I would like you to take 45 seconds and watch the video
above before you continue reading.
The lives of over 2 million Haitian's changed in the amount
of time it took you to watch that video.
I just returned from an eleven-day trip to Haiti, where I saw
what happens when the ground shakes for 45 seconds. It is mind boggling to see
one building still standing next to a building that is completely flattened like
a pancake and a building that looks like it would fall if you sneezed.
In 45 seconds, lives were drastically changed for the course
of time. Loved ones were buried in the rubble, jobs were lost, valuables were
destroyed, but hope was found.
Hope was found.
Everything around these people crumbled in 45 seconds. They
did not know where they would get their next meal or where they would rest
their head. The life they had created for themselves was demolished in the time
it takes me to brush my teeth and wash my face.
Haitians are picking up the pieces around them. They have no
other choice but to. They are not complaining. They are not saying ‘woe is me';
they are moving forward.
Many have turned to Christ in this time and are praising Him
that they are alive. They have nothing else but they come before God and give
Him all they have.
It took 45 seconds for Haitian's to fall to their knees praising
God that they were alive. Now they give Him everything they have.
I still don't give Christ EVERYTHING sometimes.
Jesus, everything that can be shaken from me that is not of
you, shake off. Shake me until I
realize that you are all I need.Bring me to my knees in awe of who you are.
Who knew that in 45 seconds everything could change.
Liz Froba wrote the following Blog. I really could not have put it in better words. I promise I will write more blogs when I get back. Tomorrow I go to Carrefour and Leogane. Please pray for us as we head into the hardest hit areas for the next 5 days.
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I'm not really sure what to say to do justice to the mass destruction I saw today as I drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince today. Smells wafted through the air, buildings were destroyed, people were everywhere, tent cities seemed to be every 500 feet, trash and who knows what else burning and there was nothing I could do but pray. We saw the Capital Building and even though I saw the image a million times on CNN it was different to see it live and take it in. It is amazing the amount of destruction and lives that can change in a mere 45 seconds. That isn't a real long time in the grand scheme of things, but then again, imagine shaking uncontrolably for that long. Not something I want to try anytime soon.
Haiti has always been an extremely impoverished country. This is my sixth time in Haiti and the need here has always been great. I think the question many have asked is why God? Why would you allow this to happen? I know you are sovereign and working, but what are you doing? You could've stopped this and you could clean it all up with the snap of your fingers if you wanted, so why? Why are you allowing your people that you love to suffer and starve while I live in a comfortable home in America with far more than I actually need.
We visited 2 towns on the outskirts of Port today. We went to Leogane and Petit Goave. Both were hit pretty hard. A 25 year old girl who was trapped after the earthquake in her house gave us a tour around the local refugee camp. The children ran and hugged us as we walked through the tent city; like any other kid they begged for their picture to be taken and giggled every few seconds. One thing that rings true everywhere in the world is that kids will be kids. It gave me HOPE. At both locations we were able to bless the people with bags of food and money. Every person got a bag with: rice, beans, sugar, tomato paste, oil, sardines, and oats. They also got canned food, toothbrushes, toothpaste and money. Even though it seems trivial to give out 300 food bags when so many people have needs it gave me HOPE. That is what God gave us to give out, so we obeyed. Sister Gladys is pretty unreal. To watch her give and give and give has challenged me more than anything else this week. She is a cheerful giver and loves to bless others. Every word out of that women's mouth is another ounce of wisdom and truth. I'm just trying to soak it all in while I'm here.
This blog is kind of random. I don't really have a point and I haven't processed much at all. I'm stuck on why. It is still the question I'm trying to figure out and I probably won't get an answer anytime soon, which I'm okay with. As we drove home tonight I was praying and I thought about the times in my life I've asked that same question. There have been several times actually. I remember when my father died suddenly the day before I turned 17. I was so angry and didn't understand why God would allow that to happen and especially in the manner that it did. But 14 years later even though I don't know WHY it happened I have seen God use it in my life and in others. I am a different person because of what I went through. So as I was listening to worship music, looking at stars and praying, I again felt a sense of HOPE for Haiti. HOPE that because of what they have gone through they will be different people. HOPE because God is sovereign over all things, even this earthquake. HOPE because every single person in all creation has a Father who loves them. I'm thankful to be here with my friends. Please keep praying for them and giving as you feel led. You can give at http://www.canaanorphanage.org - I can assure you your money will go to help those in need.
PS - For all you Canaan lovers, the kids are HUGE. They boys are taller, the girls are 16 going on 25. CRAZY. Even the little ones are growing up. They are still full of smiles and joy too! Come visit them, they miss you and would love to see you!
I will post an album on Facebook with a lot of pics soon...for now this will have to do!
My bags are partially packed, my first of the month bills
are paid and my passport lies on top of my waist belt. I am ready. At least I
think I am.
I sit in bed and ponder what it is going to be like going
back to a land that stole my heart 12 months ago. I have heard the stories of
how the Lord is moving down there and have a deep excitement to experience the
Holy Spirit's power.
I wonder how this trip will change my life. I wonder what
the Lord is going to show me when I am down there. I wonder how the vision He
has given me will shift with the opportunities He is providing me.
My mind is in a million different places.
I keep wondering
if I have all my ducks in a row.
But deep down I know none of that will matter
the second I step off the plane in Port-Au-Prince on Saturday morning. I know
that none of that will matter the second I lock eyes with a child who is in
need. I know none of that will matter the second I feel God prompting me to
give all my food to someone who has none. I know none if it will matter because
God is bigger than it all and He is in control! PRAISE THE LORD THAT HE IS IN
CONTROL!!!
There is nothing I can do for the Haitians. My friend who
just got back from Haiti says, "God is doing just fine down there, He doesn't
need us." And its true. God doesn't need me, but He will use me if I am
willing.
"Here I am Lord, send me"
I travel to Haiti on Saturday and expect nothing more than
to have my world completely rocked over the next 11 days.
One year ago today I
was in Les Cayes, Haiti marching down a street with 60,000 Haitians. We were
worshiping God on the first day of Festival.
Yesterday I heard
from AIM's on the field teams that the President of Haiti has suggested that Christian's
in Haiti spending this Festival weekend praying and fasting.
Friday over 6,000 people
met at one of the churches we are working at and spent time praying and
worshiping God. They were asking God to COME to their nation.
God is bringing
redemption to Haiti. There is no question about it. God is all over that
country. Reports continue to come in that people are accepting Christ at every
church service. Voodoo priests are turning from their sin and accepting
Christ.
I am writing today to
ask you to join Haiti in prayer and fasting.
While the media is
starting to fade, we cannot forget about Haiti.
Financial and
physical support is needed but nothing is needed more than our prayers.
Please, please,
please PRAY. It is the most important thing we can do.
Our Pastor's down
there tell us that they are worried about people pushing God away once things
start to get back to ‘normal'.We
must pray against this. We must pray that they enter into a true relationship
with Christ and allow Him to be their everything.
Late this afternoon I spent some time sitting on the banks
of Lake Lanier.Contemplating life
I suppose. You see as of recent I have been asking God why He isn't saying
‘yes' to my requests to go to Haiti.
While I was sitting on the bank I kept hearing the question,
"Teri, would you be satisfied if where I currently have you is the closest you
will get to Haiti?" I found myself answering ‘no'.
Then I started wondering what it means to truly be satisfied
in life. Do the things I have make me satisfied? Does the car I drive or the
things I eat make me satisfied? Does my job or living in Gainesville, GA make
me satisfied?
I felt God asking me if I was the richest person in the
world and lived in a high rise apartment in New York City would I be satisfied?
If I had a husband and lived in a cabin on a lake would I be satisfied? If I
lived in Haiti and had no money would I be satisfied?
The thing that would make me the happiest person right now
would be to be on a plane to Haiti. What makes you the happiest you could ever
be?
Then I realized that I was allowing situations to determine
how satisfied I was. When what I need to be doing is seeking after God's heart
24/7.Sometimes I am to focused on
being a do-gooder and miss the point that I just want to be closer to the heart
of God. Sure while I am getting closer to the heart of God I am doing good
things but I cant let the things become the focus of my satisfaction.
I came to the conclusion that God was trying to get me to
find all of my satisfaction in Him.
" Come all who are thirsty, come to
the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat..." " Why spend money on
what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to
me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
–Isaiah 55:1-2
If I seek Him and run after His heart to fill me up and to
satisfy me it will not matter where I am or what circumstances I am in. If I am
satisfied with the Father I should be content anywhere He has me.
I am still trying to understand all of this. I would be
lying if I told you I could say I would be satisfied IF God told me I was never
going back to Haiti. I believe God wants me in a place where no matter my
circumstance and no matter my desires I am satisfied with only Him.
** God has not told me I am not going back to Haiti just to make that clear**
I have found myself in a few different forms of media over the past few days. About a week ago an article was written about me in Relevant Magazine. The article is republished here. The author is David Roark.
Then yesterday myself, Clint Bokelman (AIM's short term mission director) and Corey Jacobs (AIM short term setup, just returned from Haiti) were interviewed by a christian radio station. The audio is below the Relevant Magazine article. My part starts 11 minutes into the broadcast.
For this generation of believers, the inevitable reaction to a national disaster is talking. Young people are blogging about what leading Christian voices said. They are trying to understand why God would allow such a devastating event to occur. But such a response is really no different than apathy, if nothing gets done.
Three years ago, blogging and discussion might have also been Teri Gunnink's reaction to the cataclysmic earthquake that struck the Republic of Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, killing thousands of men, women and children. Back then, she barely knew the country existed-it was merely an island on the map. Gunnink had absolutely no clue that God had already arranged for her to unveil His kingdom to the Haitian people. In fact, she had other plans.
Growing up in tiny Aztec, New Mexico, Gunnink always dreamed of doing missions work. As a child, she had a strange obsession with Africa. Though, the thought of traveling halfway around the world and ministering to individuals she knew nothing about seemed unrealistic. So she set her ambitions aside and started thinking "practically," which led her to the University of New Mexico to major in Business.
Before long, though, Gunnink's childhood desires began to reappear. After graduating college, she found herself googling "long-term mission trips." Her first search result was AIM (Adventures in Missions). But after examining the costs of traveling internationally, she gave up. Something, however, kept bringing her back to the website, and when she started reading blogs about what God was doing across the world, she couldn't help but apply.
Meanwhile, her church was planning a mission trip to Guatemala. When she refused to go, and members of the congregation asked why, she told them God was not calling her overseas. With AIM and now Guatemala right in front of her, reality was sinking in. "I was scared that if I went on my first international mission trip, I would never want to stop that type of work," Gunnink says. Nevertheless, her peers eventually persuaded her to go.
By January 2009, God had supplied the funds, and she was launching out of the United States with more than 50 others on The World Race-a yearlong missions adventure in which individuals in their 20s journey through more than 11 countries and compete in extraordinary challenges, from sleeping on floors and eating bugs, to working with church plants in the world's most impoverished areas. Not only was she living a childhood dream, Gunnink was finally following God's calling on her life.
After spending the first month in the Dominican Republic, Gunnink's team traveled by vehicle to the second stop-Haiti. Gunnink wasn't looking forward to this leg of the venture. "I had no desire to go there," she recounts. And she wasn't welcomed kindly. Gunnink saw tremendous poverty: people sleeping in garbage piles, children without clothes, restrooms and wells in the same location. It was a shadowy wasteland.
While driving through Port-au-Prince, Gunnink and her team were advised by local missionaries to make no sudden movements or distractions. Haiti's average daily income is around one dollar, so it's not uncommon for vehicles to get hijacked and robbed when they are stopped, as many Haitians are simply trying to find a way to survive.
The team made it out safely though, and eventually arrived in Les Cayes-a seaport in southwestern Haiti. They began helping out at a local orphanage: teaching English, renovating a building, playing with the children. "There was hope in the kids," Gunnink says. "The children at the orphanage would voluntarily worship God at night. They would find a barrel to drum, a stick to hit a chair with and offer up their beautiful voices to the one true God. It was the purest form of worship I had ever seen." The kids had nothing, yet they were still thankful to God.
One night, as the orphans were preparing for bed, an adorable 4-year-old girl named Claudia crawled up in Gunnink's lap and fell asleep in her arms. "It was the single most precious thing that has ever happened to me," Gunnink says. "The child was at peace. As I held her close and felt her heartbeat on my chest, I began to wonder, Where were her parents? Did she have memories of them? Had she ever felt love before? Claudia had my heart."
The two became inseparable over the short period of time. When Gunnink would wake up in the mornings, Claudia would be there waiting for her. They would walk together, talk together. Gunnink was falling in love-not just with Claudia, but Haiti.
And as the trip came to a close, she spent a night praying for her new little friend. "During this time, I definitely knew the Lord was leading me back to Haiti in some capacity," Gunnink recalls. The Caribbean country that she had once greatly dreaded was now on the radar as her future mission field.
Haiti never left Gunnink's mind or heart. While in South Africa during July, she worked with a children's village. These small villages are made up of no more than 10 children living in a home with a Christian married couple who raise, disciple and ultimately just love them. "When we were working there, I felt like God was telling me to start a children's village in Haiti. This is when I knew what I was going back for," Gunnink says.
Six months later, before the earthquake, she was already planning to go back-to work at an orphanage and medical clinic in Montrouis. Gunnink currently has a plane ticket to Port-au-Prince for Feb. 29, but with the Haitian international airport down, she's not sure how everything will work out. Nevertheless, she is praying.
The truth is, not everyone will have a vision and love for Haiti like Gunnink's. Not everyone can physically go and respond to the disaster. People have jobs, families. Not everyone can give, either. And despite how easy it is to debate and complain about secondary issues, the response that carries no excuses and only makes sense is prayer.
Brittany Hylton is a normal ten year old. She rides bikes,
swims in the lake, and dreams of owning a horse. For the past 5 years she has
saved up all of her money to buy this horse. She wants nothing more than to
have it.
Last night Brittany heard a story about a 2-year-old Haitian
leaving a Dominican hospital wearing bandages dripping with blood and a dry IV
bag because her mother needed to return to Port-Au-Prince to find her other children.
Brittany has decided that her dream to own a horse can be
put on hold to provide medical care to Haitians. She went to her father and
told him she wanted to give all her money to Haiti relief.
Brittany is no longer just normal, she is extraordinary!
This is a video of Jeff Hylton, Brittany's father,
recounting the event.
I'm not really sure what to say to do justice to the mass destruction I saw today as I drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince today. Smells wafted through the air, buildings were destroyed, people were everywhere, tent cities seemed to be every 500 feet, trash and who knows what else burning and there was nothing I could do but pray. We saw the Capital Building and even though I saw the image a million times on CNN it was different to see it live and take it in. It is amazing the amount of destruction and lives that can change in a mere 45 seconds. That isn't a real long time in the grand scheme of things, but then again, imagine shaking uncontrolably for that long. Not something I want to try anytime soon.
great. I think the question many have asked is why God? Why would you allow this to happen? I know you are sovereign and working, but what are you doing? You could've stopped this and you could clean it all up with the snap of your fingers if you wanted, so why? Why are you allowing your people that you love to suffer and starve while I live in a comfortable home in America with far more than I actually need. 
This blog is kind of random. I don't really have a point and I haven't processed much at all. I'm stuck on why. It is still the question I'm trying to figure out and I probably won't get an answer anytime soon, which I'm okay with. As we drove home tonight I was praying and I thought about the times in my life I've asked that same question. There have been several times actually. I remember when my father died suddenly the day before I turned 17. I was so angry and didn't understand why God would allow that to happen and especially in the manner that it did. But 14 years later even though I don't know WHY it happened I have seen God use it in my life and in others. I am a different person because of what I went through. So as I was listening to worship music, looking at stars and praying, I again felt a sense of HOPE for Haiti. HOPE that because of what they have gone through they will be different people. HOPE because God is sovereign over all things, even this earthquake. HOPE because every single person in all creation has a Father who loves them. I'm thankful to be here with my friends. Please keep praying for them and giving as you feel led. You can give at 
Late this afternoon I spent some time sitting on the banks
of Lake Lanier.