And now for the longer version!

So this is an extended letter to friends and family:

My dear family and friends,

I am so excited to be able to write this letter to you! In addition to looking at going with the team from CrossRoad Church in October (which I want to talk about in this letter), I also have updates about the calling I feel to teach in Haiti not too far in the future!
The annual visit to CrossRoad’s sister church in Tiburon holds special significance this year. After working with the Tiburon church for these six years, they are bringing their building improvements and construction to a close, and during our visit we will get to participate in the dedication of the church. I am very excited, since visiting on the first team in 2002, to be able to share this meaningful moment with our dear Haitian brothers and sisters. Our visit to encourage the sister church this year is such a testament to God’s faithfulness, as we have been able to partner with their church during these years, helping to equip them to do ministry and reach their community. Their school is also thriving, and almost all of the students are sponsored by CrossRoad families.
This trip will also be historic in some other ways. Our pastor, Gee Sprague, will be one of our team members this year. I know that I am looking forward to showing all of the first time team members what I think of as “my Haiti” as I look longer range to ministering there full time. Our team is also looking to be the largest we have ever tried to take; around twenty people are planning to visit Haiti this year.
As a veteran Haiti team member, it will be a real treat to be able to essentially equip and assist my fellow team members with their already amazing ministry ideas and plans, and then be available to serve them in implementing (or reinventing, as is the case in Haiti much of the time) their ideas once we are in the ground in Haiti. I look forward to assisting our team in any way I can. Already I am enjoying our times of preparation, where I can encourage the creative process in my fellow team members, help them to dream big, and also do whatever I can to help them gather whatever they need to make their dreams and visions a reality once we are on the ground in Haiti. Being in this part of the process makes me just come alive! I love to pool the resources, knowledge, and connections that we have access to, in order to bring big dreams and God-sized vision to life. And God is soooo cool to bring it all together in such a way that we cannot deny His hand in it all. I just can’t wait to get into Haiti, where I will be able to help and encourage the team (especially our first time folk) as they encounter the challenges inherent in Haitian ministry.
I am also looking forward to helping to lead worship with members of the ACCESS218 band, which are a part of our Haiti team this year. God has been allowing me the opportunity to use my talents and gifting in music this year within ACCESS, and I have had the best time leading and learning (and often following) how I can honor God with these gifts in a differing format from Sunday mornings. God has used this opportunity to repeatedly humble me, blow my comfort zone to shreds, and teach me more about what leading His people in worshipping Him should look like. One of the keys for my paradigm is remembering that the experience is most importantly about worshipping our King from the heart, even though good musicianship and bringing my best is important.
I have learned (as obvious as this may be, it is so significant for me) that the leading experience is not about me, but about leading God’s people to meet up close and personal with Jesus, no matter how I am feeling. In fact, I have come to value most those moments where I have come into a rehearsal with crazy circumstances going on in my life, because those are the times where I am leading out of my weakness. In those moments, where worshipping is literally a “sacrifice of Praise,” I see in both myself, and the people that I later speak to, deep moments of connection with God and evidence of the Holy Spirit moving.
As I prepare to visit Haiti, factors and circumstances have already started to fall into place to make this trip possible for me, and to let me know from the get go, that God is still calling the shots (shocking, I know, right?). :-) After graduation on August 1st, I started the job search. I am working at Kumon Math and Reading Learning Centers, and the job fell into my lap. A friend of mine was employed there, and I do not know what she said to my new boss, but they called me to ask for an interview…which was out of the ordinary order of things, but I went with it. They are really nice, and I have a mixture of new coworkers and old friends, which helped me to transition quickly and be myself. The work environment is very similar to what the classroom set up will be when I do teach in Haiti long term, so it is a great fit for me, and I am getting relevant work experience! And the biggest sign that God was in control (in case I was to forget, right?) was that when I brought up the Haiti trip in my interview (and the fact that I would have to take off 1 ½ weeks…) they were totally okay with it. “What? Okay, God. You can stop showing off now…” :-) That was the short version of my reaction.
God has also been providing, often just in time, but He is never late. He used the summer season, as I wrapped up school and worked a lot less, to teach me about trusting Him for my daily bread. I am still in this season as I work toward getting back on my feet financially post-graduation, and God is still teaching and challenging me. I am still reminded to trust, even when it seems beyond hope, and to be faithful with my finances and all that I am given. God has been challenging me to be a good steward, and as I see how God can use my resourcefulness for His glory, it seems to get easier. I have been inspired often by Paul, when he said in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” I have continued to learn how to, ever more quickly, run to God, and to have His strength made perfect in my weakness. And so in my weakest moments, I have been able to pour myself into the knowledge that I can showcase God’s strength, which is so exciting!
So as I speak of where I am and what God has been teaching me, I want to reaffirm that I do still feel God’s call into long-term missions, and for that to lead me first specifically to Haiti, to teach missionary children in the Cite Lumiere School, located in Les Cayes. I have started the application process for this, through an organization called World Team, but the exact time frame is for now unclear. I am still in conversations with them to work out certification requirements and other details. But I know that I am being as faithful as I can to all that God is doing to prepare me for ministry. He has been leading me through some tough things, and I know there is some more to come before I am ready to move to Haiti. I just keep trying to bow my selfish will, reminding myself that I am sure of God’s calling, and that I can trust that He will work everything out in His perfect timing. Until He sees fit to move me to Haiti, I will do my very best to be faithful with what I have been given here in Jacksonville, and to remain open to God’s working and pruning in my life.
So now that you are up on the whole story up to the present, for more updates, you can visit: http://gerimovingtowardhaiti.blogspot.com/. I will do my best to update it as changes and/or hurdles occur. So make sure that you bookmark the site and check back! :-)
Also, as always, I covet your prayers. More and more I learn just how valuable our prayers are, and how God really does hear when we call on His name. I hope that you will pray for the October team, especially for unity to be fostered of the supernatural kind, and for God to be glorified no matter what happens, good or bad, as we prepare and go to Haiti. Pray that each team member would just lean on God in this season of preparation, and that each of us would listen for His voice in all that we do.
I also hope that you will be praying for me as I work (and wait) toward moving to Haiti. Pray that I would be patient, attentive, teachable, and that I would more greatly learn the Fruit of the Spirit. Pray that God would continue to shape me into the person He created me to be, and that He would continue to clean out of me anything that is not drawing me closer to Him and His will for my life. Pray that I would remain willing to answer His call, regardless of the costs. I know these are big and dangerous prayers for me to pray, and to ask you to pray with me, but I know that they are good and necessary prayers, and that when they are answered, God is glorified. Jesus ruined me for anything else when He brought me to Haiti and called me to the nations. I know that, no matter how hard it may get, I will never be happy trying to live the American Dream, or working in a 9-5 job. God is moving so much in our world and in Haiti right now, and I want to do all that I can to be a part of it. I hope you will too, by supporting all of these things in prayer, both until October, and beyond that.
Thank you for reading and following my story, and continuing to believe in God’s call on my life. I really appreciate all of the prayers and encouragement. You are all truly God-sent.


Love in Christ,

Geri