Clinic in a Can!

This post will be short and sweet!  Just wanted to update you a little on what we have been working on the past few days.  Mission of Hope has a mobile clinic in a village called Bercy which a beautiful beachfront plot of land that is going to be the future home of our agricultural school project and church development.  The school will be able to educate about 1,000 Haitians each year.  This will empower the Haitian people and enable them to be resourceful and ultimately create a living for them and their families.  By 2020 we hope that Haiti will be able to feed itself and be more self sufficient.  There will also be a school there.  Education, nutrition, and Jesus Christ...whats that you smell?  Thats right....a recipe for transformation in Haiti.  There is a new generation rising up.

SO!  The past week we have been working out of our mobile clinic in a can in Bercy.  It is what is seems.  A clinic in a can.  It's complete with two patient consult rooms and a pharmacy.  We used another building for triage and a waiting room.  It worked out very well.  The first day we saw 140 patients.  Today we saw 128 patients.  We saw anything and everything.  Mostly respiratory and GI infections, worms, malnutrition, and a lot of skin and wound infections.  We have Haitian translators and security as well as a Haitian nurse and Doctor on staff.  Depending on what kind of medical volunteers we have we can offer specialty services to them.  We were able to also give out 80 pairs of glasses today  because a team here had them donated.

This is Obenson.  He is a 9 year old shy little guy.  He is absolutely precious.  I met him last week on my first day in Bercy.  He stole my heart, he is so precious.  When I saw him I noticed he had a most of his large toe nail missing and the wound was visibly infected with flies swarming and all.  He was barefoot.  I told him to come to the clinic later in the week and we would help him.  He came too late yesterday but today, praise God, he came and we were able to treat him.  Turns out, not only did he need some debridement and wound care but also antibiotics for a nasty respiratory infection, multivitamins, and some medication for intestinal worm parasites.  He left the clinic today medications in tote, shoes on his feet and a smile on his face.  He both breaks my heart and warms it at the same time...there is a lot of that here in Haiti.  I will dive deeper into my internal processing in a later blog.  For now I just wanted to share with you what I've been up to lately and THANK YOU for your prayers and support.  The LORD is at work here in Haiti.

LOVE like the RAIN...

I’ve only been in Haiti for 3 full days, and already I have learned so much.  I’m interning for 2 months at Mission of Hope Haiti (MOH) in Titayen, Haiti.  I am serving here medically at the clinic and helping with community health teaching projects.  The past few days have been jam packed with intern orientation and activities.  There are 15 of us interns: 11 ladies and 4 gents.  We are from all over, but here serving with the same purpose: to bring life transformation to the people of Haiti in Christ. 

Arriving in Haiti was an event.  Our plane was held back a few hours so we arrived in Port Au Prince as the sun was setting.  We were greeted by rain.  The airport is a humble building, as everything here in Haiti is.  We navigated with ease first through customs, played a little hide and seek with our baggage, and then finally through the winding walkways to our rugged yellow bus.  We loaded up and made the trek to Mission of Hope in Titayen, about 30 minutes away from PAP.  Driving in Haiti is so crazy.  We came inches…no, probably centimeters away from other trucks, tap taps, and buildings too many times to count. 

As we drove through village after village I stared out the window and saw my first snapshots of life in Haiti.  Tent cities.  Naked children.  Stray dogs and goats.  Trash.  But above all else I was captivated by how gorgeous it is here.  How beautiful the lush greenery is, but more so how beautiful the people are.  There is something about the bright colored buildings and bright Haitian zeal contrasted by simplicity and poverty that is romancing me.  It’s the rawest type of beauty I’ve ever seen.

I will be starting my work at the clinic leading medical teams on the 13^th.  Until then each day we are being prepared for our jobs.  We are learning Haitian culture edict and learning to navigate our way through the villages.  Yesterday was my first village experience.  We visited the other MOH properties in Bercy and Leveque.  Bercy is home of our 500 project site, where we are building 500 homes for displaced families.  The Leveque property is home of one of our mobile clinics “clinic in a can” and also our agricultural project.  You can learn more about that at lespwameanshope.org.  In both places we were instantly tackled by tons of little munchkins.  Ah!  I loved it.  They are so precious.  My heart was full and alive in their presence.  One child in Bercy especially captured my heart.  Her name is Yolanda.  I will post pictures when I have a better internet connection.

I’m excited to see her again.  She has a heart after mine…although my Creole lacked, and her English was broken we spent most of our time laughing and singing.  Justin Beiber’s “Baby” song …never knew how useful that would be.  But man, once we started singing that the entire group joined in.  So, thank you Justin Beiber not only for awesome unisex hair, but also for a precious moment in Bercy. 

I know some of you reading this may be like ”Cool, you guys played with cute kids and sang?  Solid.”  Haha BUT this is thee amazing thing about working with Mission of Hope. You ready for this?  MOH is in it for the long haul…and the people here know that.  They are invested in the Haitian community; in fact they ARE the Haitian community.  Their whole goal is to one day be completely Haitian run.  The vision they have for Haiti is tangibly being carried out and they are continuously expanding and growing.  So yes, although my time here will be short, I know and trust that of course no work for the LORD is in vain.  But this is especially true working for such a prestigious organization as this.  It’s more than passing through villages.  It’s about building relationships, and just as Jesus Christ did building His church one person at a time.

My heart is bursting, and I am learning a ton.  For the sake of time and keeping my Internet access short I will dive deeper into that soon.  So for now, I’ll close with this final thought.   Just as I was greeted here by the rain stepping off the plane, just as rain is essential for growth, and just as rain gives life, so it is with God’s love and grace.  As one of my favorite songs by J-Mac says “Love like the rain does.  Never mind which ones are righteous”.  It hasn’t stopped raining since I’ve been here.  

Thoughts before I leave...

Over and over again throughout the Old Testament God extends His arms out to us in hopes of a restorative reconnection with Him we once had in the garden, the connection we are made to have.  That sense of connectivity is so apparent in our innate nature.  Look at the passionate fans of sports teams around the world.  The rush it gives to stand in an arena with a couple thousand other fools shouting and cheering for the same team you are, for the same cause.  I will admit to getting goose bumps every time I’m at a Los Angeles Kings hockey game and they score a goal.  There’s something about the chemistry of thousands of people uniting together in unison.  The random high fives with strangers feels so right.  There’s something in me that is wildly ignited by the idea of being a part of something bigger than I am. 

I used to not know what that something was.  I used to get my fix with sports teams, chasing boys, and material junk.  Eh, that didn’t last too long.  No matter what I had, I wanted more.  It wasn’t until I encountered God that I knew everything I had desired could be satisfied forever.  Life with God is rich and full (John 10:10). 

God’s story changed forever once his son Jesus came on the scene.  God’s restorative reconnection to us could only be accomplished by the death of sin.  Jesus, God in flesh, came and lived a life marked by love, healing, and hope.  He laid death in his grave…for me.  For you.  For us.  So that our connection with God can be restored.  Because of what Jesus did I can now live outside of the finite realm of this world and live for the greatest purpose there is…for God.  So, He has asked me to be a part of His team.  And I have accepted and He is about to take me on the adventure of a lifetime.  To Haiti we go.

I feel so much as I know these next 2 months in Haiti will change me forever.  Here is a quote that describes most of how I am feeling right now as I stand on the edge of this great adventure’s beginning…unsure of what lies ahead: “It is curiously comforting knowing your calling is beyond your capability”- Powlison.  I am strangely comforted knowing that Haiti is too much for me to handle on my own.  It ignites the longing in my heart for belonging to something greater than myself.  Isn’t that what being a part of something bigger is about?  Joining up with a bigger cause for the greater good to be accomplished.  Knowing that despite your inadequacies you have the mighty power of God and His entire Kingdom behind you to back you up.  It’s a beautiful thing about being a follower of Jesus.  I have a part in the greatest love story every told.  We all do, if we accept our roles. 

It’s a scary thing to give your life over to something greater, even if every cell in your body tells you to chase connection.  But really, when you think about it it’s not that scary.  What is really scary to me is living a life for myself.  Living in the day to day unsatisfying complacency that somehow tries to convince me that day to day is all I need which only time after time will leave me in a downward continuous spiral of temporary fixes that hold me over just long enough until I desperately scrounge for the next.  THAT is what scares me. 

The thought of giving God control of my life is uncomfortable.  I struggle with it everyday.  But really when I get down to the heart of my fear I realize I associate comfort with control.  This world has us tricked into thinking we can be masters of our own destinies.  That is so far removed from the truth.  I was deeply reminded of just how little control we own in our lives after a friend’s sudden passing a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve learned something extremely important; I am not in control of anything.  God is.  But that doesn’t yield fear anymore.  No, it gives me comfort.  True comfort.  Unlike the world wants us to believe control does not yield peace, true surrender does.  And it yields peace because I know control and purpose belong and lie in the hands of a purely good and loving God.

Sure, I know in Haiti I will stare despair, pain, and death straight in the face everyday.  But I am not afraid.  Everything is in the control of God.  Although there is a lot of bad in this world that does not change the good character of God.  For He is good and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Because I have been invited to join with God in the love story He is writing to the world my yearning for divine connectivity is satisfied and like Jesus, I aspire to live a life marked by love, healing, and hope.

So, it is my pleasure and honor to join with God in Haiti as I take my part in His story of redemption for the world.  Because our God is a good God, He suffers too in the midst of our broken world (Genesis 6:6).  He paid the ultimate price through the blood of His son Jesus.  So in reaction to that sacrificial love I will sacrifice myself to Him to claim justice in a world so hungry for it.  To be a light in a place of darkness intentionally as an act of service and self sacrifice to help alleviate the sorrow of God and join in with my brothers and sisters as we restore his kingdom piece by piece until the Son returns.  

I'm excited and ready to be a part of what God is already doing in Haiti.  Something much, much bigger than lil' ole me.  Now, that is what I call living.  7 days to go…let the adventure continue onto Haiti.

"Hey Jesus, pass over here!  I'm open!" haha  

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for      us?'And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" -Isaiah 6:8

An Update...

46 days and counting.  I'm having a hard time grasping it.  People keep asking me if I'm ready.  I ask myself though, what would "ready" even look like.  How do you prepare for such a task?  But I guess, with practical things aside I'd like to arrive with an open and willing heart.  I'm trying my best to rid myself of any preconceived perceptions or expectations.  I just want to be an open book.  I want to feel each stroke of God's hand as His sovereign ink floods my pages...I want all of my senses to be alive as He writes His story.  I know I'll be changed.  I'm so excited, I want to soak it all up.  

PRAISE GOD for nearly meeting the $3,000 need for this internship!  $2,579 has been collected!  Awesome.  So stoked!

In closing I want to share this...I'm excited for God to cross my path with stories like this one.  

The Big Questions.

Grief.  Grief and all the things connecting to it.  Immediate things like death, murder, cancer…and then all things on strings that swim around those wretched things like shame, guilt, anger, and abandonment.  That’s what has been on my mind lately.  Not to say I am in a state of grief myself at this time, well whom am I kidding?  Of course I am, we all are.  Aren’t we?  Dumb question. 

Recently my heart has been especially taken back by the amount if suffering and evil in this world.  I think there has to be a place where as a Christian your walk along a neatly paved road fades into a bumpy jarring road…possibly the road less traveled one may say.  A road that conservative frameworks deemed “inaccessible”.  There seems to be a disclaimer looming in the air before entering this unkempt road that reads something like “Warning, proceeding down this road implies that you do not fully trust nor believe God’s good character”.   

The truth is the truth.  Refining faith by question and seeking yields wisdom and deeper knowledge.  I want to give God thanks and worship from a heart that is confident of him, not from a heart that is robotically reciting words on a screen in unison with others or seeking him from a place of guilt stricken paralyzing fear.  I think it would be more than safe to say that God wants that too...

WHY?  Why are there such injustices in the world?  I think it is so crucial, regardless of your standing with belief to ask that.  In our heart of hearts as humans we ache for justice.  Go back to the playground.  When little Bobby Joe (haha) cut in line something inside you was bothered.  WHY?  Why injustice?  And, why do we innately desire justice? 

The classic question posed to believers (and lets be honest, internally by believers) is “If God is good and loving why is everything so messed up?”.  I’m not even about to pretend like I can answer that as it should be answered.  My pastor broke down the perspective of where this question tends to come from.  It is one that is all too commonly adopted.  We as humans tend to believe that God is separate from our suffering.  We seem to believe that He is absent or punishing or nonexistent.  A look to God’s word defies all of these widely accepted notions.   Take a peek at the frustration we can relate to in John 12 as Mary and Martha mourn the loss of their brother and cry out “Lord, if you had been here this wouldn’t have happened”.  Jesus’ reaction is so key.  Jesus weeps.  He is not absent, he is not punishing, nor is he nonexistent.  He is fully present in their situation and shares in their heartache.   Furthermore, a look at Genesis 6 as it reveals the Lord’s sorrow over our sin and in the latter part of verse 6 it says that God’s heart was breaking over us. 

God doesn’t stop at feeling sorry for us though.  So, Jesus enters into our brokenness, into the war between sin and our souls.  He laid sin and death in his grave.

“Yes, Adams one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and a new life for everyone.”- Romans 5:18.

Why sin?  Why did it even have to come into the picture?  Once again, I cannot begin to answer that as it should be answered.  But inferring from our innate craving for justice given to us by a just and good creator and the loving character of God illustrated in the bible time and time again…all I know that I know that I know is that God must be a good God.  And yes, it IS that simple.  Because if God is a good God, which if he wasn’t good would cease to exist, even on the smallest scale, and if he is a just God than there is a greater purpose to all of this struggle.  Would a good and just God drag us through the mud with no intention of restoring and renewing every crevice of our soul and earth?  No. 

Back to grief.  It is a funny thing.  It is painful but births such beautiful new life.  Nature perfectly reflects this.  Check out the seasons…especially winter to spring.  Or how about the pain and labor an oyster endures to produce pearls?  I just finished reading “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller and in it he is challenged by filmmakers to write a movie about his life.  The filmmakers stress the necessity of struggle in the plot, and I am left to infer that Gods story of redemption needs the same thing.  Every good story has struggle.  Our emotions are stirred as we root for the character to reign victorious over their opposing obstacle.  We feel the greatest sense of relief and fullness when they come out on top.

God is an amazing story teller.  He is a good God.  Trials and struggle and sorrow and pain can be used by Him for the greater good (Romans 8:28).  God has thee best and thee happiest ending to the worlds story that we can ever even fathom.  He will make every single thing right.  Injustice and grief serve a purpose.  Just as Jesus came to put an end to death He will come back again to claim justice for us, forever.

"The LORD will fight for us"-written in Creole.

Like bright stars against the canvas of a dark night, God's glory is beautifully displayed by the contrast of grief.  

God's glory and sovereignty has shown so brightly through a family close to me.  They have struggled with cancer, having lost one son already and now having another with the same diagnosis...ironically God's goodness exudes from this family and all they have been through.  Lisa writes about her struggles and personal journey with God has she confronts grief and struggles.  "Blood Brothers" coming out this summer.  Check it out!  Lisa Delong "Blood Brothers"

Haiti is on the Horizon

God willing, this summer I will be serving at Mission of Hope Haiti as a medical intern from June-August.  Mission of Hope Haiti is an incredible organization that is transforming lives in Haiti for Christ. They are well established and have been in Haiti since 1998.  They have a full on orphanage, school (k-12), medical clinic, and church.  They educate over 2,500 kids.  They feed over 50,000 people each day!  They see over 200 people in their clinic daily.  They are in the process of building a hospital.  They are also building recreation centers for the kids: an indoor gym with a basketball court and a hockey rink.  They are doing incredible work.

I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work with them.  I am almost done with nursing school and will be an RN soon.  Rural community health and emergency medical settings really interest me at this point so I am eager to see how my passion grows and changes as I will experience a little bit of everything this summer.  This opportunity encompasses all I have ever dreamed of doing!!!  My heart bursts for Haiti.  There is so much need.  I know it will be an incredibly challenging and stretching time for me as a person on every kind of level but over all I am beyond excited!  In order for this to become reality I will need to raise about $3,000.  God is good, and if it is in his will he will make a way.  As I stand on the edge of this new adventure I really don't know what to expect.  97 days and counting....but who's counting?;)  haha!

I'm excited to see what I will learn and how God will challenge me, He is so good. Always.

...Haiti is on the Horizon.

If you are interested in donating you can do so by donating online via credit card on the give forward link posted!  Click here: To Donate to my Haiti Internship

Hands & Feet

Some time has past since my last and first (ha) blog...and it's no mystery as to why that is so. Two words: nursing school. I have been quite busy with school and clinicals in the hospital.  I'm looking forward to summer.  Very excited for sun, wild berries, adventures, sandals, and not knowing what day the week it is.  I'll be interning at a YL camp this summer.  I am so pumped.  It is such a privilege and a blessing.  I'm in a state of awe at God's faithfulness, he never ceases to amaze me.  Since my last post a lot has happened and is happening.  I also feel I'm on the brink of some really cool opportunities and discoveries. The song "Wait" by Alexi Murdoch kind of sums it up: 

"Feel I'm on the verge of some great truth

Were I'm finally in my place

But I'm thumbling still for proof

And it's cluttering my space

Casting shadows on my face

I know I have a strength to move ahead"

 Maybe I will dive into that in more depth later, but for now I just want to keep it short and sweet. 

Today myself and a couple other people from YL went down to the Dream Center in LA. The Dream Center is a church with all sorts of innovative and tangible programs that put the gospel into action.  (Great segway to the picture below) haha  

 

Today we helped with a program called Adopt-A-Block. Basically they load buses with food, supplies, and volunteers and send them to neighborhoods all over LA every weekend. Our group today went to one of the many project neighborhoods in downtown.

 We were able to give out food, pick up trash, play with kids, talk with people of the neighborhood, invite them to church, and pray with them. It was a very cool day. Meeting, playing, laughing, and hanging with kids today was so refreshing. They are so precious. A lot of them ran to the bus as it pulled up, or ran outside once they saw us outside their door. There is authentic unfiltered untainted joy, innocence, and life in children.  When we were picking up trash a group of little boys came up and started to help us.  It was so darn cute.

One little girl today came up to me and without a word, grabbed my hand, looked up, threw her hands around my neck, and my gave me a hug.  That melted my heart in the spot.  Going to leave, she asked if I could take her home. I wish I could have. I got just a little taste today of what this little girl has to stand up against, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Her resilience and beauty in the midst of violence, poverty, and disparity was incredible.  Like bright strokes of paint upon a dark canvas, she has a light.  

That certain sparkle in her eye touches me deeply.  It's that certain something every child has that brings blessings into this world like nothing else can.  My deepest hope for her and every other child is that they hold tight to that sparkle and light of life which this world tends to suffocate, yet needs so desperately.

 The grim reality is that what I saw and experienced today is heaven in comparison to circumstances kids know all around the world.  Today fanned the flame God ignited in my heart for world missions.  I am basically counting down the days until I am done with school so I can go and use it for Him.  Life in God is so rich and full.  I wish everyone knew this joy and freedom.

It is a privilege to serve and be his hands and feet. It's incredible that God can use these hands and feet that sin against him for his glory. This week I came across this verse in 1 John that says: "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought in full expression in us."- 4:12. Serving with that on my heart was really humbling. God is love, and through our love HE can be brought to full expression in us.  Crazy cool right?  :)
Enjoying the present, and excited for the future!
His,
LoLo