Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support as our team of six from Leading Lives 2 Christ traveled safely to and from Haiti! On this third trip, my return to Haiti felt 100% like a homecoming – the staff & children at RENMEN truly have become a second family to me. There are few sweeter memories than being mobbed by fifty children as you try to get out of a truck!
Although I was the only member of our team who had been to RENMEN before, Crystal, Vanessa, Ven, Edgar & Will were instantly welcomed and immediately connected with the children as if they had been there before. I cannot even put into words how beautiful it was to watch the Lord knit our group together with RENMEN. The cords of love that were formed between all of the team members and the children have our Father’s fingerprints all over them. This trip has resulted in the monthly sponsorship of three of the teenagers by three of the team members, and a fourth teenager being sponsored as a result of the team sharing about the trip since returning home. God willing, Leading Lives 2 Christ is prayerfully considering a long term partnership with RENMEN, with the hope of having regular mission trips to the orphanage.
Some highlights of our eleven days there included using French coloring books to tell bible stories (complete with our acting them out), washing the children’s feet à la John 15:13 (and painting their nails), making salvation bracelets, teaching them worship songs in English and having them teach us worship songs in French, taking almost the entire orphanage out on a “beach day”, an afternoon trip to a Baptist mission in the mountains, a New Years talent show/party RENMEN throws for the neighborhood, ringing in the new year via prayer & song (in French) with the children at midnight, digging and installing a drainage pipe for the courtyard that flooded, bible study & discussion time with the older kids, playing lots of games with the kids ( their energy is limitless - as soon as we finished activity, they were ready for the next!), basketball & soccer matches, dance parties, and finally but perhaps the most memorable – the day we had 12 special visitors who were an answered prayer.
Let me backtrack for a moment. RENMEN is run by a very small staff, about 3 there full time and 5 total for the 55 children that live there. The staff is all women. For the most part, the only loving men that the children have been exposed to are short term foreign missionaries (like our group). The culture there is such that the men take little to no interest in children (the kids at RENMEN have all been abandoned by their parents, few are “traditional” orphans).This has been something heavy on my heart & for which I have prayed – that there would be Godly men who would invest in RENMEN and be examples to the children there (especially the boys) for what it looks like to walk with God. The Lord answered that prayer in an unexpected way. You see, the discipleship school I am a part of (IMPACT195) in San Diego has a long-term missions base in Jérémie, Haiti. It is about 13 hours by bus from RENMEN and I did not expect that we would see anyone from the team while there because of how far it is. However, God had other plans. It turned out that 4 of the missionaries were coming in to Port au Prince for three days and bringing 8 men that they had been discipling with them. The Lord worked it out so that ALL TWELVE MEN spent an ENTIRE DAY loving on the children at RENMEN. One of them (Ryan) was also able to help fix a broken water cystern and promised to come back to help with further repairs @ the Foundation. It brought me to tears to watch Haitian men engaging the children in games, bible stories, songs and Fatherly affection. It was, perhaps, the most beautiful moment I have experienced at RENMEN yet. It reinforced the desire of my heart for establishing and committing to long term relationships on the mission field – the fruits from investment of the missionaries in these 8 Haitian is priceless.
This is just a bit of a recap but needless to say it was a wonderful two weeks. When I look at the kids and Momma I truly feel that God can use them to be leaders and agents of change. There is most certainly hope in Haiti.Thank you for again for your encouragement and prayers, it truly meant so much to me and God greatly blessed my time in Haiti. I hope you have a wonderful start to your new year!
