catch up on...well...everybody!

Intensive Session #2!

After a big changeover weekend...lost three, kept 2, added 3...we are back at it in the classroom this week doing our final intensive session of the semester.

Chris Palmer has come all the way from Wales to teach for his first time at Emmaus.  With Simeon's help, first year is working through Missiology with Chris.  As I popped in this morning to take the picture, the class was discussing whether churches should require people to be baptized again if they were baptized through a different method than their church baptizes the first time.  

"Well, what does the Bible say about it?" Chris finally asked, and I always LOVE watching the class dive energetically into His Word.  "I really like to try to depend wholly on what His Word says..."

That's a good class.

Leroy Lindsey is back with us again, this time working through Wisdom Literature with our second year class and with Elio's help!

Pam's class is so full as they pick their way through Church History that it was actually 10 degrees hotter in there than any of the other rooms!  This morning they were looking at some of the symbols used during times of persecution to represent Christianity and why...good stuff!

Meanwhile, Phil and Pehpay have been all over the campus, pickaxing trenches to put in cable that will do...something good...for the internet situation, which is simply. never. resolved.    I hope that something good happens.  No matter what, they've been working like crazy.  

For Alfie and Maud asking about Junior and Ezechiel and Enick...here's a quick update:

Junior is back from his two weeks of residency at Indiana Weslyan, and loved it, even despite the cold.  He is back to work at Emmaus as the internet/computer guy, and is back to being a full-time student, this time online.  Getting the hang of that is proving to be a bit challenging...online learning isn't easy, especially with said internet issues, and with ESD (extreme social-ness disorder).  I get that :)

Ezechiel was here yesterday, and continues to pop through once every 10 days or so to check email, catch me up, so that we can pray together and sometimes to get some help for the school or church.  Should have taken his picture!  

The overarching reality for Ezechiel is that the more he does, the more that needs done.  The more he's home, the more he needs to be, the more he's on the mountain, the more he needs to be there.  The more he helps with the school, the more help they need, and the more he preaches the Gospel, the more people come to hear more of the Gospel!  Every time I shake his hand and pray with him, I am overwhelmed by the many and heavy burdens on his shoulders, and am always reminding him what I'm really reminding myself: God knows, they are God's burdens, and Ezechiel is only called to do what God places before him for the day.

There is so much need.

We are incredibly thankful for the help of a special group of people in Canada and in the US who are getting some support to him to help pay his teachers, finish building the school, and keep good education happening in a place that never had any for over 200 little ones.  

Meanwhile, his family is doing well, the road project continues each Saturday, each Saturday, and Ezechiel continues to just never seem discouraged.

I am planning to join him again on the mountain in March as soon as we have a few less visitors.

Finally, Enick is in one day a week, coming to check internet, eat (man, does that boy need to EAT!), get a good night's sleep IN A BED (all the rest of the time he continues to live and sleep on the floor of the school) and to run to town for supplies.  It's always a joy to see him, and the things the Lord is doing on His/his mountain are inspiring.  Voodoo continues to be very prevalent in Enick's area, so he is never without a story of great prayer and fasting over people drowning under Satan's grip. 

Like Ezechiel, Enick seems NEVER to be discouraged, living fully in the confidence and knowledge that our All Powerful God is Victorious.  His brother (current EBS student Walnique) continues to join him every other Sunday, helping preach and teach and disciple, which is a great encouragement to Enick.  He works hard to always be above reproach, and the same great love and dedication that the Lord has given him for his people I see in them for Enick.

Again, we all plan to join him on his mountain as soon as we have a few less visitors.  

All the while we have one EBS family wrapping up, and a new EBS family moving in.

The Weavers, a young couple from Sabetha, Kansas, are moving down in two weeks to join our team (more info on them soon!) and the Aberles are heading back to Sabetha, Kansas in April upon completing their two year term!  We're so thankful for both of these families and for the many people God continues to weave into our lives from every tribe, tongue and nation!

BARON: because the lion has no teeth.

One of the VP's (visiting professors) asked me at lunch yesterday if there was anything exciting going on with any of our past or present students.  As I started to share about Enick on the mountain of Coup-a-David, Junior...Belony...Ezechiel...mid-phrase I literally lost my breath.

I caught myself lifting my hand in the steady wave of Haitian praise and trailing off instead.

You can't just sum that answer up.

Thinking about each of these brothers later, I wondered what it IS about them each that has enabled them to work in such back-breaking places under such unrelenting persecution and trials with little to no support or help.  WITH grins.

Of course, it is Him.  But what is it about Him and them that are able to accomplish such impossible and precious things One through the other?

After thinking more, I think it is because they believe.

They believe He is who He says He is.  They believe He has called them to each of His places.  They believe there is nothing man can do to them.

They believe that He is enough, and that the support of man is not needed.  They believe that He will provide for them, and for their families, even when they can't see how.

They believe that to be hungry, to be harmed, to be lonely, to be abandoned, to be crazy for the cause of Christ are all struggles that He is greater than, will meet them in, and that can bring Him glory.

They believe that to love God with their whole hearts means to love others unceasingly, unselfishly, and unbiasedly.

They believe all they need is Christ.  And that He is all that Haiti needs, too.  And that He has asked them to pour Him out on His people.

They believe.

With child-like simplicity and faith.

My day in Baron last Sunday ended in a confirmation that this is TRUE.

As we drove home from Baron, we quite surprisingly stopped at a corner only to see Simeon and his wife waiting for a ride.  They jumped in, and we continued on for Cap-Haitian.  As we got closer to town, Ezechiel asked if we could stop for a moment at his house and meet his new little son, something I've been anxious to do.

From all earthly perspectives, ti-Ezechiel came at a terrible time.

His wife, already struggling greatly with Ezechiel's sacrificial love and dedication to the Lord and Baron was incredibly sick the entire 9 months.  Ezechiel was spending every moment he wasn't in Baron trying to care for a very disgruntled and sick wife and their daughters.

Then, the magistrat's threats started coming, not only to Ezechiel but to the people of Baron, the church and the school.  Part of the school was burned the week before we left Haiti near the end of May.  Then, they were kicked off the property.  As you know, I wasn't sure how we would find Ezechiel when we got back the start of August.

If we would find Ezechiel.

It was during this time that his son came...a gift, yes.  But a serious concern in a family being threatened, struggling to make ends meet, already living one meal at a time, with Ezechiel gone much of the time and his wife not sure if he'd ever come home or if he would be killed on the mountain where God had planted him.

We parked the truck on the main street and wove back through dozens of tiny houses and at least a hundred children, further and further from the main road, until we ducked into a seemingly random door.

Suddenly I stood in the middle of the buzzing city in the middle of their dark and tiny bedroom, looking at the tiny sleeping, curly-headed form of Ezechiel's plump son.  The room felt reverent.

As it always does when you're looking at something new and complete that God has woven together.

"He is beautiful," I said quietly.

Ezechiel smiled, and shrugged his shoulders humbly.

"You know," Ezechiel said, "this past year has felt like I am in the middle of a firey furnace, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  And it has made me wonder if they knew the fire wouldn't burn them when they were being thrown in, or if they thought they were about to roast to death.  I wonder if Daniel knew that God was going to shut the lion's mouth as he was tossed in the pit...or if he assumed he was about to be devoured."

"And I realized, before he was born, not sure if I would ever get to meet him" Zeke nodded towards the bed again and continued softly, "that it didn't matter.  Daniel was just faithful.  The lions, the fire, those God overcame."

"And Daniel and his men didn't get spared them.  Daniel still spent his night with the lions.  They still spent their time in the middle of the flames."

"That's me right now.  I live in the den."

He looked down at his little boy with me.

"And God is there with me.  And the lion?  He has no teeth.  That's why I named him Daniel."

They do it all because they believe, with everything that they are, that the lion has no teeth.

Praise the Lord.

BARON: the ask.

Being a foreigner means that there is something we have come to expect in Haiti: the ask.

 Someone explained to us once that it's not that we have to GIVE.  It's just that people have to TRY.

Maybe you don't know me from Adam.  But if your little girl desperately needs to go to school / eat / go to the hospital, and you don't have the money, and have no way of getting the money, you'd better bet that a good mama is going to ask anyone who seems like maybe they could help to help.

 This means that being asked, and figuring out what to do now, has been a major part of our life in Haiti.

Especially when we go places where foreigners don't usually go.

So I don't know how to explain Baron.

I hiked past hundreds of homes and thousands of people.  Sat in church for 4 hours with some of the poorest people this world houses.  Held hands with children with hair burnt orange from malnutrition.  Kissed cheeks of gaunt faced mothers.  Chatted it up with toothless, ribby old men.

And it. just. NEVER. came.

 I mean, not once.  Not once, the ENTIRE day long, from Christian or Voodoo priest, child nor mother, came ONE ask for ONE cent.

Not even ONE "Give me a balon!"...the common plea for soccer balls every child in Haiti seems to have learned at birth.

It was downright WEIRD.  I'm not sure when the last time a day passed in Haiti when there was never one ask.

And at the same time, I watched from the sidelines as Ezechiel was asked for all kinds of things.  Heard lots of people share with him great needs that they have.  Felt bad to see his shoulders stoop under the weight of so many needs.

I almost wished that people WERE asking me...just to help Ezechiel.

 After the service, he pulled Junior, Noel and I to the back of the church and talked to us in hushed tones.

"Did you see the man," he asked eagerly, "In the third row?  The older guy? On the end?"

I didn't know who he was talking about.

"The Lord showed me something today.  A few weeks ago, someone gave me a pair of new shoes."

He looked quickly at me, and then down at his hands.  It was Matt who gave him a new pair of shoes a few weeks ago.  His shoes, that he was still wearing now, are a hot mess with holes in the toes.

"Well, they didn't fit me.  Too big.  So, I brought them to church, and I put them on the altar, and I told everyone that those were for God, and that if they needed them, to take them as a gift from God."

"So, this lady came up and took them, and I was disappointed, because they were big men's shoes, and I figured now she was gonna go sell them or something, and I wanted them to bless someone in the church!"

"And then, I was even MORE disappointed, because a few days later, I saw the local witchdoctor, and he was WEARING them!"

"Here," sighed Ezechiel, "I had given this beautiful new gift to God, and they were on the witchdoctor's feet."

Suddenly, Ezechiel's countenance changed from amused-story-teller to humbled-brother.  "Do you know what God showed me today?  That witchdoctor.  He was sitting in the third row of church today for the first time in his life, wearing those shoes.  Because the church gave them to him."

"God showed me today that HE is God.  That He will take care of our gifts.  I gave those shoes to God, and then was worried about what God did with them.  And then the man I have prayed for and witnessed to a hundred times came to hear the Gospel, because the God he thought was his enemy gave him new shoes."

Ezechiel was visibly touched, and I was thinking about that story again yesterday when Ezechiel poked his head in my office.  He had a few things to take care of at the seminary, and popped in to see if I was sore.

"Hey, Zeke" I said slowly, wondering if I should ask.  "I've been thinking about something I don't understand.  Can I ask you?"

"Everywhere I ever go in Haiti, everyone asks me for things.  Everywhere.  Lots of people.  Walking around, out in town, visiting churches, even IN churches.  I've been to mountain churches similar to Baron where people climbed over aisles in the middle of worship to ask me for money.  And I've never met a group of kids who didn't ask for at least a soccer ball."

"But the other day, climbing with you and being at the church and down again, I promise you that not ONE person, from your church or otherwise, asked me for ONE SINGLE THING."

"I mean, I don't get it!  I KNOW the needs are greater in Baron than just about anywhere else.  So, what's the deal?  I mean, do you have any ideas?"

Ezechiel standing in the school.

Ezechiel wasn't even phased.  "Stace, everyone knows.  Everybody on that mountain knows that if I have 5 cents, and I know that they need 5 cents, that I will give it to them.  They know that the church, even if they don't embrace it, is ready to be poured out for them.  They know that everything I find, everything I have, I give when it is needed.  When people get in trouble, from the church or not, they come to the church.  And if we have ONE grain of rice to help them with, we give it to them." 

"People know you help me.  They know I've got no way of having money from anywhere else.  And they KNOW that when I see they are desperate, in great need, that I WILL give it to them.  Everyone TRUSTS me.  They know I'm not pocketing anything, not holding anything back, not lying to them."

"No one asked you for anything, because they know that when they really need help, the church will help them.  It's a trust thing."

I think through what he's saying.  I've never heard anyone say that before.  I mean,  as I've tried to figure out the ask thing throughout the years, I've said to people before, "Go to the church for help!" But they ALWAYS say that they HAVE.  And that the church doesn't give anything, there is so much corruption, they told me they have nothing, they do not help people who aren't members, etc...

After he goes, I keep thinking about all this.

They didn't ask me, because they trust the church, because they trust Ezechiel not to be a pocketing pastor, but a poor one.  And they know help will come from the church, even if they're not IN the church...just like even the witchdoctor got help.

All I could think about was He and I.

What people have in Ezechiel and the church is unwavering confidence.  Confidence that keeps them from going elsewhere with their needs.  Trust that kept their eyes fixed even when there was a foreigner opportunity to meet their needs.

Do I have that with Him?

Complete and utter?  

Am I completely unconcerned with whether others are helping me or not, with finding my own help, because I so entirely trust in Where My Trust Comes From?

In a dire situation, am I running to His feet?  Or venting on a friend or searching out Matt or worrying my head off?

When I'm hurting, when I'm lonely, when I'm frustrated, when I'm overwhelmed, when I'm ________________, am I dwelling in His peace, exemplifying complete trust and dependence upon My Healer, My Friend, My Helper, My Peace, My Provider?

Reflecting His peace is proof you are right with God, because you are exhibiting the freedom to turn your mind to Him...O. Chambers.

As trustworthy as Ezechiel and his church have proven, my God a thousand times moreso.  As many times as Ezechiel and his church have helped, my God a thousand times moreso.  As many times as Zeke and the Baron church have poured themselves out, my God, a thousand times moreso.  

As the people of Baron put their faith unwavering in Christ's bride, though God has used me and several of you to help provide, I seek to put my faith unwaveringly in HIM, though God has used many to answer my prayers.

Baron Faith.

BARON: inspire.

There are two things from Sunday that just keep rolling over and over in my mind.

Just like last year, I am renewed in my AWE of Ezechiel's determination, dedication and perseverance to BE FAITHFUL in Baron.

 Don't get me wrong, he confesses to asking God many times to let this cup pass from him.  But each time the Lord has asked him to take up His cross, he has...though with less support (let's try "negative support") on the home front, many hurdles to overcome, incredibly limited funds (like, whatever Matt and I can scrape and the gifts a few of you blessed family have sent), millions of needs presenting themselves, exhausting working conditions, etc., to name a few.

I don't use this word frequently, but his downright refusal to fear, to abandon, to give half-hearted, and to complain is nothing short of inspiring.  When we picked him up near his house at 5 am in Cap-Haitian, identifying him only by his grin, and he had breakfast for us all, it was inspiring.  As we all chat about everything under the sun, and his stands even in conversations from marriage to funny stories to ministry heartbreaks are righteous, his motives holy, even his jokes, pure...I am inspired.   

 But more than anything, yesterday, it was his life as a missionary that was inspiring to this missionary.

When I pray for Ezechiel, I think of him ministering to that flock of 100 in that slap-board church under the blazing sun on top of the mountain.  But yesterday was a testimony to his primary ministry actually being to BE the Living Gospel to Every Man.  

 There is an entire WORLD that lives on that mountain, friends.  A whole WORLD of people, living and working and breathing and dying, passing every moment of their existence close to the sun and to nothing else.  We passed a hundred old women, a thousand bare-butt babies, dozens of saggy jeaned thugs, a hundred sweating farmers, dark as the night sky, too many giggling teenage girls to count.

 Copper braids and mohawks, homemade dresses and daisy dukes, toothless grins and roly-poly babies, hundreds of people heading for mass or church or temple or town and back again, miles of peanuts and shoots of corn, hundreds of goats and dozens of pigs, hundreds of homes, all packed with mud.

All of life, I tell you.

 And I hiked right through all of it and observed, first hand, that there is no INCH not for Christ in Ezechiel.

I'm telling you the truth: there was NOT ONE PERSON who did not break into a wide grin and greet Ezechiel by name upon seeing him.  There was not one person he didn't seem to know.  He asked about every husband, every mother, every child.  Knew who was sick and who was in pain, knew where everyone was coming and going.  Knew their names.

 There is no person on that mountain who is unsure of Who Ezechiel lives and breathes for, and not a person who was scorned, overlooked, or half-heartedly greeted.  Every man, woman and child is his missionfield, and he is the blessed feet that bring Good News...Living Water.

At one point on our decent, a very loud, large and intimidating group of young men were approaching us.  Everything from their dress to their speech to their body language was vulgar, and seeing a female foreigner didn't bring out anything better.  When the leader of the group started to get loud and sexually suggestive, I stiffened a bit...Junior fell back to my side...but Ezechiel?

 He approached them like Jesus died on their behalf, grabbed their hands like they were great childhood friends, greeted and asked about them each like he terribly cared.

And he did.  And as soon as they saw him, their entire countenance softened, each of them calling out, "Hey, Pas!  What's going on?!" and grinning like friends.

As we moved on a few moments later, he dropped back to me an inspiring phrase...that man, the leader? that is the magistrat's son.

The man who burned down part of Ezechiel's school...and has threatened to kill him, and has terrified his family.  Ruined the road building project.  Caused the entire church to have to move.  Has Ezechiel sleeping on the rocky ground in a TENT 4 nights a week so as not to jeopardize the safety of anyone else.

There should have been coldness.  There should have been hesitation.  There should have been bristling.  There should have been something of this world, if EVER there should be.

But there Ezechiel was, treating the man like he was his brother.  Like he loved his enemy.

He treated them EXACTLY like he always treats me.

Climbing with Ezechiel yesterday was like walking through Matthew.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul...Aren't two sparrows sold for a cent?  And yet not one of them will fall apart from your Father...Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father...He who loves His father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it.

Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or drink nor for your body...But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father...He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, causes rain on the righteous on the unrighteous.  But if you love those who love you, what reward to you have?  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?