It has been a long time since my last post! Too long in fact. For those who have been following our adoption process on my wife’s amazing blog, you know that we are still eagerly awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise to us to bring us our adopted babies.
However, even as we await His promise to be filled, it is our joy to serve Jesus in everyday life. One of the ways that we are serving Him is that I will be co-leading a team of 9 people to serve a girl’s home in Port Au Prince, Haiti alongside my dear friend Paul Thompson, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, ID. Paul is a wonderful man of God who helped found this girl’s home a few years ago. I would highly recommend checking out Paul’s blog to have your spirit encouraged and be challenged in your daily walk with Jesus.
I went to visit the girl’s home in January of this year on a vision trip to determine if this would be a good opportunity for college student’s from across Utah/Idaho to fulfill the Great Commission and challenge the American materialism that so many unknowingly hold on to. After spending several days with 28 Haitian orphans, doing some light construction, making connections with local pastors and ESL teachers, and being extremely uncomfortable (both physically and spiritually), I returned home to ponder what God would have me do.
The trip was more difficult for me than I had anticipated. I have been to underdeveloped parts of the world before, but there was something different about Haiti. The comforts and materialism that I unknowingly held on to in my American mindset were exposed and my spirit was troubled as I eagerly anticipated returning to my life of comfort. I was hot, tired, and broken. I recognized my deep seated selfishness and materialistic mind, and I didn’t like the person that I was in that moment. I was ready to go “home”.
However, I soon learned upon returning home that a large part of my heart had been left behind among the people of Haiti. The girls at the home, the leader of the home and his family, and other friendships that I established leave a deep longing in my heart to return. Their faces and smiles are seated deep down in my heart, far more prevalent and important than my physical comfort and selfishness.
I love Haiti.
It took me a while to figure this out, but I love Haiti, and I cannot wait to return.
Jesus has continued to show me that serving Him and loving Him are what will sustain me through the hardest parts of my life, and my visit to Haiti impressed upon me to love Him more and to love every tribe and nation as He does.
My prayer for the team that I am co-leading (made up of 6 college students and three leaders), is that God would give us a deep seeded love for the nations, a dismantling of the American Dream in our own hearts, and deeper love for Jesus Christ. Over the course of this trip, we will be doing the following:
- Visiting orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27)
- Teaching and encouraging the children to know and love Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20)
- Visiting Hospitals and Prisons to bring food and water to those within (in Haiti, you are considered “guilty until proven innocent” and if you are in a hospital or prison, you are completely dependent on outsiders bringing you food and water)
- Completing some light construction like hanging doors, building bunk beds, working on a well, and other small projects around the girl’s home
- Taking the girl’s out for a day at the beach
- Worshipping alongside the church in Haiti, and possibly partnering with a church planter in Haiti for some light construction
- Teaching ESL and sharing the Gospel in the classroom
My heart is full as I eagerly make the the plans for our team to travel to Haiti July 7th-14th.
Would you join me in praying for our mission team as we prepare to go?
Pray that God would:
- Allow for every girl in the home to know and experience the love of Jesus Christ, that they would have a saving relationship with Him in which they make many disciples
- Challenge the materialism we hold in our own hearts
- Give us opportunities to preach the Gospel outside of the girl’s home to those in prison or the hospitals
- Allow our travel plans/routes to be uninterrupted by the enemy
- Allow our team to not become sick
- Supply the finances still needed for our team to accomplish all that we would like to accomplish
- Encourage the leaders of the girl’s home in their own spiritual walk
- Transform each one of our team into passionate disciple makers obsessed with glorifying God.
If you would like to give towards our trip, you can send a check addressed to “Foundation College Ministry” to:
Foundation College Ministry, 5350 N. Pierce Park Lane, Boise, ID 83714
Or you can donate online:
http://www.foundationcm.org/donate
To God be the Glory!
Phillip
P.S. I will be posting daily updates from our trip in Haiti after we return from the trip, so stay tuned!
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