Over the last few months, it seems that the topic of being called to service for the Lord has been coming up in many of my personal devotions and in sermons in Haiti and in some of the sermons that we have randomly listened to through our church sermon streamer. At first, my feeling was that God has already called us and we are doing our reasonable service; we're good! As this topic continued to come up, I began to wonder if God was calling us to a different type of service and I began to study the topic more. As my study continued, it became apparent to me that God wasn't calling us to another event of service, but that He is always calling us to serve Him. In essence, the call to service is not an event, but the way of life for those that follow Christ and call Him Lord.
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Deuteronomy 13:4
As our work in Haiti has grown, changed and expanded over the last few years, it is encouraging to look back and see how God has called us to serve others and the hospital that is the heart of our mission here. While the work continues to be challenging, we do see that God is blessing this mission and continuing to provide what is needed in his time.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been blessed with many work teams, both medical and construction teams, that have come to Bonne Fin to serve. While it has been busy, we are thankful for the willing hearts and hands of those who came and answered the call to serve in Haiti for a week.
Answering the Call...
We also appreciate several people that were able to commit to longer terms of service for several weeks or months. We are currently blessed to have Dona Fehr serving as our missionary school teacher until the end of May and Anna Tieche serving as a Medical Department Intern. Anna returned home this past weekend after serving here for 6 weeks and she hopes to return soon to serve for a longer period of time.Believing that God has called them to long term service as missionaries, the Nussbaum family joined our team in February. They moved from Forrest, IL.
The two older Nussbaum children have increased our school size to 8 students and they are fitting right in with the other missionary kids. We are especially thankful that Alayna and Tucker are each just a few months older than Mara and Krae and that all of the school kids enjoy being together.
After a few months of language training and acclimate to Haiti, Raya will work in the hospital using her skills as an RN. Lucas also has lots of skills in electrical, carpentry and general maintenance so his skills will be valuable as well. We thank God for working in their hearts and prompting them to come and work alongside us.
God has provided another family for our work at Hopital Lumiere as well. Keith and Kristi Caldwell are from Nashville, TN and have been in Haiti since the summer of 2016.
They came to Haiti to help a mission organization open a medical clinic near the Les Cayes area. As God's timing and plan for that mission changed, Keith and Kristi were looking for a place to use their medical skills. Keith is an APN (Nurse Practitioner) and Kristi is a Dietician. They found Hopital Lumiere and joined our medical team in February as well and we are thankful that Keith has been able to jump in and start using his skills. Since they have lived in Haiti for several months already, they have some language skills and have acclimated well.
In addition, we are very thankful to welcome Carrie Stoller from Latty, OH to our missionary team this coming June. Carrie is also an APN and will complete the medical missionary team. After many months of having too few or no medical missionaries, we are very excited to have a full team! Praise the Lord!
While we are thrilled to have a team with strong medical skills, we are praying that God will move hearts to consider joining our team in the next few months and years.
Opportunities to Answer the Call to Missionary Service...
We are currently looking for a Teacher for the 2017-2018 school year at our Missionary School. We ask for your prayers for a teacher and also ask that you help us spread the word. If you know of someone who might be a good fit, please ask them to pray about serving as our teacher. If you feel God leading you to serve in this way, please feel free to contact us with questions about the school and children.See details for this position on the HarvestCall Website: http://www.harvestcall.org/teacher-for-missionary-school1
We are also looking for missionaries who believe God is calling them to service in Haiti to fill roles of Director of Operations and Facilities Department Director as the Plattner and Zimmerman families plan to return home in 2018. It usually takes about 1 year to complete the process and planning of sending missionaries to the field so it is not to early to answer the call for these positions if you believe God is directing you in this way. Visit the HarvestCall Website for details on these positions as well:
http://www.harvestcall.org/director-of-operations-at-hospital-lumiere-haiti
http://www.harvestcall.org/facilities-department-director-at-hospital-lumiere
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service...
...Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy with cheerfulness. Romans 12: 1,
We can be very thankful that God has given each of us different gift and abilities. We see on the mission field how each person is used in different ways according to God's purpose and the gifts He bestows to each one. At times, in our humanness, we begin to worry about who will come to fill the different roles here, but the Bible reminds us...
In thee, O Lord do I put my trust... ...for thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me and guide me. Psalms 31:1, 3
