Missions.

I was not at home at all this summer. At least that's what it felt like. Between working, traveling, vacationing, and going on my mission trip to Haiti, I felt as if I were gone all summer. And now I have moved into my dorm at Ole Miss. Like what?! 

Anyways, I would like to share a thought that preoccupied my mind during my time in New York City:

My time spent in New York would be called a "vacation." We shopped, laughed, we had a merry ole time. It was a wonderful time of love and family. At one point on the Subway I realized something. What was the difference between my "mission" trip to Haiti and my "vacation" to New York. Both places consisted of people that could be reached for the Kingdom of God. Both had devastation. Both had numerous opportunities for serving God. So why did I not use my time in New York as an opportunity to reach people? The only difference between my two trips were their label. My "mission" trip was the only thing made for "mission" work. "Vacations" are for yourself. Clearly I had missed something.

As a Christian, our whole lives are called to God's mission. We are to "deny [ourselves] and take up [our] crosses daily" (Luke 9:23). That is wholly surrendering and dedicating our lives to God and his mission for our lives. A mission, as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "a task or job that someone is given to do." In the Bible, our mission is stated pretty clearly. Jesus states we are to "go into ALL the world and preach the gospel to the WHOLE creation" (Mark 16:15). 

The two verses cited above do not say do what makes you happy then serve God. No, they do not. They say that we are supposed to surrender everything, give up our lives, give up our hearts, and live completely for Him, no matter the cost.

New York is in the world. Haiti is in the world. Oxford is in the world as well. Everywhere we go, no matter where we live, is a playing field for God's great Kingdom. And I'm not just preaching to a choir here. Most of the things I write about are things that I feel like I must work on indefinitely. I need constant reminders that this life is not about me. It's not about my success, my relationships, or my status. This life is about how I live for my awesome God. It's about how I show the world how great He is. To praise Him, to glorify His name, to spread the Good News of all He has done for me. So as I go into this freshman year at Ole Miss, I will strive to remember what my real mission is. The one that matters in the end. 

Kristen  

Empty.

First off, I would like to say a special thank you to all of the people who financially supported me on this trip. I couldn't have done it without you guys--

It all started around the late fall of last year. I was with Anthony at the Good Samaritan Center in Tupelo when Mr. Barry Ard told him about the mission trip to Haiti. He told Anthony that he would be perfect to play soccer with the kids because they absolutely loved it. I had always wanted to go on an international mission trip. That day I decided I wanted to join Anthony in Haiti in the summer of 2015. So from that point on we went to the Haiti meetings on Wednesday nights. We started looking for sponsors, and we got our passports. I'm going to be honest, when I found out the total for the trip and realized I had to get the money, I was a little stressed. I did not know how in the world I could come up with it. That's when God took the lead and showed how faithful He is. In the end it all came together and every bit was paid for, both for Anthony and me. The next "problem" we encountered was the fact that I had to ride a plane. Before the trip I was not the biggest fan of planes, but this was something God was calling me to do. I rode the plane, God calmed the fears in me. And here I am today blogging about my life-changing trip to Haiti. 

The whole time before Haiti I kept referring back to the song "Oceans" by Hillsong. All of the lyrics reminded me of my trip..."Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me, take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith would be made stronger in the presence of my Savior"...I wasn't necessarily scared, I was just extremely anxious. I didn't know what I was in for...

View of DR from our plane

Sunday, June 28 My dad, Anthony, and I left New Albany around 3 A.M. We arrived at the airport, checked our bags, got our boarding passes, and said our good-byes. Our flight departed Memphis around 6 A.M. We landed in Atlanta then almost immediately boarded our next plane from Atlanta to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We arrived in the DR around 1 P.M. When we got off the plane it was craziness. There were people everywhere, mostly Dominicans but the occasional tourist. We loaded up our luggage onto a bus and started half of our journey from Santo Domingo to Barahona. We arrived at the compound and immediately the children ran up to us. They helped us carry up our luggage and showed us such an immense amount of joy. From then on I knew this would be a blessing for me. That night we attended a local church service. Even though I couldn't really understand the songs, they did translate the sermon. God was in that place that night. "God can do the impossible!"

Monday, June 29
We ate breakfast then loaded up early Monday morning to finish our bus ride. We drove a few hours when we had to get off to load trucks in order to cross the border and enter the town of Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, where we would be staying for the week. I thought the DR was pretty bad until I was sitting and looking across the border into Haiti. I did not know what I had gotten myself into. Nevertheless, we drove across the border and into a country of extreme poverty, but in the midst of that extreme joy. We entered our compound and got settled in. We discussed what the schedule would be like and how things would work. Mr. Barry Ard(leader of our trip) explained how our plans would change because it was God's will that we wanted to play out. After our "meeting" we had some time to just relax. Anthony, Bronson, and I went out into the field where we would be having our soccer camp. 

Our soccer field for the week.

The compound we stayed at in Haiti.

We met a couple of children then afterwards came in and had supper before showering and going to sleep. Before I go any further I would like to take a second to mention how AWESOME all of our translators and helpers at the site were. All of them were so funny, kind, and extremely helpful and I am super glad we got to meet them! 

Most of the translators! All so awesome.

Tuesday, June 30 - Friday, July 3

Tuesday was our first full day at our place. Each day after that was about the same schedule:

7:45 Morning Devotion

Every day Anna Marie would do a one-of-a-kind devotion, and it was translated into 2 other languages (Spanish & Haitian Creole).

8:00 Breakfast

We usually had some kind of bread, some exotic jellies, salami/sausage, egg, and mashed potatoes. yes, mashed potatoes. 

9:00 Morning VBS on compound site

During this VBS we had approximately 100 kids everyday. We would have a lesson, the local teacher would sing with the kids, then they would color and receive cookies and juice.

Morning VBS

10:30-12:00 Soccer with children

Some days we would begin with a lesson, with our e-ball or evangicube, both share the gospel in visual ways. We would present the gospel and then play soccer. 

12:00 Lunch

Bag of chips and ham/cheese sandwiches

1:00 Head to afternoon VBS at church in village

This was incredible. We would load the back of a truck and drive about ten minutes to a local church made of branches. In a room not large at all we would fit almost 500 people everyday. They would sing loud and proud. GOD IS SO GOOD TO ME! Alleluia! They would smile and jump and dance. They loved it. And I loved watching them. Our guitar player was quite interesting. He taught himself how to play and his first guitar he had made himself, impressive.

Pile of clothes from the UN

Just a house in the village

View of afternoon VBS

4:00-6:00 Soccer Camp

Again, we would present the gospel to the children then play an INTENSE soccer game with them afterwards. They were serious. But it was oh so fun. 

Some of us after a soccer game

6:00 Dinner

Always some kind of chicken, some rice, some kind of dried/baked bananas that were delicious, a salad, and some fajita type things

After Dinner-8:00 Soccer Game

By this time our feet were hurting, but the kids loved playing so much you couldn't stop. It was so so fun. 

8:00 Nighttime Devotion

A different team member shared every night. 

8:30- shower, sleep, repeat

With each day came new experiences, joys, and sorrows. Everyday I witnessed something that changed me forever. I would like to say that throughout this trip I "remodeled my perception." To see the way these people lived and to see how they worshipped God was amazing. They had the incomparable joy of having hope in Christ and only in Him. 

Some friends at soccer!

Exception: the last night we were in Haiti, they asked Mr. Barry to speak at the church service. He did wonderful and God really spoke through him. Need I mention every Wednesday and Friday night they worshipped from 8 PM until 5 AM. Yes. That is all night. 

Some friends we made. On the left is John Mykal who accepted
Christ that week, on the right is Miskenn. 

Saturday, July 4

Our departure day from Haiti. It was sad. I'm going to be honest I did cry. I made so many friendships and memories with everyone despite the language barrier that was between us. Before we left, we had food distribution to the local refugee camp. This was a sight. We had not seen anything like this the whole week. Basically, there are people from the Dominican with Haitian parents, they may have lived in the DR their whole lives, but they have been deported. And this is where we went. 

the camp where we took rice and beans

Tents, dirt, and clothes for a roof. That's what we saw. Poverty in its most distinguishable form. So many things that we cannot help. We may have taken food, but we also spread the gospel. In their conditions, that's what they need: Jesus. No hope in this world for tomorrow, but they can have hope in their eternity with Jesus Christ. HMM, the ministry our trip went through, is seeing how to help these people. We want to help. 

After we went to the camp we ate lunch then loaded onto the trucks to head back the place we stayed at in the Dominican the first night. Once again it was bittersweet, I knew we were headed home but I did not want to leave all of my sweet friends behind. 

That night we stayed at the HMM compound in Barahona. They took us out! :) We had pizza downtown at Pala Pizza, then afterwards they took us to an incredible ice cream/fro-yo shop. What a treat!

Sunday, July 5

We headed out from Barahona for the last time around 7:00. We drove all morning until we got to the airport. Our flight left around 1:45. We landed in Atlanta about 5:30 and it felt surreal to be back in the US. We went through customs and all that jazz. Then ate supper and waited to board our final flight to Memphis, Tennessee. It was a short, easy ride. Then we got our luggage and rushed to see family. Nothing short of exciting :)

After I got home, after talking to my dad literally the whole way back, I had time to think everything over. Even now, Anthony and I still discuss things that we noticed. We also discuss ways we want to help. We cannot wait to go back, wish we could go back sooner than next summer! My heart is there. 

The biggest takeaway from our trip is JOY. Joy in Jesus Christ is like no other. We may have lots of material things here in the States, but most Americans are not happy. We choose to find joy in material things and relationships that are not of God. Until we realize that true satisfaction comes from Jesus Christ and only through Him, we will never life in that true satisfaction. We will always feel empty. The Haitians had maybe a pair of shoes and clothes on their back, but they didn't complain or feel devastated. They showed us what it meant to live simply. Praise God. For one day you know you will be with Him away from the trials of this world. That is my biggest challenge for everyone and myself especially. Don't live for today's wealth, materials, and superficial needs. Look deeper to where your future is. God is waiting to give us a joyful (not easy) life through Him. Take it. Live a full life in Him, not an empty life of this world. 

me and my best buddy LELO :)

Sampase and Bronson showing off
his coloring sheet 

Sweet children waiting for us to come to VBS!

15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17

Two precious girls at morning VBS

To make any donations to this awesome ministry, or just to see what they're all about, go to: 

http://www.gohmm.org/

Being Still.

I have always wanted to start a blog, not because I have an extraordinarily interesting life, but because I have an extraordinary God that I am striving to live more for. Several times I have considered writing, again, not because I'm a great writer, but because I have thoughts that I feel are dying to get out. I love to share: my thoughts, my opinions, my feelings, everything. Now with that being said, let's begin...

The inspiration for my blog site's title as well as this first blog is "Being Still." Recently (actually a few months back) I was listening to one of the many podcasts entitled "Anything and Everything" by Alyssa and Jeff Bethke. During this one particular episode, Alyssa talks about certain words or phrases that she feels God lays on her heart throughout the week, words or thoughts she should meditate on, something she should work on. At first, I felt like that just wasn't the way God would try to connect with me. This past Saturday I'm pretty sure that changed. While catering a wedding reception for my dad, the wedding decorator's shirts said "Be Still" on the front. The rest of the verse from Psalm 46 was on the back. It reads: 

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10 

At the moment I saw it, it didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary, being from Mississippi we see verses and biblical allusions on t-shirts all the time. This was just an awesome verse that I had seen over and over, obviously never stopping to think about what it really means. That next morning I woke up and had had a dream. In this dream I got a tattoo, and you could have guessed it, the tattoo on my left wrist said "Be Still." Oh well that's cool, I thought. I have always wanted a tattoo. It wasn't until I was talking to Anthony, my boyfriend and best friend, at church that Sunday morning when I realized it popped up again. On my phone that same verse popped up as a notification on the front of my screen. That was three times in a matter of 24 hours this saying had been revealed to me. So there, in the middle of church, I had a revelation. The wheels started turning in this brain of mine. I thought about it over and over. Be Still, what could this mean? What is the connection to me? What is God trying to tell me? 

I looked up the definition of "still." The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it in a number of ways:

devoid of motion, calm, tranquil, uttering no sound 

All of these I realized were quite different from the way I live. Everything with me is hustle and bustle--trying to get from one place to another in the quickest way. Then once I get there I try to move to the other place just as quick. There is always noise. There is always movement. Then I realized that in my relationship with God this is not the way it should be at all. I should not try to squeeze Him into a little part of my day. I mean, I do pray in the car and throughout the day but there had never been that stillness that was necessary in order to define my relationship with Him. Through all of the busyness in life, it is mandatory that I make time for Him. It is a priority that time is made in quietness with Him. No distractions, no noise, no movement, just myself and God. To me, this verse or phrase is also telling me to just sit back and let God be God. In the midst of life it is so easy to take everything into our own hands. We worry about money, about family members, and anything else we can think of. Here God is saying, "Kristen. Chill. You know I am God. Just let me do it. I've got this." He is THE Creator of Earth. He can handle anything and everything! It's not always up to me. God is God, and He's got this. I just have to let Him. Grow in faith. Grow in prayer. Meditate. And Be Still.  

Kristen