pride

Yet another sign that we must be back in Haiti: consistent problems with the internet! Sorry for the much delayed post! Photos as soon as I can...

What wild ranges of emotion always come with life in Haiti!

…the strongest of which, these past two days, has been pride.

Being a mother is a relatively new thing for me, and at 27 years old, that “mother hen” instinct is just getting started. But though I am in the younger crowd of the staff and students at Emmaus, these past two days I have just been abundantly motherly PROUD of “our” men and women.

Junior and I met when he was 17 and I was 18. I was working in Port-au-Prince with Christian Service International, helping lead teams, and Junior was a vibrant young Christian that we frequently used to translate for the teams. Then, a few years ago, we re-united during a trip to Port, and told him a bit about Emmaus. In 2009, he came up as a full time student, until the earthquake.

But this past Wednesday night, when we picked him up after 6 months of working in Port, I was in tears with pride. He is skinny. He looks 10 years older than he did in January. His wide smile is not quite as gleeful and innocent as it used to be. But HE DID IT.

There were thousands of terrified, devastated people living on a mountain top following the earthquake with NO knowledge of God and no thought of a church. He saw it, and though he had just started at Emmaus and had JUST moved into his beautiful new dorm, and had NO help, no home, no food…there was no talking him out of it. God clearly had a heart for these people, they clearly had no Jesus walking among them, and so Junior went to be Jesus where there was none.

He lived in a tent for 6 months. Now I know we all have heard and seen and read about how people in Port have been living in tents for 6 months. But I never really thought about it until that drive home with Junior Wednesday night. All my fond memories of camping mishaps and adventures faded away with the reality of what LIVING in a tent means. When it rained the last 6 months…he lived in a tent. When it was a million degrees…he lived in a tent. When he wanted privacy, when he needed space, when he bought food and needed a place to keep it…he lived in a tent.

As he talked about duct taping his tent to keep it standing, talked about the rats and ants, talking about how many days he went without food…talked about the beautiful conversions he saw, the solid leaders he trained, the “church” that he built out of tarps and bamboo, his joys, his struggles, and best, about the body of believers that are now growing and deepening together after Junior poured into them for months…

MAN, God called him to something MISERABLE, thankless, hot, homeless, lonely, discouraging, difficult and a million miles from home and education, and Junior did it, without a moment’s hesitation, and he didn’t come home until he had done what God had given him to do.

I feel so fiercely proud of him, the kind of pride that adjusts who you are yourself.

And that’s just Junior. Over the last two days, we’ve had the joy of reuniting with fifty staff and students, all, 10-15 pounds skinnier than they were when school (and three meals a day) finished two months ago…all, with unbelievable stories of ministry, transformation, and God…doing stuff that only He can do…because they were open and anxious for Him to work through them.

At 27 I feel like an overwhelmingly proud mother of 50, full of God-pride for these skinnier, older looking, not quite as gleeful but every bit as joyful, transformed and transforming children of God.

Please be praying for staff retreat tomorrow, for the first day of class on Monday, for the many students spending one final weekend trying to find their tuition for Monday, for Bryan, Matt, Lucner and Paul as they head into this new school year as leaders at EBS, for the five visiting professors/visitors staying with us for these next weeks, and for Lily, Matt and I as we continue to adjust to life back in Haiti.