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!
