Josh Martin breaks ground to lay a foundation at Peñe Church in Haiti.

by Josh Martin

God body slammed me into Haiti. Ok, well, maybe not physically, but definitely spiritually–which lead me to spend a terrifying, peaceful, happy, tiring week there with SCORE International.

Home is my comfort zone. I have never flown on an airplane, and have traveled away from my family for only couple of days in my life. While living in my own little world–going to work then coming home–God suddenly changed my life through an announcement at church.

After Haiti’s earthquake, my church sent six different teams, one each week with about twenty-five people, to help with disaster relief. When I heard this, God said to me, “You’re going.” My stomach sank. I knew what I had to do. But, Haiti?

Family told me I was crazy. If you knew how much of a non-traveling germophobe I used to be, you would say the same thing. But God orchestrated the trip perfectly down to the excellent caregivers that sat next to me on the plane providing much-needed comfort.

While flying to Miami, I experienced my first panic attack. I nearly passed out twice. Woo Hoo! What an awesome start. I was scared to death. Was I completely trusting in God? Not yet.

My first night in Haiti, I panicked every time I woke up. By the way, if you like roosters when you go to Haiti, you won’t like them so much when you come back–beginning at midnight, they crowed constantly. By morning my body was exhausted, and I was ready to go home, but God wasn’t ready for me to go home yet.

It felt like God was using a samurai sword to chop off my heavy baggage–being in control, claustrophobia, you name it, I probably had an issue with it. Praise God, He’s still working on me and is in control.

By the third day, I began understanding life in Haiti and the people. I calmed. I’ve heard that knowledge combined with experience produces understanding. Was I completely trusting God yet? You bet. I held to Psalm 23, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

While in Haiti, I worked to rebuild a church that had collapsed in a small village. Church members worked beside us. Men did rubble removal, digging, and rebar work. Women carried five gallon buckets of water on their head to mix mortar on the ground. I saw a young girl do this. I am so weak! She could beat me up with her neck muscles.

Everywhere I went in Haiti, I saw God’s majesty. Even in the midst of desperation, poor living conditions, bad water–His majesty lies in the care He is providing. God has used disasters all over the world to remind people of Him. Were the Israelites aware of their need for Him in Egypt? Was David aware of his need for God in the Psalms? God is moving through the Christian churches in Haiti and through oganizations such as Score International.

There is hope in Haiti and it’s the hope of God and His Son, Jesus. I have great respect for the beautiful people of Haiti, and part of my heart stayed with them.

On this trip, I went from being completely scared for my life, to basking in the majesty of God in a few short days. I was tested and experienced James 1:2-4, “Count it all joy brethren, when your faith is tested with various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

He called me to obedience, I obeyed, and my faith and joy have never been so strong.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant in the city and it was a welcomed opportunity for everyone to change out of scrubs and sit down to a incredible dinner!  Schedule wise, our flight out of Costa Rica leaves tomorrow around 2 pm with an anticipated arrival in Atlanta around 7:05 pm.  We will connect a flight to Birmingham leaving Atlanta around 9:30 pm central time.

We appreciate everyone’s love and support over the past week!  Can’t wait to see all of y’all soon!

Per usual, our groups departed early this morning for our dental clinics!

Today was a special treat because with a few exceptions, all the juniors and spouses got to work at a site together, most of the sophomores got to work together at another site and all of the freshman got to spend today working as a class as well.  All of our buses reconvened at a souvenir shop on the way back from clinics and we are currently back at SCORE, winding down from hearing Dr. Patterson’s testimony and enjoying some praise and worship music.  Mrs. Jan, Dr. Dale, Mrs. Kathy, Sarah Robbins, Luke and Brandon Snell ended out our singing tonight with a wonderful planned performance Tomorrow will be our last full day of clinics and our group will get the opportunity to end the evening with dining on the town.

We are all *so grateful *for all your continued prayers and support (and patience with internet woes!)  The Lord has been so faithful to us during this trip and to those who our ministry and dental care has been able to reach over the past few days.

 Grace and peace!

Instead of setting out for dental clinics this morning, our groups set out for a day of fun!  Option 1 included whitewater rafting down the Pacure river and option 2 was a combo of zip-lining, hanging out at the beach and at the pool!

The debate tonight at dinner was who had the “better day” but both groups thought that their respective choice was the best option!   Small groups tonight focused on wrapping up their study of Mark and making plans for the rest of the week’s clinics!

Our typical day includes leaving the SCORE complex at 8:00am and working at our various clinics until around 3:30 or 4:00 pm.  We break for lunch around noon and then start the clinics back up as soon everyone is done eating.

In order for each site to work, each member of the team plays an integral role setting up the clinics – expect a glimpse into Costa Rican clinic life tomorrow J 

Besides taking out lots of teeth – baby teeth, permanent teeth and everything in between, much ministry is being accomplished!    At one site, the pastor graciously thanked the students for contributing to their ministry because through their dental work, evangelism and love, more people are now hearing about the gospel and about their church.  Another pastor gave a specific number – because of the efforts made today, over 80 non-church members came to their church today for dental work!

Our groups aim to be back at SCORE around 5 pm and we eat dinner, buffet style around 6.  Tonight included praise and worship and again breaking up for small group time.  Our small groups here are to each person a chance to learn more about the gospel of Mark and to have time to encourage one another in prayer.

Tonight’s passage:  Mark 2:1-13

Day 1:

Praise the Lord — we arrived safe and sound, all luggage’s and persons accounted for at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.   Our flight out of Atlanta was delayed on the tarmac for little more than an hour, but we were blessed to have a safe albeit a slightly bumpy flight into San Jose!

  After stepping out into sunny, 80 degree weather, our group of over 50 people, including private practice dentists, one resident, spouses, pastors, and freshman, sophomore, and junior dental students, made our way to the SCORE mission hotel, where our group will be living for the following week.

GoAll and SCORE International have merged ministries. Bob White founded GoAll as a sports ministry in Costa Rica. Bob, who is the Athletic Director at Palm Beach Atlantic University, will serve on the Board of SCORE International. We will keep the GoAll brand in Costa Rica as a division of SCORE since it has a great ministry and is well known. However, the missionary staff with GoAll will be under the authority and umbrella of SCORE.

Bob White will serve at the SCORE Director of Sports Ministry in Costa Rica while continuing his main administrative work at PBAU in West Palm Beach, FL. Pray for Bob and the two new SCORE missionary families, Edgardo Gamboa and Caesar Rodriguez.

Romans 10:14
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And
how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how
can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

Friday the 12th, I went to a small community outside San Jose with ten
of the GAP students. We set out to work alongside Iglesia Misionera
Bautista de Alajuela. We were greeted into one of the friendliest
groups of people you would ever get to meet. We prayed and thanked the
Lord for bringing us together and then we divided up into groups of
twos and were brought to the homes of host families-where we slept at
night.

Saturday at 9:00am we all met at the church for a Bible study and for
a time of prayer. We divided ourselves up in groups of two Americans
with two Costa Ricans and headed out to the city’s parks and markets.

How richly we were blessed!!

I arrived at a market with two GAP students (Evan and Madison) and
with Lesley (a Costa Rican who grew up in LA). Lesley went with Evan
down one side of the market and Madison and I went down the other
side. The Lord used us to reach 8 people that morning in the market
and to plant many seeds as well. The Lord used the ten GAP students,
the translators and myself to reach 24-26 new brothers and sisters in
Christ. We are excited to see what fruit these people have in their
lives.

“… that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the
word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:19-20

Here is a testimony form one of the students that went on the trip:

“This past weekend was a life changing experience. Witnessing to
strangers was way out of my comfort zone. I had no confidence in
myself at all. At the end of the trip I had grown so much in such a
short amount of time. God gave me confidence not only in Him, but in
myself. I will never forget this experience, I pray that God uses me
more.”

This student led five people to the Lord.

The pastor of the church told me many times while we were there; “we
have been praying for a long time that God would send a group of
people to help us out in ministry and to work along side of us. We
asked many churches here to work with us and their response was, ’sure
we will pray about it’, but they never came to help like you and the
Gap students have. I received a text message from him on the bus trip
back to San Jose that said, “thank you- thank you for coming, you guys
have richly blessed the church and me, please come back again.”

The aftermath once back in San Jose!!

The stories that came out of this trip helped inspire and encourage
the other students here. Since then many students have stepped up gone
out and shared their faith over and over-again. Two more people came
to the Lord the day before yesterday (and the hope is to start a Bible
study with them), and one person yesterday through a trash ministry
one of the GAP girls started a couple weeks ago.

“…As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!” Romans 10:15

’til the nets are full,
Justin and Maria Martin

The following is a collection of stories from Pulse News’s Rebecca Cruz, based on her weeklong visit to Haiti with the mission group Score, International. For more, including photos, video, and podcasts from call-ins while she was in Haiti, visit the PulseBlog section at www.chattanoogapulse.com.

The Shock

Like many others in the Score, International Group I was traveling with, I was under the impression there would be aid a-plenty in Haiti. After all the telethons and radio and Internet fundraisers, and as much as Americans had given so many large organizations, I truly expected to see aid workers giving out food and water and shelter everywhere I went.

The reality was shocking. There was no aid in Croix-des-Bouquet, the town where our group was headquartered. Joel Hess, a missionary who had made the town his home, hadn’t seen any aid coming in to help his neighbors. “We’re it…we’re all the aid they’ve got right now,” he said matter-of-factly. I thought about the food and handful of tents we’d brought with us. It seemed so little. “Prepare yourself to have to turn people away,” Joel said. Eventually, I convinced myself that the aid must all be in Port-au-Prince. It was the earthquake’s epicenter and the most populated area, so that would make sense, wouldn’t it?

The real shock for me came when I finally did get to Port-au-Prince. Despite the devastation, despite the hunger, Port-au-Prince is a vibrant, bustling city populated by millions of people. Making our way through the city, we saw many military personnel: American, Canadian, Pakistani, Israeli, Cuban, and others I couldn’t identify. I did see about a dozen young men in yellow shirts sporting “USAID” on them, but mostly, I saw many groups of what appeared to be construction or volunteer relief crews, driving around in the backs of small trucks. What surprised me was the lack of big organized groups of aid workers giving out food or water—or anything.

The city is in ruins. Three- and four-story buildings were reduced to rubble; others are still teetering over, just holding. We’ve all seen the video and pictures of the presidential palace. It looked much like I expected. What I didn’t expect to see, however, were the thousands of homeless people surrounding the palace. Tens of thousands of people are living in tents, outside the palace, beside the palace, and behind the palace. While there, we heard that the government had been trying to encourage those people to move out of the area, so that crews can come in to remove rubble and begin the long process of rebuilding the palace and surrounding governmental buildings. “Where would they go?” I asked myself. “They have nowhere else to go.”

It was here that we were surrounded by Haitians. They could tell right away that we were American. They wanted to know where the aid was. “We heard you were sending millions of dollars in aid…We want to know where it is?” They weren’t angry, just disappointed. Their theories are that, somehow, there has been a breakdown in the system. But according to them, the aid is not reaching the people.

In one narrow alley, I met Miguel. Miguel was a young man in his twenties, living on the street. He has no tent, or food, or hope of getting either. He, along with 20 others, was just surviving on the street of this narrow alley with power lines down around them and a hotel tottering overhead.

Miguel had lost his mother and his home to the earthquake. It was a common story. Almost everyone had lost at least someone, and most lost their homes. Surprisingly, Miguel was just grateful to have his life. While shooting video of a crushed hotel, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, two young men walking towards me with rifles slung over their shoulders. I turned to them and smiled, hoping for the best, but still a little nervous. “Bonjour,” they greeted me in Creole. “Sorry—just English and Spanish,” I replied. They smiled, as they spoke Spanish quite well. In our conversation, I found out they, too, were sleeping on the streets of this alley. The guns were for protection, they explained. I did not feel threatened in the least. As a matter of fact, I didn’t feel my life was in danger once during my visit to Haiti. If nothing else, I felt more welcomed there that I ever expected.

Score, International had sent us with enough food to feed more than 2,000 people. We prepared small bags and devised a system to make the distribution as smooth a process as possible. By the time we got to the clinic, where we would be giving out the food, there were hundreds of people lined up, waiting for our arrival. Women, children of all ages, young and older men, anxiously waited to receive what little food we had to give. Many of them waited up to three hours for that food. I thought about all the reports I had seen and heard about the mobs of people trying to get food whenever a distribution was done. This wasn’t the angry, out-of-control mob I had expected to see. These people were not dangerous or crazed. They truly were just hungry themselves, and begging for food for their children as well. I was overwhelmed at how hungry they all were, and how very grateful they were to received the food that would probably only feed them for one day.

The Children Still Sing

I expected devastation, hunger, even hopelessness when I arrived in Haiti. What I didn’t expect was how happy the people of Haiti are, despite it all. As we walked down the street on our first morning in the country, children greeted us with smiles and waves. “Bonjour, bonjour,” they would say. It did my heart good to see such happy people.

But it was my visit to the Good Rest Orphanage that finally broke me. I wanted to meet Pastor Bob, who had built the Good Rest Orphanage 34 years ago. I was told that a real miracle had happened at the orphanage the day of the earthquake. Upon arrival, I saw the building that had been completely sandwiched in a way that joined together the ceiling and the floor. There was nothing left to salvage. It was completely gone. I saw dozens of children, all together in a corner of the orphanage grounds. They were so quiet, from the tiny babies to the teenagers, and at least one fully grown adult.

Later, I would learn that the adult was 22 years old. He had lived at the orphanage since he was two years old. Off to the side, I could see a row of tents. I learned that this is where the children had been sleeping since the earthquake. They had to share six or seven tents between all 50 of them. It was all they had left since the earthquake had destroyed the two buildings it had taken Pastor Bob years of fundraising and scraping by to build. “How sad for these poor children,” I thought. “As if their lives weren’t tough enough already.”

I saw an older white man walking towards me and immediately knew this must be the man I need to talk to to get the story.

Bob told me about how he came to Haiti and how all the orphaned children roaming the streets just melted his heart. Bob told me how, the day of the earthquake, he had planned a church service for the children that was to begin at 5 p.m. Just before 5, the pastor grew angry, as he looked around to see the children playing and taking their time about getting to the church service. He went after them, to round them up when, at 4:50, the earthquake shook the entire building to the ground, and ripped the top half of the second building off.

“So, you see, if the children had been on time to church that day, they would have all perished.” Bob cleared his throat, as if to fight back tears and continued, “so, I feel really bad that I was so angry with the children that day. I could have lost them all. I have never lost any children in the 34 years I’ve run this orphanage, and, I almost did that day.” He paused momentarily. “But now, I do still think children should be on time to church.” I had to laugh, and hoped it didn’t offend the pastor in whose home I was a guest.

“What an incredible story,” I thought. Then, suddenly, I heard it…singing. I turned back towards the children, who had made their way to some beat-up, old wooden church pews, facing towards a makeshift altar where they held their services now, outside, in the dark. Their voices rose in a glorious chorus. I began taking video. While I couldn’t see much, I didn’t want to miss the chance to record such a wonderful sound. Of course, I couldn’t understand what they were singing, since they sang in Creole, but it didn’t matter. The sound was beautiful, and I was touched beyond belief. These poor, sweet children have no one except Bob and each other. They’ve just lost everything they had, are now forced to lived in tents, don’t know from day to day whether or not they’ll eat, and yet, these beautiful children still sing. Amazing.

What Pleasantly Surprised Me

• The Haitian Spirit—I was so impressed by the wonderful spirit of the Haitian people. Despite everything, they seem happier than we are.

• Singing— I awoke a few times to hearing beautiful singing from the people in the village around me.

• Language—I was surprised to find out that many Haitians are not just bilingual, but multilingual. Many speak Creole, Spanish, French, and English.

• The Beautiful Country—Haiti is a breathtakingly beautiful country…gorgeous shorelines with beautiful blue water, mountain ranges. Lush coconut and other palm trees are plentiful.

What Can Be Done?

The need is so great, the devastation so complete—it was, and still is, overwhelming for me at times to contemplate how to help the Haitians. As our trip organizer, Rachel Turner, said, “You have to focus on helping one Haitian at a time.” Rachel went on to explain that, because there are many small mission groups and orphanages that have been established in Haiti for years, they’re the ones who know what each small neighborhood or village needs in order to get those people on their feet.

My suggestion to anyone with a desire to help the people of Haiti is to research those small groups, and contact them about their needs. If you’re adventurous, you may want to connect with a relief group going to Haiti, and see it all for yourself.

The groups I worked with:

• Score, International
• Haiti Gospel Mission
• Good Rest Orphanage