Don't worry I didn't move to Haiti and find the man of my dreams.....yet!
Jeff is a teen that I crossed paths with on the way from the airport to the base. I was trying to communicate with him but he wasn't responding. I thought maybe my creole was just that terrible. One of the missionaries shouted up to me "He probably wont respond, he's mute." It happened, right there on the side of the road, less than six hours in the country, and my heart already belonged to this beautiful country.
After we prayed with another teen and got back in the car, I started to ask questions about this teen. His name was Jeff, well that's the name the Life Teen Missionaries had given him. They found him wondering a few weeks prior to my arrival. The people of the local town called him crazy, but the missionaries wanted to give him his dignity back, so they gave him a name. They also found him some clothes, and a family that was willing to watch over him. One of their teens, Boy, said he would take care of Jeff. Jeff was hit by a car, and already had been living with some mental handicaps. But he had a smile that could make anyone's day a million times better. He has and innocent way of giving and receiving love.
It was week 2 1/2 of adjusting to living here and it had been about 4 days in a row of not seeing Jeff. I asked in my broken Creole, the next time I saw Boy, where Jeff was. He told me that he ran away. Jeff got on the back of a passing truck and they hadn't seen him in a few days. I was devastated. I wanted to just start walking the streets calling his name, but that wouldn't have been the smartest thing I could have done.
So instead, I prayed. I prayed someone would find him and take care of him. I prayed that he would find his way back home. I prayed someone gave him food for the day. I prayed Jesus let me find him, alive.
Jeff was burning on my heart when we headed towards the local prison to visit and talk with the men and women who were there. I also knew the direction we were heading in was the exact direction that Jeff had went when he got on the back of a car. I kept my eyes pealed on the road the ENTIRE ride.
I kept praying and then I saw it. I saw his maroon pants, as we sped right past him. I about jumped out of the car. I ran over to Father Louis and yelled "WE'VE GOT TO STOP! JEFF IS RIGHT THERE ON THE ROAD". Father Louis calmly responded "Ok, breathe. Sit back down. We will get him when we come back"
The whole time I was at the prison I kept asking Jesus to keep Jeff right where I had last seen him. Keep him safe, and Jesus PLEASE let him be alive. We piled back in the car and headed to where we saw him last, he wasn't there. My heart started to panic. Then I saw him again, running right towards our car. When he got in our car, our eyes met, and he just smiled. I don't know if at that moment he recognized me, but I saw Jesus in those eyes. I held back tears, gave him some juice (which he chugged), and tried to ask him how he was doing. He looked pretty bad. His clothes were ripped, he was missing his shoes, and his toe was cut up.
We got back to the mission base and first we got him some snacks. Jeff LOVES to drink water, 6 cups later he wasn't thirsty anymore. Meagan and I looked for some clean clothes and were able to find a shirt and pants that were just his size. I knew I had to clean his cut out. A very Haitian way of dealing with cuts is by putting cement in it. So I got on my hands and knees, while Sara got a bucket of water and soap and I scrubbed his feet. He would wince in pain every so often but he never stopped smiling.
As I was fighting back tears, I saw Jesus in that moment. I saw him in Sara, Amy, and Meagan were making sure Jeff had everything he needed. I saw him in Jeff, and I felt Jesus using me as his hands and feet at that moment. I couldn't have done it with out totally, and completely emptying myself, and asking Jesus to take over and use me.
Every single thing I'm asked to do on this mission I couldn't do if Jesus wasn't running through me. I constantly pray for an emptying of self, total self denial, and complete filling up of Jesus Christ himself in me.
Pray for me.
Pray for Jeff.
Know of my prayers for you.
.JPG)
