A Late New Years Post

Inspired by the Instagram trend on New Year's Eve to create a "Flipagram" of pictures from 2013, I decided to blog some pictures from 2013. 

In 2013...

I skied with the best

I enjoyed some good concerts

 Checked things off of our Senior Year bucket list like this one: mattress surfing

I moved out of a dorm for the last time...
 and realized I have way too much stuff!

 I graduated!

Cyd graduated!

 












Meghan got married!

Ally had a baby!
 

I ventured to Haiti
 

Spent lots of Sunday mornings with little ones like this

Made lots of new friends

Laughed over many games of cards


Made trips into Port au Prince

Celebrated my birthday in Haiti
 

And made it home in time for Christmas!

I'm left with the reminder that God, oh He is faithful. And so good. And I don't deserve a bit of this. Thank you Jesus for who you are and the life you have given me!

Exciting News!!

Blog readers,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! 

I'm humbled and excited to say that I will be returning to Mission of Hope this Spring! I will return based on when support comes in and I will stay until the beginning of June. To sum up my time with MOH this past Fall, I was so humbled to be a part of what God is doing in Haiti and through Mission of Hope! What a privilege it was to be a part of that community and what a joy it will be to return!

I have been asked to work with Child Sponsorship as well as with Mobilization. My days will look a little different this time as I will be using my organizational, administrative gifting.When I was in Haiti this Fall, I had the opportunity to help out in Child Sponsorship a few times and enjoyed it so much!  I will be working alongside a great staff member and assisting her with facilitating child sponsorship visits, sponsor letters, sponsor gifts, and facilitating profile cards. I'm passionate about education, so I'm very excited to be doing what I can to make education possible for the children in Haiti!

This link will tell you more about our Child Sponsorship program. 

I will also get to to take on some intern responsibilities when things get busy. I will greet/welcome teams, lead tours, and lead teams as I'm needed. I'm also excited to meet the new interns and be able to encourage them as I have been where they are.

I'm humbled to have been asked to come back and serve. I'm so thankful to the Lord for this opportunity to go back to Haiti before starting my teaching career in the Fall. I believe He has set this up for "such a time as this." 

This ministry opportunity is only possible through your prayers and financial support. I'm so thankful for how support has allowed the Gospel to advance thus far and I kindly ask that you pray about  supporting Haiti through me. If you're interested in supporting me, you can click this link below. Please put my name in the "additional info" box so that Mission of Hope knows where the money should go. Where it asks you to "Choose a Program" keep it on "General Fund" category. 

Support Brittany!

If you would also be so kind to email me and let me know if you give so that I am able to keep track of my support.

With love and thanks,

Brittany Donnelly

One Week

As I sent off a team this morning it hit me that that will be me leaving MOH and flying out of Haiti this time next Saturday. As I go into my final week as an intern at MOH, please keep me in your prayers for this time of transition from a 3rd world to 1st world, safe travels, and for my next step after this adventure. 

I pray for this Christmas season that it's a joyful time as we gather to adore Him. 

Thank you for following my journey and making it possible!! With your support, you're helping MOH carry out the vision of bringing life transformation to every man woman and child in Haiti. 

I'm sure I'll continue to have some thoughts to post once I'm back in the States, as the journey will continue to affect me even after I leave Haiti. 

Here's a picture of some of my sweet friends before we went into Port au Prince on Saturday. So thankful for them! 

Happy December! And happy first day of Advent!

I had such good time in the Word today and it was a great way to start the advent season. A lot of this is from the devotion and my study Bible and not my own thoughts, but I just wanted to share. 

The advent devotion that I started this morning goes through "The Songs of Christmas." I feel like knowing and spending time learning the meaning of the songs I hear every season will give me a new view on these songs and be able to worship Christ in a new way. 

The scripture that went along with the devotion was Luke 2:13-14 "And suddenly there was with the angel  a multitude of the heavenly host (thousands of angels) praising God  and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!"

Jesus kept me right here and I stayed in this passage for a while. This is a familiar text that is read during the advent season, but God was gracious to give it new meaning for me today.

The notes for verse 14in my Study Bible:

Angels are proclaiming the news about Jesus. 

He is the eternal, omnipotent, Son of God. 

He is taking on the “form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Phil 2:7

The “fullness of time” has now come.

God has “sent forth His Son born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” Gal 4:4-5

Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 9 verse 6.

He is fulfilling promises by His birth!

The devotion material was on the Chris Tomlin song “Angels We Have Heard on High” and I just so happened to be already listening to it when I saw that was the song for today. 

His birth radiated glory. The glory was so bright that the shepherds went to find the source. In Luke 2:15 they say “let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing…”

Shepherds why this jubilee?

Why your joyous strains prolong?

What the gladsome tidings be

Which inspire your Heavenly song?

So I’m reading this, and I’m like, wait. In the scripture it says that Angels are praising, thousands of them to be exact, but what are the shepherds doing? The song says they are singing. So I look back at the text in Luke and Luke 2:20 says “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always just sung that part and never really listened to the words and sung from the heart. But now that I have spent time in that passage, I can!

Jesus entered the earth in the same way He enters our hearts: right in the middle of the mess! You know, the manager, with the farm animals, to Mary and Joseph. Just like He didn’t look for a palace to be His birthplace and an earthly throne His dwelling, so does he not look for clean hearts to come into of perfect people who have it all figured out.Praise the Lord!

He came for us, that He could dwell in our hearts. Ephesians 3:17 “…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

This is what He has been telling us since birth, an invitation that never expires:

Come to Bethlehem and see

Him whose birth the Angels sing

Come adore on bended knee

Christ our Lord, the new born King!

Let us join with the shepherds and the Angels in the awe of the birth of the humble Son of God that came for us!

Here’s the link to the Advent plan if you’re interested! 

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/775-the-songs-of-christmas 

Life Around Here

Enjoying learning new healthy recipes with this gem of a friend!

I'm in charge of the schedule on the board here. This is it the night before we got 130 new team members on campus! Jam packed!

Just chillin with some of my favorite drivers! You gotta trust your driver on these roads.

Helped the mobile medical team count vitamins for their mobile clinic this week!

Meet my friend Michelson from Leveque. When I asked him "Ou renmen Jezi?" Which means "Do you love Jesus?" His response was "Mwen renmen Jezi anpil!" meaning " I love Jesus so much!" Precious. He also didn't wear pants all day. :)

Got to ride in this this week! With 40 high schoolers that liked to sing. It was wild!

Fun Haitian friends!  

He's riding on the back of the King of the Road. There is no fear in the hearts of Haitians.

The sweet little Toms that Haitians receive when you buy Toms!

The delicious pumpkin muffin that Amanda  and Matt (check out their blog here) made for us for Thanksgiving! So thoughtful.

Our hard working Haitian kitchen ladies that learned some new recipes in order to fix us a traditional Thanksgiving meal!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture these two and their outfits. :)

Importance of Education

As I’m getting to serve in this country and with MOH, I’m learning tons about poverty and what it’s like to aid poverty. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that the way to solve poverty is not an immediate fix. For there to be lasting change in the pattern of life, you have to be rooted in the country, committed, and create sustainable practices. Immediate relief is only that, relief for the moment.

 MOH (and I) believe that the best way to change this nation is through Education. Education gives the students opportunity to succeed in their country in ways that they wouldn't otherwise be educated to do so. 

I've gotten to see multiple sponsors meet their child and it has been such a sweet and beautiful thing. 

Currently, we have over 2,500 that still need sponsors! What a great Christmas gift idea!! :) If you’re interested in sponsoring a child, you can go here:
https://secure3.convio.net/mohh/site/Donation2?df_id=1500&1500.donation=form1

I've actually just started sponsoring a child and I can't wait to get to meet her. I'll be sure to post pictures once that happens! For now, here are some pictures of when some of my team members have gotten to meet the precious children they sponsor!

 

 

 

Spotlight on Haitians

At the beginning of my internship, village times were harder for me than work project days because I know what to expect from a work project, and I can control it to an extent. As I've had more and more village time experiences, I have grown to love, value, and actually enjoy the time with people in the villages. As we're going around meeting people and praying with them, we meet some people that aren't receptive, but God is always so gracious to cross our paths with other believers. It's so encouraging to hear the heart of the people for our God, for their village, and to know that they are sharing Jesus with their neighbors.

A lady in Simonette that got out her hymnal and sang "How Great Thou Art" in Creole while we sang in English.

When we do meet people in the villages that are Christians, one of my favorite things to do is ask if they have a favorite verse or favorite worship song. Chances are, if they can name a favorite worship song, then they will sing it for you. And if you can figure out a song that you both know, then it's like you've just scored Heaven on earth. I've been fortunate enough for that to happen a couple of times, and it is truly one of my favorite things to be able to worship our Lord in two languages with someone that we've just met. 

The field in Titanyen where we play soccer, throw the frisbee (my favorite), and play other games with the kids in afternoon village time. 

This is a friend that lives in Minoterie. I met her when we painted her house with one of my teams. When I had village time with a team a couple of weeks later, I went by her house to see if she was there because I had promised her I would visit. As I anxiously waited for her to come to the door, I wondered if she would remember me. She was so so happy and it was fun to get to visit her and introduce her to that team and we then got to pray for her. She always greets me with kisses on the cheek and was so so appreciative of our paint job and prayers. She's raising children on her own in a tough situation and it's by His grace that we became such close friends in such a short amount of time and with such little communication-ha! 

This lady was by the stream was worshiping, washing clothes, shoes, and dishes. She said she wanted to teach us the song that she was singing but she couldn't because she said she needed to finish washing to go get lunch ready for her children that were getting out of school soon.We got to sing "Amazing Grace" with her in our own languages. :)

In many houses in Haiti, you see fences made from weaving together two palm branches. So talented and resourceful! 

These are pictures of the kitchen of a lady that teaches cooking classes and disciples her graduates. One of her graduates is now a kitchen lady at MOH! So inspiring to see a woman doing what she loves and sharing Jesus while doing it. 

Through the church advancement program, one of my teams partnered with the village of Source Matelas and paid for three latrines to be put in the village. Once they came in country, we got to build latrines alongside the Haitian contractors!

Worship was wonderful this week. It felt so intimate, we sang all my favorites, and it was as if God was speaking straight to me, that he was really there with me, encouraging and challenging me with the words we sang.  Here is a version of one of the songs we sang:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfPJ4j5P5X8  

With Christmas right around the corner, let me share some fun shopping that I've discovered recently. Each of these organizations provide shopping with a purpose, not to mention there's some fun and trendy stuff! 

http://www.3cordshaiti.com/    
http://www.apparentproject.org/
http://shopwalkinlove.com/
http://fightforthem.com/
http://www.vibellajewelry.com/