THE END!

Clear turquoise water. Soft white sand stretching as far as the eye can see. Early morning sun peeping over the sand dunes. Happy (and rather chubby) dog running alongside me. Dolphins swimming by. Not another person in sight.

Several times in Haiti...for just a small second...I allowed myself to slip into this reverie.

But this morning it was no longer a reverie...it was reality. I'm really in Australia. The reality still feels very unreal.

So little Bunbury is quite the change from the riot scarred city of Port au Prince!

My last blog left off saying that due to the riots our team might have to spend the last few days in the Dominican Republic so that we could fly out on time. Well, the 3 boys on our team went to the D.R. and all the girls decided to stay in Haiti for debrief and hope that things simmered down. It was probably one of my favorite weekends of outreach! We rode on the back of motorbikes on dirt roads up the mountain above the clouds. We arrived at Le Montcel (a beautiful old ranch/retreat) with grey grimy skin from all the burnt tires. Upon arrival we were promptly cuddled up on soft couches with a fire in the hearth and a glass of red wine in our grubby hands. Joy! For a couple of days we were able to relax and spend time together processing the insanity of the past three months. As I walked around the rambling property I was in tears every time I saw a beautiful flower or the clouds lit up with the sunrise. Our souls are created to long for beauty and all earthly beauty is simply a rippled reflection, a hazy shadow of the Beautiful One.

Before we went up to Le Montcel we went to our tent city in front of the palace one more time. Things were very tense as we drove through. There were barely any cars on the roads apart from UN tanks and all the roads were charred, covered in burnt rubbish and tires. Not many people were in the tent city as they had either left for a while because of the violence or they were just not coming out of their tents. It was wonderful to see some of our friends one last time and to encourage them and pray for them before we left. We did almost get hit with a glass bottle as there was one man who went completely off his nut and started screaming and throwing things at us. All our friends there were angry with him and pulled us away, assuring us in Creole that they loved us and it was ok. My heart is so heavy for these beautiful people...I really miss Haiti.

We managed to fly out on time on Wednesday and after rushed goodbyes and frantic escapades through several airports I arrived in Honolulu 21 hours later. Unfortunately the majority of my luggage liked LA too much and decided not to continue the journey home with me...so my wardrobe is rather pitiful! Laura and I stayed in Honolulu for 2 days (talk about culture shock!) and then travelled for 24 more hours until we stepped out of the plane into the excited arms of family and friends awaiting us in Perth on Sunday night.

So. Here I am. In Bunbury. The last year of my life feels like a vague dream that I'll never be able to forget.

Shards of Haiti's brokeness have pierced my heart and are working their way through my veins. Shards of God's hope have pierced my spirit and I am pregnant with faith and hope for His glory to be restored in the sons of man. The very earth groans and cries out.

All of you who have sown into this journey whether practically in finances or in prayer in the spiritual realms will reap the inheritance of the transformation of a nation. I can't thank you enough!

I'm excited and slightly nervous about meeting the mysterious year that is crouched around the corner. A new journey awaits.

THE END!

MISS GOLIGHTLY! I MUST PROTEST!

8th December 2010

I woke up this morning feeling as if I had inhaled a car tire. Delightful.

The sky seemed particularly overcast as I looked over the landscape. It all began to make sense in my foggy morning mind as I saw the pillars of smoke rising up from all over the city. It could be one of two options: either the presence of the Lord had decided to come as pillars of cloud as in the days of Moses or people were burning tires, vehicles and rubbish in the street. My personal preference would be to tell you the former was true. But alas, my loves, the latter happens to be the only unfortunate explanation.

It was confirmed as we watched from our balcony while mobs of angry Hatians threw rocks and bottles at a poster of a corrupt presidential candidate by the name of Jude Celestin. They proceeded to climb the poles of the billboard, rip it down and burn it in the street. Hundreds of crazy protestors stormed down the street screaming "Arrest Preval". Rene Prevel is the current president of Haiti and the father-in-law of Jude Celestin. Well, I'm sure you don't want to read a news report about all the political squabbling going on. Just know that it's bad and corrupt and Haitians are sick of the injustice and desperate for change - hence the riots and general madness ensuing the announcement of the election results last night. You can find pictures of the aftermath on my leaders blog under "media" at www.jasenchung.com.

To be honest I feel perfectly safe and at peace in myself...I'm more miffed because we had planned to make food for all the children in the tent city we have been loving on today and we couldn't go obviously. The tent city is directly in front of the collapsed presidential palace and is the main spot for the riots.

God has been breaking out in this tent city and changing the atmosphere like crazy since the Burn week. We've been seeing healings, people radically encountering God's love, prostitutes giving their lives to the Lord and we have been able to construct new tents for the more destitute families. We have built wonderful relationships with the men, women and children there. The atmosphere is changing over this nation. I could spend hours telling you stories about their lives and our time with them. I'll try write some more in-detail stories soon!

10th December 2010

So we are still on lockdown...Day 3. Fortunately I can report that we have not killed each other yet although the civilised facade is slowly fading...you know it's bad when your entire day revolves around meal times. My senses have become attuned to the bell we ring when the food is ready and when I hear the spritely jingle I feel my ears perk up, my adrenalin kicks in and I start panting and drooling at the mouth. YES!!! RE-COOKED OILY NOODLES FOR THE THIRD TIME TODAY!!! PRAISE THE LIVING LORD! Haha, but seriously God is giving us grace every single day and teaching us to seek him in the times of waiting and frustration and rest in his love. Yesterday was my birthday and we celebrated by eating pancakes and watching Breakfast at Tiffany's so that was a fun interlude (hence my blog title...I thought it was appropriate).

Further riots could explode next week if Preval tries to flee the country so right now things are up in the air (or not) as this means the airport may continue to remain closed and our flights cancelled so we are trying to figure out the best way to get out of the country. We may possibly go to the Dominican Republic for the last few days and then fly out from there - hopefully everything lines up! He will work everything together for the good of those who love him!

I love you all and I will see many of you soooooon! WOO!

Thanks for the constant love, encouragement and prayers.

xoxo

Kerri

Oh the suspense! Here's the rest of the story ;D

Panic. Screams and shouts reverberated in my ears. I was booking it to the back of the house when someone yelled "It's the bus! The bus is on fire!". There was momentary relief as I realised we weren't being shot at by angry Hatians. Momentary being the key word. The relief was over very quickly as I heard people yelling to help pull water out the well to douse the flames. Adrenalin rushed through my veins. I ran down stairs to a flurry of confusion as three different languages were trying to communicate in a chaotic, panicked frenzy. I picked up eventually that the electric cable above the house had snapped and whipped down massive volts of electric current onto our bus below. Everyone was freaking out cos they were pouring water on an electric fire. Yelling at everyone to put shoes on and not walk in the water or touch the big metal gate as they ran in and out. Despite our best efforts the $62,000 bus was charred inside and out by the time the fire was out.

Some people might just put it down as a strange coincidence that all this happened during our 200 hours of prayer and intercession for this nation. I would naturally try to excuse it as well if it wasn't for several other "coincidences" that same night. Was it just a coincidence that I couldn't sleep despite my exhaustion and was almost forced to pray and worship for 4 hours the night before? Was it just a coincidence that one of the girls was woken up in the night by a dream where she was told that the enemy would attack us with fire but she was too scared to wake anyone up and tell them? Was it a coincidence that one of the staff members was in the middle of a dream where he was being demonically attacked and woke up just as the explosion happened and saw his roommate physically fighting in his sleep as he was being attacked in his sleep as well? Was it just a coincidence that we had a qualified firefighter on the base? He was not even supposed to be there that day as he was part of a team from Guadalupe that was meant to leave the morning before. However, due to "problems" in their schedule they ended up having to stay another night. Was it just a coincidence that it happened at the same time that most people here perform their voodoo ceremonies? Was it just a coincidence that the night after we had spent a day prophetically declaring peace over Haiti, we were all blasted with fear, panic and chaos?

We knew this was not all "just coincidence". We gathered together and prayed over each other, immediately there was such a sense of peace that came over us. In the morning we were all filled with such joy and passion to pray with even more authority and worship with even deeper love. It's a joy to know the enemy is scared and pissed off at what our prayers are accomplishing in the spiritual realm. It's such a humbling thing to partner with God in drawing this nation back to his heart and I know this is the safest place for me to be because I'm resting in the arms of my Father.

The next day as we went to minister in tent cities we saw incredible breakthrough as a prostitute gave her life to the Lord and a old lady's leg was healed! A mother of four who was living in intense shame experienced the grace of her Saviour and we could sense the presence of the Lord in the tent as she started singing her own song of worship. We were able to minister to many people. The day after that we returned to build tents for several families including a single mother with 7 kids who were all sleeping outside on the dirt. Since January, these people have not experienced any other humanitarian aid at all until we felt led to minister there. Their physical needs are overwhelming but their eyes are starting to fill with hope as they experience the love of God.

Thank you all for contending in prayer with us! We are experiencing amazing breakthrough in Haiti. Bring it on!

Love you all!
Kerri

BURN BABY BURN!

12am on Saturday morning. The fire started burning as sounds of worship and intercession were raised up for 1804 - the first year of the 200 years we are praying for in this 200 hour burn. God’s presence was palpable to me as we took communion together declaring the love of the Father and the victory of the cross over this nation. The voodoo covenant of death and slavery has been declared null and void by the marriage covenant of the Lamb of God. The sacrifice of animals and humans married this nation to the enemy of their souls, but the sacrifice of God himself has won victory over the enemy and redeemed his rightful bride. FIRE!

On Saturday we felt the Lord lead us to go back to the orphanage where we worked for two weeks to serve the children with a “feast of abundance”. This was not just to fill their little bellies, but it was a prophetic act, breaking the spirit of poverty and abandonment over this nation and releasing a spirit of Sonship and adoption! It was powerful as I shared with them the story of this loving Father and saw them eagerly pray and receive their adoption as sons and daughters of the King. We then served them a feast! It was a miracle how a tiny 2 year old could fit in more rice, beans and chicken than me! The feast was followed by a rare and precious treat - ice cream. God is raising these beautiful children up to lead a spiritual revolution in Haiti. C’mon!

On Sunday we spent 3 hours in a loud, smelly, jerky, brightly painted tuk tuk as we made our way up a massive mountain. Here’s some maths for you - hard wood benches + pot holed dirt roads = chiropractor appointment please. But it was all worth it as we stepped out of the back of the tuk tuk onto the top of the cold misty mountain. We went to a place called Le Montcel which is this beautiful spacious ranch and retreat which was built in 1910 (YWAM Port au Prince has a vision to raise funds to purchase it to run DTS' which would be flipping sick). I felt like I was in Europe as we walked into the ivy covered, stone building to a crackling fire in the hearth, Christmas decorations and Louis Armstrong cooing Christmas carols. Many of us were moved to tears at the sheer bliss that overcame us as we felt cold, fresh air for the first time in months and drank coffee with real cream (as opposed to powdered milk)! Ahhhhhh. Joy! This, believe it all not, was also a prophetic act which God revealed to us as we interceded for the Burn. We felt like we needed to go up there and rest for a few hours and be filled with peace and to pray and declare for that peace to descend into the chaos and confusion below. Then we hopped in the tuk tuk and spent another death defying 3 hours descending the mountain.

That night I was so exhausted, but for some reason I could not sleep to save my life! So I prayed and worshipped into the night. Eventually I fell asleep but at 2:37 I woke up. I checked my alarm clock, confused as to why I woke up. Literally a minute later there was a massive explosion! The sound of guns and bombs filled the house! The alley outside glowed with flames and smoke. All I could think was “We’re being attacked!”. I fought with my mosquito net as I frantically tried to get out of my bed and run to the back of the house!

My heart was pounding. I couldn’t think straight. Fear. Chaos. Confusion.

Jesus! What the freak is happening!?

To be continued...

Haitian Pick Up Lines

Hand spun clay mug in hand. Brimming with Kona Gingerbread coffee. Sweet fragrance unleashing heaven in my nostrils. Bible on lap. Silence. Mountains covered with a soft blanket of sweeping clouds glowing pink, yellow and blue-grey in the light of early dawn. Sigh. Glorious.

Granted this is all as I sit on a dirty bed-bug mattress, murderously slapping at mosquitoes as I peer through iron bars (nice curly ones though) and over a cinder block wall decorated with barbed wire on the other side of which is heavy, smoky, horn-blowing traffic. But apart from all that it truly is beautiful!

This is how I generally enter into my day here in Port Au Prince (although the gingerbread coffee was a once off). A precious moment of peace before we descend into chaos. Similar to the few seconds perched on the edge of the diving board before the vicious slap and splash of a belly flop.

Haiti is perfect for any person who thrives in adrenalin inducing, hair raising situations. According to Haitian mythology, one day the Haitian people made a pact together to make up for their terrible lack of theme parks. They all agreed to dig massive holes in the road, place as many obstacles in the way (such as goats, pigs, dogs, chickens, wheelbarrows, boulders and children) and crush as many people into one vehicle as possible. The powers that be then gave a mandate that every driver must without exception drive like a raving lunatic. They also agreed that in order to qualify for your drivers license you had to demonstrate two essential skills: you must be able to constantly hold down the horn and you must never lift your foot from the accelerator. This pact is, to date, the only longstanding and effective initiative taken by the Haitian people for the Haitian people. The benefits are fantastic: it provides endless entertainment and excitement for the multitudes at very low cost, contributes to the culling of pests such as mangy street dogs and helps prevent cardiovascular diseases by increasing the heart rate and blood flow, just to name a few.

It is also a well known fact here in Haiti that females with white skin tone (commonly known as a “blancs”) are a rare and valuable species and are to be pursued relentlessly. The pursuit is usually embarked upon as soon as the blanc is within eyesight. It is sometimes very subtle in the beginning stages. Friendly chitter chatter with one added element - seductive eyes. Some are much bolder and before conversation even proceeds they make their intentions clear by pursing their lips and making kissing noises. If the blanc is polite or naive enough to respond in a friendly manner, the process of seduction picks up a notch. The majority of the men are well versed in a language known as Pickuplines and once they have secured their prey they will begin to unleash their well practiced lines which are supposed to have a similar effect as a stun gun: they will not kill the prey but will leave them in a vulnerable and unresponsive state. It is at this point that the question of marriage can be proposed. Some pickuplines that I have personally experienced are as follows:

“Today I have seen an angel. Where are you from? Did you just come down from heaven?”

“You are so sweet...I can see God in you...and I love God very much.”

“If I could paint, I would paint your face, only your face. I would not want to paint anything else.”

“You are single? Oh this is a very good thing! I am single too!”

“Ah! Your brain is very beautiful. I love your brain.”

Needless to say, my head has expanded quite significantly within the last two months.

It is usually at this point I shake myself from under their bewitching spell and I realise that Jesus is the last thing they are thinking about and I will never get through unless I resort to desperate measures (such as “Flirt to Convert”) and that’s just not the way I slice my pie yo. A strange phenomenon then takes place where I suddenly no longer understand a word they say and run away in a wild, haphazard fashion.

Apart from improving my blood circulation, getting my adrenalin addiction tended to and stoking up my self esteem I have also been working with my team at an orphanage this week. The building looks as if it was destroyed in the earthquake and has been cleared out and rebuilt. Each day some of us taught in their school, shared stories and testimonies, did dramas, songs, activities and just played with and held the children. The rest of the team cleaned out the rooms, sanded down cement render walls and painted the house. Substantial amounts of paint ended up on each other...I was very proud of my thick, cream-coloured handlebar mustache courtesy of one of the gentlemen on my team. The children were exceedingly precious and would literally sit in your arms and cuddle all day if they could. It was kinda heartbreaking to say goodbye on our last day. I’m so stoked that we had such a wonderful opportunity to sow into the next generation of leaders...literally impacting the future of this country with the love of Jesus.

It’s been fun chatting with y’all. It’s only one week until we start the 200 hour burn. Hundreds of churches and thousands of people have been mobilised to pray and intercede for this period of time. Not only churches in Haiti but also large groups in Canada, the USA and Korea have heard about it and want to participate. Anyone can sign up to pray for however long they want - check out the website www.ipray4haiti.com.

I love you all and can’t wait to see a lot of you soooon!

Kerri

PS

The cholera epidemic has now spread to Port au Prince. The deaths have increased to over 800 now and it’s not looking good at all. Please continue to fight and pray for this land to be healed!

Beauty in the Breakdown

This is the second installment from my last blog, as promised. Ok, where was I?

Oh yes, so...there I was, lying in my bunk bed at the end of an exhausting day distributing water. Feeling pretty broken and confused. Broken over Haiti and mainly just confused as to why on earth I couldn't fall asleep. As I lay there pondering over the day all of a sudden I felt this deep-inside-me kind of peace and giddy joy. Similar to the feeling you get when you are close to someone you deeply love and trust. Ah, I love His presence. I felt super close, like God was lying in my bed next to me. I began pouring out my heart before him - a whirling mixture of worship, thanks, questions, doubts. Amazement and anger. Gratefulness and frustration. Amazement and gratefulness because of his sweet presence that sustained me through the day, because of the fact that he would choose to use us as his hands and feet, because of his unrelenting love and grace. Anger and frustration because of the overwhelming feeling of ineffectiveness. Because of my doubt and unbelief that Jesus really was enough, that he really is the Way, Truth and Life.

I paused. Took a breath. Waited...and in that quiet moment I felt like my mind was picked up, flipped upside down and inside out and filled with the understanding and revelation of Heaven's perspective!

How did I miss it?! It seemed so obvious! Cholera is merely the physical manifestation of a spiritual disease that runs so deep in Haiti. Waters of death flushing out the waters of life. That which they think will satisfy and heal them is the source of their death by starving them of Life and dehydrating them of the Living Water. You can pour and pour and pour out physical food and water, build new infrastructure, educate and teach, build clinics and water filters, you name it. You can do all of that and more - and these are all valuable and important, essential even. But because the "bacteria" is living inside them, everything you pour in is flushed out straight away.

They are blind to God's truth. They don't know they are loved and valued by their Creator and Father. Therefore they don't value themselves or others. Therefore they don't even take care of and look after the things they have. Therefore they live in squalor which leads to disease. The poor and weak are oppressed and abused by the powerful and strong. It's all a result of sin and the oppression of the enemy.

The reality of the spiritual sickness here is so much more prevalent and dangerous than the physical sickness. They are suffering because they have forsaken God - not cause he is punishing them, but because as a nation they have walked out from under his protection. This sickness is just a symptom, a backlash of their country being willingly given to the lordship of Satan. It was so so in my face and blatant.
Our fight is not against flesh and blood. This is the reality. Jesus is the only way truth and life. It's not a nice Christian answer to problems anymore. This is the hard reality. This is the only hope and only salvation. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The goodness of God, the light of his love and the extent of his deep grace is immensely more beautiful in the light of the revelation of the darkness, evil and depravity of man without God. I can't help but to daily stand in awe of his love and truth. All I want to do is know him more and become just like him. All I want is for every living organism to know and experience this exquisite love.

So. Pray. Intercede. Fight for this nation. Please lift up our team. Through your prayers the bride of Haiti is being restored to her Beloved Husband.

I love you all and am increasingly grateful for your friendship and support.

He loves you more though.
Kerri



PS - check these websites for more info on the 200 hour prayer burn and how to get involved!

www.ipray4haiti.com
www.jasenchung.com

Captain Crunch

"Please Pray!"

I sent out the desperate message when I first heard of this disease that was killing these beautiful people I have fallen in love with.

"As if that's gonna help"

"or you could or help with infrastructure development, job creation, eradication of diseases, and recreating a stable democracy there..."

The few sarcastic replies I recieved echoed incessantly in my mind and cut me deep to the core of my faith and my spirit. All I believed in was coming to the crunch. People are dying of a preventable disease and I'm sitting here...praying. People are living in squalor and poverty and I'm looking them in their eyes and telling them "Jesus loves you, he cares about every need". Is praying really going to help? Is this really addressing the deepest needs of these people? Is God really the only solution for Haiti?

Is Jesus really the only Way, Truth and Life?

I knew it was true. I had the "good Christian" answers all stored up for this rainy day. I could quote scriptures and relay information that explained this situation: "This isn't a battle against flesh and blood", I would say. But people were dying. That's about as fleshy and bloody as you can get. But I still prayed because I "knew" it was the right thing to do. I knew in my head, but still that voices nagged and nagged "as if praying's going to help", "why are you teaching them about Jesus when you could 'help with infrastructure development, job creation, eradication of diseases, and recreating a stable democracy' "

Oh yeah, we've been doing all of that as well. To the point of exhaustion. Food, water, clothes, building, etc. For 3 weeks before cholera came on the scene. YWAM St Marc has done more than the government probably ever has for the people. So I understand that faith and acts must go hand in hand. But I felt like my hand of faith was growing limp and weak.

I was wrestling with this confusion constantly up until the Saturday I wrote about in my previous blog. We went out to distribute water! YES! Excitement! Purpose! Physical results! Finally, I thought, doing something that's really going to make a difference! Well...water distribution very quickly lost it's glamour. It wasn't really the heat, dust, mud, heat, waiting, heat, sweat, heat and thirst that caused me to loose steam. That really didn't bother me much. It was the angry, vicious, ungrateful, greedy, manipulative, grabbing hands and faces that bothered me. It was the healthy taking advantage of the sick so they could get more water. The young men stealing water from old frail women. The strong overpowering the weak. The fists and machetes. It wasn't even just desperation, every time we do any kind of distribution, even giving out pieces of paper...this madness takes over. It's an unquenchable thirst. Like pouring into a bottomless hole. Many only seem to know two words of English: "Give me". "Ay, you. Gi me dolla. Ay, you. Gi me dlo (water)". And we give and give and give and give. They are never grateful. They are never satisfied and fulfilled. They still don't understand they are loved.

It's exhausting. Disappointing. Lying in bed at the end of that day, I was broken.

But, as They say - there's beauty in the breakdown. So much beauty, it's exhilarating.

The breakdown will have to wait for the next blog.

I'm really excited to write it. I hope you are excited to read it.

LOVE YOU!

Kerri.

PS

And I can now say with complete confidence and wonder...please pray! I shall explain sooooon xoxo