Oh Jesus!

You are sending me home tomorrow, but Lord, let me never forget all that You have taught me here in this country! Let me never forget the children that bathed in the muddy streets. Let me never forget the smell of the dump, where these people of yours came to eat. Let me never forget the pain this country is enduring Father! Let me never lose my compassion for these people Lord! Never let my spirit grow numb to empathy for my brothers and sisters that struggle to survive everyday. Never let me forget how Your Holy Spirit moved in this place..

Lord, let me never live my life in selfishness, but always be looking towards the needs of other around me. Let me continue to be generous to my brothers and sisters with a joyful heart.. Help me to be more humble, loving, compassionate, joyful, and filled only with pure, holy thoughts! Let my soul, along with my spirit WORSHIP only YOU Father! Remove any idols from my life Jesus! If there is something keeping me from Your heavenly presence, then God, tear it from my life! Lord, I only desire YOU! With every breath I desire to EXTOL Your name to whomever I speak!

God, help me to give grace to those back home, which you have blessed immensely, that ungratefully complain in their ignorance. Help me to give grace to the selfish, to the sloth, to the glutton, to the slanderer, to the proud, to the unloving, and to the Christians who don't live in fear of you God!

God, remain with these Haitian people! Heal them, restore them, touch them, fill them with your joy and PEACE! Give them the strength to endure all the hardships of this rough world. Let their sins be covered in your PERFECT grace JESUS! Teach them to turn away from their dark ways that plague their society and only seek YOU Father!

Father, I pray that my work here would not be in vain, but would plant a seed for MANY to discover your love, and everlasting LIFE! I pray that my words to these people would plant seeds that would grow and bloom into a hunger for more of you FATHER.

With my journey coming to a close and as I step off this island, I will with all sincerity exclaim your POWER, LOVE, GRACE and BEAUTY with a resounding..

AMEN!

My heart exposed

Bonswa!

So I have been meditating all day about what I would like to write in my blog tonight, and I have been bouncing ideas around in my head unceasingly. I was asked to share more of my heart on how God is speaking to me while I am here, and what sorts of things I have been taught while in this crazy/beautiful/ugly/ amazing/depressing/uplifting/poor/rich-country...

I honestly don't think there are any words to truly describe in full my experiences here. I could show a million pictures, describe every detail, and explain how God is moving, but I truly don't think anyone that has never been here can fully understand what it is like to BE HERE, and to first hand experience Gods presence among the people.

To be fully honest, I don't even know where to begin to try and express my heart.. I almost dread coming back to the States and feeling the pressure to talk about Haiti, and explain as best as I can a whole month of the most intense, life changing experience in my life up to date. But nonetheless I know that part of the reason God sent me here was so that I can spread news about the poverty and pain here, but also the complete overwhelming spiritual warfare here, and how Gods presence is in the air so thick that He naturally rubs off on you.

I have a hard time pointing to one specific area that God has changed me, because I feel like as a whole person He has matured my mind, and progressed my spirit closer to Him. I really am starting to feel like I have been here years, and have grown up here.. Even though I only have been here for the blink of an eye. I feel like I have put away many of my childish ways, and God has replaced them with better ways...

On the other hand, I fear talking about what God is doing in my heart publicly for the fear that I will be judged when I return..

"He doesn't seem any different to ME!"

"Now look, he is returning to the person he was before his trip!"

"Everything he wrote in his blog was fake, and he never genuinely was effected by anything.."

These are the judgments that I am afraid of, cause I know, whether the surface shows it or not, that I am permanently changed in my spirit. I know that God has taught me SO MUCH through conversations with the people here, as well as just time alone with Him, where his whispers are so beautiful.

I know that being here has made me MUCH more accepting of people where they are at in their walk with God, and life. I have been known to be very much a "my way is best, and if you don't agree with me that is because you are wrong!" mentality.. But living in a culture so very different from my own, and meeting people that are both similar and opposite from me has shown me that we are ALL deeply loved equally by God, and regardless of culture or walk in life we are apart of one big family, whether we act like it or not. True fellowship, community, and love is what makes the gospel attractive, not screaming into a bullhorn on a street corner, or telling everyone that you have it all together and they need to be like you.

As the body of Christ we need to draw together and truly treat each other like FAMILY... Time is too valuable to waste arguing amongst ourselves! How can my body EVER do anything constructive if one limb fights the other? If my hand attempted to strangle my throat, how could my lungs breath life into my body? We have one purpose and ONE goal, as being apart of Our Fathers' body; this is to simply love the WHOLE WORLD, without any sort of conditions or dress code, and without and distinction between gender, race, and culture....

Here I go sounding like a hippie don't I?

Well anyways, there is a small bit of my heart for tonight..

I love you guys!


-Elijah-

Work projects and courage

Hey everybody!

So I figured it was about time that I update you all on what I have been doing, and how all the work projects down here are going..

Those of you that have been following me closely know that the first few weeks here, I was working with the missionaries from Ransomville, New York, on a school called petite place cazeau.. We all worked together laying brick, welding windows and doors together, painting, and putting a roof on the place.. At last, on tuesday we finished the project!


This is what the site looked like in the middle of May...



..And here is the finished project!

As of right now this building will be used as both a school and a church, until next to it another building can be constructed.

Also, yesterday me and some of the missionaries from from Ohio finished repairing the damaged wall in the Childcare building. It was a lot of work, but after finally bolting the two steel beams on either side of the cracked wall, the damage seemed very secure.

Today, most of us spent the whole day working on building a wall around a school that is down the street from where we are staying.. Me and Pastor Scott from Ohio worked together most of the day. He is a really nice guy, and definitely a pleasure to work with. It was the first time I have laid brick, but I learned how to spread mortar and level the bricks pretty quickly.

I hope to post some pictures in the future, but technology hasn't been cooperating lately..

Reacently I have become friends with a Haitian named Willson.. He doesn't speak hardly any english at all, but for some reason he has taken a liking to me. :) The last few evenings after work he has waved me over to sit around and talk with him and his family.. We do a pretty good job of communicating. Between all his family members and himself they can pick up basic things that I say in english.. Yesterday evening was definitely the most entertaining! I taught him and his family english and they taught me a little creole. Already we have had many conversations about Jesus, politics, and personal beliefs. These people certainly aren't afraid to speak their mind. I find that to be a trait I respect immensely! I find that too many Americans are afraid to be transparent about their beliefs for fear of offending someone, or being disagreed with. This reminds me of a few verses that have been on my mind lately...


"But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who believe and are SAVED." Hebrews 10:38-39

"Be on your guard; stand firm in faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love." 1 Corinthians 16:13-14


Finally I would like to thank ALL of you guys again for all the prayers and support, there are so many awesome things God is doing here, I am just honored to be apart of it all! I believe in places like Haiti, where life is hard, where people are hurting, where the society is broken, and where there shouldn't be any hope at all, is when God shows his presence even brighter, and changes lives and hearts. God really does work all things together for good. You better believe it!

Lots of love!


-Elijah-

The Restavek Crisis

Picture this.

You are we were born in the countryside among a small rural community in the country of Haiti.

As a small child you remember that you had a large family of 8 to 13 siblings.

Your family was extremely poor and though your parents loved you they knew they could not take care of even your most basic needs.

A distant relative who lived in Port Au Prince, approached your parents and promised them that you would be well fed, educated, and clothed in their care.

So your parents agreed to release you to them, for hope of a future and better life for you...

You arrived at your new home as a small child of 3 or 4 years old and quickly realized that everything promised to your parents was a lie.

Your "caretakers" forced you to work from dawn to dusk around the house.

You cooked, you cleaned and you took care of the dirtiest chores even as a child when you could barely understand what was happening.

As other children who grew up in the same house went to school, you stayed home, and were never educated, and sometimes never fed.

Often, the people you lived with would abuse you both sexually and violently.

You worked hard throughout the day in fear of your host family beating you with a whip if you didn't complete your chores well enough.

You lived off of food scraps from the rest of the household, and you were kept under the family table at night to sleep.

Until you turned 15 you were kept as a slave, and at that age you legally must be paid for your labor, so the family that kept you throughout your childhood now must set you free on the street.

You were left in the city, on your own without any possessions.
Any education.
Any job.
Any connections to anybody...

Guess what?

There are an estimated 300,000 children in Haiti RIGHT NOW that are being raised like this. They are called restaveks. Child slaves who have no rights, and are often treated like animals or property. Once they finally escape their dark childhood they are then faced with an adulthood filled with no hope of a successful job or any escape from poverty due to never having been educated.

This is the reality of Haiti right now.. With the unemployment rate at such high levels across the country, families are forced to give up their kids to a richer family. However there are no laws which strictly enforce any kind of humane treatment to these kids. The government is ashamed of these cases, so it is shoved under the rug and never dealt with.

However there are organizations such as the Restavec Freedom Foundation, which are fighting this epidemic! Here is a link to their website: http://www.restavekfreedom.org/

..On Sunday the whole group of missionaries, Larry and Me all took the day off and visited Wahoo beach resort. While me and the missionary Lucian were sitting on the beach, we had the pleasure to meet a woman who was apart of one of these restavek relief organizations. I listened as she told us of her passion for these kids, and how big a crisis this has become for Haiti!

In conclusion, I just want to ask all of you again to step up. Please pray for these beautiful children who suffer far greater then most of us can imagine. For the next 10 days I would like to ask all of you to devote 15 minutes of your day, set aside from all distractions and noise, to completely devote your attention to praying for these kids.. As brothers and sisters in Christ we need to bring the light of Jesus into a dark world, so lets take action and cry out to the One who CAN change and heal Haiti.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Lots of love!


-Elijah-

A changing heart

Hey guys!

So the first half of today Me and Larry spent running errands around the City. First we picked up a load of bricks and brought them to the school for the hardworking group of Haitians to continue work on the school. After that, I am pretty sure God was just teaching Me and Larry a lesson in patience! Today was the second day this week that we have gone from hardware store, to hardware store looking to buy an air compressor.. Each place recommended another place which recommended another. I think air compressors may be as hard to find as white people in Haiti! ;)

After another failed attempt at that, we began work on the building across from our house. It is an International Child Care building, which handles sponsorships of the children in this country. We are going to be putting up horizontal support beams on either side of a wall which was damaged by the earthquake.

I have found myself extremely spiritually disturbed today.. I was not sure why I felt so uneasy in my spirit, so I spent a lot of time in prayer today, and read a lot of the word tonight.. I feel like God is moving in me a lot.

Changing me. A lot.

I have been reflecting on the person I was before this trip... I feel like so much of my focus before recently has been on fighting my "human" or "sinful" side. But now I feel like God is trying to change my focus to be more then that. Instead of simply trying not to do wrong, I feel like I should be striving ahead towards Christ and not accepting anything less then holiness. REAL holiness. I don't want to just be known as a good or kind person anymore. I want to be known as someone who contagiously overflows the love of Christ! I want to be someone, who doesn't need to explain where he stands, because all his actions scream exactly where he stands! I don't want to see and think about only the physical world anymore. I want to see beyond, into what truly matters, loving the souls and spirit of BOTH those who stand by me, AND those who oppose me.

I can feel my beautiful Savior taking me to the next step in our relationship..
I am humbled and amazed that the Creator of the universe would even give me the time of day to speak to my heart!

Here are some verses which have spoken to me lately.. I hope they impact you as well!


"Do not love the world, or ANYTHING in the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of our Father is not in him." 1John 2:15

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" 1John 3:17

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for He who promised is FAITHFUL. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:23-24

"Avoid godless chatter, cause those who indulge in it become more and more ungodly. Their teachings will spread like gangrene." 2Timothy 2:16-17

"Above all else, love each other DEEPLY, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1Peter 4:7

"Finally brothers, whatever is TRUE, whatever is NOBLE, whatever is RIGHT, whatever is PURE, whatever is LOVELY, whatever is ADMIRABLE- if anything is EXCELLENT or PRAISEWORTHY- think about such things." Philippians 4:8


Once again thank you all for all your guys continued prayers! I am so excited for all the things God has yet to do while I am here in this country.

Lots of love!


-Elijah-

Red bandanas and selfishness.

Hey everyone!

So I just finished an amazing, two and half hour game of chess with Jamie, and my brain is about fried, but I feel like there is a lot I want to talk about. Please bear with me and hopefully my thoughts will make some sense! I apologize in advance if I say something odd.. hehe! It's getting late!

First of all I would like to thank those of you that leave me such encouraging comments. It has definitely given me the motivation to continue to blog as often as I can! =)

On another note, I found out an extremely interesting fact about Haitian culture that could have gotten me in trouble had I not known about it!... I was speaking to a Haitian today (whose name I will undoubtedly butcher) who could speak English very well. We spoke of my home in Michigan, and the weather, as well as my love for snowboarding. He then pointed out my red bandana which I wear everyday while I work, in order to keep the sweat out of my eyes. He then explained to me that there is a Rap group in Haiti. And those who support that group wear red bandanas, while those who support a different Rap group wear black bandanas... He then laughed, as he continued to tell me that many gangs wear red or black bandanas. And to my complete ignorance, he explained that if you are in certain areas of Port Au Prince where there is an opposing gang to the red bandanas, that you could get beaten up.... Needless to say I think I may retire my faithful red sweatband.

I have spent a lot of time thinking lately about my future, and what I am doing here, and if this is what I want my life to be about. I have thought about how I feel extremely satisfied at the end of the day, knowing I have to some degree made a difference to something that actually mattered! I reflect on how I did not spend my day for myself. I did not waste my time seeking what would benefit me more, or what would make me more comfortable.. Then I think about how often my thoughts before arriving here were generally inward focused. Even when I DID do a favor for someone it was only because it would make them more happy towards ME! I did not see a favor for someone worth doing if it would never be noticed.. Oh how self centered my nature IS!... I can't say that I know for a fact that I will spend my whole life as a missionary in foreign countries. BUT! I do know that wherever I go, and whatever My Incredible Lord has me doing, I want to be a missionary in my heart and in my actions 24-7. I know that the ONLY way I will ever lead a satisfying life, is by living it for others.. The funny thing is that I have known that fact probably my whole life, but until you fully and completely give yourself over to an outward focused life, can you see why your life is so often unrewarding, mundane, and frustrating!.. I hope that concept made as much sense in writing as it did in my head. ;)

Lets change gears now... Literally! Larry took me out today to a road in town which doesn't get much traffic, and attempted to teach me how who drive his stick shift. It's harder then I thought it would be! But hopefully by the time I have to drive anywhere, ill have the hang of it.. As if worrying about the crazy traffic here wasn't enough!

Well, sleep is now fighting for my attention, so before I finish I want to thank you all once again for your continuous prayers! I believe God will take what we are doing here and use it in mighty ways to reach out to his children here in Haiti.

I hope God is as real and present in you guys as he is for me!

Lots of love.


-Elijah-

New friends.

Hello again everybody!

I apologize to my avid readers for not posting a blog last night. Between the many conversations with people that keep me busy, and the storms that have been knocking out the internet every now and then, it is hard to find time! But nevertheless I will try!

The last few days we have continued our work on the school. It is a very interesting dynamic during our days of work, because FOHO has hired 8-10 Haitians to help work on the school alongside us. However we are all learning to work around the language barrier.

To make it easier, God worked his magic to send Dinesia, along with the missionaries. She was born and raised in Haiti until she was 14, when she moved to the States. Shes 28 now, and amazingly has very little accent at all. It is amazing how God worked it out for her to come, and blessed us all with a translator who speaks both English and Haitian Creole fluently. She has taught everyone a lot about the Haitian culture, which would have been hard to understand otherwise. She also translated for Pastor Bill who was asked to preach to the Haitian church on Sunday. It was the first time I had ever been apart of a church service, that was in two different languages. It is quite the experience!

In one way or another I have formed friendships with everyone in our group. It is cool to see how we have all drawn together, and treat each other like family, despite all of our GREATLY differing personalities.

Craig, a missionary I have been working with a lot on the school, is truly a mans man. He hardly ever is found taking a break no matter how hot it is out. His sense of humor is so good for keeping the mood light. Me, Him, and Dinesia have all worked well together the last two days. We have mostly been cutting, and welding the windows together. Both me and Craig have a lot of burns to show from it!

Jaimie is probably one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He has very much a missionaries heart. He is always playing with the kids in the "school" tent next to where we work. He also found out I like chess, so we have been playing together every night recently. We have had a ball!

Carol, who is the leader of their group, has almost taken the mother figure among us. She is constantly asking everybody if they have drank enough water. Shes a very sweet person, but also very opinionated! =)

Paul is an extremely graceful man. He is also extremely soft spoken, to the point of being hard to understand in noisy places. He has told me MANY stories in just the few conversations we have had.

Ed, who is a very hard worker, used to be in the Army. He also is very much a mans man! He leaves the impression of being very harsh and blunt at times, but as I have gotten to know him I have seen him be extremely caring for everyone around him.

Dot is a woman who often keeps to herself, and doesn't very often sit around and talk with the whole group. She has a very timid personality and seems very unsure of herself at times. But for whatever reason, I seem to have connected with her fairly well. She has an incredibly gentle heart.

I would like to go on and speak of everyone here, but my exhaustion has caught up with me! I am sure I will talk about the rest of the group in the future. I am certainly thankful for everyone here. They have all played important parts in what is happening!

Thank you again to all you guys who are praying and supporting me! I have gotten a lot of peace knowing so many people are behind me.

P.S. Carol has been fighting off sickness all week, so pray for her especially!

I love you guys!


-Elijah-

"Welcome to Haiti"...

These aren't exactly the words that greeted me as I landed in Port Au Prince today around 3:00 PM..

But lets rewind a bit.

I woke up this morning around 3:30 AM back in Michigan to my alarm which I almost slept through after only 2 hours of sleep. I wasn't as tired as you would expect, probably because of my growing excitement for the day ahead of me. Me and my older brother then left for Detroit metro airport to catch my flight at 7. Then I was off to Miami, where I waited out my 2 and a half hour layover.

After getting some cat naps in, and some chit chat with the other passengers we finally began to land in the Port Au Prince airport. As we got closer to the ground the rusty roofs on the crude cement building became clearer.

It was strange. My heart began to sink even before the plane touched the ground. The communities looked so impoverished from above that even down town Flint might look attractive.

We finally landed and left the plane. Seeing as this was my first experience out of the US, I had no idea where to go. So I followed everyone else down a flight of stairs, onto a bus, into a large warehouse looking building where my passport was checked and I picked up my bags.

As soon as I stepped past the desk and out the back of the airport I saw a Haitian man with one arm, holding a paper with my name on it. So i followed him past a TON of Haitians. I already felt like I was sticking out like a sore thumb due to my light skin tone. But beyond that, it was sad seeing so many people just standing around, (some with visible scars, and missing limbs) with no place to go.

My Haitian guide then led me to Larry Judy, whom I will be sharing a house, and spending the month with. We both got into his vehicle, and I watched as he navigated through mass chaos. People ran every direction, and there seems to be no rules on the road aside from stopping at red light. He promised to show me how to drive his stick shift later so I can go through town on my own. :O

Port Au Prince almost seems surreal to drive through. It seems like a city that you might only see in the movies. People clutter almost every foot of the streets and traffic is a resounding noise of car horns.

We then made it here to the house that we are both staying, which has been a missionary house for many years apparently. Then Larry took me to meet many people, both Haitian, and other missionaries, of whom I could only remember a few names.

There is a group of missionaries from New York, that arrived here on Monday. Me and Larry will be working with them tomorrow, and most likely until they leave. The plan is to wake up at 5:30 AM tomorrow, so we can go and continue the construction of a nearby school.

After many interesting, and humorous conversations with them, we came home for dinner which was actually normal food! Then, once he had answered all my questions, we went out for a walk through the surrounding area. Port Au Prince is not a quiet city! There are makeshift sales booths on both sides of the roads where Haitians sell everything from DVDs to shoes, to fresh mangos, to fried chicken. Did I mention the streets are crowded?

There are also many buildings through town which still remain in rubble. But the Haitians are learning to live around the messy streets and tent villages that they have created.

The atmosphere is odd. Overall the city seems jolly, and in high spirits, despite their rough living conditions.

On another note.. This trip is so different from any other trip I have been on. Because Larry has given me the freedom to do whatever I wish and go where ever I wish. So it is cool to just feel free to let the Spirit literally be able to guide my steps..

Please pray for me!:

-That my effort wont be waisted.
-That many peoples lives will be effected in a positive way because I came.
-That I would stay focused, and in tune with my sweet Lord.
-That I would work hard no matter how hot it gets or how tired I get.
-That I will keep a good attitude through the rest of the month... Cause no doubt things will get rough.

Anyways, it's getting late and the morning will come fast. For you A.D.D. readers, I will try to keep my posts shorter, and I will also try to post some pictures, so I don't have to describe so much!

Finally, last but not least I would like to thank EVERY ONE of you guys that supported me financially or emotionally to make this trip possible! I love you guys!

I will be praying for you all!

Peace, Love, and a Goodnight sleep!