Haiti: The Hope

"Before them the earth shakes,

the sky trembles,

the sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars no longer shine.

The Lord thunders at the head of his army;

his forces are beyond number,

and mighty are those who obey his command.

The day of the Lord is great;

It is dreadful.

Who can endure it?

'Even now,' declares the Lord,

'return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.'

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity."

Joel 2:10-13

If you'd like to, you can read the first 3 parts of my Haiti Journey here: The Heartbreak, The Joy, and The Work. Now for the best way to end things, with Hope:

I was in the middle of Beth Moore's study of Esther when I went to Haiti. This was certainly no accident. In week four, she refers to several verses in Joel. These verses (above) were absolutely what I needed to read while I was there, so that I could experience hope rather than despair in light of what I was seeing and experiencing.

Beth Moore says this: "God had told his people from the time of Moses that He'd protect them and fight their battles for them as long as they worshipped Him only. If they forgot Him, He would still love them but He would not shield them. Instead, He'd use their enemies to turn His people back to Him."

I don't know whether God caused the earthquake in Haiti, but I know that He allowed it to happen. I don't know why Haiti, I certainly don't believe that the people there are any more wicked than the rest of us sinners. But I do know that God is just, loving, gracious and compassionate. And I know that He will use whatever means He needs to return our hearts to Him.

After reading these verses on my air mattress on the cement floor of a Haitian school, I was comforted. Because there is a revival happening in Haiti. Souls are returning to their father.

The next day, I heard a woman's story of her experience during the earthquake. I can't properly tell the story, nor explain how much it moved me. But what I remember most is that she told us that after the earth stopped shaking, there was a beat of silence, and then a terrible wail went up throughout the city of Port Au Prince (and the rest of the country, no doubt.) A weeping and mourning in the land, the likes of which she had never heard before and would never forget.

And with weeping and mourning, we return to Him. He relents from sending calamity, but He will. So that we can spend an eternity with Him, laughing and dancing. That is the hope, my friends.

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Haiti: The Work

The first two parts of my Haiti Journey are here: The Heartbreak and The Joy

The work that we did in Haiti was at a school called Gressier, which will house about 1,000 kids when it is open. Here are some pictures of the work site:

This is the beautiful view from the back of the school:

Some of the time, we worked on clearing the classrooms of the construction rubble. Before we went in they looked like this:

And after a lot of shoveling, pick-axing, and wheelbarrowing, they looked like this:

The rest of the time we spent shoveling and sifting dirt and sand which would later be mixed to make cement.

This was my "boss," Elifa (I have no idea if that's how you spell it.) His only English was "spread" (the dirt) and "Wait for me, I'll be right back." He was a bit of a perfectionist, but when I finally got it right, he was sure to let me know that he was happy with my work. ("Moi contente.")

We took breaks under the shade tree, to get out of the beating sun. The only problem was the fire ants that would dive bomb from the tree and bite the heck out of us. But the shade was still worth it.

We also spent a lot of break time with the kids who lived on the property, and the neighborhood kids who came to visit with us.

I cried the day we went to our work site to say goodbye. Even though the physical labor was the hardest I've ever worked in my life, and the heat and humidity was exhausting to work in, the time I spent on the site was my favorite part of the trip. Working side by side with the Haitian men, and trying our best to communicate despite the language barrier, but finding that by the third day, they were our friends. Seeing the progress in the school and knowing that many kids would be blessed by it. Laughing and playing with the kids, and seeing their precious faces everyday. It went by in a flash, and I was not ready to leave. But I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

The last piece in the Haiti Journey is The Hope.

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Haiti: The Joy

Part one of my Haiti Journey: The Heartbreak

These are the orphans we visited. When we arrived, they were singing to us. We played with them, colored, sang, danced, and just loved on them. It was a joy and a blessing to be with them. I hope and pray that God finds earthly parents for each of them.

I think their precious faces speak for themselves.

Here's the rest of the Haiti journey:

The Work

The Hope

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