Homeschool Fahion

Ahhh...Homeschool Humor...

Saint Louis-du-Nord, Haiti, 2007

The first time I went to Haiti, in November of 2007, I didn't have a blog to share all of my pictures. Ironically, it is the one trip I have been on where I have taken the most pictures. So, I waded through all 700+ pictures and it brought back a flood of memories...

Haiti from the sky...Gonaives to be exact.

On the streets of Port-de-Paix

Be still my beating heart...Fafa and Gail

The morning crowd

Souri!!

Is it me, or is there some attitude in this picture? :)

My evening lessons in Haitian card games

My first Creole lesson

The streets of Saint Louis

I don't have any words for this picture..

In the school...

Berger, Haiti...the most beautiful place on earth

Photo op!

I remember her...her name is Bel...doesn't she live up to her name?

Hmm...if there is a way to manuver the big truck through this mudhole, Jakob will figure it out...and he did.

Poor baby

What can I say...I attract a crowd!

Market day

Crossing the river on the way to Roch Rond...and may I add that I never participated in the whole "line crossing"...it seemed to me if one went down, everyone went down.

Ayiti bel

This gentleman asked me to take a picture of his chickens. So I did. At least that's what my translator said that he said...

Rex in the dental clinic

Don and Company

Awww...Marie and Baba

Sprite!

The last night

Tortuga

Map vini, Ayiti

The Call

It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry

I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never
Been this way before
All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

- Regina Spektor

Mexico and Missions

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15

This past week friends and family put Nancy Davis, age 59, to rest.

I don't know her. I never would have heard her name if she had not left this earth the way she did. But Nancy Davis and her husband Sam, were both missionaries to Mexico, where they had been serving God through the Mexican people for over 30 years. They planted churches, offered support, served and were dedicated to their call. As one friend told CNN, "They lived and breathed Mexico..."

Nancy Davis was shot in the head late January, by a Mexican drug cartel gunman. She died later that day.

This story has been on the news for the past week. In between reports from Cairo, reports on unemployment, and stories on the massive winter storm, FoxNews found a little air time to run this story on the brutal death of an American missionary. And it broke my heart. I pray for her family, and I pray those who loved her, and I pray for those who murdered her.

FoxNews used this story to make the point, yet again, on the danger of the U.S. and Mexican border. Although the Davises were shot at in their truck,  in the outskirts of San Fernando, the media always reminds us that Ciudad Juarez, is one of the most dangerous cities in the world right now. And when I hear that reminder, and stories like Nancy Davis' that show us serving the LORD is always a risk - I can't believe that I actually went on a mission trip to Juarez and had that opportunity from God. It is a memory I will always treasure. It is precious, sobering thing to be used of God.

So...inspired by all of the memories, I looked through my pictures from my Mexican trip, and decided to share some...

                                                                       The desert.

                   BPS - "Bearing Precious Seed", the name of the ministry taken from Psalm 126:6

I know the quality of this picture isn't very good, but the first night we were in El Paso, we climbed to the top of a mountain and looked out over the city lights of El Paso and Juarez and prayed for the cities. It is a special picture to me. Juarez is a city soaked in blood - but it needs the blood of Christ.

Assembling the Gospel of John and Romans in Spanish to hand out.

First day over the border: the minute Jon jumped out of the bus, he marched straight to these kids and handed out tracts.

Cody and a little Mexican kid...so, so, SO adorable!!! (uh, the kid...)

Listening to Bible stories and puppets

Mexican cemetery

Knocking on everyone's gate in this neighborhood sharing the Gospel and inviting everyone to the Preaching that night. We did that every afternoon. It was very common to see drunks, and people high (or low) on drugs wandering around. One group even came right in on a "deal." But they handed the dealer the Gospel anyway. One day, the small group I was with was walking with, were making our way up a small hill. Suddenly, from behind us a truck of Fedarales all dressed in black, with their faces covered, came roaring up behind us, passed us, and stopped at the top of the hill where there was an intersection. The soldiers jumped out and ran to the four corners of the streets with their huge guns. The guy I was with must have seen alarm on my face. He said, "Don't worry, they won't hurt us." I wasn't scared of them, it was the police for goodness sake! I was scared of whoever they were waiting for and scared of getting caught in some crossfire - thankfully, nothing happened. We walked right on past, and started on another neighborhood.

Some significant statue...but I don't remember why...

Shopping in the HUGE shopping center..."Looky! Cheap Mexican pillows...we're such smart shoppers!!"

Downtown Juarez

The border "plaque"...don't need to read it, just walk right on by!

This picture was taking coming back into the States on our last day. I wish I had some pictures of the Fedarales, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of the police or border agents because it's too dangerous for them. They are all targets of the drug cartels.

Horrible. Just horrible.

My friend, Eastlyn, loved the desert. She loved the dry, red, crumbling beauty of the Southwest. I agreed that there was beauty, in a way. But I prefer the green mountains of my Haiti.

But thank you God for answering a three year old prayer and allowing me to go to Mexico!

Willing-Hearted in LOVE

"And they came both men and women as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets and earrings and tablets and jewels of gold, and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord." Exodus 35:22 (KJV)

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

"...give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38

The last verse listed here, the Words of Jesus from the Gospel, was a verse I claimed for myself in 2009. I didn't make any money. But I felt God's conviction on the beginning of the year to give to missions through my church. So I prayed about an amount, and told God that if He supplied it each month, I would faithfully give towards missions. That summer I was able to take a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico - expenses paid. I was also able to spend a month that October in Port-au-Prince, Haiti - expenses paid. I discovered the power first hand of letting go, faithfully trusting, and depending on God's supply. My amount that I gave was little in most people's terms, but like the widow's mite, it was a large sum to me because it was almost all I made. And in return I received over $2,000.

It took me a long time to get to the point of being willing to give in church towards missions. That's funny isn't it, for someone who wants to be a missionary? Rather, selfish? I sat under pastors and missionaries and teachers though who instilled a great bitterness in my heart towards tithing. It was only for a little while, but it was long enough to damage my heart. I was subjected to heated sermons, all on the subject of money. "If you weren't giving to missions, you were disobeying God; you weren't being the Christian you were supposed to be; you were weak in the faith if you didn't trust God to supply your needs if you gave to missionaries!"

 I wanted to stand up in my pew, point my finger in these fat, bloated, red-faced missionaries' faces and say, "How dare you accuse me of not trusting God, when by exhorting money from the weak, poor widows in this church, you are doing the same thing! Why don't you take your own advise and trust God to meet your needs instead of wheedling it from us?"

But God worked in my heart, helped me remove that root of Bitterness, and showed me through His Word, and the Holy Spirit where I needed to be faithful to my brothers and sisters already on the harvest field. So I gave - silently and quietly, in a way that was between me and God. And didn't have anything to do with any inflicted guilt by obese missionaries.

I've been around so many fat missionaries in my short life that I am completely merciless towards them. I have heard so many preach, and seen so many PowerPoint presentations that they all run together. I also know the truth - that most "missionaries" spend so much time on the road in America going from church to church begging for money, that most of the money you give them goes towards gasoline and fast-food. Some "missionaries' spend years  on the road before they have the "funds" necessary for "living expenses" in a foreign country.

Am I accusing all missionaries of being corrupt? No. Not at all. In fact most, I am sure, are acting out of the best intentions. But because they don't know, or want to believe better, they spend years of their ministry living in frustration. I know it's not easy to sacrifice the comfort of home and America. To struggle with poverty; to know that you could get a better job, provide for your children and family better...I respect anyone who would give their life to be on the mission field. I would respect them because that's all I know about them. Only God knows the true condition of men's hearts.

But you can't convince me that all are serving without "sounding brass and tinkling cymbal."

And I've been around so much sounding brass over my lifetime that my head still rings.

Because I've noticed a deadly cycle among ministries. And there is a far, far greater danger then never acquiring enough money. There is a far more treacherous path that leads away from Faith and LOVE. When the details become about money, funds, supplies, and donations...you lose something.

Your focus.

Your purpose.

Your focus

You lose LOVE.

I remember the first time I was in Haiti...in Saint Louis-du-Nord. I experienced many, many things - but two incidents occurred that colored the way of my thinking in regards to LOVE & MISSIONS.

One afternoon a missionary family stopped by the Ebenezer Mission...friends of the missionaries there. All I remember is the woman's loud voice. I remember her loud criticismss of the very people she was called to serve. I remember her complaining and the way her silent husband stood shrinkingly behind her. I remember their small son, about seven years old, watching the Haitian boys in the courtyard fight over the cold, left over pancakes the Becky threw down to them. I remember his nonchalant manner, and the tone in which he commented,

"They wouldn't be fighting like that if I had my BB gun here!"

I remember wanting to pick him up and throw him over the balcony, but I reminded myself that it wasn't his fault. Because that kind of attitude and prejudice is learned. It is acquired. And I silently accused his parents.

These people ran an orphanage in Port-de-Paix. They sacrificed much I am sure to live full time in Haiti and to raise their children in a foreign country. Their ministry undoubtedly did so much good and gave children a better chance at life - instead of being on the streets, or serving as restaveks, they were educated, fed, taught about Jesus and loved...

But was it love?

I watched this unfold before my eyes, and while praying that God would keep me from judgement towards them I also prayed that He would keep from such an attitude. "Keep me from that, LORD!" Pharisaical sounding perhaps...but I have repeated that prayer many, many times in the past three years. The only answer is to walk very, very close to the Person of Love.

The second incidence happened multiple times during my trip there. It was during mealtimes. You see, the Haitians were allowed the eat our food, but they had to wait until we had served ourselves, and besides a few exceptions, most weren't allowed to eat with us "Americans." The logic was simple, Haitians would eat it all. But I internally cringed at how Becky would yell at the guys in Creole. I didn't understand her, but tone and body language spoke loud enough. The boys would slink off, and the Americans would get all the food they wanted, and take their sweet time, of course. I remember sitting there once day at dinner, playing with the food on my plate, not really hungry because I felt guilty every time I ate. I decided in my heart that if God ever blessed me with a mission in Haiti, I would serve all my Haitian brothers and sisters and fellow workers first, before I, or any of my guests ate. Just like Jesus would.

I'm sure the eyes would roll at that statement. Yes, it becomes very different when it's your money that's being spend on food, and your budget that might be stretched. It's different when you know those Haitians better because you've been around them, and they can't be trusted. Yes, I've heard all that. In a thousand different ways. Some would call me very naive for the way I think.

But if that's naivete - I pray God keeps me that way a long, long time.

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example, in SPEECH, in CONDUCT, in LOVE, in FAITH, in PURITY."

I Timothy 4:12

Looky, Looky!

Hmmm....I think Kacie Davis may have fallen off of the Earth recently... 

:D

                                      
                                                                      Gratitude.

Thrilled, Ladies.

Ohhh....workin' hard!?

Ayiti bel!

Aww...Kacie and Aubree!

Mwen sonje ou e mwen renmen ou!