go

I don’t even know where to start. 

 

Today was GREAT.  When you tell a group who’s been in Haiti for 2 whole days that you’re going to a remote village and that they are then going to walk around and share the Gospel with complete strangers…I was just thankful there wasn’t a meltdown.  That’s a lot.  I would have understood if they did.

But true to form, these 18 are no complainers.  There were a few tears, and more than a few fears, but we spent the evening planning, and at 6 am this morning, we those to Jesus, climbed into the truck, and went. 

 

     Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations…Matthew 28:18

It took two hours to get there, and with grime in our teeth and sleep in our eyes we met in the church where dozens of children had already gathered.  We worshipped through song and prayer for a bit and broke into three ministry groups: sharing the gospel with kids, with women, and door to door.

     For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God…Acts 19:27

From 8 until noon, joined with a slew of students, members from the church and members of an evangelical group Junior’s been working with, we worked.  The church, His church.  Teens, adults, Haitians, Americans, English speakers, Creole speakers, going through this huge community.

Sharing testimonies.  Praying with people who were hurting…Women who recently lost children…Mothers of 7, 8, 9 children completely unable to take care of them and worried…A woman who was demon possessed…A witchdoctor…children. 

 

Telling charcoal sellers why God made them: to be in relationship with Himself.  Sharing with households that sin, unlike commonly believed, is not just murder, but anything that rejects God’s plan or is less than holy.  Drawing lines in the sand to show people the divide now created between a Holy God and unholy men.  Glowing to tell attentive children and smoking old men about God’s solution to the problem, and the opportunity to live with Him now and forever. 

     To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by Faith in me…Acts 26:18.

Matt worked with one of the door-to-door groups, but I worked with a group of 5 women, sharing with all the women (and quite a few men and children) that we could find.  All the women in the market, families frying fish, women nursing children, groups chatting around the lottery booth.

We were working along a fantastic young man, Lindsey, who is currently being discipled by Jodenel.  Everywhere we went, we greeted everyone, and then he opened with this:

“I know when you see groups of foreigners like this, you think that they are here to give money or to give food, because that is what foreigners usually do.  But let me tell you that today, they aren’t giving those things.  But they are giving something more precious than gold.  Something that lasts longer than food.  I’ll let them tell you.”

 

     Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for He is with us…Acts 17:9

Then, the women I was working with took turns sharing their stories, sharing the gospel message, and praying with everyone.  Tentatively at first.  Scattered at first, but then more and more passionately, completely, powerfully.  I was so incredibly, for lack of a better word, PROUD.  I mean, sister proud. 

The Gospel was shared so personally, so passionately and so purposefully that I was just astounded, blessed, and reminded all over again that Lindsey was right.  We DO have what is more precious than anything else.  We DO have the only thing that lasts.  We DO have the one thing that EVERY person, regardless of race or national, culture or language, sex or age NEED. 

And the more I was overwhelmed by how grateful I am for His forgiveness, His death, His redemption and His Holy Spirit, the more I wanted to share it. 

Which is EXACTLY how it’s SUPPOSED to be. 

Sharptown, the family you sent to Haiti knows the Truth.  And shared it boldly to hundreds of men, women and children in Haiti today.  They were not phased by the demon-possessed woman chained to cement blocks, but put their 14 year old hands on her and prayed for her instead. 

They were not intimidated by the dying woman on the floor, but instead crowded into her home and sang her songs of His peace.  They stepped their beautiful feet over running sewage, blackened their hands holding hands brimming with charcoal, burnt their flesh standing in the blazing sun to tell His story, OUR story, over and over and over, gave all their energies climbing the Zaccheus tree, slithering like the snake and singing their hearts out with clingy, desperate for attention children. 

     We are also just men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from the vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them  (Acts 14:15).

Sometimes, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 4:29), just means obeying God rather than ME.  Doing what He asks us to do:  Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15), instead of what is comfortable, what is easy, what we feel like, and what we already know how to do. 

     We are also just men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from the vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them  (Acts 14:15). 

We had some follow up as a group of 60 afterwards that was also very sweet and shared lots of conversions, follow-up names and phone numbers, and hundreds of seeds planted.

Ah, I could talk about it all night, and Matt had several moments that he has detailed as some of the “very best of my life that I never want to forget” that I’ll share with you soon (BUT I AM TOOOO TIRED!).  It was great. 

THANK YOU for your prayers for the day and all the encouragement and love we've received since yesterday's doggie drama.  (Sof is still doing well...)
THANK YOU, Brenda for keeping the girls so I could do this with the team and translate and share my heart out

THANK YOU, Sharptown Group for being willing to do something so crazy and for pouring yourselves out so selflessly

THANK YOU, Junior for helping us plan and tweak and set this all up,

THANK YOU, Jodenel, Jean-Marie, Jean-Baptiste for being faithful to Him in this large zone so we had true disciples and fired-up evangelists going with us,

THANK YOU, Cammie, for stretching way out there (“I’ve got to be the Yay-Rah person?  AHHHHH”) and leading the kid’s evangelism,

and THANK YOU Lord for BEING more precious than gold, everlasting, for WANTING to be in relationship with me, for going so far as to even sacrifice your ONLY and innocent Son to reconcile that relationship that I screwed up, for forgiving me, for giving me new life, for letting me follow you, for HELPING me follow you by the Holy Spirit and for giving me LIFE, now and forever. 

Oh man.

how sweet the family of Christ

I can't even express what a blessing these last days have been with Greg and Cathie. A few weeks ago, someone asked me, "What do you need? Do you need food, money, clothes?"

My mind wandered through these options, and I finally said, "No. We need HELP."

And that is exactly what Greg and Cathie have been. They're here to get out a desperately needed break from Port-au-Prince and the many nightmares that have been a part of daily life the last 7 weeks, so we haven't let them help with anything around the house or compound.

But Matt and Greg have spent countless hours talking, thinking, sharing, advising, and doing boy stuff...playing Wii, watching man-movies, eating meat :) And Cathie and I have had a dozen cups of tea, poured over life, shared our hearts, talked about our kids, enjoyed each other. And they both have spoiled Lily ridiculously, feeding her cheese puffs and Oreos, and teaching her new things. (Like Greg, unfortunately, teaching her to stick her finger up her nose.) We've played hours of Scrap Out, Hand and Foot, Settlers, and watched a few great movies...The Proposal, Music & Lyrics, Star Trek.

We love them, and they love us, and having a few days in the midst of all the stresses and brokenness of the past weeks has been restorative, refreshing and fun. So thankful for them both, and the way God continues to put precious family in our daily life though we are far from 'home.'

Like Mia and Elisa, who just arrived safely yesterday and are adding onto the spoilage of Miss Lily with Easter candy and polka dot dresses, Matt with beef jerky and honey buns, me with Panera bagels and Dunkin Donuts coffee... Ah, sweet friendship! Praise the Lord!

I have yet another just incredible testimony to share with you. The whole time Jean-Marie was telling me his story, I was thinking about the joy of sharing it with you. This guy is THE REASON Emmaus decided to open up the school to Port-au-Prince students for free. The moment he left, I thought, "AH. This is why. We're here because of him."

I am SO unbelievably blessed to be in His Family with Jean-Marie...I think you will be, too...

The testimony of Jean-Marie Leme, as told to Stacey Ayars.

In Haiti, people always say, “If you are not an animal, then you are a Christian.”

I always believed that growing up until one day one of my friends said to me, “You know, that is such a stupid belief. That makes no sense. If you are not an animal, then Jesus did die for you, but you have to repent and accept Him in order to be a Christ follower.”

Well, that changed my life. He talked to me about salvation, and I came to understand Acts 4:12 to be true: “For Salvation is found in no one else [but Jesus]. There is no other name under heaven given to men by which you must be saved.” I asked Him to allow me to follow Him, and I immediately began in a church, and I was baptized in 2001. Do you know what I love to do?

I love to work with children. I think God’s made me in a way in which I love to share the Gospel with children. I want to study the Bible so that I can teach what it REALLY says to the children of Haiti.

That’s what I’m doing here [at EBS] but let me tell you how I got here.

I am from Port-au-Prince, and my mother and little sister live there now, in a tent. They don’t have anything, and are suffering. I have nothing to send them. I hope to have something to send them soon, because if I can make some little money, I can send it to them instead of using it for food for myself, because you [EBS] are feeding me.

Anyway, on January 12^th, I was in my house in Port-au-Prince. I needed to do an exam the next day for University (I was studying administration) and I sent someone to buy me a pencil. I was waiting for him to return with the pencil, and I felt the house just start shaking. Where I lived had so many houses badly built. I didn’t even think, I just jumped off my bed and ran out of my house.

It wasn’t until I was outside that I realized I was badly hurt. Much block had fallen on me immediately before I ran, and when I reached the street I saw blood just pouring from my thighs, legs, knees and feet. I was shocked by all the blood, and BOOM, another part of the house outside knocked me to the ground and pinned me down. I knew I was badly hurt, but I couldn’t get up. People started running over me, screaming, fleeing from their houses. They ran on top of me, without stopping to help and without realizing that I was even there.

I was home alone, and didn’t know if my mom, my dad, my sister were ok. My mom was at the market, my dad was at work in a hotel (he was a bus-boy at a hotel) and my little sister was at school. All evening I laid there and cried for help, and finally, right at dark, my aunt came to check on my family. She and my cousin pulled the blocks off of me, and carried me to the street. I slept there all night, and was still bleeding badly, and we didn’t know what to do. Everything was so chaotic and we had no where to go.

The next morning, my mother finally was able to get home. The next day, my sister arrived. They were both safe.

We heard that the hotel where my father worked had collapsed. We waited for him to come home. He never did.

For 6 days, my family tried to bandage my wounds because the hospitals, everything, was destroyed. All our money was gone. We knew that I was going to die, because my wounds were all becoming infected and I could not walk. Finally, my grandfather, who lives in Cap-Haitien, was able to get a hold of us. He didn’t have much, but sent all the money he had to us. It was just enough to get me on a bus for Cap-Haitien. I did not want to leave my mom and sister, but knew I would die if I did not get medical help right away.

I came to Cap-Haitien and finally got to a clinic. (At this point, Jean-Marie starts pulling up his pant legs, and I am horrified by ghastly wounds clearly still in the process of healing. He offers to show me more, but I decline. I don’t even know what to say to him besides "I'm so sorry".)

I am still healing, but they didn’t think I would walk, but I am walking. When I came to Cap-Haitien, it was the pastor of my grandfather that gave him the money to send me to a clinic. As soon as I could walk, I went to that church. I spent as much time there as I could, and helped the pastor in every way that I could to repay him.

I was finally able to travel back to Port, and I went to him to say good-bye.

“Wait,” he told me. “You have nothing in Port-au-Prince. Your school is gone, your education is gone, and more than that, you are doing the wrong thing with your life. For weeks now I have watched you, and you have the Spirit of God in you. You only have one life, and God saved it for a reason. You must spend it on God’s work, not in administration.”

“I want to do exactly what you are saying,” I told him, “but as you said, I have nothing. I have no way to do that. I don’t even know HOW to do that!”

“Emmaus Biblical Seminary,” Pastor Wiljean told me. He had graduated from EBS, and told me that they would take me, and feed and house me, for free, and teach me in God’s Word.

And that is why I am here. This is what I’m thinking: I greatly want to know Him better. How can I know Him better but to study His Word and live among His children?

All people are NOT Christians. But God sent His Son for them the same way He sent His son for me. I want to live for Him and share Him in Haiti. I’m praying that Emmaus will teach me how to do this the best that I can.