Haiti Journal Summer 2010
Haiti Journal 6/14/10-6/24/10
6/14/10 Monday
In the beginning… this trip started out just like all the others. I didn’t know who was going, when we were going, where we were staying or how we would get there. But we are here. Praise God. I see His hand in this trip so clearly. We were given a Dean guitar and amp, a keyboard, children’s clothes and toys and A LOT more, each having its own story. PLUS, Wachovia re-opened its locked doors for me on Saturday after they already closed and refused other customers. I knocked on the door and said, “I’m going to Haiti! I need 300 one dollar bills!” I’m not saying that God plays favorites, I am just well convinced that I have been given favor (Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4). We went to a worship service Sunday night and we were so blessed. I was praying with a group of Christian Family and a gentle breeze blew in the door, then thunder crashed. I heard his peace in the breeze, felt his presence in the thunder, and knew He made me ready in my heart. We woke at 3:30 and I was nervous in the car on the way. Haiti is less than comfortable and for some reason I dreaded that. But soon God face me an odd comfort and it lasted all day. I know it was grace but I am also sure that part of it was fueled by the prayers of the saints. Thank you for your prayers. There were a few other groups on their way to Haiti and from one I met a girl named Faith. God was in her countenance. I hope my daughters will walk like Faith. Of all the missionaries we saw, she stood out; I hope that Jesus shines in me as clearly as he did in her. The airport was different, the foundation was cracked and there was a new building that we were bussed to. Jesus thank you and please continue to crack and destroy the foundations of strongholds in Haiti. Tear down the old and give this place new roots in your righteousness. Our new friend Bolivar greeted us with a big smile at customs and took us to meet his son Jimmy. Port au Prince (PAP) was different. There was more rubble and there were more tents…there were more people in the streets and there was more compassion in my heart. I fell so far short of feeling them, their struggle, but I felt something of them. Traffic was terrible so we drove slowly and could actually touch and talk to and look into the eyes of the children who were asking for food and money. My heart broke for one woman who was wearing only a ragged sheet tied around her like a bath towel. I thought, “Jesus, will you be like her Michael Hosea, Destroy the place that she is held captive and take her home. I stopped and gave her some money and told her “Jezi rwemen ou” (Jesus loves you). Something in her changed, now she was wearing a smile. I pray that in her valley of Achor, my car window was a door of Hope (Hosea 2: 14-15 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert 
and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (Achor means trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”). This actually happened after…There is no good way to transition from that. It was the most prominent thing in my mind but so much happened before it. So, to start Luke came with a mission of his own. Earlier this year, only one day after he left “Passion” 2010 which is a large college age Christian conference, he felt like God was telling him to buy a tee shirt printing press. He didn’t know why but with 9,000 dollars and a lot of faith he had a press. A few months later he met me. After seeing his heart for the LORD I had to invite him to Haiti. I invited him one Sunday and that next Monday at work he was praying about going with me. He asked for some kind of sign or confirmation and as he looked down at the tee shirts he saw the tag said, “Made in Haiti”. Isn’t that cool!? THEN he flipped the stack over off of the wooden cart and the cart had “JO” my name carved in it. So maybe God was saying go to Haiti with Joe. Praise Him… ok that was background, anyway the first place we went after getting settled in the international guest house was to a large plot of textile factories. The compound was at least a square mile if not two with more than 20 individual factories. Imagine a 100-yard airplane hanger, every square foot filled with workers at a bench… times 20. That’s where we were. Only God could bring us here. Not only did he bring us here, we talked to security and met the owners…that’s right, and guess what, they were Korean… and Christian! They even had their own non-profit called global assistance partners. The family agreed to do business with us so we will keep you updated on how that goes down… lastly they gave us free samples of clothes! (**update: they are going to work with Luke and give him 2nd quality tee shirts or some kinda business deal like that…I don’t really know but its gonna be way cool). From there we headed to the makeshift YMCA b/c the one in PAP collapsed in the earthquake. There is a temporary office in the city… again finding the place and the person was a miracle but David and God pulled it off. When we got there we waited for the Executive director/CEO to come back…? David video interviewed him and talked about bringing his YMCA staff to help rebuild and do other projects (Its way cool to me to see The Mission arborizing!). Wow that’s some big time planning going on! Starting an international clothing company and rebuilding a YMCA all in a day… well it wasn’t over. WE left and because a lot of PAP is tent cities, we were right next to one. They had a soccer tournament going on so we went down to see if we could play. Luke impressed the crowd with some juggling tricks from his college days and I stood and watched. He dominated. Eventually he needed a sub so I joined the skins team and slipped all over the dirt and gravel field. It was a blast and another miracle when I scored the game winning goal! It was such an honor to be welcomed on their team. Soccer really bridges so many gaps… Before we left I gave our goalie a pair of shorts that the family at the factory gave me because his were torn almost in two. We left that area and stopped @ a restaurant where I saw a guy from the International Guest House and his friend Laura who was a Haitian school principal. She recruited David to help rebuild also and we set up a date to talk on the 23rd… making those connections! After dinner we were BEAT and had to get up at 5:30. We left dinner and found out that 2 meals were included in our hotel fee. Awesome. Well I’m sure that dinner w/ Matt and Laura didn’t go to waste. By then it was beyond time to shower and snooze… so we did.
6/15/10 Tuesday
We woke up at 5:15 in order to catch our 11am flight that we were on “standby” for… (This Is Haiti *TIH) we talked to some people there and flew to Port de Paid (PDP)… but our bags didn’t. Whatever… it was good to be welcomed and see T-man and get to m 2nd home in St. Louis. Pastor couldn’t wait to take me to the Barefoot Church… so we went! Wow. It is so amazing to leave a seed in a community and come back a year later to find Deep Roots. I was so peacefully speechless. I don’t think I have ever experienced God the way I did this afternoon. It wasn’t necessarily the deepest or most intimate time, but His presence was around me. My spirit was quiet and calm. It was so good. The building is nice and sturdy. The pastor and his wife and son live downstairs and it is in a poorer area of town. Gosh it’s just beautiful to me. I knew it existed, but coming to be a part of it made it REAL. When they heard we were coming to Haiti the church planned a revival for the week we would be here, which means church service every night from 7-9ish. The church was almost full… on a Tuesday night… Praise God! I loved the worship because it was ALIVE. Ah so much good coming from that seed! A girl from the community said that before the church she did not have hope, now she does. Praising God never gets old. After church we had dinner and set up our bunks. Our bags still didn’t come yet so I used the free clothes from the factory to sleep in. Thanks.
6/16/10 Wednesday
Today we slept until 6:30 and it was nice. After breakfast John and Mackenson came and we did some morning discipleship and Bible study. Gosh it was great. Those hours are seeds that are planted in fertile soil ( Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until he comes and showers righteousness on you.). There is no telling how long we would have gone but it was time to go back to PDP to do some business. We got Horace’s information so now we have a way to ship stuff to Haiti! Also he is T-man’s mentor so we won’t have to pay any tax on it and it will come without delay. We could send anything! Even a truck… which we will be hoping to do soon. That really is the state of things down here. It is at the point of delivery and ready for so much growth. **I am writing in a journal with verses at the bottom of the page and I just noticed the verse. Its Philippians 4:19 (“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”) …perfect. After Horace’s we went to the bank to look at setting up an international account for the Mission. We will finish that later this week (*we didn’t go back and finish that). We are on the move! We also stopped to check out speakers to see if it was cheaper to just buy them here rather than ship them; with our new connection, I think we will be shipping them. We stopped by the airport before we left PDP to see if our bags came. Nu such luck but T-man talked to the police… maybe that did something? When we got back we had lunch and drove further east than I have ever been. The view was incredible. We were on the side of these mountains and we found another soccer field, don’t kick a wild ball there or its gone! We went down to a beach and chilled a little and as we were swimming a funeral procession came by. It was so interesting. There were about 50 mountain people walking around the paul bearers, some grieving, some wailing. One was a drunk lady that felt bad as she saw them and joined the procession along the way. She got tired of walking on the beach though and turned around and went home. We had an under whelming response from the Haitians as far as tossing then into the water goes. Only one today. SAD. We left there for our meeting with a landowner at 5. We went and met her and she showed us 3 of her properties that we could buy to build a new church. How exciting is it that this is where it is going!? I have always said that not having enough room is the best problem that a church can have, Praise God that we have such a problem! We cam home and ate dinner and had some incredible bonding and team building and story time around the dinner table. Again, we were beat. Before winding down we told John and Mackenson to bring their Bibles tomorrow and we would do some more studying. Luke said it was the first time he really realized that these weren’t just faces but were our friends and even more were our brothers in Christ. That’s a good thought to rest on.
6/17/10 Thursday
I woke up again with the sun beaming on me. I was not ready to be awake, I would have hit “snooze” but Haiti does not have that button. I stumbled around a bit before I got my contacts in and my journal writing on. I also worked on the sermon that I was to deliver tonight and spent some time playing the church’s awesome new guitar and singing. Mackenson came and we went to go see his home. I have been helping Mackenson for a while now and I knew his parents were dead. I did not know that he has 3 brothers and 2 sisters that live together with him in one 10x14 foot room with 1 bed that is framed upon rocks and sticks. The rent is just over $100/yr. Today I found out I have been paying rent and supporting a family of 6. Now I know why Mackenson calls me “My Brother, My Father.” We left his home and family HUMBLED and went to another feeding program that was asking for our help. T-man came and found us and he had great news, our bags finally came! Back at the house pastor John, a translator was waiting for me to tell him about my sermon so it would go smoothly that night. We went over it but it just wasn’t refreshing time in the word. I felt kinda sick after lunch so I laid down for the longest nap I’ve ever taken here. It mush have been 2 hours and man its what I needed. Pastor came back and we went over the sermon. Afterward we went downtown to the internet café and met the owner who went to school in the US for a while. He said, “I’m not Christian, I’m Catholic.” Well that’s an interesting claim on so many levels. I felt it was a perfect opportunity to invite him to hear me speak in an hour! He ended up not showing up but we will go back. We got his info and he wants to do English Bible studies. Church was great again, I am so happy every time I see that sign “The Barefoot Christian Church”. Ah praise Him. Luke was moved to tears for a while during worship. He said, “I could have stayed in college, graduated and prospered myself. Had a family and 70 grand a year. But God loved me enough to give me cancer, pull me out of that worthless life, heal me, and bring me here to be changed. Thank you for letting God do that through you Joe.” …Amen brother. Amen. My sermon was ok, I don’t think the translator understood it all… we won’t use him again eventhough he was nice. It was such a peaceful walk home. I had my friends around me with head lamps and carrying my stuff. It was just good… I had some leftover fries from dinner and after a brief photo shoot and Journal entry its time for me to hit my snooze button. Goodnight.
6/18/10 Friday
This really is beautiful… ok the start of the day, ready, God. I made David move the mattress where we would be in the shade when the sun came up, and it worked! I slept till 6:30! We got up and headed to the beach with some of my boys. We planned on going to play soccer at the field then the beach but apparently something was lost in translation so we played soccer at the beach. We met lots of new guys and after a while of playing soccer they all looked thirsty. Perfect. I gave Mackenson some money to go buy enough water for everyone. I called them in and told the story of the woman at the well in John 4. “guys we are all thirsty, and this water will fix that for a little while, but then we will just pee it out. It is temporary like the world. Still it is true that our bodies need it or we will die. In the same way our spirits need Jesus’ living water or they will die.” I think it was a great time to tell that story and use that illustration. We all played a little more and people were hungry. Perfect. I brought jelly to do beach communion and this was how it was going to pan out. I sent Mackenson again with some money to get bread. He came back and everyone gathered around. “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you…I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6). I spoke on this verse this time and I think we were able to give everyone enough food. It is so good to know that God’s word doesn’t return void. There is one guy who broke his leg 3 years ago and one leg was shorter than the other and his knee hurt. We talked to him and prayed for him and invited him to come to T-man’s. I knew I bought that dollar store know brace for a reason! We invited him to church that night and he actually ended up coming! He liked it and said he would come again! Lukes message really spoke to me. It was on Joseph aka Barnabas (Which means son of encouragement) in Acts 4. He spoke on the example of Joseph’s sacrifice to benefit the apostles and other points on the early church. About how they “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching an to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42). OH! We also gave them the keyboard and amp. I wasn’t ready to give up the guitar yet. *previously that day: After the beach David and Luke got their first taxi ride home and we hung out and watched some world cup with the guys and took a nap. Luke worked really hard on his sermon and it was good. Then we went back to the house and had some discipleship and it was great. This is my favorite time, late night when its just the core group of guys, a Bible, and no distractions. That’s why I come down here, to build using Gold, silver, and precious stones ( READ 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).
6/19/10 Saturday
When I go to Haiti, for whatever reason I can just always expect to get sick. Yuck. Well its just part of the offering. We hung out at the house for a bit before we went to the market to try to find me a phone. T-man wanted to walk for some reason so we did. We walked around @ the market and didn’t find a phone, so we walked some more to a place where Luke got a Coke and we walked to the beach… you get where I am going with this? We eventually walked home and I was burnt, in multiple ways- my skin and my energy level. This I think I walked myself sick. Really? Who comes to a place as hot as Haiti and gets a cold? Anyway I took john back to the mission to look @ his infected ear again and came back to get ready for the last night of the Revival. David preached on Jesus’ compassion seen in John 11:35 “Jesus Wept.” Afterwards the guys came back to the house and we did the best discipleship/ Bible study time of the trip thus far. We taught about the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and how Jesus knew the TORAH and the roots of the command from Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5. Also about how we use our knowledge of the word (Like Jesus had) to remain in the Father’s will (John 15 – the Vine).
6/20/10 Sunday
Yuck. I woke up feeling poopy today. I was stiff and tired and sick. But it was church day so I did. I was excited about making the formal presentation of the instruments and indeed they were all well received. Then it came. I was struggling through church and all of a sudden… the shnoz cleansing sneeze. You know the type. It will fill your hands, slime your handkerchief, or disgust a whole room. Well it came and I went for the right breast and sleeve of my shirt. It looked like someone threw an egg at my right armpit. Keep in mind I am in the place of honor in the front of the whole church. Man was I humbled! Ha! I felt like a snotty 3 year old. So church went on but ended early for me. I came home, changed my shirt and slept most of the afternoon. This was my rough day. Still I felt better when I got up and did some discipleship time with my boys. We looked a the theme of “The Harvest” between proverbs 10:4-5, Matthew 9:37-38, and John 4:34-35 (you should check these out too!). Later I had a revelation: I work so hard for the worlds harvest and even for the harvest of men’s souls, but little do I give to prayer. Please pray for me that I do not foolishly miss my harvest of prayer because I am BUSY tilling the dirt of this world.
6/21/10 Monday
I woke up feeling better, Praise God! We got up and went to the mission for a tour and to clean Johns ear and to hang with Grant. We came and today was Luke’s bad sick day. He was being tough but we knew he was feeling poopy. I endeavored to straighten our quarters and get stuff ready for our big VBS this afternoon! After getting everything ready I went out and found a translator and we set out for VBS. It was packed, and it was fun! So many times you see Haitian children in the midst of a struggle, or having to grow up early. Outside of the church I invited a young girl, she must have been less than 10 years old but she was carrying two 5 gallon buckets and balancing clothes on her head. But those who put down their burdens were able to be children again. Haitian smiles are some of the most beautiful in the whole world. We colored and even my older guys (17-21 years old!) loved it! They proudly showed me their Magnum Opus and I said, “BON ANPIL!!” David did camp songs and then some basic truths of the faith like who created you? Why did he create you? Why did God send Jesus? Why should we follow Jesus and how do we do it in our lives? …Can you answer all of these? Maybe take a minute… After the teaching I played waves of mercy (my favorite song to play for kids ever!!!) and gave them candy and hair bands as they left. We got back and the neighborhood kids were going crazy so we joined them with water guns! AH! So much fun going back to being a kid again… Haiti needs more of this. Then T-man said that a new guy has some land to show us so Luke and I went and saw it. When I got to the top of it I looked out and I remember the first time I cam to Haiti I stood on the roof of the NWHCM building and prayed over the mountain that I was standing on. And I did it again with Ike. I am sure he remembers. I remember feeling a call to this place and if this thing goes through I will claim this as the exact moment that I felt the direction from God. Everyone else left but I stayed there and prayed for a few minutes. I felt and odd confidence and peace. It was really cool and unlike prettymuch anything I have felt before. I prayed over the land and left for T-man’s with the group we got back and took Mackenson and John upstairs with a translator for the deep and challenging talk. The one where you go to depths that you don’t forget. It was more than Bible study or discipleship, it was heart to heart. It was long, and it was good.
6/22/10 Tuesday
Today is kinda foggy b/c I’m writing from 3 days later… but I think it’s coming back. We got up and I realized I still hadn’t been to the radio station! I packed up my Christian rap CD’s and we taxied to “Radio Creole International” we got there and sadly it was closed because the transmitter was broken and had been sent to the states to be fixed. So I asked where Jose lives (Jose is the main broadcaster that I know) and went there and found his brother but Jose was at the TV station announcing the World Cup… that’s right, my home boy for 4 years is Haiti’s World Cup announcer on TV! Because we are Americans most of us don’t realize how big of a deal that is but my boy is a STAR!!! PLUS after he was done with the game he came by T-man’s to seem me and visit!! PLUS I found out he works for a Compassion International orphanage not far from where we are! How awesome! Ok I just wanted to brag on him for a bit. Jesus please keep working in Jose!
Hmm that was a tangent… back @ Joses house I gave his brother the LeCrae CD’s and talked to Jose on the phone before I left. I went back to T-mans and Mackenson was waiting to take me to his house again but not before he gave me a bag of mangos…WOW this is such a beautiful offering to me. And I forgot to mention in an earlier journal but He also gave me a bag of pineapples earlier this week. Man I just really love this guy yall… Truly. Gosh its so humbling and beautiful to be in his home… words just don’t do it. We took a picture together and I was able to print it and give it to him. It meant so much. I took a picture with the rest of his family and headed back to T-man’s. all the guys wanted to go to us the internet then so we looked all around town again… like many miles and we found 4 closed internet cafés. I was ready to take a break after that. Back at T-man’s we broke out water guns and went crazy for a bit, again letting the kids be kids. Then T-man got me to go look @ land again and measure it out. Do an of you know what a 194x80 plot of land on the side of a hill is worth? It started raining as we were measuring and so we finished and went back to pastor’s house/the church. I got a tour of the home that we provide for him and its pretty nice. We talked for a while and he is very grateful and has high hopes. We came back to his house and had dinner and lots of people started showing up with problems and asking for money. This is such a hard part of the trip. I hate saying no or turning people away… and also I hate being taken advantage of and being lied to… ok that’s enough. I had some very fond farewells with a few guys especially John and Mackenson and then I packed a bit and with an early morning on the way I decided it was time for bed.
6/23/10 Wednesday
I woke up sometime around 4:30 with the thought “There is ha harvest of prayer to be had” so I got up and sat with God for a while before it was time for the other guys or the sun to rise. We had some toast and finished packing and said our goodbyes. We went to the mission to catch a ride but figured we better get there before the mission so we could actually get a flight… TIH. We got some Taxis (Luke and David’s broke down on the way…suckers!) to Tortugair and took the 9 o’clock (that left at 11:15) flight to PAP. We decided to walk to the big airport to see of we cold fly a day early but it would have been like $150 extra… that’s not for me. On our walk the to big air port of course lots of kids asked for dollars but one walked with us… of all the things I have ever seen in Haiti, he was the one to break my heart. Our conversation started like normal. “I have no possibility”… “I’m hungry” … “I have no money”. That’s all the kids here and sadly you get a little used to it. **Keep in mind where we are. “I want to fly with you”… “You adopt me?” … oh man… Then he said, “My parents die.” He got me… I looked in his eyes. “My brother die… my sister, she die” … he pointed to the street. “I sleep here… I have nobody.” I stopped, his face contorted, tears came, and there was an earthquake in my hart. Both of our walls came down. I dropped my bag on the side of the highway and held a crying orphaned 15 year old and prayed that to him it would be the Father’s embrace. “Oh God, please hold him” after that only the Spirit knows what I said. What could I say? Just my heart groaning and quaking… there on the side of the road in Port au Prince, Haiti. *** Please stop and reflect on that.
After a few minutes we kept walking (the other guys were ahead and wondered what was going on) and we talked… It was wrenching… that’s huge coming from me. Then the worst part… and I still have the image in my mind. We had to say goodbye. His face, behind a fence, it was starting to rain and his tears were falling. He was so broken. And how many children like him were within a square mile of me? Like his country no sum of money or US Aid could heal him… he needed the Father’s Love.
For the rest of the day I was quiet. I was broken over him. We went to our hotel and I felt bad for eating. Later I went to the room and the TV was on and playing the music video “We Are The World” which is a song recorded by lots of popular artists for Haiti. It showed tent cities and rubble and other things of the sort. I got up and looked outside. From the door I see something more real than the TV screen. This is un-edited, un-censored. It has a smell, it has an emotion. I had to go out there. I got some money and went to and asked some kids of they had a soccer ball. They didn’t and apparently there was no way that I could buy one. SO I opted for the next best thing. “Kiko de Pen?” I asked, which I think means “where is bread”. Well it worked and I spent all I had on bread. A lot of bread. I’m so glad I remembered the creole word “patage” from VBS crayon craziness… it means share. I think most of this tent city got bread that night… and the vendor was very happy too! My friend walked me back to the hotel and I woke up David and Luke and they came back with me and handed out bread. I hope they were moved but we haven’t talked about it yet. I got to pull Grant aside that night and while I was waiting on him I stepped out on his balcony. Here I saw that Juxtaposition again. To my left is a nice hotel, dining area, and chlorinated pool. To my right is a PAP tent city. Incredible. I asked Grant how he deals with that daily because it was tearing me up to not be out there with them right now. He said, “I don’t know why they are out there and I’m in here, but I just have to view everything as a blessing, it’s the only way to view it.” I think these are words of wisdom and experience. Thank you Grant.
6/24/10 Thursday
The lady invited me to come back to her home the next morning so of course, I went. I was so honored to be welcomed into her tent. It was stifling hot inside, really like a sauna. I began sweating immediately. But apparently they were used to it. She proudly showed me her photo album. The back was a picture of the father of one of her children…he died…we had a moment. One of her girls came to me and gave me at treasure. It was a single piece of Haitian candy in a purple wrapper. Oh, how grateful I was. We went for a walk together and I bought her a large can of baby formula powder. We didn’t have many words on the walk but she held my and almost the whole way .We bonded. She also showed me her church…wow. A crumbled worship center but restored to life by its people. I carried her little girl back on my shoulders and people thought I was crazy. Perfect (“If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.” -2 Cor. 5:13). I said long goodbyes to my new friends and headed back to the hotel because checkout was at 11. In some ways Haiti is like the Hotel California. Though I checked out at 11 and came back to the states, I don’t know if my heart will ever leave.
Truly,
Joe
