Priorities in life change. I look at my notes in my phone and see our previous priority of specific timelines of how long we should run our sprinklers back home to help make sure our grass is a pretty deep shade of green. As I lay here in Montrouis, Haiti my priority is that we have enough power to keep on our fans on throughout the night so my 5 month old and 4 year old sleep okay (and not waking up laying in buckets of sweat). This is our new home. Our priorities have changed. From the beautiful souls of Haitian people you can see with talking to them for just 30 seconds, to the quiet desperation of their living conditions that we wouldn't wish on out worst enemy...our priorities NEEDED to change. I want to yell. I want to hug. I want to kneel and pray. I want to help. I want to cry. I want to kneel and pray some more. I just want these people to see Jesus. If I have to live here 20 years and see only one person come to know Jesus than it was worth it. It is worth the hot days. It is worth the nights worrying about my kids and my wife. It is worth not having air conditioning. It is worth asking for finances. It is worth the tears. This is what my family and I are called to do. This is our new priority...and it's beautiful. Thank you Jesus.
Look close...many thousands upon thousands of 'temporary" homes that have become perminant, post earthquake. Not even a glance into this place we will call home. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Can't wait to move here. Many more stories to come... We have safely arrived in Florida! Going to head to the hotel (after some food hopefully!) and get up super early for our flight to Haiti! Keep up the prayers! It is almost time! Wednesday evening we will be flying to Fort Lauderdale for an overnight layover and then on to Port-au-Prince first thing Thursday morning. We will be staying at the Ortlip Center - the center we will be running once we move to Haiti. This trip will answer many of the questions we have had over the past 6 months....and many questions we did not even know we had! Please join us in prayer as we travel to Haiti and see the country we will be calling "home!"
Prayer Requests: - Traveling mercies: This will be Piper's first trip on an airplane. Hopefully between the four of us (Nancy, Dustin, Holly & Dan), we will be able to keep her happy on the flights. ;) - That any doubt or fear will be replaced with overwhelming peace. - That we come back with even more passion and drive to become fully-funded! March. It may be one of my favorite months out of the whole year. This past month was filled with birthday celebrations (Nancy turned 26 & Dustin turned 30), ministry visits, plenty of sleepless nights (silly Piper girl), and another road trip! March also brought with it a huge milestone....pushing over the 50% funded mark. Wow. Holy Cow. Blown Away. God is continuing to remind us how IN control He is and how OUT of control we are. There are many days where I sit back and think what else *I* can be doing to help get us to Haiti faster - more phone calls, more emails, or even practicing telling our story better. It is in those moments that the Lord reminds me WHO is actually in control. It is out of my hands. I can only do what God leads me to do, and He will take care of the rest. Nancy & Dustin do not move people.....God moves people. Period. End of story. We are finding peace in knowing who is in control of this crazy ride we are on! And now for some pictures... For starters - look at our beautiful big girl! This was her school picture that I swore to myself I wouldn't buy - no matter how precious the picture was.....oops :) Here was my attempt at snapping a picture of the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign on our road trip to West Monroe. Clearly I need to work on my photography skills! We had SUCH a wonderful trip to West Monroe, LA to share with New Life Wesleyan Church. The Lord really used that time to encourage us. We have promised them that we WILL be back to visit & we intend on keeping that promise!
Speaking of trips: Do you happen to attend or know a church/small group/sunday school class/mission team/youth group who would enjoy hearing our story? Let us know about them! We are willing to travel (almost) anywhere - 664.9 miles in two days? Sure! Count us in! |