sing until the whole world hears

I love music. I love how one note can bring you to your knees, and one lyric and bring tears to your eyes or joy in your heart. No matter how long it's been since you heard a song you can still sing every word to that summer soundtrack or cheesy middle school dance songs. Songs define our lives, and how we remember. One of my favorite types of music is worship music. My life can be completely changed because of one song more than a speaker sometimes. They are timeless, and speak to our hearts. I have cried more singing an old children's church song than any pop ballad. Sometimes or really a lot of times, the Lord uses these songs to teach us something, tell us He loves, or calm His children. Sometimes it feels as if the songs was written just for you, and that the Lord is pleading with you to hear the words and be encouraged. But do we return it? Sometimes the songs are complete worship and glorification to the only one who deserves it. And we stand there reading off a screen or in a book or looking around because we already know the lyrics. If it had been a song on the radio from our childhood we would crank it up and sing at the top of our lungs with our friends and laugh at the memories. Why don't we treat the Lord's songs that way?  

This morning at church everyone was singing so loudly that I could not even here the music being played by the band. Can you imagine? An entire sanctuary filled with voices praising the same Father and making sure He can hear them. And then I realized that this happens every Sunday. Every Sunday we are singing at the top of lungs so loud the music is drowned out and our throats hurt. Shouldn't that be the case? Shouldn't we be hoarse after church and any time we are praising our Father? One of my biggest pet peeves are people that just sit or stand during worship with no participation. How can you not want to praise your Creator and Provider? Saying you 'Can't sing well' is not a reason or an excuse. The Psalms say over and over to sing a song and make a joyful noise unto the Lord, shouting in jubilation. Not that you must be able to sing on key, in pitch, and beautifully or you can't praise Him. But to sing and shout with joy. Joy. To the one who gives us the most joy. 

Whether we go to an old country church with only a piano or a larger church with a full band, we should be singing so loud that the music gets drowned out by the beautiful and joyful voices of his children. Our throats should hurt and be hoarse as we sit for lunch after church. So I challenge you to stand and sing, sing as loud as you can. Let the Lord move you, teach you, love you, and shout to him the great glory he is. I challenge you to sing so loud your voice hurts and those around you join in with a great joyful noise. He wants to hear your voice. He wants to hear your praises. He wants to be in your presence. Sing! Sing until the whole world hears! 

Living and Loving in Haiti

Sorry for the delay, we haven't had the internet working in awhile! But we are back and lots of goodies to tell you about. We had the privilege of having LifePoint church from Smyrna, Tennessee bring a team down and do some things in PAP! And even better MY MAMA was here during that time as well! We haven't had any visitors since I have been here so it was a great time to have houses full of new faces. We also had some other family and friends from the others staff here as well. The team was great! We liked them a lot and had a lot of fun with them! It was so wonderful to have Mother here for a few days! Hopefully next time Daddy and Willie will be able to come! 

Before the team and all the families got in the head honchos stopped by! The ever great Dr. Clint Doiron whose vision set many years ago is now manifested into Chadasha along with Chris Keylon and Greg Roberts. I go to church in Knoxville with Dr. Clint, but have never been in Haiti with him and was so excited to go along with his many adventures! They had a lot planned but we were able to go with them and see Dr. Clint in action as he checked on a precious little girl who had a heart problem  He wrote down everything about her and her family in his journal and after checking her in mere seconds had a drawing made to explain to her worried mother what was going on in her little girls heart and what would happen to help it! So amazing to see all this transpire! God has truly blessed this man and his ministry!

We got to do a lot of really great things with the team here and all the family! The guys that work with Chadasha have their own ministry they have started in their home community of Pernier, called God Supports Adults. One day we went with them and visited with two families that are having a hard time. It was a long and uphill walk to get to the families but always so worth it! We were able to bring them some food, and talk and pray with them. It was even cooler for me because I had seen theses same two families when I was here with Calvary back in March for Spring Break!! It was so wonderful to be able to visit with them again. One lady is still full of great spirits despite being in a wheelchair and no means for resources and extremely weak. Good news is this past Sunday the guys were able to provide transportation for her to come to church! She is the most precious lady, and her face lit up to be there and when we went to talk to her! Praise Jesus for providing small things for her! The other lady is in a constant great deal of pain because of her sickness she has in her bones and joints that has caused her great deformities. Prayers that she would find relief and a specialist doctor would find his or her way to PAP and to G.S.A. to see about her. If you would like to sponsor a family or children to go to school or make a donation for food and resources for these families that have nothing please let me know! (kendracheyennesummers@gmail.com)

Life Point team on the walk up! Great view!

Mama and some kids on the walk up

Mother and I!

One day we went to Batey 41. For those of you unfamiliar I will try and explain what this is. It is a part of Haiti isolated from the rest of the country. There is a large lake and Haiti wanted control of more of it. So there is a coastline of the lake that is Haiti, but if you walked 100 yards behind the village you are in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans and Haitians hate each other! This area is a very poor place because they are have access to anywhere. It is very near the border of Haiti and the DR but with no paperwork they cannon cross so they have boats that they take back and forth across the lake to get to the mainland of Haiti. The Jimani Project our ministry in the DR is on the border and has a great partnership with the Bateys. So we rode the boats on over to the Bateys and taught a small bible story with the younger kids class then walked around the village talking and praying with people. For those following from last summer I looked for Babas, but he was not there on that day. I always love going to the bateys! It is a different part of Haiti than PAP, and just beautiful!

On the boat to the batey!

We also of course went to the Children's Home! The team had gotten two pairs of shoes for each child along with several other pairs! So appreciated! The kids had so much fun trying on their new shoes and strutting around showing them off! It is always a fun day with the kids! The team also came with us to the tent camp. The guys helped with the men's class and the ladies split up helping with the women's class and the kids class. My kids loved getting to meet Mother and having the ladies teach class! They taught the creation story with fun had motions and we incorporated English lesson along with the story! And the kids had fun having some new friendly faces! They have even asked about everyone in the classes since they have left! Just a small way to make a difference in a child's life even if it seems so minute. 

Solomon decided he wanted to try on Mother's glasses

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

Rowen showing off his new shoes!

Mother with some of my tent camp kids!

One day we had an unexpected visitor  but we were oh so glad to have them! A precious girl from Canada, Emily, and her adorable 5 kids from her orphanage stayed with us while they got keys to their new house! Emily is a 20 year old who is running an orphanage on her own. She moved down to take over in April and has been taking care of these kids ever since. I met her in late July and they lived in a very tiny and run down house in a small town on the coast (where our beach property is!). They had received a new home for the orphanage in PAP from the Bridge2Haiti organization and were waiting on the keys. It was by far a wonderful experience to hear her story and love on some precious kids. She is in the process of being a legal and Haiti recognized orphanage which would help a lot! We were able to move all their belongings to their new house and clean everything for them! It is a beautiful amazing home that only the Lord could provide for them! If you would like to know more about Emily and her ministry or like to hep, check her out at www.himeforhelp.org! 

It was a great week with all the family and team with us in PAP! Love having new and excited people for Haiti and the Lord in our midst! The rest of the days after have been filled with English classes and Children's Home playing! Thanks for being a part of this great journey!

Me, Mother, and the ladies from LP

Haiti Life

So in the days since we last met I would like to recap all the activities that have been going on here in PAP!

Pernier is a close-nit community not far from where we live. We attend a wonderful church there, and it is the home to all our Haitian staff. We had the wonderful opportunity to help with a health fair that the church wanted to provide for the people in the community! We were put at the blood sugar testing table. We had a nurse and pre-med student with us so they took care of the poking, and I did the paperwork for each person. Because we are in Haiti there are limited supplies. We only had a handful of the, what you would call “normal” blood sugar testing, and the rest of the time we had to manually stab a finger with a lancet or small razor to draw blood. Sometimes my job turned into hold the person down, and I don’t blame them at all. I would not want a razor coming at me either!

Interns!

The whole group that put on the clinic!

All the interns have left now, and it is just Brittany and I holding the fort the rest of the year. This means I began teaching the tent camp kids on my own a few weeks ago. I’ll be honest, I was a litter nervous at first. I had only been assisting the others for the first part of the time here. To teach the kids we tape up pieces of construction paper to the wall of the bus that already have words on them because we have no other way to show them. 

So it is a little daunting to come up with an entire lesson and then right out everything you would normally write on a board before you even get there (teachers will understand that!). My first day went well, except for the fact we played a game to help them learn and it ended with half my kids face planting in the gravel…..but at least they came back next class. We were actually able to find chalkboard paint and some people volunteered to paint the buses for us! So I now have a wonderful chalkboard on the wall of the bus! This has been a HUGE blessing! Much more effective teaching this way. I LOVE LOVE teaching these kids, and being in the tent camp. They are a little wild with a lot of attitude, but we have fun. And they know I mean business. One class I had about 50 kids on the bus at one time! And if everyone who walked on the bus, stayed on the bus, we would have had at least 75 kids! Such a fun class! I even taught them Rocky Top :) and they loved it!!

Karadeux! My bus in the last one on the right!

My new chalkboard!

The kids at the Children's Home are doing great! Love getting to visit them and love on them during the week. We are also working on their English and learning skills. That has been an interesting task! We threw a birthday party to little Rowen turning 2! The kids loved the cupcakes, and had fun celebrating dear Rowen! Brittany was in a wedding right before Haiti and brought down lots and lots of sunglasses from the reception! We gave the kids some and they thought they were the coolest kids in town! 

While it is turning fall back home in Tennessee, it is staying a constant hot here in Haiti! Hard to believe I have been here over 2 months! Thanks for all your continued prayer and support!

Cheering on our Vols!