Haiti Archives - Page 2 of 2 -

Today we fly to Port au Prince, Haiti for a week of ministry. You can read all about the reason for our trip, and our friends who will show us all around the country they have come to love, here.

Hope in the Healing will take a break for a couple of reasons. One, we will have almost no opportunity to obtain internet. From my understanding, even though the compound we are privileged to stay in does have a generator, we will only have electricity sporadically. Sometimes daily, but never a surety. So it will be impossible to blog and update you in that fashion. And also I will be so busy there will be no time to actually write!

I may be able to post to social media at times, again it will be totally random. If you want to follow me on my personal Facebook please friend me under Nannette Elkins. I will be happy to friend you back! Other social media buttons are up in the right hand corner of this page, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and I will do my best to post pictures and updates on our journey.

While we are gone, would you please keep us in your prayers? There is civil unrest in Haiti because of political elections. It can be a dangerous place but, as we know, so is every other corner of the world right now. We go in Jesus’ name and pray we can be a blessing to the missionaries that live there and to the Haitian people as well.

We will be visiting several orphanages and understand our hearts will be torn for these children. Many have been displaced by the earthquake in 2010 and will likely never have a real family. Pray that we can show the love of God while we are there and just let them know they are loved.

Two of My Three Sons are going with us and we are ecstatic about that. We should have memories for a lifetime and we are so happy to share it with them. My DIL is expecting our first granddaughter and it wouldn’t be wise for her to make the trip so she and Kyle will not be going. (This crazy photo was hash-tagged #nomoreroomonthecouch at my MIL’s on Thanksgiving.) I love them!

Thank you for your support and encouragement to me and Hope in the Healing this year. As soon as Christmas is over we will begin our Daniel Fast Support Group!! Be sure and grab your copy of my devotional here. It is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. It has 21 days of devotions and three days of preparation for fasting and can be used for ANY FAST. Get yours today especially if you are going to fast in January. Join me!

#FiveMinuteFriday, friends! Today’s word prompt is YES. I want to introduce you to a friend that said those words and they have not just changed her life but also those around her. Be blessed!

When saying “Yes” just might change your life!

I have a friend. A very good friend.

This friend was doing great things for God. A pastor’s wife and mother, she was fulfilling the call of God in her life, content with her place in the background…serving.

She wasn’t one to jump out of her comfort zone. She didn’t like to travel, avoided airplanes like the plague and preferred to stay home, at her own church, behind the piano or teaching Sunday School.

Then God called. Much like young Samuel, she thought He surely didn’t mean her. (You can read Samuel’s story here!) God wanted her to come out of that comfort zone for a bigger purpose, to touch even more lives, to reach out further than she thought she ever could.

He wanted her to go to the orphanages of Haiti.

Haiti! Her husband had already been and she was content to help pack his bags and pray over him while he was gone. But go with him? To a third-world country? Get dirty and love on children that she didn’t even know?

Not me, Lord. I just cannot. It’s great for others, I will pray for them, I will give, I will do anything but GO.

God wasn’t asking this couple to give up their church permanently, He wanted them to bring blessing, to uplift the missionaries and encourage the entire village just by saying, “Yes.”

She went the first time. Hesitant, nervous and down-right scared to death but she went.

She has been going back several times a year for the last three years.

She has a special focus for each of her journeys, whether it is building a new kitchen and pantry, bringing shoes, food, clothing, whatever the need is at the time, she will begin a campaign in her hometown and on social media to get others involved in the giving. Her own small town has caught the vision and many participate to help her with her projects, as she calls them.

Her heart is with the children. Their church’s motto is LOVE, LIVE, SERVE! (appropriately!)

So many have been displaced because of the last devastating earthquake and have been left without a family. The need is great. Her pictures tell it all. She is still a great pastor’s wife. She still teaches Sunday School. She still can sing and play like nobody’s business and bring the house down. But she has found her calling; God has opened up a whole new world to her in a place that many would refuse to go. She said, “Yes, Lord” and it literally changed her life, her family’s, her church and her community!

Their ministry to children is not limited to Haiti. They bring them in by the bus, van and car-loads to church every week. And during the weekdays? You can find my friend packing lunches and taking them to neighborhoods where the kids might not get something decent to eat. But she doesn’t just drop them off and run. Many times she stays and eats with the kids, forming bonds that just cannot be broken.

In a few weeks I will board a plane with this lady I have called “friend” for over 20 years. She wants me to meet her kids and see this place that means so much to her. I have been overseas many times but never to a third-world country, that’s what I thought Haiti was. But as you will see in the video below, Haiti is actually considered a FIFTH-world country. This is definitely out of my comfort zone and even though I am a little nervous I said, “Yes” because we only live once and it is a short time we have here on this earth to make a difference and to be a blessing. I have a feeling I will be the one blessed by these precious people and the children who just want to be loved.

Will you say, “Yes!” to whatever it is God is calling you to today?

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It might not be an overseas mission; it could be your neighbor that He has been nudging you to speak to, a friend, co-worker, even a family member that is hungry for God even if you think that is not possible. God could be working in their hearts and is wanting you to be the one to bring His message of Hope. Whatever it is He is calling you to, saying “yes” will forever change your life and open up even more opportunities to be used of God.

Just ask my friend, Bonnie.

Enjoy this amazing video of David and Bonnie Beecham, The Brian’s (Missionaries to Haiti) and those that have caught the vision. (If you want to help Love Live Serve, contact me ynannette@gmail.com and I will get you connected.)