Hey everyone,
I've moved my blog over to a new site, giving you more ways to keep up with what's happening in Haiti! You can expect regular blog posts once I've hit the ground in Petit Goave. There will also be pics and videos posted in the Media section, and prayer updates on the Support page. This is also where you'll be able to sign up for my listserve email updates and subscribe to the blog. I'll no longer be updating this site, so check out the new one (http://rjintowords.wordpress.com) and feel free to send me suggestions and questions - I'd love to hear from you!
-Rachael
Monday, July 25, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Background - Part 3
In May of '08 I went with a few other students & volunteers on a 10-visit to Haiti. This crowd here - up dark & early for a 4AM flight:
That was the first time we got to meet Thony (pronounced like 'Tony') and see all the great stuff that WHI was doing in the country. One of my favorite things about WHI is that they only hire staff members who are native to the countries in which they work. This is a great method for multiple reasons, which I may get into another time.
Anyway...Thony really walked us through the shock of being in Haiti for the first time as he showed us the WHI efforts in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and Petit Goave. We were able to:
• Meet kids in the child sponsorship programs in Port-au-Prince
• help referee a high school track meet (also Port-au-Prince)
• participate in an HIV/AIDS awareness workshop in Jacmel
• put on children’s day-camp activities & help build houses in Petit Goave
Yeah, in 10 days! All of it was amazing work and each place was so different from the next. But the people in Petit Goave were the ones that really stole our hearts.
In our first debrief meeting in Petit Goave the entire team felt like this was the place that The Gathering (MBC's college ministry) was supposed to be. After spending 2 more days in the neighborhood of Percin we were sure of it. You know how it's sometimes difficult to put into words why you know something is the right fit...you just know?
Well that’s how this was for us. Each place we visited had some of the elements we were looking for; things that would provide a good fit for college students’ abilities to engage in and serve the communities. There was potential for students to get involved in any of the community development programs that we had seen that week. But we could actually visualize them building relationships in Percin. And the feeling was unanimous in our team of seven, so that’s how we settled there. Sarah & I returned later that summer for a few weeks…which is Part 4, for later.
That was the first time we got to meet Thony (pronounced like 'Tony') and see all the great stuff that WHI was doing in the country. One of my favorite things about WHI is that they only hire staff members who are native to the countries in which they work. This is a great method for multiple reasons, which I may get into another time.
Anyway...Thony really walked us through the shock of being in Haiti for the first time as he showed us the WHI efforts in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and Petit Goave. We were able to:
• Meet kids in the child sponsorship programs in Port-au-Prince
• help referee a high school track meet (also Port-au-Prince)
• participate in an HIV/AIDS awareness workshop in Jacmel
• put on children’s day-camp activities & help build houses in Petit Goave
Yeah, in 10 days! All of it was amazing work and each place was so different from the next. But the people in Petit Goave were the ones that really stole our hearts.
In our first debrief meeting in Petit Goave the entire team felt like this was the place that The Gathering (MBC's college ministry) was supposed to be. After spending 2 more days in the neighborhood of Percin we were sure of it. You know how it's sometimes difficult to put into words why you know something is the right fit...you just know?
Well that’s how this was for us. Each place we visited had some of the elements we were looking for; things that would provide a good fit for college students’ abilities to engage in and serve the communities. There was potential for students to get involved in any of the community development programs that we had seen that week. But we could actually visualize them building relationships in Percin. And the feeling was unanimous in our team of seven, so that’s how we settled there. Sarah & I returned later that summer for a few weeks…which is Part 4, for later.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Background - Part 2
Part-way through college, my church's college ministry had started learning about the modern day slave trade, and decided it was time to get the word out to our fellow students. I got to work with a great team of students to put on a fundraiser/awareness event on campus: Seesaws Against Slavery. We made a 24-hour seesaw marathon, where students raise $ to seesaw for an hour out on the main quad. There were some amazing conversations that happened, with people running around campus wondering why the giant seesaws were there...and wanting to be a part of it! Well, the campus community ended up getting so involved that a few thousand dollars! The funds were donated to help complete new curriculum used in aftercare centers, bringing restoration and healing to young women who had been rescued from human traffickers.
College students have an amazing ability to mobilize & lead their peers, and seemingly endless stores of energy. Or coffee on campus is just stronger. Either way, the people at WHI took note of what our little church group was doing, and asked us to be involved with their projects overseas. After many discussions to figure out the best fit, we all decided that Haiti was it! In spring '08 the first team of students went to see what WHI was doing in-country, and consider how we could be a part of it. Which is another blog post, because now I gotta go camping! Memorial Day weekend! Woo!
College students have an amazing ability to mobilize & lead their peers, and seemingly endless stores of energy. Or coffee on campus is just stronger. Either way, the people at WHI took note of what our little church group was doing, and asked us to be involved with their projects overseas. After many discussions to figure out the best fit, we all decided that Haiti was it! In spring '08 the first team of students went to see what WHI was doing in-country, and consider how we could be a part of it. Which is another blog post, because now I gotta go camping! Memorial Day weekend! Woo!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Background - Part 1
All this Haiti news is lacking some context. So to get you the full story, I'm putting up a series of posts about how I got to where I'm at now. A shout out to Kirk for pushing me to get him more background info, and thus kick-starting this series. Thanks, Kirk!
Here's Part 1:
It all started back in high school (yeah, I'm taking you that far back) when I started thinking "What do I want to study at college?" Well I was like, "You know what must be a big problem? Cross cultural communications in the global church." Right. I had never ever thought about that before and it just came out of nowhere. But I suddenly found myself with this desire to go spend enough time abroad in another culture to begin to understand it a bit.
Think about it, though...churches, NGOs, missionaries, etc. run into walls over and over again in this area. Culture is a really powerful thing, and miscommunication can occur very easily to slow down or even hurt the efforts in focus in a cross-cultural context. As I spent some time thinking about it, I realized this was an area in which I really wanted to work. So since high school I've always wanted to be a 'cultural liaison' of sorts between two cultures and enable the church in each place to work together more easily. I knew I didn't want to go to a faith-based college, which created some work in figuring out what to study in order to move forward. I knew what I wanted to study, but had no idea what it was called. Until, after hours of searching, I found out that it was called *drumroll...* ANTHROPOLOGY.
Anthro really fits perfectly with the goal that popped into my mind in high school. I looked at urban schools on the East Coast so that I could get some real practice while studying, and wound up at AU (really only because they gave me the best financial aid package). Thanks, AU. Anyway, I ended up going into the Anthro program there and loved it; the topics, the department, and the wonderfully strange student body that I got to join.
And that's really as far back as i can trace it. More to come later in the week!
Here's Part 1:
It all started back in high school (yeah, I'm taking you that far back) when I started thinking "What do I want to study at college?" Well I was like, "You know what must be a big problem? Cross cultural communications in the global church." Right. I had never ever thought about that before and it just came out of nowhere. But I suddenly found myself with this desire to go spend enough time abroad in another culture to begin to understand it a bit.
Think about it, though...churches, NGOs, missionaries, etc. run into walls over and over again in this area. Culture is a really powerful thing, and miscommunication can occur very easily to slow down or even hurt the efforts in focus in a cross-cultural context. As I spent some time thinking about it, I realized this was an area in which I really wanted to work. So since high school I've always wanted to be a 'cultural liaison' of sorts between two cultures and enable the church in each place to work together more easily. I knew I didn't want to go to a faith-based college, which created some work in figuring out what to study in order to move forward. I knew what I wanted to study, but had no idea what it was called. Until, after hours of searching, I found out that it was called *drumroll...* ANTHROPOLOGY.
Anthro really fits perfectly with the goal that popped into my mind in high school. I looked at urban schools on the East Coast so that I could get some real practice while studying, and wound up at AU (really only because they gave me the best financial aid package). Thanks, AU. Anyway, I ended up going into the Anthro program there and loved it; the topics, the department, and the wonderfully strange student body that I got to join.
And that's really as far back as i can trace it. More to come later in the week!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The letter you've all been waiting for:
Dear family & friends,
I can’t believe I’m finally writing this!
I sat down in my room to start writing this and kept thinking, “Yep. Wow…it is finally time to do this!” It seems so unreal to have waited for three years, and now the Lord has allowed the time to come…I’m moving to Haiti!
Some Background: The desire to stay at least a year in Haiti hit my heart in ‘08 when I spent the summer working there with a friend. Though I was more than willing to return immediately, it was clear that the Lord had more work to do in me before going. So I wrestled to obey, stayed in DC, enrolled in a leadership development program at my church, and have been working there the past two years. He has been faithful and I have been made more ready for this task!
The Details: This summer I’ll be moving to Haiti for 12-15 months to volunteer with a Christian relief and development NGO called World Hope International. I’ll be working alongside a ministry partner, Kerry, who is going with me to build relationships with the local Haitian church community. We’ll be facilitating teams of doctors from the U.S. in WHI’s mobile medical clinics and growing their child sponsorship program. In addition, we’ll be helping the Haitian church and WHI pilot new development programs. We’re excited to see the church grow in their ability to meet the physical needs of their community and share Christ’s love in some really practical ways.
Your Prayers: What I most greatly desire are your prayers. I can’t imagine going forward in this without them, and I’ve never been more aware of this need. I won’t be walking into a very healthy church upon arrival – the church where we will be is tired right now. So I ask for your continued prayers while I’m away. I need His grace to cover me and fill the gaps in my shortcomings. And in times when we’re leaping forward in Christ’s strength and provision, I’d love for you to be able to rejoice with me!
The Finances: I’m confident that God will bring in the funds needed in order to go serve Him in this way, and I think He has chosen to do that through His church. There is about $20K to raise, but we serve a mighty God, and it is the Lord who provides! I'll soon post about how to donate. Please prayerfully consider whether making a donation is one way that He would have you be a part of what is happening in Haiti.
The goal is not to ‘fix’ Haiti. The goal is to build strong friendships, share the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed, and be a light in the darkness! The goal is to see more brothers & sisters whose hope lies in Christ, our light & our salvation, knowing that they are loved by the King of kings and created for His glory.
I’ve never been more excited to watch the Lord work!
With love and a great hope,
-Rachael
“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:10
I can’t believe I’m finally writing this!
I sat down in my room to start writing this and kept thinking, “Yep. Wow…it is finally time to do this!” It seems so unreal to have waited for three years, and now the Lord has allowed the time to come…I’m moving to Haiti!
Some Background: The desire to stay at least a year in Haiti hit my heart in ‘08 when I spent the summer working there with a friend. Though I was more than willing to return immediately, it was clear that the Lord had more work to do in me before going. So I wrestled to obey, stayed in DC, enrolled in a leadership development program at my church, and have been working there the past two years. He has been faithful and I have been made more ready for this task!
The Details: This summer I’ll be moving to Haiti for 12-15 months to volunteer with a Christian relief and development NGO called World Hope International. I’ll be working alongside a ministry partner, Kerry, who is going with me to build relationships with the local Haitian church community. We’ll be facilitating teams of doctors from the U.S. in WHI’s mobile medical clinics and growing their child sponsorship program. In addition, we’ll be helping the Haitian church and WHI pilot new development programs. We’re excited to see the church grow in their ability to meet the physical needs of their community and share Christ’s love in some really practical ways.
Your Prayers: What I most greatly desire are your prayers. I can’t imagine going forward in this without them, and I’ve never been more aware of this need. I won’t be walking into a very healthy church upon arrival – the church where we will be is tired right now. So I ask for your continued prayers while I’m away. I need His grace to cover me and fill the gaps in my shortcomings. And in times when we’re leaping forward in Christ’s strength and provision, I’d love for you to be able to rejoice with me!
The Finances: I’m confident that God will bring in the funds needed in order to go serve Him in this way, and I think He has chosen to do that through His church. There is about $20K to raise, but we serve a mighty God, and it is the Lord who provides! I'll soon post about how to donate. Please prayerfully consider whether making a donation is one way that He would have you be a part of what is happening in Haiti.
The goal is not to ‘fix’ Haiti. The goal is to build strong friendships, share the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed, and be a light in the darkness! The goal is to see more brothers & sisters whose hope lies in Christ, our light & our salvation, knowing that they are loved by the King of kings and created for His glory.
I’ve never been more excited to watch the Lord work!
With love and a great hope,
-Rachael
“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:10
Monday, May 2, 2011
Asking for: Prayer
How to pray with & for me:
Consistently:
Whenever you think of it, please take a moment right then & there to pray for me! Even just 2 sentences. Or maybe choose a certain day of the week to spend time praying for God to be glorified through His people in Haiti.
Specifically:
As the year progresses, I’ll be posting regularly here on the blog. Sometimes it will be about prayer requests, and other times a story or thought. I won’t be able to share some things that happen for various reasons. However, this blog will be the best tool to use in order to pray as specifically as possible.
Together:
As most of you are all in the States here together, I want to encourage and ask you to make time to pray for me when you are with each other. Since I can’t be with you in person, when you are together in a group and notice/remember that I am not there, please remember to pray!
Consistently:
Whenever you think of it, please take a moment right then & there to pray for me! Even just 2 sentences. Or maybe choose a certain day of the week to spend time praying for God to be glorified through His people in Haiti.
Specifically:
As the year progresses, I’ll be posting regularly here on the blog. Sometimes it will be about prayer requests, and other times a story or thought. I won’t be able to share some things that happen for various reasons. However, this blog will be the best tool to use in order to pray as specifically as possible.
Together:
As most of you are all in the States here together, I want to encourage and ask you to make time to pray for me when you are with each other. Since I can’t be with you in person, when you are together in a group and notice/remember that I am not there, please remember to pray!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Isaiah 43
This chapter has been taking over my brain ever since last week, which is a good thing. It's too long to post it all right here, but you can click here to see it.
I've been looking ahead towards Haiti more recently - looking at uprooting what's been established here over the past 6 years (friendships, my church, my connection to the city, etc.) and getting ready to step into something new that I don't know. But in all of the natural, human insecurity that gets brought up with that, focusing on God's possessive approach and love towards us (v.1, v.10) in Isaiah 43 has kept me more secure as I think about this transition.
Getting ready to go to a country where I won't have the social, cultural, or (especially) linguistic capital that I have here is pretty unnerving. (ah, Bourdieu. He was so smart.) But with all of that I'm reminded that He is literally with me in every situation in which I'll find myself (v. 1-3). And that's the most comforting thing right now. And I'm told not to fear (v. 1, v.5), that the Lord is strong (like, the whole chapter), that He's powerful enough to make a river spring up in the desert (v. 19), that He loves me and has gone to great lengths to make me His (v.25-). I've been spending a lot of time reading & sitting with that beautiful love expressed in Isaiah 43 for a week and am still overwhelmed by it to the point of being almost unable to get it out into words. But I'm trying. I'm still just amazed at this great, complete, personal, and tangible Love!! This week I have been especially happy to be His.
I've been looking ahead towards Haiti more recently - looking at uprooting what's been established here over the past 6 years (friendships, my church, my connection to the city, etc.) and getting ready to step into something new that I don't know. But in all of the natural, human insecurity that gets brought up with that, focusing on God's possessive approach and love towards us (v.1, v.10) in Isaiah 43 has kept me more secure as I think about this transition.
Getting ready to go to a country where I won't have the social, cultural, or (especially) linguistic capital that I have here is pretty unnerving. (ah, Bourdieu. He was so smart.) But with all of that I'm reminded that He is literally with me in every situation in which I'll find myself (v. 1-3). And that's the most comforting thing right now. And I'm told not to fear (v. 1, v.5), that the Lord is strong (like, the whole chapter), that He's powerful enough to make a river spring up in the desert (v. 19), that He loves me and has gone to great lengths to make me His (v.25-). I've been spending a lot of time reading & sitting with that beautiful love expressed in Isaiah 43 for a week and am still overwhelmed by it to the point of being almost unable to get it out into words. But I'm trying. I'm still just amazed at this great, complete, personal, and tangible Love!! This week I have been especially happy to be His.
I think springtime is here? Thunderstorms at night, cherry blossoms, daily high temps swinging between 80 and 50...yep, it's here. Also, I just finished reading The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros and the cover was turquoise, so that definitely makes it feel like springtime, the turquoise. I liked it. It's really easy to pick up and put down whenever and you don't have to put in any effort to getting in and out of a storyline, so that was a nice change from Oliver Twist, which is the other fiction book I'm (sloooowly) reading now. I think Oliver Twist is more of a winter book.
In other random news, I printed out all my paperwork for WHI today and will be filling that out this week. Finally, I have something to do for Haiti prep stuff. If you're just catching up, I'm planning to go to Haiti this summer for 12-15 months in a paired placement through WHI. I'll tell you more about that in another post. In regards to Haiti though, it looks like Martelly won the Presidential election. So we'll see how that goes...
In other random news, I printed out all my paperwork for WHI today and will be filling that out this week. Finally, I have something to do for Haiti prep stuff. If you're just catching up, I'm planning to go to Haiti this summer for 12-15 months in a paired placement through WHI. I'll tell you more about that in another post. In regards to Haiti though, it looks like Martelly won the Presidential election. So we'll see how that goes...
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
It's an upgrade.
Welcome to my 'new' blog page! I finally got some time to re-vamp the ol' blog and it's looking goooood. In fact. it's looking like I might actually use it now that there's space for things other than just posts. Those are sometimes the most boring part of a blog, I think.
Instead, now there's a twitter feed on the side, see? -->
No laughing...that's pretty technical for me. And i realized I can put up pictures and videos! And I can post quotes from the books that I'm reading! I know that makes me sound like an 80 year old, but hey, maybe I'm a little bit behind the curve? That's okay. Slowly but surely. If there's anything else that I can do with this thing you guys should let me know and soon it will be The Greatest Blog In The World. Or at least maybe just a little bit better than before since I actually want to use it now.
The internets are amazing!
Instead, now there's a twitter feed on the side, see? -->
No laughing...that's pretty technical for me. And i realized I can put up pictures and videos! And I can post quotes from the books that I'm reading! I know that makes me sound like an 80 year old, but hey, maybe I'm a little bit behind the curve? That's okay. Slowly but surely. If there's anything else that I can do with this thing you guys should let me know and soon it will be The Greatest Blog In The World. Or at least maybe just a little bit better than before since I actually want to use it now.
The internets are amazing!
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