Update and some thoughts

Not terribly much has transpired in the past week, so I will not be doing a day by day update this time. In the house we are almost done framing all the screens in the windows, so the next step will be to clean up all the floors and counters and sweep out the house so that we can tile it all when Nick gets back from the States next week. Other than working on the house I have spent some time with kids, and quite a bit of time reading.

            One of the books I just read is “Safely Home” by Randy Alcorn. For anyone who has not read it, here is the synopsis from the back of the book:

“Is this the day I die?” Quan stiffened at the shout behind him. The voice rang with the authority of the Gong An Ju, the Public Security Bureau. “You meet in the night like the criminals you are. How dare you defy the law? In three minutes,” Scarbrow said matter-of-factly, “we will shoot every man, woman, and child, who does not declare himself loyal to the people ratherthan the gweilos, foreign devils.” “Surely this is the day.”

American business executive Ben Fielding has no idea what his brilliant college roommate in facing in China. But when they’re reunited in China after twenty years, the men are shocked at what they discover about each other. Thrown together in an hour of encroaching darkness, watched by unseen eyes, both must make choices that will determine not only the destinies of two men, but two families, two nations…and two worlds.

As you can see from the synopsis, this book deals with the persecution of Christianity in China specifically, and a little bit with other countries. This book really made me think of how easy we as Christians have it in America, and also if we can really know what it means to be a Christian. We teach our kids that to be Christian is to ask Jesus into our hearts and then have a personal relationship with Him, and that certain sins are taboo, while other ones are lesser and maybe even ok, and if you do good things it is a plus. But is that really what it means to take up our cross and follow Him? 

In Acts 9, Christ says of Paul “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Matthew 5 says:” Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you”

John 17: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

These few passages among many others (Acts 5, Romans 5, 2 Corinthians 6, and more) speak of how the apostles and followers suffered because of how bold they were of their faith, and yet rejoiced that they were counted worthy of suffering for the name of the Lord. Others speak of how we will but should not be discouraged, but encouraged for this life is short, and we will be rewarded.

Now, I am not going to say I necessarily want to be persecuted and tortured, my point is how can we claim to pick of our crosses and be living sacrifices of Christ, when we don’t even give fully of ourselves. For example, there is the story of the woman in Luke 21 who gives a simple 2 copper coins, which is nothing next to all the rich people who are giving massive amounts of money. Yet Jesus says “Truly I tell you this poor 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.” (verses 3 and 4).

I will be the first to admit that I don’t particularly enjoy tithing, I like my toys and money. But I need to remember first of all that what I have all belongs to God, and it is by His blessing that I have it in the first place, so who am I to hang on to it? Also, is it really giving, if we give the bare minimum, and have plenty left over to enjoy? From the example in Luke, God calls us to give till it hurts, give up buying that new gadget, or gizmo or whatever, instead put that money in the offering plate, or to an organization, or sponsor a child and totally change their life! If we really want to follow Christ and serve Him, we need to use the resources He has given us and bless others and spread the Kingdom, instead of enjoying all the luxuries available to us for a “better life.” This life will be 100 years at absolute most for the majority of us, don’t you agree that it would be worth it to give up that short span of time, when we have and eternity in a Heaven we can’t even BEGIN to imagine!

This blog is the abbreviated form of what has been going through my head since reading the book, and is meant to encourage you to think as well, and hopefully pray and act to whatever God leads you to do!

In Christ,

David

Wow. Another week gone by!

Sorry for the delay in update, I have been busy and the internet has been pretty spotty around here in the evenings.

Thursday and Friday were pretty full days of construction. We hooked up the plumbing and for both bathtubs and set them up, as well as building forms and pouring concrete for the toilet mounts. We also have started working on finishing trim for the window sills and building frames to tack screens onto.

Saturday I had the chance to go to the beach again, so I took it. This time though I had snorkeling gear with me and I swam out past the reef to where there is a large drop off. I would never have guessed what a beautiful world there is hidden underneath the waves! Words and pictures just don’t do it justice (that being said, I still wish I had a waterproof camera). The only thing I could think as I swam along and looked at it was God, you are amazing!

That evening a couple families from Willmar arrived, John and Shayla Mellema and Scott and Barb Abrams, and I received a birthday surprise of some food from my parents along with them! Thanks Mom!

Sunday was again a pretty relaxed day, I caught up on some sleep, and read some of Crazy Love by Francis Chan (another book I highly recommend!). John, Scott, and I also fixed a bench that is around a tree. A good portion of it was rotting out so we pulled that would and put in fresh boards.

Sunday evening I also had some pizza made for me as a birthday surprise! That was pretty delicious.

Yesterday we worked some more on the trim for the windows, as well as helping the construction crew tie rebar on the next house that is being built.

Today I woke up not feeling so great, so I have been sleeping and resting most of the day. Prayers that I would feel better would be much appreciated!

Also prayers for endurance on this trip, I have had some bouts with homesickness and missing some friends from school. I need to realize that this summer will go fast and I need to pour into it to Glorify God and His work in and through me, not look ahead to the end and breeze through it.

Blessings to everyone!

The last few days since I updated my blog on Saturday have flown by!

Sunday’s are my day off, and I had it mostly to myself due to the youth group going into Cap for most of the day to a church and another orphanage. I slept in for quite a while, and then listened to a sermon on my Ipod. Then did some Bible reading, and read some of “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper. I would highly recommend reading it! The rest of the day was pretty relaxing as well, hung out with the youth group, and as usual joined them for dinner and Bible study.

Monday morning I went on a 2 mile run with some people here and then at about 7 or 7:30 left to the Dominican Republic with Nick. What an experience that was! Almost as soon as you cross the border, you can see a difference in the quality of life. There isn’t near as much poverty, and the city is much cleaner. We needed to stop at a hardware store to pick up some propane burners for a stove, as well as go to a grocery store to get stuff that you either cannot buy in Haiti, or is simply much cheaper in the DR. We also stopped for lunch at a restaurant and bought chicken fajitas. SOOOOO delicious!

We also gave a man that works for a company called Haiti Serve a ride from Cap to the DR border. On the way we talked a bit about how COTP was doing, and I asked him a bit about what Haiti Serve’s mission/goals are. Basically, they want to help Haiti by working alongside them to help them build their own economic structure and get going as a country, instead of just giving them money and supplies and then leaving. You can check out their website at: www.haitiserve.org

When we got back from the DR I helped out with some basic stuff around the compound, and ended the day with a delicious meal of barbecued goat, freshly cut up and baked fries, and a delicious vegetable dish thing.

Tuesday morning the youth group left, and it suddenly seemed very quiet and empty around here, which I really didn’t like. Nick left early that morning to do some stuff in Cap, so I helped out Wilson and his brother, Emilio, in the back welding windows into place and doing some other small things in the house.

Today Nick and I focused heavily on electrical work for the first part of the day. We pretty much finished wiring the pantry, and have the plan for one of the bathrooms ready.  In the afternoon we built the forms and laid out and tied rebar for the bathroom counters, which we are going to pour tomorrow morning.

Not really anything new for prayer requests, just that I will continue to pursue God with all I have and grow deeper in my relationship with Him, and that He will pour out through me!

In Christ, 

David

So excited to paint!

...maybe not.

finished product

Mural later painted on by the youth group.

aww yeah! Recruiting for Calvin already!

and again!

Definitely looking good with that hat on! 

one of the pictures from the resort I went to on Saturday

the delicious lunch in the Dominican Republic!

Along with a frozen lemonade!

barbecued goat on the right, vegetable dish thingy in the middle, fries on the left.

A great week comes to an end

The last few days have been really great! On Tuesday it was still a pretty relaxed day, I sat down with Nick and went over the projects he would like to see done by the end of the summer, which includes some electrical work in a security shed, building a couple bathrooms areas with showers and toilets by the preschool area. Also ripping out some wooden counters and replacing it with concrete ones, this should help with the cockroach problem in the drawers and cupboards. He would also like redo a reading/relaxation room into an office room, including knocking out part of a wall and adding a door, and taking off the current roof and replacing it with a new metal one. I will also be helping out with construction on and off throughout the summer whenever I am needed.

Wednesday I got started on the electrical work, but needed to quit pretty fast because I ran out of some parts that I needed, so I will finish that either later in the week or next week. I also helped out with digging a trench to lay some electrical line into. And of course spent some time with the kids.

Thursday Nick was sick, so we didn’t work together on some stuff we were hoping to, so I helped out a youth group with painting in the house out in the back, as well as doing quite a bit with kids and other general stuff around the compound.

On Friday we had a group of orphans around high school age come here, and they wanted to play soccer and basketball. We were absolutely destroyed in soccer, but we own both basketball games! 4 v 4 to forty points, we dominated on the first game, during the 2^nd game we fell behind by about 20 but came back and won by 4 points, that was fun!

Today, we went to a resort on the beach near Cap Haitien. It was beautiful! I will upload pictures in the next couple of days, but we went swimming, saw some pretty cool sea creatures, etc. It was a fun day. Except for the sunburn.

The youth group that is here has also invited me and a couple other short term people that are down here to participate in their nightly Bible study which has really been a blessing! We have talked about what it means to really serve Jesus and give your life to Him, and tonight (Thursday) we went around and a few people mentioned how this trip has really opened up their eyes to how we are so blessed and have so much in America, and that this is definitely going to change their life and their perspective. It is pretty awesome to watch how God is working in them, as well as in me. It is a daily struggle for me to let go of myself and thinking about myself and instead let God replace my will with His. I am working daily on letting go and just serving God with everything. Tonight we divided into small groups and discussed what is blocking or veiling us from stepping out in Christ and really living our lives fully for Him. I said comparing myself to others, and materialism. It is really hard to focus on God when I am surrounded with my toys and gizmos and gadgets, and comparing myself to others who have more and wishing I had more as well. God has been working hard in me this past school year, and especially coming down here to Haiti, on realizing I don’t need even close to need everything I have, and especially don’t need more.

A follow up on the last post when I asked for prayer, I am doing WAY better being down here. God definitely has caught me and is with me down here. Thank you VERY much for all the prayer and encouragement!! A new prayer request I have is that I can continue to focus on God and realize I am down here for Him, not for me, and to give my will up for His so that I can do what he brought me here to do, and Honor and Glorify Him through it.

God Bless!

David

It starts

After a full day of travel on Sunday, 3 hours of “sleep” Sunday night in the Fort Lauderdale airport and then waking up at 4 to make my flight to Cap Haitien, I have safely arrived here at Children of the Promise. As far as doing anything, today was pretty low key for me. I was greeted Nick, the field director, and a few other guys here that I know from last year. Thankfully, Nick let me sleep and rest the whole day to catch up on sleep, which was very much appreciated. Unfortunately, my suitcase was shuffled back to coming in on a cargo plane, so I won’t be getting my clothes or anything until tomorrow. Also, it sounds like I will be doing a fair bit with construction at first, but Nick said he has a whole list of projects he wants me to tackle as well, so it is looking like I will be keeping plenty busy!

            On the spiritual side of all this, I have been struggling. After I left home yesterday, I started to feel some serious doubt as to whether or not I was really following God or just doing this on a whim. I need to keep reminding myself that God definitely opened this path up to me and led me here, and is here with me. As a friend reminded me, God didn’t lead me here to abandon me. He guided me here, and He is with me here to work in and through me!

This verse is my prayer right now, remember God’s promise to never leave nor forsake us!

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6