Today’s Hero

I know I have very few readers – especially when I neglect to update because of numerous other important responsibilities, like reading, running, and doing nothing that’s productive.

It’s been a while since I did a Haiti’s Hero segment. Today is someone I’ve never met but has really inspired me over the past weekend and the weeks leading up to the weekend.

Nonetheless, some of you have read my blog and seen links to Tara Livesay’s family’s blog – they are missionaries to Port-au-Prince, and Tara is a insane person runner, too.

You gotta head over as she ran the Twin Cities Marathon this past weekend. After training in Haiti all summer (and that’s just dumb to me…) she came and ran in complete opposite conditions. 

This being “Run 4 Haiti” obviously has to include someone who literally ran for Haiti. 

There’s a medical peanut butter, grown in Haiti for malnourished children called Medika Mumba (if you go to Family Christian Bookstore, they’ll probably be able to tell you about it as the new Casting Crown’s album sends money for every pre-order to help with Medika Mumba.) I wish I knew Tara’s secret to running to raise money, because I fail greatly at the job where she has it down pat.  She raised….

$62,600!!!!!

Who cares about cramps?  Who cares about time?  Who cares about how the day goes at that point?

The kingdom of God was furthered by raising this money in order to have true religion – showing love to orphans and widows. 

Head over to her blog and read of her success. 

Hopefully some day on a trip to Haiti, I can finally meet a hero of the faith and running world and go for a jog.

Hero Time!

I haven’t done this one in a while.  I did some freelance writing for Jr. High Curriculum in Jan. into Feb.  I also just got lazy, and never did anything productive.  

Nonetheless, here we are.  So far, we’ve highlighted Pastor Turner, Erique, and Pastor John.  These phenomenal gentlemen have all done a lot of work for the mission and love the Lord very much.  I know each of these men down there.  It’s starting to get a little more scarce on how well I know some of the people.  These guys speak English….

Anyways, today, I’d like to highlight Dr. Charles.  Dr. Charles speaks very little English, so I haven’t been able to talk to him directly too many times.  I do know one thing though: He has a great respect for my father.  To me, that’s awesome. 

Dr. Charles is a doctor.  From what I understand, he has some sort of medical degree from the university in Port-au-Prince.  He’s also our pastor at our church in Laboul.  Dr. Charles has visions.  He has lots of visions.  He encountered my father back in 1999 or 2000 or so and told him of a vision that the Lord had given him.  Laboul is in the hills and sticks of Haiti….from our compound in Saut d’Eau, it’s about a 6 mile hike that took us around 4 hours to walk.  It climbs around 1500 in elevation.  We crossed two rivers.  In the end, it was a blast.  Anyways, another 4-6 hour hike up another huge elevation gain is where another church is – Montagne Terribe (The Terrible Mountain – how’s that for a town you live in!)  For those in Laboul and surrounding areas, there was NO place for them to receive medical attention.  Saut d’Eau was the closest chance for mediocre care, and that’s a 4 hour hike, MINIMUM.  If you’re sick, that hurts.  For some people, it could take a whole day.  Thus, Dr. Charles wanted to have a medical clinic built in association with the church in Laboul.

My father came home and began to raise support.  I believe it cost around $10,000 US to build the medical clinic, and voila – there we have it.  Dr. Charles has a place to help people.  But he wasn’t done.  He then came to my father again and wanted a trades school.  They could teach women to sew, and they could make school uniforms.  Money was raised and voila, there’s a trades school.  Dr. Charles is constantly looking out for people and taking care of people.  He’s a great leader.  He’s also a SUPER smart man.  From what I understand, he’s fluent in French and Haitian Creole, as well as a little bit of english.  Plus, he has a degree from college.  No doubt, he could live an easier life than what he is.  He could have it better.  But he is sacrificing to help people in the name of God.  That, to me, speaks volumes about what more I could do as a minister of the Gospel.  So, today, keep Dr. Charles in your prayers. Keep his whole family in your prayers.  I don’t know anything about his family, I just know that he’s a wonderful man with a God-given vision for the people of Haiti.

Today: 5.25 in 47:23.

Yesterday was 6 in 53:04.

Today’s Hero

Today’s hero for me is going to have to be Pastor John.  Pastor John is a young guy, probably late 20’s.  (Of course, in Haiti, judging age is about as easy as judging jellybeans filling an airplane.)  Pastor John is essentially the youth pastor director over all of the mission.  He is a talented guy when it comes to music.  He is a smart guy when it comes to knowledge.  He is a good preacher.  But most of all he seeks out those who need the Lord.

Pastor John is a very bright guy.  He is fluent in French, Haitian Creole, and English.  Pastor John has been one of our top translators the past two years.  He is also attending a Bible College in PAP.  His thirst for knowledge is very impressive.  

John also is a talented musician.  He plays guitar, piano, drums, bass, and there’s no telling what else.  The amazing thing for me is in service whenever someone gets up to sing (no, they don’t have accompaniment trax) John will hit the notes on the piano to find what key they’re in (a hard task down there for sure) and then play for them.  It’s very impressive (and loud…)

The most impressive thing about John is the fact that he loves God and makes that the priority.  Recently, MFM has seen a revival in the small village of Massicot.  Pastor John told the story of how he felt that God wanted MFM to carry the message of Christ around the plateau and he prayed to God for direction as where to minister.  Pastor John says that God told him to go to Massicot.  The story surrounding the missionary journey is nothing short of impressive.  

As they arrived, they were greeted by people when they were shouting the Gospel through the streets and preaching.  They were then confronted by the local witchdoctor who was far from happy to see them.  John continued to praise God and preach the name of Christ.  As he continued, the witchdoctor turned his back to John.  He then plugged his ears.  Before long, the witchdoctor couldn’t handle it, and took off sprinting.  Over the next three days, Tropical Storm Fay was effecting the island of Haiti.  In the middle of all of it, Pastor John was leading a revival.  There was no building for them to meet in, but hundreds of people from the village came out for three consecutive days to listen to John and others proclaim the name of Christ.  As the rain and wind beat the country…close to 150 people gave their hearts and souls to Christ.  Talk about amazing.  It sounds like something straight out of Acts to me!

Pray for John, his wife Gladys, and their daughter Kenzia as they minister at MFM.  Pray for John as he pursues higher education, that he will turn that into leadership for the kingdom of God.

P.S.  My father has a trip planned to go into Haiti in March.  I would obviously love to go.  Pray for me as the time comes very close to whether or not I should go, and if so, that money will fall into place.  With my wedding coming up in May, I am just not sure if this is the best decision.  So please, pray for wisdom, guidance, and direction as I play with this idea.

Today’s Hero

I’m tired.  Three mile progression run today in the cold.  25:07 – 8:32 pace.  Running at 7:10 am isn’t bad…but today it wasn’t clicking.  Hoping that it spurs me to get a lot done in the office.

Edited to add: Afternoon recovery run.  3 miles.  28:21.

On to today’s hero…

Erick

Today’s hero is someone that I have a great respect for due to their high level of commitment to the mission.  His name is Erick (Erique – I’ll be honest, I don’t know the correct spelling.)  Erick is basically the do-all guy for Mountain Faith Mission.  When I first heard of Erick was after my father’s first trip in back in 1998-99.  I remember watching a video of Erick chopping at a coconut with a machete for the Americans to eat.  My dad said something like, “Erick – the mayor of Saut d’Eau!”  Erick’s bright white teach beamed and he just laughed – like only Erick can.  

I continued to hear about Erick every time that my dad went.  I could tell that my dad had a great respect for his hard work.  My first trip to Haiti in 2007, Erick was basically the first person I met.  As we left the airport and walked across the road (probably the single handedly most nerve wracking thing I’ve ever done…) we were greeted by our MFM guys.  After I was introduced as Ti-Ken (Little Kenneth…my dad is Kenneth….get it?) Erick looked at me and shook my hand.  With the most sincere voice ever and a big smile he looked me straight in the eye and with that awesome Haitian accent said, “You fadda is a gud fwiend to me.”  I honestly almost got teary-eyed at that moment.  To this day, when I tell that story, I still get chills.

After spending time with Erick and realizing just how hard working he is, I have grown to have a great respect for him.  When something needs to be done for the mission, Erick is the one that the Turners will call on to do it.  During VBS back in September, I believe in a 10 day stretch Erick was sent to Port-au-Prince like six times.  This wouldn’t be a huge deal, but that takes all day.  His entire day is gone, but he does it with joy.  He is there to serve.

Another awesome thing about Erick is his interest in evangelism.  Pastor Turner claims that Erick has led more people to Christ than any other person in the mission, and it’s obvious why.  This past year at VBS, on Wednesday, Rick, Myself, and Erick all headed to downtown Saut d’Eau one morning to go to the bank.  I tagged along to get some pictures and footage, but as I went, it made me laugh how often we stopped to talk to people.  Erick knows EVERY person in Saut d’Eau it seems.  He is the example of relational evangelism.  And even at that, the people in the community love him.  They talk to him when he comes.  Kids love to see him.  Adults love to see him.  Senior adults love to see him.  

So for today, when you think of Haiti, pray for Erick and Madame Erick.  Also pray for Erick’s four children.  He has one teenage daughter…I think her name is Ocharlie – or at least that’s what the blancs call her.

TiJezi

  He also has a teenage son – Gordelle.  He has a younger son who is about eight named Rickenson, but he goes by TiJezi (Little Jesus…apparently Erick’s kids were a bit wild, but when Rickenson was born, when he would come to church he would just smile and be calm…so they nicknamed him Little Jesus…how awesome is that?)  Erick also has a young daughter.  Please think of and pray for Erick and his family today.

Today’s Hero

I hope to do this every now and again…that is, highlight someone special from Haiti for whom I will think of as I train and run.  

Today’s hero, well you have to start at the top.  I’d like to highlight Rev. Richard Turner and his wife Wilma Turner.  Let me tell you about them…they’re definitely people you should get to know.  

In the early 1990’s Rev. Richard Turner felt the call of God to travel to Haiti. Although he knew absolutely no one in the country, he traveled to Haiti the first time during the midst of a US-led embargo that saw thousands of Haitians literally starving to death. Pastor Turner relates how his first experience in Haiti was that of seeing numerous dead bodes on the side of the roads of the people who had starved to death. Despite many obstacles, the Turners, who had experienced a unique call to Haiti, eventually met Pastor Carroll who had been praying for “a Joshua.” The Turners moved to Haiti, first living in Mirebalais before moving into the same house Pastor Carroll had lived in with his family. The Turners have experienced countless battles as they have ministered with the Haitians but with God’s grace they have persevered.  

Since the day that the Turners moved to Haiti some fifteen years ago, God has worked through them in a way that I can only hope God will use me some day.  As I have taken on a little bit more responsibility with the mission, such as