Haiti 6 Log 3

Haiti 6 - Day 6 - January 10th - 4th day at Jacob's Well  (Monday)

The rifle range.

At breakfast, we all picked the activities that we'll be teaching when camp starts tomorrow!  I'll be teaching riflery with one of the other team members, Gabe.  I can't believe that we're really getting down to it - everything we've been working for, all that we've done over the past few days, will bear fruit tomorrow when the children walk through the gate!

After breakfast, we jumped into another full day of staff training and last minute camp preparation.  Everyone was really busy!  Teams were working all over the camp.  I was part of a dish washing crew of 4 other team members - we worked in the outdoor kitchen counting and washing 200+ metal plates, cups, and spoons so they'll be ready for the campers tomorrow!  It took several hours to finish and we halted half way through for lunch.  Everyone's starting to get really excited about camp - you can feel the excitement in the air!  And you could hear it as we sang old campfire songs while washing the dishes!

Figuring out the best way to do Bible Drama has been difficult - mainly because  we don't speak Kreyol.  Yesterday, we tried several different practice methods.  First we tried to time how long it took to read the story in Kreyol and then act it out while trying to keep track of the time - that didn't work so well.  Then we tried to pick key words in the Kreyol text to listen for so that we could know where we were in the story - for example "danje" for "danger" in the calming of the storm.  Unfortunately, that didn't really work either.  We couldn't focus enough on acting while we were listening for Kreyol cue words at the same time...  Finally, one of the drama team members suggested just having someone read the story in English behind us while Peter Mark read it out front.

Drama team in Bible costumes - minus

me of course, I'm taking the picture! :)

I sat down with Greta (one of the 3 advance team members) last night and we worked through the stories with a Kreyol and English Bible, marking down all of the cues directly on the pages.  "Jesus sleeps" "Big storms hits" etc.  Since she's been here longer and has also studied on her own, Greta speaks more Kreyol than the rest of us, so she offered to follow along in her Kreyol Bible and then give us the cues as we need them.  Today, after staff training, we went up on the Drama hill with Peter Mark to try it out.  It worked really well and the drama team did a great job!

There's a group of kids who always watch us practice Bible drama  from the other side of the bushes.  They know that they're not supposed to come on camp property, but they always try to.  Today, a bunch of kids came over while Peter Mark was with us and we tried to tell them - in our broken Kreyol - that they had to leave.  At last Peter Mark turned to look at them and said something that we didn't understand.  The kids instantly scattered.  When we asked Peter Mark what he had said, he smiled.  "I said, My friends, get out of here!"

Camp starts tomorrow!  We're getting up extra early so we can have our devo and prepare before camp starts.  Early to bed tonight and praying for good weather tomorrow.

Haiti 6 - Day 7 - January 11th - 5th day at Jacob's Well  (Tuesday)

First day of camp!

Lining up for camp!  Everyone's excited!

The camp gates were scheduled to open at 8:45 - 9:00.  Campers started lining up around 8 while we bustled around doing all the last minute things that needed to be done.  We set up a hand washing station, a wrist bracelet station (each of the campers received a wrist bracelet that will be their "ticket" into camp tomorrow) and a cabin assigning station while the Haitian counselors all waited on the parking lot with their cabin signs to welcome the campers.

Assigning cabins

We let the campers in around 8:45 and they all trooped in excitedly, hardly listening as we tried to tell them to get in a straight line.  Greta (one of the advance team members) was in charge of cabin assignments.  She asked the kids how old they were and then put them in cabin groups by age.  We had children ranging in age from 5 years old all the way up to 15-16.  There were about 140 children total!   

After the campers were assigned to their "cabin groups," Peter Mark led orientation, explaining camp rules and the order of events.  Then the cabins split off to go to their activities!  There are 7 cabins and 7 activities (riflery, archery, steal the bacon, camp games, Jacob's Well 4-ball-Baseball, crafts, & Bible memory games).  The cabins rotated through all the activities - we had 3 activity periods today and we'll have four tomorrow.  

Adorable little girl enjoying her first
time shooting!

The first activity period was a new experience for me!  Since we didn't know enough Kreyol to really explain how to shoot a gun (or how to be safe with one), Gabe and I relied on demonstrating!  We knew the Kreyol words for "load" and "fire" and "do you need help?" as well as a few other helpful phrases.  And we also knew how to tell them they'd done a good job shooting!

The kids loved it.  Except for those in the oldest boy and girl cabins, most of them needed our help loading the lever action BB guns.  Some of the kids, however, didn't like waiting for us and tried to do it on their own.  I saw some of the most interesting methods of reloading I've ever seen in my life.  Lots of the kids tried to set the barrel down on the ground and then yank the lever down that way.  Others tried putting the barrel between their knees to hold it steady... the downside was that it was pointing at the kids behind them!  Needless to say, we quickly put a stop to that!

After the first activity period, we all trooped up to the drama hill.  I quickly got into costume with the rest of the drama team while one of the Haitian counselors led the kids in singing.  Then it was drama time.  Greta sat under a coconut tree behind the "stage" and read the cues aloud to us while Peter Mark narrated.  I was kind of nervous to see how it would work out, but it went really well!  I think the kids really liked watching us act the stories out.  Peter Mark also gave a little teaching before and after the Bible drama stories.

Peter Mark teaching the kids at Bible Drama time.

We'd planned to have lunch right after the first Bible drama, but it wasn't ready yet, so we headed off to second activity and then came back for lunch.  After lunch we had our third activity period and then Bible Drama 2 and then camp was over for the day around 4:00-4:30!  All in all it was a great day!

Preparing coffee from Jacob's Well
coffee beans!

We'd just about finished cleaning up after camp and getting the site ready for tomorrow, when we first smelled it... wonderful deliciousness coming from the direction of the kitchen!  We all migrated over and discovered the Haitians preparing coffee by hand from coffee beans harvested at Jacob's Well!  They roasted the beans over coals, then ground them up in a hollowed out log, and then sifted the grounds to remove any coarse chunks.  It smelled amazing and I can't wait to taste the first coffee made from Jacob's Well coffee beans!

After a meeting to talk about the day, a group of us decided to race up to the top of the attic to watch the sunset.  We didn't have much time, so instead of following the usual roundabout path up past the drama hill and the campfire circle, we raced straight up the steep hillside!  There was still a decent amount of light when we reached the attic, so we decided to go hiking a little ways further up towards the mountain (Double Head Mountain).  It felt like a scene from Braveheart as we ran along the narrow mountain path on top of the steep hills... the ground just falls away on either side and you can see so far in every direction!  It was amazing and an awesome finish to a great day!  We raced down the hillside again just in time for dinner.

Everyone's worn out after today so we're heading to bed early.  I can't wait to start it all over again tomorrow!


More to come later...


~ A Servant of the King

Haiti 6 Log 2

Haiti 6 - Day 3 - January 7th - 1st day at Jacob's Well (Friday)


I woke up early this morning and stepped out of the cabin, ready to take in my first glimpse of Jacob's Well in the daylight.  It was amazing.  I hadn't formed any definite ideas of what to expect because I knew that the campsite had changed drastically since the last trip in March, none the less, I certainly wasn't prepared for what I saw!

View of the five cabins from the pathway
between the parking lot and the kitchen

The girl's cabin (Naphtali - the cabins are named after the twelve tribes of Israel) was one of five little white cabins with red roofs lining a curving rock pathway on the side of a hill.  Several more unfinished cabins stood above Naphtali on the hillside, completing the circle.  Below, our tap tap and the Valcin's truck sat in the parking lot.  And to the right of the parking lot stood the large outdoor kitchen, bathhouse, old bathhouse, and dining hall.  When the Haiti 5 team left last year, they had just finished work on the slab for the outdoor kitchen.  Aside from that, the only other permanent building on the whole campsite was the old bathhouse (it's now a camper bathhouse/storage facility).  The Haitians were already up and working - a construction crew was mixing cement in the parking lot and carrying it in 5 gallon buckets up the hill.  I learned later that they were working on building a cistern.

We ate a delicious breakfast of pancakes, grapefruit juice and Haitian coffee.  One of the team members took to calling the grapefruit juice "magic juice," it was so good.  By the end of the trip, the name had stuck!  Then, we got to work!

I was assigned to an unpacking and organizing team and set to work with several others on unloading and relocating everything we had brought.  It took a while but at last all 1,500 lbs of luggage (construction tools, school supplies, camp activity supplies ranging from BB guns to craft kits, etc.) had been stowed safely away and scattered across the camp site!  After lunch (Haitian sandwiches), I was reassigned to another team entrusted with the task of setting up a canopy for the archery activity and mowing the archery range to limit the number of missing arrows.

So, we four intrepid volunteers - we later became known as the mowing team - set out armed with machetes and sticks to mow Haitian style.  My "twin" Natalyn and I were some of the first girls who were allowed to mow in Haiti.  It was quite a fun experience - hard work and tougher than it sounds, but it was fun.  Basically, you get down on your knees, holding a stick in your left hand to push the grass over to expose the stem and then swipe the machete across the grass, and keep moving on in a straight line, "rolling the grass back" ahead of you.  It's difficult to explain.  :)

After mowing, we headed down to the village to have a play day with the village children.  The field where we play is actually a part of the camp's land, but you have to go through the village to get to it (the village school and church are also located on the field).  Some of the team had gone over earlier and were already "talking" and playing with the kids when we arrived.  I only knew a few basic words in Kreyol (Hello, What is your name?  My name is... etc) so conversation was a little difficult, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  They kept chattering away and loved to hold our hands!  They couldn't quite get my name right, so eventually I gave up on trying to get them to say "Gillian" and told them it was "Julie" instead.  

I took this picture while we were mowing
a space for the Bible Drama - you can see the piles
of mown grass. This is aview of the upstairs
(straight back) and then a little to the right
is the attic! 

We played games for a while, sang songs (I know now the words to This is the Day that the Lord has made in Kreyol!) and then around 4:30 headed back to camp.  Finishing up the last of our work projects for the night, we hiked up past the drama hill, to the upstairs (the  hill where we have campfire) and then on to the attic (a tall hill point that overlooks the camp) to watch the sunset.  Some of the village children were wandering around and came running when they saw us up there.  They sat with us for a little while we stared at the beautiful countryside and watched the sun go down behind the mountains.  Then we were raced down the hill, arriving just in time for dinner.

After a Haitian meal of rice and beans with chicken meat sauce, we discussed the day and talked about work projects for the next day.  We then had time to sit around and talk for a little bit (discussed shower taking... we have running water but it's not always reliable, sometimes it's there and sometime's it's not.  We designated specific girl/guy shower nights to make sure that there was enough water to go around.)  The plan is to head to bed early tonight... another long day of work projects tomorrow.  There's quite a lot to do to get the campsite and all the activities ready for day camp!

Haiti 6 - Day 4 - January 8th - 2nd day at Jacob's Well (Saturday)


Another early morning.  The sun always wakes me up - even at home - so when the sun starts coming up in Haiti, and the roosters start crowing, and the rest of the village is springing to life, I just naturally woke up around 5:30 (that's 4:30 back home) and then lay on my bunk until about 6:15 or so.  We've been doing devos every morning over Haitian coffee and "magic juice," continuing our study of Jesus' last week.  It's been really interesting to look at the story more in-depth, comparing the four different gospel accounts to get the best idea we can of the chronology, discussing why different events happened the way they did.  I've really enjoyed it so far and look forward to studying more throughout the rest of the time we're here.

Adorable little boys - the ones in the
back were trying to jump into the picture.
They loved having their picture taken!

We had more work projects planned for today - more Haitian mowing and preparing the site for day camp.  Before we got started on our regular projects though, we were each supposed to carry several 40-pound cinder blocks (one at a time of course) from the parking lot up the hill to where the workers are building the cistern.  After that we all split for our individual projects throughout the morning and then after lunch went back to play with the children in the village!


I tried to learn more Kreyol today in the village but I wasn't very good at it.  I did learn to say "I don't understand, I'm sorry," which helped a lot!  After this trip is over, I know that I'll want to come back, so I'd like to try and get some kind of Kreyol dictionary!


After a great lasagna dinner - Haitian style with Louisiana hot sauce in the tomato - we climbed up to the campfire ring and built a fire.  We looked out over the surrounding countryside and saw total blackness - not a single light showing.  Then we turned around and looked down at the campsite behind us, and there was a light on... it was kind of neat to think about - that one little light in the midst of the darkness.  The Gospel has come to Jacob's Well Camp in the little village and it is a light in the darkness... but that light will spread!

Double Head Mountain - behind the camp.
You can see a little bit of the outdoor
kitchen roof through the trees.  That's where
the rest of the camp is located.  

Hudson, one of the team members, played the guitar for us as we sat around the campfire and we sang songs for a good hour and a half - if not two!  It was so wonderful to be sitting there on a mountainside in Haiti, singing worship songs to the Creator of the Universe!  I wanted it to go on forever!  Still, eventually we had to come down and head to bed.  We'll be going to church in the village tomorrow - it'll be really neat to see what  a Haitian church service is like.  


Haiti 6 - Day 5 - January 9th - 3rd day at Jacob's Well - Sunday


Gathering together our bibles and a bunch of folding chairs, we all tramped down the camp road in our Sunday best, through the village, and up the little dirt path to the church.  The church is built on the camp playing field, but we have to walk through the village to get to it.  It's basically a bamboo hut with long wooden benches, and the Haitians all get dressed up in their Sunday best and assemble inside.  We all crowded in and the service started.  They sang several songs in Kreyol and it was really neat to hear them sing.  They sing so much louder than we do - I think we're a little too self conscious about things like that in America.  There everyone sang loudly and it sounded great!  No one seemed the least bit worried about what his/her neighbor might be thinking.

The little children kept stealing my attention.  I learned that a lot of them come by themselves without their families.  A Haitian woman armed with a little switch sat among them to keep them in order.  They were so cute.

During the sermon, Peter Mark (a Haitian who works with the Valcins in Port-au-Prince and our Program Director for the camp) was asked by the pastor of the village church to translate for us.  So, we were able to listen to a church service in Haiti in English.  They also sang several worship songs for us in English so that we could sing along.  When they sing in English, they slur the words together because they're imitating the sounds rather than understanding the words, so it sounded different.  I'm sure it sounds the same way when we try to sing in Kreyol.

After the service had ended, we followed Hans around behind the church to view the well that the camp is named after.  Jacob's Well is an old Spanish well dating back from the Spanish colonial period in the 1500-1600's.  It's fairly large - about ten feet in diameter - and is now just a hole in the ground, lined with stones, and filled with dirty brown water and trash.  Most of the stones that were above ground have been taken away over the years and used for other buildings.  Hans talked to us for a while about the history of the well and where it's name (and the name of the camp) came from.  It's named after the well where Jesus met the Samaritan Woman in John chapter 4.  This, Hans explained, is a great example of cross cultural ministry which is what Jacob's Well camp is about!

We finished off the rest of the day with staff training!  Villagers came from the church to be trained as counselors for the two days of camp that we will be running.  Peter Mark, along with Hans and several other team members, led the training.  The rest of the team did other work projects.  I was busy, along with Natalyn, heading up the Bible drama team.

Village children watching us practice
the Bible Drama from over the hedge.
I think they got a kick out of it...

In the past, the Haitians have always done the Bible Drama - acting, narrating, everything.  This time however, we'll be doing it.  The drama theme is Jesus' Miracles, and we picked 6 stories to use over 3 drama periods: Jesus calming the storm, Jesus feeding the 5,000, Jesus healing the blind man, Jesus healing the leper, Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  After picking out the dramas, we worked out a big idea and application for each one for Peter Mark to explain to the kids and then we sat down to work out the logistics.  We eventually settled on having Peter Mark narrate straight from the Bible in Kreyol while we act out behind him.  We'll have to see how that will work eventually since none of us speak Kreyol - perhaps we can memorize the major cue words that will tell us what we need to be doing next - for now, we're simply acting out the stories with the English Bible and memorizing the order of events!

It was a good day today!  We delayed going to bed for a little while and sat around on the porches playing a card game by the light of a flashlight.  It was fun, but it's getting easier and easier to laugh at nothing so I think we're all getting a little tired!  Looking forward to another full day tomorrow!

More to come later...

~ A Servant of the King

Haiti 6 Log

Haiti 6 - Preparation Day - January 4th, 2011

I spent the past few days packing.  This morning, I got up at 4:30 am, loaded the car up, said goodbye, and drove the four hour drive down to Frontier Camp in the wee hours of the morning.  The rest of the day was spent repacking, loading, driving the rest of the distance to Houston, finishing with a major packing party with the whole team that evening.  Aside from our own personal belongings, we brought down food for the camp, medical supplies, school supplies, camp supplies, construction supplies, tools, a canopy, and a bunch of other miscellaneous paraphernalia necessary to running a camp! We ended up with 44 bags (checked and carry-on) and the grand total of 1,500 pounds of luggage!

Having established a buddy-system and assigned luggage, we headed to bed.  2:30 am comes early...  I can't believe that I'll be in Haiti tomorrow.

Haiti 6 - Day One - January 5th, 2011 - Travel Day 1

We woke up at 2:30 this morning, hastily gathered and loaded our luggage into a horse trailer (best available method for getting 44 bags to the airport in a rainstorm), piled into three vehicles, and set off for the airport at 3:30.  Each member of the team had a prepackaged breakfast and lunch to make for easy travel.  Most of us ate our breakfasts during the drive - although none of us were very hungry that early in the morning.  We reached the airport at 4:30 and unloaded all our bags from the horse trailer - I'm sure this made an amusing sight!

Getting 16 people (with 44 bags) through check-in is always an interesting experience :) but we got through at last and disposed of our checked baggage.  Now, burdened only with our carry-ons (which carried almost all of our personal belongings for the entire 10 day period), we made it through security without any issues and settled down to wait for our plane.

View of Haiti from the air

We flew from Houston to Miami, Florida and from Miami to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  The flights were smooth and uneventful, and for the most part we were seated together as a team.

Arrival in Port-au-Prince Haiti:

We arrived in Port-au-Prince and disembarked in the airport.  The immigration and customs lines seemed about a mile long, but at length we managed to get through, gather all our luggage, and exit the airport.  We were instantly swarmed by Haitians trying to carry our luggage for us.  We managed to navigate our way out at last and after a short wait in the Haitian sun (it felt so good after winter in the U.S), we met Gersan and Betty Valcin (the Haitian missionaries that we work with at the camp) and drove to their house.  We had kabrit for dinner tonight (that's goat in kreyol) after which we had our first team devo.  We will be doing an in-depth study on the last week of Jesus' life - I'm looking forward to it!  We're heading off to bed early now because we'll have a long day of travel again tomorrow.   

Haiti 6 - Day Two - January 6th, 2011 - Travel Day 2 "Tap-Tap Ride"

I slept so well last night after the little sleep we got yesterday!  A rooster started crowing about 4:30 am and kept it up until the six of us girls sharing the room got up around 6:00.  We were so excited about being in Haiti at last that we didn't really mind.  The plan for today is to get an early start since we are driving all the way from Port-Au-Prince in the south of Haiti to Limbe near the northern coast.  In the past, the teams have generally flown - we'll be the first team to experience the 6 hour trip in a tap-tap!  Hans, our team leader and summer camp director at Frontier Camp, warned us that we'll probably enjoy about the first 3 hours of the trip (the part with the smooth roads)... and then we'll be ready for it to stop.  Still, I'm looking forward to it.

Tap Tap Travel:

The tap-tap is basically a big open flat-bed truck with walls.  There are wooden benches lining the sides, but we spent most of the 6 hour the trip standing up.  In addition to our mountain of luggage piled in the middle of the floor, we were also transporting several large barrels of diesel (some of the diesel splashed out into the floor of the tap tap and the Haitians poured water on it to clean it up - it made for a slick loading of the tap tap and a messy few hours of travel until it dried up).

This is a distant view of a tent-city outside
of Port-Au-Prince. The tent-cities in the
actual city itself were much more crowded. 

It took about 45 minutes to get out of Port-Au-Prince and into the countryside.  We drove past several huge tent cities - results of the earthquake.  Hans said that many of the people living the tent cities still have standing houses, they're just too afraid to go home.  I can't adequately describe the living conditions in the tent cities - rows upon rows of tents piled almost on top of each other, piles of trash rotting in the streets or being burned (this is a common sight throughout all of Haiti), canals of filthy water piled high with trash and children wading through - it is not surprising that cholera has become such a huge issue.  

Haitian countryside - the picture's not
very clear because the road was just
a little bumpy! :)

Well slathered with sunscreen and with nalgene bottles full of clean water, we set out around 10:30 (a little later than we'd intended, but you get used to being flexible in Haiti).  We drove for several hours along the east coast on one of the best roads in Haiti and made fairly decent time.  Everyone laughed and joked and enjoyed the rushing wind and the beautiful views of the Caribbean Sea.  Soon however, we turned away from the coast and began the long part of our trip through the mountains.  The roads quickly deteriorated and became narrow, curving, and filled with pot-holes.  The countryside through the mountains, however, was beautiful and made up for all the jolting!  

It's hard to describe Haitian driving to someone who has not experienced it.  Drivers attempt to avoid pot holes at all costs, even if it means going into the other lane while cars are approaching... Many of the mountain roads take hair pin turns around the mountain sides and horn blaring is necessary here to make sure that there is not a car coming the other way.  Several times we rounded a mountain curve right as a huge truck was coming around the other side and both vehicles had to brake hard and then inch past each other.  We saw only one metal guard rail on our trip.  The rest, where there were any, were made out of bamboo!

Our tap-tap

It was an exciting trip to say the least and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think everyone started to get a little tired towards the end - 6 hours is a long time to be standing in the back of a truck bouncing over mountain roads, but it was really neat to see how the team bonded and worked together without complaining!

We arrived at the Jacob's Well campsite after dark and were greeted by the three members of the advance team!  It was so good to see them again!  After unloading and organizing our luggage, we enjoyed our first dinner at the campsite and headed to the cabins to enjoy the brand new bunks that the advance team built for us.  I've never been to the camp before, but from what I've seen in pictures, it looks nothing like it did only a year ago!  I can't wait to see what the camp site looks like in the daylight!  Tomorrow, we'll start work projects.

More to come later...

~ A Servant of the King

Operation Jacob's Well, Limbé, Haiti

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have been given the opportunity to travel to Haiti this coming January.  I am so very excited about this trip - I've been wanting to go for the past four years - and now at last I can!  

I am traveling down with a group of 21 from Frontier Camp (a Christian youth camp in East Texas).  For the past four years, Frontier Camp has been partnering with a Haitian paster, Gersan Valcin, to start the first Christian youth camp in Haiti, Jacob's Well.  (Click Here - Jacob's Well to read more about the camp)  In a country where 40% of the population is under the age of 14, a Christian youth camp can have a great impact.  So, over the past 4 years, Frontier Camp has been sending down teams to get Jacob's Well up and running, and to train the Haitian leaders to conduct camping ministry.  

Needless to say, I can't wait for my trip!  I will be in Haiti for 10 days, during which time we will run day camps for the Haitian children as well as a few overnight camps, and continue on construction projects on the campsite.  

After the earthquake, the northern rural portion of Haiti (where Jacob's Well is located) absorbed a large number of refugees which the already-poverty stricken area was and is ill-equipped to support.  So, the focus of this trip is to further the development of the camp infrastructure needed to provide long-term development opportunities for the local village and its people. We believe that God wants to use Jacob’s Well and its ministry to kids to continue to change the nation of Haiti with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

There have been a great many changes in Haiti over the past year due to the earthquake, recent cholera outbreak, and now the hurricane!  Praise the Lord that the hurricane veered away from Haiti so that the island was not hit with the full impact.  However, the heavy rains caused by the hurricane may help spread the cholera, so Haiti is definitely still in need of our prayers.

Come January, I will be on a plane flying down to Haiti!  I am excited and can't wait to see what the Lord will do during our time there.  I know that at the very least I will come back changed, having drawn closer to my Savior.  

Would you like to help?  Would you pray for the trip and for Haiti?

The team of Haiti 6 would appreciate your prayers for:

~ Haiti - that the people's eyes would be opened and they would turn to the Lord in the midst of these disasters.  

~ Cholera - that the outbreak would be stopped.  The disease has already claimed hundreds of lives.  Pray for relief for the people of Haiti, for clean water, and knowledge to stop the spread of the cholera.

~ Team - a safe trip down and health in Haiti.  That we would be willing servants of the Lord, bold to proclaim His name, humble to serve, loving all we meet with the love of Christ.  

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13-14  

~ A Servant of the King

To the praise of His glory.

I will go!

"I Will Go!"

as sung by Starfield

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands
To the suffering and the lean
To the ones the world has cast aside
Where you want me I will be

I will go, I will go,
I will go, Lord send me
To the world, To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

Let me not be blind with privilege
Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me
Not be spent on me in vain
Let this life be used for change

I will go, I will go, 

I will go, Lord send me

To the world, To the lost

To the poor and hungry

Take everything I am

I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

I wanna live for you

Go where you lead me

I wanna follow you

[repeat 3x]

I will go, I will go, 

I will go, Lord send me

To the world, To the lost

To the poor and hungry

Take everything I am

I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

Send me! 

[repeat 4x]

This song has really been running through my head lately... especially since I have recently been granted the opportunity to go on a mission's trip to Haiti this coming January!  I'm so excited about this opportunity!  I will a part of a team of 21 heading down to Haiti to continue work on Jacob's Well - a Christian youth camp, actually the first Christian youth camp in all of Haiti.  We will run both day and overnight camps for the village children and continue on construction projects.  I'll post more on the trip later, but for now, a few verses that the song makes me think of:

Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 'Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?'  And I said, 'Here I am.  Send me!'"

Romans 10:13-15 "for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

I John 3:18 "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

I will post details about my Haiti trip later on... as well as about my fund raising efforts!

~ A Servant of the King

Operation Hands and Feet

The title of this blog "Stars in the Universe" came from Philippians 2:14-16a "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life..."

This blog's goal is to be a place of encouragement and accountability for young Christians who desire to love and serve the Lord and others.  Our mission: Operation Hands and Feet - to serve Christ and live for Him, serving and loving those around us and across the world, to shine like stars in the midst of the dark world around us.

I wrote a post a little while back on my other blog Of Battles, Dragons, and Swords of Adamant  called “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”  (You can read it here)  This is a sort of sequel to that post.  It’s taking the next step forward – not merely a call to love, but a call to love in action.   

1 John 3:16-18 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 

It is easy to read this verse and nod your head, and then go away without thinking any more about it.  But first, please just sit still a moment and let the words sink in.  Think about the world we live in.


Right now, millions of people are starving.  There are an estimated 143 million orphans living in the world today.  In many countries, people live in conditions that we cannot even imagine, without the commonest necessities that we take for granted.  


Haiti has recently come to the forefront of many minds due to the recent devastating earthquake.  Many people are aghast at the living conditions in post-earthquake Haiti.  What I find interesting, is that the living conditions in Haiti were an issue long before the earthquake, but nobody knew or cared to know, or even think about doing anything about it.

Why is that? 

Why are we so content to live in our own little world - for the world in which we live in here in the west is so completely different from the world that many know in different countries – why are we content to live out our comfortable lives in our rich mansions (palaces, to many… we call them houses), stuffing our faces with an overabundance of food - whatever we want, whenever we want - buying, spending, amassing, living solely for ourselves without giving more than a passing thought to the outside world?  Our society is truly materialistic to the enth degree.  We have so much that we do not need, yet we constantly want more.  And not only that, we want more and we want it now. 

But while we live our plentifully abundant lives, thousands die from starvation, and no one cares enough to do anything about it. 

I did not care enough.

It is so easy to be comfortable in your own life and forget about “the rest of the world.”  It is so easy to read this (or write this) nod your head and say “yes, something must be done,” and then continue on in the same old ways and forget entirely about it.

But I don’t want to forget. 

I want something more.  So, what can we do?  I have been wondering that myself.  What can I do?  I don’t have much - not by our standards - but I have more than plenty.  All my needs are provided for and more than enough of my wants.  But what have I given to those who have nothing?

Unfortunately, I've been looking at everything all the wrong way.

I'm sure you have all read the story of the widow's gift in the Bible.  It's a very short passage, only a few verses, yet the truth enclosed in those verses is powerful.

Luke 21: 1-4 “As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this widow has put in more than all the others.  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 have been giving Christ out of my “wealth,” my extra.  And the worst of it is: I knew it.  I have looked upon my money as my own.  Can I really spare it right now?  Naw, I’ll give some other time…  But the truth is, it is not my own.  I have only been loaned it for a while, and one day, I will be called to account for how I have used what I have been given.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stand there and have to say, “Well, Lord, you see… I kept it all for myself.  I gave you the little bit of the extra I had… that extra stuff that I earned that one time and figured I could spare…”

No.  Don’t give out of your wealth, give your all, remembering that it is not yours in the first place!

Jesus, in His famous Sermon on the Mount, tells us that we can always see where our hearts are, by where we put our treasure.  Matthew 6:19-20 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


Where is your treasure going?  Are you storing up treasure on earth, amassing things for yourself?  Or are you giving your earthly treasure to Christ, and gaining a far great treasure in heaven?

This is not only about your money, it's the same with your time.  Every single breath you draw upon this planet is a gift from God.  You did nothing whatsoever to give yourself life… you can do nothing whatsoever to keep yourself breathing… each second is a gift, and since it is a gift, you must use it wisely.  Every second of time that passes, is a second gone from your life.  Don’t waste it.  Remember, it is not your time, it is Christ’s.  Be ready to serve.

So anyway, back to the question.  What can we do?  The first step is realizing that there is a problem; the second, wanting to do something about it.  The third, and the most difficult, is figuring out what to do and actually doing it. 

So, here is a call to action.  Our mission in Operation Hands and Feet is two fold.

The first objective: is to do something.  To use our time and money and abilities for something more than ourselves and our own entertainment and pleasure.  To live for Christ, for others; serving Christ, serving others; changing us, others, the world.

James 2:16-17 “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” 

It sounds like a pretty tall order… especially when you’re just a teenager and your bank account, time, and opportunities are limited to say the least.  But as we saw with the widow, Christ does not want our wealth, he wants our all, however little it may be.  And in the Kingdom of God – however, upside down and backwards it may sound - a little given with a pure heart is far more than a lot given begrudgingly or with the wrong motives. 

So, here’s my challenge.  This year, this month, this week – today, do something!  

Give your time and your service:
Here are some ides -
~ Join a ministry - don't waste your time; do something worthwhile with it.  Spend at least some part of your day for others.
~ Help in Awana - God's word changes lives and memorizing God's word is one of the best ways to get it in your head where it can affect your life and actions.
~ Help teach a Sunday school class - it's often said that the best way to learn anything is to try to teach it to someone.  You will grow while teaching others.
~ Work at a Christian youth camp - that's what I do all summer!  It's really fun and rewarding too.
~ Go on a mission's trip
~ Serve your family - yes this is a legitimate way to serve.  Our service should always start at home.  That is where God has placed you - it's your immediate mission field.
~ Pray - become a true prayer warrior for Christ.  Prayer is a very powerful thing.
~ Serve an elderly neighbor
~ Use the gifts and abilities that God has given you to serve Him, to serve others.


Give your money:

~ To church

~ Support a missionary

~ Sponsor an orphan or child in a third world country

~ Give to Christian charities designed to help those in need and spread the Gospel
Here are a few good ones that I know of - there are many many more;
Samaritan's Purse
Angel Tree
Gospel for Asia

Look for ways to help others with your money, rather than always spending or saving it for yourself.

Obviously don’t limit yourself to what I've put here, there are millions of options, millions of ways you can give and serve!  The point is just to do something here and now.  It doesn’t have to be huge.  Start off small.  be faithful in the little things and then in time, you will be able to do bigger things.

Here's where the purpose of this blog/group comes in.  After you have found a way to give and serve, comment here and share with us.  This is not to glorify yourself through announcing to the whole world what you've done, rather for accountability - to keep yourself accountable by letting others know what you are committing to.  And it's also for encouragement, so that we can all see that we do not stand alone, that others are committing to serving as well.  If you have decided to give your money, don't list any amounts or anything like that - again, we're not doing this to get a pat on the back - just tell where you gave and why you chose that place.

Matthew 6:2-3 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Now, to the second part of our two-fold mission.  Now, this second objective really should have been listed as the first - it must always be first, I just listed it second sort of on accident. (So really this is the first objective of Operation: Hands and Feet, the other is the second objective)  By the same token that we cannot simply sit around comfortable with our prosperity while others suffer, we cannot simply sit around comfortable knowing that we are saved while others perish  because they have not been told.  Let us stop pretending and live as true Christians, live like we believe the word of God to be true, live like we believe that it is imperative that the Gospel be preached!  In short, we must tell others the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 24:11-12 “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter.  If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not he who guards your life know it?  Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”

Our belief in Christ must define our lives.  Our belief that He is the only way to reconciliation with God and forgiveness from sins, must affect the way we live.  We cannot simply sit around and keep the word of God secret.  His word was meant to be proclaimed, shouted from the rooftops.  My excuse is a lame one: I am  not good at speaking and sharing with others, I don't know enough, or I can't explain it well enough... someone else could do it better.  Like Moses, I'm an expert at inventing excuses.  I don't know about you, but who wants to have to state those excuses when standing before the seat of Christ.

The problem with those excuses is that you only get better with practice, not by sitting around waiting until you feel comfortable sharing the gospel.  A rusty tool won't get sharp from sitting on a bench.  But how incredibly selfish to keep eternal life hidden within, not to share it with those who will perish for eternity.  Why?

Psalms 40: 10 "I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.  I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly."

So, this must be the foremost part of our mission.  It is not enough to simply provide starving people with food, if they will be separated from God for eternity when they die.  However, it is not enough to simply throw gospel tracks to starving people and hope that they are saved before they starve to death.  There must be a balance.  That's why our mission is two-fold.  The feet that bring the gospel shall also bring the love of Christ, and the hands that meet the spiritual needs shall also meet the physical. 

Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”  No matter how young you are, you are not too young to live for Christ and to serve Him!

~ A Servant of the King
To the praise of His glory!