Michelle

Hi, my name’s Michelle Merino. I’m a recent graduate of Cal State Fullerton in California. This is my contribution to our team’s blog:

It’s 12:13 pm on Wednesday, July 21. I’m sitting on a suitcase on the floor of the room that I share with 11 other girls. The afternoon is hot, but the inside of our room is cooled by the shade of the roof and the breeze of the many fans. This morning began just like most others here. The routine looks something like this: wake up around 7:30, devotions with the Lord for an hour, breakfast at 8:30 followed by some sort of group meeting and breaking into small groups. I’ll be heading off to lunch soon (12:30), but I desperately wanted to fill you in on what’s been going on here in Haiti for the past few days.

This routine that I alluded to is just one aspect of the life that we lead here. What I’ve enjoyed about life on the GAIN compound is that we have been getting a taste of what it looks like to settle here on a long term basis. This trip is not about rushing in, offering relief, and packing up, but rather coming in alongside the residents and locals while learning what it looks like for them to pioneer the movement. For me, life here is almost like a simulation of what it would look like to live here. We are learning Creole (the predominant language in Haiti), learning the history of the country, being educated on the cultural norms, and welcomed into the daily tasks of the compound. This morning, the Haitian college students we’ve been doing ministry with conducted a lesson on the history of the Haitian country. Theirs is a history of much sadness and suffering. We learned that people practice voodoo today because it has strong roots in the history of the country.

The Enemy has a very strong hold on the Haitian people.

But there is hope. There always is. Praise the Lord we’ve seen those holds being gradually lifted even in the time that we’ve been here (a little over a week). As you probably already read, we packed into our bus this past Monday morning, sat sweating shoulder to shoulder, to visit an IDP camp. This camp is home to approximately 2,000 Haitian people – the largest one in the Port Au Prince area. There are white tents and brown rocks as far as the eye can see. And people. So many “internally displaced people” all hungry for something firm and true to hold onto. Praise the Lord, our time spent there was incredibly draining, but all the more rewarding. Our team led approximately 25-30 people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And we were there for a very short time. Imagine the ministry that could have been done in simply one entire day!

The IDP camp has been a highlight of mine, but another has been the prayer for some materials to come in. There are a few large containers of supplies that the Haitian government has been holding in customs for a very long time. These supplies are incredibly important to the work/ministry of GAIN – but they’ve been delayed for quite some time now. Our team decided to set aside 2 days to asking the Lord Jesus to move the officials’ hearts to release the materials so we can distribute them. Some of my team fasted, but we all prayed. In truth I tell you, the Lord worked and He worked quite quickly! Tuesday evening (after the fast ended), we received word that the containers had been released! Praise Him! This story is just one of many amazing testimonies to the goodness of God here in Haiti. We are currently praying that the containers would arrive quickly, though a delay is anticipated. Please pray that we will receive the necessary materials to do work while we’re here.

Thank you for partnering with Team 3.