The facility really is close to completion. In roughly two month's time we will "open our doors," which really means that certain moms and their really sick little ones can come inside and stay for a bit.
We've had to ask ourselves, what about everyone else? What about all the other people that will share with us stories of suffering, especially those that live and struggle just down the road? It would be terribly hard, and just generally terrible of us to sit inside our gates and ignore their hungry bellies, tired backs, and hurting hearts. The people living in the villages that surround our property do, and will from time to time, have real needs just like you and me.
So, if Second Mile Haiti isn't just about helping moms who come from afar with infants on the verge of death, what else will we do?
Reaching out, neighbor to neighbor, seems to be God's design for how we best take care of each other when the going gets tough. This month we wanted to introduce to you, as the family of people standing with Second Mile Ministries, one of the ways your gifts will keep on giving.
There's a woman I know; I've blogged about her in the past at a time when she faced an impossible number of obstacles. Her mud and stick home was literally crumbling on top of her family of 7. Her husband was ill and couldn't work. Her kids were getting sick with alarming frequency. I made it my personal mission to help this family to the extent that I could but as much as I wished for this family to have a solid roof over their heads I knew that that, that housebuilding, was not my place. I remember the day she told me that her church had come by with 5 bags of cement to provide them with that roof. My faith in the church and in community sky-rocketed on that day.
Church is such a huge component in the landscape of village life.
We were giving this same women a ride home one day when she pointed to a tattered church where her kids were spending the day. Sure enough this weathered church, that had neither walls or a roof was overflowing with children. She said she was sorry we wouldn't have the chance to see her kids, but we weren't sorry to hear the reason why. "Its an apostolic church," she said. "They like to dance there." Dancing and singing and getting filled with Jesus on their day off of school. I really couldn't think of anything better. We know that her family actually attends the Baptist church only another 50 meters down the road. And Pastor Mark, the pastor that decided to help us with construction one day, just because, leads a church 50 meters down the road in the other direction.
We've witnessed these churches, faithfully and persistently reach out to the people in these villages, both those who come inside and those who don't. Each month, we will give from our gifts to a church or community group within the vicinity of the Second Mile Haiti compound. We couldn't think of a better way to sow back into these communities than to stand beside these trusted community leaders. One month, the funds might be used to repair the first church in the story or to fund a teenage worship band that Pastor Mark has dreamed of for his youth. Or it might be used by the outreach team at church #2 to bring 5 bags of cement to another family that faces an impossible set of obstacles. Bondye konnen.
We can't wait to see God move and bless through Second Mile's tithes. Stayed tuned, as we will share these stories each month.
