James 1:17.

I know I have been slow at updating, but I promise I’ve been busy! The first group left last Thursday. It was sad to see them leave, but we still had a whole other group here called the Restore Retreat, which is basically like CIY meets Haiti. It was awesome. They had sessions and awesome, rockin’ worship. They just left yesterday, but we just got a new group in yesterday too. We have been busy, but a good busy.

                Today we got to meet with our new team. Myself and 2 other interns are with the miscellaneous group. They are a fantastic group of people and I’m so excited to be with them for the next week. I am thrilled to see the things that they have in store for the Haitians and that God has in store for them. Today we took them to the local jail and brothel. We brought goodie bags to the women of the brothel and we brought food and water to the men at the jail. The men are constantly in and out of the jail because it’s more of a holding cell then an actual jail. From the jail they will see a judge and they will either be released or sent to the Port de Paix prison. Monday when I went there were 7 men, but today there were only 4 and 2 of them were new. We just spoke with them and talked with them for a little. We asked the men if they had a relationship with Jesus and 1 man had and the other 3 had not. We encouraged the man that was a Christian just to keep going and to encourage other people too. We spoke with the other 3 men and 1 of them actually accepted Christ – AWESOME! So we prayed with him and just shared some scriptures with him. He told us the reason he was in there was because he borrowed money from someone and then spent it and the other person wanted the money back, but he didn’t have it. He said if he had the money today that they would release him, but he didn’t. I told him that I was very sorry, but I could not give him the money. I told him the God would provide for him when he was in need and as I was in mid-sentence the guard says we got the money for him and that he would be released as soon as we left. I was so happy because that was truly a God thing. James 1:17 says every good and perfect gift comes from above, he agreed with that statement. I told him that God provided that for him and that it was all God’s work.  I told him that as soon as he gets out I wanted him to tell everyone what God just did for him. I invited him to the mission church on Sundays and said we hope to see him there. He thanked us and was very thrilled (even before he knew he was getting out).  Please be praying for my friend. I hope to see him in town tomorrow sharing the awesomeness of Jesus J.

                Tomorrow we will be heading to House of Hope and doing hut to huts in town. Some of the other teams will be heading out tomorrow for a few days doing some neighbors projects. Please be praying for safe travels and awesome things while they’re there. Thanks for reading… and as usual, I love you all!!!!

I spent the last 4 days in Beauchamp, which is about a 2.5/3 hour trip off campus. It’s out in the country, but it is GORGEOUS!! The team we traveled with only had 5 people, but they had the biggest hearts of any 5 people I know. 3 were on a team together and the other 2 were on a team and they just jumped in. All together they had $2750 to spend on goats and chickens and total we bought 80 goats, 50 chickens, 2 pigs, and 2 turkeys. The first day we went to the market to get them which was a new experience for me, and let me tell you it was…. interesting. The market was packed. We gave them to the pastor of the church out there and he gave them to families in the church who needed them the most. We had a huge rice giveaway we gave away about 16,000 servings in those 4 days. On the last night I just sat and watched the sky it was awesome. The moon was so bright it almost hurt to look at it. I realized in that moment just how tiny we are and how big we think we are. God is a huge, awesome god and I constantly need to be put in my place to realize that and that was one of those moments.

                “Then sings my soul to my Savior God, to Thee we sing how great Thou art…”

That song has been stuck in my head for the last couple weeks. We sang it to the prisoners a few weeks ago and I was walking down the street yesterday and heard someone sing it. It’s been with me everywhere it seems like, but it’s a wonderful song. J

                Yesterday a couple of people wanted to go speak to some of the locals in what we call hut to huts. Basically we go out to people and ask them if they know Jesus and if they don’t we talk to them and share His love with them, and if they do we just encourage them to share Him with other people and just be a light to them. Yesterday challenged me. We started talking to this man and asked him if he knew Jesus, he said yes, but he told us that he doesn’t have a relationship with Him. He later on told us that he was a witch doctor for voodoo. People bring him their sick family members or friends or whatever and pay him to heal them basically. I don’t know if he prays or what he does to the people, but that is his family’s source of income. I didn’t have any words to say. Who am I to tell this man to leave his old ways behind and trust in someone who he knows nothing about and hope that he will find another way to make money. I trust that God will provide for me, and He always does, but how can I tell that to this man?! I have no clue what it is like to go hungry or to not know where my next meal is going to come from or to not know when my next paycheck is coming. I told him about the disciples and how they dropped everything and followed Jesus, not really knowing anything about Him. I explained that some left their families and some left their jobs and security to follow Jesus. I talked to the man for a little while longer and he asked where the church was and we told him and he said I will go Sunday. I told the man I don’t know why God put me there and him there in that very situation, but I know that there was a reason. The man said we could pray for him if we would like, but not there. In every prayer I pray I mention that man and I hope that something will pull him to want to come to church and find out more. I may never see that man again, but I introduced myself and told him that he sees me in town to come talk to me, and I told him that I would be praying for him, and he said thank you. I left. This is what it’s all about. I was so scared to talk to him when he first mentioned it, but this is what we’re up against. God is so so evident here, but so is Satan. It’s. Hard. I ask that you keep this man and the team and myself in your prayers. God is doing huge things here. We are up against a lot here, but we all know that God can and does move mountains.

                Once again feel free to e-mail me at hmahle18@hotmail.com, or you can message me on facebook. I will keep you all updated. Thank you all for reading this!

Week 1

Hello everyone! I made it safe and sound, as evidenced by this post, sorry this took so long! I hope to blog more than once a week, but if I don't, please don't freak out! This week(ish) has been busy! So I guess I'll start at day 1.

Thursday I landed in Ft. Lauderdale and was welcomed by my fellow interns! They are all wonderful if you were wondering. We had training for a few days, and it definitely got me ready for the trip.
Sunday we flew into Haiti and made it to the compound around 11a.m..... I think.... I was a little tired from waking up at 3am to be in the airport in Miami on time.
Monday we hiked to the waterfall it's a beautiful walk!
Tuesday we went to the orphanage in Silines-Mayette, it's about a 3 hour drive via tap-tap, but the drive in the country is beautiful. Along the way we stopped in Beauchamp, where I just found out I'll be staying with a group for several days this week! It was very cool to be able to see all the other campuses we have.
Wednesday we went to Tortuga................................... I find it hard to talk about it without getting nauseous. For those of you who haven't been to Tortuga I will describe it. The boats aren't at a dock so you get on a Haitian's shoulders and they carry you out to the boat and you jump on. The boats are small sail boats and it takes about an hour to get to Tortuga... as you toss and turn... and get splashed with water (if you aren't sitting on the right side). Most of the kids were in school so we just played some soccer and smaller games like duck, duck goose and red light, green light. The kids there are so wonderful!
Thursday Melonnie took us to the prison and the brothel in Port-de-Paix. It was awesome to see her in action and to see how passionate she was about those people! Her joy and passion overflowed into all of the interns, well at least to me! We stopped at House of Hope along the way back, which is a place where severely malnourished children go and they eventually nurse them back to health.
Friday we went to Anseafoleur, which is supposedly the voodoo capital of the northwest. We drove out there which is about an hour or so of a drive. (I didn't have a watch so I had no concept of time, but thanks to another intern I now have a watch, thanks Ashley!!) When we got there we stopped by the school to check it out, but the kids are still in school now so we didn't get to spend any time with them. We hiked up the mountain to the monument, which was orginally built as a cross, but now is the site where people go to practice voodoo. I would love to share the story of it when I get home, but I don't want to tell you guys everything! So we hiked the mountain and then we went to the temple and we prayed..... in the name of JESUS!!!! We had lunch at a restaurant, which was delicious, and then we went to the beach. It was gorgeous! And we also had an egg fight. We had a bajillion eggs that we bought and we had an egg fight. We turned off all the lights on campus and turned the music on so you couldn't hear. Each person could only carry 2 eggs and you had to smash them on someone.. no throwing, so you had to actually catch the person. It was awesome, disgusting, and totally fun all in one!
Saturday we went to La Baie. We had lunch and we took a boat to the beach (I know it sounds like we did a lot of relaxing... but it is very tough, lol) So we checked out the campus and went to the beach.
Sunday was wonderful! I absolutely love church! That is seriously the closest thing to Heaven on Earth. The people are so passionate about their worship their joy is just overflowing and unbelievable! Their music is so beautiful! Church lasts for hours and no one even cares or starts tapping their watch after an hour....... :D I love Haiti time too, because everyone is late and nobody ever starts on time. Sundays are literally just a day of rest. We all just chilled all day. So that leads me to where I am now.... sitting here typing this.

I just wanted to update everyone on what we were doing for the last week. Groups start coming in on Tuesday so my updating will be sporatic and when I get the chance! Please be praying for my team that we will be the face of Jesus to all of these people coming in and out and especially to the Haitians that God will use us and shine through us and be a light to these people! Please also be praying for teams that are coming in and for safety for those travelers. Thanks to everyone who read this thing entirely. If you want to contact me you can shoot me an email @ hmahle18@hotmail.com or you can contact me through facebook. Thank you to everyone who was and who is continuing to pray for the team and myself! We all greatly appreciate it. Thanks again and I love you all!

In You...

Alright, so this is my first blog, ever!
I was having trouble coming up with a name for this thing and I sat here for a few seconds just thinking and praying and this song came on and it's one of my favorites by Shane & Shane, and it's called "In You," and some the lyrics just stuck in my head "in You, I find my all, and my emptiness, but it all makes sense, in You," and I thought about how awesome it was. Everything makes sense... in YOU. Sometimes it seems kind of corny, but I am a child of God, and I often forget just how awesome that is! Last weekend I had to opportunity to go with some of the teens from my church to this thing called cleverly called Ohio Teens for Christ, and the speaker told the easter story, but with a different spin. It's sooooo awesome to think that God loves me THAT much. I am a princess in His Kingdom :) That's about the greatest thing... ever!!!!
So, back to my first part. I often struggle with giving things up to God. I always tell Him "no, don't worry about it, I can handle it," shortly to realize that I can't handle it... and He's there to pick me back up.... again. If I just trusted that God would provide and get me through it I wouldn't make such a fool of myself every time! Well, I finally did it! Last summer, I was fortunate enough to go back to Haiti. It's really hard to describe how I felt. That was my second trip going, I went with a group back in 2006, this time it was just my friend, Taylor, and me. I was a little anxious about going because it was out of the country for 2 weeks with no family or even any contact to them. Well as soon as I got there, I felt at home. I thought to myself, is this where I'm meant to be? As the 2 weeks went on I prayed constantly about it and just everything I was feeling and pretty much just everything in general! When I came back home I applied for an internship. I didn't really hear anything back or much of anything at all. I finally just said "alright, God, I'm giving this up to You, totally 100% YOURS! I know that if this is meant to happen then You will make it happen, and if that's not where You're calling me to be, then I won't go, and I trust that You will lead me to where You want me to be." That's where I ended it with Him
2 days later I got a call. I got accepted for the internship, I know God had to be saying "I TOLD YOU SO!" So that's where I am now. Here. Writing this. This is my blog for my internship in Haiti in the summer of 2011. I hope that all the things I say and do there will be for the glory of God and that everything I do will be pleasing to Him! I know that no matter what I do, if God's hand is in it then it will work out!
I hope that everyone reading this will follow this (or however the blog world works). I am just asking for prayers from everyone. I know I would appreciate it so so much! I ask that you also uplift the entire mission, the interns, the people who live there full time, and the short-term people with prayers. God is doing HUGE things down there. And we're doing it all for HIS glory... that's the best part :) I leave on the 26th of May, but I don't actually leave the country until the 29th of May. So please just keep the team in your prayers during that time as we will all be traveling in then, it's coming up quick and I'm very, very excited!
I wish I had some awesome quote or something totally sweet to end this with, but I don't. So thank you very much for reading this..... you beautiful princesses and princes of God!!! Hehe... I just love that idea!!! Totally awesome.. :D