Where He leads...: Wrapping up a great year

Wrapping up a great year

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2016 sure ended with an exciting bang! The last few months have been a whirlwind... from getting engaged right after my summer in Belgium, to planning our special day, and then heading to Haiti together a week after getting back from our honeymoon in Colorado. All of this beautiful craziness just makes us more excited for what God has in store for us in 2017!

Highlights from Haiti

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti on October 4th killing over 1,000 people and leaving nearly 1.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Mark deployed to Haiti just days later to help deliver aid to some of the hardest hit areas. He returned the week before our wedding and then we left for Haiti together shortly after our honeymoon. We served with Samaritan's Purse in Les Cayes, Haiti. I was the base manager for our team there and Mark was the area coordinator. It was an incredibly busy and full time. We were both glad to be back in Haiti where we could use our Creole and experience from living there before.

As the base manager I supervised 14 ladies who cooked and cleaned for our base. We became fast friends and I did my best during our busy days to get to know them and love on them. I wanted to leave them with a gift and the only resource I had for that was my camera. We had fun on several occasions taking silly pictures together. They loved it! I put all of the photos on one of their laptops so they can eventually print some of them out. It was a tearful goodbye even after only knowing them for three weeks. Mark stayed an extra two weeks to wrap up some of the important tasks and then we enjoyed the holidays together in Tennessee.

Although we were serving in a different part of Haiti than where I used to live, I did get to make a brief visit to the precious kiddos at Hope For Life Children's Home. They're doing well and still loving their new dorm. :)

What's next?!

We are leaving tomorrow on a new assignment with Samaritan's Purse. We will spend six weeks in Iraq helping the team provide emergency relief to Iraqi citizens fleeing the conflict in Mosul. Samaritan's Purse is distributing food and supplies to those living in evacuee camps and has set up an emergency field hospital for those in need. We appreciate your prayers for us and the team as we serve those who have left everything behind in search of refuge. Pray for us that we will have the opportunity to share about the One who promises to be our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1) Thank you for your love, encouragement, and support. We look forward to keeping you all updated as we follow after God's plans for us in the weeks and months to come.