New Name New Blog

Hello Hello
It's been a while, and I'm clearly awful about updating this when I'm not in Haiti. Like I mentioned in the last post, and as all of you know, in March the Lord brought me the most amazing man in the whole world, and now Jake's my HUSBAND! So it looks like it's time to put the Jacqueline Enloe blog to rest. But have no fear, when we head to Haiti next week we'll be updating a new blog!
http://jakeandjacqueline.blogspot.com/
Thank you for all of your prayers and love on this crazy adventure

Maybe just maybe I'll be able to actually keep up this new blog, I can only hope

And ... I'm back

So after a little over a week of being back I'm finally able to re-cap this trip.
It was amazing ... SHOCKING lol
This was a totally different trip than I'd been on before. Not being with a team completely changed the dynamics of everything I did, in an amazing way. I got to spend so much one on one time with Ari and her family which was a bigger blessing than I could ever even begin to explain.
I had the opportunity to just live life the way the missionaries do. It's hard, really hard, the warfare constantly going on is so evident. But at the end of the day, it's just life, this is not to minimize the incredible work being done in any way, but it's just not the strange idealized picture I always had of "missionary" life. It brought new meaning to the idea that we are to live in a missional way wherever we are. That's exactly what they're doing, it's just that the people they're serving are the people of Haiti. It's beautiful what the Lord is doing in and through this amazing family. I so SO recommend following this family and all the Lord is doing in Haiti through them if you're looking for encouragement, He is so evident in their lives in an amazing way! http://www.childhope.org/news/blog/blog.html and http://www.childhope.org/index.html
Coming back and readjusting was a different process than ever before for a lot of reasons. While I was there I really felt more than ever before that I would someday have the opportunity to live in Haiti. So exciting! It's something I've longed for since the first time I went but never felt the calling to. Coming home was also a little easier since the Lord has brought this amazing man into my life :) Jake has the most incredible heart for the Lord and for mission work. I know the Lord has so much in store for us serving Him together and someday serving in Haiti together. The Lord provided so much peace in this readjustment period, and while I love Haiti more than before, knowing that I'll be going back in His perfect timing has been such a sweet thing to rest in.
Thank you all for your prayers and love and everything!
Keep pressing on!

Top 3 things I miss from Haiti
1. Actually feeling like I'm doing something productive when I wash my hands. In Haiti you watch the dirt come off, here we wash off the "germs"
2. Constantly being around children who long to show you love and be loved by you
3. Witnessing, on a daily basis, a greater faith and joy than I've ever seen before, despite living in crazier circumstances than we could ever imagine

Merci Jezi pou Ayiti

Thank You Jesus for Haiti!
What a blessing to have had this time in Haiti. The last day is always the hardest, but today I was determined to enjoy and appreciate the end of my time here rather than focus on how sad leaving was going to be.
This morning we spent at the daycare again, always so so good!

We went to watch the boys play soccer against the Christian school... They played soo well!

After saying goodbye to the boys and girls I got to spend the evening with Ari and her family.
This is me and her sister Frankie
\
Gonna miss my sister!!


Leaving is so hard, but I'm so thankful for the gift of this time. Praise You Lord

in Haiti

Today was really good, a lot to take in, but really good.
I spent the morning at the daycare again, as always it was amazing! I got to spend some great time with God getting ready for the Bible study I lead tonight for the girls home. And the afternoon was spent at the clinic with the orphanage's nurse. Every Tuesday and Thursday they do an open clinic where community residents can come to be treated. It was difficult to see the reality of the situation so many of these people face. But the Lord is faithful to provid what He provides. Praise Him! Getting ready for my last day has been hard, it's never easy for me to leave. Trying to hold my heart for this beautiful country with an open hand before Him. I would so appreciate your prayers tomorrow and THursday and as I get back into the states as readjusting has never been something I've been good at. But the Lord is faithful, so very faithful!

Hebrews 12:1&2 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The view from my favorite rooftop in Haiti where I always have the most amazing quiet time :)

All day with Haitian children!!!

I got to spend all day with the amazingly beautiful children of Haiti! What a gift! The morning was spent at the daycare where ten kids up to three years old spend their day being beautiful and hillarious, then in the afternoon was the feeding program where 100 kids come 3 times a week to be fed. I think today was my favorite day yet :)

Adnika is a thirty year old in a two year olds body, I love her so much!


Estalline legitimately redefines SASSY



Makinlove is one of my favorites, he's the same little boy who fell asleep on my shoulder two years ago at the feeding program!

Sunday in His Haiti

Today was great! I spent morning at church, we looked at Mark and the woman who poured her alabster jar of oil out for the Jesus. We discussed how it's a picture of what our lives should be; broken for Him, poured out for Him, and a beautiful fragrance for Him. So good! After church we just had lunch with a bunch of people, and I got to spend time having some amazing conversations with the people here. The evening was relaxing too and I had fun time with the amazing Manassero family :) Just enjoyed another relaxing day with Him and His beautiful kids.

Just a normal day in Haiti

This morning started with saying bye to the Reality LA team, it was so great to be here with people from home, and I'm so looking forward to staying in touch with them when I get back!
After they left Ari and I came back to the house, got ready, and were on our way with 4 of the older boys from the orphanage to go to the recording studio! So fun! We took a tap-tap because it's pretty far away. A tap-tap is the Haitain idea of a taxi, you literally jump on the back of a pick up truck with a truck-bed cover where you sit on a bench on the back seat, if you're lucky enough to not be hanging off the back.

This is a tap-tap

This is what life is like on a tap-tap

This was our time in the studio ... hahaha


We clearly have amazing futures as rappers ... lol

After walking an hr home in the beautiful Haitian sun I just spent the rest of the day haning out with the Manassero family. It has been such a blessing to just really experience what day to day life here looks like. We had a great afternoon hanging out and resting, spent the evening just eating dinner and playing WII American Idol, lots of singing today lol.
It was a great day. I had some awesome time to just spend in the Word while watching the Haitian sunset. It was truly a beautiful and blessed day! Praise the Lord :)

Creation declares His glory!

1 Samuel 2:2 "There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God."

Today was an amazing and difficult day. The more I'm here the more I love this country and the people here. I so desire to know His will for me in regards to my love for Haiti.
We spent time in the mountains today. His creation here so truly declares His glory!





This evening the Reality LA team had a pizza party for the kids for their last night here which was really fun!
The best part of the night was spent with the kids from the local Christian jh/hs. They had a worship night where they read through scripture and then spent time in prayer and worship. It was such an incredible blessing to see His kids here worshiping Him in such a fully surrendered way! I was so blessed and encouraged by them!

Isaiah 61:10&11
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations."

Brokeness and Joy

After a good sleep, I'm feeling a little more able to actually express what's going on over here. Haiti is amazing!
Spent the morning at the girls home playing with the kids there. Oh my gosh they're so great! They're so full of joy!
This is me and Daphne,one of the little girls at the daycare. Last time I was here she was so shy, clearly she's come out of her shell a little bit :)

After eating an amazing Haitian lunch :) we headed over to the ravine. The ravine is basically a ton of single women and their children with no dad's. There's a little church hut in the middle of a bunch of tents and shacks. Going to the tent city was one of the hardest things. After the earthquake I heard about these tent cities, just clusters of tents that people live in because their houses collapsed. I had no idea what the reality of something like this would look like, it's tragic. There were about 25 tents squished together on less than an acre worth of space. We made our way through these tents stepping over a tiny sewage river that ran through the whole "camp," this is where all water, pee, and bath waste would go to. It was so difficult to see. These people are people, like you and me, if we were to be faced with this in the states we would be so unnerved by it, but I've realized how detached I become. My biggest prayer request is just that I would allow myself to be so broken for His children here. He loves them so much, and even as I'm here I see how easy it is to not allow myself to feel the brokeness that this situation should cause. Please pray for a genuine heart of compassion and love for these amazing people. Despite the tragedy so many of these kids have so much joy, it just blows my mind and encourages me to have the joy and faith that they have.
This one of the little girls from the ravine :)

This all probably sounds very contradictory, praying for both brokeness and joy, but I know the Lord wants to work both in me, in ways that I've never experienced before. So that is my prayer. The beautiful unity of brokeness and joy.

O Haiti how I've missed you!

Day 1:
What a whirlwind!
Travel went better than I could have expected! Once landing in Haiti, I took my single carry on bag which contained everything I brought (yes for those of you who know me, this was truly a miracle! Lol) and made my way out to the parking lot. A few minutes later Ari and a few other Americans and Haitian kids from the orphanage showed up! I couldn't have been more excited! While I was waiting for them I had a few minutes to just sit and observe all that Haiti is. It's so strange that it's been almost two years since I've been here. I've spent so much of the day just processing the fact that I am in fact actually HERE.
We drove back to Ari's house and I was instantly reminded that I was back. I got to hold Dave on the drive back. Now Haitian roads don't exactly have a calming affect. Actually the Los Angeles pot holes have nothing and I mean nothing on the roads over here, they're part of what make the experience :) However, little baby Dave's stomach didn't agree. One minute we're all laughing hysterically over who even remembers what, and the next minute Ari is looking down at me going "o Dave." yea Dave got a little car sick all over both of us, all of our responses were "yep this is Haiti" it wasn't until we got home that we realized that he had also wet his pants while sitting on my lap ... Yes ladies and gentlemen this is Haiti! After getting both of us a little cleaned up I got to go around and see the new guest house (and the Reality LA team!) the school and the afternoon feeding program (always a highlight of the day). So many street kids come to the boys orphanage where they receive some of the only food they eat. They're the most beautiful and patient kids you'll ever meet. The best part was when one of the kids came and sat on my lap, followed by another, and another, ... I forgot how amazing they are and how they long to feel they're being loved. After that we went to dinner to celebrate Ari's brothers birthday with her family and Brittany and Rod and Asher. The jet lag finally set in. After a little nap I sit here still so amazed that I'm here and have the rest of this week and a half ahead of me.
Praise the Lord for His unending goodness an faithfulness!

I'm trying to figure out how to add pictures from my phone ... Expect some tomorrow :)

Let this adventure begin!

On my way! I'm still in shock that this is actually happening! After praying for so long for an opportunity to go back to Haiti to finally be on my way is such a gift! Sitting in the JFK airport watching the snow fall outside I'm simply in awe of the things the Lord allows me to do. This is my first time traveling to Haiti "alone," but God being God, and answering what I'm sure were many prayers of my parents :) has me on the same flight as a guy from Reality Ventura who's also going over to spend time at Maison De Lumiere.
My prayer this morning is that the Lord would do whatever work He desires in and through me. Praying through Psalm 51, that He would cleanse me, renew a right spirit within me, that I would be ever renewed in the joy of my salvation, dwell in His presence, and have praises of Him always on my lips. I'm so excited for all that this trip has in store!!!
So If there's any logic behind this 3:30 pst / 6:30 est post, all glory to God :)

What a year can do ... what a week can do ...

Wow! I can't believe that a year ago I was supposed to be in Haiti, and now a year later, the Lord is finally allowing me to go! In that year I've graduated from USC film school, worked with an amazing film production company, and I'm now preparing for my third trip back to Haiti!

In this year I've learned so much! My education was a blessing, but the last ten months have taught me more than I could have ever learned in a classroom. I have realized how incredibly short this life is. Most of us, however young or old, seem to learn this lesson quickly, the older we get the faster life seems to fly by us. And the older I get the more I realize that, with this life being as short as it is, there's no reason to take the safe routes. The men and women I admire so much, never made decisions based on what was safe, and I admire them because of all that was done in and through them. They heard the Lord's voice, and they responded with obedience. Abraham went to the land he did not know, David collected his pebbles to defeat a seemingly impossible opponent, Esther went before the king without permission to save God's chosen people; the stories go on and on. This is the faith I want to have, these are the decisions I want to make, and this is the life I long to live; a life based solely upon hearing the Lord's calling to do something, and regardless of "logic" boldly moving forward, free from doubt and fear.

So this trip is the first step in that! A week ago, I booked my ticket, and in a week I'll, Lord willing, be soaking in the joy and tragedy of my favorite people! Please be praying about this trip. The Haitian elections are taking place on Sunday, and in the past the rioting has escalated to the point of shutting the airport. I know the Lord will place me there exactly when He wants, and all I desire is His will. I'll be updating this with stories and prayer requests throughout my time there.

These are some specific prayer requests:
*calm among the Haitian people in response to the election;
*the Lord's guidance as to where He wants my time spent while I'm there as I don't have any sort of itinerary;
*wisdom, vision, direction as to His more long term plans for me in regards to Haiti and film;
*that the Lord would be preparing my heart now for what He wants to teach me while I'm there, and for the readjustment process when I come back :)

Psalm 34:1-5
"I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed."