SuRpRiSe!!!

I kinda take pride in the fact that I'm hard to surprise. After last month I'm not sure I can brag about it anymore...

In addition to being a huge surprise it was a blessing to have my family here, to have them see first-hand where I live and experience my daily life here. Although I can't say they were big fans of hikes up the mountain, or of sweating :)

As I sat in church Sunday morning worshiping with my mom, sister and niece, children sitting on laps, playing with hair, and singing these lyrics, in Creole and English, "All nations All people Sing glory hallelujah, Glory hallelujah, You are Lord, Lord God Almighty" I couldn't stop the tears from welling up.

It seemed so "right" to share time here together, and I believe my family has increased peace about me living here. 
Can't wait for the rest of them to experience first-hand the place I call home!
(To get the full effect of my reaction you should look at the pictures with the slideshow...)

My Haiti family is a huge blessing as well. I can't believe they pulled this off without me having even the slightest hint of a clue! You have no idea what it means to me that y'all did this for me.

Thankful in the Chaos

Tuesday. A crazy day. A day you don't want to repeat. A day you look back on and, though crazy, thankfulness is the only thing you have, the one thing I look back and see in the chaos.

Tuesday was the last day for us to have a team of doctors and nurses here so we did a low key clinic at the school that morning, seeing students with special cases while Kameryn and I, along with our trusty translator Patrick, worked on de-worming the whole school :)
At one point Kameryn was pulled away. A very pregnant mother had walked up the mountain with her 11 year old son who could barely stand. When I saw him he was limp and nearly lifeless, his body cold to touch. The nurses started him on IV and we de-wormed him, it was amazing how quickly his body warmed up but his belly was so hard and he was in so much pain.
We decided it would be best for the little boy, Jamesly, and his mother to come down to the house with us while he finished up his IV. The doctors diagnosed him with cholera.
As Jamesly sat on the porch, with Adam by his side, he threw up. Anyone who knows Adam knows it's a miracle he didn't automatically throw up right back on him. Instead he was able to sit there, in the puke, while the doctors got him up and into the bathroom. I was very impressed at the level of calmness Adam had, especially since vomit even got on his lips...
Anyhow, we proceeded to wipe down the area. Kameryn had just mixed up some bleach (a very strong powdered bleach) and as she put the rag in the jar the bleach slipped from her hands, hit the floor and splashed up directly into her eyes.
My first instinct was to grab water, the doctors and nurses rushed her to the sink, leaned her head back and said to start pouring water into her eyeballs. After at least 5 gallons of water being poured in her eyeballs, and at least 6 bottles of eye solution Kam went right back to caring for Jamesly. She was a champ, so tough and calm.
In all of this all I could do was look back and say "thank you." I'm thankful Jamesly's mother heard about our clinic somehow, I'm thankful she had the wisdom to know to bring him, I'm thankful she came Tuesday and didn't wait til Wednesday (not only would there have been no doctor but he may not have been alive), I'm thankful the doctors were there to care for him, I'm thankful God gave Adam the composure to not vomit right back on Jamesly :) I'm thankful, again, that we had doctors here to help when Kam got bleach in her eyes, I wouldn't have known to flush them so intensely or thought to look for eye wash solution. I'm thankful that Kam's eyes are perfectly fine, I'm thankful Jamesly was able to walk from the truck to his home later that afternoon.
I'm thankful God has me here working with such incredible team of people. I'm thankful for the community He is building here with these people.
Thankful.

You can also read about the events of last Tuesday on Adams blog, he has a pretty funny take on the day :) Just click here

Poor Yet Rich

(10.13.13)

As part of the James Bible study the ladies are doing I'm working on memorizing the book of James. 

As I sat in church this morning, unable to understand, I started in on chapter two. After saying verse five a few times, "Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?" the part about the poor in the world being rich in faith struck me.

There I was in a little Haitian church sitting among the poor of the world and witnessing their rich faith as I memorized James 2:5.

As convoluted as some of the beliefs are here, with as much influence of voodoo and myth that are present, these people have some of the greatest, most devout faith I've seen. The joy and enthusiasm they worship with would put us to shame. 

After listening to Haitians pray we've commented more than once that we Americans don't really know what it means to pray. That's just one example.

While there are things we can teach these people we also have so much to learn from them.  

Machetes and Miracles

(9.18.13)

“Josh gathered all the Americans, they locked hands around me and started praying; lifting me up before God, asking for deliverance from my pain, and healing for my hand…”

The man who told us this dream, experience, has been coming to get his arm cleaned for a couple of weeks now. There was an accident involving a machete and since then he has been unable to move his hand or fingers.

Worried the cut might be deeper than we originally thought Josh decided he would take him to get an x-ray and see if surgery was necessary, or possible. When he arrived this morning the above, and following, words are what he told Josh.

“…When I awoke from this dream I could move my fingers. Today I think I am going to accept Christ!”

Chills. Tears. That’s what we all experienced this morning as we were told what had just happened.

Our God is able beyond what we could ever comprehend. I think everyone’s faith was deepened today.

A bit later we get a text from Josh who is on the way to the hospital with this man, another little girl and our school nurse.  The school nurse is sharing the Gospel with him!!!

I am reminded how powerful prayer is, how important it is for us to pray for and with every individual we help. We try to make it a point to pray over each person we see in the clinic but for some reason we hadn’t with this man.

God also challenged me that even the small little things we do He can use mightily and do great things through them.

The following is from Beth Moore’s James Bible study.

“God is practical. He doesn’t ask us to do what doesn’t matter. What seems a drop in the bucket to you is a sip from the wellspring of life to someone about to thirst to death. Let’s muster the courage to ask Him to show us who to help and how. True religion is all hands on deck and all heads out of the sand. The mystery is that, there, we often find our own healing and fulfilling.

…You don’t live this kind of life accidentally. You make up your mind who you want to be and daily die to the rest. You surrender yourself to living in the tension where you’ll always be stretched and often be broken. Religion pure and undefiled is grit without the grime. You accept that far easier ways to live exist, but you were born for nothing less.”

So, even those things that seem like “a drop in the bucket” to me, God can turn into a “wellspring of life” for someone.

I am challenged to continue trusting God, to keep on keeping on and to not lose sight of Him in all the daily tasks of living; to not miss opportunities to serve, and lift up in prayer.

For I was born for nothing less.

(written a few hours later)

This evening we gathered to pray for Theodore, as we began to pray he showed up at our gate. In his own words he told us his dream and showed us how he could move his fingers and rotate his wrist. Things he couldn’t do the day before. Powerful moment! God restored Theodore’s hand!

We all gathered around, laying hands on him, and prayed.

One of our Haitian staff then led Theodore in prayer as he professed faith in Christ! A humbling, and joyous moment. All I could think was, “one day I will be worshipping in heaven with this brother.”

God is moving in this family, Theodore’s wife accepted Christ last Sunday! Pray for Theodore, his wife and their two sons as God begins this new chapter in their lives.

Words cannot describe these moments. I read this and it seems so inadequate to describe how God moved and what He did.

Summer Update

This blog is brought to you by the Respire Haiti newsletter!
I assume most of you don't subscribe to the Respire Haiti newsletter so here's the link so you can catch up on what's been going on around here this summer.

Also, be sure to stop by my Storenvy store by clicking here.

Oh, and I'm headed to the Dominican Republic tomorrow so say prayers for traveling mercies as well as smooth exit and entry (I'm nearly 60 days over my 90 day visa...).

Sharon in Haiti

Hey y'all!

Some of our Haitian staff and students are also artisans who work for Haiti's Jewels, a fair trade social enterprise here in Gressier.
As a way to raise support I will be selling Haiti's Jewels on my online storenvy marketplace. My store title is Sharon in Haiti (original, I know) or you can click the link above. 
Check it out. Purchase something as a gift, or for yourself :) Spread the word!
A little piece of Haiti can be shipped right to your door!

Three Funerals and A Wedding

As usual many blog ideas have been running through my head for the past week and a half.

In the past week I’ve been to a funeral and a wedding, had one of our staff members tell me he gave Christ his life and has chosen to follow Him, and been told that Sheila’s daughter Staci* was sent away with “family” because they were obligated to do so (classic words to be used in restavek situations); Needless to say we walked away from that conversation feeling sick to our stomachs.

It was a week of many different emotions.

Tonight I sit her happy because Staci is here with us and moving in to Kay Libete A (The Freedom House). God worked it all out and she came back from her obligatory week with “family.” Praise God!

I also sit her with a heavy heart for this little girl who has not had a father in her life and who now has no mother. So many changes in such a small amount of time; knowing your family either doesn’t want you or feels like they can’t take care of you. Being 13 and totally, completely on your own, honestly having no one. I can’t even imagine.

Stepping into a place where you will be loved, cared and provided for, but also into a place where bonds have already been formed and routines established.

Pray  for Staci* as she makes this transition and for the other girls in the house as they too have transitions to make. Pray they will reach out to Staci, make her feel welcome and bring her into the family.

God brought me into Sheila’s life for a reason and I believe this was one of them. I believe at this moment there is no better place for Staci to be, I believe this is where Sheila would want her to be.

I’m thankful God is sovereign and He knows what He’s doing even when, especially when, we don’t. 

*Names changed to protect our students

(I must explain this blog title :) For those of you familiar with Adventures in Odyssey, there is an episode titled "Three Funerals and A Wedding" - the story of Ruth. This week I attended my third Haitian funeral and my first Haitian wedding and this is the first thing that popped in my head and I just had to use the title :) 

Sheila Update

For those of you who have followed my blog over the past eight months, Sheila passed away yesterday. 

Please be in prayer for her two children and wisdom for us as we pray about how to help. The 12 year old is in a situation very vulnerable to becoming a restavek. 

Come To Me

Come to Me. Come to Me. Come to Me….Open yourself to My loving Presence, so that I may fill you with My fullness.

Come to Me when you are weak and weary. Rest snugly in My everlasting arms. I do not despise your weakness, My child. Actually, it draws Me closer to you, because weakness stirs up My compassion – My yearning to help. Accept yourself in your weariness, knowing that I understand how difficult your journey has been.

(from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

Haiti is hard. Haiti is dark. Haiti is draining.

Living here I see, hear and experience things that had only been stories to me before. Things I knew about but had never experienced personally. Satan wears you down here, especially when you are in battle against him.

The past few weeks I have felt Spiritually drained, like I was running into a wall, trying to give out of a cup that had run dry.

This past week we had an amazing team who led us in prayer and worship nearly every evening; it was so refreshing, renewing and needed. As we sang the lyrics “when I am dry YOU fill my cup” tears streamed down my checks as God reminded me it was that simple. Come to ME and I will fill your cup. Focus on ME and I will renew you. Keep running at that wall and I will break it down for you. Continue seeking ME and I will fill your cup.

A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. Isaiah 42:3

That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19

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. Romans 8:26

As God continues to challenge, stretch and grow me He shows me more and more how important prayer is; my own personal prayer life, to pray as a team, to pray for each other and to have prayer support. Please, please, please keep me and the team here in prayer. Be praying specifically for Spiritual protection, renewal and strengthening. Pray for protection against Satan and his demons that are so so in this place.  

Photo Update

Because I have slacked so horribly in the blogging department the past couple months I thought I'd give you a picture update!

 Went on a little walk that turned into a pretty incredible hike through the mountains

And we might have gotten rained (poured) on :)

 Being silly with kids at the La Coline feeding program

 Some of my favorite neighbor kids

 Love seeing this little girl get to smile, laugh and be a little girl

 Some of our tutoring kids

 Our sweet tutoring kids praying before they eat

 A  young boy at our Belle Vue feeding. Broke my heart.

 Sarah! She's doing so good.

 Summer interns!

All seven of the kids in our first summer tutoring program!

 A Team of teacheres from Missouri spent the week doing science experiments

 Our interns hard at work ;)

 Love this young woman who lives in Neply.

The beauty of Haiti! 

 Our school had a playground donated and installed.

The kids love it!

 Our second grade teacher gave birth to her first child in our (temporary) medical clinic.

 We rented a house on the beach and spent a long weekend celebrating the 4th!

 Sweet, sweet girls

Learning fun things like how to make almond and coconut milk, and then how to use the fibers to make various other things. 

As I look at being here the next six months or so, and beyond, I've updated the needs/wants on my Amazon.com wish list if any of you would like to help in that way. Items do not have to be purchased on Amazon, that's just the easiest way for me to compile a list. Thank you so much for y'alls love, support and prayers. 

http://amzn.com/w/K3D7OAG8Y75Z