DR so far (Yey that rhymes!)

Hola from the Dominican Republic!

2 weeks have passed since we crossed the crazy border from Haiti and drove into Santo Domingo, the capital. We've been staying at the Work and Witness house here, and been led by Eliezel Soto, the Work and Witness coordinator for DR. And you know what, I've had an amazing time so far! It's been busy and forever changing, but God is just so good to me.

We've had two main goals for our time in the DR. The first is evangelistic ministry with the new churches here. The Church of the Nazarene is growing rapidly here, and there are so many church plants. So we have been to many of them to do an evangelistic service, an the awesome part is we've done all of these services on the street! Most times, we would start the afternoon doing a children's program called Remi. We would walk around the community and invite all the children and their parents to our activity. Remi is so much fun! It's about a boy called Remi, who is a young missionary, traveling the world. We would sing songs with the children, do a puppet show and learn a Bible verse with them. I'm pretty sure I enjoy it as much as the kids do, especially learning and singing songs in Spanish! Then after that, we would have a service and invite people to Jesus. And wow these services are so different to what I'm used to! Many times we've had cars, buses and people walking past, but even with distractions God still moved in the hearts of people. It was great to meet all of the amazing pastors and their families who have given their life to growing God's kingdom, what blessings they were to us!

The second part of our ministry was speaking to the church in Dominican Republic about Missions!  At many of the churches, we encouraged the members of the churches to respond to the call of God in their life. In our presentations, we gave everyone practical steps that they can take to be involved in Missions as part of the Church of the Nazarene.We all were able to share our testimonies about how God placed a missionary heart in each one of us and called us specifically to 12:7 Serve. It was also very special for me to preach last Sunday morning about the call of God, and how it's time to say yes. 

Something exciting that's happening this weekend is the COM that is happening in the DR. In English, COM means a cross-cultural missions orientation. Over the past two weeks we have been inviting youth all around Dominican Republic to this event. They will learn about themselves, God's call, and about what it means to be a missionary. Will you pray with me for this event? For many of our team members, their first COM was an important part of their missionary call. I will update you all next week about how this event went!

But for now, Dios te bendiga!

On the journey,

Dani

Haiti (Part 2)

Hi again! 

I’m keen to share with you about the other 3 districts that the 12:7 Team served in during our remaining time in Haiti. :)

Lower Artibonite was a special district for one of us in particular – it was Absolu’s district! It was awesome to be in St Marc, the city that Absolu lives in when he studies. We stayed with the district superintendent, Pastor Pierre Antoine. Big guy, big family, big heart. :) During our time in Lower Artibonite, we got to be part of church services (which involved lots of dancing!) and it was great as well to work with members of the church to do evangelism. We also presented Sex, Lies and the Truth to the youth there, and I think it was our best presentation yet! Anther great moment in this district was one night when we had a time of worship with Pastor Pierre and his family. It was amazing to be singing songs to God in 3 different languages – English, Spanish and Creole. We were very blessed by our time with Pastor Pierre and his family in Lower Artibonite!

Our next district was South district. Again, we presented Seven Practices of Effect Ministry, Maximum Mission Sex, Lies and the truth here. We’ve realised that SLT is actually a really important presentation for Haitian youth. Unlike we were always taught in school, many of them never went to high school and were never taught about the consequences of not waiting until marriage. So our message about abstinence is almost a controversial one. Something awesome about our time in South district was that Gary Hartke, the global NYI director, came and spent time with us! It was really fun to have him there, and he gave us many words of wisdom. What an honour, thank you Gary!

Also in South district we were able to do Project GOL, which is a ministry where you use soccer to build relationships with youth, and also tell them about Jesus. Here is a picture of AJ telling a group of youth about Jesus using the colours on the Project GOL ball!

Our final district in Haiti was South East! What a busy two days it was. We worked with lovely Philome, who was the NYI for that district, and her father Pastor Samarite. We were able to spend Easter Sunday with the church in Bleck, which was special for us. :) We joined with the church to do evangelism one afternoon, and we also did a workshop on discipleship, which was really appreciated by the members. It was also fun to spend time with the children and youth there, there were so many of them, and so full of energy! The church services in Haiti are so lively, with many guest choirs and special songs - for example, a 70 person choir sang on Sunday morning! Another great time we had was one morning where we went and painted the town square and did a cleanup. This was definitely a great way to serve the community and also make the church known in Bleck. We were blessed by Pastor Samarite and his family during our time in South East District. 

The awesome choir!

The town square after we did the clean up!

With church family from South East District :)

So there you have it, our time in Haiti complete! Like I said in my previous post, I’m still trying to process what I have seen in Haiti. The people of Haiti are so beautiful and joyful! Although they have gone through devastation and loss, their hope is in the Lord. This is something that we need to live by – no matter the circumstances, our God is faithful.

Some thankyous that I need to make:

Colson, our amazing driver! You are more than just a driver. I was so blessed by your joy and enthusiasm for whatever we were doing. Pastor Ornan, for looking after our whole schedule during our time in Haiti, and being our support. Amanda and Steve, for giving us valuable advice and always being there if we needed anything. Elysie and Asnaf, for making amazing food when we were at the seminary! And to each district leader, for serving us with all of your hearts.

Me and Pastor Ornan

Me and Colson our amazing driver!

So au revoir Haiti! I will never forget you. Bondye ben ou, que Dieu vous benisse, God bless you.

See you all in Dominican Republic!

On the journey, 

Dani

In all honesty

Tonight we had a missionary from Papua New Guinea, Lain, come and debrief with us about Haiti. We all shared our experiences, shed a few tears and had many laughs. It was great to hear from someone who's had 17 years on the field!

But I thought that I'd finally get honest on my blog. And you know what, Haiti has been a tough time for me. I've gone through a truckload of culture shock over the past 3 weeks. I'm used to 1 1/2 hour church services, and most services in Haiti go for 3. I'm used to my Mum's cooking, and for 3 weeks I've been eating beans, rice, chicken and plantane. I'm used to my own bed and room, and for 3 weeks we've been going from sharing a bedroom with 3 girls, to sharing mattresses on a classroom floor with 8. I'm used to being ignored as I walk down the street, but for 3 weeks I've had people (especially children) screaming "Blanc!" (meaning white) everywhere I go.

Although it's been hard for me to adjust to Haiti, it really is a beautiful country. The people love God with all they are, and served us with all of their hearts. We came to bless but were blessed in return.  The people are joyful and resilient - nothing like what the news has told you. Yes, the earthquake was devastating. Yes, I saw poverty in Haiti. Yes, there are hungry people - Many still live in tents that were given by aid organisations. I'm confused about what this means to me. Perhaps the hurt will come later. But Haiti lives on, especially in my heart.

One thing that comes to mind through all of this is the song 'Albertine', by Brooke Fraser. She wrote the song after a little girl she met on a trip to Rwanda, where she was deeply moved by what she saw. One line of the song says, "Now that I have seen, I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead."
Faith without deeds is dead.

Haiti (Part 1)

Bonsoir from Port au Prince, Haiti!

It’s been over 2 weeks now since we’ve been here, and a busy 2 weeks it has been!

Everything is so different here. The food, the language, the church services - everything. It’s been pretty tough for me to adjust, but what’s helped is that the people of Haiti are really beautiful. Although I’m forever being stared at because I look different to them, I’ve been blessed to see their smiles and excitement about us being here.

There are 11 districts in Haiti. The church here is flourishing – there are around 110,000 Nazarenes in Haiti, which apart from the USA and Canada puts them third in the world for members of the church of the Nazarene. In our whole time in Haiti we will travel to 6 of these districts – meaning that every 3 days we move district! It’s been very busy so far, but here are some notes about 3 of the districts that we have served in!

In the Central District, there were 3 days where it was just 6 of the team here (As the other 6 were yet to arrive from St Kitts). We were able to meet the district youth council who were all really lovely and so excited to have us there! On one of the days when there were just 6 of us, we went with David Campus (the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries coordinator of Haiti), to work on a display garden in a village 4 hours away. This wasn’t your usual display garden, it is a tool used by NCM to show villagers how to produce better crops. We moved lots of rocks around to create a fence and then raked and broke up the soil. The work we did was tough stuff, but it was good bonding time for us. The 6 of us were also involved in a youth meeting, where we did introduced ourselves and the 12:7 Serve project, and did a brief presentation on Maximum Mission. When the other 6 arrived from St Kitts, we split up again! But this was just for the morning, so that we could attend 2 churches in Port au Prince, before heading off to Upper Artibonite.

In Upper Artibonite, we were very busy! We presented a workshop called ‘Sex, Lies and the Truth’ to some youth who had many questions and were interested in what we were saying.  We ran services and also cleaned up around the church and in the school that the church runs. Something exciting for me here was that I was able to use my knowledge of French to do evangelism in the community. It was nerve-racking at first, but by the end of our time I was able to explain the Gospel in French. Now I know why I studied French at school! God definitely planned this one out. :) We also ran our workshop called the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry and showed the Jesus film for children. But one of my favourite moments in Upper Artibonite was when we went to play with some children from a school. But before we started to play, they sang together. I got to hear a group of children sing ‘Here I am to Worship’ and ‘Lord I Lift Your Name on High’ in Creole. And it was the most precious thing in the whole world, to hear children singing praises to God.

In Lower Artibonite, we stayed just behind in the church in two of the school classrooms there. This was quite different for us, but it was good to have bonding time with all of the girls! In this district we presented ‘Sex, Lies and the truth’ for the youth, and again got a really good response. The next day we ran the 7 Practices of Effect Ministry for the church leaders as well – they all were so appreciative of this and had a lot of input to give as well! We also were involved in evangelism, children’s and youth ministry, and we were able to take part in 2 services with the church. I want to share with you this beautiful picture of Chennice with some of the children there :)

And here is the team with the pastor and some church members of the district!

So that’s our journey in Haiti so far. Stay tuned for Haiti part two! Please pray that God would renew our strength every morning, as travelling every 3 days has been very tiring for us.

On the journey,

Dani