I love how the Lord overwhelms us with His grace in unexpected ways. Bear with me as I explain some of the recent ways He’s done that this past week as it may seem like this post is a little random.:)
On Monday, we had our regular women’s Bible study with all the interns and teachers currently serving here with us. We’ve been going through Beth Moore’s study of Esther, and although I already went through this study back home a few years ago with the women of (in my opinion, the best church in the world:) FBCV, but it has been so awesome to see how the Lord has used the review of this study to minister to my heart in very timely ways. This past Monday we were watching Session 7, and she was talking about trusting God. It couldn’t have been better timing for me. As many of you know, we’ve recently found out that Josiah’s adoption is going to be much more complicated than we were originally led to believe by a Haitian guy that was basically scamming us. It’s been so heavy on my heart to have so many unanswered questions about how it’s all going to work out. There are nights I lay awake, unable to sleep because my heart is so anxious, and times I just cry because it’s so hard to have your heart so invested in a child that is not yet officially “your’s.” Yet, throughout this whole process the Lord has continually impressed upon our hearts that He has entrusted precious little Josiah to us, and that no matter how long or difficult the journey may be, He will grow our faith and show Himself faithful, mighty and sovereign every step of the way. There are still days though, that I admit my fears get the best of me, and the Lord has to remind me once again that He is in control. I’m so thankful that no matter how many times I fail to trust Him the way I should, His grace is always there to remind me He is still in charge of it all. Instead of writing a long explanation of everything the Lord showed me on Monday, I’ll list a few of the major points that challenged and encouraged me…I hope they do the same for you no matter what journey of faith the Lord has you on right now.:)
“It’s tough being a woman who feels responsible for the ‘how’ “ (referring to when we feel responsible for figuring out how difficult situations are going to be worked out)
“It’s tough being a woman who can balance passion AND patience”
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait upon Him.” –Isaiah 30:18
“If the Lord is longing and waiting too, then there is purpose in the timing.”
“Trust comes in before we know how everything is going to work out…before we know how the Lord is going to answer our prayers or work in our difficult situations, not after we’ve seen how it’s all going to work out”
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Yesterday, as we headed down into the fishing village for Bible study, I started to not feel so good. Some of you already know I have back problems due to scoliosis, so every now and then I have some tough days. Yesterday was one of them. I told Stephen I would just rest in the car while he and his mama went down to do the Bible study with the women. As my eyes were closing sweet little Nelcilia came up to my window and asked how I was doing. In a matter of seconds several of the other women joined her and started asking how I was doing since Stephen told them I wasn’t feeling well. They were so concerned, telling me I should go to the hospital and that they would be praying for me. I fought hard to fight back tears because usually I’m on the other side of a situation like this, praying for them and trying to help them. I was so humbled by their concern and the love they showed me even though their lives on a daily basis are much harder than mine. I praise God for the sweet relationships He has given us with so many of the Haitian people we work with on a daily basis. There are days when our friends and families back in the States seem so far away, and then we walk down to the fishing village or into the children’s home and we’re quickly reminded and overwhelmed by the realization that God has blessed us with an incredible set of “family” and precious friendships here.
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Ok, so I said it my last post, that I wouldn’t just write about the good stuff, so I’m going to be very real right here…
Mama, you can stop reading now…
Seriously, Mama please don’t read any further because I really want you to still come down here to see us…:)
We have a RODENT SITUATION in our new house! Some of you may not know this, but I am TERRIFIED of mice or rats. There have been a lot of situations in being a missionary in a third world country that I’ve realized I just need to “tough it out,” however my fear of these little pests is not something I have been able to “just deal with.” It literally petrifies me when I see one or know one is nearby. Ok, so you get the picture…
The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table playing Take Two with Stephen’s mama when all of a sudden Stephen was like, “Uh-oh.” I immediately followed his gaze as I said, “What??” It didn’t matter that my protective, understanding husband said, “Nothing!” because I saw it for myself. A big mouse had ran up the counter and dashed for shelter behind the oven. I was immediately on the table freaking out, and only when I felt like I had a few seconds to dash to our bedroom to barricade myself in there did I get down and run. I truly felt bad for abandoning my sweet husband and mother-in-law to deal with the terrifying situation alone, but there was nothing I could do from on top of the table! From the bedroom I heard lots of banging as they were trying to find it. Turns out the little guy had built himself quite the nest in the back of our oven, and we quickly had an answer to the mystery of the missing dish washing scrubbers and the fact that some of the burners on the oven don’t work. My brave husband and his mama took the oven out front where they continued to bang on it trying to get it to come out. After a long time, they decided he was probably hiding and going to leave on his own, so they came back in. That night all I could dream about was a herd of rats chasing me. The next morning we found that he had done a LOT of damage to the wires and inside of the oven, so it was best that we didn’t use it anymore. That was Sunday night. After that (and due to the fact we saw no traces of any mice) I thought I was safe…. I had heard a few noises over the past few days, but convinced myself I was just being paranoid and that it was nothing. WRONG ASSUMPTION. As I was reaching into one of my little bins that holds my headbands on our toiletries shelf, I heard a little rustling, but once again tried to talk myself out of it. Then, all of a sudden a mouse dropped to the ground just a foot from me and ran into our bathroom!! I ran into the living room to tell my much-braver-than-me mother-in-law, and she went in to check out the situation, but didn’t find him. Stephen wasn’t home, so when he got home a few minutes later, I quickly informed him we had a SITUATION and that I was ready to move.;)
He couldn’t find it, but did find a way he could easily travel from our bathroom to the adjoining room. Then, later last night, they saw him AGAIN in the kitchen, so he put some poison out. He was pretty sure it was only one little one, but I let him know that was one too many, no matter the size.;) This morning he was pleased to report some of the poison had been eaten, so HOPEFULLY the situation will be resolved soon. My sweet mother-in-law reminded me of Sunday’s sermon about having joy and patience in trials, and while I tried to explain to her that was impossible in this situation, the Lord did give me some perspective…
- It was very considerate of the mouse to only get into our trash, rather than stealing and contaminating our good food.
- If we hadn’t seen him run behind the oven, we wouldn’t have found all of the damage and could have easily had a very dangerous situation if we continued to use the oven.
- Sometimes we run to what is “comfortable” for us rather than dealing with whatever situation is in front of us. Often what we think is safe and comfortable can be very deceiving (as I was SURE he wouldn’t go into my bedroom) and can rob us of the freedom that comes from just dealing with the problem.
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That brings me to one last thing that the Lord has been showing me lately. My wonderful adopted Grandma Linda sent me Beth Moore’s Breaking Free study, so I started it a few weeks ago, and it has been awesome so far! She starts off the study talking about how so many of us are in spiritual bondage whether we realize it or not. She said that bondage is “anything that prevents us from fully enjoying God’s purposes and promises for us.” One thing she said in the opening session though that I found to be SO true was, “To the extent we are believing lies, we are in captivity; however, to the extent we are believing TRUTH we are walking in LIBERTY!” I though wow, so simple and yet so profound!
The study is one on the book of Isaiah, and just in the introductory lessons she’s focused on learning the background of what the spiritual and political state of the Southern Kingdom of Judah after the Kingdom of Israel split following the death of King Solomon. The book of Isaiah opens up by saying that the book contains things that were revealed to Isaiah during the reigns of four different kings. The first one, Uzziah, was described as a king who, “as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.” His success, however, led to his downfall of pride. He decided to enter the holy temple to burn incense to the Lord and although over 80 priests tried to stop him, he still did what was unholy in the sight of the Lord and God struck him with leprosy for the rest of his life because of his disobedience and pride. Then, she had us study the reign of his son, Jotham. Jotham learned from his father’s mistake of pride and the Bible says that “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” but 2 Chronicles mentions that the rest of the people were continuing to live corruptly. When you read in 2 Kings 15 about Jotham’s reign it says the only thing he failed to do was to remove the high places—which I learned were elevated sites on hilltops that were dedicated to the worship of pagan gods. So, even though he walked “steadfastly before his God,” he didn’t fear his God enough above the people he had been placed over and therefore did not demand respect for the one and only God by a people that already knew they had been set apart by Him. I’m so excited to go on with the study, but it’s been amazing to see how even ONE area of weakness or bondage in a believer’s life can still hinder our ability to COMPLETELY live and serve our King! King Uzziah’s only fault recorded was an act of pride that led to his destruction, and King Jotham COULD have helped call an entire kingdom back to the God he already served, but his desire for man’s approval hindered him from the impact he could have had. I think far too often, we as Christians harbor one or two things that are just “our things that we struggle with” and we accept those areas of bondage as just part of who we are, when really, Christ died so that we could live in freedom from those things and help others find freedom in Him too! I’ve been so challenged by this because I realized that by my harboring even one area of weakness or bondage, it could greatly affect the impact I’m able to have here as we seek to minister to and lead these amazing people to freedom in Christ.
I wasn’t planning on sharing this whole last section this time, I know it made the post lengthy, but I just felt led to share it because it has impacted me so much and I know it could do the same for someone else.
I pray each of you reading this are encouraged today and find yourselves being overwhelmed by the faithfulness, the incredible grace, and constant love of our Lord. We love each of you!
Because of Him,
Autumn
Category Daily Journal |
I can hardly believe my eyes (and you probably can’t either;)… yep, that’s right, I’m blogging again! It’s about time.
There are a million excuses I could give for not blogging in months. I could tell you how busy we’ve been doing life and ministry here in Haiti, or how internet connections are often a struggle, or how when we get home and it’s almost time for bed, the last thing on my mind is writing a blog….and while all of those things are true, they are still just that–excuses.
The truth is, no matter how busy life gets here, or how tired I may be on any given day, there are some things that are too important to put off. One could argue that blogging isn’t a terribly important thing, and I would agree; however, for me, for us as we serve here in Haiti, I’ve realized it’s so much more than a “writing assignment.” Our whole reason for following the Lord’s call and remaining here in Haiti to serve Him faithfully is because we believe our purpose is to spend our lives seeking to give our Lord and Savior glory. We have such an incredible opportunity to literally “declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light,” and to share how He is doing that in the lives of those He’s allowed us to invest in here with the rest of the world that follows our blog, but too often we fall short in doing that. We want each of you to be able to rejoice with us in every victory the Lord allows us to be but a small part of, and to know how you can join us in fighting on your knees in prayer for the advancement of the gospel here in Haiti.
Also, it would be misleading of us to only share the highs of our life and ministry here, and put on a false facade that somehow we’ve got it all together, or that we are these incredible people who don’t ever struggle just like everyone else. I think that’s another reason that there are days where I don’t blog because I only want to share the good, but if Christ’s strength is made perfect and displayed in our weakness, then we shouldn’t hide them any longer, but rather eagerly share about how our Lord made Himself known in those moments of struggle.
I will admit, there are days where I want to run home to my sweet mama because the truth is, life is hard and there are days that it is really hard to live and serve in a country that is so vastly different from my “home.” But there are SO many other days, like today, where my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude and joy that our Lord has given us such an AMAZING opportunity to live and serve alongside our Haitian brothers and sisters. This afternoon, I was sitting in Bible study as my sweet husband explained 1 Corinthians 13 (aka the “Love Chapter” of the Bible) to the women in the fishing village after they had heard the chapter in their native tongue (thanks to an audio Creole Bible we are so blessed to have) and I thought my heart was going to explode. I was blown away in that moment by how truly incredible it is that God has allowed us the awesome opportunity not only to share His Word and His Gospel with others, but that we have been given the chance to do that in HAITI, in Calahan, with these precious women who He has allowed us to build relationships with. He has also given us the tremendous privilege of watching some of them come to know Him as Savior and have their lives truly transformed as a result. There are no words to adequately describe the joy and praise that fill my heart that our God has graciously allowed us to be a very small part of advancing His Kingdom here.
If that wasn’t enough, while we were spending time today checking on the kids at the mission, I was re-bandaging sweet little Michelet’s foot (he had worn a raw spot on his heel from trying to take his braces off). As I was finishing, in the sweetest, most sincere little voice he looked up at me and said, “Mesi” (which is Thank you in Creole). I wanted to burst into tears and kiss his sweet face at the same time. Interacting with all of them on a daily basis has taught me one thing about children and that is (if they’re not in trouble:) that they are extremely honest. The thing was, no one prompted him to “use his manners” or to say thank you, he just said it because he meant it. I’m constantly humbled and grateful that our God has given us such an amazing opportunity to be a part of all of these children’s lives. Each one of them is unique, spunky, creative (sometimes too creative!;), and precious in his or her own way. I don’t take for granted the incredible blessing of getting to be a part of their lives, and I’m constantly praying that the Lord would give us the wisdom to teach and love them the way He has called us to…in a way that shows them that there is a God in heaven who loves them with an everlasting, unconditional love, who will never leave them, and who despite what they’ve been through, has an INCREDIBLE plan and purpose for their lives.
I will try to be better at blogging. Even if no one else reads this, it is good for me to write about what God is doing here, how He is growing us, and what He’s allowing us to be a part of. The process of typing it out somehow helps to further imprint these things on my heart, and I need that.:)
Thank you for being patient with us, for praying for and with us, and for loving and encouraging us along this journey of faith. It’s often an uncertain one, but it couldn’t be more worth it. Nothing compares to the joy of knowing and following our Lord, no matter where He takes you.
Because of Him,
Autumn
Tags: fishing village, Haiti, Kalulan, Montrouis, together we can inc
Category Daily Journal |
That is correct – I am typing a blog. We have our internet situation “figured out”.. for now. So, as I sit here preparing for a meeting I thought I would update the world on what has been going on!
To start things off – Autumn and I rented a house. The Lord presented an awesome opportunity for us. We have been searching for a house for a while but have never found anything remotely close to our price range. We met a pastor and his wife – an amazing Godly couple – who were excited about helping a missionary couple. Autumn and I have never lived alone since we got married. We have lived in a school and an orphanage… both places lacked a very important thing – privacy. Even though we were very grateful in both places for a place to live! God completely blessed us above and beyond what we expected and deserve. The pastor and his wife made us a great deal on a house – just 3 miles from “the Mission.” Because of the size of the house, we also have the opportunity to host some mission trip teams. We had our first one last week (yes, the same week we moved in!:) and they were awesome. It not only allows us the opportunity to help some of our teams save money on their stay, but also gives us a great opportunity to minister to them and also helps us off-set a lot of our rent/living expenses. We are amazed, humbled and incredibly grateful for the Lord’s provision and display of His sovereignty in our lives.
So, moving on. In Jan – Feb, with the help of Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church and Together We Can, Inc we built a school! It was a school started after the earthquake, by a group of brothers, for a small secluded little area back behind the market in Montrouis. The area is called “Mango.” I met one of the brothers in the market selling food on the side of the road not long after I moved to Haiti. Every time I drove through Montrouis I would buy food from him. So, when we moved to Montrouis we started talking more. He is a great guy who loves the Lord. He told me about a school that he had, so one day I went to look. The school was a dozen or so sticks – about 7′ tall with a metal roof. There are about 80 – 100 kids who attend this school. It was heart breaking. I sat and talked with him and explained I had nothing to give him, but I told him I would pray with him that God would provide what they needed. Shortly after, I was approached by a group who wanted to help! By God’s grace we were able to build 6 classrooms for them, put a beautiful roof on it and are now building REAL school benches for the kids – something they have never had. They are so excited and grateful for what the Lord has and is doing in their community, and we are thankful to be even a small part of it.
We are also in the process of helping the school be self-sustaining. The Lord has blessed us with amazing partners – Palma Ceia and Together We Can – hopefully this summer we will launch an agricultural program to teach the students and help support the school and teachers.
The next project we have been working on with New Vision Ministries is a clinic in Calahan – the fishing village. The Lord has placed Calahan as a burden on our hearts. This is the poorest area in Montrouis. So far at the clinic we have poured the columns, beams and roof. We will start laying block tomorrow. This clinic building will house an eye clinic and medical clinic. We hope that this clinic will help meet the medical needs of the fishing village and help create a better standard of living in the poorest region of Montrouis. We hope that through the medical clinics held in Calahan we will be able to spread God’s love.
We have also been doing Bible studies in the fishing village since the summer of 2011 and English classes at Carrenard’s school in the fishing village since October of 2011. These are amazing times of fellowship with the fishermen, ladies and teachers. We have done Bible studies on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Romans and Galations. We have taught how to apply Biblical principals to their lives. We have also been blessed to see some of them accept Christ and grow in their relationship with Him.
The Lord has blessed us with an opportunity to minister to 13 of (who were once) the toughest ladies in the community. In 2010 the river in Montrouis flooded, washing away these ladies homes. New Vision Ministries started a program in 2011 to help these ladies support their families… and now a year later these ladies have been impacted but more so they have impacted the people around them – and us. In 2011 New Vision Ministries rented homes for the ladies and now this year we are trying to build homes for each of them. They are single room homes with a small front porch. We have finished the foundation of 1 home and are hoping to finish completely in the next few weeks. We would love your prayers and support for this project.
Please continue to pray for the fishermen, ladies, orphans and for the country of Haiti. That each one of them would realize their need for the Lord, and that they would each find eternal hope through a relationship with Him! We can do projects all day long to help better their lives here on earth, but if, at the end of the day, they don’t realize their eternal need for Christ and see His love for them, the projects are meaningless.
Always with Love,
Stephen
Tags: Haiti, ministry update, Montrouis, together we can inc
Category Daily Journal |
Today I was driving through the fishing village with Evans (Maestro) giving fish heads to the elderly people in our feeding program. And by the way, these are not your average fish heads. These are sailfish heads that are huge. So in the back of the car we have a huge cooler loaded with fish heads.
We stopped by one of the houses and out front were a group of kids. One of the little boys came up to the window and asked me for a dollar. I smiled and then remembered that I had some haitian coins in the car. I called him over to the window and gave him 5 Goudes. In Haiti, 5 goudes is considered “1 Haitian dollar.” So I gave him one coin. You would have thought that was it but he turned and started jumping up and down and screaming and smiling like he had just one the lottery! I was excited. I was pretty sure I had just made his day. But that wasn’t it.
I turned back around and noticed that all the little kids now had a piece of candy. I smiled and asked if he gave it to everyone. One of the adults standing there smiled and said “he knows how to share.” It made my day! I called him back over to the car and said because you shared I’ll give you another 5 Goudes. His face lit up again. He turned and saw two kids that didn’t have any candy and then looked back at me. He then ran off to buy more.
Amazing!
Stephen
Tags: fishing ministry, Haiti, haitian children, Montrouis
Category Daily Journal |
**written on 11-2-11**
Living in Haiti, we get to experience a lot of different things. Working hand in hand with people, helping train individuals, spread the gospel and so much more. A lot of times our blog makes it sound like nothing bad ever happens. Through this next story you will see the bad and the good.
Last weekend, all the teachers and the Reeves family took a trip down to Jacmel – on the southern side of the island –as a retreat. Autumn and I decided we didn’t want to go because she has been sick for a few days and we just needed to rest. The Reeves let us stay at their apartment for the weekend. So on Friday, everyone had left the mission, except the kids and the workers. Autumn and I came back once or twice a day to check on things. On Saturday, I went to the mission to get some food for lunch and headed back to the apartment. Not long after that I got a frantic phone call. It was one of the ladies at the mission saying they were scared and something about a kid and electricity. Autumn and I rushed over. As we were leaving, another lady called saying come quick… the boy has been electrocuted. We were extremely confused but we were on the way. When we got to the mission, there was a crowd out front. They had a boy, Kenny, laid out on a cardboard box. He was bleeding everywhere. He had burns all over his torso and neck and head. The back of his head had been busted open. The inside of his left hand was fried. I quickly moved everyone out of the way and we got him in the back of the car. We covered the wound on the back of his head and put some pressure on it….. and off we went.
Now to back up. Kenny is 13 years old. He lives a few hundred yards up the hill from the mission. Everyday – when he doesn’t have school – he is out front by the gate. He loves to help. He normally helps Louis take out the trash and help with anything else he can. Well, today he came in and was talking to some of the guys. He was talking about putting a wire up on the power lines. They told him don’t but he said don’t worry… I’ve done this before. He took a small piece of rebar as the weight, tied it to the wire and tossed it up on the power line. Next he took a rake to grab the end and pull it towards him. He then took an extra piece and started wiring them together. Oh, I forgot to mention that city power is on during this whole thing. So, he starts twisting them together and somehow – we are not exactly sure – caught a piece of the wire in his hand. It sent flames all the way up the wire, made an exploding sound heard a couple hundred yards away, threw him 10+ feet in the air. He landed next to the concrete block wall, however his head landed on the block wall.
We arrived at the hospital in St. Marc. We run in to the emergency room. No one really moved or did anything. I guess they thought I was lying about what happened. I told them “If you can’t help me just say you can’t help me and I will go somewhere else.” They all looked around like they were confused. I explained what happened again and then they seemed to understand. They cleared a space for him, set up his IV and started treating the burns.
His burns are bad. We thought we were going to being able to take him home yesterday but when we went to see him they were taking great care of him. The Dr said they are able to give him anesthesia when they change bandages and make sure he was healing. We decided it was better to let him stay longer. The Dr. that I talked to is an orthopedic surgeon. He told me that this weekend a group of Drs including a plastic surgeon are coming from Boston. He said if Kenny could stay they would look at him and be able to do skin grafts if needed. The Lord is so good.
When we were leaving, the Dr stopped me and asked if we ever had any kids who needed orthopedic surgery to give him a call. He said he would love to help. It was such a blessing to meet this Dr. We are servants to a great and almighty God who knows all of our needs.
Please pray for Kenny. He was ready to leave yesterday, and when he heard he was staying he started crying. We know it is hard on him, but right now the hospital is the best, safest and cleanest environment for him.
Through everything we see God’s grace and His power.
To God be the glory.
Stephen
Tags: anson, electrocuted, Haiti, kenny, Montrouis, St Marc Hospital
Category Daily Journal |
Well, we believe it’s time to announce an addition to our family…but no, Autumn is not pregnant.:) Everyone has heard us talk about Josiah… I’m sure! He is the cute little boy in all of our pictures on Facebook. We have absolutely fallen in love with this precious little boy that God brought into our lives. WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH … and we are about to start the ADOPTION process!!!
This little guy has changed our lives. We are so excited to “officially” bring Josiah into the Byxbe (& Whitby:) family. We are so thankful that the Lord has brought Josiah into our lives and for the love that He has given us for this sweet little one. We pray now that God will continue to lead and guide us on this new journey and chapter in our lives. We are both humbled and grateful God has given us an opportunity to pursue Josiah’s adoption. Our prayer is that God will continue to teach us how to be the parents that little Josiah needs because we know that we are nothing apart from Him!
So… to start off Josiah’s adoption process we have created a website www.JosiahByxbe.com. You will find our story, events and updates, videos and photos and lots of other good stuff. Because we have been so deeply blessed to have such an awesome “family” of friends and family members back home, we wanted to give each of you an opportunity to not only hear our story, but to become a part of our journey in whatever way you may feel led-whether that be in financial gifts, encouragement or prayer. We will keep the website updated as our adoption process progresses. We believe this will be a special season of God growing and strengthening our faith in Him.
As most of you know, adoptions–especially international ones– are very costly. For anyone who may wish to give towards his adoption, we have all of the information listed on the website under the “Help Bring Josiah Home” page. We’ve also designed t-shirts - which we LOVE 
– and hope you will too. You can check out the t-shirt online and also PRE-Order one online as well. When his adoption is complete, we would love to have a home coming party for him, and have everyone wear their “Josiah” t-shirts!:)
We can’t wait for everyone to meet Josiah. We are trying to get a travel visa for him to come home at Christmas.
As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support. We look forward to hearing from you and updating you about Josiah’s Adoption.
Always with Love,
Stephen & Autumn
- Help us bring Josiah home!
Category Daily Journal |
That’s right… currently E.D’h is running. Oh.. excuse me.. most people don’t know what that is – it stands for Electricity d’Haiti aka the power company. Another reason a lot of people don’t know what that is – is because it’s never on.
So, now I am sitting out on the porch, staring out at the ocean andthe Island of La Gonave, listening to the gentle hum of the transformer bringing in city power. And what better time than to write a blog.
We have been pretty busy lately between teams, sickness and getting ready to start Josiah’s adoption. This past week we had a repeat team, which was great to see some old friends, that did clinic work and a few other projects. Autumn and Josiah got sick with a little stomach bug so we were all inside for a few days. Once everyone started to heal up we started on adoption work. We are getting a website set up so people can stay in touch with everything that’s going on and the process. Also, we have been working on a t-shirt design so we can sell shirts to raise money for his adoption. We are getting very close to finishing everything and “launching” it. I promise there will be a blog when we launch it.
But life in Haiti… it’s like a roller coaster. There are HUGE ups and gigantic downs. The spiritual warfare going on here is intense. In the states most of the spiritual warfare and addictions fall into the category of shopping, money, finances and personal belongings. In Haiti, that is totally different. With witch doctors and voodoo, evil spirits are very present here. Satan has a more demonic and evil hand in Haiti than his consumerism/ greed approach in the states. Relationships are so important and are one of our primary focuses here. Well Satan is completely against building relationships – especially when they are Christ centered and kingdom advancing. Autumn and I have talked numerous times and say that we have to fight for every relationship we have here in Haiti because Satan is trying his hardest to break them all down. And while we are on that roller coaster of life in Haiti, there are ups and downs… but it sure is an amazing, exciting ride.
There is a sweet feeling knowing that Christ is victorious and that Satan has already been defeated. What a MIGHTY God we serve.
Continue to pray for the relationships that we are building. Pray that the Holy Spirit would open peoples hearts and minds to the gospel and that we would always continue to put our faith in Jesus Christ our ROCK!
Always with Love,
Stephen
Category Daily Journal |
I am so happy to be able to say that the reason that I don’t blog as much is because we are doing so much amazing stuff that we just don’t have time.
I love being a part of the orphanage and working in the Montrouis community. Today, I was able to see an example that we are known in the community and part of the community. We pulled up to a little school in the fishing village and I was looking for the director. I looked across the street and asked some ladies if they knew where he was (by the way I have no idea who these ladies are). They said they didn’t know, but then yelled over to some one else – who asked who was asking. They said Stephen… So we feel … accepted.
A week or so ago we were blessed to be able to take a little trip and visit some friends of Autumn and Sarah Temple’s. They work at the Baptist Haiti Mission. We spent Saturday night at their house and then Sunday headed back to Montrouis. We had such a wonderful time with them. As we headed home the next day, we decided to stop in Petionville to eat. When we parked, a teenage boy came up and asked to wash the car. I told him I didn’t have any money and didn’t need the car washed. He really wanted to so I tried to convince him not to. However, it didn’t work. When we came back – he was there. Asking to be paid for his semi-clean the car- job. I told him I was sorry but I didn’t have any money for him. As soon as I said that he decided it was time to take his payment. He took my cell phone and started running down the road laughing. I thought – no no no this is not happening. I took off after him… and to make this long story short – I got him – 2 blocks later! Thank you to everyone who has helped me develop my love for running! Autumn said he wasn’t smart for choosing to rob a skinny guy who ran in college!
So – this past week has been amazing. We had Soles4Souls – a group out of Nashville, TN. This was their second trip with us in Montrouis. They come and do distributions of shoes for school kids. We had such a great time with them. They were able to spend a lot of time with the kids in the orphanage and love on them. They brought tu-tus for the girls and capes for the boys. The kids were SO EXCITED. They also brought glow in the dark necklaces and lots of other fun toys – so the kids are having a great time right now.
We are so blessed to be here and are so thankful for all of your prayers! It is so great hearing from you and getting emails. We miss you all. We have only been married a little more than 6 months, but we love our family of 14 kids! Sometimes we feel like “Cheaper by the Dozen” but wouldn’t change it for the world! We love these children so much, and are humbled and honored to be a part of their lives on a daily basis. They bring so much joy to our hearts. Our prayer is that each one of them will be blessed with a loving, Godly family, but we’re also praying that if some of them never get adopted, that they will still know that they belonged to one here.
Love Always,
Stephen
Category Daily Journal |
*Written on 9-6-11*
This time there is no apology for the lack of blogs!! We have had so many internet problems… but better than that, we have been SO busy – in a GREAT way – that we just haven’t been able to do it.
However, TODAY!!! everyone gets an update.
In the last 2 months (yes that is how long it has been) things have really been moving! We have started a morning Bible study, Monday -Friday, at 7 am for anyone and everyone in the fishing village. This Bible study spurred off of a street drama that a team did about the life of Jesus. We had numerous people come to know Christ and we felt a call to help disciple them…. and Viola! 7 am Bible study.
So this morning Autumn and I are at the Bible study listening to Kerry explain the passage. We were on Matthew 7. We have a little radio that plays the Bible in Haitian Creole and every now and then we stop and explain what was going on and why it is important. Well in chapter 7, Jesus is talking and going through some amazing examples so we were stopping the recording a lot. When it got down to the story of the tree and it’s fruit in verse 15, I felt this burden. We had just talked about taking the narrow path and how it isn’t easy and now about how important it is to bear fruit in your life and that not everyone that calls out “Lord, Lord” will get to spend eternity with Christ. That is TOUGH. I SO want to help all of these people pray to accept Jesus but if they don’t do it out of their own choice and follow the will of God and strive to live a life after God’s will then they will come before God and just like verse 23 Jesus says “Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you, away from me you evildoers.”
So many times people are led into Christianity and are told “just pray this prayer”… That is all you have to do. No it’s not… THAT’S NOT IT AT ALL. As Christians, it is our job to make disciples, build relationships, show God’s love and be the hands and feet of Christ. We as humans cannot save a single soul – all we can do is show them Christ and then CONTINUE to disciple them.
So, on with the day. About a month ago, Autumn and I purchased a fishing net. I am going to have to paint a little better picture of it for you. It is about 3-4′ wide and about 200′ long. It has a block tied at each end and a gallon jug tied to long pieces of rope on each end. It is really good for catching lobsters, crab, and other little creatures in the ocean. After the interesting Hurricane Emily (I think that was the name) – the one that was a dud, but still shook up the ocean, our net got ripped up a little. I brought it back and fixed it, so today after the meeting I brought one of the fishermen back to the mission to help me get it. I told him I wanted to loan it to him so he could use it to fish and make some money. I just enjoy going out in the ocean, and it gives me time to talk with him and disciple him. So today we took the net and went out and put it in the ocean. He was extremely excited to have a net and I am looking forward to being able to spend more time with him.
After I came back from fishing Wesner and I started working on his house. He is getting married in December, so he is trying to finish his house before then. I have a bunch of Haitian friends who want to come do some “Ministry” work, so they are going to come pour the floor to his house on Friday morning and then I am going to take them to the beach. It is awesome to be able to teach Haitians about giving and being missionaries in their own country. I hope this is something we can do regularly.
*Updated on 9-19-11* After all the Haitains came to help, I talked to them about starting a program to do that regularly. They were very excited. So we started “Leve Ayiti” – or in English, Lift up Haiti. They will come up to Montrouis and once a month donate their labor to some project in the community.
I cannot wait to see how God uses this program.
Anyways, Wesner and I cut and tied rebar from 10 am until 5:30 PM. It was a long day but we are pretty much ready to pour the floor on Friday!
This day just seems to keep going.
The first day we ever came to visit “The Mission” the cutest little boy CLUNG to Autumn.. his name is Stevenson a.k.a Josiah. If you haven’t already heard about Josiah – then that is for another time. After I finished at Wesner’s house, Autumn and I had a meeting with Josiah’s dad about adopting Josiah and signing his passport. We were wondering how it would go before but about 30 seconds into the meeting we learned that he is an awesome guy and is so happy that his son is doing great and so happy that he is being taken care of. He was a little sad and asked when we were leaving.. and I told him we were going to be here for a long time. He immediately smiled and said “So I can come see him.” I was very happy to tell him that he could come see him whenever he wanted!
The past two months have been so great and I am so thankful for all of the blessings that God has poured out on us.
I am really looking forward to teaching art at our St. Marc school starting in a few weeks. It will be every Friday for a few hours. I can’t wait to see where that leads!
I just want to thank everyone for their support and prayer. We could not do this without you. We love you all so much!
God Bless,
Stephen Byxbe
Category Daily Journal |
Now that we are getting settled in here at the orphanage, Autumn and I have a feel for the needs here. Every time we are home people are always asking us how they can help.. and now we FINALLY have a definite answer and way to send it!
We are in great need of diapers and wipes for the children in the orphanage. Sizes that would fit a 2 year old – 4 year old. The smallest 2 year old is 20lbs. This is a huge need and would be an amazing blessing. The diapers in Haiti are not good quality and when we find ones that are good quality they are EXTREMELY expensive!
Here is how to get involved:
1. Purchase diapers and wipes.
2. Mail them to:
Reeves Family
Agape Flights 22157
100 Airport Ave.
Venice, Florida 34285
3. You’re done!
When we receive these packages our ministry pays $1.50/lb, so try not to put any bricks in the box 
Please don’t feel obligated to do this. We have had so many people ask for a way to send things and how they could help, so we wanted to let you know of this opportunity.
Always with Love,
Stephen and Autumn
Category Daily Journal |
