HAITI UPDATE!!! : Haiti is... ...this is my life.

Dear Sponsors/Family/Friends!

THANK YOU!
First off all I want to say that I can not tell you how blessed I am to have you all support me. Your prayers have covered me with the most incredible grace I have ever experienced! There has been so many out of control, crazy, frustrating, and completely chaotic situations that I have been able to handle without even flinching. That tells me that people are praying for me, and that your prayers are defiantly being heard. So thank you, thank you thank you!!! God's grace can surpass any situation.

Contents (long blog!)
My Vision and Hope for Haiti
-Disciple Them!
Overview: Haiti is..
-Human Perspective of Haiti
-God's Perspective of Haiti
Highlight
-Birthing a Beautiful Baby Girl
Where Do I Go From Here?
-Counting the Cost of Discipleship
-Staff Port-au-Prince DTS in May

VISION AND HOPE FOR HAITI
For me personally my life has been completely rocked, turned inside out, and upside down in Haiti. I am so changed, not only in the way of being a better servant to the Lord, but I see the people of Haiti from the Lord's perspective. I see an enormous amount of hope and potential for these people and that excites me more than I can say! I have so much vision for many different ministry's that the people of Haiti can start! The people of Haiti are so incredible and I see clearly the one thing they are missing; people to disciple them in the ways of Jesus, to me it is that simple, through the development of intimacy with Jesus, people receive there own visions and purpose's of the things the Lord wants to accomplish. God is moving in Haiti big time, I could go on for hours about all the things going wrong here, but really that is not going to do any good, so when I was asking the Lord, “what can I do?”, “how can I best serve this country?”, the answer was clear, “Disciple them”.

OVERVIEW: Haiti Is...

I will back up just a little and give you an overview of what seeing Haiti through human perspective and then God's perspective is like. (Mount Rois and Port-au-Prince)

Human Perspective

Haiti is always full of action and excitement, it's arriving at the airport after already so many delays, to find out you have no luggage and then making do for 7 days with what was in your carry on. It's going to church every single night with the worst sound system you ever heard. It's not asking the question “is anyone sick” , its “how many people are sick today?”. It's riding in a taptap (taxi) that is always overcapacity inhaling exhaust fumes, it's sitting on top of the roof of a truck driving to Port-au-Prince, and expecting to get in minor accident every time you go in a vehicle. It's being malled by a hundred children saying “hey you give me one dollar”, begging for food or the shirt off your back. It's trekking through stinky garbage filled streets while catching a glimpse of someone urinating against a wall in hopes of being lucky enough to find a cold drink or working internet. It's getting used to being stared at everywhere you go hearing “hey blanc!” It's doing a food distribution in tent city and being malled and elbowed in the head by people trying to get as much food as possible. It's seeing the people who lost limbs in the earthquake and their faces and hearts traumatized and in pain. Its walking on the rubble of the buildings and wondering how many people died in the place you are standing. Its sleeping in an 8 man tent with 13 people who haven't showered for 4 days, with children trying to get into your tent in early morning hours. Haiti is living in a two bedroom, one bathroom house with 30 people, no electricity, no flushing toilet, mud always on the floor no matter how many times you mop in one day, tadpoles coming out of the shower head that most of the time doesn't have water, which then means the tedious task of fetching well water while all the locals are in awe of the blancs pumping at the well as the little Haitian children help carry water. Its hoping that you will have at least two meals a day, and that lunch will be at least within two hours of the set time. It's having stomach pain every single day. It's going to sleep with the noise of crazy roosters, dogs fighting, voodoo drums, inhaling the gasoline fumes of the generator, waking up soaked in sweat, and fighting for a cup of coffee in the morning. Its not ever knowing what you will be doing, where you will be going, when you will get your next shower, or drinkable water. Its fighting feelings of imprisonment sitting starring at the bars on the window, knowing there is a cement wall around you with barb wire on the top and an iron gate, wanting so badly to be out in the streets serving the needy, but restricted because circumstances wont allow you to go out that day. Its learning patience and dieing to self every second of everyday.

God's Perspective

Haiti is seeing the people for who they really are, saying bonjou or bonswa, and coming to an understanding of how much they appreciate you coming to help their country. It's learning to speak Kreyole while sharing the gospel, it's holding beautiful Haitian children, trying with every part of your soul to give them every ounce of love you can. It's providing first aid for anyone you can, with whatever you have. It's singing songs, dancing and playing games to bring joy and hope everywhere we go. It's walking to and from church everyday with orphans. It's seeking the Lord first thing in the morning for His direction, and walking in prayer through every moment of the day. It's seeing and serving Jesus every where you go. It's feeling the hot sun on your face while skipping and playing soccer with the kids. It's laughing so hard with your teammates and dearly loved Haitian brothers and sisters that your stomach hurts. It's learning how to love others by seeing how the Haitians take care of each other. It's making stockings and drinking hot chocolate with orphans on Christmas. It's performing two weddings and twenty baptisms in one day. It's seeing a child's face fill with Hope when they look at you and knowing it is only because Jesus Christ lives inside you. It's hiking up the most beautiful mountain and swimming in a gorgeous spring and feeling like you are in heaven. It's starting a discipleship school with Haitians who survived the earthquake and are dedicating their life to following Christ. It's saying goodbye to people you have come to love very deeply, hoping to see them again one day, and getting ready for the next part of the journey. It's deep suffering when staring injustice in the face, and then waiting and watching God perform a miracle to bring Justice to an otherwise impossible situation. It's praising God every second of the day because He is so full of glory and wonder. Its saying a prayer, and seeing God bring that prayer to reality right before your eyes. It's falling on your face in pain when you feel like like the Lord is so far away, and then feeling His warm embrace as you call upon His name for help. It's seeing someone's eyes so empty and hopeless, fill with Hope and thankfulness from a simple prayer. It's hearing the Lords voice, and sharing it to encourage others. Its linking arm in arm with your teammates, no matter the differences, picking each other up when you fall, and building each other up to show others how to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is my life. This is Haiti.

HIGHLIGHT

There is one highlight for me that stands out above all. I will give you as much detail as possible, but luckily we have many gifted film and media people on our team and there is a full documentary on this. First a little note on me, I have a degree in Kinesiology, a lot of first aid background and an 90 minute class on how to birth a child in a third world country. Why do I tell you this, well during that 90 minute class in Kona I had such a weird sense, as we were learning, I envisioned the entire thing happening in my mind, I asked two questions, and my teammates also asked a couple questions, I no idea how relevant the answers to those questions would be one day. During the class I remember thinking maybe I'll get to do that on outreach, that would be so cool. One of my roomates back in Kona who was a nurse and I used to joke a lot about what delivering a child would be like, so when I arrived in Haiti and saw that the pastors wife was pregnant, I though, haha, very funny God. Periodically I would think, “I wonder if I will have to help deliver that child”, but never once did I ask her how far along she was, and I always just let the thought pass.

So a couple weeks after arriving in Haiti we are in the biggest, craziest tent city in Port-au-Prince, after our third day there, we were packed and ready to leave, only to find out that we had to stay for yet another night, so with minor grumbling we accepted our fate and looked for ways to keep busy.

As the day went on pastor's wife, was not looking so good, sure enough late in the day labor pains began very intensely, and it turned out she had been having them all day. I won't give every detail on how God orchestrated the preparation for this situation because it is all on the video, but basically one minute I'm playing with children, and the next I am instructing our team on what they need to do to prepare so that we can birth this child in a tent, on rubble, with a side sheet of a semi truck as a bed, backpacks as back rest, bleach, water, dental floss, scissors and a whole lot of prayer. At this point we were just preparing in case the baby came, not believing that we were going to deliver a baby, apparently in Haiti you make appointments to have baby's, so hers was at 9pm, it was 6pm and it seemed that that baby wasn't too keen on staying inside the mother much longer.

I think I did not fully realize we were delivering a baby until the head was half way out and I was preparing to catch this child and my only thought was to protect it's head and neck....

An umbilical cord, and wash later, a mother is sitting with her husband and new born baby girl on a piece of sheet metal in tent city Port-au-Prince. A lot shocked, our team gets some pop and tries to come to terms with what just happened! The only thing I know from this whole situation is that God orchestrated everything so perfectly and the Holy Spirit guided every single part of it.During the birth I felt like I had done that a hundred times before, and everything flowed so smoothly, by the grace of God there was no complications.

Catching the baby, and putting her on her mother's chest was, without competition, the most amazing moment of my life.

The next day I was still worried about the mother's and daughters health, so by God's grace, yet again, a team of American doctors just happened to show up, coincidence, I think not. So they gave the look over and all was well.

So I am still speechless when I think about God's glory in the moments of that child birth all I can say is that God is good beyond words.

WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

I have 6 weeks left in Haiti, my life has been forever changed, I can no longer imagine living a life where it wasn't in complete submission and servant hood to Jesus. There is to much pain and suffering in the world to ignore it. My relationship with God is so much deeper now, He is my closest friend, my father and lover of my soul, I can no longer deny His amazing glory, I want to share it with anyone and everyone. I want everyone to see who God really is, He is so misunderstood and so many people are missing out on all He created life to be.

Being a disciple is certainly not easy, of course I want a comfy bed without 10 people in the room, I want to be able to eat whatever I want whenever I want, I want to enjoy a good cup of coffee in peace in the morning, I want to row everyday, I want to not always have to wait in line for the bathroom and then not have people knocking on the door every time you actually get a turn to use the bathroom. I want a shower with warm water, I want to sleep without sweating all night, I want to not have to submit to authority that I strongly disagree with, I want to see my family everyday, I want to be able drive a car, I want to be able to walk outside and not be immediately covered in dirt and car exhaust. I want to not get bit by mosquitoes everyday all day, I want to wear actual perfume that is not bug spray, I want to be able to dress up and wear my diamonds, I want to be able to go on an actual run on a smooth surface, I want to be able to understand the language spoken around me, I want a washing machine and to not hand wash my clothes, I want my stomach to stop hurting, I want to not hear honking horns and breath in horrible car exhaust, I want to live in a house that doesn't have bars on the windows, a barb wire cement wall, an iron gate, and houses 3ft on either side. I want to train for a triathalon. I want to be able to come and go as I please. I want to eat at a restaurant and have a glass of wine with friends, I want to sit at an actual desk with a chair, I want to sit on a comfy couch, I want to have electricity and running water, I want to brush my teeth with tap water and put toilet paper in the toilet.

When I have low days like today, when I want all those things, I know God is testing my character and patience, even though it is hard I love Him for it, because ultimately it is for my benefit, the cost of discipleship is high, and this is just the beginning for me. When I can manage to snap myself out of self pity, I see that I can count all those things as lost, because serving Jesus brings joy like nothing else on this earth.

Now I could brush those things off easier except for God has provided me with an option to come back to Port-au-Prince in May to staff the first DTS here. This is what God has called me to do in Haiti, disciple His children. At this point I have no idea how I will survive this but what I do know is that God is so good and He always has my best interest in mind and I know there will be much joy for me in this as well! So the plan right now after dts is to head home to Canada for about a month, then back to Kona for some more training and to help prepare for the Haiti DTS. I would like to do more training in intercessory prayer, as I know God has been growing me a lot in prophetic intersession and I would love to help establish a really solid prayer room and prayer ministry in Port-au-Prince. I also am beginning to plan the sport ministry that I have vision to begin here in June. This is all in God's awesome hands, but I have been praying about this for quite some time, and I do feel this is general direction I will take.

So my time here has been an intense, interesting, sorrowful, wonderful, joyful, challenging, full of love, mercy and grace. I am thankful for every moment, bad and good, because every moment is moment knowing more of who Jesus is.

Your reading my blog blesses me and on the hard days it is encouraging to know that I can share my stories with others.

Please continue to pray for me, and you are all also in my prayers.

Many Wonderful Blessings to you!

Alicia Borsoi

PRAYER REQUESTS

-Financial Breakthrough as I have been called to long term missions.
-Strength I am feeling very weak and inadequate
-Patience for all that God is showing me
-To be excellent and disciplined in even the smallest tasks
-To not let grumbling be a part of my life at all
-Healing of my stomach pain (has been better the last couple days) and my facial skin (not adjusting to the heat and dirt well).
-Clarity in the direction God has called me in after DTS
-Prayer for being homesick (missing family and comforts)
-Strength for prayer (feeling very spiritually attacked and drained for the first time in prayer). God has called me to be praying and interceding for Haiti and I am having 'dry spell'.

Thank you all!

Picture: My first taste of the kids in Haiti, day 2, hanging out out with the neighbors and beginning my Kreyol language lessons!