Comfort

The first few days back in the US, I must say, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to settle in and enjoy this break. My first night, all I could think about was Suzette sitting outside on her blanket. As much joy as we feel radiating from her, the reality is; there is poverty, sadness some days, hunger other days, pain many days, loneliness, and disease. And I am here in my comfort. Yet, there is discomfort in that comfort.
It took only a day or two to work through and process that mental/emotional extreme from the third world to the first world. Since being here, Jeff and I have been so blessed by the overwhelming support shown to us through our community. We have so enjoyed time with friends and family. It's one of the things we miss most while we are in Haiti. We've loved our time here for the last two weeks. We are so grateful that our kids have had time to reconnect with their grandparents, cousins, friends and our hometown. We're thankful we've had time to reconnect with so many people. Jeff and I are blessed to have the opportunity to be together for a few days in Canada to connect with some great friends and some wonderful people and to refresh ourselves. It's been over a year since we had a date night. God has sustained us and strengthened us.
We've enjoyed the many comforts here in the U.S. too. Organized driving on smooth roads, ease of grocery shopping, walking through town, familiar language and culture, running in clean air on a beautiful nature filled fall day, warm showers (Brooke took 2 a day for the first week), brushing our teeth with sink water (as Kylie would say), kids playing with friends...all comforts and ways we have been blessed in the USA.
Yet, there is discomfort in the comforts when Suzette, Wilbert, Ketia, Junior, Jacques, Viviane, Stephanie, Pastor Nathan, the Cazeaus, the Good Samaritan children and many other of our haitian friends come to mind.
When we committed to going to Haiti, it was because of a transformation God did in us. We were challenged to live a life of significance, to live a life that demands an explanation, to live our lives as Jesus lived his life on earth. What exactly that meant for us or what it would look like, we didn't know, we just committed to try.
What we've found is that living as Jesus lived, living a life that demands an explantion, living a life of significance isn't really anything spectacular or significant at all, it's simply these people. Living a life like Jesus for us means loving and mentoring Stephanie. It means teaching a Haitian man named Wilbert who lost everything a new way of building and combining it with his skills and knowledge then providing job opportunity. It means taking Jacques and Junior out of poverty and providing jobs. It means visiting and praying with Suzette in her time of sickenss and need. It means supporting a Christ filled man named Pastor Nathan and helping him carry out the vision God gave him in Canaan to build up a church, school and medical facility. It means discipling a community that desperately needs Christ. It means rescuing children like Ketia from abuse, hunger, sickness, and poverty and giving them a home and a family. It means coming alongside the Cazeaus with support in the ministry they have been doing for years. It means taking the children they have educated and fed for years into a new phase of life called adulthood with opportunity for success and independence.
It's nothing significant...except when it is significant.
It's nothing that demands an explanation...except when it does demand an explanation.
It's what Jesus would do. It's how he lived and it's how he asks us to live. Whether it's in Haiti, in Canada, in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world. It's how he asks us all to live.
Sometimes we fail, sometimes we doubt,sometimes we want to run from it and back to what is comfortable and easy, but it's in those times God strenghtens and sustains us.
Yes, we are blessed with many comforts in the USA, but Tuesday, we'll return to a world where living without all the comforts has become the norm. For now, that is where God is asking us to live a life of significance, to live a life that demands an explanation, to live as Jesus lived.
There is comfort and peace in that.

Jeff and I will be sharing ministry updates and some 2012 vision for AWAKENHAITI Sunday morning 11/27 at Engage Community Church in Carlisle @ 10am for those who couldn't make last week's event. 320 E. Louther St

We'd love to see you there!

Credit Reel.mp4

THANK YOU!!! to everyone who was part of making this event come together and to everyone who came to support AWAKENHAITI!!
Jeff and I are once again humbled and so thankful for the amount of support shown to us and this ministry both in our home town community and now many other communities!
Happy Thanksgiving!

2011 AwakenHaiti Celebration and Benefit: Join the Journey...

Our family is flying back to Pennsylvania tomorrow, Tuesday November 15th. We have been counting down the days! Over the next few weeks, we'll be meeting with our AWAKENHAITI board of directors, holding some other ministry meetings, and visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving! Then we'll be traveling to Canada to meet with some great people!

Please join us this Sunday November 20th 3-5 pm as we celebrate all God has done and is doing in and through AWAKENHAITI! We'd love to see you there!
Jeff, Deb, Colton, Kylie & Brooke

Thank you team November!

This has been an awesome week. Some of my favorite times with teams is in Canaan when we have multiple types of service all happening at one time. This week, we had a crew working on the church/school putting siding on the exterior, painting, and brushing on poly. We also had a crew building the outdoor kitchen that will be used to prepare food for the school children (currently, it is prepared at Pastor Nathan's other school and brought to Canaan). We had another crew running health classes then a two day medical clinic. We had yet another group doing a few home visits, encouraging and praying with people. God has continually formed teams of different talents and brought each person at just the right time. We enjoy seeing others love and care for the haitian people the way we do.

A few captions from our week...

putting siding on the church/school building

Kids eating every day!

Kylie on a home visit to Wilbert's home

framing the outdoor kitchen

outdoor kitchen

siding and trim almost done!

Brenda with Gesner translating in the medical clinic

construction crew

prayer for Suzette

Team November 2011

Team November's arrival today will bring some "eh" and "right" and after we remind them of how often they say these sentence enders, they'll remind us of how often we say "huh" !!

We dearly love this group from Canada that we deveoped a realtionship with initially a year ago with Bob,then a group here in April and Jeff recently spent time with them in Canada so we are really looking forward to the 9 days they'll be here taking over our home!

We have some great things planned for them...
health education class for Good Samaritan girls
health education class for women in Canaan
CPR training for the church family and school teachers in Canaan
construction of the outdoor kitchen in Canaan (for school feeding program)
hanging siding, sofit, gutter system on school/church in Canaan
supporting Good Samaritan boys soccer
6 month check ups for Freedom House Bethesda Girls

And lots of fun in between! Please pray for safety, good health, and for God to be evident as we serve Him this week with this team!