Karla, along with her husband, Dustin, and two children, recently went to Haiti with families (46 people, in total) from all of Watermark's campuses. Mission of Hope, Watermark's long-time partner in caring for the people of Haiti, hosted the trip. The goal of the trip was to partner with Mission of Hope to build relationships and share the gospel with people through practical acts of service. Whether the team was playing sports with kids or distributing aqua tabs to purify water, there were constant opportunities to tell people about Christ's love.
The team also spent time visiting the various locations where Mission of Hope is bringing life transformation to the men, women, and children of Haiti. They visited two schools and an orphanage operated by Mission of Hope, along with a warehouse that provides 90,000 meals per day. They also saw the ministry's work in the village Leveque where MOH partnered with Haitian and North American churches to provide 650 houses to families whose homes were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake.
Over the three-month period leading up to their Haiti Family Discipleship Trip last February, each family participated in four training meetings. The teams reviewed books on ministering to people in other cultures, practiced memorizing Scripture, learned how to share the gospel in a different culture and language, and reviewed books on the root issues of poverty and what a biblical response should be. Plano campus member, Melody Garcia went through the training along with her seventeen-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, who wasn't sure, at first, about sharing the gospel with others.
For Kaitlyn's mom, the most meaningful part of the trip preparation came from learning about the true definition of poverty from A Hole in Our Gospel, a book the team read together.
"In America we define poverty as the lack of food, water, and shelter. However, the book explains that if you ask for the definition from people living in poverty, they say it is the inability to change your circumstances. In other words, no matter how early a person gets up, or how hard they work, they cannot alter their circumstances.
"There was a girl who fell and broke her hip when she was two. Unable to walk, she hadn't left her house in 12 years. There was no way she could change her circumstances. That was poverty.
Go to watermark.org/haiti for more information about Watermark's partnership with Mission of Hope and details on you can participate in them.