We leave today!

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid ; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."




Leaving for Haiti today.  Hoping to get into the village of Tricotte sometime late tomorrow afternoon.  Flying into New York and then Port-au-Prince and then a couple hour car ride into rural Haiti. 

This trip is packed!
Sunday-Church and get settled
Monday- Going into surrounding villages to promote our seminar for women.
Tuesday-Seminar all day
Wednesday- Going to visit local schools in the morning so we don't interrupt the normal trip to market the women make on Wednesday morning. Then our seminar will continue Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday- Seminar all day, including the distribution of the feminine hygiene kits with washable reusable supplies.
Friday- Leave early for the city of Port au Prince, spend the night there and catch plane Saturday morning.
Saturday-we will be home late.

Every evening we are planning on spending time with kids in the orphanage.  There are 60 kids there.  We are bringing 60 new hand made outfits for the kids. 

Thank you to all those praying for me and who gave their money to support me.  I am feeling very blessed.  My entire trip has been funded by donations.  There is a even a surplus of money that has come in for our team and we will be providing lunch to up to 300 women each day at the seminar and then we will use the rest towards toward the greatest needs at Starfish ministries.  Our team gets to see what we think the greatest needs are after seeing it with our own eyes and decide where money should be directed.

So am I nervous? Yes.  Am I excited? Yes.  Do I have doubts sometimes about what I am doing? Yes.  Do I have confidence that those doubts are not from God? Yes.  I keep thinking that because I know God wants me to go on this trip it should be easy, without stress and anxiety and work.  That is silly I know.  The best things in life are often hard, but have the greatest rewards!  Spiritual warfare is an ongoing battle and I already know who wins.

Please continue to pray for our team.  I feel so blessed to be going with some amazing people.  Already so blessed by the friendship and prayers that God has blessed me with through these people.

Just a little over 3 weeks to go until Haiti!

This being my first ever mission trip, I can tell you that I had no idea what I would be feeling.  Some things are unexpected and some are just who I am.

I am really surprised that I am not nervous about traveling.  I feel like I am in God's hands.  I am traveling with trusted people.  I know my kids and family will be well taken care of  here at home.  In the past I think I would have been very nervous about the travels.  I feel blessed about this!

I am struggling a little with how and what to prepare for the lessons I will be teaching at the Community Education Event.  I am a little nervous about my public speaking skills too.  Because it feels hard, I have been avoiding getting things down on paper and practicing and sharing.  I am creating the problem by not getting to work.  It is all silly, but real.    Feels like I am in high school and I am avoiding writing a paper.  I did seem to always pull it off, but I want to do better than that now.  My kids sometimes procrastinate on their homework and well  I wonder where they could have ever got that trait from?!?  Sometimes our fear and avoidance stops us from even starting.  No excuses! Time to get to work!  Please pray that I will use my time well here before we go so I am prepared as I can be and that my work will be blessed. 

When committing to going on this trip, I didn't think about vaccinations.  I am now vaccinated for Hepatitis A and typhoid (I am a nurse and I am not sure I even know what typhoid is so I should look that up!). I got something to prevent malaria and an antibiotic for just in case I get a little diarrhea.  We will be drinking only bottle water.  These are the standard and recommended precautions.  Did you know Hoagland's pharmacy in Bellingham can help figure out what vaccinations and meds you need for traveling abroad where ever you plan to go.  Thanks so much to nurse Ruth at Hoaglands!

The women of our team are expected to wear knee length skirts or dresses when in Haiti.  We want to dress modestly and appropriately for the culture and area.  I am planning on getting a few dresses at some thrift shops soon.  It will be fun to shop for something for warm weather in January.  The weather in Haiti should be warm and dry.  Not hot and not wet as it is during some other times of year.

Thank you to every one who has given financially toward the cost of this mission trip so far.  I have been brought to tears several times by the unexpected generous  gifts that I have received.  It makes me feel like people believe in me and the work God wants to do in me and in Haiti.  I am changed forever already by this trip and I have not even gone.  I am already starting to think about what is next for me after this trip.  How can I use my time and resources to help more in this world? or maybe locally?  Serving is a blessing.  To those who much is given, much will be asked.  We Americans are overwhelmed with stuff and busyness.  I think we miss the point far too much!

Please continue to pray for me and the team, that we would glorify God on this trip and have safe travels.

P.S. I had a funny dream that I forgot to pack a bag for the trip.  I didn't notice until we were on our way to the airport.  I guess it means I should starting packing now.

6 weeks until Haiti

Well all the planning is coming together for this trip to Haiti and I am getting very excited.  We are approximately 6 weeks away from leaving. I am told that the plane tickets are purchased. 

Fundraising in the past has not been my gift.  Funny how I want to support others, but I don't want to inconvenience my friends and family by asking them to support me.  I am learning though that people want to support me and are excited about this journey.  When I shared about this trip to Haiti, a few friends asked me how they could support me before I even started thinking about fundraising.  Wow, that is awesome!  First and foremost, I am asking people to support me and our team in prayer.  Then, I am asking for financial support for those who feel they want to help.  The total cost of the trip is about $1400-1600 dollars.  My goal to raise $500 of that by sending out letters to 100 people and asking for a $5.00 donation.  I know some will be called to give more and others not at all.  I am truly grateful and blessed by any gift.  So far I think I have sent out about 80 letters.  I can't wait to see what God does with those letters.  If you would like to support me please leave me a comment below or call or text me at 360.319.3191.  I would love to give you more information about how to do that. 

I have found that it is easy to share my faith in Christ and the purpose of this mission trip with people who I know are believers.  Sharing with people who I am not sure believe is much harder.  In the past I might not have taken that step, but today I am doing that a little more.  Wow, Haiti is already starting to grow me up in my faith.  I was recently buying stamps at Safeway, the checker asked me if I was buying stamps for Christmas cards.  I briefly shared with her why I was buying stamps and although she is a stranger she asked me to come back with some information about how to donate  because she wanted to support me.  Wow how awesome!

Our team had the pleasure of having dinner with Bernie Bovenkamp, founder of Starfish Ministry.  I encourage people to check out the website at starfishministry.com  I learned so much about the area of Tricotte.  I learned about the orphanage that is the home to 60 kids that we will be visiting.  I learned about limited education available to much of the population of Haiti.  And I aslo learn that there is not a lot of rules enforced on the roads of Haiti.  As most people who know me could tell you, I am not typically much of a dare devil.  I think just riding in a car in Haiti sounds like I will be pushing myself.  Not sure whether I will close my eyes and pray or laugh and throw my arms up.  I have been practicing scary car rides here as I have 16 and 15 year old sons driving me around sometimes so maybe I will be more prepared than I thought. 

Please continue to pray for a safe trip that glorifies God and blesses each member of the team and the people of Haiti we interact with.

I am going to Haiti on a mission trip.  Just for a week, but I am excited and want to share the journey with friends, family, and maybe even some strangers.  I can't wait. 

So what do I know so far about the trip?  Well, I am traveling with a group of 7 people from my church, North County Christ the King.  I think we are joining another team of  people from Starfish Ministries.  Starfish has been serving the people of Haiti for several years.  I will share more about Starfish as I learn more. 

When? End of January

Where? Tricotte, Haiti.  It looks like we travel a couple of hours north from Port-Au-Prince by 4 wheel drive to get to Tricotte.  Some roads are paved and some not so much. I even hear we cross some rivers driving through the water, exciting!

Why? We are hoping to establish relationships to start a long term ministry called the "Miracle of Birth".  This is a vision of my group leader Catherine.  The goal is to prevent as many needless deaths to infants and mothers in childbirth by educating women in the art and skill of midwifery.  This trip is just the start though and our short term goal will be much more focused on starting relationships, community education, and sharing Christ through the bible and with our individual testimonies.  Looks like I will get to use some of my skills as a nurse too.  I am not pretending to be a mid-wife or to have ever been a nurse in a delivery room just in case any one who knows me was wondering.  As a nurse, I hope to share some knowledge about the female anatomy, the processes of female reproduction system, preventing disease, hygiene, and purity.

I ask for prayers for safety.  I ask for prayers that we are a blessing to the people of Haiti.