A banana

    Sometimes the overall generosity of the Haitians amazes me! After living in the United States for so long; I can see that the Haitians have very little comparatively. Yet sometimes they are willing to give you anything that they might have. Sometimes because they have so little; they are eagerly waiting to see if you will give them something. It is a cultural thing, Americans to them have much more money than they do.
    I work alongside the Haitians at CLS. I help with the English, and share Gods love to the children. All the Haitian teachers have welcomed me into their classrooms and have helped me adjust to teaching in a very different culture. One of my favorite teachers; speaks barely any English. I can use my little bit of Creole and hand motions to talk with her. But it brings us both great joy to overcome the language barrier and work alongside each other.
     I was in class one day, the children were eating breakfast together, and my fellow teacher took two bananas out of her bag and offered me one. In the US it would be a kind gesture; in Haiti it is so much more than that. Most Haitians live on around five US dollars a day. There is usually one person in the family that works and provides for the whole family. Yet she gave me a banana! I had come into a completely different culture, I had left my family not knowing who God would put by my side, and He led her to give me a banana. In that moment I knew that God was still watching out for me, that even in the simplest way He was showing me He loved me.
    It reminded me of the story in the Bible of the widow and her giving a few mites. She gave out of the little that she had. Such love. I could see how much she loved Jesus by what she did. And I pray that the Lord blesses her, and I'm thankful that He has blessed me with a friend.

It's never been about the candy in Haiti....

        In the States people celebrate Halloween. It's what most people do, they dress up and get free candy. It's a fun holiday for most kids. In Haiti, the day after Halloween is a big holiday here. It's a voodoo holiday. Most Christians here take the day off to spend time in prayer for everything that happens on this day. We had no school at CLS, and it seemed like a normal day, until it became dark. Then these group called "Ra-ras" started walking around the neighborhood, it was like a parade of people with saying loud things and making a lot of noise. They used drums and shouted.
   Although I couldn't understand, I felt like it was not a good thing. The kids got silent and listened as they went by the street. I was so thankful at that moment that these kids were protected from anything that goes on outside of these walls. They are able to go to a Christian school, that teaches Jesus in a culture where voodoo is practiced.
   When I was young, things like voodoo seemed like they might have happened a long time ago, but its not true. Voodoo happens here everyday, and the Lord chooses people to go into the dark areas and be the light of Christ. I was out walking the very next day with a Haitian friend. We walked by this pile of what looked like trash to me, and he said "watch out, the people who practice voodoo put that there. They say if you touch it, you die". We walked a little further and he asked if I saw a black gate farther down the street, he said that's a voodoo temple.
     Pray for Haiti. I PRAY that all of those people would come to know Jesus as their Savior. There is so much hope for the people of Haiti, and it all begins with Jesus! Only thru the Lord can the people of Haiti change.
    The Haitians say December is big month for voodoo in Haiti. They say bad things happen and people get taken. Please pray for next month. Please pray that anything that the enemy might try to do would fall thru, and that December would be a safe month for all of the people in Haiti. Please pray that we would see every opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ to these people. Pray for Haiti, pray for the people of Haiti.

Lydjer

   Everyday is different in Haiti. Everyday we are learning to be flexible to what the Lord wants to do in our lives. One day about a week ago, we were having a problem with one of the boys at the Children's Home. He had had a seizure and needed to be taken to the hospital, a friend stayed with him thru the night, and the next day Micah went to the hospital to stay with him until the doctor released them. During that week they had to run a few tests to find out what was wrong with him. He is 9 years old. He started acting up that week and was not respecting his teacher and said some unkind words. Micah and I decided we wanted to pull him aside and talk with him to find out what was bothering him. We started out by praying for him and everything that was going on with him. He started talking with us and telling us everything that had happened, and we asked him if he thought he did the wrong thing and he said yes.
   Then the Holy Spirit gave me a thought, " Has anyone ever asked him if he wants to have Jesus in his heart? Has anyone taken the time to sit down with him and ask him to make the most important decision of his life?" My first thought was "Of course!" But then the thought hit my heart and became more of a yearning to know if he had asked Jesus into his heart. We asked him and he told us that he hadn't yet. We asked him if he wanted to have Jesus living in his heart, and helping him make all the right decisions. He wanted Jesus! He wanted Jesus right there every step of the way to help him in every part of his life. Together Micah and I led him in prayer! There is no greater thing in all the earth, than someone accepting Jesus into their life. He decided that day that Jesus would not just be someone he had heard of but that Jesus would live inside him and guide him for the rest of his life! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! The word says that whoever leaves his home for the sake of the kingdom will have a reward. That is the reward! Seeing someone choose Jesus over everything else the world has to offer!
   That little boy has made a turn around! At the end of the week he was diagnosed with epilepsy, and is now on medication twice a day. Please pray for Lydjer that he would never have another seizure and that we would get him off the medication! The Lord works everything out for the good of those who love Him! I can't imagine being anywhere else than here, and being able to tell these kids about Jesus every day, and show them His love-that they would yearn for the same King.
                             Every day is different; and everyday the Lord gives opportunities. Step out. Let the King be known!

Interview with a ...

   We are looking for a new position to be filled at CLS. I was interested in interviewing the potential candidate, because I cared about who it would be. It was just after lunch, I grabbed my pen and paper and headed down to sit with Mr. Richard, our Bible teacher and much more. It was sunny so we sat under the shade of a neem tree.
   Now God is sure to be ready to use you when you least expect it. My heart was ready  to ask questions, but God had something else on His mind. Mr. Richard and I starting asking basic questions about her and her life. We asked; how she would be best at fulfilling this position, had she ever done something like this before? We had decided beforehand that the most important thing that she needed to have was a very strong relationship with the Lord. We asked her where she went to church and for how long. Everything that I asked had to be translated into Creole by Mr. Richard.
   She had been going to a Catholic church for a while, but didn't like the way that they did things so she went to a Baptist church. She had been attending the Catholic church for one year. She hadn't yet accepted Christ as her personal Savior.
        What was my first thought?? I don't remember. I remember thinking, well we can't hire her for the position then. What's the next question for her? Wait, does she want to accept Jesus as her Savior?
   We asked her another question, good answers but they don't come back to Jesus. Sweet lady, but we need someone who is very strong in the Lord. In translating, MR. Richard had said that she sounded ready to accept the Lord, but she needed discipleship. Then I knew, if she was ready, I had to ask that one little question. The one question we should be ready to ask each and every day, the question that in any conversation we could ask any person knowing that they might make a decision to change their life. I said to Mr. Richard, can we ask her if she wants to make the decision to follow Jesus today? Can we ask her if she wants to accept Jesus as her Savior? If she was truly ready, she should be given the opportunity to accept Jesus!
      She was ready! Mr. Richard took her through the Bible passages, Romans 10, and told her that she can confess with her mouth that Jesus is Lord, and accept Jesus as her personal Savior. He read to her out of the Creole Bible that she had brought with her. They looked over verses in John, and he finally said that if she wanted she could repeat after him.
     That day, we didn't give the woman exactly what she came for, we gave her a home for the Lord within her. Having Jesus is the most important thing. Love God, Love others. Following Jesus is the best decision we can ever make.
  Pray with me for this lady that God will give her someone to disciple her and walk beside her. My heart rejoices in the day when I will no longer need a translator and can say all that I need to say in Creole. Praise be to the Lord!
  "BE still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"  Psalm 46:10

2 Timothy 4:2

2Timothy 4:2
 "  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching".

  I was going about my day, running around and doing all sorts of different things when as I was walking by a pregnant woman sitting down and a translator right beside her. I paused to see if everything was ok, the woman needed some vitamins and was being given some. She was from the Ravine area and was several months pregnant. She was given vitamins and as she was getting ready to go the translator said, "wait, there's one more thing she wants to say." I couldn't help but remain where I was looking upon this situation. The translator said, "She says that the man she is with does not want her to keep this baby. She says he wants her to get rid of it."
   Right then Jeremiah 1:5 came into my mind, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Before I knew it, words had started flowing out of my mouth. I said to the translator, you tell her that  God loves the baby inside of her and that He has a special plan for her baby. Tell her God is going to do something important with the baby in her belly, that she can trust Him to take care of the baby!

 Her eyes and mouth started to smile. She stood up and gave us all a hug and kiss and said thank you. Sometimes, it just letting someone know how much the Lord loves them.

I never felt ready as I approached this woman, but its in those times that the Lord meets you and forces the words from your mouth that He has already hidden in your heart !
 God is good!

84

Sometimes you think the Lord has broken your heart enough for the people that He has called you to love. Sometimes you walk into something that you weren't prepared for and the Holy Spirit stops you to say, "I am the Lord your God, there is more love than you could ever imagine in Me for these people".  
   I was going down to the Ravine with the baby feeders and each month the children are weighed to make sure they are gaining weight and are healthy. Some of the babies to not like to sit on the scale, some of them are way to small to put on the scale. So the method that we use it having the mother and baby on the scale together and then she passes her baby to a friend and just she weighed. Its a method of subtracting to that we can make weighing the babies less hectic.
      The mother with a very young baby stepped on the scale. She was about 5'8, and looked thin but not at a scary weight. She looked like most of the women in the Ravine. She passed her baby to a friend, and stepped back on the scale. It read 84 pounds. I was thinking about which baby would be next when God showed me the number on the scale. I swallowed hard. I looked again. She was tall, she didn't look sickly thin.
    It was in that moment you realize again that the Lord is never done moving your heart for His people. In a country where the death rate is around 56 years old, I realized how much more the Lord loves these people than I ever could.
    As my heart moved in my chest I held back tears; there was nothing I could do that was within my power for this woman. She is like all the other mothers in the Ravine. But I looked at her young baby that is in the CLS feeding program and I knew that for her, giving her son food and an education would be something. Giving her son the chance to find Jesus would be the greatest thing in all the world. The Ravine church that was started right by where she lives, because one of our staff felt led to have a Ravine church where all can come no matter what clothes they have.
   Just when you think you can understand the love Jesus has for you and the world he removes you from it, and opens your eyes just a little wider.

Day in and Day out living as honorable men and woman of Christ

Micah drove the truch to the store two days ago with one other AMerican and two Haitians-one who spoke English. They were just going out to get some groceries real quick. Well as they were leaving a police officer spotted them and had them pull over. He asked for Micahs driving license, he asked for the vehicles insurance papers, he even asked for a passport-which is very odd b/c no one ever carries that on them ( In the off chance Micah had his passport on him because he had to run to the airport that morning) So he handed that over to the police officer, and then he finally said he wanted proof of where Micah was volunteering-which is unusual and we don't have that. So he started speaking a lot of Creole, so the Haitian started to translate-and what he really wanted was money. And the Haitian boy told Micah, He wants money ( Because as Americans in this culture , if your white you have money) , and Micah looked at him, and in Creole he said that's not good, "pa bon" and he repeated it a couple times, and the officer realized he wasn't getting money from these white people, and let them go! BEcause he really didn't have any problem with them, he just wanted a bribe. That's how it is here. And the HOly Spirit was there the whole time guiding Micahs heart, and just a few days before we had actual talked about bribes, and I couldn't think of a verse off the top of my head about bribes, but we had just realized the culture here-and we had decided that bribing was not something we wanted to be a part of here. So the Lord was already preparing us for what lay ahead :) He is good :) And we know that everyday when it gets hard we have our supporters praying for us :) because its not easy here, but everyday we choose to follow Jesus and serve Him because this is the life he has called us to. We love you guys!

 

We have made it to Haiti and are transitioning well! We arrived on a sunny hot afternoon and were greeted by all the children from the orphanage, they had made a sign that said "Welcome Rachel and Micah". We felt so blessed to be welcomed into a family 
On Wednesday, Micah got right to work on the inverters, that help run electricity when city power is off in Haiti. I was able to go with the baby feeders into the ravine, they brought the babies vitamins and toddlers received fruit and a chicken sandwich. Walking through the ravine and seeing all the families coming out of a shack really makes you realize how far you have come. But also how blessed we are to know the Lord and be able to go to the ravine and see the hope this child has. Because all of the children enrolled in the feeding programs are the ones who end up coming to CLS when they are three. Its not just feeding the malnourished, its giving them an education and Jesus that enables them to have hope.    God is good Micah was able to fix the inverters! He also fixed the sink in the room and built shelves for the room we are staying in! We were thankful that when we arrived, the family of CLS had already painted the walls, tiled the floor, and made walls to separate the bathroom! The first couple of days I was able to sit in on the classrooms for the 3 and 4 year olds. They are great and have so much energy and although they speak in Creole I'll be implementing English into the daily lesson for the kids. I'll be in with the 4 year old in the morning and then will be going to Pre-k, which is such a difference where they speak and understand much for English! They Haitian teachers do such a great job here! After spending some time with them I'll head to the 3 year old room until the day is over. There are a lot of 3 year olds! My prayer is that myself and the Haitian will be able to work together to help them understand  some English even at such a young age. There is a lot to learn, and we pray that we do it as unto the Lord. This life we give is to the Lord, all of the sacrifices we make are to Him. And He is faithful! The land for the orphanage will be ready to buy by the first of June! After that all we need is the money to build it! And He is faithful to bring all of this to completion. The rain on the metal tin roof is so loud and when it rains it cools down to a temperature that is just perfect. The roosters wake us up each morning ..around 5. There are dogs running the street at night that sometimes wakes you up. We had neem tea for the first time. Its from a neem tree, and the reason for drinking it is for its antimalarial effects. Well that stuff tastes like a mouthful of dirt; we like it :) There is the best view of the mountains from where we live; its amazing to look up and see houses all the way up the mountains and how close we are to them! We love the plantains the Haitians cook up, dip in a tiny bit of ketchup. The mangos are the most delicious mangos you will ever eat, they're like candy! We can just barely see the ocean from the rooftop, but it makes for the most beautiful sunset. Thank you so very much for all of your prayers and support we have needed all of this important preparation to be where we are now. Because of you we are where we are today. Because of you children will hear the name of Jesus in school; thank you for partnering with us to pray that the Lord would use our hands and feet to serve Him. Because you partner with us you in turn give love, education, and Jesus to Haiti! We know that you will be blessed eternally for showing Christ's love! We pray for you as well, for blessing upon all that you do!

God bless your week!

We now have a page at CLSHaiti.com! Visit for tax deductible contributions!
http://www.clshaiti.com/Micah___Rachel_Juarez.php
Thank you for giving to the Lord to work unto completion all that He has set out to do!

 

Micah was in Haiti just last week! Learning and helping with the Haitian electrical system there! He LOVED It! We plan to move there in May! WE are still looking for supporters:) Please email us at Racheleharlan@aim.com if you can pledge us monthly so that we can stay in Haiti as long as the Lord leads!!

Micah is in Haiti!

Micah will be in Haiti this coming week to learn about the electrical system there so that he will have a better understanding of how to keep the CLS power consistent. Please keep him in your prayers!

We will be in Haiti this Spring!

Friends!
We have been officially accepted and are moving forward! Please help us raise support to live in Haiti! Micah will be going down at the end of February for hands on learning of the electricity!