Luke 21:1 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." 

I found the picture above on my porch yesterday morning.  No one would claim making it, but I knew who did it.  You can't imagine my joy and excitement, the tears welling up in my eyes, and the smile that broadened across my face as I proudly taped it to my door.

I know these kids have been through so much.  More than most of us could conceive even if we tried.  For them, relationships are a delicate balance and it must be so hard to reach out not knowing what they will get in return.  Finding that picture let me know that the relationships are starting to build, and that I must approach this carefully always pointing everything to our Savior.

The picture came after a really hard couple of days, so it was even more precious than if everything had been going smooth and easy.  We started out this week with an introduction at the local church, and then we headed to our partnering site at Jacmel to learn how their operation was managed.  There we met with Stephen, the Jacmel site director.

Stephen has a solid, unyielding spirit and has been through most of the tough things that Haiti can throw at you during his years here.  He is a fountain of wisdom, and brings to the table an almost unexpected pastoral concern and encouragement.  Stephen spent two days with us giving us a tour of the Jacmel Village, sharing his operational systems, and showing us the future vision for the site.

There we met Kirby.  A hearing impaired boy who played with the excitement and joy that few American kids ever exhibit.  I also met another young boy who just had surgery to correct a handicap in his legs.  He just recently began to walk for the first time.  He would smile and ask me to pick him up so he could touch the ceiling.  Every time I would pick him up he would scream with joy.  When I let him down he would smile and ask to do it again.  I could feel the years of hardening from war, stress from American work life, and life in general melting away as we continued to play this game together.

We drank in the time and fellowship and left there with a sense of purpose and commissioning.  Right before we left on Tuesday afternoon we visited a beautiful protected cove that  looked like something from a cliché' movie depicting paradise.  Haiti is truly a land of amazing contrasts.  Such beauty, such poverty, such openly practiced evil, and – in the midst of it all – the most joyful servants of God I have ever met.

The drive to Jacmel from Grand Goave is breath taking.  You begin by driving past shacks and rubble that so many people call homes, past donkey drivers carrying their goods in panniers listening to Ipods with knockoff Beats headphones, past the streets running with open sewer, and then a sudden turn brings you to the mountain road that separates this southern peninsula of Haiti.  You can feel the air begin to cool and your ears begin to adjust to the pressure drop as you climb from sea level.  Then all of southern Haiti begins to open up into view.  As the trash heaps disappear from view, clouded out by the distance, all that's left is unbelievable beauty that gives you a sense of smallness in the magnitude of God's great creation.

God created everything and called it good.  Through our sin we brought in suffering, agony, and destruction, but the blood of Christ has made clean all those that God is saving.  Just like the altitude of the mountains allows only the beauty of Haiti to be seen, so God's view from on high is only of Christ's righteousness to those of us who believe in His name and have had our sins washed away by His blood.

The battle however will not be over until Christ returns once and for all and we rest in a new Heaven and new Earth.  On our drive back from Jacmel I was reminded of this fact as we drove past a shrine near the mountain top that was guarded by a stick with a human skull on top.  Like waves in the ocean I am noticing that evil pulses here, and then is relieved by goodness.  

We returned home to Grand Goave and I noticed some inconsistencies that needed to be addressed as soon as I drove through the gate.  I spent two full days and nights addressing issues and trying prayerfully to figure things out, but that is why we are here.  Through my years of hardship I have learned to lean on my Savior for every breath.  Because of this, I feel at home here.

Contrast these hard nights with days filled with the laughter of children.  Children that Christ has rescued, and that fact is not lost on them even if it is not manifest in their reactions 24/7.  Excellent orphan care is the reason this Children's Village exists, and that has to remain the focus of operations.

These kids are just special, and unlike any I have ever met.  They have a depth of understanding of the world around them that few people will ever know.  They are discerning.  They love hard, play hard, and challenge any pretense.  They are survivors.  

I was showing my bible apps in different languages to some of the kids and got some interesting responses.  One of the kids - Sheevens - with a personality as big as the overwhelming atmosphere of Haiti told me “Mwen pale Chinwa” (I speak Chinese), when he saw my Chinese bible app. So I handed my phone to him and listened to him “read Chinese” to me for about 5 minutes straight.  I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe and had tears streaming down my face.  He never cracked a smile, paused appropriately, and would stop with a look sometimes that seemed to ask “You understand?”.  Maybe he really does speak Chinese.

Last night was worship with the kids.  Andrew drove down from Ikondo in the Duece and a half to pick us all up.  We drove up the bumpy mountain road with the kids giving the occasional yell to me to watch out so I wouldn't get hit in the head with a limb.

Angie led worship singing common worship songs with a mixture of Creole and English.  I praised my God, worshiped, and  lifted my hands to heaven as tears streamed down my face.  Then pastor Manyuel led us in a short sermon.  Pastor Manyuel is a Haitian staff member that serves as a local male role model for the kids.

I choked by the tears when he began reading Proverbs 27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.  6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.  He looked at me and smiled warmly as he read as if to confirm some recent decisions that I made.

We had to wait a long time to come back to the Thozin Children's village because the nightly rainstorm was raging.  Sean, Drew, and I took Pastor Manyuel home in the storm.  As Sean drove down the tight, rubble-filled ally and stopped at the door to the Pastor's home he asked if there was a place to turn around.  The Pastor just shook his head “No” and explained that Sean would just have to back out.  I asked Sean what happens if someone drives up at the same time we are driving out.  He explained, “You both just sit there staring at each other until someone gives”.  

When the rain finally subsided we all packed back up in the deuce and headed back home.  After returning I followed my nightly routine of talking to the guards and prayer walking the entire village.  I finished out my prayer walk on the top of the water tower and heard drums in the distance for the first time.

The drums were coming from the mountains behind us and were accompanied by chanting that sounded so much like a Native American powwow.  Chills went up my spine as a stood there listening to the chanting and drumming.  I began to pray more fervently as I engaged in a  real spiritual battle.  When I asked the kids about the drumming and singing no one would acknowledge it.

Today the sun is out, the kids are playing again, and construction workers are building the kids houses, and the house we will live in.  Bondye Bon.  God is good.  I am home.

In Christ,
Laramie

We are finally here, and it really feels like home.  The other missionaries here took the time to have our  house ready and were so very welcoming.  It feels like this is where we belong.

Getting here was pretty nuts, but that was to be expected.  The drive down to Fort Pierce was great and we arrived just like expected.  The guys at Missionary Flights International welcomed us as fellow family members of the body of Christ.  We had everything unloaded, weighed, and done in about an hour.  As we unloaded they noticed all of our instruments and asked us to play them some songs.  We worshiped our God together in the hangar right next to the plane and closed out with I'll Fly Away.  Truly a picture of the body of Christ.

The next morning we boarded the plane and the pilots prayed for us before taxiing out.  That was truly a first and an awesome experience.  The morning was damp and the first beams of daybreak were just beginning to break through over the horizon as we took flight.

Two hours of flight brought us to Exuma, Bahamas to take on more fuel.  We were on the ground just long enough to catch a bathroom break and then we were off again.  The morning sun was beginning to take full flight and shining a beacon of light across the blue waters of the Carribean.  

Once on the ground in Port au Prince things got really crazy.  We made it through immigration with no problems and no lines, as we were the only people entering at that moment.  Then we went down to baggage claim for the circus.

The good news was that Michelle Meece – fellow Hands and Feet Project missionary - had somehow made her way into the airport to meet us, where she was already at work organizing an assembly line of Haitian workers to help us out.  It was amazing how much Creole we were able to understand and use right away.  A special shout out to Deacon James Paul from Saint's Sanctuary Church in Augusta for the sweet hookups on the language training.

Michelle is just the best.  Things would have been so much harder without her veteran experience.  She has a servant's heart and just lives out what Jesus has called us to.  It was wonderful seeing her right away.

We loaded everything onto luggage carts and made our way through customs as a team.  Customs was sifting and sorting through everything, cutting zip ties on packages, dropping stuff on the floor, and rapidly asking lots of questions on what everything was – in Creole.  After this we made our way out to the parking lot, wading through a sea of people, to a bus that was loaned to us by a local church.  The team of Haitian helpers loaded everything on the bus, or onto the roof a van also on loan to us.

Michelle waited for some more team members to return on another flight and sent us on to Grand Goave with a local Haitian driver and long term friend of Pastor Drex, Franz.  Franz navigated through the madness of the Port au Prince road system and into the towns beyond getting us safely to Grand Goave.  We unpacked the bus and had everything into our new home just in time for Thursday night worship service.  The amazing part was that when we looked at our inventory sheet and started checking off boxes, everything actually made it!  Praise God!

We all eagerly headed up the mountain to Ikondo for the Thursday night worship service led by the Sutton Family along with the older Haitian boys on instruments.  We sang and praised God together and were eventually joined by the other families from Jacmel.  It was great to finally be here together with all of our teammates.  

Thursday night we saw our first tarantula (in our house), had our first successful battle with ants, unpacked our bedding (inflatables), and slept awesome.  We woke up Friday morning to the sound of the Haitian kids heading out for school.  Shortly after waking up we had our first morning devotion together as a family, then headed up the mountain to Ikondo to enjoy breakfast with the rest of our team.

Friday was spent getting further acquainted with all of our team mates and going over expectations for orientation.  We are exited to be diving right in, getting to know the kids, and getting to know our fellow workers.  I really can't imagine anywhere on earth I would rather be right now.

Friday night was spent unpacking some things and learning where all of the roof leaks were during our first really good thunderstorm.  Duct tape is effective first aid for roof leaks by the way.  After the thunderstorm subsided we all enjoyed a good night sleep, except for Amy who lay awake to the thunder, lightning, and occasional mango dropping on our oh so thin roof.  

I slept like the dead until about 4 am when all the power went off.  By the time I got my boots on to check things out Blanchard, one of the night guards, had gotten the generator up and running.  I went back to sleep.  I don't think Amy did.

We woke up this morning to no water – actually I had some water to wash my face but no one else did.  I got dressed and started checking out the water filtration system and holding tank.  Everything seemed fine with construction workers around the tower getting water out of the valve mounted to the tower, but the rest of the village remained without water.  I vainly tried to solve the problem until Andrew arrived and we tried to figure it out together.  The problem was finally solved when he called the construction boss and discovered there was a new ball valve mounted near the tank.  Apparently someone had turned it off.

Luke said to me earlier, “This has been the best 3 days of my life!”  I agree.
In Christ,
Laramie

Acts 13:2-3  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 

Today was one of the biggest events of my life.  Words fail as I wrestle with the emotions and significance of the event.  At 40 years old, and after having lived an amazingly full life up to this point, I feel like life is really just about to begin.  Today I was ordained as a minister of the Gospel at National Hills Baptist Church by Dr. Kevin Steele and the deacon body, and my family and I were commissioned as missionaries to Haiti.  Tomorrow we pick up our moving truck,  Tuesday we drive to Florida, Wednesday we load our stuff on a DC-3, and Thursday we fly to Haiti.  

I first felt the call to full time ministry at First Baptist Church of Alpine in California.  This call was confirmed by Pastor Hal Rollins.  It was there that I preached my first sermon.  However, I was in the Navy and assigned to a ship.  I was consumed by my role in the Navy and struggled even to live a life walking in step with the Spirit, let alone minister to others.  Sure I had a few small victories, but nothing like the victorious life that an elder/overseer is called to in 1 Timothy 3.  

Probably the most growth that I had was as a civilian deployed with the Army to Kuwait.  In 2002 and 2003 in the heat of the Operation Iraqi Freedom kickoff with scud missiles being shot out of the air overhead, long days and nights in bunkers donning chemical protective suits, and lots of time spent in prayer and reading the bible – I grew spiritually like never before.  With the help of Air Force Chaplain Steven T. Dabbs I was taught to rightly divide the Word of God along Navy Diver Shannon Johnson.

That was some of the best fellowship I have ever had.  Free from the distractions of “normal life”  and a real sense of full dependence on God for my every breath, I dug into the Word, prayer, and fellowship like never before.  I cherish those days and thank God for them always.  

Leaving Kuwait was actually hard.  I missed my family dearly, but I was able to experience Christian discipleship, fellowship, and love in its purest form.  Chaplain Dabbs and the body of believers in Kuwait laid hands on me before I left, and I have struggled to fit in anywhere since then.  We were from all different Christian denominations (even had a few Catholic observers in the mix) each with our own canned theology, and we were all challenged by the Word and our fellowship with each other.  I experienced this fellowship again in Afghanistan. There is nothing like a building full of men with rifles worshiping our God and facing death every day to make for some great music.

I came back and wrestled hard to fit in to normal American life in general, and even harder into normal American Church culture.  I can see now that God was preparing my family and I for something very different, but there were many hard years of trying to find my way.  I was going to be able to use all those experiences God had given me, but I had to learn to love my normal brothers and sisters first, and respect proper biblical authority.

I helped plant a church just before moving to Augusta.  It was so hard because it seemed that the focus was simply on logistics and Christ was being forgotten.  It seemed that if we could just simplify things and leave out all of the complicated parts such as a building things would be easier.  This led me into the modern American house church movement where things got much harder.

After close to 5 years and 3 vain attempts with house churches I finally realized the biggest missing piece was being properly sent out.  The last house church I was a part of did a serious study into Acts looking at a Biblical model for a church plant.  In every case the Apostles were sent out to do their work officially by a sending body.  This is how God does it and skipping this step will spell disaster if you are a child of God and He is being merciful to you.

Through a series of events we ended up at National Hills Baptist.  We did not fit in perfectly there, but I had come to realize that we are not going to fit in perfectly anywhere.  Everyone has their gifts and idiosyncrasies.  We use our gifts to glorify God and give forgiveness and grace on the rest.  That is what real unity looks like.  The only place everyone looks and acts just alike is a cult.

 We fell in love with the people at National Hills and were able to use our God given gifts to glorify God and edify the body.  I can say with certainty that the most fruit I have ever experienced from investing in people has been during my time here.  It is a privilege to have served with this body and I consider it a privilege to be ordained and commissioned from here.  

I feel confident now like never before as I step out into full time ministry in Haiti.  Thank you God, for your mercy and your calling.  Thank you for never giving up on me.  I feel like I am finally ready.

Romans 11:29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 

In Christ,
Laramie