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!:)