How this all started! Part 2

OK so while we were in Haiti for our 1st trip we got to see the vision that God has given Danny & Leann and how He is using them. I loved everything about it. The vision was to purchase 17+ acres of land and build 8 family homes that will have 20 to 25 children getting them off the streets of Haiti. It will also have a church, school for 800 students, community center, medical clinic and a source of clean water for the whole community. Among all the other things that the mission is involved with in the community.

In my last post (and I know it has been a while)I mentioned that I couldn't believe that the thought of living in Haiti was in my heart and my head. One reason is because I really like (I mean REALLY LIKE) air conditioning, cold weather, and hot showers, Haiti doesn't have any of these. The second reason is because I have never wanted to move anywhere before, at one time Jon wanted us to move to Georgia and we never did. I guess that is the difference in your husband wanting you to move somewhere and God telling you to move somewhere.

After we got home I found myself thinking about Haiti all the time and if I had a chance to talk to someone about our trip that was all I talked about. For those that have been on a mission trip this is not an uncommon reaction after the trip, but what was uncommon for me was that overwhelming feeling that I was suppose to move there. As I was praying about Haiti the feeling just kept getting stronger. I couldn't believe that God would want me to move to Haiti cause at this point I still hadn't said anything to Jon. But if that is what God wanted he would work it all out.

Unknown to me at the time this is what Jon was thinking: "When I got home, I was glad I went. I guess the only way to explain it, is that being in Haiti and seeing what God was doing it opened my eyes and heart to something new. I felt called to serve in Haiti. I began to pray about where God wants me but more importantly if he gave me an answer would I be willing to go where he was calling me to go."

A few weeks after we were home Jon came to me and told me that he felt he was suppose to serve in Haiti and had started to pray about it and wanted to know what I thought. Well the 1st thing I thought was God is Awesome! It was such a God moment that for the past few weeks we had been praying about something so life changing and didn't know that the other one was praying about the same thing. At that point we decided to keep praying about it. We had planned to take a vacation with Danny & Leann to Puerto Rico for a week and we would talk to them and see what they thought about us joining the Joy In Hope team. They loved the idea and we all decided that we would pray about it. Jon and I also decided that we should visit as much as we could so that we could get a feel of what it was to really live there and to make sure that this was God's plan and not just and emotional reaction of ours.

Our 2nd trip to Haiti was for about 4 days in August 2008 for the ground breaking of the 17+ acres of land that God provided Joy In Hope in July. The service was on the land over looking the ocean everything about it was beautiful.





After the ground breaking Jon and I had the opportunity to walk the land and stopped to spend some time praying. We prayed and cried together. It was then that we realized that God was calling us to Haiti. It was not only exciting but scary. As soon as we left we couldn't wait to go back and started planning our next trip.