Merry Christmas & Haiti UPDATE

Hello Everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I hope this Haiti update finds each of you well & being blessed during this Christmas season. I wanted to update everyone on where I am at, where I am heading, and when I am finally moving to Haiti to fulfill the calling & dream God has given me! I do not remember the last time I wrote an update as the last few months have been a whirlwind…so I will update from when I arrived back to my parents in August. I flew out of Haiti the middle of August back home to PA with my family. I immediately started looking for jobs and applied for my KY and PA licensure. As an Occupational Therapist I have to be licensed in every state I work in. PA and KY were 2 of the states that took the least amount of time to get licensure and were closest to home. It ended up taking about 6-8 weeks to get my KY & PA licensure. In the meantime I was talking to multiple travel companies and talking to people locally to try and find the job God had for me to work at for the next 3 weeks. I was really hoping to find a job fairly close to home to enjoy time with family & friends before heading to Haiti but I was not having much luck finding anything secondary to there being so many OT schools in the area. While I was waiting on my licensure I flew to NV & sold all my furniture and drove back across country with the smallest tag along u-haul behind. My dad was such a blessing to me….he took a week off work and flew out to drive back cross country with me. I was blessed to stop & visit with many friends on the way back to PA. I ended up taking a job with MedTravelers who contracted me to Flagship working for a nursing home in Philadelphia. I posted a flier at a few churches a friend suggested to try to find housing living with a family. I ended up finding housing with a very nice lady Joyce from 10th Presbyterian Church. She lives alone and is renting me her 3rd floor for the 3 months I am Philadelphia. It has been such a tremendous blessing on so many levels to live in community with her. 3 days after moving in she had a double knee replacement and I got the privaledge of meeting her closest friend from Florida who is a nurse and her sister-in-law from Indiana who were both here to help take care of Joyce post surgery. All 3 of these women have tremendous faith! My job has been tremendously challenging on many levels with long hours & intense days. After much prayer & discernment though God has revealed to me that just as My mission in Haiti is to change Haiti 1 child at a time…my mission right now is to change one resident at a time and be a light to both my co-workers and the residents. I know I can’t change the way this nursing home is run but while I am here I can brighten each residents day & be an encouragement to my coworkers by how I fulfill my work duties each day. It has been really awesome to see God use me as a light in my work environment here…2 weeks ago a coworker approached me late one evening when we were both still there finishing up paperwork and God really opened the door for me to speak about my life experiences and God. In the end my co-worker came to church with me on Sunday and accepted Christ. She is truly seeking truth and wants to change her life and follow Christ. She later told me what drew her to talk to me was the joy I had…she could tell there was something different about me :-) PRAISE GOD for answering my prayers to set me apart & let my light shine! My nickname at work is “Happy” :-) I like that nickname! I pray that I continue to live up to that nickname. The other day I had a….Be Careful What You Pray For Moment...Reading old blog posts from 2010 I realized why God places me in challenging work environments..." I want to be more like Caleb...He didn’t follow what others thought he should do Caleb longed to see God work in power and he knew he would be less likely to rely on God if he dwelt in the easy places.” (swindoll?) Caleb didn’t ask questions like ” what do the experts say” or “what do my friends say?” He was seeking more of the question, “what would God say?” God called him a man with a different spirit and he followed him wholeheartidly (Numbers 14: 24) I want to be more like Caleb. I don’t want to always think to myself ” what will others say?” or “what do others think?” or do as I did today and believe I am not qualified. God reminded me today that he doesn’t call the qualified, but qualifies the called. I DESIRE TO SEEK THE MOUNTAINS SO THAT I CAN WITNESS GODDOING THINGS THROUGH MY LIFE THAT ONLY CAN BE EXPLAINED BY HIS MIGHTY POWER. I desire to see Him glorified." So my prayer has been answered...It is an uphill battle ;-) PRAISING God that in the midst of this “uphill battle” that He is preparing me to lean more heavily on him to find my strength, joy, and hope in Christ Alone. One thing God has been walking me threw the last few weeks is clarifying my calling in Haiti. I sat down the last few weeks & prayed over my calling to Haiti and this what God revealed to me… My Mission Statement For Haiti: Making the Invisible…Visible through Christ, Church, Community. Showing the love of Christ first through my actions then through my words. Daily being Christ’s hands & feet to those living with a disability in a country that sees them as cursed for being different. Bringing hope to the hopeless…light into the darkness…AND Joy in the midst of hardship. Making Christ love Visible and Available to ALL! All while using the gifts and talents God has gifted me with as an Occupational Therapist to help each child reach their fullest potential! SCRIPTURE THAT CLARIFIES MY CALLING…. Specifically for children with disabilities and their families in Haiti… 1. God Has Called Me To DEFEND The Rights of The Poor And Needy • “Defend the rights of the poor and needy” Prov 31:9 • “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” James 1:27 2.God Has Called Me To FEED THE HUNGRY especially the malnourished disabled orphans in Haiti • “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10 • “For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of th least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” Matthew 25:31-40NLT 3. God has called Me To TAKE CARE OF THE SICK children (some of the sickest) • “For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of th least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” Matthew 25:31-40NLT 4. God has called me to CLOTHE the Naked. • “For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of th least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” Matthew 25:31-40NLT 5. God Has Called Me to COMFORT Parents Who Mourn The Loss of Their Children Who Went to Be With The Lord Before Them and At A Young Age. • “For He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy.” Ps 72:12-13 • “The Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.” Isaiah 49:13 • “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is Near.” Phil 4:4 6. God Has Called Me to SPEAK OUT for and DEFEND the RIGHTS of those Who Can’t Themselves (The children with disabilities & The Families of these children. • “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Prov 31:8-9 NSRV 7. God Has Called Me To Be His HANDS and FEET… • “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 MOST IMPORTANTLY GOD HAS NOT CALLED ME TO DO THIS ALONE…I am so thankful for the team of AMAZING My Favorite Quote: “"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now." ~Saint Teresa of Avila GOD WILL BE MY GUIDE…. • "YOU WILL SEEK ME AND FIND ME WHEN YOU SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART." JEREMIAH 29:13 GOD’S PROMISE…. • “AND LET USE NOT GROW WEARY IN DOING GOOD, FOR IN DUE SEASON WE WILL REAP, IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP.” GALATIONS 6:9 I finish up here in philadelphia the first week in February. I plan on flying into Haiti around February 28th (haven’t purchased exact ticket so date is still an estimate 1-2 days either way). I am continuing to look for churches to speak at and am currently support raising. I need to raise $2,000 a month to serve in Haiti. I currently have ~50 percent of this pledged for donations which is AMAZING. Please consider making a monthly donation towards my time in Haiti. No amount is too little $1…$5..$10…$15…$25…$50…$100…$200… a month or you can make a onetime donation as well. If you would like to donate to my ministry you can go to kimmys House website www.givingfirst.org/index.php?section=organizations&action=newDonation&fwID=27872 and in the special instruction section place “Autumn Marshall”. If you prefer mailing a donation you can send it to Kimmys House P.O. Box 151032 Lakewood, CO 80215-1032 All donations you make are tax deductable. P.S. Another piece of exciting news is that one of my co-workers Molly who is a Speech Therapist has prayed about it & feels God calling her to give up 3 months to come & serve in Haiti with me starting at of February to help set up a Speech Therapy Program & help set up feeding/swallowing plans for the severe & profound children I have been working with. This is a HUGE answer to prayers I have prayed over the past 3 years!!!! Though the past 3 months have been full of change…God has been my constant! He has been my faithful provider for all I need and I am trusting Him to continue to clear the path for my ministry in Haiti (spiritually, financially, emotionally, and physically). Thank you for all your prayers and financial support. My heart is aching for Haiti and I can’t wait to get “home” to my mission family, my kids, my staff, and my outreach families. I had a dream last night that I was back & I did not want to wake up this morning ;-) The saying there is no place like home …is so true! Autumn Marshall OTR/L Miriam Center Therapy Coordinator www.autumnsreflections.blogspot.com www.nwhcm.org www.kimmyshouse.com