Rouse's in Haiti

my friends KC

Quite a bit has been happening since I last posted.  God has been up to what He is always up to, changing lives and shaping them more into His image.  I'm so thankful that God doesn't allow us to just sit and remain comfortable in our current environments.  What tends to happen in my life is I get used to the routine and I start relying on my own strength and very seldom find myself completely dependent on God.  That past 7 months or so God has shaken me and brought me to a place that I need Him more than ever in my life.

Last November a team of 4 people went down to Cabaret Haiti to an orphanage that our association runs.  We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving while we were down there which was pretty funny because it is obviously an American holiday but we celebrated anyways.  We briefly taught the kids the meaning of the holiday and even went to the market, purchased 4 live turkeys which we killed, plucked, and fried like any good baptist would do.  I feel in love with Haiti that week and God reminded me of lots of conversations that my wife and I have had over the years about becoming missionaries.  I also was reminded of Stacie's dream of one day running an orphanage.  When I came home I didn't really talk about this to anyone though.  My life was going so good, I now had a little girl (Piper), ministry was going well, we were seeing real heart change take place in youth so I just sat on those thoughts.  January rolled around and God blessed us with another opportunity to adopt. This time a little boy (Hayden).  It's one thing to dream about being on the mission field when it's just you and your wife but when kids come into the picture its a different story.  It was sometime around the time of Hayden being placed with us that my pastor came to me and asked me a questions that I wasn't expecting.  He said "you feel called to Haiti don't you?"  "Um.....maybe" (knowing that the answer was YES!!!) that began a conversation that hasn't ended yet.  We began to talk about how our church FBC Orange Park could be the sending church of my family to Haiti to do the work God has called us to do.  First step though was to take a trip with Stacie to Haiti.  In March my church allowed and paid for us to go to Haiti for a few days to pray and talk with the missionaries that are currently working at the orphanage and doing a wonderful job.  We quickly realized that by us being there right now wouldn't help things all that much.  Instead God revealed that there is a story in Haiti that isn't being told very well in Jacksonville.  I believe that is my job, to tell the story.  Our goal is to be in Haiti soon, and I still feel like we will be there in a little over a year or so but there is a lot of work to be done right here in Jax.  Here's the amazing part.  God has called us to Haiti, but might be calling our church into this story also.  Our church is praying over the possibility of sponsoring my family for 3 years while we begin this new ministry.  That means FBC Orange Park is potentially going to pay my salary but I'm not going to be an "employee" of their church.  I will remain a member of FBCOP but I will be employed by the Jacksonville Baptist Association.  All this has been presented in different formats to my church family but no votes have happened yet.
I do have some personal request of you as you read this.  I beg for your prayers for me and my family.  At first the strongest feeling I had was guilt when I thought about taking my children to Haiti.  I felt guilty because I would be taking them away from their grandparents.  I felt guilty because I would be taking them away from the comforts of America. Guilty because that is what the enemy wanted me to feel.  Please pray for confidence that God is going to provide all the we NEED.  Pray for mine and Stacie's parents as they deal with the stress of knowing we are moving to a third world country.  Pray for Hayden's grandparents (the Spanglers) as they trust God and us to raise their grandson in a place they weren't expecting us to raise him.  Pray for our church family as we transition from a church framework to a kingdom framework. And pray for Cabaret Haiti.  Pray for the precious kids that we will get to invest in.  Pray for salvation to come.  For a mighty movement of God to shake the ground much different than it was shaken a couple years ago.

I'll be keeping you all updated on what is happening in our family and with Haiti. In the mean time please pray.


The Rouse Family