Humbled

Romans 8:26  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

There are times when I am just so humbled at the way the Lord moves.  Today was one of those days.  Theodore has been coming by the house regularly during the last couple of weeks because about a month ago someone was stealing bananas from his garden and when he tried to stop the thief he was cut with a machete.  They sewed up the wound at the hospital, but he has been coming here to get it cleaned and get new bandages.  He has been unable to move several of his fingers since the injury and was really getting concerned about losing his little finger.  Josh was headed to the hospital in Carrefour today to take Elizabeth (the little girl who had surgery on her foot) for a checkup, so he told Theodore to come along to see a doctor.  Theodore showed up this morning and told Josh that he had a dream last night.  He dreamed that we were all standing around him praying for him and that because we were praying in english he couldn't understand us, but Josh was telling him in creole that we were praying for healing for him and that the Lord was going to deliver him.  When he woke up from the dream he could move all of his fingers!  He was not a believer, but he told Josh that he really thought that God had healed him and that he thought he was going to accept Jesus today.  He went ahead and went to Carrefour with Josh and our school nurse, Madam Colin.  In the car on the way to the hospital, he told the story to Madam Colin and she and Josh shared the gospel with him.  Tonight he came to our house and we prayed over him.  He then prayed to accept Jesus as his Savior!!

I was so convicted by the events of today because although I had seen him and spoken with him several times he hadn't made it onto my prayer list.  In fact, I don't think that any of us had actually been praying for him.  I am going to make it a priority to pray for every person that walks through our gate.  Our God is so much more than we can comprehend and the Spirit knows what we need even when we don't know.    

Roller Coaster Ride

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again.....Haiti is a place full of extreme heartache and extreme joy.  There are definitely days when my heart is so sad and within the same day so full of joy. So I'll just dive right in and update you on the past week or so.

For the past several months we have been tutoring several students who failed their class last year or who have never been to school.  We added a few students this week and for some reason word seems to spread like wildfire in Haiti and we had several other students who were friends or siblings of our new students show up uninvited (they had passed their classes).  One of the little girls kind of just snuck in and was working with one of the translators that didn't know who was and was not supposed to be there, so she was already in the middle of a worksheet when Sharon and I noticed her.  At that point we couldn't really just tell her to go home, so we just told her that she didn't need to come back the next day because she had passed her class.  The kids come to our house for tutoring and inevitably pretty much everyone always needs to go to the bathroom while they are there.....I think this is probably because we have an indoor bathroom with a real toilet, which is something that most if not all of them have never seen before.  Anyway, long story short this new little girl took her backpack into our bathroom and stole a couple of bottles of hand soap.  We figured it out before she left and in my limited creole I told her how it wasn't good and that she shouldn't take other peoples things.  Situations like this just break my heart because I know that she probably just needed soap and if she had asked we would have happily given her some.  It's so heartbreaking when you know someone is stealing out of necessity.

M is settling into the Freedom House and really thriving.  She is so happy and really fits in well with all the girls.  On Saturdays our cook, Darline, has the night off so we've been going to the market with the girls on Saturday afternoon and then making dinner with them.  It's a lot of fun to go to the market with all of them because they just love it!  They get all dressed up and excited to go.  CiCi and I took them to the market this Saturday and when we were done buying the things we needed we had a little cash left over, so we bought kenips (super delicious fruit) and ti galon (frozen sugary juice) as a little treat.  It just made me think of all the grocery store trips with my mom and how it was always so much fun to get that special little treat when you went to the store.  It always makes my heart happy to spend time with these precious girls.  

This one is going to be vague, my apologies for that but I feel that I shouldn't mention specific people in this instance.  I think this was the thing that broke my heart the most this week and I'm still not sure I've completely processed it.  Basically someone that we know pretty well is planning on getting a restavek.  It sounds weird to even put it like that, but that's what is happening.  It's someone that knows better and knows that it's wrong, but I think some things just get so distorted in the culture here and somehow are so easily justifiable in people's minds.  Please just pray for this situation and this person's heart.

One of our students, Elizabeth, had surgery this week on her foot.  She walked completely on the side of her foot and the doctors said that if it wasn't corrected it would cause her to not be able to walk in the future.  She's been staying at our house this week so that we can care for her.  She's been such a good little patient and I'm so thankful that she was able to have this surgery.

One more thing and then I'll stop with all the stories that don't really go together :)  I am so blessed by the people that I serve with here.  We have true gospel community and it is really great!  They all encourage me daily and I am just so thankful to be serving with them.  

Romans 12:12

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

       

  

Respire Haiti Summer in Review!

Use the link below to read the Respire Haiti Summer Newsletter.  So many things are happening!
Summer Newsletter


P.S.  I'm still selling jewelry to help support myself.....it's all made in Haiti from recycled and natural materials!  I have set up an online store, so if you are interested just place an order and it will be delivered to your door :)
http://haitisjewelsbysteph.storenvy.com/

Pray with us - Part 2

M came back to Gressier on Saturday and moved in with us yesterday!! Praise Jesus!! Please continue to pray for her.  Pray that this would be a place of healing for her heart and that she would come to know her true identity in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Other updates and pictures :)

First of all, huge thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to see me while I was stateside!  Also, thank you so much for your donations, prayers, and words of encouragement....it means so much to me.  Here are the other things that have been happening........

• Kids here are so full of joy and it continues to blow my mind.  One evening we were out and about and these kids were having the times of their lives in a wheelbarrow :)

• The neighbors garden is growing!!

• The kids in tutoring are learning to read!  And one of our staff members, Belo (in this picture) gave his life to Jesus this week!!!!

• Our water well on the mountain was re-drilled and the community is using it!

• I tried something new in the cafe to use the leftover cinnamon rolls.  Cinnamon French Toast Squares with Maple Icing :)

• There was a tarantula that came into my bedroom last night.  Scary.  Yucky.  Not fun.  Thank goodness for Patrick who came and killed it for us!  I was too scared to try to get a picture of it :)

Pray with us

I spent the first 2 weeks of August stateside with family and friends.  I didn't get much time to relax, but it was so great to see everyone!!  I've been back in Haiti for a week now and so much has happened.

I arrived back in country on Thursday and was greeted by my neighbors shouting in excitement that I was back and the girls from the Freedom House literally sprinting down the hill to hug me.  So much joy!  Then later that night we found out that our friend, S, who had breast cancer went to meet Jesus.  Sharon went the next morning to try to find her daughter, M.  We had been discussing with S recently what would happen to M and she told us that she didn't have any family that would take M in.  We couldn't find M for most of the day so we were very worried, but in the evening she showed up at our house and we hugged on her and told her how much we love her.  We also told her that she is very vulnerable right now and to be very careful because she might end up in a restavek situation.  She said that she would not tell anyone that she would live with them and she would not leave Gressier without telling us.  We went the next day to talk to her stepdad about the possibility of her moving into the Freedom House and he said that it was not his decision but she has an uncle who has her paperwork and it would be his decision.  M said she thought he would say yes and she was very excited about the possibility of moving to the Freedom House.  We went to S's funeral on Tuesday (my first Haitian funeral experience...definitely different to say the least).  The next day we went to find M only to be told that the stepdad was "obligated" to send her with someone up to the Northern part of Haiti.  He used words that you would use when talking about a transaction involving property.  Please pray with us for M and for her safety and her return to Gressier.  Megan tried to no avail to get contact information for the uncle and was only told that he would be here on Saturday so hopefully we will find out more then.  In the meantime please just pray!

Psalm 147:11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

We are hoping and trusting in the Lord.

Love Your Neighbors

My neighbors have been on my heart for the last couple of months. I love the children who live next door, but sometimes the adults are a little difficult to interact with. A few weeks ago I stopped by to take the children up the mountain for our feeding program and apparently some of the adults were making some very rude comments to the Haitians that were with me.  I started really praying for a way to make our relationship with them more positive and a way that we could help them. It seemed like a bit of an impossible task....how exactly do you help a group of 22 people living in tents with a hand up instead of a hand out?  Only a day or two later I stopped in at the cafe and while I was there a few people from an organization in Leogane stopped in and I started talking to them. They told me about all the programs that they have and as soon as they started talking about putting in gardens for families that need them it hit me that it was a perfect idea for my neighbors! I asked them more questions about what a family has to do to qualify and whether or not it would be possible for them to help my neighbors. They said they could do it...an answered prayer for sure!! We worked out the details and today we put in the garden! My neighbors were excited about it and helped work the soil and plant seeds after participating in a class to learn how to garden and compost.  I'm just so happy that the precious kids that I love will be able to eat more regularly than they do now and they will be eating nutritious vegetables! And if they decide to expand the garden it might even provide a way for them to make some money by selling produce in the market.  I'm going to bed tonight thanking God for answered prayers and new beginnings for my neighbors. Please pray that their garden will produce an abundance of vegetables and that the positive relationships that started today will continue. 

•