The past few days have honestly just sucked. People are starting to get on my nerves at times for little things they do and there are so many silly rules being put in place. I was sick all day yesterday and we were out all day doing things. But today changed my whole perspective. We have been going to Cite Soleil this week for mini-DTS. Today, I shared part of my story and about intimacy with Christ. At the end, I shared the gospel and invited people to accept Christ. I prayed with three people and one of them was a crazy experience. Her name was Helene and I could tell as soon as I started talking with her that something was wrong inside of her. She wanted to accept Christ and become a follower of Him, so I started leading her in a prayer. She was repeating all the normal things after me and when I got to a certain point, things started to get crazy. I told her to repeat, "Holy Spirit, I invite you to come inside of me and fill me up." Right after I said that, she started screaming and shaking and fell on the ground. We began to pray intensely over her and after the evil spirit had been cast out, she started to calm down. You could see a difference in her face. It was such an amazing thing to witness. It's funny that God would use me to carry this out. I'm the most conservative person on our whole team and there are so many people who are way more experienced with demons than I am. Jesus is so funny sometimes. She told me she couldn't go to church because she didn't have anything to wear there. It's a funny thing about Haiti. They think if you don't dress up, you're disrespecting God. It's such a lie, but also part of their culture, so it's hard to get rid of. A man came to us and offered to buy her an outfit so that she can go to church. It's such a blessing for her. I'm excited to see how she grows and changes. I don't know her well at all, but I could already see a change in her and there was something different in her voice. She has been freed from so much today.
I can't even believe everything God is doing here in Port-au-Prince! In the past two days, 25 people have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 2 people have been healed. And now, 2 people have been freed from demons (one was cast out by another team yesterday). He is working in lives here in amazing ways. He is working in me. He is working in our team. He is working in the residents of these tent cities. He is giving them a freedom they have never experienced before.
Please pray for protection for these new believers and for a deeper relationship with the Lord.

We talked for a while this afternoon. He told me he sees the Holy Spirit inside of me and angels all around me. He said God told him that I'm going to be blessed with wealth. He said he knows I'm a real Christian because I don't wear necklaces. Okay, so he's got some really really different beliefs. He used to be a voodoo priest. His past is full of darkness and evil. He showed me some signs voodoo priests use to communicate with spirits. He said they don't work until the priest says the password that Satan has given them. If they share this password, Satan will kill them. He told me about the terrible things he has done to women because they were justified in his religion. The priests can get away with anything.

   This past week has been so good. We've been doing a mini DTS at a tent city in Delmas 6, an area of Port-au-Prince. It's a really small tent city with maybe 30 or 40 tents all together, but we've been having a great time. Since there are fewer people here, it's easier to get to know some of the people. A bunch of them having been coming to us for prayer after the teachings. It's great to know they're being impacted by what God has to say to them through us. At least 4 people have come to Christ this week which is the best part of it all!! God is really moving in this city and in these people.
The kids here are so much fun! They love dancing and having tickle fights! I love getting to play with them every day! Here are some of their beautiful faces:

I woke up yesterday morning feeling nauseous and exhausted. I think I must have caught some kind of virus at the tent city. I ended up with diarrhea and vomiting all day, but it was okay because they were having some sort of riot by the palace because the President was coming to the palace which caused us to stay on base all day. The people started placing voodoo curses on the President the night before last. We could hear them yelling and screaming at four in the morning. I wake up almost every night to someone doing voodoo somewhere. They're really loud and it's kind of strange to wake up to. If I don't wake up to that, it's the crazy chickens. They're so annoying. I don't even know how we had chickens for so long on Whidbey. I am about ready to shoot one. Anyways, we weren't allowed to leave the orphanage at all yesterday because apparently whenever they have riots like that, they start to attack white people because they think we can do something about it. It's really dangerous for us to be out and about while that's going on. I'm not really sure if anything happened and we haven't heard anything about it. I'm really glad it happened on the day I got sick though, because I was basically stuck in a bed the entire day. I stayed back today from everything the team did because I still wasn't feeling great. It was so peaceful and I had like 6 hours to myself. It was so great just to rest and spend time with Jesus. I spent a lot of time praying for the team, which was great as well. It was tough for me not to go with them, but now I'm feeling completely back to normal. Apparently they had an awesome day with lots of healings and prayer. After mini DTS, they did food distribution in the poorest area of Port-au-Prince. I so wish I could have gone with them, yet today was such a blessing as well. I'm sure I'll have plenty more opportunities for ministry soon.

This week we started our first mini DTS. It was supposed to start on Monday, but the tent city we were planning on teaching at was getting food distributed, so apparently we couldn't go there. Instead, we went to a different tent city. They are all over the place here in Port-au-Prince. This particular one is the poorest in the whole city. We just played with some of the kids and took some pictures. They were so sweet but you could see the pain in their faces. Some of them couldn't even smile. I can't even imagine the horrors they've been through. A mother of one of the children invited us into her tent, which was awesome since it gave us a little bit of shade and great light. They absolutely love to have their photo taken and then see the picture after. So we spent a while doing that. Here's a few photos from Monday:

  We've made it to Port-au-Prince! It's awesome here! The weather is so much better. It's pretty hot during the days but then at night it cools down and it's windy and perfect. We're staying outside an orphanage in tents. The kids are so sweet and beautiful! A lot of them have severe disabilities or their parents died during the earthquake. Quite a few of them can speak English pretty well since they learn english at school, so it's fun to actually talk to them. The food is fabulous. I'm definitely NOT going to lose any weight like I thought I would.
Driving over the border yesterday was so intense. The government is so corrupt. They just want money and didn't even look at our passports. The people fight over food and basic things. There is mud everywhere and the people lack basic clothing. It's tough to even explain to you. The poverty is atrocious. But, in the middle of everything, they have things painted on their cars like 'Merci Jesus'. They have so much hope and joy. It is incredible.
Today we drove around the city to a bunch of places where the destruction is the worst. These are all the places they show you in the news and stuff. Most of the city isn't nearly as damaged as I thought it would be. But these places we went to today were utterly destroyed. We went to the President's Palace. They were telling us about how all the leaders of the country are going to other countries and not taking care of Haiti. When they built this building, they killed a bunch of virgins and mixed their blood into the foundation, which is some kind of voodoo practice. There are statues outside the gate of a bunch of voodoo leaders. When they were built, they killed a bunch of pregnant women and buried them underneath those. The voodoo beliefs are crazy and so satanic. We also visited a destroyed cathedral. We prayed blessings over it, but they said the voodoo leaders just curse it and take the blessings away. There are things I can't even believe happen here. This religion is killing the country. However, more people have turned to Jesus after the earthquake than have in the past 35 years. They are desperate for Him.
We also visited a clinic, which had mostly babies. Some of them were so small and had such severe malnutrition and my heart just broke for them. We prayed over so many of them, but I want so badly to do something. Isn't it crazy that Americans have big fancy houses and huge SUVs and more food than they know what to do with and still want more, yet these children are dying just because they aren't able to get the simplest things in life? It makes me so sad.
Amongst all of this, I find so much joy. Jesus loves these people so much! They have an incredible perseverance. They are so beautiful. There is so much hope for them if they will only seek God. I am so excited to see what God has in store for this country!
I'm so sorry for the lack of photos. We'll be taking more as we build relationships and people become more comfortable with us. We don't feel right just clicking our cameras around at anyone. So, just be patient with me. It won't be long.