Well, since you asked...
This week Eric and I are leading two teams on a mission trip in the village of Grambouchi. Feel free to keep up with us and our ministry!
http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals.cfm?tripid=1506
http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals.cfm?tripid=1662
Thank you all for your prayers! We can feel them!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Can't.. Stop.. Blogging...
So tonight as I was standing over a huge pot of boiling
spaghetti, pondering life and other things.. it happened yet again... I felt the intense desire to blog! About what you ask? Well...
Every so often (like, atleast once a week) it seems as
though God orchestrates these beautiful and incredible moments... Moments where every
barrier is broken down, plans fall into place, visions are brought to reality
and our hearts are made full! After brainstorming, planning and connecting with
teams and leadership… it is sometimes like a surge of pure energy that can take over a room. Like making the winning shot at the buzzer, hitting every note in a solo or even finding out you got the job! Marlo and I normally run around in circles, sing really loud or something to
that affect to get it out of our system. ;)
This happened today while I was cooking and some of my
friends were setting up a trip in the next room. I knew
exactly what was happening and that "the moment" was coming... every few minutes their
voices would get louder, energy was slowly filling the apartment and it was
like the Spirit was in the room! Then it happened. The phone call ended and it
was an eruption of joy! Passionate praises to the Lord! Excitement, passion, love!
This "moment" is something that I’ve been trying to
describe in my journal for about a month. It was so neat to be a “fly on
the wall” and experience it in third person.
I believe fully that the Lord has a hand in every
conversation and blessing that comes to us here in Haiti. It is incredible to
watch how these moments are totally planned by Christ.
Blessings are truly being poured out here in Haiti! Our
minds are being blown by the compassion and financial support for this country
and the needs of its people! Praise the Lord and thank you all!
Be in prayer for Eric and I (yes, Eric is going to be here
in 2 days! 2 days!) as we spend this next week leading a mission team in Grambouchi,
Les Cayes. This is the team that will be helping Admise and her family that I
mentioned in a previous post. Be in prayer for the community of Grambouchi and
the work we will be doing there. This is our first team to ever be serving in
this area, so we are excited to watch how the Lord will work through us!
Be blessed!
Monday, March 5, 2012
A 40 Life
40 is the number.
40 hugs
40 kisses
40 smiles
40 "Mwen renmen ou" (I love you)s
40 "Bon nwit" (good night)s
40 giggles
40 beds made
40 bowls to wash
40 voices singing
40 cold showers
40 backpacks
40 blessings of God.
40 sweaty boys who are making my world go-round.
40 reasons that I will be returning to Haiti.
40 incredible verifications that I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
Thank you Lord for these 40 boys. Thank you for this life You've blessed me with. I am in love with this place, these boys. I am in love with You..
40 hugs
40 kisses
40 smiles
40 "Mwen renmen ou" (I love you)s
40 "Bon nwit" (good night)s
40 giggles
40 beds made
40 bowls to wash
40 voices singing
40 cold showers
40 backpacks
40 blessings of God.
40 sweaty boys who are making my world go-round.
40 reasons that I will be returning to Haiti.
40 incredible verifications that I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
Thank you Lord for these 40 boys. Thank you for this life You've blessed me with. I am in love with this place, these boys. I am in love with You..
Friday, March 2, 2012
Party of 50?
Well friends, as you probably have heard by now, Marlo's birthday was on Monday!! She turned 24! So in honor of her 24th year of life, we decided to throw her a party. Yep, all 50 of us!
We started the evening off by coming into our normal "hang out" room and seeing that the boys had cleaned, decorated and made a dance floor in the middle! It was so adorable to see how excited they were to be a part of the preparations.
One of the older boys brought his piano and Almando brought his guitar and they serenaded us all night. It was so funny to watch the boys cut loose and dance like fools. No rhythm required, the worse you were at dancing, the more everyone loved you! It was hilarious!
We then circled up and had a time of prayer over Marlo and her life. That the Lord would bless her here at HCO, give her health and happiness, and ultimately allow her to serve Him to the best of her ability in the next year. It was an incredibly precious moment with all of the boys surrounding her, interceding upon her behalf.
After prayer, we ATE! Hotdogs, mandarins and bananas! And of course, Tampico to drink. I'm pretty sure Cassie and I filled cups with Tampico all night long! These boys can put the food away!
Cassie with yet another empty Tampico gallon.. :)
Then after a little time of eating and fellowship, we got together again for a talk about God's creation. Jeanty spoke to the boys about how there is creation all around us, but we are God's beautiful creation. We are his masterpiece. It was awesome to listen to him tie the lesson into Marlo's birthday and how we should celebrate the fact that God has allowed a beautiful creation (Marlo) to be a part of our lives and live another year. The boys even said a quick prayer of thanksgiving to God for having her in their life and upon this earth. So beautiful!
Then lastly, we brought her the "cake."
I had been telling her for-EVER that she would have a cake on her birthday. Sadly, this of course did not happen (mainly because of lack of planning on my part) since we ran out of time. Thankfully Cassie and Almando came to the rescue and presented a beautiful cake-of-sorts.
We closed the night with more singing, smiles and laughter and I think its safe to say that Marlo had a great birthday.
Marlo, Jeanty (Wally) and I
I love you Marlo! I am so thankful that you are a part of my life and I am sharing this experience here in Haiti with you. You have become my confidant, my truth-giver, my laughter machine and my best friend. I love you so much! Thank you for being exactly who you are!
We started the evening off by coming into our normal "hang out" room and seeing that the boys had cleaned, decorated and made a dance floor in the middle! It was so adorable to see how excited they were to be a part of the preparations.
One of the older boys brought his piano and Almando brought his guitar and they serenaded us all night. It was so funny to watch the boys cut loose and dance like fools. No rhythm required, the worse you were at dancing, the more everyone loved you! It was hilarious!
We then circled up and had a time of prayer over Marlo and her life. That the Lord would bless her here at HCO, give her health and happiness, and ultimately allow her to serve Him to the best of her ability in the next year. It was an incredibly precious moment with all of the boys surrounding her, interceding upon her behalf.
After prayer, we ATE! Hotdogs, mandarins and bananas! And of course, Tampico to drink. I'm pretty sure Cassie and I filled cups with Tampico all night long! These boys can put the food away!
Then after a little time of eating and fellowship, we got together again for a talk about God's creation. Jeanty spoke to the boys about how there is creation all around us, but we are God's beautiful creation. We are his masterpiece. It was awesome to listen to him tie the lesson into Marlo's birthday and how we should celebrate the fact that God has allowed a beautiful creation (Marlo) to be a part of our lives and live another year. The boys even said a quick prayer of thanksgiving to God for having her in their life and upon this earth. So beautiful!
Then lastly, we brought her the "cake."
I had been telling her for-EVER that she would have a cake on her birthday. Sadly, this of course did not happen (mainly because of lack of planning on my part) since we ran out of time. Thankfully Cassie and Almando came to the rescue and presented a beautiful cake-of-sorts.
You probably can't tell all that well, but it is a mandarin with a sparkler in it, on a frying pan with peanuts spelling out "24." Her face was priceless!
We closed the night with more singing, smiles and laughter and I think its safe to say that Marlo had a great birthday.
I love you Marlo! I am so thankful that you are a part of my life and I am sharing this experience here in Haiti with you. You have become my confidant, my truth-giver, my laughter machine and my best friend. I love you so much! Thank you for being exactly who you are!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Crafty Productivity and Bible Studies
Hey friends!
I think Marlo and I learn new things about each other everyday, which is turning out to be incredibly fun and interesting.. and at times hysterical.
Examples from this week: Bethany is not good at driving a stick-shift, Marlo is an excellent encourager. Marlo talks in her sleep. Bethany laughs at Marlo talking in her sleep. And Bethany needs organization and Marlo could be a psychologist.
So after sitting down and making out our schedule for the coming weeks, which are going to be really busy, my OCD-tendancies were surfacing and I needed to get organized. This always seems to manifest in two ways in my life, lists and crafts!
Since Marlo and I are both visual people, we had a lot of fun making our new refrigerator decor!
And as you can see, we have one idea that is already complete! Our weekly Bible Study with the boys. This was an idea that was kind of there from the get-go.
We have a wonderful, godly, Haitian man named Walle Jeanty who is working with us and he led an awesome study about having a personal relationship with Christ. The boys were incredibly receptive and attentive, we were so impressed!
One of the older boys led worship and another played piano. These boys can sing! It is so beautiful to listen to all of them sing at the top of their lungs. Here in Haiti it isn't like in the States, everyone sings loud and all the time. There is rarely a moment here at HCO that you can't hear at-least one person singing. I'm so in love with that part of the culture here! I don't ever plan on changing back, I'm going to be that "weird lady" in the States who sings everywhere she goes!
But we took some time to explain to the boys why were are here, who we are and that we are here long term. The look on their faces when I explained that Marlo would be here for a year was absolutely priceless! After our study was over, the joy of that news quickly filled the entire orphanage. The boys wouldn't go to sleep and just kept singing on into the night. And many of the boys were asking if we could have Bible Study every night! Whoa!
We are excited to continue this routine and to minister to these boys in this way. Please keep them in your prayers and pray for us as we prepare for next weeks lesson.
In Love and Singing!
I think Marlo and I learn new things about each other everyday, which is turning out to be incredibly fun and interesting.. and at times hysterical.
Examples from this week: Bethany is not good at driving a stick-shift, Marlo is an excellent encourager. Marlo talks in her sleep. Bethany laughs at Marlo talking in her sleep. And Bethany needs organization and Marlo could be a psychologist.
So after sitting down and making out our schedule for the coming weeks, which are going to be really busy, my OCD-tendancies were surfacing and I needed to get organized. This always seems to manifest in two ways in my life, lists and crafts!
And as you can see, we have one idea that is already complete! Our weekly Bible Study with the boys. This was an idea that was kind of there from the get-go.
We have a wonderful, godly, Haitian man named Walle Jeanty who is working with us and he led an awesome study about having a personal relationship with Christ. The boys were incredibly receptive and attentive, we were so impressed!
One of the older boys led worship and another played piano. These boys can sing! It is so beautiful to listen to all of them sing at the top of their lungs. Here in Haiti it isn't like in the States, everyone sings loud and all the time. There is rarely a moment here at HCO that you can't hear at-least one person singing. I'm so in love with that part of the culture here! I don't ever plan on changing back, I'm going to be that "weird lady" in the States who sings everywhere she goes!
But we took some time to explain to the boys why were are here, who we are and that we are here long term. The look on their faces when I explained that Marlo would be here for a year was absolutely priceless! After our study was over, the joy of that news quickly filled the entire orphanage. The boys wouldn't go to sleep and just kept singing on into the night. And many of the boys were asking if we could have Bible Study every night! Whoa!
We are excited to continue this routine and to minister to these boys in this way. Please keep them in your prayers and pray for us as we prepare for next weeks lesson.
In Love and Singing!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Admise
Hello friends! I hope I find you well and in close communication with Christ!
This past week I took a short trip to the fishing village of Grambouchi near Les Cayes, Haiti. This was to continue set-up for a trip that Eric and I are leading in March. (This is the same as when we lead trips in Belize during the summer.) I'm so excited to be serving in such a beautiful and amazing community! It is a small village of about 200 people who live and work by the sea.
We have two teams coming down to do various ministries that week, one of which is building a home for a lovely woman named Admise.
Admise is 50 years of age and has 10 children and 7 grand-children. She still maintains a full work-week and is currently raising 7 of her 10 children on her own. Her home is approximately 125 sq. ft. and she and 7 children currently live there. She is a humble, hard-working woman.
I had the incredible opportunity to be a part of telling her about her new home! What an exciting opportunity for PPM, our teams and for Admise and her family!
Our teams in the states are doing their best to raise the funds needed for this family but I felt like this was a ministry I should open up to my supporters and followers!
Maybe you've thought about supporting me, but really would like to support a particular need. Well, now is your chance! Be the hands and feet of Christ! Be His light unto the world!
Would you like to give to Admise and her family?
If so, go to https://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/donate.cfm and follow these directions!
*Choose the bubble "Haiti Relief" and
*choose my name from the drop down menu "PPM Leader"
*fill out information
*then message me on Facebook or email me at
bethany.n.richardson@gmail.com
and let me know you donated!
This money will not be used towards my trip, it will be given directly to the ministry at Admise's home.
This past week I took a short trip to the fishing village of Grambouchi near Les Cayes, Haiti. This was to continue set-up for a trip that Eric and I are leading in March. (This is the same as when we lead trips in Belize during the summer.) I'm so excited to be serving in such a beautiful and amazing community! It is a small village of about 200 people who live and work by the sea.
We have two teams coming down to do various ministries that week, one of which is building a home for a lovely woman named Admise.
Admise is 50 years of age and has 10 children and 7 grand-children. She still maintains a full work-week and is currently raising 7 of her 10 children on her own. Her home is approximately 125 sq. ft. and she and 7 children currently live there. She is a humble, hard-working woman.
I had the incredible opportunity to be a part of telling her about her new home! What an exciting opportunity for PPM, our teams and for Admise and her family!
 |
Admise and a few of her children in front of her home.
Our teams in the states are doing their best to raise the funds needed for this family but I felt like this was a ministry I should open up to my supporters and followers!
Maybe you've thought about supporting me, but really would like to support a particular need. Well, now is your chance! Be the hands and feet of Christ! Be His light unto the world!
Would you like to give to Admise and her family?
If so, go to https://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/donate.cfm and follow these directions!
*Choose the bubble "Haiti Relief" and
*choose my name from the drop down menu "PPM Leader"
*fill out information
*then message me on Facebook or email me at
bethany.n.richardson@gmail.com
and let me know you donated!
This money will not be used towards my trip, it will be given directly to the ministry at Admise's home.
Thank you all for your continued support as I do my best to serve the people of Haiti as Christ allows!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Homesickness Times Two
With me being an emotional and passionate person, I knew I would deal with a vast range of emotions during my time here in Haiti. I knew I would go through heartache, loneliness, joy and fulfillment as well as many other emotions... And I felt prepared for the homesickness that would come with leaving my husband, friends and family.
In the past month, I've felt (and still do feel) all of those emotions. But it has been incredible to watch how the Lord has strengthened me and my dependence on Him! How He has filled my soul during those times with peace, comfort and strength.
However,
One thing that I wasn't quite as prepared for was my emotions with HCO. Marlo and I have spent some time here at Cote Plage again this week to help Cassie and Almando get ready for their wedding. (Which is tomorrow! Congrats guys, we love you!) As I began searching out my heart and figuring out why I felt so strange, I realized my heart was longing to be at HCO! Even just the short week we spent there was enough to make me fall head over heels in love with that place and the boys. My mind continues to work constantly on ways to build relationships, programs for day to day life, ideas for education, helping them learn the language, building character, establishing responsibility, etc. Like Marlo said, "I see their faces in the kids on the street, the kids here at school.." in short, I'm homesick for HCO!
One thing Eric (my husband) told me the day I was leaving was "just please come home.." I remember thinking, "haha, that won't be a problem." But as always, he knows me all too well. Now I think to myself, "How can I ever leave this place, these boys?" This ministry is the core of who I am.
Thank You Lord for the work You have set before me! I pray You never give up on convicting me to follow Your will, my heart is open. My life is Yours!
.Marlo and some of the guys.
In the past month, I've felt (and still do feel) all of those emotions. But it has been incredible to watch how the Lord has strengthened me and my dependence on Him! How He has filled my soul during those times with peace, comfort and strength.
However,
One thing that I wasn't quite as prepared for was my emotions with HCO. Marlo and I have spent some time here at Cote Plage again this week to help Cassie and Almando get ready for their wedding. (Which is tomorrow! Congrats guys, we love you!) As I began searching out my heart and figuring out why I felt so strange, I realized my heart was longing to be at HCO! Even just the short week we spent there was enough to make me fall head over heels in love with that place and the boys. My mind continues to work constantly on ways to build relationships, programs for day to day life, ideas for education, helping them learn the language, building character, establishing responsibility, etc. Like Marlo said, "I see their faces in the kids on the street, the kids here at school.." in short, I'm homesick for HCO!
One thing Eric (my husband) told me the day I was leaving was "just please come home.." I remember thinking, "haha, that won't be a problem." But as always, he knows me all too well. Now I think to myself, "How can I ever leave this place, these boys?" This ministry is the core of who I am.
Thank You Lord for the work You have set before me! I pray You never give up on convicting me to follow Your will, my heart is open. My life is Yours!
I thought I would share some pictures that we took the other night for
fun. The older boys wanted to take pictures for "Heewick" (Eric) and
these are (some) of the outcomes of that night.
Sa a se fanmi nouvo nou!
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