Email from Regional Director

This is part of an email I recieved from Jim, the NMSI Americas and Caribbean Regioanl Director, giving me more specifics about my upcoming apprenticeship to Haiti.

"Your aprenticeship is set to be 3-6 months in the capital of Haiti, Port of Prince, (PAP), working with our NMSI affiliate couple Martin and Jacquemise Etienne who have a church, school and orphanage. They have several children of their own. You would be living with the Director of their school (Carline) and have your own room. She lives nearby the church building and you would be going to the school each day and returning with her. At school each day you would be an assistant to the teachers and interact with children and help even if you don't speak their language, you will be a big help!

On the church youth nights and events you will be interacting with them and if you are willing you could help them learn basic English phrases. They will probably want to teach you phrases and words too in Creole. I understand from Martin, the pastor, most all Haitian youth desire to speak more or better English, so it should be a fun time.

Carline and Pastor Martin are also going to work out a plan for you to learn Creole a few hours a week. This should help to be a good, authentic way to learn about the language and speak some. If you decide to become a full time missionary to Haiti in the future you can go to formal school to go further.

On Sundays after the main Port auPrince church services, pastor Martin and his family travel to a small village where they have a second smaller church and a new orphanage with about 25 children of different ages. I believe they stay the night there and return to PAP on Monday. You will be able to see this village and how it differs from PAP life and interact with church members and the children at the orphanage." -Jim

Please be praying as I Skype with him this Wednesday as we go over things and ask questions.

To help fund my travels you can donate online at www.nmsi.org/donate and click on the D for David, Megan. I will be getting more specifics on the amount I need to raise this week.

Or you can send in donations to:

New Mission Systems International

2701 CLEVELAND AVE SUITE 200,

FORT MYERS, FL 33901

Please remember to put my name in the memo.

NMSI honors preference of gifts solicited and, in accordance with IRS regulations, retains discretion and control over their use.

What now?

               Last semester during vision week you may remember me mentioning that we went through Storyline by Donald Miller. The first step in understanding your story is knowing your theme. To figure out your theme you look at the major events in your life and the one thing that they have in common. My theme is, to have faith in the next step because God knows I am not yet prepared for the step after that.  

                The next step for me is to take an apprenticeship with New Mission Systems International (NMSI). I will be living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for 3-6 months. Apprenticeship means that I will have the opportunity to do many things to see what I like, what I’m good at, and where they need me.

                I’ve been asking many questions to help myself process through the next step. Usually someone in my stage of life would be asking questions like: When do I get to find the right guy and get married? How many kids will we have? What good paying job can I get to always have a steady income so my family and I are always happy? What is God’s plan for my life? Those aren’t bad questions but I’ve started asking a different set of questions: How do I advance the kingdom of God? Where do I need to share God’s love? And more specifically, why am I leaving? And why Haiti?

Two quotes, both by Mike Yaconelli, that have been helpful as I thought over these questions have been:

“Once we understand how unnecessary we are, only then might we find the right reasons to say yes.”

“We don’t need to know the will of God; we only need to know God, which is, strangely enough, His will.”

                Some answers I have come to are; because I love Haitians and I love the creation of Haiti, I want to learn where I best fit in serving in another country, I want to have to trust God, I want to show them someone is listening, and eventually I want to be a part of bringing housing to those in need.  

                As an apprentice I need to raise the money for my time abroad. I do not have exact numbers yet but the estimate is less than $1,000 a month. If I am there for the maximum of six months then I need to raise $6,000. This will be a little different than my internship now. I will need to be fully funded before I can go to Haiti. This amount pays for my travel to and around Haiti, food, and lodging. I will be staying with a missionary and his family across the street from the church they run. I will primarily be working at their church alongside them. A question I would ask you to consider is, do you believe in what I am doing?

You can donate online at www.nmsi.org/donate and click on the D for David, Megan.

Or you can send in donations to:

New Mission Systems International

2701 CLEVELAND AVE SUITE 200,

FORT MYERS, FL 33901

Please remember to put my name in the memo.

 NMSI honors preference of gifts solicited and, in accordance with IRS regulations, retains discretion and control over their use.

"Where there is no love, put love -- and you will find love."

            

This year for Spring Break we went back to the Smoky Mountains. It was a great time for the students who had gone before as well as the many more that came for the first time. It was a little chillier this year but we still hiked and a group still went white water rafting. I went with a group who started to hike the Appalachian Trail but about a half mile in there was too much ice in the path to keep going. We ended up finding another trail that led to a river we sat and enjoyed our lunch next to.

              On Sunday we went to Crossing in Knoxville for church. One of the pastors there, Caleb, came to teach us every night. The main theme was “Along the way”.  The main quote for the series was from St. John of the Cross "Where there is no love, put love -- and you will find love." It was a really good reminder of wherever you are you should be making disciples and through the Holy Spirit we are empowered to live this way.  It is God who builds God’s kingdom. It needs to be God working through us, not us doing it for Him.
                Caleb taught us some history that we can apply to our lives today. In the 7^th century monks in Europe started a movement to spread God’s Word. First the monk would spend time in a cell; a small, circular hut with a thatched roof.

They would meditate on God. Then they would build a coracle; a round, rudderless two-man wicker boat. The monks would walk down to the river and ask God to send them wherever He desired. Wherever they landed, the monks spread the Word. We need a place of rest and a place of mission. The cell comes first and then the coracle. I learned that I have to spend time first with God before doing things.