Category Archives: Haiti

Tennis Shoes.

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Posted by Mel on November 27, 2011 – 7:35 pm
Filed under Freedom, Haiti

“We prayed for some of the boys who don’t have any shoes to have tennis shoes so they could go to school.” That was the response to my question that day at the orphanage. “We brought some tennis shoes, could we give them to the kids?” I am humbled by that experience. In fact there are moments when I think of that conversation and the tears come and I fall to my knees. I believe that God can do anything. I believe that when we call out to Him in our prayers that He hears us even in the simplest of things.

For those that need him.

But me….I would never think to ask God for tennis shoes. If I need shoes then I go to the store and buy them. See, I live in a strong tower of my own making where asking God for anything only comes when I’ve exhausted all of my own resources. My tower has also protected me from all the messiness of this world. It keeps the people who need a lot of things on the outside of my strong walls. It makes it easy to go about life every day and not think about “the least of these”.

I am broken and confused.

Everything I thought I knew and believed in feels uncomfortable.

God has been tearing down my tower.

I am thankful.

I want to pray for tennis shoes.

I want to pray for little boys who need tennis shoes to go to school.

I want to pray for those little boys to grow up~educated and strong and loving Jesus.

Those prayers as simple as they seem in my western culture…they are mighty prayers that can change lives…that someday will change countries…..through the lives of children who honestly believe all things are possible through Christ.

Through the lives of children not only in Haiti but through the lives of children here in the United States as well. You see~all the shoes we delivered that day in Haiti came from children here in St. Louis at the school our oldest daughter teaches at. They believe that being obedient to God makes a difference. They believe that doing something will help someone. They are correct….I am honored to know them all.

Father~Continue to grow my faith to believe in mighty things! Continue to pour out your love on Haiti…there is hope there! Thank you for tearing down my tower. Wherever you lead, Father, I will follow!

A Wild Ride!

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Posted by Mel on August 21, 2011 – 9:45 pm
Filed under Haiti

This is my “back to school” report of my summer activities. (As I see them!) My roller coaster ride to Haiti!

On June 29th my family and I (minus the oldest Goldsmith child) hopped on a plane in St. Louis and headed to Cap Haitian, Haiti which is on the north side of the island of Haiti, about an hour from the Dominican border. We would be staying in the country exactly 4 weeks. Meeting people and being obedient to the calling God had put on our hearts.

You can google O-cap and find some pictures and youTube videos and written accounts from people who have been there. (O-cap is what the locals call Cap Haitian.) That’s what I did for a week before we left, I “googled” it…and the closer we got to leaving the more I was digging in my heels. See God really knows what He’s doing, He didn’t give us (well, me) a lot of time between everything coming together and boarding the plane to leave. I didn’t get the time I needed to present my case! I was being obedient, I was willing to go…I just needed God to understand there might be some things going on there He wasn’t really aware of. We were taking our children after all! It’s really hard to appear obedient when you’re trying to find excuses to get out of what God has planned. I was trying to dig in my heels but God didn’t give me the time I needed to make that happen!

The trip there kind of felt  like this:

It was kind of like that terrifying roller coaster ride for us “ride chickens”. (If you are one then you already know what I’m talking about.)  Someone talks you into riding, you don’t want to appear “terrified”, so you go ahead and get in line. The entire time you’re in line you’re mind is in hyperdrive  looking for a way out. You know the excuses, “I just ate”, “I’m wearing flip-flops”, “it’s an odd number of people and so and so would have to ride alone”, _____________(insert your own excuse in the blank provided!). Not a problem, you are happy to bow out!  Oh, but no…your friends continue to encourage you. The next thing you know you’re seated, the lap bars down, and the coasters pulling out of the station headed up the first big hill.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!

That was exactly the way I felt getting off the plane in Haiti!

CLICK! WHOOOOOSH!

Being in Haiti for a month certainly took my breath away, and changed my heart, and helped me understand a little bit more about what having faith is all about. It drew every emotion out of my body…good and bad. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people who deal with more adversity and pain~ in a single day than some of us will deal with in our entire lives! It is an ancient country with a long history of voodoo and poverty and oppression. BUT there is a supernatural movement of God happening in that country. There’s a light shining there. I felt that everywhere I went. I saw it in the faces of people I met there and talked with. There is hope rising in Haiti. Don’t believe everything you read in a travel advisory!

For me, there is so much to think about and lots of things to process through. I can tell you I left something there, a part of me…..and that’s been hard to wrestle with and understand completely. Our family still has a lot to learn and certainly being there a month wasn’t even close to long enough! We’ll have lots to share over the next few months! Stories and journal entries and photos….and some thoughts on what’s coming next.

I’m glad that I never had time or opportunity to dig in my heels! I’m not saying that the next time it might not feel like a crazy roller coaster ride all over again because it probably will. I’m just considering the idea that it is possible for me to enjoy the ride! Minus the fear and adding in some joyful abandon! That would be….very nice! Isn’t it funny how it’s sometimes the anticipation of the ride that’s really worse than the ride! I wouldn’t trade that month and those experiences for anything. Well, it still feels a little strange to say that…but it’s the truth.

If you see me out and about I’d love to share some stories with you about our trip! And be sure to ask me about one of my favorite “Jesus” moments I shared with a guard at the Cholera Camp I toured. (It’s a much better story in person!)

Grace and peace……