Haiti Missions Update

Thank you so much for your prayers and your encouragement!

I don't have internet connection yet at the missions base where I am
staying, so this will have just be short update. The team from my
church left this morning, and I am so thankful for the week of VBS
ministry at various churches and schools and orphanages. I'm also
thankful for the people I was able to connect with this week, and I
want to share their prayer requests with you.

- Aristhene is a 20 year old high school student who will graduate
soon. He has been studying the Bible in French and asked me for an
English Bible! He is eager to learn more about God, about the Word,
and to grow in faith. I wrote down the Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's
Creed for him in English, and his eyes lit up as we talked about their
meanings. His dream is to become a doctor. Please pray for Aristhene!

- Jacques is a youth leader at a church/school in Acobo. He is a young
man with incredible vision and faith. He said he is so thankful for
the people coming into Haiti to share the love of Jesus and to help
and serve the people here, but he also said that more than money or
anything else, Haiti needs our prayers! Jacques is certain of his
calling to preach the gospel, and he hopes to continue to lead people
in his village to Christ as well as to preach the gospel in all of
Haiti and even abroad. When I asked him what his prayer request was,
he said that he just wants Jesus to hold him and keep him close. I was
so challenged and inspired by his love for Jesus.

- Paul is a 16 year old high school student who attends the school
where Jacques teaches. He has a beat up guitar with rusted strings
that another mission team left some time ago. I taught him how to play
"Lord I Lift Your Name on High," and he sat in his seat for over an
hour learning to play and sing the song. I joked with him and said he
can be a rock star, and he said, "A rock star for Jesus!" He said he
is thinking about becoming a pastor.

- Gabriel was our interpreter for the week. We were all so blessed by
his faitfulness and the gifting he had in interpreting and ministry.
We prayed on our last day with him about his calling to preach and
teach the gospel. He said he is struggling to find God's vision and
direction, but he will continue to pray about his calling to ministry.

This "short" update is turning out much longer than I had planned, but
I am so excited to share with you about these individuals! It's been
overwhelming at times to process all the brokenness and poverty I see
here, but I see hope here. I see hope in these young men who love
Jesus and want to live their lives loving Him and serving His people
here as doctors, teachers, ministers. Please pray for them!

I am doing well - please pray that God would increase my ability to
communicate and translate as i work with the missionaries, pastors,
and leaders of other churches and organizations. Please pray for
intimacy with Jesus and a prayerful and worshipful heart in everything
that I do here. Please also ask the Lord for spiritual protection and
good health.

Thank you so much again for your prayers.

I hope to update you again soon with more prayers and praises and also
pictures of some of what I am seeing and experiencing here.

"They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them
singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for
their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make
an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to
them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn
away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly
plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." Jeremiah 32:38-41

-sera

Summer Missions. Take advantage of these exciting opportunities to serve in different parts of the world by joining a mission or outreach team. Teams will be sent to:

Lynn, MA
Nehemiah Project, Community outreach
(May 24-29, Fee: $200)

Nicaragua
IN2 House, Children’s ministry
(May 24-Jun 4, Fee: $800)

Haiti
Building projects, Children’s ministry
(Jun 21-26, Fee: $600)

Osaka, Japan
VBS, Community outreach
(Jul 12-16, Fee: $700 + airfare)

Nagoya, Japan
VBS, Community outreach
(Jul 19-23, Fee: $700 + airfare)

The deadline to sign up is April 25th. For more info or to register, email in2church@hotmail.com.

Crosswalk Bible Study. Do you have questions about how to study and better understand Scripture? Would you like the opportunity to go deeper into the living and active Word of God? Bible classes with Pastor Andy will meet every Saturday, 10am-12pm. Sign up by emailing bomeechu@umich.edu.

After Service Prayer. The prayer team is always available after service to pray for and with you. If you would like to pray with someone, please come to the front of the stage at the end of service.

Lunch & Fellowship. Lunch is available in the fellowship hall after service for $2. Stay for a delicious meal and fellowship with other Crosswalkers.

E-newsletter. Monthly newsletters will be emailed out to Crosswalk members to keep you updated on all that’s happening in the ministry and church. Sign up for the newsletter by emailing annjoo@gmail.com.

The Bowery Mission Women’s Center is a place for homeless women to live for nine to fifteen months as they go through recovery and transitional programs that allow them a second chance at life. After Sunday service on March 7th, a group of five IN2 women and I went to the Bowery Center to cook dinner for 20 homeless women. Going into this experience, I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I was going with a great team and was certain that God would teach us something invaluable that day. So, I kept my mind and heart open.

When we arrived at the center, we began with prayer, asking God to prepare our hearts to serve. Then, we were ready to cook! Sandra had meticulously prepared all the groceries and selected a menu of teriyaki chicken with stir-fried vegetables, white rice, pasta salad, garden salad, and delicious cupcakes for dessert. We all dove into slicing, dicing, baking, and boiling, all the while laughing, cracking jokes, singing along to praise songs, and then hustling as dinner time drew closer. We made a really great team and after 3 hours of cooking, we served dinner for 26 women including ourselves. We truly did sit long, talk much, and laugh often with the women at the center, and I hope we created a good and memorable experience for the Bowery women who are struggling so much in their lives.

Whatever time and energy I put into this experience is incomparable to the way God revealed his blessings. First, I made unforgettable memories with the IN2 women who showed such great care in serving, which was an inspiration in itself. Then, when we sat down to eat and share, I spoke with a 22 year old woman who had found herself unemployed, broke and without a place to live. I was surprised by how fervently she spoke about God opening a door for her to stay at the Bowery Center to change her life and how He continues to guide her everyday through prayer, sharing, and reading. She had strength and hope behind her words and I could see she was driven with optimism and faith. She shared what she learned from the Bible about peace, forgiveness, love, and redemption. We found we had a lot in common in our spiritual journey of realizing where we had fallen down in the past, recognizing our repetitive mistakes, and how God broke us down to build us back up again stronger, wiser and with more faith. I knew it wasn't a coincidence that this young woman and I spoke that night. God was using us to validate His lessons to each other. From this, we were blessed with God's peace.

Towards the end of the evening after all the plates had been cleared, the IN2 women and two other Bowery women stood around the dining room making jokes and telling stories. The mood became somber when experiences about addictions, their children, and about men were shared and we got a glimpse into some of the dark places these women had experienced. There were many moments of silence as we felt their broken hearts and their loss of direction, and while there were still moments of jokes and smiles, we could see great pain in their eyes. Still, they also showed great faith. We joined our hands and prayed together. Sandra and Sera, who closed us in prayer, brought our hearts together as we cried to the Lord, surrendering our hearts and seeking strength, understanding and peace. God’s grace brought healing in that place in that moment, inspired hope in all of us, humbled us, and showed us great love. We will never fully understand their struggle, but I hope that through our time together, we conveyed the message that these women are loved. That night, we left the Bowery Center with heavy hearts but hearts filled with hope.

To learn more about the Bowery Mission Women's Center please click here.

by: Ann Joo