The Rest of the Trip-Haiti 2012

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of wittnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

So, as you know i am now home. i flew in yesterday, and i was not diligent with my daily updates. for this i am sorry, but i'll make it up to you now.
me and Haiti have a love-hate relationship. i love the people so much! they are so welcoming and friendly. they make me want to stay there forever. i hate the poverty, destruction, and hopelessness. i love their unity, especially when they worship together! it's beautiful! of course i love the kids there. they are so grateful, and loving. if you give them a little attention they'll love you forever! they really just want someone to love them and give them a little attention. Haiti is so overwhelming to take in, then i think that there's no way i, myself could change every single life, fix every broken building, even in my lifetime. i couldn't fix it all myself...i guess i am saying that the overwhelming part is seeing myself compared to Haiti. Haiti is so big, destroyed, and poor, and i'm just one small kid. i want to fix everything! everyone here needs Jesus, everyone here needs healing, they need water, they need food, housing, everything. so how do i compare? what can i do? i know that if i touch one life, if one body gets healed, if one soul gets saved it's worth it! i just want to see it all get better. i wonder what the people in Haiti would be like today if they hadn't gone through that disaster. would they be struggling to survive and provide for their families?
the kids here absolutely amaze me! one of the interpreters i made friends with, his name is Peterson, he's 22, knows 7 languages fluently! and he's studying theology and is hoping to become a preacher! i was like dang! our other interpreter, named Sterling, is 17, and knows 4 languages and he's planning on studying medicine in a couple years. in America, compared to Haiti, our education standards are so low. we go through high-school most the time reluctantly, and dabble in a foreign language, and don't learn it, we can't speak it. we are so dumbed down. i think the difference is that the kids in Haiti i think value education, it's like all they have. if they don't have an education they really have nothing. they are very diciplined and dedicated, they have so much potential. they have really motivated me to higher my standards.
so anyway, back to the Haiti trip...where did i leave off?
ok so day 3 of the pastors conference, Todd was speaking about God releasing the healing mantle and raising up apostles, missionaries, evangilists, and preachers. i feel like i got commissioned, and tons of other people did also. we then went to lunch and came back to the compound and prayed in the church for the last night of the crusade. afterwards we went up on the roof of the church and got to see a lot of the city from overhead. i saw inside some of their homes and more of their everyday life. i saw kids playing ball and women cooking in their homes. all the homes were full of trash. i don't know why they don't keep their little 10x10 space clean. then we got to worship up on the roof. it was a different feeling worshipping in a different country, i danced around the roof and jumped all around. everybody was worshipping their hearts out! it was so awesome!! we were bringing Heaven down with our worship man! then Todd preached on salvation, and receiving it and receiving your healing. a lot of people got saved! there's no telling how many people got healed! i only got the opportunity to spend time praying for one lady. she was in a wheelchair and her legs were crippled and her kidneys were hurting. so i was praying and i got her to stand up, and she said she felt something happening in her body while i was praying for her. i was about to make her walk but we were told to get on the stage. so when we did, Todd started praying for us to have more fire, and for the sick to be healed through us and all that. and he went down in the crowd to pray for people himself, and we followed behind him praying for all the people we could reach! it was awesome! i wonder how many people got healed, i'm sure that lady in the wheelchair was ready to walk!

ok, the next day, Saturday we went to a market to shop for some suvieners. i actually bought some this time! haha! i'm not very good with remembering to take pics and buy stuff for people...i got some pretty nice stuff. we were joking about how all our Haiti suveniers were probably made in China:) there wasn't really any original things that i knew they made themselves. but i liked what i got!
after this we went to Pastor Vincent's orphanage. he has 19 kids from 4-16 years old. we fed them pizza which was the first time they had ever had it surprisingly! then we gave them candy and toys, they were so calm when we were handing it out, one kid didn't get one of the pieces of candy that all the others did and he didn't even say anything. one of the leaders noticed it and gave him some. but they were so calm and grateful. it was amazing. after lunch we broke out the toys! several team members brought stuff for the kids. so there was those punching balloon things and balls and kites and all that jazz. i played soccer with a few of the kids, i didn't realize Haitians are beast at soccer too! just like Hispanics! we started cheating a little bit, cuz we had no chance against these kids. we had to leave too soon, and we went back to the hotel for the night.

the last day of the trip, which was Sunday, a few of my team members were going to split up and speak in 3 local churches. so we picked up our interpreters and went to the churches. i was with Victoria, she had an excellent message! she spoke on how worship is our most powerful weapon and the Word of God is our sword. at the end she called up all the women and put her crown she won as miss North Carolina (or it might've been the one from miss Colorado) on each of their heads and told them how valuable and beautiful they are. and told them they are princesses. and she held up a mirror and told them to see how beautiful they were. some of them cried, and some of them wouldn't look, you could tell they didn't feel worthy. but it was an amazing moment to see. then she called up all the men and annointed them with oil and told them that God is the glory and the lifter of their heads. then i prayed for all the kids and annointed them all with oil. the kids were so receptive, they'd bow their heads and listen to my prayer, it was so sweet. people were bringing their babies up to me for me to pray for them. it was a great service! afterwards we went to Pastor Vincent's church and listened to his sermon. that afternoon we went to Pastor Vincent's mom's orphanage, she has almost 100 kids living in it. and she also takes in disabled kids as well. they basically have a self sustaining farm. they raise animals to eat and have a garden and all that. the kids go to school everyday and come back in the evening to do their chores, then study, then they get free time to play with one another. shes really hard core, she enforces dedication and perserverance into those kids lives, they are so blessed to be there!
well, i am back in America...i had the most amazing time in Haiti! i want to go back so bad! it was one of the best experiences of my life and i think it did change my life. it makes you see beyond yourself, and there's no way you can see life the same after you've wittnessed the extreme poverty there. i plan on going back someday, hopefully soon!
next stop: Honduras!:)

Day 4 Update: Haiti!!

So we say with cofidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:6

This is a little late. But yesterday was a different kind of day. It felt weird. But we went to the pastors conference in the morning and prayed for all the pastors there. It went great they are all very hungry to receive from God. It would be so difficult to be a pastor here. There's no money, the pastors here get robbed by gangs and their lives are in danger everyday. I think I really got a grasp on that yesterday. I started to realize that me just coming here, my life has been in danger every minute. God has protected us from so many potential dangerous situations. I'm not scared at all, I love the feeling of knowing my lives in danger but knowing that nothing can touch me! Ya know? No weapon formed against me will prosper. So I'm not afraid. It's great! So that afternoon we didn't get to do outreach on the streets, there was apparently gangs looking for us. Actually I think I got a vision or something about what was going to happen if we went out on the streets and it was bad. I found out later that several other team members knew we shouldn't go. We were waiting for the sound truck and the fliers and the interpreters and nothing ever came together. So it wasnt supposed to happen. God was protecting us and warning us not to go. So that afternoon we were under some heavy security. I thank God for our security guards. They know what's happening all the time man. So we got to the crusade that night and while Todd was preaching he started to get words of knowledge for people in the crowds and some miracles started happening. But there seemed to be a heavy resistance in the air. I couldn't figure it out fully, but it was really hard when we were praying for people it seemed like we were fighting against this brick wall or something. We were praying our hearts out on the grounds and I started to get discouraged personally and oppressed because I wasn't seeing anything happen. And the night before miracles were popping left and right. But I found out later it wasn't just me. It was a night of spiritual warfare. So we were praying and all of a sudden my interpreter told me to get on the stage like now! He was pushing me through the crowd, it was so hard to get through. All the people wanted prayer so desperately. So we got on stage and then they took us back into the church and onto the bus. Apparently some gang people were climbing the walls of the compound? We got back to the hotel safely and had a great rest of the night o fellowship. I'm so glad our God is more powerful than any gang, and any weapon!

Haiti 2012

Here is a pic of the crusade last night!! We had a big crowd:)

Day 3-Haiti 2012

And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [saving them from severe illnesses or calamities].
-Luke 6:19

Today was fun! I can't believe it's already been 3 days. The days here seem to be longer though. I think it's because I don't have a watch or anything to keep up with the time or something. This morning I started feeling really sick when I woke up and I was like oh no, this can't happen! So my missions momma gave me a ton of vitamins and a protein shake. Then we went to a pastors conference thing. So Todd (the evangelist of Fresh Fire Ministries) spoke to the pastors about his testimony and then answered questions they had and then he prayed for all of us on the team. I swear I felt so much better after he prayed for me. The whole service a couple of my team members were praying for me. I felt so sick! So thank the Lord I am not sick! We came back to the hotel for lunch and rest. Then we got back on the bus down to the compound. We took some more pamphlets to hand out to people on the streets. It was fun, but it got crazy fast! We stopped in the middle of their market and another leader on the trip, John gave his testimony. And we prayed for people. We had some people come to Jesus! It was great!!! Then we brought everyone into the compound and started worship. The people are so desperate and passionate nothing like any worship service I've seen in America! They were screaming and singing And jumping up and down and waving their arms. It was fun. I felt like famous or something I had little kids taking pictures of me. And several kids just stood around me and stared at me. I think they thought my braces were interesting. Haha. I had serveral kids ask me to give them my braces actually. I was like they dont come off! The crusade was awesome! There was of course the service then an alter call, so many people came up to get saved! It was great! Then we (the team) got to pray for the sick. This part was exciting but I was a little nervous cuz I've not done much of it at all! Seriously I was thinking today that I'd prayed for more people today than I have in my whole life! I don't know it that's true but it feels like it! So I started praying after my personal translater told me what hurt in their bodies. I prayed for a woman missing an eye ball first. I wanted that sucker to grow back so bad! Then I prayed for like a man with messed up eyes. His eyes were glazed over an they were like facing different directions and all that and I prayed for him and his eyes looked clearer and he said he could see! I was like you can!? I was more surprised than him. No joke!! Then I prayed for a girl who was deaf in one ear she said she could hear again! I was like no way! Dude people were getting healed left and right! And I saw people healed through my prayers! It was AWESOME!!!! I prayed for serval kids with night terrors like crying all night and having bad dreams. So I broke off the witchcraft and stuff, I wanna know if they get better!! Then I prayed for a woman who couldn't get pregnant. I had a lady get healed of either headaches or stomach aches I think it was. Can't remember. It ended too fast for me!! It was going great! The rest of team all had awesome miracles too! We had a baby healed of cerebral palsy and blind eyes and deaf ears opening. So praise the Lord!!! Can't wait to see what miracles happen tomorrow!!!!!

Day 2-Haiti!

Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Today was a lot of fun! We ate some buffet breakfast and went over to the compound where we will be having the crusades (starting tomorrow!) and we prayed for all the people waiting for medical care from the medical missionaries that were serving there. Then, we came back to the hotel for lunch and went back to the compound to hand out fliers on the streets to the people letting them know about the crusades and inviting them to come. So they had this truck with speakers on the back of it playing Christian music and a few preachers were on the back with a microphone talking to the people. Sober were handing out fliers and me and Victoria starte dancing a little bit and all of a sudden kids started like mobbing us! It was crazy! But so fun. There was so many kids that wanted to hold our hands and dance with us. I soon had kids holding both my hands and some holding my arms and a couple with their arms around my waist it was crazy! It was fun though. So far it was my favorite time. Afterwards we went to the airport to pick up the evangelist of Fresh Fire Ministries. Sober picked him up and came back to the hotel for dinner. I had grilled goat again. I must say It wasn't nearly as good as last night! It was so tender and eatable last night. Tonight it was very tough and dry. Someone told me it was probably last nights goat. I was like about to gag. So our day was super fun! I have a lot of kids now;) they love for you to take their picture and they always want to hold your hand. Sometimes they'll get a little possessive over you. Tomorrow starts the crusades! It's gonna be great!:)

Day 1-Haiti continued!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the Public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect the gift which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Perserve in them, because of you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Timothy 4:12-16

So one thing I didn't write in the last post was the whole first plane ride I was like saying Psalm 91 over and over again to myself. Dude, I wrote it, I read it, I recited it. I probably have it memorized by now, but it helped me get over my fear. The lady next to me thought I was crazy I'm sure. When the plane would drop a little I'd be like thank you Jesus! I'm gonna live! Haha, So read the Bible of your scared! Especially Psalm 91!;)
Today after a short rest we went to the compound that the crusade is gonna be at and we looked around it and got to check it out some. Then we got a tour of the city, it was amazing! There's no stoplights, there's An occasional stop sign, the traffic is kind of like Mexico was, but like no one has a car here there's only taxis and vans on the road. There are stray animals everywhere. There are goats, huge pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, and donkeys. Most are just picking through the piles of trash. The trash piles are just everywhere. There are build ups on sidewalks and in fields, there are several fields where people live in tents, like tents, or tin boxes or cardboard, or tires. Whatever they can get I guess. They live in trash! It's amazing their houses are as big as my bathroom at home, and that's pretty tiny! I wonder how a whole family fits in one and sleeps! People walk down the sidewalks dressed up and out in their nice clothes, but it's a little controversial condsidering that they're walking through trash. On our tour we stopped by the ocean and got out of our van, all these kids came up to me and wanted me to take their pictures. So I took several and they were so friendly! Like 6 of them were following me. It was so funny! The smallest boy kept asking me for agua, I was like I don't have any. It was so sad, it makes you want to give them all your water! They will beg you for water, not just money but water! How much do we take the simple facet in our kitchen for granted? The security guard we were with eventually told us that we needed to get to the bus like now, so we did, but we were just standing on the street and more and more people were gathering! More kids! More people! It would be very easy to start a mob here! There apparently isn't a government here, there's these UN guards who sit around holding guns and talking. The don't seem to be very effective. Like the people listen to them, it's just they Don't do anything! It's awful. I actually got a picture with one of the UN guards, he had a gun and everything! Whoo!;)

Day 1

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. "Because henhouse me," says the Lord, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation."
-Psalm 91:11-16

Today we landed in Haiti around 9:30 I think. It was about a two hour flight. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not too fond of airplanes. In my first two flights I was sittin next to two like professional flyers who the whole time were laughing at me because when the plane hits those airpocket things I kinda freak out. The first flight I was next to a lady who had been in the military for 20 years and is now retired, she was very nice. The second flight I was in between these two guys that were kinda on the bigger side. It was a little awkward. One of the guys is a weather man, he does the weather for the Bahamas and Cuba I think. The other guy spoke Spanish and slept the whole time so I don't know who he was. Then I got to the Miami airport and waited there to meet a lady on our missions team cuz we were sharing a hotel room. She's my 'missions mom' for the week! And she's awesome! So we stayed in this interesting hotel for the night. I slept like a rock. No joke. Then we woke up at about 6am and went to the airport, met the rest of the team and took off for our flight! So now we are in Haiti! I didn't really get to see much yet. I've seen a lot of goats and a lot of trash but I haven't seen much of the city yet. So tonight we are gonna take a tour of the city and go pray over the church where we are having the crusades. Of course later we are having dinner! Guess what I'm getting?! GRILLED GOAT!! and for dessert potato pudding with syrup. It should be an interesting experience!!:)

Faith > Fear

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. "
Mark 16:15-18

When I was thinking about going to Haiti I got attacked by so much fear! People would come up to me and tell me stuff that if I would've dwelled on those thoughts I wouldn't be leaving the country. Haha! I had some tell me about people they knew that had gotten killed in Haiti and I had people ask me why I'd ever willingly go to such a dangerous and poor place. And also cholera is running rampant in their water system at the moment and so many people have died from it in the past year. And there's all the crime and killings down there. And then theres all the travel fears with airplanes and stuff. And I felt this spirit of fear all of a sudden and I almost backed out of the trip! Then God gave me peace about it and I remembered all these verses about not fearing and we will walk on serpents and drink poison and it won't harm us. And greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world! I thought, wait a minute!! God is SOO much bigger than cholera and airplanes. God is so much bigger than fear, death, crime!! Everything must bow at His feet! Even sickness! Cholera has NO chance against my God. And no weapon formed against me shall prosper! I said no to that spirit of fear! God isn't gonna call me into something for me to get sick or die! He's gonna be with me protecting me every step of the way! That's a huge way the enemy comes against people is by planting fear in their minds! This was one of the other things Gods been talking to me about. Anyway I am super excited about this trip! I'm flying to Miami today and getting the adventure of switching flights! This should be fun! And tomorrow morning we fly out of Miami to Haiti!!
Watch out devils! Haiti is about to be invaded with Heaven!:) 
Another thing God has been speaking to me about is His voice. I used to think God never spoke to me and it was myself. But God told me, yes, Ashley I do speak to you! All the time actually! God wants and longs for us to hear His voice speaking 24/7! His voice isn't for a select few people to hear like preachers or missionaries. It's for everybody! And we need to listen up and get in tune with His voice! He is speaking! 

My First Post!:)

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands." -Psalm 138:8

I've been meaning to getting around to start a blog for a while now I could just never settle on a topic. There's a world of possibilities to blog about. So i thought i could use this as my "missions diary". This Sunday I'll be taking off for Haiti on a missions trip for a week! I'm so excited and i can't wait to see how the Lord is going to speak to me while I'm there. He has definately put a burden on my heart for the nations and i love it! Last summer i took off for my first missions trip, and first time out of the country, actually to Mexico! I loved Mexico...the culture was so different! The people were so hospitable and welcoming. I learned a lot about trusting God to take care of my every need and  I realized that He is my source. Not my job, not people, not money. God alone is my source and He will always provide for me, and He has shown me this time after time.


TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT -PROVERBS  3:5-6                                                                                   

He actually had to remind me again when I heard about this Haiti trip. I was kind of quick to get worried about how I was going to be able to pay for it and all that. But He showed me again to not worry, to put all my trust in Him and He would provide. And sure enough He has! But anyway, that was the main thing I learned. So I will be going to Haiti with Fresh Fire ministries and we are doing crusades every night. We will be preaching the good news of Jesus to these people that have hardly anything. A devastating earthquake hit this small country a few years ago and their land is basically destoyed! So many people are living in homeless camps still. We are going to be praying for people with sicknesses and diseases and I'm ready to see God heal! Cuz our Lord is the Great Physician! It's gonna be awesome! I will post updates!:)                                                                        

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has annointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who greive in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." -Isaiah 61:1-3