What Now...Now that I am back Stateside

This Summer I have committed to being more involved when I am not in Haiti fighting for the kids & helping with things stateside. Last year I took on the roll as Miriam Center Therapy Coordinator. I spent a lot of time last year when I was not in Haiti writing therapy companies for donations, going around speaking & sharing what God was doing in Haiti, creating new evaluation forms to be used this summer Haiti, researching assistive technology, researching how to help our kids more, & raising money to buy supplies to take into Haiti. I will continue to do this from the states again.

I have also decided to take on the role of being in contact with groups before they come to Haiti if they are going to spend anytime at all in the Miriam Center. My plan from the Nevada is to be in contact with every group that plans to visit the Miriam Center & based on how big their group is provide them with a couple specific kids (both higher functioning & lower functioning) that I would encourage them find a few group members from their team to commit to spending 30 minutes at least 1x during their stay at the mission. I would also attach the children’s bios so that they could start praying for the children & have the opportunity to start making a connection with them.
I also want to be able to provide each of the groups with a bunch of different group activities they could do with the kids (shaving cream, cornstarch, face painting, painting, finger painting, wheelchair races, glow in the dark nights, take the kids for ice cream, go to playground, take the kids for sapebones, take the kids to the beach, etc.) & allow them to plan for what activities they want to do. So they no longer come the Miriam Center & ask to do an activity but have no idea what they want to do. This would allow them to plan for what they want to do & walk in ready to engage & interact with the kids. I am so EXCITED for the potential this has.

For Jonathan Sake Update

For those of you who don’t know For Jonathan’s Sake is our outreach program to help families who have disabled children in the surrounding towns & villages around the mission to not only survive but thrive by providing them with the resources to provide for & take care of their disabled children. Most of these children come from single parent families because after they have a disabled child they are seen at fault for this disabled child…even cursed. Children with disabilities are looked down upon…seen as worthless, cursed, possessed…These children are often hid away, abandoned…FORGOTTEN…INVISIBLE. The mission of the Miriam Center is to make the INVISIBLE…VISIBLE through Christ, Children, Community.

“I will rescue the lame & gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise & honor in every land where they have been put to shame” Zephaniah 3:19

As I look back on the summer & the plans I thought God had for this program & the ones I prepared for…I have to laugh because very little of those plans happened. When I was originally planning for Haiti I had no plans of doing much with the FJS program. I had spent a huge portion of last summer pouring into this program. I was planning on focusing on Miriam Home. Well, God had others plans. He revealed to me about a month before I left for Haiti that I was suppose to write a Bible Study based on the names of Christ & share it with the FJS parents & that I was to focus on training those parents in therapy techniques. Well, I listened & began planning for this…I went into Haiti ready to share this new Bible study & with all the supplies needed to make each FJS parent a folder that would have handouts & evaluations in them to help then help their child. When I arrived in Haiti I walked into the Miriam Home Children having chicken pox & having to cancel FJS for 6 weeks. At that point I decided that I would still do the first 4 weeks of my Bible Study with the parents & try to make some handouts. Shortly after that I had a meeting with Janeil where we decided we needed to get each of the kids sponsored (which involves a lot of paperwork) in order to keep this program running. The first 2 weeks of FJS was full of gathering information to get the kids sponsored & I did not get to start my Bible Study or do any training. God had huge plans for my last 2 weeks that I could have never dreamed of (read below)

1. SPONSORSHIP

Earlier this summer I wrote a blog about my heavy heart over some BIG…Hard decisions that we had to be make for this program including no longer being able to feed the families. We had the hard task of restructuring this program to take it from being a dying program to a thriving one.

So the question then became where do we start? SPONSORSHIP... All the programs at NWHCM run off of sponsorship & we realized this is a huge piece we had been missing. The last 3 weeks I was in Haiti I sat down with each FJS family & gathered all the information we needed to make sponsorship packets for each child. I evaluated each child, figured out their diagnosis, wrote a summary of what they could & could not do, had a translator who helped gather family history & other important information from the parents & had a photographer get a picture of each child with their parent. We basically acted like we were starting this program over. We re-entered every family back into the program. We grouped each child in 1 of 5 categories & gave them 1 day a week that they will come to the mission from 1-4.

There is something quite beautiful about sponsorship…not only does it provide financially for that child to receive care & the message of Christ shared with them & their family BUT it also opens doors for relationships to be formed. Someone else called by God takes a step of faith & obedience to God’s call…sacrifices financially so that one of these children who has been INVISIBLE to the world can become VISIBLE…that person becomes an advocate, prayer warrior, faithful partner to that child & their family. HOPE is restored…CHANGE begins…VISIBILITY happens. I am so excited to see these relationships begin to be built over the next few months. Also…please pray about whether sponsoring one of these children would be something God is asking you to do…maybe you can’t do $75 a month …maybe financially you cannot sponsor a child but you could become a prayer warrior for 1 or multiple of these children & their families. God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others.

2. Handouts & Folders

I had originally hoped to make each FJS family a folder with some basic handouts on positioning & stretching but with all the events that happened & with sponsorship I decided to wait till next year. I was already overwhelmed with everything I needed to finish up before I left (at this point in like 2 weeks). Well, one day at FJS one of the parents confronted me on the fact that last year I had promised handouts to help them work with their child & they had never received any. I felt bad & so set out to create a generic stretching handout. Well that handout led to me making one for how to use the therapy brush, one for how to use the therapy ball, & one for how to use the bolster. In the end I was able to provide each family with a folder that had 6 pages of handout (some front & back) that were all in picture form with English & Creole translation on them. I trained a Hatian, Presidue who will teach the parents how to stretch their children, brush them, & massage them. I am so excited for the potential these folders have. Each of the handouts was laminated, 3 hole punched & placed in their folder. Their folder was then placed in a 2 gallon ziplock bag to make it waterproof.

3. Sewing
I have always had a dream of starting a sewing program with the FJS mothers. I feel like it would be awesome to be able to teach them a trade that they could then use to support their family. Last summer I took in tons of material & sewing supplies with the intentions of beginning to teach sewing. Unfortunately last summer it never got off the ground. Well, 2 of the mothers who are in my Thursday group confronted me the fact that I told them that we would begin to learn to sew last summer & never did. It was a God moment because as my heart broke as I realized I was going to have to tell them that it wouldn’t happen this summer either. BUT then I realized that Cara was standing behind me. Cara was the one who first brought me to Haiti back in 2007. She just graduated from OT school & passed her boards prior to coming into Haiti this summer. Her main purpose in Haiti this summer was teaching the women in the town of La Fordge how to sew & how to make various other crafts that they could learn to make & then sell at Market. I asked her if the next week she would be willing to teach my FJS mothers how to make something. She agreed. It was a joy to see how excited these mothers were. I still believe & hope that one day this will be an aspect to the FJS program.

4. School
We are tremendously blessed to have Stephanie Mosier a special education teacher in working in the Miriam Center for the next year. Her goal is to get our special education school up & running. She is well on her way which is super exciting!!! Originally the plan was that this school would be for the Miriam Home children but after seeing about 15 kids in the FJS program that would benefit tremendously from having access to education & very capable of learning & growing it was decided that in the afternoon these children would come to school. So in the morning the special education school with run for the Miriam Home children & in the afternoon it will run for the 15 or so FJS children. These children will not come 1 day a week but instead they will get to come to school 5-6 days a week. This is HUGE…considering that in Haiti many kids without disabilities never get the opportunity to go to school because you have to pay not only to go to school but also have to buy uniforms. In Haiti if you have any type of physical disability or mental handicap even if you could afford to go you are not allowed. So these 15 children would NEVER have gotten the opportunity to go to school if it were not for the Luke 2:52 getting up & running. Please pray for the school, pray for Stephanie as she continues to prepare to start the school.

5. Bible Study On The Names Of Christ
I was so excited to be able to do the first 2 weeks of the Bible Study God gave me with the parents. The first week I did the name ELOHIM = Creator. I started all the way in Genesis 1:1 where His name is first used. I then spent most of the time studying Psalm 139:13-14. I copy & pasted a piece of my study to give you idea of what we discussed.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

-God created you…he knit you together
-Have you ever seen someone knit of weave something? How much effort and time goes into it…tremendous attention to detail…none look exactly alike.
-God knit us together…he put much thought into creating you and creating your child…he looked at every detail & planned it out. That’s what makes us special
-Look around at everyone here….do any of us look exactly alike….NO because each of us has been created unique in God…made so we each can uniquely bring God glory.
-Your Child Version of Psalm 139:13-14
-“For God created your child’s inmost being; He knit him/her together in your womb. praise God because your child is fearfully and wonderfully made; God’s works are wonderful, know that full well.”

Then I studied 2 more scriptures of what the Bible has to say about disabled people/children. I told them that we constantly here what others around us think about disabilities & we know what society thinks but really the only opinion that matters is what Christ thinks.

Exodus 4:10 Remember when “Moses said to the LORD, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’
Exodus 4:11- The Lords reply…”Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”

John 9:2-3 when Jesus’ disciples saw a man blind from birth, “and His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? How did Jesus answer…”It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
It was amazing to be able to open up scripture & teach these parents about what scripture has to say about their children! Pretty amazing!

The second name we studied was El Roi- The God who sees. The scripture that we studied was Rahab. Here is a glimpse of what we talked about….

Story Hagar (Gen 16)

“She was Thrown out! Like a soiled, worthless rag! Used for another’s pleasure and then mistreated. It was too much; she couldn’t handle it. She felt like an outcast…She was Hagar, the one who bore the son of Sarai’s husband Abram.

Can you relate? Have you ever been thrown out, cast away? You fulfilled someones pleasure then you weren’t wanted anymore? Or were you unjustly cast out?

Sarai (Abrahams wife) was unable to have children… God had given Abram a promise that he would be the father of many nations yet they were old in age (past child-bearing) & still no children. Sarai had an Egyptian maidservant

so she made her maidservant Hagar have a child for her…Hagar didn’t have a choice she was a slave…she was obedient and did what was asked of her.

Hagar became pregnant & began to dispise her mistress…Sarai had done this too her…Sarai ended up blaming Abram for doing this & he was the reason her mistress now despised her.

Hagar ended up running away

Genesis 16:7-10, 13
“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert, it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” I’m running away from my mistress Sarai, she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress & submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendents and they will be too numerous to count.”
She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her. “You are the God who sees me (El Roi), for she said, “I have now seen the one who sees me.”

Great news…God see you…He sees your pain, He sees your troubles, He sees the trials you face everyday as a parent of a disabled child. HE sees your disabled child…and as we learned last week he is not surprised that they are that way…He made them exactly how they are to fulfill his purpose and plan through them. He sees… He knows its hard…He knows at times you want to run away, give up…

But just like Hagar I believe He is calling you to stick with it…God called Hagar back to the very situation she had run away from…He saw the situation…He knew it was hard…But that was God’s call for her life. God has called you to be a parent of a disabled child…He is going to do amazing things in your life & your child’s life if you let him…If you trust him…He you SEE who he really is…and His names reveal His character

I wish I would have had more time to do more of the names of Christ with the parents but am very thankful for the 2 weeks I did get to share with them. I truly believe God spoke to the parents through these first 2 names to help them see better how God see them & their children.

Visibility Boxes

If I could sum up my summer or the goal of my summer it would be to Make the Invisible…Visible through Christ, Children, Community, which is our mission statement for the Miriam Center. Everything I did was to accomplish further our mission statement. All the therapy, all the training, all the paperwork, all the love I poured out, all the trials I faced, and all the frustrations I dealt with was to make these children & their families Visible in a country that does not see them & that does not see their worth. Probably the biggest way I was able accomplish this goal was through the development of the new Visibility Boxes.

I did not go into Haiti planning to create this system nor did I even have an idea about or for this project. The idea for the Visibility Boxes was developed out of a conversation I had with Janiel Owens during a meeting which triggored a memory of a project Courtney & I had talked about trying a few years ago but never got around to. Truly the Visibility Boxes were developed throughout the entire summer. They started out as just a box of toys with the child’s picture & name attached. They quickly acquired multiple dimensions as the weeks rolled on.

Where Did The Name Visibility Boxes Come From?

(Written by Courtney Peirce)
What do you do in a country that sees those with limitations as an obstacle to survival? What do you do when a culture sees through the eyes a belief system that deems those with disabilities less than human? What happens when a percentage of your population, due to physical or mental limitations, isn’t seen at all –– is invisible? The answer is simple –– make them visible. Open eyes to their presence; their needs; their value and show the world just how BIG our God is. Open any dictionary and you’ll find a myriad of definitions for the word “invisible.” The simplest form, of course, is “that which is not visible.” That may answer the “what” question –– but it doesn’t answer the “why.” The definitions I have found that get more to the root of the issue are:
• Withdrawn from, or out of the site of people
• Not perceptible or discernible by the mind

People are not naturally “invisible.” God created each of us to be seen –– to be loved. In order for someone to become invisible someone had to withdraw them from the site of others. In Haiti these children are often hidden away by their parents –– hidden from the site of those who might hurt them, reject them. They become locked in their own world –– denied the opportunity to interact with others, to learn, to contribute. But sometimes the invisible is right in front of us and still we do not see. Why? Because too often we ignore the things we don’t understand. What we can’t perceive/discern becomes invisible to us and we simply live our lives ignoring it –– even when it’s a human being living with a disability. The Miriam Center operates around the simple belief that everyone deserves to be seen. By caring for those with special needs; by training and assisting parents to care for their children; by bringing them out into the world we are making the invisible VISIBLE.

Even the idea of “community” is an often invisible factor in Haiti –– survival is an utmost concern and people must watch out for their own needs and the needs of their immediate family. But as neighbors come alongside our families, as they learn to love and be loved by these children, even a spirit of community is restored and becomes quite tangible and visible. And perhaps the most invisible presence in all of this is Christ Himself. The people of Haiti have sometimes placed their trust –– their faith is misdirected places. But they are seeking –– searching for answer that will give them peace and a hope. Here at the Miriam Center we serve a mighty God who is bringing about mighty change in a hurting place –– and so, as we go, as we serve, the greatest blessing we can pour out is to make Christ visible to these people. To meet their needs as we can, but more importantly to introduce them to the One who can meet all their needs and more. Christ • Children • Community... together, and with God’s help, we are making the invisible VISIBLE! Praise God!


So the name for these boxes came from idea that these boxes help make the Miriam Center children more Visible to our Hatian staff & to the hundreds American’s that come through the Miriam Center doors every year was to create a way that they could easily & comfortably step into these children’s world. The Visibility Boxes allow for this.


What Exactly Are Visibility Boxes?

The visibility boxes are full of toys specific to each child to help them meet their goals. Attached to the outside of the box is a ring with the child’s picture; their biography; their Occupational Therapy & Educational Goals; pictures of each toy with a description of the different ways to use that toy; a card with pictures of the most appropriate ways to position the child that will help for people to fully see them; and a packet of communication pictures (PECS) to allow the child to more fully communicate their needs & wants.
Visibility boxes allow you to walk into these precious children’s world and know exactly what how to interact with them, engage them, and at the same time help them make progress towards their therapy and educational goals through purposeful play. To see the invisible as VISIBLE.

How Exactly Do Visibility Boxes Work?

The Visibility Boxes contain everything you need to walk into the child’s world. It is so simple that I had the privilege of watching a 4 year old & a 6 year old utilize the boxes. Multiple times throughout the summer these 2 precious children would find me & excitedly ask to pull boxes for certain kids. I got to watch barriers fall as they had a blast playing together.
Right when you walk into the Miriam Center there are 2 big wooden cabinets that are labeled VISIBILITY Boxes. 1 is labeled Higher Functioning with pictures of each child that has a box in that cabinet. Each of the children in this cabinet has their own box. The children in the low functioning cabinet share 4 boxes & a variety of equipment to help with positioning. The cabinets are labeled with pictures so you can easily find where the child you want to play with is.
It is very simple…if you have a specific child in mind that you want to work with you simply have to find out what cabinet they are in, pull their box, read their bio, look at appropriate positioning, pull any positioning equipment (if they are lower functioning), & find a place to interact/play with that child.
So many people have told me they feel overwhelmed when they walk into the Miriam Center…They don’t know how to interact with kids…they don’t know how to position them…How to play with them. These boxes break all those barriers.

The Results…

I had the privilege of watching the boxes get used throughout the summer. I had such joy watching people walk right into the children’s world & have so much fun doing so. I had multiple people tell me how much easier it was for them to interact with the kids, how they felt like they new how to play with the kids, that they felt they were making a difference. I am so excited for the huge potential these boxes have in making the Invisible…Visible.


My Hope For The Future With The Boxes

I hope to be able to expand in the variety of toys in the boxes. I hope to get some specific therapy equipment to put in the boxes that can be used with specific kids. The goal is that every 2 months that toys are rotated so that the kids have new toys in their box.
My plan from the Nevada is to be in contact with every group that plans to visit the Miriam Center & based on how big their group is provide them with a couple specific kids (both higher functioning & lower functioning) that I would encourage them find a few group members from their team to commit to spending 30 minutes at least 1x during their stay at the mission. I would also attach the children’s bios so that they could start praying for the children & have the opportunity to start making a connection with them.
I also want to be able to provide each of the groups with a bunch of different group activities they could do with the kids (shaving cream, cornstarch, face painting, painting, finger painting, wheelchair races, glow in the dark nights, take the kids for ice cream, go to playground, take the kids for sapebones, take the kids to the beach, etc.) & allow them to plan for what activities they want to do. So they no longer come the Miriam Center & ask to do an activity but have no idea what they want to do. This would allow them to plan for what they want to do & walk in ready to engage & interact with the kids. I am so EXCITED for the potential this has.

Sick Kids

Sick Kids
We have been fighting some nasty viruses & illnesses in the Miriam Center. It is the hardest thing to watch your kids be sick especially when they are battling death. There were nights this week I really thought I was going to be woken up & told that we lost a kid. There has been no point this week that we have not had less than 4 kids in our sick unit. Currently as I write we have 5 kids up there. We actually had to turn one of the baby bungalo’s into a sick ward for our kids so we could isolate them.

Job
I will start with Job…Job is my boy. I fell deeply in love with this child 2 years ago when we almost lost him to aspiration pneumonia…everyone call him my kid. We have a special connection & I love that boy so much. He came down with a fever for 2 days before we realized how sick he was. He was placed on an IV because he was severely dehydrated. He seemed to start feeling better & was taken off of IV 2 days later. I was in their feeding him dinner but he refused to eat it (grits) He would clench his teeth shut & when I finally would get some food into his mouth it would take him a few minutes to finally swallow it before choking & being too weak to cough it back up & begin wheezing no matter what position I would try to put him in while feeding liquid or smooth solids. I let it go for a day hoping he would get better but he only got worse & I then realized he was on his way towards aspiration pneumonia. At 10:00PM Thursday night I finally told the nurses they needed to put an IV back in but after 5 attempts they were unable to get a line. Courtney & I made the decision to put an NG tube down into his stomach so we could bypass swallowing & his lungs & try to get him well again. He is doing much better but still trying to figure out a feeding schedule…how often, how much. We are in the process of getting pediasure & formula from the Dominican republic from our friend Heather. This is an unexpected exspense of about $400. We are so blessed to have this connection though & this opportunity. The plan is to do a 2-3 week all liquid diet & see how he improves. It is really hard as Hatian Culture is not accepting of feeding tubes very well. I am having a difficult time teaching my nurses…I walked in today to find them shoving ground up beans down his tube (big risk for clogging). Really trying to trust God…praying for wisdom as I do not feel qualified to make life & death decision, not qualified to make feeding schedules BUT I serve a God who is & I know will give me wisdom & guidance. My boy has gone from looking like death with a sucken in stomach to a puffed out stomach & will smile again when I touch his stomach. I feel that we are on the right track.

Henry Claude
Henry Claude is one of our kids in Rou’s Corner (Terminally ill portion of the Miriam Center) He is in this category because of how malnourished he is. He has been unable to keep food down for months. He gags himself with his hands because he is so oral seeking. A few weeks ago we made arm braces that prevent him from getting his hands to his mouth but he finds other ways to gag himself & is so orally seeking that he bit another child’s butt & has licked multiple kids & anything he can get his tongue on. This is a hard enough battle as we strive to figure out how to get nourishment into this kid BUT then he came down with a stomach virus that he had bad diarrhea & got extremely dehydrated & looked like death for 4 days. He is still up in the sick unit. He is fighting hard & I just pray that we could get nourishment in him & that he would keep it down. That he would gain strength. For wisdom & guidance as we try to figure out how to help him

Anestasia
Our second newest member to the Miriam Home, she came to join our family from the baby orphanage 3 days ago. I fell in love with the precious angel 3 weeks ago when someone from a short-term trip who was a nurse came to find me to tell me about a little girl in the baby orphanage with a cleft lip & possible other physical problems. I went over to evaluate her. I went up to find this precious little girl who as I held her could tell she had aspiration in her lungs. She was tiny but could tell that she had to be over a year old & possibly closer to 2 by the fact that she can sit up on her own & has a full mouth of teeth but is the size of a 2-3 month old. Today we put her in preemie diapers & they were big on her. We knew in the next couple of years we would acquire her into the Miriam Center family but had no intention anytime soon. Courtney had some cleft lip bottles & so I provided her with one for the workers in the baby orphanage to feed her with. $ days ago Courtney was up in the baby orphanage looking for old equipment I could use to turn into wheelchairs (will post later on my wheelchair Mania). As she was telling our nurse from the Miriam Center about Anestasia’s problems & how one day she would join our family the baby orphanage nurse told us to take her. We had the doctor look her over & found out she is much sicker than we thought. She had been fighting a lung infection for 3 weeks that has not responded to antibiotics & they were worried it may be more serious like TB. Many tests have been done & still don’t know. She is really sick…fighting hard but super malnourished with a serious lung infection. We are told she may not make it long. Today we made the decision to put a NG tube into her that will like Job allow the food to bypass her cleft palate & lungs to hopefully allow her lungs to heal. Please pray for God’s healing touch in her little body. Peace for us as a staff especially Courtney as today marked Sara Rou’s 3rd Birthday (which we celebrated hard core with the kids). Sara Rou was a little baby with a cleft palate who only lived 42 days but made a huge impact & stole Courtney’s heart…she really was her kid. A tough day to have a child that reminds her so much of that sweet little girl be so sick. Pray for her heart please.

Lounide, Moise, Jimson, John Kerry
These 4 children all had the stomach flu…diarrhea & throwing up. Lounide & Moise have recovered but Jimson & John Kerry just came down with within the last 48 hours. Please pray for their recovery & that the virus would stop spreading…& if it doesn’t for healing & protection for our children with compromised immune systems.

Please pray for our nurses & staff as they have been non-stop on call & basically here at the mission the past 2 weeks. It is so easy for me to get frustrated when things are done the way I want them or to my standards or when the language barrier affects the children’s quality of care but I must remember they are exhausted, they have training, they love these kids, & I have to let God…surrender…let God. This is so hard. So thank you for being prayer warriors with me as we fight for these children through prayer to our Healer & Great Physician.

Trip to Ansephalor

I finally took a day to get off campus & go for a trip. I went for a couple reasons…1. to get off campus & get back into culture, I can caught up in my own little world of the Miriam Center & lose perspective…2. to spend time with my fellow missionaries since so often I am in my own little world…3. I wanted to go to Ansephalor since I had not been their in a few years. I wanted to be reminded of the spiritual warefare we are up against & spend some time in prayer for this country.

I had a wonderful day. It started off with an hour tap-tap ride there…which call me crazy but I love tap-tap rides. I put on my MP3 player with worship music hopped in the back of the truck & enjoyed the very scenic off-roading trip. We were going to 2 different Vodoo places that I had never been before.

1. Twin Basin
It was about a ¼ mile trail to the cave that had a 15 foot drop off inside that at the bottom was full of water. At the beginning of the trail they believe you have to stop at this one rock…light a candle & ask that spirit if you can enter the path to the Twin Basin. Once you reach the opening to the cave you have to climb up in & lower yourself down into the basin of water 15 or so feet below. This was a place that people go when they need to deep cleansing. They believe a snake with 2 heads that is rainbow colored is the spirit snake that lives there. They go into the dark hole of water & scrub their entire body down cleansing themselves. They then must leave the clothes they wore in & put on new ones. They usually go from here to the monument then to the temple. We were unable to go in the cave to look down in the hole because there were so many people there.

2. The Monument
After Twin Basin, 4 of us decided to hike up to the monument as one of our staff had never been their & since it has been since 2007 since I have been there. On the way up to the Monument we saw a lady on her way back down who we saw leaving twin Basin. All the way up the mountain to the monument there are little stops to give burnt offerings to the spirits. At the top of the mountain is the bottom post to what used to be a huge cross. IT is believe anywhere from 100 to 200 years ago during a lightening storm the cross beam was struck down by lightening & at the same time is when the doll they worship in the temple fell from heaven. They took this as a sign Satan defeated Christ. The bottom of the monument has a place carved in the rocks to do burnt offerings. People come up here to pray for a variety of things anywhere from healing or help to asking the spirits to curse or even kill someone. It is really heartbreaking to know it used to be a cross that sat on the top of a huge hill that looked out over the entire city. It is sad that people have been taught this their entire life…that this is what they perceive as truth. It is sad to think that they see all these ritualistic practices as freeing when really they are so enslaving.

3. House of Spirits
When we got down from the Monument we headed to the house of spirits which is a hike up a very steep loose rock mountain…that as you climb rocks crumble down on the person behind you. You climb up…over then down in these amazing caves. The adventurous side of me got really excited & went down in these dark crawl space caves with some other mission staff. We explored for about 20 minutes before we all met in the center of the big cave where we had a picnic lunch followed by each of us reading a verse or 2 from our Bible on Spiritual Warefare, God’s conquering power & victory of sin/death. It was really powerful as their were grown men their with dolls obviously before we got there praying & worshiping Voodoo. I was just reminded of how real this battle against Satan is especially in a country so caught up in Voodoo. It is so heartbreaking to know the truth that sets you free & see so many people who think they know the truth but live in bondage & a religion that is a list of rules that enslave you.

4. The Beach
We ended our day by going to the beach for a few hours. I forgot my bathing suite so chilled under a tree & read my Bible & did my Ruth Bible study, then took a walk. When I got back from my walk a few young men came up & wanted to listen to my MP3 player & asked if I would read from the Bible for them. So they gave me passages they wanted read & I read them to them. It was fun.

Trip to Ansephalor

I finally took a day to get off campus & go for a trip. I went for a couple reasons…1. to get off campus & get back into culture, I can caught up in my own little world of the Miriam Center & lose perspective…2. to spend time with my fellow missionaries since so often I am in my own little world…3. I wanted to go to Ansephalor since I had not been their in a few years. I wanted to be reminded of the spiritual warefare we are up against & spend some time in prayer for this country.

I had a wonderful day. It started off with an hour tap-tap ride there…which call me crazy but I love tap-tap rides. I put on my MP3 player with worship music hopped in the back of the truck & enjoyed the very scenic off-roading trip. We were going to 2 different Vodoo places that I had never been before.

1. Twin Basin
It was about a ¼ mile trail to the cave that had a 15 foot drop off inside that at the bottom was full of water. At the beginning of the trail they believe you have to stop at this one rock…light a candle & ask that spirit if you can enter the path to the Twin Basin. Once you reach the opening to the cave you have to climb up in & lower yourself down into the basin of water 15 or so feet below. This was a place that people go when they need to deep cleansing. They believe a snake with 2 heads that is rainbow colored is the spirit snake that lives there. They go into the dark hole of water & scrub their entire body down cleansing themselves. They then must leave the clothes they wore in & put on new ones. They usually go from here to the monument then to the temple. We were unable to go in the cave to look down in the hole because there were so many people there.

2. The Monument
After Twin Basin, 4 of us decided to hike up to the monument as one of our staff had never been their & since it has been since 2007 since I have been there. On the way up to the Monument we saw a lady on her way back down who we saw leaving twin Basin. All the way up the mountain to the monument there are little stops to give burnt offerings to the spirits. At the top of the mountain is the bottom post to what used to be a huge cross. IT is believe anywhere from 100 to 200 years ago during a lightening storm the cross beam was struck down by lightening & at the same time is when the doll they worship in the temple fell from heaven. They took this as a sign Satan defeated Christ. The bottom of the monument has a place carved in the rocks to do burnt offerings. People come up here to pray for a variety of things anywhere from healing or help to asking the spirits to curse or even kill someone. It is really heartbreaking to know it used to be a cross that sat on the top of a huge hill that looked out over the entire city. It is sad that people have been taught this their entire life…that this is what they perceive as truth. It is sad to think that they see all these ritualistic practices as freeing when really they are so enslaving.

3. House of Spirits
When we got down from the Monument we headed to the house of spirits which is a hike up a very steep loose rock mountain…that as you climb rocks crumble down on the person behind you. You climb up…over then down in these amazing caves. The adventurous side of me got really excited & went down in these dark crawl space caves with some other mission staff. We explored for about 20 minutes before we all met in the center of the big cave where we had a picnic lunch followed by each of us reading a verse or 2 from our Bible on Spiritual Warefare, God’s conquering power & victory of sin/death. It was really powerful as their were grown men their with dolls obviously before we got there praying & worshiping Voodoo. I was just reminded of how real this battle against Satan is especially in a country so caught up in Voodoo. It is so heartbreaking to know the truth that sets you free & see so many people who think they know the truth but live in bondage & a religion that is a list of rules that enslave you.

4. The Beach
We ended our day by going to the beach for a few hours. I forgot my bathing suite so chilled under a tree & read my Bible & did my Ruth Bible study, then took a walk. When I got back from my walk a few young men came up & wanted to listen to my MP3 player & asked if I would read from the Bible for them. So they gave me passages they wanted read & I read them to them. It was fun.

For Jonathan's Sake

For Jonathan’s Sake is our outreach program to help families who have disabled children in the surrounding towns & villages around the mission to not only survive but thrive by providing them with the resources to provide for & take care of their disabled children. Most of these children come from single parent families because after they have a disabled child they are seen at fault for this disabled child…even cursed. Children with disabilities are looked down upon…seen as worthless, cursed, possessed…These children are often hid away, abandoned…FORGOTTEN…INVISIBLE. The mission of the Miriam Center is to make the INVISIBLE…VISIBLE through Christ, Children, Community.

“I will rescue the lame & gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise & honor in every land where they have been put to shame” Zephaniah 3:19
My heart continues to hurt as many BIG decisions & changes are having to be made to this program. The way it is running right now is not God-honoring or sustainable. We are called to do everything for the glory of God. This program has gotten big fast. 3 years ago we had 4 children and now over 80. It is hard to face the hard truth that there is no money to sustain this program…no food available to feed…and we are unable to be the face of Jesus to these families when we say 1 thing but are unable to provide. Is a change necessary…YES…Is change easy…NO.

How do you look at a program that started out with the vision that it would be a program that would provide food to each of these families for the entire week, provide educational play/therapy 1x per week, training for the parents to continue therapy & education at home, Bible study for the mothers, & a place where they could build community.

It was very hard to look at what we said we were going to provide & see that we have not been consistent in any of these areas over the past 3 years. Have we provided all these at some point over the last 3 years…YES! Some more than others BUT with no consistency...which I feel has broken trust with the families. God revealed to me that it is better to provide 1 or 2 areas consistently & be the face of Jesus than to try to provide all the areas & fail to be the face of Jesus. The Miriam Center team has felt called to relook at how FSJ runs…relook at our vision for this program. We have been deep in prayer about where God is calling us to take this program. Would we eventually love to be able to provide everything listed above…YES! BUT right now that is not possible.

So the question then became where do we start? SPONSORSHIP... All the programs at NWHCM run off of sponsorship & we realized this is a huge piece we have been missing. This next week we will be sitting down with each FSJ family & gathering all the information we need to make sponsorship packets for each child. There is something quite beautiful about sponsorship…not only does it provide financially for that child to receive care & the message of Christ shared with them & their family BUT it also opens doors for relationships to be formed. Someone else called by God takes a step of faith & obedience to God’s call…sacrifices financially so that one of these children who has been INVISIBLE to the world can become VISIBLE…that person becomes an advocate, prayer warrior, faithful partner to that child & their family. HOPE is restored…CHANGE begins…VISIBILITY happens. I am so excited to see these relationships begin to be built over the next few months. Also…please pray about whether sponsoring one of these children would be something God is asking you to do…maybe you can’t do $75 a month …maybe financially you cannot sponsor a child but you could become a prayer warrior for 1 or multiple of these children & their families. God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others. One of my favorite songs & the song my blog is named after is Overflow…the lyrics are as follows…

As you call me near, I come
Drawn with holy fear and awe
Into heaven’s doors to see u as you are
You who formed the earth with your hands
Sun and moon shine at your command
Who can know the vastness of the Lord most high

Bridge 1
As I draw near I offer my life to my Jesus
Who fills me with mercy and grace
As I go out I will open my eyes and awaken
You will be a blessing through me

Chorus
You’re the overflow
The sustainer of my soul
Pouring out of me
Living water for the weary
Bless me so I might be a blessing
Heal me so I might bring healing
Cover me, so that I might be a covering
For you

Vs.2
Its because of you, I must go
Sent to tell the world and to show
Friend or enemy, the love I com to know
Where confusion reigns I will be peace
Where there are bondaged chains bring release
Where there are tears and pain, may I be the joy of the morning

Bridge 2
Heal me with your love o Lord, pour out till I overflow (4x)

”Defend the cause of the weak & fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor & oppressed.” Ps. 82:3
What do we do until the children get sponsored?...How else do we need to change the program to make it sustainable & God honoring?...What changes need to be made now even if they are temporary?... We are still praying & discerning God on this. We have ideas of where God is leading but they involve some hard steps & choices to be made now. Please continue to pray for wisdom & guidance for all involved. Pray that we could hear clearly God’s voice & know His will. Pray we could see His vision for this program…that we could trust Him & His plans.

“My ways are not your ways declares the LORD…Neither are my thoughts your thoughts.”

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21