A Living "Where's Waldo"

As my friend posted on my wall just the other day, I have been everywhere in the last month!

On November 4th I took the team back to Haiti for a week of reunions, DTS graduation and goodbyes. It was a great week talking about what the Lord had done for them in the last 5 months and how they could continue pressing into His presence as they went on from Haiti. I have to say, the people in that group are some of the most phenominal people that I've ever met! They have gone through an incredible season of change and are all passionately seeking after what God is calling them to next. Some of the students needed to return to high school to finish their primary education, others are planning to develope an orphanage ministry there in Haiti, one of my tet-on-tets (one-on-ones) is staying on Hispaniola (which encompases both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) until mid February. All of them are truly rising world changers!

As everyone said goodbye whether they left by truck, tap-tap, walking, or by plane I too became teary eyed as my heart swelled with pride and a sadness that I wouldn't be with everyone again. It's one of the few downs to YWAM, you cultivate incredible friendships and relationships and then 5-6 months later the family scatters back into the world where it is highly unlikely that everyone will be together again. Some of them felt this to be harder than others, but everyone was sad to be leaving.

Praise God for His grace in allowing 80-100 people to live in one house, overcoming cultural differences, communicating through 2 different languages, and still walk away completely in love with eachother. I am so honored and humbled to have been apart of such an amazing group of people! Thank you Lord for chosing me among many to witness Your Awesome Power in the Port-Au-Prince, Haiti DTS this summer! I am forever changed.

November 15th I flew with 2 staff friends, Nathanael C. and Faith C., to New York where we spent the next four days enjoying the city. It was a HUGE adjustment to make and going from rugged Haiti to glamorous Times Square. While there we got to meet up with friends from old times, from our DTS in Kona and meeting many more. I was able to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Premier Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit, Central Park, and many of "the best food places" as my friend Dayne took us around. One of my favorite nights however was spent visiting the YWAM Cornerstone base in Flushing, NY. It's mainly a Korean base with one sweet foreign young lady on staff; I had a wonderful time ministering/being ministered to a few of them! Praise God! After spending the later part of the weekend at my sista, Candice's, home in Pennsylvania, I am now home in Texas with my mom and sister!! It's been a crazy month of traveling, exploring, and building relationships, but I am thrilled to be at home for this next season!

There is so much to be thankful for in the last year alone, but I'll have to share my thoughts on that another time. Until then, may God bless and encourage you with His grace and peace!

Love Always

Goodbye Haiti, mwen renmen ou anpil!

Where to start? I know it’s a lot to read through, but bear with me as I try to wrap up this time in Haiti. There will be many more posts about my time here but as for now this will have to do.

HAITI. I am head over heals for this country… 

Coming back from leading an outreach in Jamaica with my team I honestly did not want to come back to Haiti.  As we loaded our tiny little plane the excitement grew though as I looked upon the thrilled faces of my students, a huge smile spreading all throughout the team as we came to realize we were going “home!”

CHANGE. Flying in to Port-Au-Prince we came in over City Solei and were able to point out both water tanks that the DTS built over the summer. Home to one of my girls, I was reminded of the great privilege it was to be apart of the lives of so many incredible brothers and sisters in Haiti, as I watched what is known to be the largest and most dangerous slum in the western hemisphere pass us by.  It’s true - their lives have forever been changed. Three of the 4 Haitian students on my team haven’t even finished high school yet! And to have had such an amazing encounter of God’s love, to have walked in the opposite spirit of the land, preaching, traveling internationally, living among a different culture and language, and having people who genuinely care and are all about championing them in the pursuit of their dreams – I can hardly imagine what God is going to do with them over the next few years!!!

This nation is beautiful and I have become captivated by it.  I spent my last evening on the roof at Belville, watching the sunset, and couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the awe and beauty if it all. Looking upon the mountains with sun rays spotlighting the mountain side, covered with concrete houses, metal shacks and tents propped up between the two; a sunset of brilliant gold clouds morphing into a dusty navy with molten orange and pink behind it… The city is quieter since we left.

It’s something that we have spoken about frequently in the last week as a school. Nearly everyone, upon returning to Haiti after outreach, felt that the atmosphere here in Port-Au-Prince is exponentially lighter than when we left. It’s an interesting topic as we believe that it has to do both with the fact that we all came back having left fears, strongholds and doubts of who God is behind us – walking in confidence that our God is greater and we are above the spirits of the land; and also the really the spiritual atmosphere of the city has changed since the beginning of the school. There is peace here now. Where once one used to be on edge walking the streets, driving through densely populated alleys; hearing and seeing fights, gun shots, the cat-calls and rude comments poured over you when out in the city… now it’s as if most everyone has found peace.

FEARLESS. The streets are so calm that at first it was eerie driving back from the airport; when going to the grocery one feels totally comfortable walking in an with everyone; I’ve watched as students, once shy to talk to the Haitians, now initiate conversation (in Creole) and end up praying for them on the spot – believing that God will provide exactly what they need.  I am not at all kidding when I say that our students are fearless now. We graduated 46 of them on Friday having only 2 that we started with in June not graduate with the rest for their own reasons and since then most of them have scattered through Haiti over the weekend, some going several hours away and some just adventuring it in City Solei for a day… It’s amazing to me the amount of boldness and love they are walking in now!

Leaving tomorrow for a few days vacation in New York City before heading home to Texas, it is a bittersweet mix of emotions.  It has been an amazing 6 months immersed in the Haitian culture and language and I will truly miss it. Going back into a society completely driven by consumerism from a 3^rd world country is going to be hard I know, but I am trusting in God to continue providing the grace and compassion to walk day by day wherever He leads me to. 

After being in YWAM for well over a year now with a 7week break in the middle, I am very tired and rest is very much needed. I have felt for a couple months now just the deep need to process through all God’s taken me through and finally am feeling the release to take the next few months to rest and recover physically, emotionally, and spiritually. There is so much more to learn from my experiences working in the red light districts of Thailand, slums of Haiti, communities in Jamaica tied in false doctrine and lust, and even just with these incredible DTS students… there is so much to grasp and process through. 

THANK YOU for standing with me as I have served this nation for the last 6 months, I am honored to have seen the change first hand. I will miss these people so much and am already looking forward to the day that I can return someday. Thank you for praying with and for me as I've taken on greater roles as a sister, friend, and leader to the nations - I couldn't have made it without your love and support.

Love Always

Guest Blogger: Eleah on our time in Boscobel, Jamaica

A love letter to Boscobel, my favorite little Jamaican town.

Dear Boscobel,

Thank you for these amazing five weeks. I’ve had incredible times on your beach, your colorful concrete houses, in little rasta colored shacks, and walking your streets day after day. We got here with not really any idea of what we were doing, with no friends or contacts or even known ministries. We just knew God sent us here, and that it was all up to Him. I remember one of the first days after we got here, how I was struck by the irony of the one side of your road being lined with a resort and gorgeous beach villas, while the other side is full of little concrete houses and plywood shacks, home to school children, unemployed men, and moms who don’t know how to feed their kids or pay for their school tuition.

I think you’ve changed a lot, Boscobel. I can’t forget the darkness I felt so heavily the first few times we went down good old Gully Road, home to most of your beautiful people. Jesus gave me a verse from the book of John about how through love, the darkness is going away, and the true light is already shining. I held that verse in my mind as we went out to get to know and love your people. The mornings and afternoons that we spent in teams, visiting houses and shops and falling in love with your culture brought us to so many different people. So many of them have come into our lives and left unforgettable footprints on our hearts.

People like Gary, our Rasta friend whom everyone appropriately calls Drughead. His jerk chicken and ackee and saltfish were great introductions to authentic Jamaican food for our team, and his little Rasta colored shack with his wife Diamen, is one of my favorite places in Jamaica. People like Chavez, whose real name is Michael Kamar, a tormented man the whole town thinks is crazy and for the large part avoid. His hungry eyes and the hours we spent talking with him and praying for him are unforgettable. People like Keisha, the single mom of a precious four year old, who wrote all our names in the Bible we gave her. People like Jennifer and Narda, who braided my hair and cooked our whole team a delicious dinner, who say they aren’t Christians because they don’t go to church, but follow God and bless everyone around them with their gentle loving spirits. And people like Wilson, a precious little old man, who “really needs to stop smokin’, not because it’s bad for you, ya know, but because it uses up all your money! Ya mon.” So many people, it would take pages to write about them all.

Oh Boscobel, I love how authentic your culture is. I love that when people ask how you’re doing, they really want to know. I love that you can go to any house, at any time, and stop and talk with anyone. I love that your walls, aren’t really walls. But I hate how your Church is opposite of that, that the genuineness of your culture isn’t reflected in what should be the House of God and the Bride of Christ. I can’t stand how the openness and true expression your people have, that I fully believe is one of the most obvious deposits of God into your culture, disappear inside Church buildings. I hate that for most of you, your only idea of Christianity has been going to a church building on Sundays. I hate that so few of you know of Christianity as a genuine relationship with a God who loves you more than you’ll ever know. That all you think of when you think of God is rules and religion. It’s so far from the actual reality of a God who gave His life for relationship with you. I hope we’ve changed how you see that. I do so love how God has moved every single day we’ve spent here. It’s been amazing seeing our prayers be answered time after time again. It is incredible to see our friends here accept Christ, realize that God is more than religion, be baptized, get healed, be loved, and gain freedom in their lives.

I have to say, how rampant impurity is in your precious community breaks my heart. It’s evidenced in your mixed up families with four or five or six kids who all have different dads. It’s shown in your countless single moms, with deadbeat ex boyfriends who won’t provide for their children. You can see it in the surprised and doubting eyes of teenagers when they find out the boys and girls on our team aren’t at all sleeping with each other, even though we live in the same house. Kids in your community grow up without any idea that God created purity for such a beautiful purpose, and that marriage is worth waiting for. It kills me that your children and teenagers have virtually no role models for purity, and to see how the spirit of superficial religion just feeds into that, by people thinking appearances are so important, and as look as a relationship looks genuine, it’s OK. God has so much more for you than cheap relationships and fleshly satisfaction, and I so wish and pray that you see that.

You’re going to be hard to leave, Bosocobel. I’m looking forward to our next two weeks of ministry in Montego Bay, but it definitely won’t be the same as the beautiful time we’ve had here. I wish I had more time to spend with your people. I know there’s still so much that needs to be done here, so many more people that need Love. But we’ve done our best and given you our all, we’ve loved fully and prayed hard, and are leaving you with a lot more Love and Light than you had a few weeks ago. You’ve brought so much to my life, and I hope these fingerprints of Jesus stay on your hearts and in your minds for a very long time.

Here’s to an incredible month, you beautiful little Jamaican town. I’ll hold these memories and relationships you’ve given us dear for years to come, and won’t forget your people in my prayers. I don’t think you’ll forget us anytime soon, and I’m so thankful God brought you into our lives, and us into yours.

with ever so much love, Eleah.

Ps: thanks for the great flip flop tan lines.

Solnher, Eleah, & Mirlene at the baby turtle releasing!

A Life Unexpected

So here I sit on a bed in a room in Jamaica while a group of awesome evangelists, pastors, intercessors, prophets, and friends in the making are just below, playing in the ocean. The realization of what is going on in my life just stopped me in my thoughts and I just want to share it with you too.

Just over a year ago I was traveling the country saying my good-byes to family, friends and new acquaintances as I made my way to the US' furthest state, Hawaii. Witnessing God's provision and pleasure as I crossed the miles, I was headed into a life that, come to find out, wasn't really my own. My Discipleship Training School in Kona, Hawaii was a turning point in my life as I unknowingly entered the largest missions training and sending organization in the world! It sounds so funny, but really I had no concept that Youth With A Mission and the term "missionary" were such friends, and I think that had I known that I wouldn't have gone. That aside, I am still learning and growing into what being a missionary is having spent time working in Thailand, Haiti, and now currently in Jamaica. (Photo: Releasing 122 baby Horn billed sea turtles, a severely endangered species, into the Caribbean! Yes, I did get to hold them prior to release!)

It has been a whirlwind of a year with so much to process still. I have spent the last year learning more about God's love for me, His abounding grace, and also that my identity truly does lie with Him. Working with all different peoples, cultures, languages and backgrounds has been a lifetime of experience right there. I never expected to face some of the challenges that I did, nor did I ever think I would be in some of the places and situations that I have found myself. But God is faithful and He has been preparing me from a young age exactly for such kingdom work. There are moments that I look back on the last year and still it hurts what I've seen and experienced, and then moments that I can still hardly comprehend the glory and awe of what they were. 

In the last year I had Thanksgiving in Hawaii with over 150 Christians from over 50 nationalities, all ages, and all walks of life. Spent Christmas Eve worshiping and encouraging believers in a Thai mens prison with 8 sisters in Christ. I spent my birthday in a red-light district, becoming friends with prostitutes.  Have had my heart ripped out seeing trafficked children, and walked as a lantern of hope through streets of complete darkness. I have had the joy of seeing the affect that months of ministry as well as what a single hour of ministry can do in working with my God. He has led to spend the summer in a place still living in destruction as I went to staff the school in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Seeing slabs of concrete hanging from a single rebar strand as people walk under it over a year after the earthquake hit. Have been in the center of mobs trying to gain entrance into a national football (soccer) game that sold over 2,000 tickets more than could fit into the stadium. God has shown me true poverty, learning that all the aid in the world cannot save them, nor give them what they really need. And now seeing a nation that has receives it's recognition because of it's culture of music, partying, and drugs. All the while facing strongholds of fear, lust, pride, addiction, unforgiveness, false doctrine, poverty, religiousness, anger, judgement, bitterness, mockery, death, and confusion and learning how God smites them. Also practically learning how I can use my spiritual and physical gift set to further His kingdom wherever I am; being the ambassador/tool of hope, love and freedom in Christ to multitudes! (Photo: My sweet 15 yr old friend from Myanmar/Burma who works as a vendor in Thailand)

... I have to pause, thinking about all the places I have been; wondering where He is going to lead me this coming year; and just Praising Him for all of it...

In just a year I have come to realize how much I don't want to control my life, rather desiring God to take all of it and run with Him for the rest of my days here. Some would say I've lost it, and they're right. I have lost my life to my beloved, and I have never been happier!  I am so not worthy to be used, to be taken to all these places. Not worthy to be here now, leading a team of 9 amazing young people in their first international/missionary experiences. Just a year ago I freaked out at the term "missionary" and would have told you it was not something I was interested in ever doing. And He has so gently opened my eyes to the calling I have to be an ambassador of His kingdom in the world - wow... I am humbled. Tears fill my eyes in joy and honor of my God, for He is So Worthy of all of me, all of us. 

Speaking at a missions conference in Mandeville, Jamaica

It is my honor and joy to tell you today that as I've been praying about where God wants to lead me come the end of staffing this quarter with YWAM and I believe that He has called me to commit 2 years to stirring His glory in Ireland. I'll expand more on this later, but should it continue to be His will I will be headed to Europe come the spring time. At this point there are very little plans with where I will be staying, who I'll be with, and what I'll actually be doing (outside of street/community ministry, prayer and spiritual warfare for the nation and building relationships to disciple/mentor in His ways) there. For now I am not worrying about it yet, hearing Him say to focus now on what's at hand and let Him put together the details of our trip there. Just Him and I walking together, I in faith and Him in His glory.  

If you read this and He is speaking encouragement, confirmation, or challenging you; or if He shares a word for me I would LOVE to hear it! In Revelation 12:11 it says that we "have conquered [the enemy] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [our] testimony, for [we] loved not [our] lives even unto death." May it be so in my life!

Love Always

Ruined for the Ordinary

I have been living in the capitol of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince, for over 3 months now and I can truthfully say that I'll never be the same. Over the course of these passing weeks I have seen and experienced moments here on earth that are far beyond my comprehension. Watching 49 students arrive in 3 days who are hard, unsure of what they're doing, working through dramatic cultural differences and ultimately overwhelmed with living with 70 other people in one house come to LOVE each other has been astounding! But many other times I am reminded of the life we are living here in Haiti, here's a few daily pictures.

Riding in the back of a truck as we maneuver around gaps in the road, pot holes that could swallow small cars. Watching as a tap-tap drives passed us with about a dozen goats tied to the roof, a small suv comes speeding around the corner dragging 20ft metal rods that have been strapped on to the bumper with noise that could make your ears bleed from the rods on asphalt.

Weaving through paths of mud going from tent to tent where over 200 people, young and old, are living in appalling conditions. Passing out zip-lock baggies to families to keep important papers like birth certificates, passports, bank notices and more as a hurricane threatens to wipe out their lives - again. Praying that the next time I visit, all those faces I'll see again.

Sitting on the balcony of my house watching as a young troublemaker gets beaten by a passerby who caught him throwing rocks at the girls carrying 5 gallon water buckets on their heads. The screams grip at my heart as I pray for peace to overrule and for love to destroy the fear that has held this nation captive for far too long.

Other things here remind you where you are like when you chose to risk disease from mosquitoes and sleep uncovered (with bug spray)on the balcony rather than wake up wet. In the last 2 weeks we've taken 5 staff/students in the hospital with typhoid, dengue, gastrointestinal problems, and severe asthma. Coming home to Belville the other night from being at the hospital nearly all day I found myself nursing a few more who had fevers, migraines, stomach aches, and colds.

Until these past 3 weeks our house of 80 has hardly had any serious health issues and we've been praising the Lord daily for the grace and blessing He's covered us with in health. As we prepare to leave for outreach in the next 7-10 days it comes as no surprise to us that the devil would try and attack us in this way. We are specifically praying that this grace covering is renewed to last for the next week until departure.

Personally it is hard to even comprehend all of this and the true reality of these circumstances.  Dare I let it become "normal" for me to see thousands of people living in tents made from sides of 18-wheelers, tarps and odd cut lumber? Or to see women walking from tent city to water pump with a 5 gallon bucket of water on their heads? It's not clean but it's all they can get and I can only pray they find clean water for drinking. There's the risk that seeing voodoo idols and the signs of witch doctors scared on people's flesh become so common that I forget how far from His design this is. It simply cannot become normal for me to believe that nearly every person in this country has been involved in some sort of demon worship (voodoo) whether it was intentional or not.  Maybe it's become normal to know that every day something that I could never have imagined up will happen to me. Something is wrong here, but it's out of a heart completely captivated by the potential in these people that I say that. I pray to not see things with a calloused heart, but that I would remember the truth of these people's life circumstances anew each day.

This country has been hard to me, but I will never say that it was too much for the Spirit of God in me. I feel that anything I face in the future will never again take me off my feet in disbelief. Over and over again the Lord has proved His faithfulness to hold me high and dry in all places and situations. Above anything I have learned here is that, by walking in the opposite spirit, there truly is no reason to have fear.

God has taken me through red lit streets in Phuket where women live in an industry of sex and trafficking, where I am told to not even look down some streets lest I be killed or kidnapped. He has brought me through the chaos of Haiti where there is no silence to the voices and spirits of fear, anger and bitterness. I have walked through places where "hell" is the best term to describe, and yet my God has been faithful to never let me out of His sight or hide from mine. He has provided over $127,000 USD in a matter of months to support all of our Haitian students in this DTS. The God I have chosen to lose my life to, He is my Beloved, whom I pray to never turn from. It is He who I am willing to die every day for, just to live a life of extraordinary love with. It must be Him who I allow to be Lord over my anger and pain, over my weakness He reigns and it must be me who responds to His calling without wavering. I trust His voice, and pray that I will move in obedience every day of my life without doubt and unbelief.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

Love Always

"I'm a Doctor!"

Last weekend the DTS split roughly into our outreach teams for a 5 day mini-outreach in Haiti! Team Jamaica left with the Benin team for the first day working in City Solei, the largest and most dangerous slum/tent city in the Western Hemisphere. There we worked with 2 doctors and 2 nurses, who'd come in from the States, running a medical clinic for the residents. It was a crazy day and we saw everything from severely malnourished children, infected wounds, STDs, drug addicts, broken bones and hundreds of people just wanting something from us.  At times the UN police would have to come and keep people from full out rioting against our clinic because they were unhappy because we weren't giving them all the attention they wanted.

Patients waiting to be admitted to the clinic in City Solei.

The next morning my team and our doctor from Washington, Dr. Noel, rose early to begin the voyage to Kenscoff - a beautiful remote mountain village. We arrived Sunday morning in time for church and then spent the afternoon hiking up a muddy mountain and hiding from the cold rain in our host's home and planning out the next day when we were to begin our clinic in the church. After a Freezing night of "sleep" we rose and headed up to the church at 8am to find the pews filled with waiting patients - before we'd even begun! The next 2 days in the clinic we saw everything from skin funguses; intestinal worms; nasty infected wounds, a boy that had a pin placed his elbow a year before whose mother had not been able to take him back to Port-Au-Prince to receive physical therapy and who therefore was unable to move/bend his arm; 90 year old men and women with pains we clarified as arthritis; youth and children with vaginal and prostate infections; asthmatics; anemia; diarrhea; flu; fevers and more... I have never experienced anything like it. 


The mountains were beautiful but even beyond the scenery were the villager who so graciously welcomed and cared for us during our stay. Here are a few pictures from our time in Kenscoff, Haiti.

 [Pictures coming soon! Hopefully... if the electricity comes on again... lol]

Flying through July

The last few weeks here in Haiti have been nothing short of thrilling!

July 4^th we took the DTS students to a beautiful beach and had a Brazilian BBQ to celebrate the day! That night we were invited to one our students, Rodberry’s, church in St Marc.. The church fed us a delicious dinner and welcomed us to run the service that night for them. It was so inspiring to see specifically our Haitian staff guys running this church service – dancing like nobody’s watching, preaching, and truly leading the congregation to worship our heavenly Father. The rest of the week we spent joined with the St Marc YWAM base – a beautiful base with green grass, soccer field, volleyball and basketball courts, swimming pool, and running water! Coming from living in our Belville house where 90 of us live without running water or the room to play anything but a , it was quite the treat!  As beautiful as it was, within 24 hours of being at the base I had one of our students, “Big Z,” come to me saying “I’m ready to go home – to Belville. There I felt like I had family, here I feel alone all the time.” In 48hours almost all the students were ready to go “home” – so surprising for the staff who were Loving having space to get alone and rest.

By the end of last week several people were beginning to get ill, I included and by Friday night I had a fever and burning sinuses. Thinking it was a sinus infection, not uncommon to get here after a month without rain and dirt roads, we started me on some heavy medicine hoping to knock it out quick. Turns out I’m likely allergic to the medication and acquired some odd reactions, but for 3 days I fought with that infection which eventually fell into my chest, causing me to have a nasty cough all week. By Wednesday the school leader suggested I go to the other house YWAM Port-Au-Prince has to rest and recover. It was a wonderful 24 hours of near silence and so welcomed! Returning the next day I still wasn’t well and had my Haitian brother, Philipson, ready to take me to the hospital if I wasn’t improving by the next day. Praise the Lord I’m on the upward rise of this sickness and have not needed anything but a handy roll of toilet paper and bottle of water! Many others are getting sick which is the first time we’ve had a problem with it in the house, but it has also caused some extreme exhaustion and a dampening of spirits.

Even all that aside, this week was great as a team from the States- many of whom were in my DTS last year- with Water4Life, a water technology organization based out of Kona. The team has been teaching us how to build Water catchment tanks, filtration systems, and teaching the importance of clean water for communities.  Applying hands on learning we have been building a tank up the road by the public well  - and it has been met with such enthusiasm and participation that even the local community has been participating up at the well! The students and staff alike are really enjoying this teaching of practical mercy ministries and look forward to building a few tanks come this weekend!

Along with water we have 5 medical professionals ranging from anesthesiologists, pediatricians, and nurses, coming in to work along side us in conducting many clinics in and near Port-Au-Prince. Beginning with health care courses this week, taught by Connie Kline, we’ll have lessons on primary health care and have been blessed with boxes of medical equipment and supplies for the trip!

Teddy, one of our student's children praying with Derose.

This past weekend a few of the students organized a weekend "burn" of 24/7 prayer and worship in our prayer room (a gravel carport with makeshift benches and chairs pulled from the classroom). The time I spent with them over the weekend is probably one of my favorite moments here in Haiti with the DTS students. There have been other times, but seeing them take initiative to seek after the heart of God and beginning to walk into true intimacy with the Lord!

Each day has been packed with challenge, revelation, hardship, and GLORY! With God’s Spirit moving visibly through the house and those living in it. Praise the Lord for continued grace in living quarters as there are now about 100 people living in this one house. His grace is enough and no severe drama, fighting, problems have really come up in the month (plus) of our living together in such extreme circumstances. I could go on, but here is just so much going on here in the Port-Au-Prince, Haiti DTS it is hard to keep up to date on the going-ons during the school. My Jamaica team is doing well and finally growing into a family as we learn more about each other. 2 of our Haitians still have yet to get their passports but we're hoping to get visa applications sent by Sunday. The applications have to be sent to Miami because there is no Jamaican Embassy here in Haiti after the earthquake, and then they'll be mailed to our next speaker who lives in the states and can carry it here for us (the mail system is that bad). So we're just praying for favor, finances to cover the visa application, and timing to  work out for us to get the visas quickly! Please continue to pray for us all! We have been blessed, but need more of HIM in our lives!!!

Love Always

Worship in the classroom - side view without most of the class in the frame ;) 

When God Multiplies...

Water. Food. Space.

When we arrived to no water well for the house and were to be purchasing water to fill our cistern there was no way we could imagine supplying a house of 80. In the first week of DTS we cracked down creating a bucket system to manage. 

Bucket showers are ways of getting clean with between 1-2 gallons used for one bathing time. "showering" can only be once a day as we have 90 people using 5 bathrooms. Because it is so expensive to fill the cistern we decided to make use of the green pool in our yard and use that water to flush the toilets, following the expression "if it's brown, flush it down; if it's yellow, let it mellow." (I'm sure you're getting the picture.) We buy filtered water for drinking only with is about $1.20 per 5 gallons - this is no trouble a'toll and we're really blessed to have only run out of drinking water 3 times in the last month!
Laundry is done by hand in a bucket system that I have yet to master apparently - every time I work on it the Haitians alway laugh, though many have complimented me that I'm "almost Haitian" - I thank my time in Thailand each time.  Many of our Haitians have taken it upon themselves to serve us foreigners in doing our laundry (we joke that it's because they're tired of smelling our clothes haha) but have really blessed us in this.

2 weeks into the school some neighbors opened up their cistern to us to pul water from as they needed to drain it to clean. So we have been so privileged to be able to walk just across the street to get buckets of water for showering, laundry and kitchen needs rather than the walk down the road a whiles to collect it from a hand pump open to the public. Living in this situation truly gives you a respect and compassion for the millions of people around the world who live like this every day of their lives... we are so privileged.

When we began the school many of us were full of doubt with how this water situation was going to work. We spent hours and days trying to find an organization or well digger who would come and bless us with a new well - only to be denied and find that they were months booked. Yet I can say now that since the school began 4 weeks ago, we have only had to fill our cistern twice!!! We honestly have no idea how this is possible but can only praise the Lord for multiplying our water! There were staff meetings where we have laughed together, none of us willing to look into the cistern to see how much is left because we're afraid we'll rob the Lord of His blessing by saying it needs to be refilled! What a funny position to be in!

Not only in the water situation, but in physical space in this house - we have seen the rooms expand as what was comfortable for the 25 of us living in staff training multiplied into 90 people!!! Again, we though this was going to be near impossible and could only pray for a miracle as we prepared for the students to arrive. And sure enough we have easily managed to have all of us living in this house together! Eating, sleeping, dancing, working, and conducting a full lecture phase out of an eight room house, 5 bathrooms, and one kitchen! The kitchen was at first a major problem with sanitary concerns coming in all the time to now servicing 100 people per meal and hardly anyone getting sick.

We have seen water, food, beds, space, and time multiplied to fill the needs of this Discipleship Training School as we train up a generation of youth to chase after intimacy with the Lord! And now we are fully trusting and believing for the provision of finances for ALL of our staff and students as we prepare for outreach! For example, the team of 9 I am leading to Jamaica in total needs $18,000 - and we are fully confident that the Lord will provide that for us! Check out Team Jamaica! to learn more!

Praise the Lord for His Miraculous Provision!!!

Love Always

The DTS has begun in Port-Au-Prince!

We are 9 days into the DTS here in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and already the Lord has been moving in astounding ways!

50 students arrived Thursday through Sunday and we spent those days allowing some time for rest after traveling and getting to know one another. Monday began lecture phase as Sean and other staff members shared and taught on several topics in including what the goals and values of YWAM are, forgiveness, leaving your family, intercession, and sexual purity.  One Friday a team of staff joined to teach on purity, splitting into guys and girls for the morning.  For the girls the testimonies that were shared spoke directly into many of the girl’s lives and after hours of teaching and sharing the Lord showed up in an incredible way. There was a very transparent time of confession, encouragement, and healing followed, which lasted well through lunch.  It was such a moving time and my heart truly breaks for the injustices that some of these young woman have endured. Praise the Lord for restoration, healing, and His justice! After finally breaking for lunch we all joined together again in the classroom and went through a general sharing of what had been taught to the guys and girls. Afterwards the men brought up buckets and shared how they wished to wash our feet.  There was some doubt from the Haitian women who for years have been abused, oppressed and manipulated. It broke my heart, but as the men went on to explain their hearts you could see the shift begin happening in many of the girls’ faces.  All the guys sat and waited on the Lord to tell them which women’s feet to wash.  I sat watching as walls began to come down, as deep pain was released, forgiveness given and trust began being built. It was a beautiful moment and I couldn’t help but pause and praise God for such an incredible group of people.  One of the Haitian men on staff, Vougly, came up to me and as he began washing my feet the Lord began working in my heart, bringing up offenses and memories from the past, washing each one. Leading me back to my seat Vougly prayed over me one of the sweetest prayers I’ve ever felt and even though I couldn’t understand his Creole prayer – the Spirit was truly working. As he held me in a hug afterwards I felt my own heart soften as peace and gratitude overwhelmed me. What a way to end the first week!

Saturday we traveled by bus to a beach about 2 hours away and spent the day swimming, playing volleyball, and eating a delicious BBQ - cooked by the very well loved Voltar, a Brazilian YWAMer who volunteers with us.  And then Sunday was open for students to go to church with the local Haitian or do whatever really. I chose to do laundry and then went on an ADVENTURE into the city with a few others. Any time one goes into the city it’s an adventure and this time it included tap-taps, moto rides, sketch moving trucks with holes cut out of the sides for air and hitch-hiking to get to the top of the mountain, over looking the city.

This week our speaker is Dudley Weiner, and he has been sharing on living the in the spirit and spiritual warfare.  I have personally loved his presence here and having him walk us through many situations of manifestations that we’ve encountered already here during the last few days as well as getting to talk with him personally – learning about walking in my giftings and understanding more of my own story.

The worship times here in Haiti are unbelievable and His presence has not once been long to answer the hunger these students have.  Sprits are very active here. Demons showing themselves, peace overwhelming, a spirit of joy took inhabitance here on day 3 and has remained to some extent. Many of the staff are beginning to walk into the gift of discernment and o it has been interesting and quite a journey learning how to walk day to day here. For myself it has definitely been a time of learning, growing and experiencing Him in new ways.

We are only a few days into the DTS and I am so overwhelmed with what the Lord is doing, the next 5 months are going be life altering! I am trying to keep you all updated as best I can, it is so hard to do that here though. Electricity here is unreliable and usually comes on for a couple hours a day if we're lucky. We are still in need of water, the situation has been Super covered by His grace and it's not too bad, but it hasn't rained in 2 weeks and we will need it to soon now. Also, I am still needing $2,000 of support to come in for me to continue working here - most of that will go towards the 2 month outreach I am co-leading come September, the rest covers living expenses and a ticket home towards the end of November! 

Psalm 146:1-2, 5-10

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Love Always

Ah 'Ayti...

Our first weekend here we went out into different parts of Port-au-Prince and asked the Haitians what they were hopeful and honestly, I was blown away with the answers we received. These people are so ready to chase God, they just need deliverance from the spirits of rejection, fear, miscommunication and despair! I’m ready to see the change here, even if it is years from now and I’m somewhere else, my heart is so for this nation!

Last weekend we went out under the verses in Matthew 10 where Jesus sends the disciples out into the corners of the world saying, " Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town..” We as staff split into six teams of 3-6 and went into the corners of Haiti. The teams went with out food, extra clothes, contacts, money and some even without shoes, trusting that the Lord would provide.

Sunday morning came and at 4am my team of 6 began our journey to Jeremie! We felt God allow us to take money for the bus and so we bought our tickets and piled into the PACKED bus drawing plenty of attention as the only “blancs” or white people. The whole weekend wasn’t easy, nor was it incredibly pleasant, but over the 3 days out the Lord painted the vision of His restoration here in Haiti!

I love Haiti so much, my heart is so sad that there is such evil here. It doesn’t sit very heavy though, Praise God, although the spiritual atmosphere has physically worn at me already. God has taught me much in the last few years about unconditional loving people while not accepting or agreeing with what they do or participate in. This has proven so helpful in relating and having compassion for the people of this nation.

Things have been going very well here and I am so honored to be on this team – each staff member blows me away with their gifting’s and how God has worked in their lives! It is something we all are feeling, this awe that God brought us all together for this pioneering DTS!

Students begin arriving in 5 days and I am so thrilled to get this school going! We are pining down outreach locations and it looks like I’ll be co-leading to Jamaica, but I’ll know for sure in a couple days.

The Lord has been so faithful to provide comfort and protection for me here and I look forward to seeing His provision continue as I work on raising funds– still needing to raise about $2,500 by the beginning of June so I may co-lead a 2 month outreach for the students and then also have enough for a ticket to return home! ;) Please continue to pray for me as I walk through life here in Haiti – an adventure for sure!

This life we live, mindfully participating in His Kingdom, is so incredible! What a God we serve, who calls us “friend” I am in awe of the wonder and blessing!

Love Always

Hey friends!

So much has happened this week during "staff training" and I only wish I could share it all with you! 

We have 26 crazy for God staff members age 19-45 living together here in a house called Bel Vil.  We live in a nice area of Port-Au-Prince and are learning so much about Haitians!

Sean, our school leader arrived Saturday evening and on Sunday all the staff broke into groups and went out into different parts of Port-Au-Prince in search of "hope." Our assignment was to ask locals what the physical and spiritual needs are in Haiti (using the Creole we are trying to learn). Also to observe the hope that can be seen if you look for it. I will link those testimonies of hope here soon!

Monday and Tues we spent working hard in training and getting the school ready! We have one building here with 5 rooms (2 smaller rooms in a side building) that all 60-70 people will be living in together when the students arrive! It is going to be crazy with roughly 15-20 people per room - but it's also going to be amazing! Wednesday the Lord really led and all morning we spent in His thick presence as we worshiped the Father, anointed the four corners of the property. Sean anointed each of us and we him, praying for a heavier anointing of the spiritual gifts. This team is so gifted and incredible, each one of us is very special and different - yet I can't imagine a better team! Yesterday and today we went through more training, working on preparations, and are really focusing on praying for the students by name. For those of you headed here soon - we are SO EXCITED to spend the next 5 months with you! 

On Sunday we will again break into groups, having received the word in Matthew (10:6-15) where Jesus send out the disciples telling them to, "go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." 

We felt the Lord lead us to going on a "faith journey"to the corners of the nation. Many groups will not be taking anything but water and sunscreen with them, forfeiting our "safety comfort" of money, contacts, food, and the promise of a bed to sleep on.  It sounds crazy but we are so confident that it is what the Lord wishes us to do - it is seen as a complete joy as our faith and belief in His provision is expanded in our hearts. 

The way all of us are growing and uniting so quickly astounds me and I am so thrilled that each one of these amazing Godly men and women are here at this time! This summer is truly going to be an incredible, life changing, challenging, glory filled season as we lead 50 students through DTS in Haiti! 

Prayer Requests:

• The spirit of miscommunication is extremely strong here - often times on of us will be speaking to another and they will hear something completely different than what we said. It's so bizar, and we are not standing for that spirit to have any hold on this base. 
• Faith Journey weekend! Please pray for our protection, that our words and actions mirror those of Christ, and that our faith and belief grows faster than a bean stalk!
• Health! Some sickness has popped up here and there as bodies adjust to Haiti.
• WATER~ In the earthquake last year, our house's water well was destroyed. We are having to pay a ton of money for a truck to fill our cistern twice a week and have been making rain catchers. It's do-able right now, but we only have about 25/70 people living in the house right now. Please pray for favor with contractors, and that the well can be fixed!!! 

Thank you!!

Love Always

9 DAYS until HAITI!

I'm Headed to HAITI!

In just a few days (May 17th 2011), I am flying to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti to join Youth with a Mission (YWAM) as staff for the first Discipleship Training School in the capitol city! This DTS in Port au Prince aims to address issues of poverty and injustice in a nation and a world gone very wrong. Believing that God has called me to those with both physical and spiritual need after disasters, I know that while it may not be easy, it is exactly where I need to be. 


Last year a disastrous earthquake shook the nation, bringing Haiti to the top of the news internationally as this third-world country fell into even deeper pits of poverty, chaos, and corruption. The quake was centered in the governmental area of the capitol which resulted in the deaths of many of the leaders in the country. Our DTS will focus largely on raising up Haiti’s next generation of leaders with strong character and a passion for a biblical world view, as Haiti positions herself to be a huge blessing to the world! 


The school will encourage and equip young adults to be voice for the voiceless: loving the orphaned, praying for the sick, and bringing practical solutions to people’s daily physical needs. I am so excited that God has called me to Haiti at this time and am thrilled to watch and be apart of the great change that is coming to this beautifully broken nation!

Follow the link to watch the Port-Au-Prince, Haiti On-Location DTS 2011 Promo Video!

There are a few ways that you can be apart of this journey too!!!

I need a total of $5000, which will include all living/flight/insurance expenses for the 6-7 months I've committed, by June! Already I have raised about $1000 and earned several hundred while working at home the last 2 months, but there is still a large need for support.  With a non-refundable ticket in hand, I am confidently going to Port-Au-Prince, knowing that the rest of the funding will come in!  Please pray about how much you should give to help me stay to Haiti!

Ways to Give:

Click on the "Donate" button to the right to give through PayPal

OR

If you would like your donation to be Tax-Deductable

Checks can be made out to "YWAM HAITI" and sent to

 YWAM Haiti 

P.O Box 236 

Akron, PA, 17501, USA 

If you chose to send a check, It is IMPORTANT that that you add a separate note, indicating that it goes specifically to "Marisa Watson - Port Au Prince Haiti DTS -Staff Support"! THANK YOU!!! :)

Also, I send out a monthly newsletter, briefly describing how things are going and maybe giving a testimony/story from my experiences in Haiti! Anyone is welcomed to subscribe and you can quickly do that by filling out the "join my mailing list" form on the right, or by emailing your name and e-mail to lovealways.marisa@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for partnering with me as I "go and make disciples of nations"... of Haiti! I am so honored and humbled that God would use me as a vessel of His love and look forward to updating you soon!

The capitol building remains in the same state as it has for over a year ago when the earthquake struck.

Love Always

Graduating to a Tsunami

Graduation night celebrations were in full swing when news of a coming tsunami hit the media with an ETA : 3am

9:30pm Planning to head down to the Kona Inn for some delicious Mud Pie on the seaside, our outreach team of lovely ladies was chattering with excitement and mixed emotions at the recent graduation from our Justice Discipleship Training School! We were headed off campus when a friend on staff let us know that one of the largest earthquakes in history had just rocked Japan and was sending a tsunami our way! Immediately there was a change in the atmosphere as we all registered just what that meant.

In Thailand, but a few years ago, a massive tsunami wiped out thousands of homes and businesses on the island we had just spent over a month ministering to. Thousands were killed, businesses destroyed, buildings demolished, and families scattered leaving many of the Thai people in the south mourning, homeless, poverty stricken and lost amongst the shambles of debris and their gods. The damage was traumatic and, although they rebuilt quickly, the impact was a lasting one that we noticed while working there February-April. Standing on the shores of a beach called Ya Noi, there was a plaque on the hillside to remeber all those killed in the tsunami of 2004. Taking in what that meant we imagined what it had been like to experience such a traumatic incident. We had not an inkling of thought that just a month later we would that the same disaster was possibly coming upon our own lovely paradise of an island.

10pm The reactions were all different and after learning that the YWAM base we lived was above the tsunami warning area, peace and anticipation set in. After making calls, sending txts and spreading the word, a few of us decided to walk down to the ABC store for some snacks since the tsunami is several hours away. I send a message to my family letting them know I am fine and pray that they don't worry too much. Waling down to Kona's Coconut Grove, the hot spot for tourists, there was hardly a difference in the atmosphere with people at meals, drinks, walking along the coast. At the ABC check-out line I got stuck between some intense conversational banter between a tourist and a local who had very different views on the tsunami.

Back in Tennessee at the first update about any natural disaster, be it a tornado, flood, or heaven forbid SNOW, everyone flocks the stores for bread, milk and toilet paper; but here in Hawaii I have observed that the rush on the grocery was limited to water.

12am The alarms go off every hour. Ear piercing. Brain-rattlingly loud. All I wanted to do was burry myself into the ground to escape the noise! People are evacuated from their shoreside hotels to places further up the mountain side. Friends who'd been housed in hotels because the base was so full started showing up, sleeping bags and blankets in hand. The concrete Ohana court, normally used for worship gatherings, sports, shows and large lectures is now the tsunami refugee location for all YWAM family. The big screen has the news updates running, sound system plays radio reports as they come, and a live stream video being broadcast across the globe shows what is going on in the court. Everyone's bundled up and either sleeping, playing cards, or watching the news while catching up with one another. It's cold on the concrete and a small group of us are all hanging out on sleeping bags just waiting for what ever it is that's about to happen. What is this tsunami going to be like? We all are wondering what the morning light will reveal.

3:30am We have been waiting with anticipation and finally watch the first waves hit Hawaii. Reports vary from 11 inches to 6 feet. Staying up to watch as the news showed the water getting sucked out for hundreds of yards was cool, but I eventually went to sleep. The first wave will hit our island in about an hour and but most of us find watching the waves do what they've always done not as exciting to watch on the news...

4:30am The first group from my DTS will be leaving on a shuttle soon. Their flights leaving around 7am, we all wake up to find out that the tsunami is not just one wave, but several and that downtown is shut down. The first wave was small increase, so no one is concerned. Here's a link to what the first waves looked like on Kona.

8am Flights have been delayed- we didn't know it at the time but several people would be shuttled to and fro as their flights got pushed back, and back, and back. Tsunami waves are coming in still so downtown is closed though several people have gone down to take pictures. It's worse than we thought it was going to be and the damage to our island is the worst of all the islands. Welcome to Big Island where no one panics at the tsunami underway but who face the effects with amazement.

check out this Journeyman's video see what one of the waves that hit Kona's shore was really like, keeping in mind that the first wave hit around 4am and was not half the size.

38 hours later I go downtown for lunch and saw some of the sever damage this tsunami caused. Walking along the street these are some of the pictures of what it was like.

(The bottom floor of King Kam')

(Ali'i Drive - the major road through Kona's downtown-

on the other side of the wall you can see the ocean)

I have officially graduated from my Discipleship Training School, and can Praise God that I made it out alive! Please continue to pray for the Japanese victims of this tsunami, their loss far outweighs our own. God Bless them.

Love Always