But when Theodore woke up from the dream, it had been so real he shook his wife awake so he could tell her about it. As it happens, she had accepted Christ just three days earlier in their local church. She sat up and asked Theodore to move his hand. A little afraid, he slowly lifted his hand and tried to curl his fingers down toward his palm. Then he bent his hand up and down at the wrist and started wiggling his fingers. He couldn’t believe it—everything worked, and he could feel all of his fingers. He looked at his wife in amazement. His dream had come true, and he was healed.
As he explained this story to Josh that morning, Josh couldn’t believe it either, but he was completely enthralled. He’d never been a part of anything like this before.
Josh has a strong relationship with the Lord, trusts His leading, and has experienced answers to prayer. But he had never witnessed a miraculous, instant healing like the healing of Theodore’s mangled hand, with a strange and unusual dream featuring himself thrown into the mix.
When Josh told me about Theodore’s dream and his healing, we both were ecstatic. But he was also feeling a little guilty, a conviction that we had not actually gathered around Theodore and prayed for healing. He had only dreamed that we did.
So Josh and I, along with the Respire staff, sensed that we needed to pay attention and that God might be teaching us something through Theodore. To honor the vision that God had given Theodore, we decided to meet at six o’clock that night to pray. I was supposed to invite Theodore to come and be there so we could actually pray for him. However, the plan wasn’t working because I couldn’t reach Theodore. His cell phone was turned off. I tried and tried but couldn’t get him.
At six o’clock we gathered on the front steps of the Respire guesthouse to pray. Without Theodore. I suggested we start anyway, hoping Theodore would somehow feel our prayers.
Josh told Theodore’s story, explaining in detail the injury, the aftermath, the dream, and the healing. We drank it in and sat in awe at the power of our God. As Josh bent his head to pray for Theodore, we heard someone knocking on the gate. Bam. Bam. Bam. The hollow metallic sound resonated through the yard. I ran to open the gate and was shocked to see Theodore. I almost couldn’t believe it was him, as if he’d somehow materialized out of thin air.
Theodore came inside with one of his sons, smiled, and began to tell his story. Then we sat him in a chair, and the members of Respire Haiti surrounded him, along with his beautiful child, laid hands on him and his precious son, and began to pray. We lifted up our voices in a mix of English and Creole, and the beauty of the prayers brought tears to my eyes.
Patrick, one of our incredible staff members, asked Theodore if he wanted to declare his faith. Theodore nodded and smiled with excitement. In front of all of us, he prayed to accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
Theodore’s dream came true, and now he follows Jesus with all his heart. My faith was strengthened, and my prayer life was changed. Josh told me Theodore’s miracle changed his faith completely. We both know we serve a God of miracles both large and small.
EPILOGUE
A Day in the Life
No place I would rather be Than here in Your love.
—Will Reagan, “Set a Fire”
As we hustle about in the morning, the smell of Josh’s hot coffee fills the air. I look over on the counter next to the coffeepot to see my fresh iced coffee, only there’s no ice because we never have any, but it’s semi-cold and ready for me to grab. One of the many gifts Josh gives me is this kick start to my morning with the encouragement of coffee.
I bounce in and out of rooms, buttoning shirts, searching for socks, and puffing out little Jessi’s ’fro. As the kids finish dressing, they grab their book sacks and head for the stairs.
I hold open the door as, one by one, Michaëlle, Jessica, Saintil, and Johanne give Josh and me kisses, calling out, “Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!” as they rush down the stairs to walk up to Respire Haiti Christian School on Bellevue Mountain.
Our morning routine is pretty much the only thing that is normal about our days here in Gressier. Sometimes I miss the smell of pine trees in Louisiana. I crave Louisiana strawberries and crawfish, and I miss being able to wear even a light sweater. I think about my incredible Louisiana family and their Sunday lunches together. My heart pauses in those moments to reminisce but only for a second. Because when I snap back into the present, I remember that there is no place I would rather be than with my husband and my children in Gressier.
Only minutes after my children head out to school with some of the girls from Freedom House, escorted by our incredible friend Wilbur, do the knocks on the gate begin, and they continue throughout the day.
Bam. Bam. Bam! All day, a series of hollow metallic bangs, repeated as many times as necessary and echoing through the front yard, is accompanied by a loud, “May-ghan . . . May-ghan!” The bangs and calls continue until someone goes down and rolls back the gate to see who’s there and what the need is.
It might be a parent who wants to enroll a child in the school but can’t pay. Or it might be a child—even small children come to the gate to enroll themselves. Kids often come by for help with homework or tutoring or to use the Internet for research. Moms come by to ask for advice on parenting, relationship issues, and medical problems they and their families have. Job seekers come by to drop off résumés or apply for work at the medical clinic or the school; we have stacks and stacks of résumés.
The hungry come by to ask for food or encouragement or prayer. Injured adults and children come by for help with cuts, bites, sprains and strains, fevers, rashes, and every other first-aid issue you can imagine, including injuries from beatings and whippings. We even deal with animal issues, such as pig bites or bites from free-roaming, rabid dogs. The knocks at the gate never stop; visiting teams always mention the constant knocks, but for me they’re so interwoven into the background of Haitian life that they are part of the rhythm of every single day.
My mornings are filled with meetings about a range of topics, from children who are not enrolled in school, to students who are sick, to approving construction projects.
Many mornings after my children leave and the day has begun, I walk over to Respire Haiti Café. As I jokingly say, one of the most difficult things to live without here in Haiti is iced coffee, so when we saw a deserted building on the main road in Gressier, we decided to open a café that would run from early mornings to midday. Tachi, who has truly become one of my closest friends, runs this amazing café. Her love for cooking is contagious and she makes the best iced coffee, with ice in it.
Located in Gressier on the national highway, the café hosts a continuous stream of visitors who stop by for hot, homemade cinnamon rolls, fresh-squeezed juice, smoothies, and more. The best part is that it serves as Respire Haiti’s office and all the profit goes back to Respire Haiti Christian School.
The vision that God has for Respire Haiti continues to grow. God is moving in Gressier, and He is moving fast. In two and a half years of building, we have more than fourteen classrooms with five hundred students in our school. Our kitchen, storage room, bathrooms, and office for our school are situated on Respire Haiti Christian School’s campus. Our medical clinic is adjacent to our school. Josh’s desire and love for sports is being put to good use; he has started six competitive soccer teams, and recently started programs for basketball, volleyball, and tennis as well. We have English, reading, art, and other classes in addition to our original Saturday feeding program. Our mission of encouraging, empowering, and educating restaveks, orphans, and vulnerable children is changing lives.
Sometimes people are surprised when they hear the story of Respire, and I get all sorts of questions and comments and suggestions. But there is one response that I will never view as a compliment; it frustrates me when I hear it: “I could never do what you do.”
My response is always the same. “Don’t we serve the same God? And doesn’t He give us all the courage, strength, and boldness we need to do Hi
s work?”
Of course we do. And of course He does.
I didn’t have a huge plan that was mapped out before I moved to Haiti. God led me to His heart and ultimately to my passion, fighting for freedom and the right to an education for the children of Haiti.
I have seen repeatedly that one of the enemy’s biggest forms of oppression here in Haiti is a broken education system. And that is why more and better education really equals freedom.
The key to the future for Haiti is education, and if these kids don’t go to school, they won’t learn how to read, write, spell, or add. Without these skills they will never be able to start and run businesses or find jobs that can provide for their own families. Some of these kids belong to families that are too poor to send them to school, but many more are just like Michaëlle—orphans with no one who will invest in them or give them a chance. And that is where we come into the picture. As the body of Christ, it’s our responsibility to fight for these children. God has called you and me to fight for them.
Although we can never be sure what God’s plans are for the future of Respire, at the moment we are planning to add more classrooms to our school as well as to build a community center that connects to our campus. We would love to continue to reach out to even more children through Christ-centered activities such as art, music, dance, and English. Our desire is to one day build a library for the community here too.
Respire Haiti loves working in Gressier, but we also recognize we are not here to save anyone; only Christ can do that. We’re here to show these incredible people Jesus and to see Jesus in them; we have just as much to learn from the Haitians’ faith as they do from ours. I am encouraged daily by our teachers, staff, and neighbors and their faith in God’s provision.
As each day of chaos, joy, and sadness draws to a close, I like to lie on the floor of my girls’ room, prop my feet on the wood of Jessica’s bed, and stare at the ceiling. Adoption is a beautiful, hard, and (in Haiti) incredibly tricky and long endeavor. There are so many roadblocks, but all I have to do is take one look at my precious children, and I am reminded it’s all worth it.
As I rest on the cool tile, I listen to their sweet voices take turns praying.
“Thank You for food.”
“Thank You for Mommy.”
“Thank You for Daddy.”
Then I trail off into my own thoughts about the transformations I have seen, from biting, scratching, and yelling to kissing, hugging, and whispering sweet prayers. I think to myself, This is redemption, this is beauty, and this is the miracle.
Notes
Chapter 1: Okay, God, I’m Here
1. Voodoo is more often spelled vodou in Haitian culture and refers to more than just a religion but an experience that ties both body and soul together.
2. Justin Podur and William I. Robinson, “The Earthquake and Haiti’s Politics, 2010/11,” in Haiti’s New Dictatorship: The Coup, the Earthquake and the UN Occupation (London: Pluto Press, 2012), 140.
Chapter 5: A Restavek
1. “UN Human Rights Expert Condemns Child ‘Slavery’ in Haiti,” UN News Center, June 10, 2009, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31089&Cr=slavery&Cr1#.U6 nx2RaT7gI.
2. Jean-Robert Cadet, Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998), 4.
Chapter 8: The Boy in the Pink Shirt
1. www.behindthename.com.
2. Emma Wilkinson, “Haiti Children Face Ongoing Disease and Trauma,” BBC World News, January 15, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8461064.stm.
Chapter 9: A Dream Born Under the Tree
1. National Research Council, Lost Crops of Africa: Volume III: Fruits (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2008), 149.
Chapter 16: A Warning from the First Lady
1. The petition is now closed: https://www.change.org/petitions/ambassador-of-the-republic-of-haiti-close-the-son-of-god-orphanage-and-investigate-ibesr.
Chapter 20: Josh Has Something to Say
1. Will Reagan and United Pursuit, vocal performance of “Take Back,” on Endless Years, 2012, compact disc.
About the Author
Megan Boudreaux founded the nonprofit Respire Haiti to fight for the freedom of Haiti’s estimated 300,000 child slaves. Megan, at the age of twenty-four, followed God’s call to begin a feeding program and transform a barren hillside into a refuge and school for five hundred children. Respire Haiti also has a sports complex and kitchen, where two meals a day are served. A medical clinic is nearing completion with future plans for a church, community center, and library.
In 2012, Megan adopted two Haitian sisters. The following year she married her best friend, Josh Anderson, and together they have begun the adoption of another set of siblings.
To learn more about Megan and Respire Haiti, please visit http://respirehaiti.org.
Photos
Michaëlle standing on Bellevue Mountain, the first time I ever saw her, January 2011
Gabriel and me standing inside Son of God Orphanage, March 2011
AMANDA TRUXILLO
Our family, November 2013
August 2011, the first time Michaëlle (standing) and Jessica (sitting) met after who knows how long
Teaching my English class in the dilapidated church, March 2011
Enjoying some time with my sister, Lindsey, on her first visit to Haiti, April 2011
Adam Hay ward, Washington Redskins line backer, at Son of God Orphanage during his June 2011 visit
HANNAH MCKENZIE
Walking and praying over the land on Bellevue Mountain, May 2011, before I purchased it
Kat, Bernard, and me painting classrooms during the Christmas break and getting them ready for our move-in date
Jessi White Morris, Rita Noel, me, and Kyle Fishburn in the future home of Respire Haiti Café
Kyle and me working together on our first building
JOSH ANDERSON
Construction on our first six-classroom building
Michaëlle and me on that first day
Michaëlle’s incredible transformation into a precious seven-year-old, one month after she started living with me, July 2011
REGINA ANDERSON
Tachi, one of my best friends and the manager of the Respire Haiti Café, with her beautiful daughter, Esther
JOSH ANDERSON
Students walking up the pathway to Bellevue Mountain
Respire Haiti Christian School opened its doors exactly one year after I moved to Gressier
JOSH ANDERSON
Respire staff praying over our students that first day, January 9, 2012
AMANDA TRUXILLO
Our first field trip, June 2012
The sign to Respire Haiti’s mountain
JESSI WHITE MORRIS
Walking four girls to class who had never been to school
MELISSA BREEDLOVE PHOTOGRAPHY
Feeding program on Bellevue Mountain, November 2011
JESSI WHITE MORRIS
Josh’s proposal, November 2012
My uncle T-tone, walking me down the aisle on Bellevue Mountain, January 2013
My mom with Josh, Micha and Jessi, and me at our wedding reception
Breaking ground on the Love+1 Medical Clinic, September 2013
JESSI WHITE MORRIS
High School students walking to their new classrooms, January 2013
The tamarind tree on Bellevue Mountain
AMANDA TRUXILLO
Worship on the last day of school, Bellevue Mountain, June 2014
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Miracle on Voodoo Mountain Page 17