To all our faithful supporters, family, and friends, I apologize for the lack of updates from us. We have had an intense and trying first 3 months in Haiti. A lot has happened, and every time I sat down to write an update, I just couldn't get anything out. What do I really want to say? What am I "supposed" to say?
Well, in my last post I stated that the Lord prompted us to send our children home for a while after a string of armed robberies were happening to (mainly) missionaries in our area. Friends, was I ever thankful for this prompting and protection from God!
We feel that we need to share some details, as to accurately give due credit to the power of God and his protection over our family, friends, and the entire Hands & Feet Project, and what He has delivered us from.
A couple days after I returned to Haiti, my worst fear happened. At around 1am, a group of 7 armed men broke into our compound. They started in one of our girls' houses. It was a house that I happened to be sleeping in that night. About an hour and a half before that, I went up to sleep with one of our fellow missionaries, Stacie, because I couldn't sleep and I felt it would be a safe house to stay in if anything did happen. After all, the robbers were after money and electronics.....things that weren't really in that house...
It started with a loud crashing noise and Stacie and I flew off our bunk beds and scrambled into the shower where a lot of little girls poured in, and with trembling fear in their eyes, clung to us. We knew exactly what was happening the moment we heard the crash. It was our turn. The next thing we knew, there were 3 armed men, standing there demanding that the "white girls" come with them. They were leaving the children alone, so we immediately surrendered and with immense fear went where they drug us.
To be honest, the next hour was the scariest hour of my life. The men took us at gunpoint through our compound, demanding all the money we had, and stole anything else of value in sight. After us, they broke in and got Stephen. Later they took 2 very close friends of ours who flew in that day to help us put up additional security on our compound, and finally involved another fellow missionary shortly before leaving.
The scariest part was that everything we gave them never seemed to be enough. Visions of fellow missionaries' robbery reports flashed across my mind, and I was waiting for gunshots to start firing. Would it be me, my friends, my husband?
For the last half hour, we were surrounded by the armed men in the middle of our compound, while others were in looking for more money. Nowhere to go. Nothing to hide behind. We had never been in such a vulnerable state. Ever. Stacie started to get a little panicked at this point as her foot (later we found out was broken) was throbbing from the fall off the bunk, and we were feeling a super defeated and helpless. We were praying constantly since the first minute, but at this point of desperation, I started to pray out loud. At one point, I just started whispering Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is right HERE with us. Jesus.
Let me attest to the power in his name alone. In those moments I felt the presence of God in a way that I can't even describe. I literally felt this force-field type hug around my group of friends. Psalm 34:7 says, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." We all are confident that the Lord sent angels to to "encamp around" us that night in the courtyard. Eventually the men let Stacie and I go, and we fled up to the girls room as fast as we could. A few minutes later, Stephen came up to tell us that all the men were gone. Not a single shot was fired, and not one of us were physically harmed directly from these men.
While I was praying in the middle of the compound that night, the thing that kept going through my mind was, "All we have is the armor of God." I will never read these verses the same again.
Ephesians 6:10-18 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Now, don't get me wrong, we were terrified and felt super hopeless at times. But that night, I feel like God handed each one of us that shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Somehow, we each had this peace from God that passed all understanding. This peace that allowed us to stay calm in such an unfathomable situation. No matter what the outcome.
Moving forward.....the next day, under the direction of our director and board, we moved all the children off our compound and to our sister site in Grand Goave. We stayed there for about a month. Grady, Ella, and Mikah remained in the states with my parents during this time. Stephen and I got the opportunity to go home for about six days for some counseling and rest during this time period as well. When we returned, we worked on sprucing up our compound, had an amazing group from Washington come and help re-paint each of our houses and build new lockers for EACH of the 66 kids at Hands & Feet. We got some full time security, the robberies died off (we've heard positive reports this group has pretty much been caught) and a couple days before Christmas, all our children returned back home, to new houses and Grady, Ella, and Mikah returned with my parents!
Yes, that was the extremely SHORT version of what happened after the robbery :) It was a difficult process to work through, and we're still working through it, but we have strongly felt the Lord's hand on us throughout ALL that has happened. He took our children out of the situation, and also protected us and the rest of our staff and children. In all honesty, we've wanted to run back to perceived safety in the States, but we cannot deny God's presence walking along side us here. This is where He wants us, and He continues to show us this every day. We've experienced many arrows thrown at us, but our battle is certainly not against flesh and blood, but against the evil one. And the Lord has already claimed that victory for us.
So for now....we continue to walk out one day at a time. God has turned this awful event around and used it for GOOD and his purposes! More on that to come in a different post!
A HUGE thank you for all you that have continued to walk along side us in prayer and support....even with a lack of updates.
And I promise to keep you all more informed of the every day adventures in our lives and how God is moving at the Hands & Feet Project :)
