It Is For Freedom He Has Set Us Free

*This post was started on April 11th, and finished this past week.* 

God is making a movement in this village. There is no doubt. Things are changing. God is blessing people. He is using Pastor Valcin in many ways to spread the good news of the gospel! Gersan has been blessed and we have been able to help numerous people with their living situations, their health situations, and their spiritual poverty. The training at the church here is far from finished, but much progress has been made. God lives in Ti Guinea.

Today I was walking around with Boss Varis and a few of the others who work with us. We were taking pictures of some of the families that recieved latrienes recently. Water Missions International partnered with us and we were able to build 25 latrienes in this village. Today as we were taking pictures I got to see many houses in the village. Some are large, and made with ciment blocks, some very small and made with dirt and sticks.

These houses all had something in common though: Multiple front doors.

Why is this significant you ask? It is, very significant. Let me explain.


I think in any country, even in the states, the further you get into the country the more spiritual people become. Sometimes, in some areas in some countries people are very spiritual and worship the true God. Sometimes people begin to put their trust in the plants for healing purposes and whatever else. Here, we are pretty far away from the big cities. And voodoo is big. In this voodoo culture every house has at least two front doors. I've seen houses with 3 front doors, 3 back doors, and 2 side doors per side. The reason for this is the belief that if someone dies inside the house the spirit will have a door to exit through, and the people won't have to use that door to walk where the spirt walked. Also, that way the spirit has plenty of options to exit, because lets be real, no one is going to want to come visit if there is a spirit in the house that can't get out!

As we approached one of the houses I caught a glimpse through the gate. It was painted beautifully, yellow and blue and red and green. I quickly realized this is a voodoo temple. This is the place that is responsible for preforming those ceremonies that have disrupted my sleep so much for many nights I was here.

My brain engaged as quickly as I could make it, and I began to really look around and try to see details and see what was going on. I couldn't make sense of a lot that I saw, but a few things stood out to me. The feel of the place was not what I was expecting. I didn't feel the oppression or the darkness that I was expecting to accompany that place.

I began to think that maybe the evil that was here could see the light in me and had run for cover. I'll never know. But it did make me think. I thought about how I had always perceived voodoo temples to be such a dark and oppressive place, but really this place was even possibly a little more up-beat than the others because of all the color. I think that voodoo is evil. Pure evil, but I think a lot of the evil comes through deceiving those who are involved. The voodoo priest didn't look like an evil man, he just looked like a sad, lonely, lost man.

 The other thing that clearly stood out. More than anything else, was how everything was tied. Random stuff all wrapped up in ropes and cords around the trees. There were ropes and cords wrapped around every surface with bottles, candles, chairs, feathers, plates, cups, flags all wrapped up in them. The cords went around, and around, and around, and around. On one tree it was probably almost a foot thick of cords and ropes wrapped around and holding stuff in. But on the door posts, and on random smaller trees, and everywhere things were wrapped, bound. Bound up tight. And that caught my heart. These people who are so deep in voodoo are so bound by Satan. So bound by the lies. And Satan is deceptive, he has them bind things up, wrap them tight so there is no hope of getting them out of the cords that entagle them. And while they wrap up possesions and inanimate objects, he wraps them up tight. Binds them so tightly in sin and deception that they have no idea they are bound. They begin to think that their bondage is normal.

But Satan has not won! God is moving though this village. Setting people free. Giving life, and life abundant. More than 12 voodoo temples were in this village when Jacob's Well was first established 6 years ago. Now there are 2. Both of those voodoo priests are losing some of their trust in their voodoo. They are curious about Jesus. They are curious about what is happening in these people's lives. Christ has set so many free. But the battle is still there. Satan is fighting for them still. He will tempt them again. But Christ is victorious.
Every time I come to Haiti, I try to spend some time on top of the mountains looking over the valley and praying. Praying for freedom. Praying for light. Before I came on my trip this spring I felt the verse from Galations very heavy on my heart. "It is for freedom He has set you free." I am seeing that freedom being given in the village. Praise Christ.

What Satan has bound and destined to destroy, Christ has set free and given life anew!

February Update

So much has happened this month! Just looking at the calendar I would have never expected that so much would happen here. It is such a priveledge for me to be here and get a front row seat to all that is going on. AND to be able to tell you all about it. Sometimes the Valcins get so busy with all that they do in their ministry that it is too hard to sit and write a newsletter about it because it would take all month!! Thankfully, God has brought me here, and given me a semi-reliable internet system in order that I can update you on what is going on in the Valcin ministry here in the North. (Now we just need someone to talk about all that is going on in Port Au Prince!)


Church: This month, as I've mentioned before, a lot of things happened in the church. Please continue to pray for those who attended the class that Gersan was teaching about the foundations of Christianity. Please continue to pray for Tolem as Gersan prayerfully considers starting to mentor him into becoming one of the church leaders. Pray also as he tries to start a small buisiness of selling minutes for the telephone, so he can support himself in his ministry. Pray for the current pastor, that he will have a teachable spirit and start acting like a man of integrity as the leader of the church.


Voodoo: Please continue to pray for those who are living in fear and bondage to Satan. There has been a voodoo ceremony going on this entire month almost, and they are still going on, morning, afternoon, evening, night, dawn. You name the time, and they are chanting, shreiking, beating the drums etc. Here is what I know about the ceremony... They have somewhere around 20 chickens 11 goats and at least one cow. They are going to be sacrificing and eating these until the end of the ceremony. The word in the gossip circle around the village is that the voodoo preist is getting rid of all of his voodoo stuff by having a huge ceremony in order that he can become a Christian at the end. However, this is not a good plan. I wish someone would tell him that He needs to just come to Christ if he is going to do that. Please pray that he will come to Jesus. And not wait another minute, because his soul is at stake. (Not to mention that I'm sure those goats,chickens and cows wouldn't mind living longer. AND I could use a decent nights' sleep!)

Click here to read background info on the church and voodoo.

Medical happenings: Last week I asked for prayer for Lèlène and her leg. She went to the hospital in Cap Haitian and spent at least 2 days there. They decided not to do the graft surgery after all because the doctors thought they could save her leg without doing that surgery. As far as I know she is back at home and visiting a nurse daily for wound care. Thank you for your prayers for her! Also, I believe I had mentioned Bebelove and her severely infected eyes.

 I saw her yesterday and her eyes looked beautiful! Praise God! (sorry I didn't get a picture of her beautiful eyes and smile. Next time!)

 One of the men who works here full-time told me last week that his little baby had a burn. When I asked follow-up questions I discovered that she had fallen in some boiling milk and her entire bottom and the back of her thighs were burnt. I told him to call his wife and bring her that afternoon. Thank the Lord for His provision! Last year, He gave me the opportunity to work at Global Outreach International in Titaynen, Haiti. There is a specialty burn clinic there, and I got one day of burn experience before the earthquake, which then gave me lots more burn experience. Little did I know I would be doing much the same thing, without the earthquake setting here in Little Guinea. I have been taking care Krystena (I don't really know how to spell it...), or as we call her NaNa, for about a week now. She is making progress every day!
 
I was able to call Sheryl, the nurse at Global Outreach and she sent me some more burn supplies, because I was running low on them. Thank God for His goodness and grace. I think NaNa is going to recover well. We are about 2 weeks past the day of the burn and no infection. She is starting to get some of her skin back as well and it is no longer raw and red.

Nana was somewhat unhappy with me when this picture was taken. Burns are incredibly painful and I had just finished soaking and removing some of the dead skin from her burn. But recently she has been much happier. We are not best friends, but I think we might get there one day! Madam Tchaly is adorable. I love her. She is one of those people that I can tell is a good mom! Please continue to pray for NaNa as she heals.


Community projects: A lot has been going on in our village too. Water Missions Haiti has built latrines for several families in the community. This past week the director came and brought some of his team to have a formal ceremony of giving the toilets and doing my favorite thing... Health Education!! They had a wonderful presentation on cholera and general sanitation.

This girl was very articulate and did a wonderful job of explaining throughly and clearly what she wanted to communicate, but also expressing it in a way that someone could understand even without any type of education.

She explained how water gets contaminated with microbes, she explained what microbes were, and what the bad ones will do to you if you get them inside of you, and how to properly wash hands!

I was so happy that this education happened. I haven't been able to do much health ed like I had hoped because my language isn't quite that far along. I have been able to talk to NaNa's mom a lot about the burn, but she is very gracious with me and re-translates things back to me in CORRECT Kreyol, to make sure she understood what I was saying.

On top of doing health education there was a short presentation on the care and keeping of a toilet. Each person recieved a bucket to put clean water in and wash thier hands after they use the toilet, and to use to pour in the toilet to flush it. They were given toilet brushes, soap, a water carrier pouch to drink in the fields or at work, and a containter to carry water in and leave on the counter to drink. A lot of times people here get water in 5 gallon buckets which stay open and stagnant and go bad, but they still drink it.

This is the group shot of everyone who recieve a Each person recieved a latrine.

 I'm so glad that these people have this education and the tools to have better drinking water! The drinking water distribution site is here at Jacob's Well and it has been a joy to see people coming to fill their buckets!

 Also:

 We gave this man a house at the beginning of the month.
 
                                          
 I'm not exactly sure how this came about, but he is one of our security guards here. He and his wife live in his house along with 7 other people. His house is smaller than the master bathrooms of most of you who are reading this. 10 feet by 10 feet maybe?

                                      

9 people live here.

And sleep here.

You can't tell very well from the picture but total in the house there about 4 beds all shoved together. I'm talking like beds without mattresses. Just the frames with wood or wire holding the rags that used to be sheets. People shouldn't live this way, but they do. Praise God that we were able to help this man and his family! The house we are giving him is a lot nicer, and will keep the rain out. And it will not be made of rags. Its still small for 9 people to live in, but it is a gift that they are very thankful for. We have all the materials ready to begin building, but don't currently have money for a slab. The slab will cost about $550 USD.


In conclusion:  God has done so very much this month in our village. There is so much I want to tell you about, but I think this post is about 7 times longer than it should be already. Bottom line... Pray for us. Pray for these people. Pray for their hearts. Pray for their souls. Pray for their bodies. Haiti never ceases to amaze me. And neither do the prayers that our God answers!!!

If  you are interested in donating to our ministry for the slab for this man's house or any of the other projects that we are involved in currently then please email me and I will send you more details: noelle.gonzalez11@gmail.com

I will be writing again soon about some of the other projects that you could donate to if you are interested. Please check back for details!

Baby Steps of Victory

I sat down to interview these two beautiful girls from the village a few nights ago to write these peices for something that Betty and Gersan needed. They were both counselors at camp a few weeks ago. Their stories are a testament to the freedom that comes through Christ. Please be praying for them and for the rest of the village. While these girls have incredible stories they still have a long way to go. Living here is so much different than living in North America with all the biblical resources and bible studies and solid churches with good foundations. Churches with good, biblical foundations are few and far between here. Pastors with good, biblical foundations are very rare. Bible studies for new believers are non-existent in this area. Church is based a lot on appearances and not real biblical life.

The longer I am in this area the more I see the needs. I have pages and pages, and many thoughts for things that need to happen here. Things that could set these people free. Even the ones that are "free" from hell and know Christ as their Savior are enslaved to SO many sins. I am not saying this as if I am not a sinner, or as if christians in America are perfect. I AM a sinner. American christians are NOT perfect. But we do have resources. We have people to disciple and teach us. We have solid churches to plug into. We have support groups to encourage us.

These people don't. Pray for this village. It is so very broken.

But there are baby steps of victory being made every day. Here are two examples.

Sandrine Pierre is a gorgeous girl that lives in the village of Ti Guinea. She grew up being involved in the voodoo ceremonies that her dad, a voodoo priest held in his temples. When the church in Ti Guinea started she could hear the singing from the services and always wanted to attend. She started coming to church because she loved the singing so much. She told me that while she was there she heard that Christ came for her, died for her and wanted to wash her sins away, and she accepted that gift. When her dad found out what she had done he rejected her and refused to acknowledge that he knew her. He doesn’t talk to her or pay for anything and he tells people that he only has four children, not five. He told her that he hopes her new friends at the church will take care of her because he isn’t going to support her anymore. After a while her mom came to church and accepted Christ also, and recently her brothers and sisters started attending church as well. Her dad has realized that it is inevitable that they will come to church, but he as forbidden any of them to accept Christ. We are encouraged by Sandrine and her mother’s story and hope and pray for the rest of her family, including her father to see, and accept Christ as the Lord of their lives.

Blemise Colas sat down with me tonight to tell me about how her life has been changed because of Christ. Blemise is in 9^th grade, 22 years old and one of 7 children. She lives in the village of Ti Guinea, Haiti, where Jacob’s Well Camp is located. Blemise told us that she did not grow up in a Christian home, in fact, her father is a voodoo priest. When she was a little girl she used to go and watch the voodoo ceremonies as her father preformed them. She began to live a life full of worldly things, got involved with men, and some other bad situations. Blemise became interested in church and would have her friends tell her where the churches met, but she was very sad because she didn’t have anything to wear to church. In this culture it is important for people to dress up in dresses and skirts for church, and keeping  up appearances is very important. Eventually one of her gave her some clothes that she felt would be appropriate for church, and that is when she started attending church and accepted Christ. She wants more than anything for her family to accept Christ too, and prays constantly for their salvation. She even told us that some of her friends think she will go crazy because she is praying and talking to Jesus all the time. Her brother started coming to church not long ago because he was sick and demon possessed. He accepted Christ, but is now walking away. She prays often for the salvation of the others in the family. Her father, the voodoo priest is glad that she has been attending church because then she will not be under the bondage of slavery to the devil that he is. He has tried to resist the demons before and they possessed him and caused him to walk all the way from our village, Ti Guinea, to Port Au Prince. He is fearful of the power that the demons have, and we, along with blemise are praying that he will come to realize that Christ is ALL powerful and can set him free from the chains of darkness and sin that he lives in.

And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce....

The Plan!!!

To be completely honest, there has been much "ado" (n. Bustle; fuss; trouble; bother.) in announcing this.

I found out "the plan' a few weeks ago and have been putting off writing about it. I think this is partially because I'm so overwhelmed by the magnitude of it. ... hmmm. magnitude... not my favorite word to use since January 12 of this year, but I think its appropriate. This is a big deal. Hopefully not in the same manner as the 7.0 that tore apart my life, but I don't doubt that it will impact my life just as greatly...minus the post traumatic stress. I'm so very excited and nervous about taking this new step, but I am more than confident that my Father will be with me every step of the way to guide and direct me in His steps.

Ok, so here goes, I'm announcing this to the entire internet world.

I'm moving to Haiti.

I honestly can't believe this is happening. And its happening at whirlwind speeds I move on January 5th. I found out that this would be happening 35 days before I would board the plane. I have a million and a half things to do between now and then, but I'm sure I'll get them all done, and if not, then maybe they weren't important.


I already know that this is going to take forever to write out, so I'm breaking it into parts. This will be part one: Laying the Foundation. The History of Jacob's Well Youth Camp.

When I was 9 years old, I attended Frontier Camp for the first time as a camper. I loved it. I went on become a staff member, I have held positions on staff ranging from Cook's help, Junior counselor, Activity Leader, Senior Counselor, TP/General Store Manager, Med Tech, Health Care Assistant (which is the same as Med Tech, but they changed the name, so I count it as two positions!), ... and other hodgepodge staff positions. Needless to say my involvement with Frontier Camp has grown my relationship with the Lord and with others. My love for people and for camping ministry has been greatly impacted by being a camper and staffer at FC. (Shameless plug: If you are looking for a place to send your child for summer camp this year please send them to Frontier Camp. You won't regret it!)

In December of 2006 Frontier Camp partnered with Pastor Gersan Valcin and his wife Betty and sent its first team to Haiti to do a camp plant and host the first-ever Christian day camp for children in Haiti. The campground is just outside of Limbe, which is a little South-West of Cap-Haitian. There is an old Spanish well on the site that is called "Jacob's Well," named after the well in John 4:6 that Jesus met 'The Woman at the Well' and gave her Living Water. We decided to name the camp Jacob's Well Youth Camp (JWYC) because of the location and also because our main goal is to bring everlasting life giving water to the souls of those who are in that area.

Much of the time during the first couple of trips has been spent training Haitian staff to do camp. We do not want an American camp in Haiti. We want to plant a Haitian camp in Haiti. The counselors are local church and AWANA leaders, adults who not only have a relationship with these kids, but will actually see them again for discipleship and follow, not to mention they speak Kreyol and we don't!

In December of 2007 I took my first trip to Jacob's Well and immediately fell in love with God's beautiful creation of Haiti. It captured my heart. Every bit of it stole my heart... the mountains, the ocean, the smell that is not always pleasant, the beautiful people, their smiles, their waves, the way they say "nowaaa" instead of 'Noelle', the roosters that crow all through the day and night. I loved it. I knew as I was riding in the tap-tap (Haitian form of taxi. You hit the side of the car twice for it to go or stop..."TAP... TAP" very clever) getting dirt and grime matted in my hair and looking out at the rice fields that I was made for this country. This was the reason God created me. To love these people. Over the years I've realized that it may not be permanent, and it may not be forever, but at least for this season I am to love these people with my whole heart.

 {One of my favorite all-time memories. Less than 5 minutes after we arrived there were 30+ kids wanting to play. Knowing ABSOLUTELY zero kreyol we grabbed hands and played ring-around-the-rosie over and over again. The kids would just fall down whenever they felt like it. Pure joy.}

{I think this is when I knew I never wanted to leave. 10 minutes into my trip.}

 {Meet Orasca. You'll be seeing more of her when I move}

In December of 2008 I made my second trip to Haiti. It was wonderful, but a little more difficult. By this time I knew what I was getting into. As beautiful as these children are and as I think the whole country is they are in deep darkness and slavery to Satan. Jacob's Well Youth Camp (JWYC) is working to show the love and freedom of Christ to the next generation by teaching the children about Jesus. This second trip was more difficult because I was more aware of the spiritual warfare that was occurring all around me. One night we spent in tents at the campsite because we were holding an overnight camp for the older children. The Haitian staff were in the tents with the kiddos and we were there for moral and prayer support. 

That night I learned several things. It gets REALLY dark in Haiti. There was a bright moon, which was awesome, but it was very dark other than that. It gets very cold in that region of Haiti. Our camp is on the side of a mountain and it definitely got very chilly which I was not expecting because of the heat during the day. Also, sound travels really well in Haiti. There was no city noise or anything so we could hear very clearly the Vodoo ceremonies that were taking place across the valley that our mountain overlooks. Satan has a hold on these people. The gospel has been proclaimed through JWYC and that is something to celebrate!

Since the start of Jacob's Well in 2006, a church has been planted in the village and God is being glorified. I believe the church was planted in 2008. In fact, one of the things that blessed me greatly was on my second trip to JWYC I was looking for my friends that I had made the previous year. When I asked about them the other village children told me that they were at the church doing a program that sounded like a discipleship program for the children who had accepted Christ as their Savior that past year. (I'm not 100% positive that's what it was, because my Kreyol was even worse then than it is currently, but I think that's what they told me.)

So this church has currently been there for almost 3 years now and there is now a building and so much works has been done.


It is now functioning as a school building... Which brings us to part two of the story.

Please check back for the rest of the story *said in a Paul Harvey voice*


Until then please pray for:
-The hearts of the people in the village.
-The Cholera and rioting that are tearing apart the country.
-My personal sanity and preparation as I try to finish finals, raise support, graduate, and move out of the country in the next 3 weeks! Pray that I will have the wisdom and understanding to prepare for this journey well.

Thanks for bearing with me. I'll try to get the following parts of the story written as soon as possible.

Catching up

Sorry I fell behind in my blogging, I'll be combining days to catch up...

(January 2, 2010)

This was the Haitian thanksgiving, so we woke up, ate pumpkin soup and then got ready for brunch! Dr. Rachel had invited us to have brunch at her house and, so after pumpkin soup breakfast we went over there. We were served plantains, of course, and the traditional rice and beans, chicken, vegetables, and mystery meat pizza. I'm sure that's not what its called, but that's what us interns named it. We had already had something very similar to this the past week. Basically it's some sort of meat with a jerky-like texture, somewhat spicy, and really dark—like jerky. But it doesn't taste like jerky and the Valcin girls told us they had no idea what was in it. So you have your mystery meat that is put between two pieces of pie crust type bread. I'm not really sure how to explain it. Previously, it had been mystery meat pillows, but this was more like a pizza or mystery meat pie. Very interesting…

From brunch we were given a ride to a church for a wedding. Gersan was asked to officiate a wedding between a girl that had grown up in his church and a man that came to Haiti as a missionary. I was really excited to see a Haitian wedding, but it was actually pretty traditional American. I don't know if all Haitian weddings are that way, or if it was that way because one of them was American. The service was simple, translated into both English and French, so that was cool. Afterwards we all went outside and had dinner under tents by candle light. Dinner was really good, but would come back to haunt us.

After the wedding Robert got to drive us all home. Driving is definitely an experience in Haiti. Its every man for himself, and honk your horn like there is no tomorrow! I've always wanted to drive there! But I don't know how to drive a standard transmission, so I wasn't able to… maybe next time!

That night Erin and I spent a lot of time talking to Betty about Voodoo and Satan's hold in Haiti. The stories she toldwere incredible… GOD's stories are incredible! Betty was telling Erin and I things about voodoo and spirits that were shocking! Things that I didn't think happened in the world anymore. Part of me wanted to be kind of freaked out and scared, but listening to her talk about the Lord and His goodness and power so matter-of-factly was really a testimony of faith! She wasn't scared, she wasn't even intimidated. It was something they all dealt with there and they trusted God and His power. I think that night, my view of God was broadened. I don't know how else to describe it. I learned things that night that I thought I knew, and would have told you that I knew. I thought I believed those things about God, but was still surprised to hear them. God really taught me a lot about himself and his POWER that night.

We were talking about 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Betty said, "Satan is such a deceiver and he does prowl like a lion, but he has no teeth because Jesus broke them at the cross." AMEN! Praise Christ! This woman is such a testimony of faith, she has been UP CLOSE and personal with real demons, had real CONVERSATIONS with evil spirits, and she has seen Christ's power prevail. I wish I had tape recorded this conversation for everyone to hear.

(January 3, 2010)

The next morning was interesting… I'm pretty sure that 4 out of us 5 interns were sick… and we found out later a lot of our Haitian friends that also attended the wedding were sick too…Now that's a good sign! We all had "Jwaye de Ayti" or "Haitian Happiness!", which in laymen's terms means "Diarrhea!"

We needed to finish getting everything ready for camp and for when the rest of the team from Frontier Camp came to do Jacob's Well. Most of this day was spent painting and loading the vehicle that would take our supplies over the mountains to camp in Limbe. I'll give you the story on camp later.

(January 4, 2010)

Sunday morning. We woke up at 5:30 and ate breakfast before church. Then we attended Gersan's church along with about 1,500 others. The service was in French, and I think I've mentioned this before, but it really gives me a picture of heaven to worship in another language!

That night Erin and I went up to the roof to watch the sunset. Erin is not a huge fan of heights so this was a big deal. The house is 3 stories tall and the roof is just a flat surface with no rails or anything. Also to get up there you have to take a ladder off the balcony hang out over 3 stories of nothingness and then climb the ladder to the roof. I'm not scared of heights, but I got a little dizzy looking down. So anyway, Erin and I decided to go and not tell the boys, so that way it was less intimidating. We could see all of Port Au Prince and even watched a few planes land at the airport.

Self-timered a few pictures…

You can't see very well from here, but the airport is on the right side of the picture and, you can kindof see the mountains in the background… that's close to where I was when things got exciting 8 days later.

Chatted with the cuties on the next roof. I'm sure they had no idea what those crazy 'Blancs' (White people) were doing on the roof dancing around and singing and taking pictures.