think of us

and when you do, please pray!

Praise the Lord...

-We are halfway through the first semester at EBS, and while there is always much to do and always ways to improve, there is so much to be thankful for!  

I literally hear excitement in Fanfan's voice through the walls as he teaches Hebrew.  Hebrew!  I bring Matt a glass of water and overhear he, Vilmer and Lucner working in true unity.  I stop in the kitchen and hear the ladies harmonizing hymns while peeling potatoes and boiling beans.  I smile at the sound of joyful soccer matches in the evening, at the sound of friends loudly debating one theological issue or another outside my office window on breaks.  

Emmaus is not just a helping place, a healing place, a growing place, a digging place, a learning place, a transforming place...it is a HAPPY place.  In a place like Haiti (or anywhere, for that matter), I believe a happy place is a joy to Him.

-Lily is loving school.  She runs out the door happily each morning, barely waving good-bye, she is laughing when I come to pick her up, she is learning more Creole every day, she is making friends, her teacher loves her, she is happy to have "her thing" each day....just GREAT.  Thank you for all your prayers!  

-We are feeling very affirmed.  Several "going deeper" relationships and conversations of the past days, a few different meetings and ministry opportunities and even the Word itself has us feeling confirmed, lately, that we are where He wants us to be, focusing on what He wants us to be focusing on.  

Again, there is always much to do and things to improve, but it is a joy to be graced by His affirmation, in a time where we weren't even really questioning.

Matt,,right after preaching at Rodrigue's this morning.

-We have almost completely crossed over into good family health.  Yes, Lily fell of the bed this afternoon and has a humungous goose egg smack in the middle of her forehead, yes, Sofie's nose is leaking like a faucet, but we are approaching.  And it is GOOD.  

-Matt is a study machine.  I do not know HOW this man manages to be SO self-motivated and SO self-disciplined that he has chipped away and achieved his Master's in Mississippi, ALL from Haiti, and is now chipping away at his doctorate daily, with no deadlines, no teacher, no classmates, no library....

I couldn't do it.  Unless it was a doctorate in happy crafting.  But Matt, he's got his schedule, and when all is said and done for Emmaus around 3 or 4, he's putting in 2 hours on his doctorate, and just loving it.  I don't understand, but I praise the Lord.  

Seek the Lord...

-Our women's Bible study with all the women washing, filing, cooking or cleaning here at Emmaus continues to be a joy and a challenge.  It is really difficult to study God's Word when part of His body cannot read a word.  It's hard to go verse by verse when half the group is staring at your mouth while you read, trying to hear the passage, think about it and study it all at the same time.  We're in 1st Corinthians, and it is GOOD to worship and think and pray and study together, but I would love your prayers as I try to help and lead and grow with this group of dear women.

-We always feel inadequate to do the overwhelming things that truly seem to need to be done.  We NEVER have enough money to give all the money that seems to be needed to do all the things that really seem like they MUST be done.  Ezekiel's school in Baron.  Belo's house.  Noel, Naomi, Shayla, Evariste's schooling.  Rene's syphilis.  His family's hunger.  The list goes on and on...  

We never seem to have enough to help all the people who REALLY need help.  We never have enough time to do all of the work that really could be done, never have enough energy to really pour out in all the ways we want to or feel we should...I mean, what about the prostitution problem?  The ability to teach the Gospel by teaching community English?  A Bible study with the other school mothers?  There are SO MANY kids not in school...shouldn't someone be doing Bible teaching with them?       

Everywhere you look, there are 100 people and places and things that need help, and in His infinite wisdom, we just can't do it all.   

We are inadequate.  But He is more than enough.  And daily (daily) we have to remind ourselves of that, and give that as our response in the face of great need.  "We can't.  But He CAN."

I'm thankful that this is the case.  But it does burden our hearts.  "Do all you can" rarely feels sufficient in such a needy for help, needy for time, needy for energy, needy for CHRIST country.

-We must admit we are a bit homesick.  We always struggle this time of year more than the rest...to be missing fall and all the things in our home culture that come with fall.  Like NOT sweating every minute of every moment of the day.  Like, changing trees, changing colors.  Like, having stuff to DO:  there are no pumpkin patches, no apple picking farms (or apples, for that matter), no football games, no fall hikes, no Pumpkin Spice Lattes, no chilly afternoons, no bonfires (unless you count burning tires and trash) no...well, no fall.

It seems trivial, but for whatever reason, it always hits us a bit (along with the coming of major family holidays and family so far away) when October rolls around.  While we can very well do without these things, and will, and while He very definitely redeems it, I figure we're allowed to be a bit first-culture homesick now and then.


Please know we pray for you as blog readers, even if we don't know your name, and know that we'd LOVE to better know how to pray!  Email...

powerful prayers

When I asked for prayers this morning for our trip to Milo, I didn't know.


Didn't know how much we were going to need them.  


When I said we were off for an adventure, well, I didn't know how true that would be, either.


But it was.  And whether you were praying or not, He answered!


Sharing details is just going to be upsetting, so long story short, we got pulled into the start of manifestations (riots) on our way through town to Milo, which the girls slept through and the ladies and I prayed through.  We couldn't turn around, so we had to keep pushing forward.


We finally made it to Milo, and we had a good visit with Gertha, though she was in considerable pain, the conditions were not excellent, and her hip-to-hip scar was gruesome.  She has very little understanding of what has happened except that the doctors "cut out the bad stuff."  Visiting people when they're sick is such an important part of this culture, and I can't help but think that part of it is because there is so much uncertainty in medical care.  


However, it was really good to see her and pray with her, and I'm praying that this surgery was the start of her feeling much better.  She's missing Thalia something awful, and seeing Lily and Sofia through the window was the only thing that made her grin (kids weren't allowed in, which I came to see the wisdom in).


Grateful for the chance to see Gertha, we grabbed some rice and beans, ate lunch to keep the girls from getting grouchy and headed back home, sure that the riots from earlier would be long dispersed by the UN and by time (there is only one road through town).


However, things had only drastically heated up, and in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn't know what to do but trust and pray, pray and trust.
  
As I've shared recently, there is just no place that God is not...NO place, and I praise Him that that was resoundingly true today, with my babies in the backseat and dear friends around me.  


Lily and Sofie are HIS, Micheline, the baby in her belly, Noel, Naomi, Peninah and I...His.  I couldn't take care of us...a powerful reminder that we're not IN my hands, but HIS.


When we finally found ourselves almost home quite a while later, I asked Lil to sing us a song, and for the last 20 minutes she sang, "Hakkuna Mattata, it mean no worries, for the rest of your days!" at the top of her lungs in her party dress (turns out going to the hospital is quite the dress up event) and I couldn't help but be blessed by her childlike faith.  Never occurred to her to be scared, and the message on her heart was "no worries for the rest of our days" :)  


I could not have known.  There was nothing I could have done beyond what I did.  But He knew.  And He did what only He could do.  And I'm so incredibly thankful.


I prayed that the Lord would give me life-on-life chances today to be Jesus with the women around me, and I praise the Lord that He gave me His peace and presence...and protection!


THANK YOU for your prayers, and please never think that we don't need them, that He doesn't listen or that your prayer support of our family and His work in Haiti isn't SO vital!  We are standing on His faithfulness and on the faithfulness of your prayers...


Thank you!

pray day

Upon dropping his briefcase on the floor yesterday evening, Matt sighed, "Man, have I earned my paycheck this week!"  :)

It has been just an incredibly busy week with tons of tasks, lots of illnesses and an exceptional number of hours in the classroom!  Please be praying for and with us!

Praise the Lord that Uncle Don is here, helping out with SO many things and making sure that maintenance issues are NOT ones Matt's been checking off his list.  He goes Monday :(

Praise the Lord for Sharon (and later, Martin!), who is on her way to help us for the next several weeks!  His timing couldn't be better as that our business office is feeling swamped and so is....well...life!  Sabetha is always ready to help in a BIG way, and we're SO glad.

Praise the Lord for the girls, who have had a GREAT first week back with Noel, Micheline and Gertha.  They've done so well, are having a really good time being back home and with their friends, and we both just continue to thank the Lord for providing such trustworthy, fun and faithful child-care so that we can minister at Emmaus.

Praise the Lord for a great start to the new year, for several new students and fifty fantastic returning students, and for lots of great new things taking place, like Language Tutorial Fridays (three hours of English, Greek, Hebrew and French), Symposium Thursdays (yesterday was a conference on Jehovah's Witnesses), and Small Group Tuesdays.

Please pray with us for Maxi, struggling with low blood pressure, Giselaine, dealing with the death of her sister, Belony, who despite meds and help is still not feeling well, and Shayla, struggling with high fever.

Please pray with us for the work.  This semester, Matt and I are both teaching more hours than we ever have before.  We're teaching new classes we haven't taught before.  One of our main teachers, Guenson, is still in Port-au-Prince, and with a staff that is all still relatively new in their positions, there is a lot of learning taking place for all of us!  In addition, we're working to find funds for students, working to find funds for the budget (newsletters, correspondence, photos, translating), working to manage all the finances (receipts, expense reports, reporting, QuickBooks).  Add in trying to prioritize relationships with God, the girls and each other, then relationships with the people around us each day, then survival stuff like laundry, cooking, cleaning...  Yes.  Please pray with us for the work.

Please pray with us for wisdom in disciplining those around us to DO the work...teaching, assisting, watching, and leaving it.  We want to empower those around us to do the work God has called them to, not over-babysit them nor abandon them.  Finding that balance and finding the time to help disciple well is a challenge!

Please pray with us for Haiti.  The lives of our friends and family here are so difficult...living in the midst of so much need will never cease to be a challenge.  I was reminded yesterday when a little bird was stuck in the house of His promise to intimately care for each of His children, and we continue to daily try to be pro-active in His watch-care AND deliberate in trusting Him to provide, according to His leading.

Please pray with us for our perspective.  While we cannot control stressful circumstances coming into our daily lives, we can "take every thought captive to Christ."  We are working hard to be deliberate in running all our responses through His perspective, His priority and His glory.  THIS is the mission-field, isn't it...to live, speak, act, emotion and react as one fully devoted to Christ.

The Lord has never released from us a burden for you: people supporting, following, praying for us.  We therefore continue to carry you in our hearts and prayers.  Thank you for carrying the burden of us!  We love knowing that you are talking to Him about us.

a prayer for quietness of heart

Give me, O Lord

that quietness of heart

that makes the most of labor and of rest.

Save me from passionate excitement,

petulant fretfulness and idle fear,

keeping me ever in the restful presence of your love.

Teach me to be alert and wise in all responsibilities,

without hurry and without neglect.

Tame and rule my tongue,

that I may not transgress your law of love.

When others censure, may I seek your image in others,

judging with charity, as one who will be judged.

Banish envy and hatred from my thoughts.

Help me to be content amid the strife of tongues,

with my unspoken thought.

When anxious cares threaten my peace,

help me to run to You,

that I may find my rest

and be made strong

for calm endurance and valiant service.

amen

W. Lewis of Milan

prayers and beach

First things first....

Lily and Sof with Gertha, friend and nanny.

Please be praying with us continually for Gertha and her baby.  She called at 7 this morning and was bleeding.  She went to a nearby clinic, who with no information and no treatment, sent her several hours later to the main hospital downtown.  She is there now with minimal pain but continued bleeding, and each time I ask what the doctor's are saying, she says, "nothing."

She is concerned, I am concerned...the baby is expected to come in October.  Please join us in praying.

Also, Micheline has had several people die of cholera in her area the past 10 days...her rumor is that "it's back."  Please be praying that this strain is squelched by "over-care" in how everyone is cooking and drinking right away...

We had a good time at the beach, though electrical/water/mosquito issues and colds for all three of us girls brought us home a bit more worn out than we had hoped today.  SO glad my dad is here and thankful for a rare day away from normal life!

Matt and the guys are safely in Jackson and enjoying their first day of classes today!

Liked ice cream like her momma...

help!

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 4:16

"A God Perspective" has been my prayer the last several days in light of every circumstance, from playing with the babies to receiving news to preparing finances or for class...How does God see this?  What is His perspective?  What does He want mine to be?


It seems simple, but man, it has really been revolutionizing my thought and heart life these past few days!  I have even been surprised several times by my very-different-than-usual response to several situations, feeling far more grounded and joyful in Him as I work (and it is) to be like Him.

As we draw boldly to His throne this week, we need your help!

...prayers...

We thought we had a generator problem...then thought it was an inverter problem....then thought it was a pump problem...and realized this morning that we actually think there is a major water leak.  Somewhere.  This leak could be causing all of our other problems.  Please be praying for Matt and Maxi as they try to find the underground source of the problem, and as they try to fix it.   Big project.

Internet...We're having some big issues (don't think the water leak is at fault here :) that's Matt's working to remedy...please pray the Lord will supernaturally help with his understanding of the whole thing and to fix it.

Staff...several of our staff are currently dealing with a lot of hard things.  The school year in Haiti begins October 10th, and paying for children and grandchildren to attend is a major stress on many.  One of our staff lost his cousin this week to a violent beating.

Lucner, Vilmer and Matt leave on Monday for Jackson for their final two-week intensive residency for their master's.  Please be praying for their travels, for their time, and for their families in their absence (especially for Lucner, whose wife is expecting their first child ANY day).

...support...


Bibles
While most of Emmaus' administration is in the States the next two weeks, EBS is taking a fall break.  Because this break does not coincide with any major events in the life of the church, like Christmas or Easter, our students are "extra" available to participate in special ministry, which was great news to Belony!

The first week he will be leading a group of students in helping past-graduate Yolene.  Yolene has a huge three day weekend of evangelism and services planned for her area and church, and has asked Emmaus to help.  Students will be working alongside of church leadership to go out with church members to spread the Gospel (and to train people on how to do this), and will be leading services in the evening to help His children walk deeper with Him.  

The second week, students and Belony will be working with Civil, fourth year student who has recently started a church in a zone called Breda.  As a new church plant, there is a lot of work and training to be done, as well as continued evangelism in the area.  

Everyone is really excited about both of these works, and so I wasn't surprised when a common need came up...BIBLES.  Where the Gospel is preached, there is need for the Gospel to be HAD.  At $8 US a Bible, obtaining God's Word is no easy task in Haiti.  We would love for the students to be equipped with some Bibles to place in the hands of new (and old) believers, but currently have no Bible money.

If you're interested, email me (staceyhaiti@gmail.com).  Pray about it...If you feel led to be a part of all that we're expecting Him to do over this fall break, this is such a tangible need.  $8.  One Bible.  $40.  Five Bibles.  We'll go to town on Friday and buy however many Bibles we have the money for and send them out with Belony.  Thank you!

Contacts
Finally, we have several staff members who are very ready to begin doing their masters, helping Emmaus in it's accreditation process, helping bring better, more qualified teaching to our classrooms, and helping greatly in the formation of men and women for Him in Haiti.

Vilmer, Guenson, Matt, Bryan and Lucner have all been either students or professors at Wesley...now we're looking for another sister seminary!

However, the program that Vilmer and Lucner have been doing through Wesley Biblical Seminary is no longer available.  We have been looking far and wide for a seminary who has an on-line program (with a limited amount of Stateside work being required) that is willing to partner with Emmaus to educate some of our staff!  So far, nothing is working out!   If you have possible contacts or information regarding a continued education institution that may be interested in this kind of a relationship and ministry here in Haiti, please contact Matt!  This is a major step in "working ourselves out of a job" at Emmaus and a major priority for us and for Emmaus...we need help!

here we go...

...for a guaranteed 'nother exciting year in Haiti!  We are packed (mostly), prepared (as we can be) and ready (95%).  These past 8 weeks you have given us good food, lovely gifts, your time, good conversation, help, hospitality, great emails and blessings.   THANK YOU....we have had such a great 2 months!

What we're most craving now isn't ice cream (for once) or a round of golf (though he wouldn't mind!)  These next days and this upcoming year we're craving your prayers!  Being our fifth full year in Haiti, we know that we don't know what to expect.  But we DO know that we greatly need Him to be a part of us, our every moment and our work!

Here are a few specific things we're asking you to pray about these next months...

Lily and Sofie...
    -through these next few days of travel.  We fly to Florida on Friday afternooon/evening and into Haiti at 6 am on Saturday morning
    -that they would continue to grow in wisdom and in good health with God and with the community
    -that God would continue to protect them and keep them safe and healthy and help us to protect them the best we can
    -that they would adjust well to returning to their home culture
    -that God would help us as we strive to foster their relationships with Him
    -school starts at the end of August and we do not yet know what we'll be doing in regards to child-care. What we've been doing in the past isn't going to work out for this semester, and we are very much so in need of clear guidance and a godly, trustworthy, sensational person to help us walk alongside of the girls while I work at Emmaus everyday from 8-noon.  As a mom, I'm asking Him to help me trust Him with this and to flee from anxiousness.  (sidenote: If you are interested in this very fun position, it pays $100 US per month and includes steaming cow organs for breakfast at least once a week)

 Matt and I...
     -that God would continue to protect us and keep us healthy
     -that He would give Matt ongoing wisdom, patience and joy as he continues as the Vice-Director at Emmaus Biblical Seminary
     -that He would help us manage our time well, keep our priorities in line with His priorities, and help us carry out our daily lives through a process as Godly as the outcome we are seeking
     -that He would give us His energy as we work alongside of extreme heat and two little ones
     -that He would allow and direct whatever He will to make us hungrier for and walk closer to Him in all circumstances (we don't take that lightly!)
     -that He would provide family and friendship for our family members in our absence, just as He has provided family and friendship for us in theirs

Emmaus Biblical Seminary...
     -please be praying for all the staff and students at EBS as they finish their summer's of ministry and return to Saccanville
     -that the Lord will be preparing the currently 12 new students to be an awesome part of this awesome community
     -that EBS’s staff would continue to grow in unity and in Christ and in experience and wisdom, making Emmaus function better for His glory and bringing EBS closer to it’s goal of having well-qualified, well-established, self-dead Haitian leaders
     -that this year would be one of great growth and deepening maturity and knowledge for the staff and students


Haiti...

     -that this year would be one of peace, political stability, growth and good health

     -that Haitian believers would grow deeply in relationship with the Lord and that Haiti would change   because of it, for His glory

     -that non-believers in Haiti would come to not just know Him this year, but to truly embrace Him, give their lives to Him and be transformed

Prayers for the New Year

A new year and semester begins at Emmaus Biblical Seminary this weekend, with new students, old students, visiting professors and staff all joining us!  We will be thrilled to have everyone back and are anxious to hear a bit about what He has being doing through Emmaus this past month.  Please remember us in your prayers!

~Please be praying for the ongoing political instability in Haiti.
     We've stopped trying to figure out what in the world is going on.  Last week we anxiously asked some good Haitian/Puerto Rican/American friends of ours who have lived in Haiti for over 50 years what they thought about "all of this" that is happening.

     "Stacey, hunnie," the wife said, "You don't think.  You don't even think that anyone else is thinking.  It's Haiti.  You just wait and see."

     That seemed about right to us :)  So "wait and see" we are along with millions of others around us.

     I have a great peace in the midst of the almost bizarre and continually changing political tides that the Lord both KNOWS the plans of the rulers of earth, KNOWS what will be when all is said and done, AND holds the power in Haiti nonetheless.  "Uncertain future" doesn't equal "fear" if this is the case.

     Please keep praying for the many who don't know the Lord, for some kind of peace to come in the midst of all this, and for Godly leadership, even if only in the church!

~Please be praying for the new classes, new visiting professors and new students.


    Emmaus is blessed to have three new students joining us mid-year, three visiting professors joining us Saturday (one who has never been) and lots of new classes being offered.  My English classes alone have grown from 25 students total to 39 students total, I'm working through the syllabus for a new computer course, and Matt will be teaching a new advanced Greek Translations class.

     Wisdom literature, Theology of John Wesley, Contemporary Religion, Hermeneutics, Isaiah, Church History, Synoptic Gospels, 1st and 2nd Samuel, Pastoral Theology and several other classes are also being offered throughout the semester.

~Please be praying for the advancement of His kingdom in spite of political instability.


     Despite uncertain days ahead, our EBS staff is really praying that the classes, missions trips, evangelism efforts and church ministries planned for the months ahead will not be delayed or cancelled, but will be able to move forward for His glory.  Please be praying that the Lord would continue to kindle callings and movement in the student's hearts for ministry and their fellow man DESPITE the possible distractions of the times.

~Please continue to be praying for the good health of our families and the student's families.


     Despite continued battles throughout Northern Haiti with cholera, our staff and student body has continued to avoid illness.  Please pray for continued protection while everyone is traveling each day and week, and for continued vigilance against cholera.

~Please pray for my SEEP class, which begins again with the birth of Jesus this Saturday.


    After having to take several months off of the Saccanville Evangelical English Program due to Sophie, we are starting again this Saturday in the New Testament, working through the birth of Jesus again and then getting into his life and person in these following months.

Please be praying for this time that I have in front of 50 non-Christian members the surrounding communities to preach and teach His Word.  When we finish in April, every student will have heard the "whole truth of the Gospel" and continue to have the opportunity to answer His call for their lives.

~Praise the Lord for the help of TWO missionary families right now, helping to make all the visitors and daily upkeep of Emmaus possible.

~Praise the Lord for the growing relationship between our EBS community and the Saccanville community.  


     Students and staff are now working full-time in the Saccanville church, Bible studies, Sunday school, community Bible studies and community outreach, and the relationship is continuing to transform both Saccanville and Emmaus.

~Praise the Lord for His continued grip on Haiti. 

He who never grows weary and whose patience endures continues to be faithful to personally pursue Haiti.  We continue to see the Lord at work EVERY day in our lives and in the lives of those around us, which encourages us to persevere.

I once saw Ellen doing a skit about the news, in which she joked that the news, interlaced with commercials for anti-depressants, was enough to keep anyone down.  "Why don't they just get on there and say, 'EVERYTHING IS GETTING WORSE'" she joked.

It's not just Ellen that has noticed :)  The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the days of a Christian will be increasingly hard, with many of our fathers in the faith triumphantly finishing in persecution, torture, prison, loneliness and pain...and joy.  It's not SUPPOSED to be getting easier!  Life in Haiti and anywhere else isn't supposed to be getting "better" in a materialistic sense.

But we ARE supposed to be growing more faithful...more urgent...more devoted to Him.  If Paul, who as you will remember had a rather rough start, was 'shouting from the rooftops' of prison in the midst of hunger and trial and abuse to "rejoice in the Lord always!" as he preached to anyone in the cells around who would listen, then surely we can muster up the faith in HIS glory and power to joyfully, passionately and purely serve Him in the midst of hard days and hard times!

Please pray this for us and for the men and women at Emmaus, as we are praying for you!

THANK YOU for being a praying people.

"Haiti Fatigue"

We are in such an interesting place as Americans in Haiti.  We read the news.  We hear the stories.  And, we see for ourselves.  We come from an American perspective.  But, we live each day with an increasingly Haitian perspective.  What happens each day in Haiti greatly affects us.  At the same time, it doesn't define life the same way it does to those around us.


Several news articles about the current situation in Haiti lately are noting that the world "may succumb to Haiti fatigue."  The world, one said, is tired of never-ending Haiti problems, tired of complications, and tired of there being no good solutions that work.  Add that the elections are casting doubt on whether Haiti's next government will be legitimate..."The world's fatigue may grow quickly."


Understandable, world.

Yesterday, alone to lead and teach at EBS once more, Matt's fatigue grew quickly, too.  "Didn't we JUST do this?" he asked.  "I feel so discouraged to be doing this alone again!  What do we do with all the students and no teachers and administration?  Do we cancel classes again? Do we press on? How can we wrap up the semester next week with so many courses incomplete?"  


Matt and I, and the other missionaries we work with throughout Haiti, are among some of the biggest Haiti fans you'll ever care to meet.  But everyone's blogs are talking about desperately needing to "get away", even for just a few days...just like we desperately needed last week.  All the problems, constantly being locked in, an inability to plan whatsoever, and being an intimate part of the suffering, frustration, fear and despair around us is exhausting.


Understandable, missionaries.

But it is the students... it's the students that are breaking my heart.  You think the world is tired of this?  Try it being YOUR world.  Try it being YOUR president.  YOUR family.  YOUR future. I need a break?  Haitians need a break.  But there will be no trips to the DR for Haiti...no Christmas in the States.  


Our students, more and more confirmed as being the ONLY Hope for Haiti as carriers and preachers of the Light, are SO tired.  


It wasn't just "the Haiti earthquake."  It was THEIR earth that shook, their parents that died, their children who are suffering, their people who are homeless...scarred.

It's not just "cholera".  It's the student's REALITY.  Every hand they shake, every mango they buy, every drop they drink...their friends and family that are sick and dying.  


It's not just another crazy election.  It's THEIR hope for the future of Haiti!  It's their leader, who will call all the shots and make all the decisions for the next five years!  Their president, who will represent them to the world and who will decide what will happen with aid, etc.  


I have never met, and probably never will meet, such a resilient, tolerant people as the Haitian people, who suffer, and then suffer, and then top it off with suffering, and then play dominoes in the afternoon and laugh gleefully at a passing joke.


But I can't describe to you how burdened our fantastic group of men and women are this week...excited on Monday about their choice for leadership, excited by hope for change in the future after a devestating year...then dashed on Tuesday for the 100th time with things instead being the same as always.  


It's their wives that can't leave their homes.  It's their children who have missed weeks and weeks of school, with many schools now deeming the semester "ruined" to be started all over again in January...without refunds.  It's their homeland that is being shamed yet again in the eyes of the world.


I know all of this "weakens the will of the international community to continue." I GET that.  It weakens OUR will to continue!  It weakens our students wills to continue.  


Please, please don't be discouraged by Haiti.  Haiti is just a name we have given this group of Creole speaking, soccer loving, passionate living people.  If I think too much about "where America is heading" or about how little is going WELL in the wold, I get deeply depressed as well.  So when I think of America, I just think of you.  And where you are heading.  And how I have marveled to see Him at work in You.  


When I think of the broken world, I think of Bex, of Dale and Flo, of Hugo...of thousands of people who are beautifully and daily laying down their lives to make Him known despite their governments, despite their poverties, despite their cultures.


And when I think of Haiti?  I think of Pehpay, who I kissed on the cheek yesterday as he rushed to chapel, anxious to hear more of His Savior.  Please!  Think of Jil.  Think of Valerie.  Think of Yolene, of Junior, of Jean Marie, of Ezekiel, of Evangela.  


We didn't come to fix the roads, to rely on the government or to improve the health care.  Our students don't get up each morning to feed the poor, rebuild homes or battle cholera, though heaven knows how earnestly they try.  

We are all here, instead, because at some point(s) along the way, we each met HIM.  And meeting Christ changed EVERYTHING, and made introducing Him to the corners of the world and in the highest and lowest places ALL that really matters.  


Pray for Haiti, not because there is anything good in it or because maybe there will be someday, but because you have met Him, too, and know intimately of His love for His creation around you and for His creation here.  


"Where is our Hope?" I reminded second-year this morning, second-year reminded me this morning. 


"Where was our Hope last year, last month, today?  Was it in the government then?  In a candidate? In good health?  In dreams of wealth? In improvements?  NO.  Today, our Hope is still in Christ.  Haiti's hope is still in Christ."



"And CHRIST is STILL in YOU.  Haiti is but for a moment.  America, but a drop in the bucket.  It is Christ in you, every moment, the Hope of Glory.  And it is for the the Hope of Glory, NOT the hope of Haiti, that we live and breathe and find our meaning."


May we all never grow weary of doing good, never grow tired of loving His children, even those that don't know that they are His, and never grow fatigued with the world...for it is not the world that gives us our strength and hope, but He Who Died For It.  All of it.  


Please be praying for the men and women of Emmaus, who call Haiti HOME, that the Lord might renew Himself in each of them, provide perfectly for their sending, and that HE might change Haiti through them.  


As even CNN quoted yesterday to finish a dire piece on the Haitian situation, "This is a tough time for Haiti" a Haitian author said.  "We cannot take it anymore.  I have a feeling God has something for us."   

   

Today's Top 8 Prayer Needs

1)  Please pray for our internet, which again is not working properly.  With very unreliable and very expensive cell phone service to the states, having internet is VITAL for us to work with the outside world, communicate with family, communicate with Bryan as our director, post our blogs, for the guys to work on their master's, to make purchases for the Seminary, etc.   Some days it seems that smoke signals might be the most reliable form of communication!

2)  Please pray for our generator, which again is not working properly.  New engines are on the way, but until then, we can only run the generator for very short periods of time, meaning that we are doing without consistent power and water again.  Good things are on the way...trusting God to keep carrying us!

3)  Please pray for Matt.  While trying to teach and administer the Seminary, he is fixing inverters in between in his tie and dress clothes, working into the night on the internet, trying to secure the arrival of the generator engines, etc.  Matt's feeling really overwhelmed by all of these ongoing operational issues, all of which he is not trained or qualified to fix, nor does he have the time.  However, because EVERYONE on our compound is a pastor or Bible teacher, NO one knows how to do this stuff, and all of the manuals are in English....so, Matt.   Please pray that God would give him strength and wisdom for each day, encouragement in the midst of seemingly endless breakdowns, and joy unceasing.

4)  Please pray for the Administration as they work through a very difficult and discouraging issue with a student this week.  This specific morality issue is proving to be quite complicated, mulit-faceted and comes with a plethora of perspectives.  Please pray for wisdom, grace,  and righteousness to dominate their process and final decision regarding this young man.

5)  Please pray for Haiti this week as all schools began October 4th.  Every year, this is such a difficult time.  Haiti has so very little to offer it's children, and education is such an important thing to parents.  It is very expensive, and finding the money for school, or accepting that your children won't be going to school this year are both VERY difficult realities.

I caught our dear friend Micheline crying over the dishes yesterday, and was reminded all over again what a truly heartbreaking time of year this is for SO MANY parents...who love their children every bit as much as we love Lily, who want the very best for them just as we do for Lil, who who are simply INCAPABLE of finding the $52 dollars US per child to put them in school.  AND feed them.  AND clothe them.  AND buy uniforms.  AND buy textbooks.  AND take them to the doctor.

6)  Please pray for me.  An additional job assignment that I am covering this year is that of keeping track of the day to day finances at Emmaus.  While this has been a job I enjoy doing, I am beginning to really battle with worry.  Working with money makes you worry about money, doesn't it :)  While we all work daily to spend only in ways that bring Him glory and that comply with a much-prayed over budget, feeding 70 men and women every day is expensive.  Paying our staff a wage that we can feel good about is expensive.   Working on the generator.  Running it.  Internet (whether it works or not).

This is NOT a sneaky way of asking for money for the Seminary!  I strongly believe that there is no room in the life of a redeemed, Spirit-filled child of God for true worry.  Do I trust Him or don't I?  Is this HIS ministry or MINE?  Am I taking care of things, or is HE?

Pray that He would help me to trust Him fully, to constantly give Him my cares and our needs, and to not just SAY that I trust Him, but to live in my mind and heart and speech and walk as one DEFINED by the fact.

7)  Please pray for Civil and Matt, De Mange and Saccanville.  This Sunday, Matt will be preaching at Saccanville church and Civil will be preaching the first services (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) at De Manges.  Please be praying for these exciting opportunities, for everyone that will be there, and for the Lord to keep showing up in a powerful way!

8)  Please pray for Fall Break.  Due to Lucner and Paul needing to be in the States the next two weeks for their residency program, EBS's fall break has been scheduled at the same time!  As you know by now, "Break" for EBS means "Ministry".

Matt, FanFan and Junior will be leading an evangelism trip to Port-au-Prince, Nicole, Jean-Marie and Leandre are kick-starting a huge children's ministry on Saturday, and many of our students who have been too far from home to return will be traveling back to work in their churches.  Please pray for everyone's safe travel, for GOOD ministry, and for continued transformation in Haiti and glory to God to result.

We are so grateful for Who He Is in the midst of Haiti, Emmaus, our lives, the day-to-day, in our family.
Despite any burdens and struggles of the day, the song that's resounding with my soul today Kari Jobe's.

Here before Your altar,
I am letting go of all I've held...
of every motive, 
every burden, 
everything that's of myself.


And I just want to wait on You, my God.
I just want to dwell on who You are.


Beautiful, beautiful.
Oh, I am lost for more to say.
Beautiful, beautiful, O Lord.
You're beautiful to me.


Here in Your presence, 
I am not afraid of brokenness.
To wash Your feet with humble tears,
I would be poured out till nothing's left.


Holy, holy, holy.  You are.  You are. 


Counting on and rejoicing in your prayers, knowing that the God we serve is One who actively listens...and moves.