for playing guitar, and had devotions every night… We will get to what that means towards the end :o)
Friday came to soon, our flight was to leave PAP at 9:30 on Saturday morning so we decided it would be best to stay the night at the new PAP house on Friday night since we had a three plus hour journey over the mountain. We packed up Thursday night, said our ‘see-ya laters’ to the kids, that’s always the hardest part. Friday morning after breakfast we prepared to head out, our team of ten, plus Bob and Matt (our driver and the intern for the PAP house) as we started to pack our luggage we determined it would be safer if half of us went with Bob and then Frantz would come later to pick up the rest of the group, rather than trying to cram all of us in the van with our luggage, we did it last year with 14 people, and looking back that probably wasn’t the best idea ha-ha. We then figured we would throw all of the luggage in the first car and get settled in PAP after finding mattresses so we would all have somewhere to sleep. I am not sure why we changed this plan but decided it would be best to have everyone keep their own luggage; so Hannah, Annie, Brittaney, Zac, Jesse, and I left with our luggage and Adam, Cameron, Jay, and Teresa stayed at HAF to wait for Frantz to arrive. We got to PAP around 12:30 and had no luck finding mattresses. I then sent Cameron a message asking if Frantz had arrived yet, and he said “ummm no” I immediately knew something was off…I asked him what was going on, apparently the people of Jacmel were rioting in protest to a cop shooting someone earlier in the week, this wasn’t the first of the riots we had seen, there had been two days that road blocks were put in place while we were there. I wasn’t sure what this meant at this point in time, but I was noticing little details that had already been worked out prior to this happening.  He explained that Frantz was stuck on the other side of one of the ten plus road blocks. We figured he would still get there and the roads would be clear that evening since that’s what had happened earlier in the week. We knew they were safe at HAF and the Lord definitely protected our hearts from anxiety in this situation. Eight pm eventually rolled around and I figured it was time to make a decision, the driver still hadn’t arrived and we had to be at the airport early in the morning, do we stay in PAP waiting for everyone to get there? Do the six of us just head back to Florida since we can’t get to Jacmel anyway and that way we don’t have to pay to change 10 flights vs. just changing four? So many questions to answer and decisions to be made, but again there was never any anxiety involved and I know that is because we were able to see the details worked out beforehand… We all had our own luggage, there were more people in PAP so if we did have to pay for flight changes it would be less expensive, we couldn’t find mattresses so not everyone would have had a place to sleep, detail after detail was already made clear! I called Cameron and asked him what the status was in Jacmel, he gave me two options: Frantz was able to pay the guys to get through the road block, not without leaving his car though… and Diane and Emily were also able to pay to get through. So option number 1 is pay the rioters to get through the roadblock and drive through the night to PAP, or wait until the roads were clear (whenever that would be) and pay to have flights changed.  We took option number two. I called Jim (reluctantly because I didn’t want him freaking out considering two of his family members were in the Jacmel group) to ask him about changing our airfare, it would cost about $300 per person, I balanced the Haiti acct and we would have just enough to cover it…again, detail pre-ordained. We all decided to stop and pray and it hit me…Here we were in PAP were it is typically ‘unsafe’ and the group in Jacmel where it is typically ‘safe’ were stuck behind roadblocks… I was quickly reminded that our safety does NOT come from a place, a city, a building, or any of that, but rather our safety comes from the Lord, and I am thankful that He allowed me to rest in Him in that moment of uncertainty. For those of you who know me, anxiety is something I have struggled with for the last twelve years, but in that moment the Lord took it from me and allowed me to rest in Him. If I am honest about it, as crazy as it may sound Haiti is the only place that I have found that I don’t fight anxiety; maybe it’s because I am exactly where I am supposed to be… The ironic thing, maybe not so ironic, but literally fifteen minutes prior to finding out that half of the group was not going to make it out Jacmel that night I was chatting with Annie claiming what the Lord had done for me as far as healing from anxiety, apparently Satan didn’t like that to much because that is when the attacks began – Thankful for the Lords strength. We all went to bed that evening, needless to say I didn’t sleep great, but got a little bit of sleep. We woke up at six am to prepare to head to the airport and I called Cameron to see if there was any update, he said “yes, Frantz woke us up about a half an hour ago saying the roads would be clear momentarily and we had to go now!” So they began their off-roading journey down back roads in Jacmel in a van to head to PAP, it took them a little longer and you’ll have to ask one of them about that adventure, but they eventually made it to PAP, missing our flight by just over an hour. Thankfully, once we arrived at the airport I let them know that half of our group wasn’t sure they would make it and they asked why, I explained it was due to rioting and they waived the flight change fees!! Praise the Lord. However, the adventure was not yet over, they made it to PAP, but not quite to the airport before Frantz car broke down (can you say spiritual attacks?) Frantz waved down another tap-tap and the four of them got in the back and headed to the airport. They were able to take a four o’ clock flight out of PAP and meet up with the rest of the CA group in Florida…God is good.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this short novel, the Holy Spirit began wreaking havoc on our hearts, I can only speak for myself, but I can also speak to what I saw the Lord do in the lives of everyone who was there. As the days went by slowly, but not slow enough, we all felt a stirring in our hearts that we were called to be a part of what HAF is doing, what this meant, we didn’t know. So one by one five of the ten people in our group met with Ken and Diane on separate occasions to ask how they could be a part of what HAF is doing.  This means something completely different for each and every one of us, but I knew we needed to stand in prayer for one another. Thursday night we all sat on the porch, our team, as well as Cameron, Stacie, Matt, and Travis. We sang songs of praise and worshipped the Lord for all he had done that week then we prayed for each person individually and the calling that the Lord has asked us to be a part of. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced….of all of the memories I have on that porch I think that tops the list. We cried, we laughed, we stood together asking one another for accountability in our calling,  as well as standing in the name of the Lord claiming Satan has no place for attacks, because we all know when we are doing something good Satan starts to creep in. Beauty-- that moment was the ESSENCE of beauty…
What now?
For Cameron this means possibly committing to a year internship to go to Haiti and teach the kids martial arts – HAF has a vision of giving these kids more structure and discipline, and the self-defense part won’t be bad considering they won’t always live inside the gates of HAF. Cameron would be perfect for this role, pray for him and what this means, he has applied and is really seeking the Lords will for this decision, I am kind of jealous because he is in an easy place to pick up and go, he is young, single, and has no debt! Go Cameron Go! Jay wants to come alongside Cameron and help with the martial arts ministry; he is also in an easy place to pick-up and move…Pray for him as well. Zac is feeling like he could help HAF with the maintenance side of things, someone to fix and build things, which is a HUGE need; he has a few more things to tie up here before being able to leave…pray for Zac. Brittaney is still unsure of what her involvement should be with HAF but she is having a huge stirring….her and Hannah I believe are in the same boat, pray for them. For me, my involvement looks a little different; obviously I am still in school, studying something that could be great for HAF as a whole, but is that what I want to do full-time? Still being unsure of that, and knowing that I am called to Haiti I have found a happy medium…for my program at school I have to do an internship, I figured this would be a good way to determine if being in Haiti is what I am supposed to do, or doing things stateside. There are a couple of different roles that the staff at HAF have in mind for me while interning, so providing that I am accepted as an intern --ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEWS? – I may be moving to Haiti in May and staying through the summer. There are still a lot of details that need to be worked out and a lot of support that needs to be raised, I am walking blindly through the doors that are opened, similar to the way I did three and a half years ago which is what brought me to Haiti in the first place. Will you commit to supporting those of us who feel called to go? Will you commit to praying for those of us who are being stirred to go where the Lord is moving? God is good and I have already seen his miracles in the five days that I have been back…but I know without your prayers and support this won’t happen for any of us. Begin praying for how you can get involved and send us encouragement often…. With all of that said, I am going to bring this ‘novel’ to a close, I missed a lot of big things, but trying to sum up a week in Haiti is nearly impossible… I hope I didn’t waste to much of your time, thank you in advance for reading this and committing to pray for us.. I love you all dearly. Mwen Renmen Ou….

An Aching Heart...that devastating day in January 2010

The following is a look into my heart after the earthquake in Haiti...

Haiti is the name of a country that many of you heard for the first time on January 12th, 2010. For me, this impoverished country was placed on my heart in 2007. The Lord placed a very clear calling on my heart that I was to go to Haiti and share His love with the Haitian people. After continuous reminders from the Lord I finally began planning a trip. In February 2009 I lead a group of 7 others to the Hands and Feet Project Children’s Village, located in Cyvadier, (near Jacmel) on the southern coast of Haiti. The preparation for our trip was overwhelming to say the least, here I was 22 years old leading a group to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, a country full of violence, and consumed with voodoo, this terrified me, however, I knew I had to push through. Every door that was opened was just another confirmation that we were to go. After a year of planning and researching it was time for us to go. Arriving in Haiti was the most rewarding experience of my life. I knew without a doubt in my mind, that each person on our team was EXACTLY where we were supposed to be for that moment in time, in a world of uncertainty I had never been so certain, or felt so safe. Haiti was full of things I had never seen, the most beautiful place I had ever been, yet the poorest place I had ever been, the contrast was surreal. I can’t even begin to put into words the emotions I felt just driving from Port au Prince to Jacmel, I would never be the same, and we had to arrive at the project. Working with the children at Hands and Feet was more than rewarding, children from all different backgrounds, each with their own testimony, from being rescued from a toilet, to being rescued from child slavery. I began to realize the importance of James 1:27 and Isaiah 1:17. God calls us to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, I now had a face for these orphans and widows. It was beginning to become personal. Jesus wanted each of these children to recognize that there was hope in a world of chaos and that he loved them unconditionally, and the Lord had called me, and the rest of our team to be a part in showing them this, how rewarding!! I wish I had the words to describe...After leaving Hands and Feet I made a commitment to return every year as long as I could. Our next trip is planned for April of this year....but because of that day...January 12th, 2010, we are not yet sure if we will be able to return in April. I hope this brings you some sort of perspective about why my heart is breaking and my emotions are running high. Imagine committing 3 years of your life to knowing and understanding something, spending 3 years hearing the Lord speak specifically to your heart, and then watch it be destroyed in a front of your eyes, through the television, when you are over 2,000 miles away and people you love and care about are in a state of thinking "it’s the end of the world." What do you do? Your heart aches and you feel helpless, it is the worst feeling you can imagine. This is why I am affected by the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti that day. My hope and prayer is that we, as the body of Christ, will step up and be the Hands and Feet of Jesus as our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering. I pray that we don’t forget about this country, which has literally been destroyed, but that we remember them daily in prayer as they struggle to rebuild a nation that has been torn. I pray that through this devastating time the people of Haiti will lean on Jesus, the One true hope, and turn their nation to Him. And latestly, maybe selfishly, I pray that our team will still be able to go in April and help with the relief efforts of this tragedy

Notes from our first trip...

Monday Feb 2, 2009
Here's what happened today: up at 4:45 and off to airport where the American Airlines Service person tore up our boarding passes and put us all in first class with free upgrade because of our mission!!!!!The pilot also announced godspeed to our group from Sacramento and wished us well on the work we were going to do!We checked 16 bags, including fresh produce and did not have any delay at customs at all. The airport was
not as crazy as we expected, and we were driven 20 miles west from Port au Prince, then 20 miles south east over the mountains to Jacmel. Three and a half hours later, we arrived! The city of Port au prince is very poor. there are piles of garbage along th streets, which they burn and lots of venders under sheets held up with poles selling everything. Jacmel - Cyvadier by comparison is more rural and very green. The Hands and Feet project is very welcoming and the kids are beautiful! They all want to be held and jumped right in our arms. It is hot and humid, but very nice at night - cooler. Tonight it rained. We unpacked, got settled in our rooms, ate dinner, got the rules and played with the kids. Love to all. Every one is well, but tired. We will all probably get to bed early tonight.
 
February 3rd, 2009
We were up early, breakfast at seven. Tami, J, and Cameron made muffins and cereal for breakfast. We watched the kids go off to school, then went to work. Our job today was digging out the dirts and rocks left behind by the flooding. The girls removed about a cord-sized area of rubble with shovels, pick-axe and wheelbarrow and drank about a gallon of water between them. Madame T-Bone, the dog, has 2 puppies. They chose to hang with the girls, wrestle with each other, and try to help us dig! Lunch was a welcome break - and when Drex and Jo returned we got to hear about the trial of Christela's mother, who had abandoned her in a toilet at birth almost two years ago. Custody was awarded to Hands and Feet-
Drex and Jo. We also met a 23 yr old Canadian woman named Sarah who is a midwife here in Jacmel. She has been traveling to or living in Haiti since she was 15. The guys did a similar job, but bigger, and dug out a huge tree trunk. They were given a lot of help in the afternoon by the eager kids who live in the house where they were working. We had a visit from a local souvenir vender, and they guys played ball with the kids while Michelle (with Hands and Feet) cooked Kona Chicken from Swingles. Tami, Rebekah and Brittaney prepared the rest of the meal. Cameron and SteveO did dishes with cleanup help from the others. The cold showers to clean up felt really good today. At this moment everyone is just hanging out having conversations and trading magic trick secrets! Love to all. 
February 4th, 2009
Today, the weather was overcast off and on. We are hoping for rain. It is so beautiful. Rebekah and Tessa went into town with Michelle. It was very eventful. They saw a motorcycle accident victim, then their car
almost hit someone who ran out in front of them. They saw the market in Jacmel, where the raw meat is out on tables to be purchased and they swat the flies away...The market is in a French building from the 16 or
1700's. Jesse and I went to Jacmel with Drex in the afternoon, so we saw the market and Jacmel also went to a hardware store!! Everywhere in Jacmel they are building grandstands so sell seats to bystanders when the carnival parade comes. The guys spent the day finishing digging the flood rocks out. How moacho!! They got a lot done. Rebekah scrubbed the sink unit of the house we are cleaning so that kids can move back in.
Brittaney and I helped Drex remove, clean the mud out of, and reset a toilet. We also helped him plane and rehang doors. Then we washed walls in one of the bedrooms and sang silly songs. We are showered and off to our dinner out by the ocean!! Oh, I almost forgot, Edlina cooked the most awesome Creole meal for lunch. Yum. We are being spoiled by the hospitality and the affection of the kids. Love to all.
February 5th, 2009
We had a great dinner out last night at a beautiful hotel on the coast. We ate on the patio as the sun set. It is so beautiful here. This evening before dinner we walked to the ocean on a dirt path. We went past houses and fields where they were growing Beans and Banana trees. There were cows and goats tied up in fields to graze. This area is so green and beautiful. We finally came to the coast and the volcanic rock cliffs. They were very sharp and uneven and there were lots of holes along the way. The cliffs were very beautiful with the mountains in the background and the clouds building up behind them. We spent about a half hour there taking pictures and then walked back along a different route. Several people knew Michelle and Larry, and everyone wished up Bon Soir. Dinner was tacos - yummy. Cooked by Jay, Rebekah and Brittaney. Jo was
a sweetie and prepared no bake cheesecake and oreo cookie cake for dessert. The guys worked on the driveway today, removing rocks. They were helped by the neighborhood boys, and at one time, had eight kids hanging around. The girls scrubbed walls, and showers, and beds with bleach. We got the downstairs house clean enough to paint. All the doors are working, the kitchen counter back in and the bathrooms clean and working. Tomorrow we paint. The hope is to be able to move one of the nannies and her big boys from the upstairs, back down into the downstairs by Saturday. Other teams did a lot of work getting the mud out, and we are getting to do the finishing up, and see the homecoming!!! Where the guys dug out rock from between the buildings for the last two days, a work crew came in and demolished the fallen rock wall which the guys uncovered. Then a foundation trench was dug, in preparation to replace the missing wall. There is so much work here because of the hurricanes! After we paint tomorrow we may get to go to a beach to swim. We are getting plenty of water to drink, food to eat, clean showers and comfortable beds, and even airconditioning at night. We won't need it tonight, though, as it is very breezy and cool enough for long sleeves. WE are just hanging out on the porch talking.
Grace and Peace to all from Haiti
February 7th, 2009
Hi! Today we did more painting and digging... Then we went to the beach!!! We took off at 2 pm in the pickup - 15 kids and 9 adults - yes in one truck. We each had a kid on our laps, and the rest in the back.We played in the surf for about an hour and a half. It was so beautiful - and warm. Haiti is experiencing a cold front this last couple days - It's been about 78 - 80 degrees with a breeze!! We had dinner, then chilled on the porch with the kids, did a devo...Right now we're getting some great stories from Michelle about some of the groups that have been here. (Apparently we are a hardworking, easy to manage group - yeah!)
February 8th, 2009
Well, we did it. The nanny and boys moved in to the cleaned house this afternoon! We spent the morning painting touch up on the trim and painting the beds for the boys. They were all very excited - especially the nanny. She and her kids had been sharing a house with 2 other women and all their charges since November!! (Could you do it?) We did a bit more rock and dirt excavation for an hour before lunch, and in the afternoon after returning from town. Six of us went with Jo and Michelle to Jacmel. We picked up Sugar, Water, and other supplies. We were also able to visit an art gallery and a mask vender. The masks are made of papier mache formed over a dirt mold of a face, then painted and varnished. These masks are about 4 feet high! All the carnival (which they call Ra Ra) masks are hand made and carried in the parade. Jacmel has 2 weekends of carnival starting tonight. Jacmel is very interesting. Lots and lots of motorcycles buzzing up and down the street,and lots of people walking. Mostly men. They were very few women out today. We then celebrated the February birthdays with the nannies and kids. Bekah and Tessa baked and frosted 72 cupcakes. The kids sang Happy Birthday in Creole and English, then blew out candles and opened gifts. The dogs, Madam T-Bone and T-Bone stole a few cupcakes from the smaller kids, until we shooed them away. After dinner, Drex taught us a few Sunday School songs in Creole. When the kids heard them, they busted out singing at the door to the dining room. Wow, they can sing. We get to sleep in tomorrow, church is not til 10 am. It will likely be lots of singing with a kid on each lap (by the way, this kids do not like to share laps -
they want you all to themselves) and probably hot. See you soon!

I hope that gives you a little insight into our first experience in Haiti, at least from Tamis point of view since she is the only one who wrote everyday :o) Im sure I did but its in a journal somewhere, that would take me days to type....

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...

Blogging...this is new.

If you are taking time out of your day to read this, first of all I want to say thank you. This whole blogging thing is new to me, but I believe it will be necessary to keep everyone updated with the big changes that are happening in this journey we call life. In the next few days I will be updating this blog with info on how my 'heartbeat for Haiti' began.. as well as how you can be a part of this journey with me. As many of you know I have been leading trips to the Hands and Feet Project Childrens Village in Jacmel, Haiti since February of 2009, but what many of you don't know is how that journey began, this site will inform you :0). As many of you also know, the most recent trip that we took was very life changing for a handful of us on the trip. The Holy Spirit began stirring in our hearts that we were to move to Haiti to serve in a more permanent capacity, and so we have begun taking the steps to do just that. In order for us to take this GIANT leap of faith we need our friends and family to stand behind us in prayer and support, because without community things like this would not be able to happen...So be prepared to have your heart stirred, and please do not be afraid to move however you feel led... This journey is new for a lot of us and we are unsure as to how to go about it, but we do know that having friends and family stand behind us is key. Can I count on you to stand behind me in prayer and support? Again, this is only the introduction to a fascinating journey, I will be updating as the week goes on, but for now, start praying about how you can help, and start praying for protection of our Spirits as we begin to step out in faith!