Reflections from Christy Brownell, New York.  American Baptist Churches, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Conscience International partner with the Haitian Baptist Convention continuing to bring health, hope, and housing to Haiti.

The entire idea of the rubble homes brings hope.  One thing that Haiti has lots of right now is rubble and broken down houses.  Conscience International is taking this destruction and building something new, that is stronger than it was before.  With the rubble houses, Haitians will actually live if there is another earthquake since the walls have room to shake and the tin rooves won't crush everything underneath (unlike the old cement roof). 

I can't help looking at the rubble homes & seeing a tangible vision of our relationship with Christ.  He takes our broken down, struggling, human lives and through our faith in Jesus, makes us into something new.  Something stronger.  Something that can withstand the struggles that get thrown our ways.  Not saying we'll go through tough times and become battered, but we'll make it out alive.

But more importantly than the houses we build, it's the relationships that are formed.  From going to Haiti in February to returning in October, relationships are strengthened.  One of our first nights in October, we were walking around town and stopped at Junior's house who was one of the guys we worked with.  While talking with him, he got excited and walked back inside the house.  Coming back out, he had a water bottle in his hand.  One of our returning members exclaimed, "That was one of mine!"  Junior, remembering our team, wanted to show us that he still had something that one of our members had left with Conscience International.  Connections.  And that's just one story.  Towards the end of the trip, we again were walking around the neighborhood to see some the houses we had worked on in February, and while looking at Luc's house, we see this man pop his head over the cement wall behind the house.  Our leader looks at me and I yell out "Fritz!"  He got this big smile on his face and rushed over the wall to see us.  And that's what we're there for....showing the Love of Christ to everyone we come in touch with.  Whether it's our own teammates, the Haitians we work alongside, other teams we are living & working with - - we are called to be Christ's Hands & Feet and that's what Conscience International is doing in Haiti.