View of Haiti from the air! |
Returning to Haiti
Last January, I had the chance to go on a mission’s trip to Haiti! My team went to continue work on the first Christian youth camp in Haiti – Jacob’s Well. The trip was amazing! I posted a daily travel log on my other blog Stars in the Universe after I got back.
Haitian campers listening to the Gospel in Creole! |
Well, this year, I get to go back!
I’m a part of a team of about 26 from Frontier Camp – a Christian youth camp in East Texas where I’ve been working for the past 5 summers. Frontier Camp has been partnering with a Haitian pastor, Gersan Valcin, for the past six years to start Jacob’s Well!
A huge percentage of the population in Haiti is under the age of 14 so this is a country where youth outreach can have a great impact! It’s been amazing to see and hear about the change that the youth camp has already made in its village.
I’m so excited to go back! I’ll be leaving January 3rd and coming back ten days later! It’ll be amazing to see what God does in those 10 days – in my life, in the lives of the other team members, and in the lives of all those we meet in Haiti!
While we’re down there, we will continue construction/work projects at the camp and run day and overnight camps for the village children. During those camp days, the children will have the opportunity to participate in safe and fun activities (like games, archery, crafts, etc.), as well as watch Bible Dramas, and learn about the Gospel.
I ask for your prayer for the team as we prepare to go, for our missionary friends the Valcins and the Vaughns who are currently serving in Haiti, for the Haitian people and all of the children who will be attending the camp!
“Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
New Haiti Update
I posted another update about the Haiti trip on my other blog! I’m going to try to post pretty regularly until I have the whole log online.
Stars in the Universe – Haiti Log 2
~ A Servant of the King
Home from Haiti
To borrow Sam’s words from the last page of the Return of the King, “Well, I’m back.“
The trip to Haiti was awesome. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go and I can’t wait to go back sometime soon! Although I missed my family, ten days was far too short a time to spend in Haiti.
The little village children who came to play with us and attended camp were precious! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. For one thing, I always forget to take my camera around with me, and for another, whenever I was playing with the kids or working I was simply too busy to stop and take pictures! Thankfully there were lots of people on the trip who were much better in the picture-taking department that I was! ;)
Stars in the Universe – my other blog – is where I’ll be posting the stories and some photos from the trip! The first three days worth of updates are already posted (click to read them here: Haiti 6 Log) and I’ll be adding the rest of my trip log throughout the week!
And now some extremely exciting news! Obviously I did not have internet access while I was in Haiti and so I did not check my email until I got home two days ago. I found a response to the queries I sent out two months ago, inviting me to submit my full manuscript Out of Darkness Rising! The email arrived the day that I flew out for Haiti.
So I hastily performed a final editing of the manuscript, packaged it up, and shipped it off this morning! This doesn’t mean that the publisher will necessarily choose to publish my book, but at least it’s a step in the right direction! I won’t hear back for several months so I’ll just keep plugging away with my other project Song of Leira – it’s coming along quickly now and I’m getting more and more excited about it!
Orevwa!
(I keep accidentally blurting out the few Haitian Kreyol words and phrases I know in random sentences… it makes for interesting conversations! I’m going to be looking into purchasing a Kreyol dictionary soon so that I can learn more before I go back next time!)
~ A Servant of the King
To the praise of His glory!
Orevwa!
[Translation: goodbye in Haitian Creole – and yes, it is spelled correctly!]
Well, I’m off and in just a short while I will be on my way to Haiti! For some reason it hasn’t really hit home yet – even though I spent the whole day packing. It seems strange to think that in just a little while I’ll be on the plane flying down to Haiti! It is even stranger to think that I have been “planning” on going on this trip since last January and I have been wanting to go for even longer than that. So, I am very thankful to the Lord that I now have the opportunity to go!
I cannot begin to describe how excited I am about going. I know that it will be difficult. I know that I will be stretched in so many ways, that I will be forced to step out of my comfort zone – but that is such a wonderful thing, for in my weakness, Christ is shown to be strong! I know that I will come home changed and I am glad.
My prayer, as the team prepares to head down, is that we will all go with lives open to the Lord’s leading, hands open to serve, hearts open to love with the love of Christ. I pray that we will not be so focused on our schedule and plans that we miss out on the opportunities the Lord brings us. That in all things, we would reflect the light and love of Christ in everything we say and do.
I ask for your prayer for the trip, for the team, and for Haiti.
Specific prayers:
~ safety while traveling to/in/and from Haiti & health for the team
~ that the Lord would do a mighty work during our time Jacob’s Well – that hearts would be touched and turned towards Him.
~ for all of the children who will be attending the Jacob’s Well youth camp, for the Haitian staff
~ relief for Haiti from the effects of the earthquake, cholera, and political troubles
As always, your prayers are greatly appreciated!
I received an email a few days ago with an update from the Haitian pastor (Gersan Valcin) that we are partnering with in our work at Jacob’s Well. He wrote this over the New Year:
“As we are about to go to bed, we can hear the voices of people singing in the dark, praises to God. They were singing with such harmony that one would believed they were angels. I knew that village 10 years ago, it was filled with voodoo temples and fear ruled everyone, people were dying from diseases. Now they are free to sing the song of the redeemed. If only I could see the transformation of each village of my country like this one, I would know that I accomplished my life’s destiny…“
What an amazing testimony to the work that the Lord is doing! Praise God! We pray that He will continue to do a mighty work in Haiti and around the world!
And so, I bid you orevwa! I’ll be back in a little while!
~ A Servant of the King
To the praise of His glory
Exciting News!
I have some very exciting news! I have been given the opportunity to travel to Haiti this coming January! I will be traveling with a team of 21 to continue work on the first Christian youth camp in Haiti, Jacob’s Well. I will be posting further information, updates, stories etc. on my other blog Stars in the Universe as the trip draws nearer and then afterwards.
Right now, you can read more about the trip in my new post Operation Jacob’s Well, Limbé, Haiti on Stars in the Universe.
~ A Servant of the King