Your grace has found me just as I am

14 weeks, 7 speakers, 80 people (28 staff, 47 students, 5 kids), 1 house, 2 kitchens, 5 tents, 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 25 triple bunk beds, 2 trucks, 1 bus, 1 tent city, 6 outreach locations, 1 neighbourhood, 1 city, 1 nation,

80 lives transformed

2 weeks left

My summer has been something very few experience, and the ones that do will never forget it. We live in a small nation in the Caribbean that was once devastated by nature but is now more hopeful than ever. We spend our days learning more about God’s undying love and character, and reaching out to the community and city. It’s hot, sweaty and sticky. We take bucket showers and flush the toilet with water from the pool. We accumulate tons of dust and dirt in and around our house, and line up for meals three times a day. Hand washing clothes has gotten easier but we don’t mind wearing something that might not be clean. This is probably the weirdest definition of community that I have seen.

Every time I stop and think about how crazy this all is, I realize how much grace is really upon us. The house is full of joy and love and respect for one another and although we have times of disagreement, it gets resolved. We had a generosity night where people starting giving what they had to each other in order to help raise money for outreaches. After that night every single person had the $300 deposit. And after two weeks of everyone walking in that spirit of generosity, every single person is able to go on outreach. That means many Haitians and foreign students are traveling to places like Jamaica, Brazil, Benin and the Dominican Republic for 2 months. In a short 2 weeks we will all be splitting up into these teams and going out into the nations to do many different ministries. My team is a small team of 7 with two kids and we will be starting our outreach in a town called Hinch located right in the center of Haiti. We have an amazing opportunity there to work with a Mission that has 16 churches and schools, as well as agricultural areas, children’s ministry and contact with local villages. We may also have the chance to build a water tank there. For now we are planning to spend 2 weeks there, and then move to a more southern part of Haiti where we can work with orphanages, churches, and voodoo ministry. After about one month here in Haiti, our team will be meeting up with 2 more teams (17 people) and going to the Dominican Republic for the second month, and working together there with an awesome contact. This location also has many various ministries we can work with. We are all very excited for this next phase of our school and know God will definitely change us and use us in so many ways.

Something that God has been telling us over the last few months is that Haiti is going to be a blessing for the nations. That He loves this place and these people more than we can ever know, and He wants to see it prosper. Haiti has so much potential. The people are strong, they are fighters and the land is crying out to be used in a Godly way. I firmly believe I will see this nation completely different one day and not from my own doing. The people will rise up, take the land back for God and be honest leaders. Already in the short 6 months that I’ve been here, I have seen proof of that. I’ve met Godly people, I’ve seen restoration, and I’ve felt the change. I can’t get out in words what I feel about this place. There is just something about it under all the trash, the rubble and tent cities there is hope, and its rising up and pushing past all the physical problems.

“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”

It is possible to see the potential and the hope when we know He is in us. It doesn't always make life easier, but it always makes life worth living. I am confident that even when I don’t know what I’m doing, why I’m here or who I am, He see’s me. And I know that I don’t make all the right choices or say the right things, but God knows my heart, and my desire to love these people. I try my very best to live out what I believe and love people with my actions but when I fail, I’m still covered in love and grace, and that is comforting. So here we go Haiti, lets both continue this way, knowing God’s love for us, and make this life worth it.