First mention of Haiti at Ellerslie

On Wednesday of our first week at Ellerslie, Eric got up to give his morning message. This would be our first sermon we had heard from him. (Monday we were going over the handbook, and Tuesday, we had a session called "Foundations," which was basically background information that he would allude to during the course of our training that we needed to understand.)

First, however, he started in by asking for a show of hands for those whose air conditioning units were not working. He apologized very generously to the students who had suffered in the heat, and he said that they were working on getting some replacements installed. He was very accommodating, inviting anyone whose air conditioning unit was broken to sleep in certain classrooms that he named (one for the guys and one for the girls) where the air conditioning worked. The temperatures had soared past 100 degrees, and we were close enough to see the smoke plume from the largest wildfire in Colorado history which was raging out of control at that point.

"June is usually not as harsh as this June is," Eric said. "June is usually a very pleasant month. So hopefully, before the end of June, we get a little more of that pleasantness. This has been a little extreme since you guys have been here. But God knows you're training for missionary work, probably. [...] It's hard to sleep in--what's the guess of how hot a room has gotten so far? Any estimates? 105? Very comfortable. See, in Haiti, that'd probably be comfortable. It's all in perspective."

Interestingly enough, the air conditioning unit in my room worked perfectly, but we hadn't bothered to turn it on. Neither my roommates nor I had wanted it. We were comfortable. God has built me for hot weather.

Eric went on to call Christy up to the front of the room. I have already introduced you to her blog. She was going to be leaving the next day for Haiti, and He was going to allow her to share about the trip and ask for prayer requests, and then have a prayer time for her. First, though, he explained a little bit about the mission. (I am quoting at length from the transcript of his message. I have taken the liberty to remove "uh's" and some other vocal fillers like "and so" for better flow and readability.) I know that this post is quite lengthy, but it explains from the beginning the why and how of Ellerslie's (and thus, by extension, my own) connection to Heather Elyse and her ministry.

"It’s a very significant thing that Christy is participating in, and I want us to be very alerted spiritually to what is taking place down in Haiti. Leslie and I received a phone call (or an email, I don’t remember how it came) from a lady that runs a rescue mission down in Haiti, a month, month and a week (you know, somewhere around that) ago, and she said she had two little babies that were abandoned. They didn’t have names, they didn’t have birth dates, and she wanted to know if we would give them names and a birth date—and if we would consider adopting them.  

"If you knew our life, you’d understand how comical that is; however, Leslie and I have a pre-agreement with God that our answer is yes. When God shows us a need, our answer is yes, and then, we don’t just say yes to the person asking, we take it to God, and we say, “God, is our answer to them yes?” In other words, “You can still say no, but God, our answer is yes.” And He didn’t change the situation, so suddenly we were saying, “Sure! We’ll adopt two babies” (as if babies are easy to take care of).  

"And so, it’s Haiti, and Haiti is very unpredictable, but, so, we’re in the midst of that, but that’s sort of a side story, even though Christy is associated with that, because one of the things she’s coming down to help with is our two little babies. [...] 

"And so, this is obviously very personal for Leslie and I, but there’s more to it, and that is that this lady finds herself in a very unique situation, where, in working with the government, the government is turning to her with all these abandoned babies, and there’s just loads of them.  

"They don’t really struggle with abortion the same way they do here in America down in Haiti. They struggle with abandoned babies, because their form of abortion is to have the baby and then give it to an orphanage or abandon it. And so it’s a problem of epidemic proportions, I mean, it’s very significant. And if we were to find an abandoned baby, it would be shocking to the American culture; it would make front page news. Down there, it’s just, you know, an everyday occurrence.  

"Heather has been there two years, and she has (I still need to figure out the numbers; I keep forgetting to ask Annie for exact numbers), but it’s like she told me she had around 138. I think she’s already adopted out 78 back in the United States. Her desire is to get these kids into Christian homes. And I think she has, I want to say, around 138, and (this is where I need to get my math correct now), she has like 96 that she has no space for, that are living in hospitals, that she’s paying for, just because she has no space, so meanwhile, she’ll still take care of them, even though she can’t personally put them anywhere.  

"She has a massive need, and she’s the only American down there. She has like 70 Haitian staff. And the Haitian staff really struggles with nurturing the way that we would understand nurturing. You know, we’re Americans. We understand what it means to “cootchie coo” and cuddle and kiss on cheeks, and to hold. They’re more of a practical assistant. They’ll serve, help, and they truly do love the kids, but they don’t cuddle and nurture and love the same way, and a lot of the babies fail to thrive, and so a lot of them are dying. In fact, these babies are being handed over to Heather, and a lot of them are basically, you know, special needs, and they’re just dying. It’s just a matter of days before they die. So loads of babies have just died in her arms, just loads of them. So her desire is to see that they are treated the remaining days they have like royalty. And it really is a moving thing that’s taking place down there.  

"What we are doing is we are trying to know how we can assist. Right now we have a very clear thing to do, and that’s to take care of a few babies that are down there. We have just a handful down there. And so, right now, it’s Annie, Gerda, and Christy, are going down. That’s very strong. If you knew those three, you’d know that we’re putting a lot of strength down there at this time. 

 "They’re going to be staying at a place called Club Indigo. What do you guys think of Club Indigo? It’s nice. It’s like one of the nicest properties in Haiti, and it’s right on the ocean. However, because it’s so nice, it’s a place of a lot of darkness. So the UN will always come in on the weekends and just, you know, just be rowdy and obnoxious, and uh, the amount of junk, I guess, that takes place there, like a lot of the sex trafficking, a lot of the prostitution, a lot of it’s taking place there. So that’s where Christy’s going."

At this point, Eric related some facts that made the blood boil of probably everyone in the room, which I have withheld from posting to my blog. Then he continued.

"All I know is, we’re to be faithful with the little window we have, and here we are, sending down three young women. But these are tough-as-nails young women, just so you guys know. Christy might look all mild-mannered, but she knows how to fight spiritual battles. And she’s going into a very destitute situation, but I tell you what—I think this light is going to make a huge impact. And you have to realize what’s backing her up: THIS. Imagine if we get on our knees and support what’s going on down there."

I was listening to his whole narrative with a pounding heart, feeling like all I wanted to do was book a flight to Haiti and go down there and serve. But his next remarks brought my enthusiastic flights of fancy back down to be firmly grounded on a practical level. 

"The potential of impact we have down there is massive. But we have to take it one step at a time. And so, I don’t want you to feel “called to Haiti” just yet. Ok? What I want you to do is feel called to pray. For Christy. For Gerda. And for Annie. I want us to pray very specifically for this. 

 "It’s actually fairly expensive to send people down there right now. And I’m not just talking about the plane ticket; I’m talking about living down there. And the apartment is $1200 a month. Uh, yeah, so you think Haiti, uh, 5 bucks a month? And so $1200. It’s 'cause it’s such a, you know, just the environment. It’s Club Indigo. And so, it’s a very interesting dynamic that we’re dealing with. 

 "I did talk with Heather yesterday morning. Heather was—Heather is, as of of right now, planning on coming to Ellerslie on July 4^th. And I don’t know if she’ll be here for the rest of the summer. But she may have 17 of her kids with her. Yeah, could you imagine what that’s going to be like? Adding that to this environment?  

"So I’ll give you updates as that progresses, but she is—she’s at wit’s end right now. She is absolutely spent. She’s up almost all night every night. She has babies being dropped off. She has crises, hospital emergencies, constantly. And she has—I don’t know if it’s 17 kids or 13. I still haven’t figured out the math on that, either. But personal children. And she’s trying to raise them without a husband. And so she wants the strength that is here. 

"And so we have two things going on here. We have the potential to minister here in that regard, and we have the potential of sending our strength down there."

Then he opened up the microphone for Christy to share, and then her family went up on the stage with her and prayed. 

My attention had been riveted through the whole presentation. It was as if a fire had ignited within me. I must have sat there, visibly shining with the desire in my eyes to go. I wanted to go--but I held it loosely before the Lord, waiting on His timing. If He wanted me to go, he would call me and make a way. 

The Story Continues...

Read from the beginning...How God called me to Haiti