An update from Jake and I.

Dear friends,

Amber and I want to express our deep appreciation for your prayers and support throughout our journey to Haiti.  Having you stand with us in this venture has been so important personally and spiritually.

And what a journey this has been. Its amazing what God has done in our lives in only a few months. To be honest this was one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever gone through, but God has shown us a priceless perspective on his gospel mission. 

The last three months in Haiti have been learning experience after learning experience. After spending time building relationships with the kids in the orphanage, we were learning to live in a third world country, and pouring time, energy and sweat into Dita's home.  But about a month ago,it became unsafe for us to stay in the place where we were living.   

Initially we thought that if we packed for a few days and went away, the situation could improve. But a few days turned into a week, then two, and then three. After praying for weeks and moving from place to place, and trying to figure out what was to happen next, we felt like God was directing us to come home, as there was nowhere for us to live. The opportunities we had lined up to do ministry were also no longer available for us to pursue.  We called our church and explained the situation and with their support, and that of our family members, we took the steps involved in coming home. 

What did we learn through our Journey?  Although I had been on over a dozen missions trips before moving to Haiti, and my perspective on God’s work was very open to whatever he asked of me, I had not fully grasped how to live His love in the way God wanted me to. 

We also came to understand what Paul tells in the scriptures about our battle really not being against flesh and blood. Never before could we have imagined the amount of spiritual opposition that truly exists in this world. We learned about the place that some people are at spiritually emotionally and physically. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to work alongside people that are so far down in the pit of despair that they don't realize there's anything else. We  learned to share God's love with people who don't think they want it, don't think they need it and yet they're more desperate for it then you've ever seen. 

Despite how difficult, scary and draining this journey has been we do not regret anything, and would never take back the perspective that God has now given us on his kingdom work. We are so excited for what God has planned next for us and how we can use this new perspective to live like Jesus and share His love. We know that we were able to touch a few lives in our journey, and we learned so much about faith and how powerful love really can be. We also know that God already has and will continue to work many good things out of this situation. 

Although this has been a very difficult journey for our family, we wanted to thank all of you so much for supporting us through it, and for providing the opportunity to go and live love. We look forward to seeing you in person, even if it is much sooner than we had planned. We are thankful to be getting back to a safe place for our family, but starting over again so soon is going to be a challenge for us and our kids. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers, and again, thank you so much.

~ With Love and appreciation,

Jake, Amber, Genesis, Cyrus, and Eden.