My First Trip to the Beautiful Country of Haiti. With Recap Vid. (9:43)

In the year 2012, I went along with the local church I am a member of, to the country Haiti!

Our group of fourteen “short-termers” stayed for a week. The sum of our mission was to serve, encourage, and learn from the full-time missionaries and local Christian churches in the area. 

We stayed at the, then much smaller, "Alabama House"*, where short-term missionaries were very blessed to be able to stay while in Jacmel, Haiti. At this location, we had no hot water or air conditioning, we were right above some sort of disco tech that was lively from 10 pm till somewhere about 4:30 am, and directly across the street resided the city’s community dump for burning trash. However, many in Haiti didn’t have near the luxuries that this house we stayed in did. In this house, we had food to eat, shelter from storms, beds to sleep in, and clean water to drink. Millions of dear people living in this country, to this day, still do not. These living conditions we saw were quite a culture shock to most all of our team, compared to our high amenity houses we were used to.

In spite of (or possibly in part, because of) these few minor inconveniences this trip was a joyful, yet sobering, glimpse into what my Brother and Sister's in Christ daily lives are like as missionaries here. It is anything but easy for the missionaries in the spiritually dark country of Haiti. As this was my first time out of the United States it was also my first look at the work of God practically being done through local churches in a different context than I am accustomed to.

I was blessed and changed for life by briefly experiencing the nation, seeing the poverty, and meeting and ministering to the dear sweet people.

Please watch this short, hopefully inspiring, video that I documented first hand in Haiti and enthusiastically (although less than skillfully) edited together when I got home. 

Being actively involved in local and global missions is mandatory in order to Biblically follow Jesus.

I would like to challenge the Christian after having watched this video and reading this blog post to take some serious time in your own life to pray. Pray about where God would lead you if He wants you to go yourself to see and to serve. Perhaps now is not the right time. Maybe you are called to be a “sender” rather than an overseas “server” for this season in your life.

But when we are called to go, may we not go as tourists or for Instagram likes, and may we not go so we can return home to saying, “we were blessed more by them than we were to them” (that commonly said statement is a selfish reason to serve others. Even though serving others is an incredible  blessing from God, it is a sad sentiment and reflection on many of our churches that won’t lift a finger unless we get something big in return).

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, instead of these vain reasons above, let’s, joyfully armed with truth and genuine compassion, go for an opportunity to learn from people different than we are! Let’s go to support the ministries and local churches already in place (if there are any) and encourage the Christians who live there all the time! And most importantly, let’s do all of this to bring glory to God by being obedient in caring for people in urgent physical and Spiritual needs. It is an honor and privilege that God has chosen to include us in His gathering of people to Himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. He graciously, allows us to be a part of the Great Commission because of His love for us.

 May we pray, send, and go in order to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth!   

*[The location of this particular "Alabama House" described above is across town from the current missionary housing facilities of this same ministry. It is far less unaccommodating as I described the first home we resided in during my first visit to Jacmel. This new, beautifully constructed and strategically placed for ministry, location is for the God-centered  ministry of Children’s Hope which is based out of Montgomery, AL, hence the name "The Alabama House".]