Being

Before coming to Haiti for these six weeks, the Lord touched my heart for discipleship. In past trips, I have primarily focused on evangelism. While evangelism is great and greatly needed, making disciples is truly what we are commanded to do. We are called to make disciples and those disciples will make more disciples and so on. So before coming here, I was thinking of all these methods on how I was going to make disciples. I spend a lot of time doing organizational things and random tasks. And I have been doing a school program with about twenty children ranging in age from 5 to about 20. I knew that this was going to be an amazing opportunity for discipleship because I had time to get to know them and had their attention. But other than this program, I had no idea how I was going to make disciples. So I presented it before the Lord daily. But I was looking for what I could DO not what I could BE.

On the mission field in a third world country, it is so easy to get caught in the trap of legalism. It is so easy to be task-oriented. It is so easy to be more concerned about what you are doing than how you are living and being. When you're forced to be constantly aware of cultural differences and whether you are helping or hurting in actuality, it is easy to be overcome by what you are doing. However, this is the complete opposite of what missions is supposed to look like. Missions is BEING. Its BEING like Christ. Its BEING in a relationship with Him. Its BEING in relationships with others. Its BEING in Christ in a world of devastation. Missions/discipleship is not about doing, its about being. So as the Lord's response to my questioning of how I could make disciples, He said, "Just be."

BE obedient.
When the Lord calls you to the mountains of Haiti, you must get on a moto and go. It is this obedience that opens the door for miracles and for you to be a part of the impossible.

BE faithful.
Just being and not doing requires faith that God is going to be the one DOING.
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." -- Hebrews 11:1

Be fearless.
This past week, I learned a lot about some beliefs about the "invisible world" coming from the Voodoo culture. I have learned some crazy things about Voodoo and its scary. How incredible is the joy of the Lord that it erases all fears. How obvious is the presence of the Lord that being afraid is irrational. We can walk around without fear of evil things because our God is so good and so powerful.

Be loving.
Love without caution. Love without limits. Let everyone know you love them deeply because you have a Father who loves this world even deeper.

Be compassionate.
Be compassionate but not full of pity. Compassion should have no intention of looking down but of lifting up to the Savior instead.

Be humble.
Being outside of your comfort zone requires a humble heart.
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." -- Ephesians 4:2

Be kind.
Always look for ways to do small acts of kindness. Maintain a servant's heart.

Be a friend.
I honestly think this is the biggest one when it comes to discipleship here in Haiti. Haitians can sit around and talk for hours. It is sharing conversations as friends that leads to conversations about beliefs and growing in our walk with the Lord. Friends just have fun together and share experiences of daily living.
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." -- Proverbs 27:17

Be there.
And friends can do absolutely nothing except be together. Yesterday one of our workers cut his finger really badly and had to have a small operation. Three of us stayed at the hospital for about five hours with him. During this time, I realized that this was friendship. We were there because we cared about Claude. Being there for someone is evidence of caring for them.

Be an example.
Here in Haiti, I stand out a lot. With this reality comes a great responsibility of always being an example of Christ.

Be His temple.
We are the dwelling place of Christ. The Lord's presence is within us. And when we apply His word, His presence overflows from us.
"This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit." -- 1 John 4:13

Be unashamed.
This is something that Haitians have reiterated to me over and over again in their daily lives and in their faith. Not being embarrassed but being honest with what is going on is so important. Be completely consumed by the Spirit of the Lord that others' opinions have no effect on you.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." -- Romans 1:16

Be Christ.
Being His and being like Him is our job. The doing is God's work. When we are being, God is doing. He is doing great things. He is doing things that we can't even see.

Topped the week off by riding sidesaddle up a mountain to go to church this morning. This is the church of a dear, dear friend. It was so neat to see where he grew up, meet his family, and see his church body of great faith.

I had to add this pic because I think I'm cool.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

the hum of the waves crashing in the distance below,

the silence of the mountains shouting the wonders of our Creator,

the quiet rustle of the leaves blowing in the wind, 

the sun peaking through the trees as it rises to start the day,

the constant chatter of the women at work, 

the stillness of my soul cries out of how great our God is

<an attempt to describe the atmosphere of my quiet time with the Lord each morning in the mountains this week>

This past week I spent the week in the beautiful mountains of Haiti with about thirteen other Haitian sisters in Christ. This group is a choir from a local church in Jacmel. The pastor of this church is a great friend of mine who constantly encourages me and inspires me. He is completely sold out for our Savior and he shows it in the way that he pours into his church. He has discipled his church and now they are on mission. They graciously allowed for me to be a part of their group this week. Our mission was simple: share the gospel. We did door to door evangelism in the mornings, held crusades in the evening, and showed Christian films at night. To say the least, we saw God do big things this week. We saw lost become found, we saw lives transform before our eyes, we experienced a sisterhood through the blood of Christ, and we worshipped a big, big God. About fifteen people came to know the Lord as their Lord and Savior. One of these new believers attended the crusade every evening, and watching this new believer worship his heart out was so humbling. The bond formed between this group of sisters in Christ is something I will treasure in my heart forever. Yes, I was the only white person within miles, but I often forgot this. The blind love that we shared created a pure transparency between us. These women of faith inspired me, loved me, laughed with me, and taught me. They taught me boldness and showed me shameless faith. They taught me how to carry water on my head and showed me graceful interdependence. They taught me how to wash dishes on the side of a mountain and they showed me wholehearted worship. If we did anything this week, we worshipped our Savior. At five o’clock in the morning, these women woke up singing praises with a candlelight to see the hymnal. (I have to admit, I might have dozed a little bit through this hourlong worship session.) We worshipped the Lord in song as we walked from house to house to evangelize. We worshipped for hours together at the crusades each evening.

I learned so many things this week but the Lord gave me a parallel that I think sums up the week most accurately. So here it is. Each morning as we trekked the mountains to share the gospel with people at their homes, I had to keep my eyes on the ground the whole entire time. I had to literally watch my feet land on the ground in order to keep my balance on the steep rocky terrain. I couldn't see what was in front of me until we stopped walking and I could look up. Haitians, on the other hand, didn't have this problem as much. They could look straight ahead and trust that their feet would be placed where they needed to be. They could even carry the great weight of a bucket of water on their head while climbing the mountain. As I was thinking about this, Hebrews 12:1-2 came to mind. It says, "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." The Haitians have trained their feet to walk on the rough, steep paths because they have been "fixing their eyes" on the ground since they could walk. Because of this, they no longer had to stare at the ground but could see what was in front of them and even carry weight on their heads. Similarly, when we have fixed our eyes on Christ for so long, our hearts can be trained to be able to look straight ahead. We can look straight ahead to see the needs of this world. And we can achieve the balance needed to carry burdens as we continue walking. With our balance in check, we can also offer a hand to the person struggling with their footing (me). We must fix our eyes on Christ so fervently so that we can look straight ahead into this world and still see Him. You can see Him at work. You can see where Christ is needed. You can carry heavy loads of stress, hurt, and struggles. You can see the wonders of God like mountains beyond mountains and oceans that seem to never end. You can lend a helping hand to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as they climb the mountain beside you. 

(Haitians, I learned this week, eat a ton! I was unable to keep up, so they made a deal with me. If I could finish my meal, then they would give me 5 gourds to buy a sucker. It became a joke of the week, and this is my sweet friend who got me my lollipop!)

Yes, I learned a lot of things this week. I learned to “be Haitian” for a week. I learned a new sense of dependence on the Lord. I learned new Creole songs. I learned the importance of transparency as a child of God. I relearned the value of brotherly (in this case, sisterly) love. I learned just how compassionate Haitians are. I learned to love big, because our God is big. I learned a lot about how Haitians live and new things about the culture here in Haiti. But I also learned, that no matter how much time I spend here, how much of the language I learn, and how many Haitian friends I call family; I will never be Haitian. I cannot change my location of birth. Just like as children of God, no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to change our location of our true home. No matter how hard we try, we will never be of this world. All children of God have their citizenship in heaven. Therefore, our location of natural birth is irrelevant in terms of forever. I thank God for this truth, and the miracle of sharing the hope of the gospel that unites the Body of Christ. 

We instantly became friends this week as we share the same age. She has the sweetest heart I have ever seen!

Isaiah 12:2-5 

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and defense; He has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: Give praise to the LORD, proclaim His name, make known amount the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.”

Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim 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 those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy 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.”