Jackson

Not just a broken bottle...

"You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3

Today the team, Yvon, and I visited members of the church in Fedja in their homes. We talked with them, shared our stories, sang songs and prayed with them.
At one of the homes I saw a bottle half buried in the ground by the gate. But, I thought nothing of it. When walking out Pastor Yvon saw this too. He turned back to the women and spoke to her, he then dug it out of the ground spoke a few more words and broke the bottle on a rock.
There is a superstition that if you bury a bottle by your gate it will keep you safe. This is a voodoo practice.
By putting trust in anything other that God alone a person is worshiping an idol. It is Yvon's job. It is my job. It is your job. It is every Christian’s job to dig up the gods. And that might even be a god that is deep inside of us. Yes, it is our job to aid, love and bestow grace on our families, friends, neighbors and coworkers. But we need to use tough love, also. Sometimes we only pray that peoples eyes will be opened. God wants this person to change. He needs us to help them.
What are some idols you know that need to be broken?

Wednesday

All is well here in Haiti. We have been playing with the children every evening. Monday was the first any of them, including the staff, have seen water balloons. We taught them to toss them back and forth like a ball until they dropped them and they broke. They never did just throw them at each other and the innocence of that was very cool to see. They had a blast.
Yesterday we visited church members in their homes talked with them and shared our personal stories. We sang songs of faith and then prayed with them. Yesterday evening we had a fire and set around and sang songs. We made smores and that was a first for them too. Today we planted trees and laid a concrete floor for a widow from the church.

God shows up when not expected. That is so like Him.

When I left last night for house church I took my Bible off of my bookshelf. The one I usually use was packed in my carry on and ready to go. I found a card in the front from a friend. This friend wrote out a few verses on one side and then wrote a note on the other. The date on the top was from Eight years ago. After reading it a smiled and Thanked God. As I put it away I noticed something else. Written in the bottom corner in a very light pencil was Genesis 28:15. Hmm I wonder what this says…

Genesis 28:15 (TNIV)
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Thank You, Father! I know that You will. I have faith and full trust in You. I love You.


Heavenly Father,
I pray for travel mercies today, God. Not just for me but for all of my teams coming. God, I pray that you go before us and prepare a way for us. Mold our hearts. Come in and invade us so that we know we are doing Your work. Lord move in us and through us these times of service to you and your people.
In the name of awesome name of Jesus

Preparing...

While preparing for my next trip to Haiti, June 13 -27, I went back to read some journal entries from past trips. I remember situations and feelings of some good times, times of testing and times when God was at work. I used these things as topics of prayer and to prepare myself spiritually for my time in this country for which I love! Here is a story yanked right out of my journal from my November 08 trip…

While walking down the back streets today we noticed a young boy. This boy couldn’t have been more than ten. He was walking a mother goat and her babies somewhere. The group I was with talked about how cute baby goats are. **and how ugly grown goats are ☺ ** We then yelled ahead to the boy to stop, we wanted to talk with him. He turned around and stopped for a moment. He smiled that big Haitian smile. He only paused for a moment then looked off into the distance and then looked back at us and turned and walked away. So we tried to get his attention again. This same thing happened a few times. We then realized his father was behind us watching and making sure the boy did what he was supposed to do. And that didn’t involve stopping and talking to the foreigners.

How many times have we been given a job from our Father and get distracted? This is exactly what satan wants. He wants us to get our focus off God and the job He has given us to do. Satan uses the world around us as a distraction. But, God has great plans for you. And the devil doesn’t want you to fulfill this mission. Just remember God is a God of strength. God is a God of courage. God is a good God. He has great and mighty things in store for His kingdom and His people and wants you to be a part of all of these plans.

I know that it is hard but be thankful for the devil trying to attack you. It means that he knows that great things are going to be done through you. Take it as a blessing on what is already happening in and through you. I consider it an honor that the devil tries to attack me. Join me in saying to the devil, “I got the power of God, So bring it on.”

...all things God works for the good...

I received a phone call a few days ago about a friend of mine. I was told he had committed suicide. I was reminded once again of how precious life is. I immediately recalled the times that he and I would talk about life and about God. And then God reminded me of a scripture I would say to my friend, Romans 8:28:

And we know, in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

If, and I do believe, there is a God who has control over the universe and its people and their destiny, then something good can come out of every situation, in spite of how bad it may appear to us. I continually need to remind myself that a loving God, my God, can turn ANY tragic situation to good.


Eternal Father - in the midst of pain and grief we thank you for the good that you granted us to see and experience. We pray for your healing grace and set fast in our minds and our hearts the good news of our faith - the news that all that is right - all that is beautiful - all that is noble - all that is fine – it is not lost to us, but rather brought to us in full.

Gracious God - we thank you for your steadfast and life-giving love. Grant us peace to help and comfort those who find themselves desolate and lead us with them in the paths of quietness and hope through Christ Jesus our Lord, AMEN

A time to return to God...

Often the demands of our daily living take us further and further away from the one who gives us life. Lent is a time to return to God, to refocus ourselves on our relationship with God. It is a time to return to who we most deeply are: children of God.

Lent has often included, in the common tradition of the church, the practice of giving something up. Sometimes we give up something we’d like to let go of but have difficulty stepping away from. Sometimes we give up something precious in order to sharpen our focus. I, sometimes even do something new to mark devotion. Whatever addition or subtraction we choose to do this year is part of our yearning to return to God. Even the best of our spiritual practices are not to be ends in themselves, but aids to our returning and to living our days with a full sense of God’s presence and love.

Abba, Father,
spark a fire in our hearts
the longing to come back to you.
May you use these days,
these days of lent,
as a time of a renewed relationship.
May you fill our hearts
with your love,
spirit
and peace.
May you use us
as an instrument this season,
use us as a riverbed,
of your understanding,
love,
grace
and your hope.
It’s in the wonderful,
Holy
And powerful name of Jesus,
Amen.

Community Health Evangelism

I was able to go to a TOT1 (trainer of trainer) in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. I learned about an amazing mission strategy used all over the world. The strategy for wholistic ministry is based on a concept called CHE (Community Health Evangelism.) The CHE approach combines evangelism and discipleship with community development.

Four of us from Ginghamsburg joined eleven others. We were from all over the country and worked all over the world. Burma, Kenya, Tajikistan, Zimbabwe, Czech Republic and of course Haiti, just to name a few. We told stories and shared experiences with each other.

We were trained the Biblical basis for CHE and basic principles of wholistic community based development. We learned steps for implementing CHE and strategies for entering the community. We also learned basic skills for raising awareness, organizing and activating the community for shared action through the development of a committee.

CHE is being used in rural and urban areas in over 70 countries. It is even used in some urban areas in the US. I am really excited about this approach and what it can and already has done in the world. I can’t wait to use CHE in Haiti. For more information visit www.lifewind.org.

Tabitha, meaning restored to life...

One evening, in Haiti, we were asked to pray for a new infant at the crèche (orphanage). The baby girl was only a few days old, I believe 6, and weighed 5lbs when she came to the Lashbrooks. She came without a name so Cindy called her Tabitha. Keith told me the mother was going to throw the baby away if she didn’t find a home for her that evening. I can’t put into words what I felt. Heartbroken can’t explain the feeling. The good news is that within a few days there was a couple interested in adopting her. I will always remember this child. Seeing this first hand reminds me that this happens every single day in Haiti. I don’t understand how anybody could not love these children.
James 1:27 says this “Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. We must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.”

Prayer

I'm leaving in a few hours for Haiti for this fall trip. My prayer request is that God would reveal Himself to us and through us this week.
Here I am Lord! Use Me until you use me up.
Use as a riverbed for the flow of your:
Spirit
Love
Grace
Peace
Hope
Understanding
and your word!
Please pray for all of our families. It is who the devil asks first.

Not Your Everyday Flight...

We got up early from our first night in Port au Prince and hustled to the airport. We waited in the airport for quite some time before we walked out to the runway boarded a little plane that wasn’t greatly maintained. Our Ginghamsburg group boarded with a few more seats open. Soon four or five people joined us.
One of the students was sitting in the very front seat. I was sitting right behind her in the second row. A young Haitian lady came on the plane with a few bags and her infant.



The student asked this lady “can I help you?” The lady, without hesitation, handed the baby off.
I then immediately got the look of “what in the world do I do?”
I responded with, “You are in Haiti now. She’ll be back. Don’t worry.”
“Tyler this is only the second time I have ever held a baby in my life.” She said back to me.
“You will be fine. The lady just went to get another bag or something. She’ll be back.”
Sure enough the lady came back and took the baby. The lady did need more help though. She needed help mixing formula. Not something easily done in air.

We also hit a storm on that flight. It was the first time I remember actually turbulence in a plane. I was never so happy to get on the ground in my life. The flight that came in behind us had a worst flight. The pilot told them when they landed that they should not have made in safely.



This was the perfect setup for the rest of our week. Everybody knew we were not in the States anymore. You might get a kid handed to you, there’s not a TSA to ground flights or any travel laws to govern any transportation. You are in a foreign land so throw out every thing you know. If it makes sense, it most likely won’t get done that way.

Haiti: GVCM - Hurricane Update

Hi all,

I thought you might find this interesting and saddening. Below is a portion of an email I received this morning from Pastor Yves. My trip to Haiti in November I’m sure just changed objectives. There are a few of these names and towns that you have heard me speak of before. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in this country.

In the Love of Christ,
Tyler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear friends of GVCM,

This is an update on the three hurricanes that have devastated Haiti lately. I have seen natural devastations in this country, but not to this proportion. The thing is the storm of despair is an omnipresent fact for Haiti, classified as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Hannah, Gustav, and Ike only found their easy path with not much resistance. Destruction they came to do and destruction they left behind here. No one knows exactly the number of lives that have been lost, but the civil protection agency reported more than 200 dead so far, hundreds of livestock flushed down by the rivers into the sea, thousands of homes destroyed, leaving countless number of people homeless.




Food cost surge was already causing riots in the streets and with a lot of the small farm plantations devastated we can predict that the days to come will be somber for the people of Haiti. We are really worrying about that potential famine that will affect mostly the children. Our school principals were already complaining about the inability for the children to concentrate in the classrooms because of hunger. Transportation has also become an additional plague. Many of the limited roads are cut off, bridges have fallen and river beds are full, preventing easy crossings. No gas can get to Cap Haitian from Port-au-Prince and a gallon of diesel costs about $13 US.

Many of our humble church structures are compromised and many of our church members are homeless. I talked to Pastor Thomas from the church of Beudoret in the north this morning who confirmed to me that he got stranded in Beudoret where he was preaching a week of revival, and could not join his family in Port-au-Prince because the road from Port-au-Prince to Cap Haitian was cut off by fallen bridges. From place to place the road was cut off. He had to walk many miles when he could not find a motorcycle to take him to the next cut off point. When he got to Gonaives, the town that was two story under water, he had to walk in the infested water up to his neck. He finally made it to Montruis he found a rock and sat on it to spend the night waiting for the next vehicle to come by and take him to Port-au-Prince. He reported that the roof of the school building has been compromised making it unsure the children can start school on October 7.

Five members of the church lost their humble homes and many more have roof damage. School was supposed to start on September 8, but so many school buildings have been damaged, and people are so busy picking up after the hurricane that the government decided to push it back until October 7.

…

In Bois Gerard, pastor Yvon Simprival reported that the structure where the church and the school were meeting is completely destroyed leaving him with uncertainty about the only school of that small community. The same situation prevails also in Nan Baptiste, where pastor Saint Pierre reported two of the children homes destroyed and one without a roof.

…

We really covet your prayers for this situation and the salvation of the Haitian people. We also would ask you to think about different ways you might be able to help. Please talk to your heart, your churches, and your friends about landing a hand to alleviate the terrible situation of many here in Haiti.

From wind on a roof to the Windy City…

I had the privilege of spending the weekend in Chicago Illinois. My friend Anthony and his wife Andrea just recently moved there. Anthony is the new Worship Arts Pastor at a church in Downers Grove. The message was based on 1 Peter 1:6-9 and was called The Value of Proven Faith. I decided that if the speaker would have said the “proof is in the pudding” I was going to walk out. JK. (For those of you that don’t attend Ginghamsburg that was in a message a few weeks ago).

Also I need to confess my heart hardness. While walking on the streets in Chicago there was a man that had a sign asking for money with a cup in front of it. The sign even ended with God Bless You. I have been to Haiti a few times and I’ve been to enough large cities that I have seen a lot of homeless beggars. Even in Troy, Ohio I’ve seen it. I felt nothing and to be honest I don’t even think I saw him. I didn’t feel anything and wouldn’t have thought anymore about it if it weren’t for Anthony. We went back and Anthony told the man we were going to the store and asked him if he needed anything. The man asked for deodorant and orange juice. Anthony even asked if he had a tooth brush and a few other things. The man replied that he had everything else; all he needed was deodorant and orange juice. That is all he needed.

I prayed, “God, you need to soften me.” I’ve been around to much to not even notice these things any more. I have another story of my heart hardness from this trip, But I’ll spare you for now.

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deut. 15:11

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." (Prov. 14:31)

To make it even worse, I was talking about this very topic to our college group last Thursday. I was talking about service, not just over seas or in the gulf, or even in our own church. We talked about serving those around us and in our communities. One of the guys said he doesn’t like giving money away to people with signs at the interstate exits. I gave them all some advice that I myself have gotten away from. I use to always have at least five dollars of gift certificates with me, from McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, somewhere, to give them. God was speaking through me but I completely missed it myself.

Yes, I know that some of these people are con artist and some really don’t need your help. But, some do. And to quote a country song… “What if he's an angel sent here from heaven. And he's making certain that you're doing your best to take the time to help one another. Brother are you going to pass that test?”

I have been praying for God to help me. To help my hardened heart. To break my heart of stone. To recognize when I need to step up to the plate. To be an agent of change in this kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

The roof, some wind, deep seas, beautiful skies, burning sun and a few bugs…

My living quarters were a little unusual in Port au Paix. Our team slept on the roof over the kitchen and eating area. The ocean water was also right against the building. There was no beach. We had tents up on top of the roof but most of us sleep outside. The wind was insane. I woke up a few times thinking that the tents were going to fly away. On one night one of the kids was sick and when he woke up he forgot to put something on his air mattress so it wouldn’t fly away. Well it did. But, it hit me first. Luckily enough I wasn’t in a deep sleep I woke up just in time to grab it before it went over the wall.

We were only 5miles from Tortue Island. If you look at the picture above you can see many beautiful colors. It goes from brown, to blue green, to a blue, and then to a dark purple. The purple is one of the deepest parts of the ocean. And it is said that there are at least three pirate ships on the bottom.



On the shore in Haiti, really in most of Haiti, there is no light pollution. I stayed up many nights looking at the skies. I could see the big and little dipper every night. I counted a total of five shooting stares through out the week. It was amazing just to be able to see what we should always be able to see.

Even though the sky was beautiful at night it was a smoldering by day. My arms were burnt. My forehead was burnt. My neck was burnt.

All week long no insects bothered us so, I hadn’t put on bug spray. The last night the wind stopped. I woke up the next morning with bites all over me. Mostly my feet and arms were covered. I even had what looked like a toe ring. A sand flea just marched and munched around my toe until he went all the way around.

As I think more and more about it that is most likely the way Jesus slept. As he traveled around ministering to people he would have slept wherever there was something available. He ministered to the poorest of the poor in the poorest of poor areas. He would put up with bugs but enjoy the sky. Suffer from the sun but take pleasure in the colors of the water. He would take care of the least of these and play with the kids.

My new life mission statement: Life is a Mission Trip!

Currently the quality of Haitian human rights is very low

1. Bloody conflicts between opposing political parties, sparked by demands for fair elections frequently occur
2. Police brutality and extrajudicial executions (executions without a trial) are numerous.
3. The ability to speak freely is limited by conditions placed upon the freedom to speech laws
4. Mob violence and armed gangs pose severe security threats in urban areas. Former soldiers and others linked to the former military regime, as well as common criminals are responsible for much of the violence, including political assassinations. A lot of the violence is directly tied to increases in both the drug trade and local narcotics consumption
5. The judicial system is corrupt, dysfunctional and inefficient, especially in rural areas. Like the courts, the Haitian prisons are not large enough to handle backlog. The largest prison, designed to accommodate no more than 1000 prisoners routinely holds approximately 2200 prisoners. It is estimated that 80 percent of inmates are in pre-trial detention, roughly one-third of them have been held for more than a year. Due to the overcrowding and poor conditions, getting sent to prison in Haiti is usually considered a death sentence
6. People trafficking (slavery) is a serious issue in Haiti. Currently there is no Haitian law to prohibit the trafficking in persons and the numbers of people who are sold is frightening.
Taken from http://www.earthyfamily.com/H-issues.htm

Wall's Guest House

We stayed in Port au Prince, the countries capital, our first night. We slept at the Wall’s International Guest House. It was a great transition into this third world country. I’m use to stepping right into Haitian life. But, this trip our youth had an easy transition into the culture. Instead of counting sheep I counted who the fan was hitting as in oscillated around the room. Ken got very little. And one of our students had ants in his bed. I personally thought it kinda funny (sorry Brodeo). We also met our friends from Bowling Green at the guest house. We had our first night of teaching about Paul. I also had the privilege of talking to a medical mission team that was staying there as well. They were from various churches, mostly Methodist, from Texas (I want to say Dallas but I don’t remember). They had planed on teaching and leading workshops. But, in Haitian style things were changed and they did mostly clinics in the mountains. Serving God was their top priority, which was very evident when talking to them. It was great to meet them and talk about mission in Haiti, at home and all over the world.

Lashbrook Family Ministry

I figured the best possible thing to tell you about is where we spent our time on this trip. We teamed with Active Christians Today (ACT) on a trip to help with Lashbrook Family Ministries. We helped with a basketball camp for the boys. I have also decided that if anybody wants to paint...Don't call me if it is white paint. LOL! We did many other projects around as well. Some of the group spent time with children at the orphanage. And of course we loved all the children. Below is a video of what the Lashbrook family is all about.


Lashbrook Family Ministry...The first decade
by Ashley Pell

Beniswa Bondye

My first blog post, oh my. As many of you know one of my passions is mission. Most recently mission in Haiti. I just returned from there last week from helping lead a student ministry team from Ginghamsburg Church. This was my third trip into this very poor country. I will also be returning in November with an adult team to help my brothers and sisters of that country. I will use this blog to share some pictures, stories and things that God has placed on my heart. Not just from Haiti but from anywhere I am. Life is just one long mission trip. Please feel free to leave a comment, ask questions and definitely pray. I look forward to hearing from you.