Hello Everyone!
As the six month mark approaches since the day I said goodbye to part of my very soul, I am reflecting on the mighty works of our God in the midst of it all. Throughout this four-plus year journey with cancer, Tony and I learned many things. One of the main things we learned was to trust God completely in EVERYTHING. It seems that after giving up literally everything we had built over the years to move to Haiti twelve years ago, you would think we could say we had little more to learn about trusting God completely. However, the word “completely” means in all things, and that includes our future together. Probably the biggest thing we learned through the whole cancer experience was to understand what “healing” truly is and what a miracle salvation is. When we embrace what Paul exclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” we are able to better understand what it means to trust God completely….even in sickness and death.
So many of you have followed this blog over the years as I have posted updates on Haiti, and it means so much to me. I haven’t posted much on it over the last few years just because I post most updates on social media. However, I decided to go ahead and post here for those who do not use social media. If you have never followed before and are getting this through a link on social media, I would love for you to subscribe to the blog so you will get the email in the future because we need many people praying for our Haitian friends. I also need for you all to continue praying for me as I adjust to this new normal without Tony, and as I continue to handle “all things Galette Chambon” in Haiti on my own. After all, there is still A LOT going on in Haiti, and God is still moving. He is definitely not done with Haiti nor is He done with me in this mission. I am committed to my calling as a missionary to Haiti, and God uses me daily to minister to our people in Galette Chambon in many different ways. I just have to do it long distance and in tandem with our Haitian leadership on the ground.
Our mission at But God Ministries is to cover the SPHERES as explained on our website (Spiritual, Physical, H20, Education, Roofs, Economic Development, and Soil). Right now, we are having to be extra creative in order to continue managing all of these aspects of the mission with the presence of a dangerous gang threatening our village every day, but with God’s guidance and provision, our Haitian leadership and I work together every single day to find ways to get it done.
Over these twelve years of ministry, I have rarely shared with people what I do day in and day out. I would rather share what GOD does and how he uses so many of his people to carry out the work He desires to complete. However, it occurred to me recently that when people don’t SEE me doing things in Haiti, it might be easy to assume I’m no longer working with our mission there. After all, I have been posting more about my art and such lately simply because it is necessary for me to supplement my income now with my art, and that must be promoted if it is to become viable for me. Therefore, since many of you may not know what my day looks like as a long-distance, displaced missionary, I thought I would take you through a typical month for me. During the first two weeks of each month, I am busy working on a wide variety of things. These include sponsorship updates, writing bios and posting new sponsorship kids on the website, editing school photos, posting the photos on student web pages, collecting receipts of expenses in Haiti and turning them in to the BGM office, collecting photos that are sent to me by various Haitian employees to prepare them for social media posts, working on class rolls, removing students who have left the village, adding new students who have enrolled, managing the goat sharing program, getting updates on our university students and the professional school, etc. I actually manage nine different online spreadsheets because if I don’t stay organized, I can easily miss something. I have spreadsheets for sponsorship, class rolls, uniform distributions, textbook distributions, backpack distributions, payroll, goat program, university students, and the Haiti Operations Account (HOA).
On about the 15th of each month, I start preparing for the next month at school by placing food orders for all four schools in the village and requesting the wire from the BGM office. This is due on the 20th of each month. Next, I start preparing payroll. We must have payroll configured and complete for about 130 employees by the 24th. Each month there are changes because we are constantly paying for things like books, supplies, uniforms, seminars, building projects, printing orders, goats, food distributions, etc. I also add in any changes in employees and record their names and account numbers and salary. This happens more often in Haiti, especially right now, because families evacuate and sometimes an employee leaves the country. The spreadsheet must balance out before we can wire it. Once it is wired to Vladimir, he transfers funds to Didier (our administrator in Haiti) and Moliere (our school superintendent). Then all three have groups of people in Haiti that they transfer funds to until all employees are paid and all special projects are funded. After payroll is finalized, I transfer funds to the three wifi hotspots that our university students use for school and then Didier and I start going over the HOA records to make sure we have all the receipts we need to turn in and the online spreadsheet balances and we determine if we need to send in more funds for that account. I try to have all of this done before the first of the next month so that we start fresh and I can return to my duties managing the sponsorship program and other projects. It is an ever-constant cycle that doesn’t really slow down until around July once school is out, but it is usually at that time when I am trying to catch up on things that I have had to set aside until I have a little more time. This includes things like sending photos of delivered goats to donors, sending photos of sponsor children receiving backpacks, posting these to the web pages of each child, and handling special projects such as VBS, well repairs, painting classrooms, building new classrooms, building houses, ordering Bibles and hymnals for the church, etc. It is sometimes overwhelming but ALWAYS exciting and fulfilling to be able to continue to be used by God to continue all of these things.
Going back to the SPHERES, you might be interested in knowing specifically some of the ways we have been continuing the mission God called us to. Here is a list of a few things that have happened this past year:
Spiritual – Our church in Galette Chambon was finally able to open back up and Pastor Eliacin is ministering and discipling members who have stayed in the village and new families who have moved in. We purchased two cases of new Bibles and two cases of new hymnals for the church and they are slowly rebuilding membership after having to be closed for over six months. We also continue to teach Bible classes in both BGM elementary schools. Every child, from first grade through sixth grade hears the Gospel daily and is discipled to learn the Word of God and apply it to their lives. We also have an employee who conducts devotionals and Bible studies with our university students each week.
Physical – We have not yet been able to re-open the clinic yet because of continued gang presence, however, we do have a plan for helping members of the community that need special medical care at a hospital in the back of the village and we have done so with at least 20 people over the last 8 months. We also arranged for Dr. Rose to come do check-ups with our 15 university students and she helped three of them seek specialized medical care in Port au Prince for medical needs they had. We also hired a new first aid worker for the schools. This year, she will work between all four of our schools, giving attention to any medical and first aid needs with our students.
H20 – We repaired the hand pump well near Hope Center and we are working with a local village organization to repair other wells in the village. We also pay for water tanks to be filled at the schools each week so that water will be available for cooking and washing hands and cleaning each day.
Education – In Galette Chambon, we continue to run a pre-school, two elementary schools, a high school, and a professional school. We also have 15 university students who graduated from our high school going to a Christian university in Port au Prince. All are receiving the very best education available by highly qualified teachers. Our students regularly score very high on their national exams, and they are fed a hot meal daily in school.
Roofs – We continue to build houses when we can in the village for families in need. That has slowed down a bit over the last year, but it has not stopped. We are also currently building an additional classroom at our Maranatha school. The building program will pick back up as we are able to safely get supplies and build.
Economic Development – The three main businesses that we helped Haitians build continue to function in spite of civil unrest. The “New Style Tailor Shop” continues to make all of our school uniforms even though they have had to be very resourceful in doing so. The copy business also continues to function satisfying all of the photocopy needs for our schools and sponsorship program. The goat program also continues to grow as goats are shared with families every, single month, and the herd has grown to a point that they don’t have to go to market anymore to have goats to give. All three of these businesses still need my input and supervision since BGM pays for these things, but the Haitians run the businesses. Our Hope Center Professional School also continues to educate members of the community in a variety of trades in order to prepare them for starting their own businesses in the various trade areas.
Soil – Each year, we purchase beans and distribute them to local farmers for planting throughout the village. This year, we distributed beans to 40 local farmers. We have also ordered seed packs from a US organization that will be given to families throughout the community for planting. We also have two men who continue to farm the terrace garden behind Hope Center. They grow corn, okra, beans, and papayas on this property and they share the produce with families in Hope Center Village.
The challenges have been tremendous over these past five years as we have not been allowed to return to Haiti because of civil unrest. However, God has used this time to show us that HIS WILL continues to be done in the community of Galette Chambon through But God Ministries. God sent us there to build a sustainable community, and through this difficult time, He has shown us how He is doing just that. God still uses me and BGM to work with the leadership that He used us to build and equip in the community, but THEY are the boots on he ground. It is a beautiful partnership, and it blesses my heart to recall how each one came into our lives and how much they have grown.
We’ve come a long way, but the work is far from over. Right now is not the time to abandon them and move on to places that are easier to support. We don’t turn our backs on His call just because we can’t physically GO. Mission work – both short term and long term – is not just about taking trips and Americans doing hands-on work for others. I have learned that mission work is also about ministering when times are hard and dangers restrict our abilities. It is about trusting God to continue to use us in ways that grow the community of Galette Chambon and draw the people of the community to Him. It is about showing these resilient people that God still sees them, provides for them, protects them, and He still has a plan for their lives. He has never dismissed us from the call to be used by Him to carry these things out in Galette Chambon, Haiti. He expects us to stay the course, trust Him in all things, and eagerly join Him in this great work that continues to be done in His name. Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” It’s pretty obvious to me at this point that there is still much work to be done, and I am committed to continuing the great work until HE decides otherwise.
I appreciate your continued prayers and support as I continue the work I do in Haiti through BGM. It is not easy to manage it all while at the same time trying to find ways to supplement my BGM income after Tony’s passing. In addition to my art, I took on a small, part-time job as Social Media Director at Rapha Wellness & Primary Care, but that income is very small. It barely covers the electric bill at my house each month, but it is fulfilling and helpful, and I am thankful for the opportunity. I continue to trust God to provide for me and supply my every need. It is sometimes hard not to fret over it, but as I said in the beginning, He is constantly teaching me to trust Him in ALL THINGS, so I TRUST Him to continue to provide as I carry out the responsibilities He called me to in Haiti. I am so grateful to be His servant.
haitiwest 