Source Matla, the Landscape, and a Boy

(Posted by Stephanie Newman)

Well, here we sit in the town of Source Matla. We are laying the foundation of the house we are building. Christy and I managed to sneak away and find a grassy patch, and that is where I am blogging from.

Wow! The guys are working hard mixing and spreading the concrete. There are so many Haitians helping, watching and playing. Someone brought coloring books and the kids are loving those. This land is stunningly beautiful. We are surrounded by sea and mountains. God has been here with us every step of the way. No injuries or illness... just a few tumbles and encounters with thorn bushes. Kirk has managed to fall a least once every day... hehe.

Most of us are having emotions that are hard to describe. We are having the best time and also a very hard time. It's hard to comprehend everything that we are seeing. But it's also so joyful and fulfilling.

Today some of us got to help take a three-year-old little boy to the clinic on the mission. He had never been to the doctor before. He had a large mass on his belly and we were concerned. It cost $5 to send the boy to the clinic. That is 30 Haitian dollars and most Haitians don't make that much money in a day. They are still at the clinic so pray that it's nothing serious. 

We are still in need of your prayers. And we feel God working in so many ways.

Stephanie

VBS (Continued)

(continued from prior - we are on limited time and I'm not sure when it runs out)

Our journey finally brought us to the center of a small ..clearing where there were several dwellings where people lived. The children all gathered around us and we sang a few songs with them. I then sat down on the ground and told them the story of Daniel and the lions den. The kids also sang a Creole song for us and were doing a sort of dance where they would kick their feet in and out. One of the highlights for me was when on of the older men in the village (looked to be about 60 -70 ) who was on crutches came out on his crutches and was doing his best to dance along with the children. The smile on his face was infectious. Such joy with so little makes me re-evalute my priorties.

I'll close for now and try to give others a chance to add their thoughts.

Love to you all,

Christy-

VBS in the villaage

Greetings from Haiti,

Again today was a hard but amazing day. Filling those holes using only the wheelbarrows, shovels, and hands required strength and stamina that only God could provide (especially this 37 year old mama). I was so proud to be working with the group I was working with because no one stopped except for the necessary water breaks and kept plugging on.

Afterwards, a group of us went with a translator into the village to conduct a VBS with the kids. Several of our youth, Katie, Nelson, Jacob, Lorin, and Courtney along with Rick, Colby, and myself followed our intrepreter along a path that lead us through banana groves, over streams, deeper into (what seemed to me) the jungle. Kids joined us all along the way as we were walking. It seemed that each child that joined us picked a person to be "their" person. Ti Ti Bobby chose me. As we walked along I asked his name, and he asked mine and we both kept repeating the other's name. The experience was almost surreal. I looked down at the small hand in mine and at the surroundings around me and almost couldn't believe I was really here.

Less than 24 hours to "GO" time!!

I am sitting here at 1:20 A.M. and we are less than 24 hours away from our departure from Huntsville to Birmingham - a journey that will eventually lead us to Haiti. We are meeting at church at 11:30 Friday night, prayer at 11:45, and send off at 12:00 midnight. Our flight leaves at 6:30 A.M from Birmingham.

So how am I feeling on this eve of our departure as sleep eludes me? A combination of thoughts and feelings are racing through my mind. Excitement for sure to begin this journey we have been planning for months and to see the amazing things I believe God will do through us, to us, and for us. Some apprehension about stepping out into the unknown and the loss of control that comes with that. Also a little sadness about leaving my family behind. I'm sure each my fellow travelers are experiencing similar feelings, so we would all appreciate your prayers.

A song that has really touched me since our praise band sang it last month and has become somewhat of a theme song of this trip for me is "God of this City" by Chris Tomlin. Here are the lyrics:

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

This is what I keep reminding myself of - God is all of these things. The line "You're the Hope to the hopeless" seems especially appropriate. I'm sure after the earthquake, many people in Haiti felt hopeless and many possibly still do. God is our source of hope and my prayer is that in the coming week, we can share that Hope with those we come in contact with.


"God of This City" by Aaron Boyd, Andrew McCann, Ian Jordan, Peter Comfort, Peter Kernaghan, Richard Bleakley. Copyright 2006 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing), sixsteps Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing), CCLI Song# 5037070