Mission to Baron- Junior's Story- Part TWO

I am finally getting to posting Part TWO of Junior's trip to Baron in June.  There is SO much to share and SO many pictures of their trip I want to show you!!!  If you missed part ONE you can read it HERE.

And now... Part TWO:

The team of 9 left for Baron in a tap tap- singing, talking, joking, laughing... 

When they arrived at the point where they couldn’t go any further in a vehicle, they unloaded and reloaded the supplies on horses to be taken up to Baron.  


The Road to Baron...

Junior pointed out the mountain they would climb and they could hardly believe it!  Throughout the difficult hike, he continued to remind them about Luke 9:23 and denying themselves!  They almost lost belongings along the way, everyone was hot and tired and overwhelmed, but they continued on together... all the water they brought with them was gone when they arrived... they were spent!

As they came into Baron, they realized that the people were preparing a meal for them- which was such a huge blessing after a LONG hike!  They spent time putting up the tents and getting settled in, but they were all very thirsty.  Praise God that Junior came with the portable water systems so that they could drink the water once they retrieved it.  

They then walked to get the water from a very small spring that is 20-30 minutes away from the village (the only “drinking” water for the entire village at that time).  

He also showed them the area where they would hike to bathe and wash clothes- a ravine where everyone in the village goes and where the animals drink.  It was NOT a good place… and another LONG hike!

The Water Project Begins...

After that Junior said it was time to go and visit the place where God told him to put the hand pump.  They walked over to an area of grass where Junior said God told him to dig.  Everyone told him that there wasn’t water there... but they jumped right in and began to dig anyway.  

As they dug deeper and deeper they found mud... 

and then deeper and deeper they found water!  There was so much more work to be done in the coming days... but knowing that God had led them to THIS spot and provided water to a community SO in need was awesome... God is faithful!!! 

Food in Baron...

When they got back from digging the hole, they found that they had killed a hog for them for dinner (NOT a common meal for any of the students!)  They ate the meal of pork and rice and continued to eat that meat the next few days.  For breakfast they had coffee and cassava (a flat bread that is made out of manyok- a root that grows here in Haiti) and for lunch they had pork and rice.  In Luke 10 Jesus told His disciples to eat what was offered to them... and they were doing the same thing.  [In fact, after a week of eating the same pork (in a place without refrigeration), they questioned whether or not it was safe... but they continued to eat and be thankful... and God took care of them. No one got sick- praise the Lord!    After a while they killed a goat and they went through the same process as with the pig... and yet God continued to keep them well and healthy!]  They also ate LOTS of pineapple and grilled corn (both were plentiful at that time- and really good!)

Sleeping in Baron...

Sleeping was another “interesting” and challenging part of the trip.  The first night the guys slept in the big tent set up inside of a school building and the girls slept in the tent outside.

On the second night there was a group of people called “Gapot”- voodoo people who were trying to harm them.  During the night, several of them came by the girls tent and began making loud noises and hovering outside.  The girls prayed and called out to the guys for help... and they disappeared.  The guys knew that they needed to forget about the big tent and set up the other small tent outside next to the girls tent.  

The next night another person came by and tried to harm them too... but God protected them. Not only was the spiritual warfare difficult but the ground was so hard that it was very uncomfortable to sleep.  But they continued to remind themselves of their purpose.  It was ALL worth it!

Just BEING in Baron...

As soon as they arrived, everyone on the team wanted to know what the plan was for each day and they kept asking Junior.  But he wanted to leave the agenda planning to God.  He knew that this trip was not about DOING for God but about BEING with God.  He told them that they were to ask God each day what HE wanted them to do.  They started each morning at 6am with group devotions and prayer time. 

They began with a discussion of who has the highest priority in their lives- and these verses were the main focus of their trip to Bahon- Luke 9:23 (deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Christ) and Mark 3:14 (Jesus appointed 12 disciples to be WITH Him so that He might SEND them out to preach).  They left the plan to Jesus-  through being with Him they would know what He wanted them to do!   

Like Paul said in 1 Timothy about being vessels that are clean and ready to be used whenever God wants to use you.  Each day Junior went over what it means to be a Christian (Galatians 2:20- it is not us that lives but Christ who lives in us!)  and that we can do NOTHING apart from Christ.  He encouraged them to go spend time with God alone each day- a rendezvous with God- to hear from Him and to know what He wants them to do.  This made a HUGE impact on the lives of those who went on the trip.  He asked them what the cross meant for them... they all shared things like- the symbol of salvation, the suffering of Christ, the symbol of trials and persecution- but Junior reminded them that the cross has five parts: (and he wanted to be sure that I shared this with YOU too!)

*the foot of the cross- at the bottom of the vertical post- is the WORD- God came down to man and gave them His Word and we are to be rooted in it. 

*the center of the cross- which is CHRIST. Through Him we have reconciliation with God and free access to Him 

*the top of the vertical post of the cross- is PRAYER. Our relationship with Christ provides us the opportunity to have a direct line to God through prayer. Prayer is SO very important.

*the right side of the horizontal post-is FELLOWSHIP with believers and showing love to others is a necessary part of our walk with the Lord.

*the left side is WITNESSING to others about Christ through our words and our actions. 

If we have a relationship with Christ- through prayer and the Word (the vertical) it will be lived out in our actions- through witnessing and fellowship (the horizontal).  
(These ideas are taken from the book Master Life).  

The beauty of this trip was that this team of students, alongside of Junior and Ezekiel, were able to live out all of these aspects of the Cross.  They were in the Word, spending an extended amount of time in prayer and fellowship, seeking people to witness to and share Christ's love with... what an amazing opportunity.

One day, while in Baron, Junior posed this question to the group of students and friends who went with him:  What is God passionate about?

His passion is to save the lost.  If Christ is truly living within us, we should be passionate about God and His passion too!  One of the students talked about how he never really thought about being passionate for God.  He shared about how easy it is to be passionate about so many other things instead of God.  The only way to make God our passion is by spending time with Him!  We need to not just be passionate about God but obsessed with Him to the point of dying for Him- pursuing Him every moment of our lives.  

This mission trip became so much more than just a trip!  It was an opportunity for the students to spend a lot of time with God and to grow closer to Him than they ever had before.  For Junior, this was AWESOME and it opened his eyes to see exactly why God was calling him to GO.

I can't wait to share more about the water project and the ministry that happened in Baron through this amazing group of students...

Stay tuned for Part THREE (the conclusion) of the mission trip to Baron! 

We Need Your Help!

Hey!  Long time, no post.  :(

I realize it has been over a month since my last blog post.  I am SO sorry for not finishing Junior's story... one that I know you have been WAITING to hear the end of! The busyness of the summer overwhelmed, and at the same time, rejuvenated us for ministry (praise God!)... but it also left me not a minute to sit and finish that post. Please be patient... I PROMISE it is coming soon!

But before I share that, I must share a VERY urgent need here at the seminary... one that just cannot wait.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!  Please read below about how you can join us in Kingdom Work!

We currently have two urgent giving needs right now at Emmaus Biblical Seminary...

With 55 students moving in on August 21^st, we need help getting the year started!  Beginning a new year means several large purchases for Emmaus: an abundance of food, additional power, dozens of textbooks, additional staff, office and janitorial supplies, all totaling about $10,000. 

We have 10 new men and women joining the student body this year, with everyone enrolled in practical and powerful courses such as Missiology and Systematic Theology.  We continue to do God's work through the equipping of Godly leaders here in Haiti, and we need your help.

GIVE NOW

On Saturday, August 9^th, a huge lightning storm struck our generator house.  Emmaus is required to generate ALL electricity for itself, and through the generosity of many, we have a battery bank, inverter system and 2 generators.  However, lightning fried two major parts of our inverter system and a major part of the generator.

In the extreme August heat, we are living on very limited power (read: melted freezers, no fans at night, no water when the generator isn’t running) and with fried inverters, we have NO way to charge or use our batteries.

We need $3000 to replace the parts fried from this freak and frustrating catastrophe, and every day without the parts is not only an incredibly challenging one without power, but also a day that we are not benefitting financially from using our battery and inverter system. 

GIVE NOW

We rejoice that as we sweat and struggle and stand as ministers of reconciliation between God and Haiti that you are with us. 

In the suffocating, mosquito-filled black of night, you are with us.  In the challenging and life-changing classroom, you are with us.  On the mountain tops of Haiti, where His Word continues to be faithfully taken out and sown…you are with us.

Because we are One Body, because of your support and prayers, because of how He has called us each to be a part of His Kingdom in Haiti, you are with us.

Be with us now.

Thank you sincerely for holding our ropes as we all work in Haiti for Him, together!

Mission to Baron- Junior's Story- Part ONE (oh yeah- and we are in the States now!!!)

Before I share about Junior's awesome trip!…

Well…

Where to begin?!

We are back in the states for a few weeks! For a family vacation, to visit friends and family, to speak at 4 different churches, to have some time to regroup and refresh…

All THAT is happening in the course of 35 days!

After a full, but uneventful, day of travel (Praise the Lord!) we made it to Florida. Right now we are staying in Florida, doing a little family vacation, and then heading up to NJ. (SO incredibly thankful to the Lakes for blessing us with a beautiful place to stay here in Florida!)

After going almost a year outside the U.S. we asked the kids where they wanted to go for their first meal back…. and do you know where they decided to go?!

Wendy's!  Of ALL the places they could have chosen- they were SO thankful for chicken nuggets and cheese sauce!  We are glad our kids are a cheap date :)

Please keep us in prayer as we travel and speak over the next month.  We hope to see YOU at one of our speaking engagements!  Dates, times and locations will be posted soon.

While we are enjoying some family time I wanted to share with you the story of Junior's recent trip to Baron.  It is LONG but WELL worth every detail! We sat down over the course of 3 days and I wrote down his words as he shared.  I am dividing up the story into a few posts so you can spend time taking in each part of this amazing experience.  Enjoy!

Mission to Baron- Junior's Story- Part ONE:

It was in March 2014 that Stacey asked Junior to go to Baron with her on a Sunday- to visit Ezekiel and his church community... but he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to go.  He had gone twice before but it was a very difficult hike... he told her he would think about it. He prayed about it and asked God to send others to go with them, if it was what God wanted.

The night before the trip, two students, Romual and Aldy, came to him and said they wanted to go.  And on Sunday morning, two others showed up at 5am to go to Baron too. God had answered his prayer (even though he still wasn’t looking forward to that hike!).

When they had driven 2 hours, and hiked the same, they arrived in Baron around 9:30am.  They were hot, sweaty, tired, dirty and thirsty!  They asked for some water to wash their faces and freshen up and it took almost an hour for the water to arrive.  And when the water came, Junior didn’t want to use it.  It smelled bad... and it was very dirty.

Later on that day, they visited the place where the water had been taken from… 

… and it was so sad to see what the people have been drinking.  
It bothered Junior very much and he wanted to do something to help, but there was no way for well drilling equipment to get up to this remote area.  

When they returned, he started praying for the people. He felt a strong burden to help them.  He talked to Stacey about doing a discipleship/mission trip- providing an opportunity for both discipling and serving the people of Baron. 

Junior went to Port of Prince over Easter break and he shared the situation in Baron with some people he knew.  One of those people told him about a website that shows how to capture small springs of water and build a hand pump system to retrieve the water. Junior spent his Easter vacation watching videos on this website and learning how to do these things.  He was determined to find a way to help.

When Junior returned to the seminary, he shared the idea with Phil and he offered to help!  Junior purchased the materials and Phil built the hand pump using 1/2 in. galvanized pipe, caps, marbles and leftover PVC pipe from the seminary.  It was challenging to build but they were able to work together and create a hand pump system for the people of Baron- praise God!  

After Easter break, Stacey told Junior that he should write up a description of the trip, highlighting the information and costs so that the students could make a decision about whether or not they could attend.   Matt made an announcement in the last chapel service of the semester and he invited the students to come.  But the cost of 1000 gourdes ($22 per person)- the seminary covering 3/5 and the students covering 2/5- was still more money than any of them could afford to pay.  There were many students who wanted to attend- but couldn’t.  

School was finished and only two people applied- Luddie (a fourth year student) and Aldy (a first year student)- but they still didn’t know if they would have the money to attend.  They applied by faith. 

After graduation, Junior returned to Port for one week to see if he could find more things for the mission trip.  While he was in Port he told a friend, Greg Vincent, about his mission trip idea, and Greg offered two tents for the trip.  God was providing for the mission trip even though Junior wasn’t sure what the tents would be used for.  Junior’s vision for this trip was for the students to live with families in Baron but he trusted that God’s provision was for a purpose. 

When he came back to Emmaus another student, Romual, said he wanted to go, as well as two others- Fida and Roselande. Junior also had in mind a few others who would be helpful for the trip... but one week before they were scheduled to leave no one had the money to attend, and because of that, no one would be able to come.

Junior prayed that night and told God that he would go by himself if that was God’s plan.  The next morning Junior was contacted by friends who said that God told them not to let him go by himself-  They wanted to support 5 students to go with him. The family supported Luddie, Romual, Aldy, Fida and Roselande.  God provided once again!  This group of 5 people were all focused on the spiritual part of the trip... but he still needed more people to help assist with the physical side- the water project.

Shortly after, Napoleon and Brave, recent graduates of EBS, called Junior and said they wanted to go and help with the project and Jorgia (a first year student) signed up too... and God provided for their funds as well!  It was great for Junior to see God raise up and provide for people who wanted to serve- both physically and spiritually.  

Junior told the students the day before the trip that it would be good for them to come for an orientation before they left.  He then shared with them about how difficult this trip would be.  When he told them that it was his desire for them to stay with families in the community, everyone felt uneasy.  They were not comfortable staying with other people in their homes and they really felt they were supposed to stay together as a group.  That was when Junior realized that THIS was why God had provided the tents for them to stay in!  He too felt that God wanted them to serve together and stay together. 
Since Junior had experienced living in a tent after the earthquake, he shared with them about the difficulties of staying in tents.  There are very few trees for shade in Baron and the ground is hard to sleep on!  But he also shared with the students Luke 9:23 and Luke 14:25-33 which talk about denying yourself to follow Christ.  That night he wanted them to read and understand and be ready for Baron- to eat whatever is offered without question, to drink anything they were offered without complaining, to sleep on hard ground, to work in the heat, to minister to the needs of the people.  He reminded them that there was no electricity, little to no cell phone service, and no internet either (which meant no World Cup too!).. they would be denying themselves- and doing it all for Christ!

The next day, Friday morning, there were 9 people packed and ready to go to Baron.  It was incredible.  God provided for all of them to attend and Junior was overwhelmed with excitement!  When Ezekiel, the pastor of the church in Baron- and former graduate of EBS, arrived with the tap-tap to take the group to Baron, they loaded up at both the seminary and in town- 3 tents, portable water filter systems, supplies for making the hand pump, a box of clothes to be donated to the people, personal belongings, and 9 people ready and excited for all that God was going to do in Baron that month!

Stay tuned for Part TWO!

Spent

After spending the last 3 weeks planning, prepping, cleaning, waiting, praying, stressing, not-sleeping… (really an endless list of "ings"), I realized that although I have kept FB friends up-to-speed on the goings-on here at EBS- I have NOT, however, updated the blog since May 27!  Ouch… I am SO sorry for not posting!!!

If I could describe the last 3 weeks in one word it would be this: SPENT.

I know that when you hear that word it may come across as negative… but that is not AT ALL how I feel when I think about that word!

When I think about being spent, I am immediately drawn to "our" verse…  the verse we chose as "ours" as we began our funding process. The verse that I have not been able to get out of my mind because its SO good.  The verse that sums up why we do what we do in Haiti.  Here it is:

Isaiah 58:10-11  "If you SPEND yourselves on behalf of the hungry, and if you satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like noonday."

The first two weeks of June were "spent" in preparation for an incoming mission team.  We had rooms to clean, schedules to finalize and print, projects to get ready, a retreat to plan, details to organize… and now that it is all over (sadly!) I can say this:

Last week was amazing. God SHOWED UP in SO many ways. Life-long relationships were built. Kingdom work was accomplished.  The Seminary and our families and this team were richly blessed.

And it was the PERFECT example of what it means to be SPENT.

This group was our very first Lifetree Adventures team to come to Emmaus (a new venture that we are SO excited to continue in partnership with next summer!).  White Clay Creek Church was the "guinea pig" team and man was I SO very thankful that they were.  A team of 18 people, from 15-73 years old and everything in between, worked alongside of one another, and our family, and our Haitian staff, and a local church, and the community (which was SO cool!) to do Kingdom work.  (And just-so-happens to already support Matt and Stacey Ayars- THAT is a story all in itself… all I can say is that GOD ordained this trip and it was OBVIOUS!)

Here is what our week looked like from start to finish (get ready for LOTS of pictures!!!):

We headed to the airport with Abel and Leme to pick up our team last Saturday!

The team arrived on time and their airport experience was great!  We were on the road less than 30 minutes after they landed :)  (Which is pretty much unheard of!)

After introductions, an orientation and overview of the schedule and settling in on Saturday, we woke up EARLY Sunday morning for church  (and on the road to church by 7am!)

We worshipped together in Lory, at Prudence and Pradel's church.  We attended this church because we were partnering with them in the youth retreat the next two days (And because it is a favorite of ours!).  When we arrived, their youth choir sang a song of welcome to us!

The church service was packed!  Leme and Simeon translated and Pastor Barry, from White Clay, shared a powerful message!

After church, we took them to the Villa Cana for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing before a crazy busy week!

Sunday evening we talked through the plan for the retreat and worked together to build armor for a relay race.  

The theme for the retreat was Spiritual Warfare and Ephesians 6.

From the very first night this team loved on our kitchen ladies- which was such a huge blessing!  These ladies are AMAZING!

The retreat began with worship and an overview of the theme.  We divided the group of 80 (which became 130!!!) into 4 colored teams.  They traveled in groups doing all sorts of activities…

Relay races (putting on the armor of God!)...

Team building activities…

Bible competitions (with Simeon and Walnique!)...

Futbol, aka soccer (you CAN'T have a youth retreat without it!)…

Fellowship...

And a closing time of worship! (By the time we finished on Monday we had 150 people there!) 

It was a blessed first day!!!

After the morning retreat on Monday, the team went right to work on projects around the seminary.

From painting...

to yard work around the grounds...

After dinner together, we spent some time in worship and Ryan and Cheyenne shared their testimony with the group.  It was a great night!

The next day at the retreat we introduced a brand new game to the youth- Tug of War!  

And they LOVED it!

You can see in the top left corner of this picture below that it drew quite a crowd from the community...

Because we had SO many unexpected children show up at the youth retreat we decided to have a special program just for them!

A modified game of Duck Duck Goose was played!  (We called it "chat, chat, chen" which means Cat, Cat, Dog!)  They loved it!

It was lots of fun for the kids and leaders too!...

 The ladies in the church prepared and served a FABULOUS meal of chicken, rice, bean sauce, fried plantains, salad and Cokes with a special treat of Sugar Cane (straight from their fields in Lory!)...

A presentation of medals and prizes and a closing time of prayer and overview of the Bible lessons ended our time together- and we continue to pray that those who came to the retreat would make Lory their home church and continue to grow in their relationship with the LORD!

After another AWESOME meal by our super special kitchen ladies...

The youth from White Clay led us in a time of worship...

And Simeon shared his testimony with the group as well… what a blessing Simeon and Leme were to us and to the team!  So thankful for them!

Each night after worship, the group would hang out in the cafeteria and play games-  Ethan and Haylie LOVED joining them in ALL the activities!

After spending ourselves those first two days in Lory, we took a mid-week trip to the beach!  It was WONDERFUL!  Although a few team members ended up with sea urchin stings- all in all it was a great day!  Thankful for times of rest, conversation, fellowship and fun!

Thursday and Friday were full days of work around the seminary.  We started our day on Thursday launching a super cool balloon that one of the team members, Wayne, gave to the seminary.  Made out of tissue paper, and set in the air with heat- it was really awesome to watch it fly!  We are excited to use it for object lessons with the students next semester… :)

The girls prepared gifts for our kitchen ladies, Haitian staff and friends...

Some groups worked on some much needed yard clean-up...

Others continued to paint...

Some worked hard on the "circle project" (a beautiful spot that is being created in the entrance of the seminary… it is going to be used for fellowship, Bible study, prayer, and relaxation!)...

After a LONG hard day of work, Prudence and Pradel joined us for dinner and came to formally thank the team for all their hard work on the retreat.  It was a blessed time together!

After dinner, we broke up into two groups and visited people in the community… praying with them and just spending time together.  The guys joined us girls at Noel's house for a time of prayer.  It was great!...

The team brought coloring books and crayons, stickers and mirrors (which the kids loved!)

 

Krista tried to get out of this picture below… but I wouldn't let her! :)

It started to rain, and Noel's family said it was a sign of "benediksyon" (or blessing!)… we went into the house for our prayer time and it started pouring!!!  It was SO powerful.  As soon as we finished praying and singing together- the rain stopped!  It was obvious that God was present and everyone left their feeling FULL!

Nikki didn't want to put this little one down!! :)

The walk home that night was great… reflecting on God's goodness!

We woke up Friday morning for one more hard day of work together...

Phil and Rick worked together to install a reverse osmosis system for the batteries (NO idea what that is!)...

More painting was done...

Raking of grass and "mulching" of the seminary was completed...

And the forms around the circle were taken off!… getting really excited to see this project completed!

Friday evening, we asked Junior (who had just returned from an AWESOME mission trip of his own- with 8 students from the seminary) to share about his trip with the team.  It was powerful!  To hear how God worked in and through this faithful group of students was a blessing.  I will be sharing all about that trip in my next blog post- coming soon!)

Afterwards, we popped popcorn and sat together to watch "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in our house- which was super fun!  Everyone loved the movie and it was a GREAT way to spend our last night together!

The next day we did the typical "last day together" stuff…

Group pictures with everyone...

One of the biggest blessings coming out of this trip was the relationships that were built this past week!

Between Noel and Meghan...

Mona and Cynthia (What a SPECIAL relationship!!)...

Leme and Simeon and the team...

Our families and the team  (especially our kids!)...

We were ALL so richly blessed last week.  To see God at work in the hearts and lives of everyone involved was powerful.  From the kitchen ladies, to our translators, to our families, to the team, to the church, to the community- God was seen, felt, and heard throughout our time together… and we are so excited to continue in the relationships and in the work that He has begun!

THANK YOU White Clay Creek and LifeTree Adventures for being faithful to God's command to GO!    THANK YOU for being SPENT with us this past week!

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"  2 Corinthians 9:15

We love you!!!