Kidnapped

Imagine being at your comfy home, where you thought no harm could ever come to you. All of the sudden, someone bursts in, robs you, and takes you, all while pointing a gun at you.

Now imagine being a husband, a wife, a child, or a friend of that person. My heart is absolutely broken and torn in half right now.

While I was doing my morning routing at school, a middle schooler came up to me and said, "Kristina, (name removed for safety) was kidnapped last night."

My heart sank.

No other information, just that she was taken.

I met her when I came down for a week long trip in October of 2009. She treated me like I was her own and spoke truth into my life. She is a pastor's wife at a church where I've visited several times.

I taught English to Haitians under her, and she guided me when I realized I had no idea what I was doing.

She gives the best hugs, and always wants to know how I am doing, whether I see her for 5 minutes or 5 hours. She has been like a Haitian mom to me, and one of the downsides of moving to campus is that I no longer get to see her very often.

But now she has been taken. Ripped from her home and taken to a place where we don't know.

My head is scattered. My heart is burning.

I have not once felt unsafe in this country. Tonight, that changes a bit. I never fear that I will be kidnapped. It is extremely rare for an American to be kidnapped, but I never once thought that someone I know, a personal friend, would ever be in danger. Several of my students have had relatives kidnapped, or friends, but her?

All day I tried to push out the thoughts of discouragement and sadness and make it through my seven classes, while continuing to pray for her constantly.

I keep asking God why. Why her? Why now? Will you keep her safe? Will you bring her home? In the midst of all my questions, I only know one thing. I know God is faithful. I know that His will is way bigger than mine, and whatever he does with this situation, He will get glory from it. I won't stop praying for her, for her family, and for all those that she has affected, and I'm asking you to do the same.

I know that God will get glory from this situation, but right now, the vision is foggy. I have faith in my God and trust His decisions WAY over mine.

Please, please, please join me in prayer for this precious woman that I love so so dearly.

Special Prayer Request

Hey friends,

Today has been a rough day. I am so frustrated with so many things, and today brought out the worst in me.

My first class was good. We had a quiz and I thought they would all ace it. I graded them. Maybe one person passed. Am I teaching it wrong or are they just not studying? Obviously, something is wrong, so tomorrow we are going to hound it out. These kids WILL understand quadratic equations!

Then my second class. 10th grade boys. They are a hard age group to handle. They are young, and they are boys.

Then another lump was thrown in my day. I found out that I going to have not one, but TWO new students within the next two weeks. I really wish I could just excuse them from the first month of school, but that won't help them for the final exam. So, I have to catch up these students on everything that we have done. I'm excited about the new students, but really frustrated with the amount of work they have to be caught up on.

But with all those frustrations, there is a much more pressing issue. A freshman girl has been sick this year. She fainted last semester and after having a lot of tests found out that she has epilepsy. She has not seized at school until today. Everyone started running to where she was and after ushering them all away to get them to go to class, I found her there, seizing. Luckily, the math teacher was holding her head so that she didn't get a concussion. The other English teacher was there to help as well. Luckily, her mom was on the school's campus for a meeting and was able to quickly get her to the hospital.

This girl is such a sweet person, and I'm begging you to join me in prayer for her. Many of her friends were so concerned about her, and you can tell she is loved by all. Mentally, her brain is tricking her and she needs so much prayer. Her medicine often makes her do and say things that she may regret in the long run. So please, please, join me in prayer for this sweet, sweet girl.

Marie's Story

This is a story of a little girl who breaks my heart.

I got a phone call about a week and a half ago from Michelle. She told me that a baby had been dropped off at our clinic. This is baby number 2 that has been dropped off, and I already knew that Michelle had this baby in her possession. We meet up and I see this HUGE baby! She has got to weigh 30 pounds. She is seven months, has two teeth, and is all around pretty adorable.

I hold her for a few minutes, and she pees on me. This is the beginning of our love-hate relationship. I'm still getting used to "babies" so having one pee on me was not a good start. I really wanted to know her story so Michelle filled me in on all of the details.

Marie's dad is a voodoo priest. Every November, there is a ceremony where babies are sacrificed to the voodoo religion. Marie's mom brought Marie and her younger brother to the clinic that day covered in blood. Quickly, the staff at the clinic found out that the children had been abused by the father, and he was planning on killing baby Marie. My heart sunk. How can ANYONE kill an innocent child. My heart started beating fast, and I was so glad that she was in our possession.

We are home with Marie, and she starts SCREAMING. Every time we put this child down, she cries uncontrollably. I automatically get nervous for this child. I know she is out of her comfort zone, even though her comfort zone was being beat. I can't imagine what this baby has seen, but I do know that she hates being put down. If she is held, she is perfectly fine, but the minute she is put on the couch, or on the bed, the tears start flowing.

We are trying to calm her down when Michelle gets a call from the clinic director. The mom has returned to the clinic saying that the dad wants the baby back, and we have to bring Marie back right now. Heart sinking part 2. Michelle says that Marie has to go back to the clinic because the dad is still in charge. The pastor of the community church is going to the dad to try to get him to relinquish Marie, but at this point, anything could happen. He could definitely say I want my baby back, and that baby could be sacrificed tomorrow.

Marie left our house, and I couldn't help but plead with our Father to save this baby's life. I was reminded that whether this baby comes back to our house or not, God is still in control and has this baby surrounded in love. We prayed and weeped, and prayed, and weeped. I was sick to my stomach thinking that this baby could go back to her earthly father just to be harmed and possibly even killed.

After praying for a while and talking to some girls that are staying at our house, I walked down to our guesthouse to see what was going on. We got a call and the clinic director said that the dad decided to relinquish his responsibility! He said the baby was his wife's and she could do what she wanted! I immediately started praising the Lord for sparing this baby's life! Once again, the power of prayer showed me how little faith I have. God knew all along what would happen to this baby, and it reminded me once again how sovereign and awesome He is.

So Marie is now living with us. For the first 3 days she did nothing but cry. She would start crying, then Melissa would start crying. We were having a really hard time, but she has finally gotten used to us and has started playing and smiling a lot more. She can even sit on the floor with some toys and not cry! She truly has come a long way, and I'm so blessed to see the transition that is happening in her life.

I don't know where Marie will end up, but I am confident that she will always be protected under God's wing. She has already impacted several people's lives, and I know that her story will impact so many more. I hope her story even moves you as you are reading this. God really is in control, and He knows what is best for us, and baby Marie.

I'll keep you updated as she grows and we find a permanent place for her.

Until next time...

He never lets go.

This blog was written yesterday during the "hurricane."

“Oh no, you never let go, through the calm, and through the storm.”

These words are resounding in my head today. Not only does is take a literal meaning for me today, but also an emotional one. As many of you know, Tropical Storm Tomas has now turned into a hurricane and is heading our way. The rain started yesterday around 4 pm, and hasn’t really taken a break. I woke up this morning at the sky was covered with clouds, and the rain was still coming down.

I don’t know what is going to happen during this hurricane, but I do know one thing. God is completely in control of this storm. I have already seen his faithfulness because He has already pushed the storm away from us. The eye will no longer cover us, but we will still get the rain. I am so thankful that He knows exactly what He’s doing, and He is protecting us from MAJOR devastation.

That does not mean that we are not in danger, though. Not so much me, but the citizens of this country are in grave danger. A lot of rain causes mudslides and causes disease to spread. A lot of rain also ruins tents, which over one million people are still living in.

But HE never lets go. HE is here through the calm days, and HE is here on these stormy days. I can’t tell you why this hurricane is coming to an already devastated country, but I can tell you that so many people are being brought to Jesus. So many people have been brought to their knees to pray for this country. Jesus is in control, and will bring Himself glory in all of this.

I’m trusting Him completely to do what He wills in this situation, and I will follow Him faithfully.

Several weeks ago, I was teaching English class when a 16-year-old boy named Rodney came in. He some semi-good English and we had several conversations just about him and everything in his life.

I knew of Rodney before I actually met him. Rodney was flown to the states about a year ago to UT Hospital to have some work done on his heart. He had some form of heart murmur, but I’m not totally sure what kind. He had the first surgery successfully, and was scheduled to have at least 3 more.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a call saying that Rodney was having extreme chest pains. We got him into the Dominican Republic so that a doctor could look at him and see if he could have surgery. When he left, he told our pastor, “I don’t think I’ll be coming back home.”

In my heart, I thought that he would for sure be coming back. I thought they would quickly get him a surgery, and he would come back and I would see him again. As the days progressed, the news got worse and worse. The doctors looked at him and basically said he was too far-gone for surgery, and if they cut him open he would die.

So basically, we were now just waiting. Waiting to see if he would pull through, or go home to our Heavenly Father. Chris, a guy that we work with who took care of Rodney while he was in the states, and Pastor Jude, Rodney’s pastor, got to the Dominican as soon as they could. When they got there, Rodney perked up, and he was so happy to see Chris and Pastor Jude. They were laughing and cutting up. Rodney was at a hotel at this point, and he got up to walk out of the door to go for a little walk.

He collapsed in the doorway and died on the way to the hospital. When Michelle told me this, I had this overwhelming sense of sadness. But then a light bulb went off in my head. Rodney isn’t hurting anymore. He is in heaven, and that is SO much better than being on this Earth.

You see, Rodney was just a street kid, taken in by a loving woman who shared the gospel with him. Rodney was a believer, and because one woman decided she would be responsible for him, He got to know our heavenly Father, and he is now in heaven praising His name forever.

As much as we will all miss Rodney, I know he is so thankful to be praising our God.

“Oh no, you NEVER let go, through the calm, and through the storm.”

Hydration and Hurricanes

I have had two days off work. At least what I thought was off work. I ended up having to do a lot of catching up on work and preparing for my next two weeks of classes. We were out for All Saints and All Souls Day.

All Saints is the same thing as All Hallows, and is a Roman Catholic holiday. It is a day to remember all of the saints, known and unknown. All Souls Day is a mostly Catholic holiday and is used to remember the "faithful departed."

I don't celebrate either of these holiday's, but it was nice to have a couple of days off of school.

Dr. Jenny flew in because she wanted to spend some time with Melissa, so I not only had days off of school, but I had a babysitter for 5 days! It was really nice just to have some time to relax and chill out before school geared back up. We also had two new girls come and they are staying here until about December. They are both 18, and it is so nice to have someone closer to my age around.

Everyone in this house has been sick, and I have been avoiding it like the plague. I have been extremely successful in my efforts until a "slip" I had, which I'll tell you about later. Because everyone has been sick, we really haven't done anything this weekend. I have been so lazy, but in a good way.

Sunday, we went to church and it was an incredible service. It was so full, and I didn't get to hear much of the sermon, but just being back at Port-au-Prince fellowship was awesome, and really revived me. Sunday night, I was invited to a teacher's party that was on campus. I was really debating on what to wear because I didn't want to look silly, but this is what I decided on.

Ok, so you can't see my outfit real well, but I was gangster barbie :)

Well, it started pouring down rain, so my costume got a little soaked. But there was awesome food! There were salty snacks, sweet snacks, and freshly popped caramel corn. It was DELICIOUS! I had one of the best brownies I've ever had in my life. Or maybe I say that because it was the first brownie I've had since moving here. Either way, it was the bomb.

So for those of you that don't know.. there is a hurricane coming for us. The weather channel has changed it's predictions daily, so no one really knows what is going on. At first it was going to be really really bad, but now it's not going to be as bad. Any strong winds or heavy rain will devastate this already devastated country. Please pray with me that it will either break up, or go a different direction.

There are so many people living in tents in this country, that any type of strong wind will take away their homes and all their belongings, leaving them homeless once again. Also, as many of you know, Cholera has broken out in this country. The heavy rain will make the Cholera spread more rapidly, and this country does not need that!

Cholera is easily treated, but many people to not have access to the treatment. Cholera is spread though dirty water. We are having to brush our teeth with bottled water, and make sure we have purified drinking water. Also, anything that is bought on the street now has to be washed in purified water before we can eat it. These things are extremely easy for us, but for people living in tents and on the streets, these tasks are impossible. Cholera dehydrates you, and causes fever and diarrhea.

To help these people, we spent a few hours yesterday making rehydration packs for people so if they get Cholera, they can put this mixture into a bottle of water and take a medicine and be fine. We are really hoping this disease doesn't spread, but if it does, we want to be able to help as many people as possible. We made close to 200 hydration packs, so if the hurricane hits and the cholera spreads, we can be active in helping this community.

So please join me in prayer for this country so that it does not have to go through more devastation.

On a different note.. I'm coming home in 6 weeks for a little bit. Words can't express how excited I am. I got to talk to several of my friends that were at a Bible Study on Sunday night and it was so good to hear their voices. I also got to talk to my mom, dad, and sister, which was such a blessing.

God is truly doing huge things in this country, and in my life. I love this country, I love my job, and I love the people that I'm surrounded by here in Haiti.

Until next time...

Melissa Hope: warrior child

Photo credits to Michelle Roberts and Anne Peters!

Melissa Hope has the story of a warrior. I am so privileged to watch her grow day to day. If you follow my tweets, or are my friend on Facebook, then you probably know a little bit about her. I want to take a blog to tell all of you her story and how awesome she is.

This is a recent picture of Mel-loo-loo

Two weeks ago, Dr. Jenny Chapman and nurse Anne Peters came to Haiti to serve. While they were here, we visited the orphanage, held a mobile medical clinic and they served at the clinic in Pernier that we support. On Thursday (I believe), Jenny and Anne were serving at the clinic when we got a phone call. A small child had been abandoned at the clinic! This child was believed to be 6 months and was suffering from being malnourished. She also has down syndrome. Then, to add another whammy, she also has a heart defect!

She looks so cute with her hair smoothed down!

I was in utter disgust when I found out that someone had just abandoned his or her child. Even though I am not a parent, I still cannot imagine just leaving my child somewhere. We went to the clinic to pick up Jenny and Anne and they brought along this little baby. At this point, we were still not sure of her name so we just called her “baby.” The moment I saw this child, my breath was taken away. This little baby was 6 months but looked like a newborn! We took her back to the house, and Jenny bonded with her. We decided to let Jenny pick the name for the baby since she had formed such a strong bond with her. We thought this baby might be one that we had seen before, and Greg confirmed that. Her name was Melissa, and her mom had brought her to the clinic several times. The next morning, Jenny and Anne were leaving and they woke up to a feverish baby.

This is three days after she was abandon!

My disgust for this mother quickly drizzled away when Jenny was telling me that the baby was well taken care of. She had no rashes, no flat spots from laying down too much, but she was just malnourished. I was so quick to judge that mother before I even knew her situation.

Three days with her and I already started to bond with her!

Now, I don’t really even like babies that much, but this one was breaking my heart. There was no way I could send her out to the orphanage with her being as week as she was. So somehow, out of my mouth, I uttered the words “I’ll take care of her until she is better.” WHAT?! Did I JUST say that? I blew my own mind, not to mention everyone else saying, did she just say that?!

My first meeting with Melissa!

So Jenny and Anne left me with a lot of instructions and good hug and they went back to America. So now what? I have this teeny tiny baby and I don’t have any younger siblings, nor have I ever been around babies.

So that starts my journey. I now wake up every morning to a beautiful baby girl who I have grown to love.

She is SUCH a good baby. She hardly ever cries, she sleeps through the whole night, and she smiles 90% of the time when she is awake. I have truly created a bond with her that is unbreakable. I know that she is God’s child and He has His hand in all of this.

So where do we go from here? I feed her every 4 hours, and boy has she plumped up! Her face is totally filled out and her limbs are beginning to get thicker. She is very high functioning! She will grab my hair and smile and move her limbs with purpose. She hates being covered up and often when I put a blanket on her, she will throw it off to the side.

Little bitty malnourished feet!

Her heart is the main issue right now. We are not sure what type of heart defect it is, but we do know that it needs to be taken care of. There is a doctor coming down at the end of September and he has agreed that he will do up to 100 children’s heart surgeries free of charge. We are praying that Melissa receives one of these treatments. If he comes down in September and says that she needs to have the surgery extremely soon, then we will have to find a way to get her into the states to have the surgery. If it is not an urgent problem, then we will wait until the doctor schedules the surgery to have it fixed.

She has so many people praying over her, and I hope that you will commit to praying for her too. She has a long way to go, but I know that God will take care of it. He has placed her in my life for a reason, and I can already tell that she is going to be marked in my heart forever.

She is getting so strong! When we first got her, she could not do anything. She could move her limbs, but could not push herself up or really control her head at all. I am so pleased to let you know that she can roll completely on to her tummy, she can push up once she is on her tummy, and she has really great control of her head. She will be lying on my stomach and she will look up at me and smile. It is the most precious thing I have ever seen. So she really is doing better. I’m excited to watch her continue to grow, and I will do my best to add pictures every chance I get.

This is my absolute favorite picture of her EVER!

The most nerve-racking talk of my life.

So, as I shared in my last post... I'M GOING TO HAITI! It is exactly 4 weeks from today and I will be on a plane flying to Miami then on to Port-Au-Prince!

As many of you know, I was TERRIFIED to tell my parents about what I wanted to do. I didn't think they would be too thrilled about me telling them that I wanted to spend 5 months in Haiti. When I went in October for 5 days, they weren't too excited. I had talked to my sister about it, and she said to be prepared for the absolute worst. And that is what I did. I had all of these awful situations played out in my head, but I kept praying that the Lord would soften their hearts and they would accept it and maybe even be supportive.

I knew my parents were about to go on vacation, so I had very limited time to tell them. I figured I would ask my mom to cook me dinner while my dad was home and then I could tell them after we ate. Well the day I wanted to do it, they decided to go to the lake with Dawn and Jimmy. So I left, and prayed that when I got home they would still be awake and I would be able to talk to them.

So they tell me they are home so I leave my friends and go to my house. On my way, an old friend from college calls me and tells me that he is in Nashville for one night. Of course, it had to be that night. Every ounce of me wanted to turn around and go visit him, but I knew that I needed to tell my parents. I prayed the entire way home and took a deep breathe before I went inside.

I walked in and they were watching a re-run of CSI:Miami, and I knew that this was the perfect set up because I wouldn't be interrupting anything they were doing. I small talked them for a second then told them that I needed to talk. Automatically my dad got this look on his face, which I call his "thinking face." This face terrifies small children. I felt this calming warmth over me, and I began to talk.

I told them that I was young, single, and unemployed so what better time to go out of the country for a few months then now! I presented it like I was "studying abroad." I told them about the orphanage I would be helping with, and how I would be living with Greg and Michelle. All I needed to do was raise $800 for a plane ticket and $500 a month for food and other necessities.

My mom started crying, and my dad just stopped and was silent for a minute. At that point, I didn't feel nervous or anything, but I was a little worried for a few seconds. Then my dad looked at me and said "I mean, I'm ok with that." He had questions about my safety, but he was overall supportive. My mom didn't say a thing the entire time, and I'm pretty sure she's not too excited about it, but I think she understands why I want to go.

Then came the biggest shocker I've had in a while: My dad doesn't want me to fundraise for my plane ticket, and is paying for it!

There is no way that this would've happened without the Lord. It is such a great affirmation to know that I'm doing what is inside of His will. He is so sovereign, and I am so excited to tell the whole world of his love.

It is finally coming to reality that I'm actually going. I've known for a long time that it is what I need to do, and now that I actually have approval of my parents and a plane ticket... It is an absolute crazy feeling. I'm so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through this trip.

I'm so so so so so so excited to go. I'm also a bit terrified. Moving away to a country where I don't speak the language and know 4 people is a little nerve-racking, but I know the Lord will give me peace.

It is quickly coming close to my leaving date, and my friends are starting to talk about me leaving, which is sad, but I know that what I'm going to be doing is so much bigger than what I could be doing staying in Nashville. The Lord is definitely going to be in every part of this journey, and I'm so excited to see what else He is going to do through me!

Indeed, I count everything as

loss because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ Jesus

my Lord. For his sake I have

suffered the loss of all things

and count them as rubbish, in

order that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8

Changing the World

As most of you know, my motto in life, or my goal; whatever you want to call it is that I want to CHANGE the world! I'm getting a very special opportunity to start changing the world this fall break.

I'M GOING TO HAITI!!!

If you can't tell, I'm a LITTLE excited. Greg, Michelle and I will be going down and visiting some orphanages and really just seeing Haiti and talking to people. I absolutely cannot wait to get down there! I won't be updating a ton until then because I'm trying to get prepared to go, but I will do my best!

I know the Lord has called me to do this and I know that it can definitely turn into something long term, so I'm praying about where I am going and what I will do when I graduate in May.

As most of you also know, I have a slight obsession with the Philippines. Two days ago, a lot of the Philippines became submerged under water and a lot of people have lost their lives. It hurts my heart, and I am with those people in spirit and will be praying hard-core for them!

I'll update soon!

>K