Written by: Christina Hazen in Disaster Response, Distributed Journeys, Local Sites, Longwood, Mount Dora, Online, Oviedo, West Oaks on August 12, 2010

Day five was a late start. We had the morning to plan our first worship service for a refugee camp that was setup by Dominican Republic officials. We started the day with a devotional and then spent time in worship and prayer. After our time of worship in the morning, we split up into teams so that we could prepare for ministry. Our plan ... was to have a plan! But, we are learning a very important word here—and that is “flexibility.”

We all split up into teams. One team took care of the worship and teaching for the children, using flannel graphs, and another took care of the equipment and other necessities that we needed. We loaded up at 2 p.m. and headed out to to the camp.

We were all concerned about the weather and how hot it would be, but God showed up with rain to cool it off. He held the rain until we had our service, and as we pulled out, it started raining again.

We saw children and adults come to Jesus, and it was great to be a part of leading worship and seeing others come to the saving knowledge of Christ. With everything that has happened here in Haiti—the earthquake and the oppression that was already here before the earthquake—it’s amazing to me how much these people yearn to know God.

One time, a friend told me about her experience on another missions trip. She said, “When the need is great, your God has to be greater ... especially when you have nothing.” So, with that being said, our God is an awesome God. He’s a big God, a great God, and worthy to be praised. I think many of us in the U.S. can learn a thing or two about suffering.

Soon, we will be off to the mountains. Stay tuned for the next blog.