+FillUs

Nose Hill The month of June thus far... May 31 - June 9 : Port-au-Prince, Haiti with eMi - read report here . June 11 : Fly to Calgary June 13-17 : Calgary > Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming > Lethbirdge, AB > Calgary June 17 - July : Calgary The torrential rain in the past week flooded a couple towns, including Canmore, Banff, and downtown Calgary. Hence, I'm staying put for the first time in awhile, sipping coffee and organizing my thoughts and experiences. While travelling and seeing new things are always exciting, this is really why I am here: to find solitude, to listen, and to reflect in order to become a better servant.  In the past week, my daily routine has been getting up early, go for a run (more on that later), get to the eMi office, work on the Haiti project, and come home. Sounds just like what I do at home in Charlotte, right? It is. With the difference being I have the orphans, Bethany , and Pastor Jean on my mind all day while at "work." I...

The final report of the CEDAN project in Haiti came in the mail some time ago. It was nice to see the summation of our effort in a tangible format. The architectural scope is to design a new multipurpose building which will house a school, a clinic, a meeting place for the community, and some housing. Meanwhile, the team of engineers make sure infrastructures like electricity, water, and septic are in place to support the building and its service to the occupants. Flipping through this report brought me back to the good times we spent in Haiti. I still have some unfinished business there, which is to run the complete loop of mountains ridges aptly named "The Necklace." I believe our strongest passion is found in things that we are willing to do for free. Perhaps even for the rest of your life. For me, being able to provide design services to better lives and be able to run in God's creation are two things that I'll do for free for the rest of my life.

After months of anticipation, I finally called off my Peru trip with Climbing for Christ due to the spike in airfare. While disappointed, it seemed like the right thing to do. That was two Mondays ago. Wednesday of the same week, I was contacted by an eMI Project leader regarding a new project in Haiti, to masterplan and design some first phase buildings for a ministry which includes medical, education, feeding programs, crisis care, evangelism, and discipleship. Since I have been preparing to go on a mission trip and flights to Haiti is much more affordable, everything is in place for me to accept the timely invitation. Interestingly enough, this project also needs fundraising materials to be put together. Since leaving the SIL, the campus newspaper at Mac, I have been aching to take my camera and pick up my notepad and pen to write some stories. Perhaps this is my chance to do so. Brad, the leader of this project, just notified my today that my ticket to Haiti in June is purchased a...

The last two days have been mostly about benchmarking, meeting, and designing. After a three-hour kick-off meeting on Monday, we had another one last night, and just finished another one this afternoon. We are receiving a lot of feedback on our design from the ministry, which is encouraging. Back to the drawing board tomorrow! Bob, our trip leader, told stories and did tricks at kids’ Bible school yesterday afternoon. At the end, we each had the chance to pray for one of the kids there. It was special for me, and the smile on this little boy’s face told me it was also special for him. Each time when we walked by the rescue centre, kids would line up at doorway for a little attention, a high five, or a hug. Most of these kids either have parents who couldn’t afford to raise them, or are “disposed” by their parents. A staff was holding a 5-year old who was still wearing 12 months clothes. The resuce centre take care of them, provide for them, and are doing all they can for these kids. St...

Productive day: Church in the morning, site visit in the afternoon, muddy hike in the pouring rain, and team meeting at night. Church was powerful in the morning. It’s an english church and the pastor is from Boston. He preached on Exodus 20, comparing the reaction of people and Moses in face of God’s majesty. ‘Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid [4] and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.’ Are you standing far off? or are you willing to draw near when God manifests Himself even if it means heading into a “thick darkness?” Real Hope for Haiti acquired a 20 acre sit...

39 degrees, mosquito bites, slightly less bumpy roads - I am in Haiti again! Departed at 6 in the morning from home, the first thing on my agenda is to get my TN visa. It’s the same drill: tell the immigration officer I need a TN visa, gave me a yellow board, signaled me to go through the second inspection office, had my fingerprints taken, then wait. A girl from Jordan was already waiting in the room. When the officer called me up for questions regarding my visa, she was simutaneously being “investigated” by the officer next to mine. I got my visa; she got a refused entry. Perhaps she could get by with a one-way ticket into the States if she’s not from Jordan? The officer was suspicious about her intention of becoming an illegal immigrant. Still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I got my visa, I instinctively followed the officer’s instruction to exit through a set of doors on the side. Many mission teams were waiting at Miami to board the same plane to Port-au-Prince. We sa...

About a million Haitians live in DR, in hope of a better life. We visited one of the villages where they live. Despite the living situation as you see in these photos, Haiti is much poorer than Dominican Republic. ”In 2003, 80% of all Haitians were poor (54% in abject poverty) and 47.1% were illiterate. The country of nine million people has a fast-growing population, but over two-thirds of the labor force lack formal jobs. Haiti’s per capita GDP (PPP) was $1,300 in 2008, or less than one-sixth of the Dominican figure,” according to CIA World Factbook. Many Haitians immigrated illegally to DR for the prospect of finding a job and a better life. Judging by their rugged looks, these houses built with metal scraps look like they have style. In reality, these are all that are available to them to construct their homes with. Needless to say, the living condition is poor. The man who brought us to this village was an Italian in his 80s. He and his wife visited DR on a vacation after his reti...