Mission Trip – Haitian Style

As most of you know, my 2 children have been on mission trips this month with Touch The World. AJ arrived back from Eleuthera, Bahamas safe and sound, and has promised to write a blogpost about his trip, but first he’s busy catching up with friends 🙂 Lauren returned from Uganda last night. More on their trips later.

.

Last Saturday, the TTW Haiti team bunked over at our place. After arriving at JFK, they stayed with us until their closing rally on Sunday. What a joy! As they shared their stories, we laughed, cried and vicariously experienced their last 3 weeks.

So many things I want to share, but I’ll settle for two:



1- Symphony of Prayer
When we bowed our heads in prayer, I was greatly moved. Rather than hearing one person to pray aloud, each person simultaneously prayed aloud. This is how the Haitians pray, and the team adopted this manner of prayer. As they prayed, I thought – this is what God hears all the time on a much greater scale! The cacophony of voices brought to mind John’s description of the prayers of the all the saints ascending to heaven like incense (Rev. 8:3-4). I heard all the prayers, but not a single word could I discern. Yet God has no problem hearing multitudes of voices across the entire earth and identifying each of His children in a personal way.

God, come close. Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising… Ps.141:1-2 MSG

 

2- What is permanent?
One of the team’s tasks in Haiti was to build the platform from which they presented VBS, dramas and puppet shows. However, the wood supplied for the task could not be cut. At the conclusion of VBS, they had to disassemble the platform and use the wood to make bunk beds, benches and tables for the Haitian children.
As they shared this story with me, we discussed what was really permanent. The team shared the gospel from the sturdy wooden platform they built. The wood then was reconstructed into furniture for the Haitian people which would remain with them. But, eventually time, use, neglect, weather will take their toll on these items. What will really endure forever are the words that were shared, the everlasting truths of God, and the love that was poured into the hearts of these people who have lost so much, yet have gained eternity.  

The grass withers and the flower drops off, But the Word of the Lord (divine instruction, the Gospel) endures forever. And this Word is the good news which was preached to you. 1 Pet. 24b-25 Amp

Thank you, Haiti team, for sharing with us your stories, your humor and your sweet spirit. And thank you, Lord, for using these young people in such mighty ways.

Shower of Blessing

To celebrate our anniversary, Tony and I spent 2 lovely days at the Jersey shore. After a day of salt, sand and surf, my time in the shower was awesome, not just cleansing, but revitalizing. My thoughts drifted to Jesus describing Himself as “living water.”

As the water poured in a steady stream, my thoughts drifted some more. I thought of my daughter, Lauren in Uganda using a bucket for her shower, and how much more will she enjoy a “real” shower when she gets home.

And then I thought about the people she is serving, the people who live there permanently and will only ever have bucket showers. My daughter’s team is small part of a year-round ministry to provide these people with a new well (as well as a sustainable farm and a vocational training center). How much more do these people know what the term LIVING water really means. Their lives depend upon the life-giving water from the well.

When Jesus met the woman at the well, He told her “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”   John 4:14

Thirst is a craving – drinking water quenches our physical need. Jesus, of course, is talking about providing “water” that quenches our soul’s needs. Too often, we seek after earthly means to meet those needs: work, relationships, food, drugs, entertainment. But, as Jesus said, these do not satisfy. We will thirst again and again. Only He can truly satisfy our deepest needs.

As with the Samaritan woman at the well, God comes to us where we are. He meets our needs and arouses in us a thirst that can only be quenched by Him. May we respond as she did, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty…”

To support the life-giving work in Uganda, contact www.ttwuganda.com.

Do You See What I See?

Betsy, as promised, here’s the story…

At training camp last week, I entered the primitive shower stall ever-so-gently, trying not to waken my sleeping cabin-mates. And there it was. A cricket on the floor of the stall. Shudder!!

Have I ever mentioned – I have a thing about crickets. I absolutely LOATHE them. If they stay outdoors in their proper habitat, I can manage, barely. But should they dare to enter MY habitat, they become an endangered species.

It all goes back to the summer of ’79. A rainy summer it was, that first year my friends and I rented a summer cottage (think – converted garage) in the Hamptons. By summer’s end, we had enough of the rain, especially since it brought crickets and their incessant chirping inside. I learned to ferret out their hideaways, anticipate their jumping trajectory, and have my flip-flop poised, ready to trounce. I became a serial cricket-murderer.

[by the way, one of the kids at training camp told me that when he first heard the term serial murderer, he wondered why anyone would want to kill cereal. But I digress, sorry]

Now toward summer’s end, I developed a fierce case of bronchitis. When my friend, Donna, went out for the evening, I rested on the couch in the living room. Delirious with fever, not quite awake or asleep, but somewhere in between, I see it. Sitting on the coffee table beside my bed. Staring at me with its hideous eyes. Antennae quivering. A giant, white albino cricket. And I do mean giant – it was the exact length and width of the coffee table. Frozen under my sheets, I sense it poised, waiting to pounce at my slightest movement. My lungs constrict as I ponder its possible trajectory.


Ah! Lights flash in the driveway. A car door thud, followed by the crush of gravel underfoot. The screen door creaks and Donna enters the room. Courageously, I shout a warning, “LOOK OUT FOR THE CRICKET!” Baffled, she asks, “What cricket?”


What cricket??? Is she blind?


My arm pointing to the offender, I shriek, “THE GIANT ALBINO CRICKET ON THE COFFEE TABLE!” And then with a huff, I turn my back to both Donna and the cricket.


In my mind’s eye, I saw both Donna and the imaginary cricket, so I pose the question:

How can she miss what I can see so clearly?


Which, in my illustration-grappling mind, translates to “Why doesn’t everyone see things my way?”


Ok, so that time, it was a fever-induced hallucination. But there’s many a time that subconsciously we picture ourselves as “the smartest person in the room,” so why isn’t everyone listening to ME? And though we may not say it, we wonder – Can’t you see my brilliant wisdom?? Can’t you see the situation or the solution as clearly as I do?


Be it is a colleague at the office, a fellow team member with a differing leadership style, someone in our circle of friends or a family member, somewhere along the line, it is certain that we will encounter a thorn in flesh, and when we do, we need to get over ourselves.



When I have that prideful attitude, I’m wrong even if I’m right. In his letter to the Phillipians, Paul says it this way:


If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.


Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.







Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever…

The Christian life is not a “my way or the highway” life. Before insisting on our way, we need to consider others better than ourselves. Who knows? God used a donkey to speak to a prophet. Imagine what can He do with me when I set aside my own agenda.

In The News

Today: 
  • Kampala, Uganda – 74 people are killed in bombings by militant Somalian al-Qaida terrorists
  • Eleuthera, Bahamas – the “Barefoot Bandit” is arrested amid a hail of gunfire after 2 years of robbery and vandalism

Today: 

  • My daughter is in Kampala.
  • My son in in Eleuthera.

It’s only when we experience such peace-robbing tests that we can really know the truth of “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Is 26:3). And God did provide His perfect peace as we waited to hear the details.

Thankfully, Lauren and her team are fine. They are staying 10 miles outside the city. This mom and dad are rejoicing. But there’s a mom who is happy her bandit son got arrested, because it means he didn’t get killed. And there are people who are grieving the loss of their children, spouses and parents.

So thank you so much for your texts, emails, and calls, and especially your prayers. Let us keep praying, and not just for safety, but for His peace, comfort and healing.

Hazy, Hot, and Holy!

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Really, I haven’t!
But I have been super-busy.


From my last post, you may remember that God miraculously provided for my daughter’s mission trip to Uganda. Well, since then, we’ve been in a flurry of activity getting both her and my son ready for their trips.


AJ is leading a large group of middle-schoolers to Eleuthera, Bahamas. Lauren is leading a small group of high school/college students to Kampala and Gulu, Uganda. More on that later.


They left for 3 day leadership training last Wednesday, June 30th. Then, on Friday night, my husband and I joined a small army of volunteers for Touch the World’s 5 day training camp. Tony did grounds crew, while I taught the teens how to teach Bible stories to children on the mission field. It was grueling. Getting up at 5 am, working all day in over 100 degree weather, serving in the dining hall. Yet at the end of the 4th day, we felt as if we had been on a retreat!


The worship and teaching were awesome, ushering us right into the throne room. But beyond that, there was a sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves. These young people are the future of the church. To see them sacrifice weeks of summer fun to minister to needy people in the U.S. and across the globe was inspiring.




I’ll be sharing some testimonies in the days and weeks to come. But for now, I’m requesting prayer for these youth out on the mission field. Many got quickly and violently sick on the last night just before they left for the airports. A few teams stayed back until all recovered. Some traveled while sick. At this point, most are at their destinations or soon will be.


Please pray for their swift healing. Pray that God is glorified in the lives of these teens and their leaders. Pray that the teams are unified in Him, that they accomplish much for the kingdom, that they will be effective in their mission. And please pray for the staff at Touch the World. They work tirelessly, especially when the youth are out on the mission field.


As for my two-


Lauren is in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, for the beginning of her trip. TTW has a permanent ministry there, and Lauren and her team will be leading VBS for over 300 children who live in an orphanage there. The second half of her trip will be 6 hours to the north in Gulu where her team will minister to the residents of the displaced persons camp and help with construction of a Dream Center, which will provide a sustainable farm and vocational training to the residents, many of whom were child soldiers abducted into the former rebel army. Check out the ministry at http://www.ttwuganda.com/.


AJ is in the Bahamas, but far from a resort experience! In the early morning (before the temps hit 110 degrees), he and his team will be doing construction at Camp Bahamas, a Christian camp for inner city kids. Then in the afternoons, they’ll provide a sports camp and VBS for the local children. AJ’s team is comprised of 5 leaders and 18 junior high students, so he’ll be ministering to the youth on his team as well.
.
Thank you in advance for your prayer support. The teams will return on July 18th, 25th and 29th.