wisdom from above {agenda for haiti}

"The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, 

and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. 

It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 

And those who are peace makers will plant seeds 

of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness." 

James 3:17-18 

{taken from pat's first trip to haiti}

we leave in about 24 hours.

i've been given the above verses for this trip. they don't quite make sense to me...why they are His words to me for this trip. but i trust they will.

we've planned and packed and checked off and asked and received. and now we just GO.

there are so many ideas and opinions out there about "going" to places like this. we've read the books. we pray for wisdom... "the wisdom from above that is first of all pure" (james 3:17).

we have no desire to bring them anything we think we have that they NEED. they have Jesus. and that's all they need. the pastor that runs the orphanage and church is a Godly, wise man. he loves the children and so many in the community with God's love. he gives and gives and gives. and trusts and trusts and trusts. we are not "bringing God" to them...i actually expect to see God more clearly there than i do here in my own life.

pat began a relationship with this man 2 years ago. they've communicated by email and phone ever since. yes, our church supports them financially. but he has asked many times for pat, his friend, to come back...because he loves him. and desires to SEE him and spend time with him. he would LOVE more hands to come and play with his children (he considers them HIS CHILDREN.) he doesn't ask for ANYthing. we have to BEG him to tell us what we can bring him...because that's all we know to do. he asks for nothing for himself...only for others in the community (but pat remembers the chocolate candy that he loved...so we have LOTS of that ;-))

so...our agenda is simple. we will LOVE. whatever that looks like. each moment of each hour of each day.

no, the thousands of dollars we have spent have not been the most efficient use of our dollars. maybe it would be more "efficient" to buy them more food with that money. and not "waste" our time and money getting there to go buy them food ourselves. but maybe it's better to love well instead of be efficient. maybe it's better to let someone know that you were willing to sacrifice and walk straight into their lives no matter what it cost you. 

we leave DC wednesday afternoon. layover in charlotte. arrive in miami at 10 pm wednesday night.
get to a hotel and sleep for a few hours.
back at airport at 5 am thursday morning for a 7 am flight to port a prince, haiti.
then one last flight from port a prince to pignon, haiti - arriving around lunchtime.

we will be in pignon, at the orphange from thursday until monday morning.

then we reverse the whole thing and get home around 11 pm monday night.

prayer requests:
*for that "wisdom from above"...peace-loving, gentle, willing to yield to others, FULL of mercy and good deeds. {i think i'm beginning to see why those verses were given to me...} as we make our way through every detail of the trip
*we have to transfer from one airport THROUGH the city of port a prince {which is a bit...chaotic?!?} to another airport WITH all our huge, heavy bags of stuff we're bringing to them. there is one gift we are MOST wanting to get there safely and MOST concerned that it will...pray that it gets there?
*that we would be an encouragement to the pastor and his wife.
*that we would love the children WELL.
*our junior high youth pastor is part of our team. he is coming to discern whether bringing teams of jr high kids might be possible or helpful. for wisdom in that.
*for health and sleep and safety
*for our children at home (and 1 spouse!) - there are 11 children our team is leaving behind...that's a lot of little hearts and a lot of big emotions!

THANK YOU for joining us in this. your emails and comments have meant so much. i look forward to sharing what God does! i'm expecting BEAUTIFUL things...because that's who our God is!

we won't have ANY cell service while we're gone...so no updates...but i'm honestly looking forward to just BEING in the moment and giving all i have to whatever and whoever God puts before me.