Sunday, August 11, 2013

Birthday in Christ. It's a Birthday Week!


God has been doing a lot of work in my heart and it has been awesome!  The team that was here was so full of the Holy Spirit and I heard and saw miracles happen.  I have known Christ and understand Christ for almost 5 years now.  However, I found myself trying to convince myself that I was free from sin and Jesus would look at me one day and say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”.  I realized I came to Jesus in my heart but I still was thirsty for more and Jesus does not want me to be convincing myself!  After having people poor truth into my life, telling me about their life, I decided to take another leap of faith and be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  I can’t explain the amount of freedom that came with the baptism and how peaceful my heart became.  I felt like my stony heart was gone and my heart was filled with life because it was and is filled with the Holy Spirit!  The next day, I was able to be baptized in the ocean in Haiti.  It was the most beautiful place ever and I felt like I was on cloud nine.  The joy in my heart has changed completely.  I thought I knew Christ but this is a whole new life!  After the baptism, there were tiny tiny rain drops (even though it was sunny).  I believe God was rejoicing with soft tears.
August 10, 2013

My Birthday =)


Yesterday was a hard day for me.  We have a team visiting and they are so wonderful.  They are from Siloam Springs and all of them are friends with the Tugwells.  I am thankful they are here but it made me really miss my friends and family.  I had a very up and down day yesterday.  I prayed that I could still be content on my birthday even being a part from everyone who I longed to be with.  God provided more than I could ask for.  I woke up and one of that lady’s on the team gave me a book that my wonderful friend Katie (who is now a 4th grade teacher! YAY) got together.  This book had letters from my friends and it was truly the encouragement I needed.  I fell on my knees thanking God for my friends and that God saw that small encouragement I needed He provided through my friends =)  The day got even better!  We went to a church where the men on the team were leading a Pastor Conference.  Well, there was also summer school going on.  My heart is always drawn to run to the little kid’s room but today I felt like I needed to be in the older kid’s room.  God told me to talk to this girl who I saw yesterday at church.  Her name is Jennifer, she is 14, and she is part of the orphan program.  I was drawn to her and she was drawn to me.   I don’t know what is going to happen but I have a feeling God wants me to help her in some way!  The older kids sang Happy Birthday to me in Creole.  It was the most beautiful song I ever heard and I wanted to burst into tears, but I didn’t because they would have totally made fun of me haha.  As if meeting Jennifer was not a big enough blessing… I met Sandy.  Sandy is 20 years old and is a teacher here in Haiti.  She wants to learn more English, she is beautiful, and I can’t wait to see what God does through us.  I will see Sandy and Jennifer a lot because they go to Pastor Andre’s church and Lori and Noel work with pastor Andre at least once a week!  I love how great OUR GOD is!  He went out of His way to tell me “well done” on moving to Haiti and because you said yes I will bless you.  Thank you Jesus.

July 31, 2013


This morning I woke up kind of discouraged.  Lori and Noel went to the land they are hoping to get to set up another soup kitchen, maybe start a school, and use it in any other way to help further God’s kingdom.  They were meeting with Pastor Andre at 7:00 so I told them I would stay and watch the kids.  They took Esther with them because she was already by at 6:15 a.m. She says she does not like that chicken (the rooster that wakes us up every morning).

When I got out of bed at 6:30 Lily and Silas were already up which was fine except it is hard to spend time with Jesus and in the Bible with kids screaming.  I did the best I can to focus on the Lord but I just was really sad- missing my family and friends a lot.  On top of the screaming that took place all morning, there was a tarantula in the house.  It was HUGE!! Thank goodness we had Ernie at the house to get rid of it for us.  Needless to say the morning was not the greatest at the house and I later found out why.

While I was with the kids all morning, Lori and Noel were praying over the land and signing some papers.  On their way home, they got pulled over.  The police were trying to find ways to take them to jail.  He asked for their passports (which they had a copy) and then asked for their green card (which is the card you show the airport when you deport the country).  Well, no one knew you had to have your green card.  The policeman was persistent on taking them to jail.  Noel told the man that they were friends with Madam Sophia (the president’s wife) and she would not be happy about this.  Because of the Lords protection and provision the policemen told them to leave.   

After Lori, Noel, and I debriefed about our morning—Noel really spoke truth into my life and gave me the encouragement I needed that day.  He said this just shows that the enemy is threatened by what is going to happen here.  We are under attack but that is a good thing because we are furthering the kingdom.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God” Ephesians 6:10-13

The day got much better.  Lori and I went to the grocery store to get food for the team coming Saturday, went to the bank, and got a rental car all by ourselves!  We sure serve a Mighty God who loves all his children =)