You're probably wondering what that blog title means. Well, whenever I write I turn on one song and play it on repeat until I'm finished. Today the song was All My Devotion by Kristene Mueller. So if you so desire, you can play it while you read, and thus experience this blog entry in all its entirety. Also, at this time it would be only reasonable to warn you that blogging is not my thing. Maybe by the time I finish here God will have developed within me a deep passion for blogging.. till then though, I'm sorry! You've been warned. This post may also be a little dryer than most because I'll be using it specifically to answer questions you guys have asked, and to lay out basic information.
I'm working with an organization called AIM in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. After having spent a couple of weeks here in February, the leaders of that trip asked me to pray about coming back down to Haiti and joining them on staff for the summer. I prayed about it, and here I am! I've been here a week and will probably stay in these here parts till July (I'm not 100% on that yet though).
As for filling you in, I'll start with the basics. Many of you have asked what I'm specifically doing here. That should be an easy question to answer, and for right now it is, but truthfully I have a feeling it will look different every week I'm here.
Among many things, AIM (Adventures in Missions) is attempting to meet the "felt needs" of the community in order to build relationships, and ultimately share the love of Christ with them. Much of our focus has been on equipping and empowering the Haitians to do the work necessary to rebuild their own country. The last thing we would want to do would be to further enable Haiti's dependency upon other nations to carry them through.
Because the rainy season is beginning, everyone has frantically been trying to find tarps, cardboard, ANYTHING they can use to create some sort of shelter. We've been working with tent communities - teaching them how to make solid, sturdy posts, and then we teach them how to tarp those posts. They come up with the sticks/beams and we provide the tarps. 1.3 million people were displaced in the earthquake, and those people have been living in makeshift homes, more often than not, consisting of four twigs and sheet. We asked the people of these communities what they needed most and they said tarps. We asked the pastors what they needed most and they said discipleship... which leads me to my next point...
The people here are so hungry for the Lord -- it's unreal. Many of you know, but for those of you who don't, the overall church in Haiti has MORE than doubled since 01/12/10. The actual church buildings aren't big enough to hold the crowds that come on Sunday mornings. From where we stay you can hear hundreds of people singing during the night services throughout the week. 42,000 Haitians have become members of the Baptist denomination alone. We stayed with one pastor who came back after his Sunday morning service with tears of joy in his eyes and said, "I have a whole new congregation to lead."
As I said in my previous post, the harvest is ripe. SO ripe. Now it's just a matter of letting the Lord be our leader and our complete motivation. His love compels, and if we're not working out of the overflow of that love in our hearts, what are we trying to offer?
Hey Paige, glad to hear the harvest is still so ripe! Praying for you and that you would walk in awesome favor. Anything you need specifically? Thanks for blogging for us-- I know that's a burden.
ReplyDeleteThis brings me joy. There's a promise in my heart that says His love will more than overflow out of your heart - it will be more like Herty Fountain as you continue to let your soul sing the words to All My Devotion.
ReplyDelete(yep, the song is on repeat as I type.)