EBS Spring Break Missions Trip: Port-au-Prince

The campus is glowing.

You know that mountain-top, Spiritual buzz that comes from church retreats, youth camp or missions trips? THAT is the glow of unity, hunger for the Lord, joy of what He has done and passion for loving His children that has overtaken Emmaus. The 21, though mixed in culture, experience, age and gender, have a special bond of a shared precious experience. The rest of us have the joy of hearing their stories, seeing their pictures, reliving the testimonies of our prayers.

There is so much to share, so I'll try to share some of the most beautiful moments. I don't know how much Haiti is, or is not, still on the news where you are, but in case you haven't seen Haiti for a while, here are some photos of Haiti today. A country where you couldn't even BUY a tent six months ago is now littered with them, and many believe that tents have become a permanent part of life in Haiti.

I cannot even begin to image the emotions and memories that must have churned through the hearts and minds of the 4 men and women on this trip who came to EBS from Port-au-Prince. I've shared some of their stories with you already, and three of these four came very very near to losing their lives. Jean-Marie's father was killed in a hotel where he was working and bears wicked scars of his near-death, and Nicole barely got herself and her 5 children out of their home. Yet, voluntarily, they returned to this: ...and lived through the horrors all over again, so that they could share HIS power through their testimonies. And they did. Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday, Leandre, Jean-Marie, Simeon and Nicole shared with the people of Diquini not just God's Word, but about how He saved them and how He was working in their lives. Can you imagine how powerful? I have goosebumps again, just thinking about it now. How beautiful the testimonies of His faithfulness to those whom life has harmed!
The night the team arrived in Diquini, they were shocked to find that the people of Diquini had purchased food themselves, and prepared for them a large meal. Expecting to gnaw on stale Casava in the dark (a very hard, flat kind of bread), instead they feasted on the generosity and gratefulness of women brought to the Lord by EBS students in January.

Can you imagine, after driving through poverty like this, families living in tents like these, arriving to find those same people had purchased chicken and rice and beans and plantain and Coke's and spent the day fixing it for you, just to thank you for bringing them Jesus? EBS was served better food than the cooks could serve their own families, and yet had to accept it as a beautiful offering spilled out on the feet of Jesus. What a beautiful welcome!
Here, the children's ministry group worked on some final planning for the weekend services. They held four different services with about 80 children in each, most of whom have never been to school or church a day in their lives. They met in the "church" that Junior has built smack in the midst of the tent-village of Diquini. They had some beautiful moments, loving on the "least of these"....more to come!