Friends in Haiti
Saturday night
May 19, 2018
Hello Friends,
This is the second day in Haiti for most of our team and first day for a few folks. We have a total of twenty one folks who traveled from Ohio to Haiti.
We were blessed to be joined on the way to Haiti by Kendra, an experienced Haitian missionary from Columbus. We were grateful for her help as she knew the ropes on getting through the airport! Importantly, she is now teaching us about Haitian culture and circumstances and Christ’s love.
We are receiving lots of hospitality from our brothers and sisters in Haiti. We were greeted at the airport by Greg and Fanfan. We’ve enjoyed plentiful, tasty and nourishing meals, prepared by loving hands and are bonding as a team.
We are staying in the home of Greg and Cathie Benson who have been in Haiti for twenty two years and established home and relationships here. They empower and equip others in the name of Christ. Their leadership as Christian role models is blessing all
Today Karen and Warren led our team in preparing the pharmacy for our mobile medical mission. They were amazing and steadfast in their leadership and work with sa large and complicated task. Each team member helped with a smile. Cheryl Benson’s hard work to organize, inventory and prepare prepare our arrival laid a good foundation. We took large bottles of vitamins and medications, counted them into individual distribution and labeled them with dosages and details of the medication. The labels were kindly printed by our church team and carried to Haiti in our luggage. We counted hundreds and hundred of pills and some liquids and lotions too.
We are excited to worship God together tomorrow in a Haitian church at the site of the Faith Academy school. The church opened about a year ago and is attracting upwards of 300 folks per week!
We are delighted to be invited to worship and participate tomorrow. Jim and Joyce put their musical gifts to work today and prepared a few songs in English (and Creole!) that we will share as an offering in church tomorrow. Alleluia! is one we will sing.
At our home tonight, we shared evening worship which led us to praising God and knowing He strengthens us in Psalm 34:1-10:
| Psalm 34:1-10 Common English Bible (CEB)
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be in my mouth.I praise the Lord— let the suffering listen and rejoice. Magnify the Lord with me! Together let us lift his name up high! I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to God will shine; their faces are never ashamed. This suffering person cried out: the Lord listened and saved him from every trouble. On every side, the Lord’s messenger protects those who honor God; and he delivers them. Taste and see how good the Lord is! The one who takes refuge in him is truly happy! You who are the Lord’s holy ones, honor him, because those who honor him don’t lack a thing. Even strong young lions go without and get hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. |
We responded by sharing the many ways we’d felt God presence and seen Christ in others today.
Next we turned to Ephesians 4:1-10 and reflected on the unity the Holy Spirit has brought to the widening circle here in Haiti:
| Ephesians 4 Common English Bible (CEB)
Unity of the body of Christ 4 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. 7 God has given his grace to each one of us measured out by the gift that is given by Christ. 8 That’s why scripture says, When he climbed up to the heights, he captured prisoners, and he gave gifts to people.[a] 9 What does the phrase “he climbed up” mean if it doesn’t mean that he had first gone down into the lower regions, the earth? 10 The one who went down is the same one who climbed up above all the heavens so that he might fill everything. 11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others. 15 Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ, 16 who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does its part. |
We closed tonight in heartfelt prayer for brothers and sisters, Haitian and American, and marveling at the Body of Christ which God creates with us altogether.
Grace and peace!
2018 Mission Team