We Are Ruined For The Ordinary

Week 11/12
Speaker Garth and Caroline
Worldview/
On Route to Haiti

So what to say about this week. Well the topic was worldview, so I guess I could say that my view of the world was defiantly expanded. Garth talked a lot about obedience and repentance, which I wrote about in my last two blogs. He also went over a lot about biblical worldview, so basically how you can't have a biblical worldview unless you actually read and study the bible, that seems pretty obvious, but nonetheless it is very overlooked. He also talked about how others view the world, through different things such as animism, theism and secularism, and sub categories such as modern day animism, pantheism, polytheism, each set of religion or belief set would fall under one or two of these categories.

It is important to know what others believe so that you can learn how to relate with them and build a solid foundation for relationship. That is something we have focused a lot on as we are preparing for outreach in Haiti. There are many Christian and catholic Haitians, but since many Haitians are not discipled in Christianity a lot of them practice vodoo. In the catholic church it is very normal to have voodoo as part of the “church service” aka religious ceremony. We spent some time watching videos on voodoo ceremonies, pretty intense to see demons (what they think are voodoo gods) manifest themselves in people and animals. When talking to our Haitian friend Jr who is in school in Kona right now, he was telling us that a lot of voodoo doctors practice and do voodoo just because in Haiti that is one of the best ways to make money. Many people participate in these ceremonies because they are desperately searching for hope and answers to their problems and also because their knowledge of Christianity is so limited that they never have actually been taught how to live by biblical principles. I have never seen in front of my face, the kind of demonic manifestations that occur so commonly in places like Haiti and Africa. I am super excited now about the authority I have that Christ lives in me, that I have nothing to fear, and I can't wait to meet the Haitians, build relationships, and share the gospel.
This week was pivotal in my commissioning to go preach the gospel. It was exciting to have Amy Sollers (week 2) come back to our class to pray and prophesy over us. Monday night worship this week was absolutely amazing as we danced our spirits alive in the prayer room and warred against the enemy, I can honestly say I have never experienced the Lords presence in such a real way before, I have defiantly experienced His presence intensely throughout my dts, but not as much as this, I had moments where God's glory and presence and glory was so heavy on me that I literally could not even move. It was so cool!
It has defiantly been an emotional roller coaster ride this week, between experiencing so much glory of the Lord, saying goodbye to many good friends and not knowing the next time I will get to speak with my family. I have to trust in the Lords goodness as I move into the next phase of my discipleship.
I had a real nice miracle this week, that lifted my spirits so much as I was feeling pretty emotional, because deep within my heart, I know that as I leave Kona, I am leaving the rest of who I was behind and in Haiti I will be rebuilt into who I will become. So this seems silly, but I honestly cried like a baby when this little miracle happened. If you know me well, you know that I love food, so naturally going to Haiti and eating rice and beans for 3 months was not high on my list of things I wanted to do, so I asked God for a way to get to costco (I have no car or costco card), and some money to buy some cliff bars (I have no money), so that if worst came to worst I could at least survive on a cliff bar a day. Well all in one day I got a ride to costco with people with a costco card and while we were in line to pay this lady we met while doing the 50th anniversary torch run, came up to the till and paid for all of our food. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say God was looking out for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So here I am, on my first flight to Haiti and will hopefully get there in 3 more flights and 24 hours. I am so excited, I will start crying if I think about it too much (apparently I cry a lot these days). I feel like I have been waiting for this my whole life. I realize my weakness and my intense need and total dependency upon the Lord. Humility and preferring others is essential for this mission, as well as for the rest of my life.
Prayer must always come first as I can do nothing by my own strength.
God showed one of my teammates such a cool description of us as missionaries, we are presents the Lord has sent out, no one is excited by the box, but it is what is inside that is the treasure. Meaning we are simply vessels with nothing to give it is only through Christ who lives in us that we can live and love to the fullest.

We are ruined for the ordinary.