Haiti: Part 1

In August I had the opportunity to travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to minister at an orphanage, and an outreach with their church.  My team consisted of Dr. Mark Renner, his daughter Sarah, and myself.  I kept a journal during our trip, and rather than rewrite my whole trip, I will share it with you.

American Airlines Minneapolis to Miami                            Tuesday, August 7th 2012

The day has finally come! I am on my way to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Back in February it just seemed like a vague possibility or a "someday" idea. But at last the day is here.
Dr. Renner, Sarah, and I are flying to Port-au-Prince to teach Bible School at a children's home, and their outreach at the Dumas Feeding Center. [Dumas is the area of town it is in] We are going to use Child Evangelism Fellowship's "Wordless Book" as our lesson material.  Dr. Renner will also be speaking at their Bible Institute.

I am so excited to be flying. I love flying.  And I am very happy to have a window seat, because I love looking out. Unfortunately, I am over a wing, so I can't see much.
I should probably sleep on this flight. We left South Dakota at midnight, and drove all the way to Minneapolis, arriving about 4am. I could not sleep most of the drive, so I've been awake for 32 hours.   Yikes! I'm going to wear myself out from the start!  Okay, time to sleep.



Miami Dade Airport

We have safely arrived in Miami. I am so thankful my ears did not plug. When I flew down to Bogota the landing in Miami was horrible. My right ear didn't pop for half an hour after landing.  This time, my left ear had some problems, but it didn't plug and once we landed I was fine.   Now we are waiting at our gate.  It is a little after 12:00, and we board at 1:40.
The reality that I am going to Haiti is becoming more real as we sit here. Most of the people here are Haitian. And the flight attendant made some announcements in French.  It's always daunting to enter a different culture.
The first phrase I want to learn in Creole is "May I take your picture?"  I have a feeling I'll need that a lot.



AA Flight 803 over the Caribbean Sea

We are in the air and out of the country. Woohoo! Just had to fill out some immigration forms for entry into Haiti. And once again I have a window seat. This time I am behind the wing enough that I can see the water below. The ocean is so beautiful from this high up.
The clouds are also spectacular from above.  When you're down on the ground you don't get to see their beautiful formations. Some just tower and billow into the sky.  Have I mentioned how much I love flying?


We are now over Haiti. Port-au-Prince is on the southern end of the island. The country looks brown, and dry, and hilly from up here. It's kind of a small country.   I think we are beginning our descent.

No Place Like Home orphanage, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

We made it safely! I am exhausted so I will only make a few notes and plan to elaborate tomorrow.
1. Airport Bag guys are persistant.
2. Waiting a long time even in the shade is hot.
3. Brother Jacques Alexandre is a good Haitian driver.
4. When it rains, it pours.
5. I am thankful for my big umbrella.
6. This house is swanky.
7. I am so nervous about tomorrow.

Psalm 119 ~ ALEPH

A friend of mine has challenged me to memorize Psalm 119 with her over the summer. I had done this a few years ago, but from lack of review and accountability had forgotten most of it. But between now and October, with God's help I will re-memorize, and meditate on all of Psalm 119. 
This does seem like a daunting task. There are 176 verses after all.  But we'll break it down to one 8 verse section per week.  And the way the chapter is set up, this is an easy way to do it.
Psalm 119 was written as an acrostic poem, that was separated into 22 stanzas, each named from a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, with each of the 8 verses beginning with that letter. It is filled with testimonies of the faithfulness and truth of God's Law and a desire to always obey it. For the Psalmist this meant the Torah, for Christians today it applies to the whole of God's Word.
I challenge you, dear friends to read and memorize God's Word, so that you can say with the Psalmist, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."   

Week one:

ALEPH

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. 

Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. 

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.  

I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy 

righteous judgments. 

I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. 

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Is Our Preaching Vain?

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God;
because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ:
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain;
ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.

But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

1 Corinthians 15:14-20

Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead;

Matthew 28:5b-7a

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us.

Romans 8:34

Amazing Grace, Amazing Love

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see!

Was it for crimes that I had done he groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree!

Amazing grace shall ever be my song of praise, my highest call
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

Amazing love! How can it be?
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
I'll sing throughout eternity,
"Amazing Grace! Amazing Love!"


Kevin Inafuku

It's Nothing New

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth.

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:7-11

Walking whose walk?

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He that sayeth he abideth in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.

1 John 2:6

When we say we are Christians, what should that look like? "I am under grace, I can live however I want." "Come as you are, we accept everyone." Not really.

Who are we aligning ourselves with? Well, "Christian" implies we are following Christ. So, as this verse says, if we say we are in Christ, we must walk as he walked.

He lived in perfect obedience to God, he had compassion on the spiritual blind and lost, as well as the physically poor. He forgave, even those who hated and murdered him. He loved his enemies enough to die for them, and in doing so, give them life in glory.

Am I living this way? Are you? I have to say, for myself, that I find myself lacking and in need of God's grace to walk as Christ walked.

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Knowing That We Know

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

1 John 2:1-5