day 48

my Haiti internship in 10 tweets:

day 43

Its official: I made it through my first ever NVM English Camp as a teacher. I'd be lying if I said it was easy and fun the entire month, but it was the experience of a lifetime. We had graduation Friday morning and it was so rewarding to see the kids filled with so much pride in themselves and their accomplishments.

Last Sunday I had a retreat day with the Lord. I got to spend intentional, uninterrupted time with Jesus. To be honest, I didn't know what God and I would do for more than an hour and I was already ticked because a family was staying in door 4 where we are usually allowed to spend our retreat day. So after a lot of talking to Him and staring at a wall I opened up to Jeremiah.

"Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing...But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds..." 30:12+17

My head and my heart are constantly battling with the thought of "how did You let this world get so broken?" and the realization that He never intended for us to live this way. He promises restoration in full. Sometimes we see small instances of it in this world and other times we're left waiting for His new Heaven and Earth to see our diseases cured.

"Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands...For the Lord will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they." 31:10-11

My thoughts have also been consumed by ED again and that has been so beyond frustrating. Our demons are stronger than us. But Jesus wins (already won) and gives us His word that He will deliver us. There is no thought more comforting.

The rest of this week is composed of writing a report to turn in to the NVM board, organizing the school supply container, and debriefing with Cathi and Gami. Then its BACK TO THE U.S. OF A. BABYYYY.

day 33

Its Wednesday and English camp is already two and a half weeks in. Its crazy to think I've been here an entire month. In four and a half weeks I've discovered my passion for teaching, seen Jesus' victory over all sorts of demons, and brushed my hair a grand total of four times.

Week two of camp brought familiar routine and new challenges. By that I mean the kids started pushing their limits with the "blondes." Its already difficult because they don't view blondes as authority figures, let alone women as primary disciplinarians. This week was all about earning their respect (which I think we finally did). I've also been able to see them succeed and share in their joy, and that makes it all worth it.

Also Ilomise taught me how to braid and bead hair which by the way is a heck of a lot harder than it looks.

At the end of a long week, we were able to spend Saturday at the beach. It was weird to experience luxury in the midst of poverty, like I felt guilty for being able to enjoy myself that way; but it did offer some much needed R&R.

 

And that wasn't the end of adventure weekend. Monday we took an intern excursion to hike up Ona Mountain to some uncharted territory. At the bottom, we returned to an Onaville foutbol game (a big deal seeing as there was an announcer with a microphone and everything).

 

yes, those are seashells on top of the mountain

I also have the chance to run games this week at camp, I taught the kids how to play Red Rover and since these ti mouns are tough as nails they LOVED it. Its been great to be less of a disciplinarian and more of a friend these last few camp days.

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know Me?" Jeremiah 22:16

Yesterday at intern devotion Austin brought some good points to the table. If we are all here really doing His work, answering to where and what He has called us, why are we experiencing so much brokenness and attack in our own lives? The answer:

"But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1 Corinthians 12:24-27

We are not rescuing the helpless, we are brothers and sisters sharing in family matters.

So I'm asking that for these last two weeks God would continue to humble me every day so that I see myself interacting with His people the way Jesus sees us interacting with Him: eye to eye and hand in hand.

day 22

Week one of English camp: done. Full of excitement, surprises, and challenges, here I am to say that I can't wait to be a teacher.

Its so incredible to see these kids' willingness to learn. I don't even have to ask them to take notes on my lessons. They love to participate in games and discussion. They've made class so fun and so worth it after planning for two weeks.

Mrs. Harries, Abby's mom, came and helped out with camp for most of the week. She was a special education teacher for years, so it was a huge blessing to listen to her words of encouragement and wisdom. God definitely confirmed my passion for children and unveiled my desire to teach and empower our future through her and this first week teaching ESL lessons.

Yesterday we got to go with the short term missions team to Darlene's where we got to play some foutbol and a game called Ta-To (similar to Tic Tac Toe). I met some fun girls and got to sit and chat for a while with them. Kenia, 11, and Widline, 12, were super silly and played Ta To with Heidi and I. Surprisingly we were the "chanpyons" and we had only been playing for a half hour. I also met a girl close to my age, Maliya, and we talked about how long I'd been here, how long I'd be staying, all about my family AND my tishoushou (she said you were very cute Brian). On the way home I ran into my friend Ashley from the children's home. He walked back with us the whole way home to the compound. Actually it was more like he rode on my back the entire way. He decided to call me "li bourik" or his donkey. Nice, Ashley.

Heids playing Ta To with Kenia

This week at our Wednesday morning intern devotion, we talked about our relationship with God being a wonderful love affair. I can't think of a better way to describe it. He relentlessly pursues us.

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away." Song of Songs 8:6-7

I'm reminded of His unwavering love in the story of Hosea and Gomer. God instructed Hosea to take Gomer as his wife even though she was a prostitute. Gomer betrayed Hosea lots of times in adulterous acts and even so Hosea pursued her every time with the same love God had for the Israelites; just like the Lord pursues us when we cheat on Him. He loves you and He seeks you and He desires you even when you're running the opposite direction full force.

That is a dangerous love affair.

day 17

English Camp is finally here! Today was our first day and it went much better than expected. We had around 70 kids register anywhere from 6 to 15 years old. We got the chance to just hang out with kids while registration was going on. Playing is probably my favorite way to love.

Winger feelin silly 

Beautiful Stania

Selfie Nation

foutbol duh

We introduced our camp song, written by Chris Bosma, one of our own interns, and recorded in studio by Clersondy the resident Haitian sound guy. The kids absolutely loved it and even created a dance all their own.

We issued an entrance exam to see where everyone was at with English, Sassy Stania wanted to let me know where she stood with Jesus.

In my study through women of the Bible I read Proverbs 31. We all know the Proverbs 31 Woman. She loves Jesus and her tishoushou and works hard and cares for others and still looks flawless. She's perfect. I'm sorry, but that just isn't me.

I struggle with comparison in all aspects of my life. Whether its my appearance, my friendships, my relationship with Brian, or my relationship with God I find myself constantly sizing it up against other women. Its especially hard here. Here I am "being a missionary" with a bunch of other Jesus-loving missionaries, people who seem to have loving Him and loving Haiti totally figured out. My heart knows they don't, but my head feeds me lies. I measure my success by comparison BIG TIME. Its bad, but its true. Jesus, be my only focus and hold my hand firmly with every step.

day 12

So its already Wednesday, this week is flying by for real. We just finished putting together school supply kits to give to kids at camp registration Monday. Each include pencils, pens, a sharpener, an eraser, a spiral notebook, notecards, and a pocket folder all in a canvas tote bag. With planning coming down to the final few details, I am getting super pumped to start English camp next week.

Yesterday my friend Jean Lucson offered to let us sit in on one of his Creole classes. He teaches some of the American kids that live on the compound and he is one of the most brilliant 15 year olds I've ever met. Jean Lucson, Ronaldo, and Frantzy helped us learn some important phrases and Psalm 50:15 (but more importantly "mwen tre remen pitimi" or "I really like peanut butter").

I also got to play a pick up foutbol game before dinner with some of the staff and some of our Haitian friends and y'all I SCORED A GOAL. Of course there was some correlation between the number of Haitians playing and the opportunities I had to touch the ball.

I've started the 30 day Eve & Adam study on the NewSpring website. Its designed to take a different Biblical woman each day and learn from her God experiences. My prayer is to return to America an even more mature woman of God than I left; that requires some work on my part and some renewal on His. It'll be totally worth it 5 and 1/2 weeks from now.

The staff as a whole has been surrounded by spiritual attacks the last few weeks. At Bible study last night, both the girls and guys groups ended up talking about spiritual warfare, what it looks like, and how we should handle it. Cathi brought up an incredible point.

"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm." Ephesians 6:13

Stand firm; not charge, not fight, not run full force. Spiritual attacks are often more powerful than we give them credit. We should always be on the defensive, but only attack when the Spirit leads us to. Jesus even rebuked the disciples for casting out demons without His go-ahead. So I'm asking that He would hold me so close to His Spirit so I can hear every beat of His heart and every whisper He speaks.

day 9

Wow, its already been more than a week since I landed in Port Au Prince. The days have flown by and I know the rest of the summer will too. God has been so good and so sweet to me its insane.

Friday we planned for camp and had a staff progressive dinner which was super fun. Its good to have some "family time" around the dinner table. As always we did highs and lows (some things never change). The night ended at the Ortiz's where we affirmed Lindsey before she headed back to the states Saturday morning.

After some Saturday camp planning, we had the opportunity to make it out to Onaville with the short term team thats here this week. Onaville was originally going to be a retirement community (an idea similar to social security) but ended up being an area of retreat after the earthquake for fear of potential tsunamis. We were basically there to play with the children and pray over the satellite campus NVM has there.

Crazy isn't it? To hold a starving child and know their name; equally life-giving and heart-breaking.

We came back to a fire in a warehouse container. It was a whirlwind of people and trucks and firefighters. But praise God, no one was hurt, the fire was put out, and the damage was minimal!

Getting water from the creek

Filling the fire hose since there are no hydrants

Aftermath

So yesterday was a heavy day to say the least. This morning we woke up and worshipped at church and yet again saw His love and grace. He is so wonderful to me. This week we will continue planning for camp and meeting with translators and proposing our curriculum to Pastor Pierre, be praying for patience and perseverance to finish this week strong!