brandon bowers

Baptism is the symbolic expression of a person dying to sin, being cleansed by the blood of Christ, and then being raised to new life in Jesus as a believer. In Haiti, baptism is the way that a new believer is identified and publicized as a true follower of Jesus.

Here’s the problem, there is close to no clean water in this place. There are creeks and rivers but you don’t want your head under that. The fresh water comes in little packets that the people squeeze and drink. Running water is a rare luxury. So, the issue with baptism is basically…how and where can it happen?

Yesterday, it happened in a water cooler.

As we finished the demo site, three street kids walked up to me and asked for a ‘dollar american.’ I grabbed a translator and told the boys the following:

Me: I want to give you American money but there is something else worth more that I would like to share with you. Tell me about yourselves.

Them: Okay. We live on street. Our families cannot give us food and clothes so they put us out to survive in our own. We are walking the street to find supplies to sell and market. We hope to be bought and used for work and stuff. Nobody wants us.

Me: So, you have no home and no families?

Them: Yes.

Me: And you hope to be bought and used as, well, slaves for work?

Them: Yes.

Me: Do you have a few minutes to talk with me about family, acceptance, and love?

Them: Yes.

The next 15 minutes involved sharing of Gods great love for them through Jesus mission on the cross. I did this through using the familiar salvation bead bracelets as I explained each color. As I explained the beads and got to the need to be baptized in obedience to Jesus and also as an announcement to the world that you believe in Him, there was a crazy request…

The boys wanted to be baptized. Right now.

This was huge because in this culture, baptism solidifies the commitment. This was also huge because we had no water. None. Only nalgene water bottles and a cooler.

A cooler.

I called our team over, shared the news of their decisions and our team sprung into action. We filled the cooler with three of the 5 gallon water jugs. We got the boys Haitian bibles. Then, we gathered around and celebrated their baptism and commitment.

Each boy professed their decision and it was incredibly moving to see the joy on their faces as i picked each one up and they were vertically submersed…in a cooler. The applause of our team and the smiles on their faces came together in a collision of joy and praise.

God is so good and He has shown that to us here. His glory will come to Him in many ways. He chooses to use us to spread his fame to he world around us. Our responsibility is to listen. And what we hear may seem crazy at first, but I have to admit, then end result is always amazing.

Especially when it’s three baptisms in a water cooler in the slums of Haiti.

So good.

Our mission focus in Petit Guave is done. After eight bible schools with over 1000 kids total, leading crusade revivals for the last four nights in dark, dusty, an packed churches, and watching the church grow through many salvation decisions…we now move on. We are on a bus heading to Port au Prince to serve the inner city there. Though we are not sure, it looks like we’ll be doing disaster relief demolition. Those of you who really know me can see the smile on my face! So, praise God for his faithfulness and pray for us as well. His name is being made famosu through this incredible team I have with me! All glory is His…

This morning as we arrived at our church for bible school, we had literally hundreds of Haitian children show up. This church had concrete walls and a tin roof. It had been repaired since the quake destruction and it was situated in the middle of what seemed to be a warzone. The ghetto of Petit Guave consisting of thousands of makeshift refugee shelters and temporary tents. The smells of this place stagger me. Scents of coal, burning wood, and trash.

Everywhere you go those smells follow.

Once the children arrived we started walking to a field several hudred yards away for soccer. We walked through mud, brush, over broken walls, across streets, and past many tents and temporary shelters. It is hard to call them homes.

As we walked with hundreds of kids hanging on us and me personally holding 6 hands and having one ride on my shoulders, I came upon the most beautifully shocking sight since I arrived in Haiti.

It was a little girl.

Maybe a year old though she looked much younger. She was standing outside by the path where we were walking. No one was around. No parent. No siblings. No one.

Shocking yet beautiful.

She was naked. No pants, no shirt, no diaper. A 1 year old girl on the side of this dirt path. Hundreds of excited kids, awful smells and sounds… And then this little girl.

We met eyes and I just smiled. That seems to be all I know to do. Helpless yet so powerful. I then stopped and took the boy of my shoulders, let go of all the hands, and stooped down to this little girl. As I picked her up into my arms, I didn’t know what to do. I could not take her with me, she could not understand me, and I had nothing to give.

So I just prayed. I prayed over this girl blessings, mercy, and unconditional love. In that moment the smells ceased. The chaos was not heard. And even the children around me got silent. It was special. It was sacred. God was there.

There are moments like these taking place every day as we are here and our hearts have been blessed so much. Amidst all our work and effort, prayer is still the most beneficial thing we can give. Jesus said it, the apostles practiced it, and through moments like these I am learning to believe it.

Please pray for us as we continue this journey. Our God is great and his Name is being made famous through our team.

As we have been in Haiti this week working with children and teenagers, we have found that they all have something in common. They all want to be touched.

Not accidentally either. Intentional touch. Touch that has meaning. Touch with a purpose.

We are learning what Jesus modeled so well.

In the gospels, we read about many miracles that Jesus performed. What is interesting is that many times Jesus made amazing things happen with a spoken word…

He spoke and calmed a raging storm. He spoke and demons were cast away. He spoke and Lazarus came back to life.

At other times though, Jesus made it a point to touch people. He touched children, prostitues, lepers, handicaps, and people of all different kind.

Why did he do this? He certainly didn’t have to touch them to cure a disease or perform a miracle.

He touched because they needed it. He sensed the need and met it.

Physical touch is a powerful thing.

These people in Haiti love to touch. Love to hold hands. Love to embrace. Love to be held or high fived.

And we’re dishing it out right and left. Why? Because they need it. Because Jesus did it. And our goal is to live and act as He did.

What we’ve found is that through reaching out and putting our hands around their shoulders, we are actually reaching down much deeper and finding a place in their hearts.

That is what Jesus did as well.

The word hope has lost it’s meaning.

We hear it too much in America. Political campaigns and sports dreams are much to blame. Hope being used to describe ones own ambitions or agendas. Hope has become an ideal that cannot be reached. Actually, hope has been used and abused because people need hope. Just the hope they need doesn’t come in stimulus packages or bogus medical reform.

Hope has lost it’s meaning in America.

Here in Haiti, hope is tangible. You can see it. Touch it. Sense it. Feel it.

Our team here this week are agents of hope carrying the message of hope in Jesus Christ.

He is their only hope. He is your only hope.

Here in Haiti, they realize they need it. In America, we don’t ‘need’ anything.

Hope for Haiti is real. Jesus is the hope.

Today, we set out with a mission to let people see, touch, and feel that hope.

“always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you…” -1 Peter 3:15

Here it is the eve of our trip to Haiti to go and serve the homeless, displaced, and impoverished people there. I will take 21 college students & young adults on a journey sure to change our lives. For the last six months I have anticipated this trip and spent time in prayer and preparation as well. The time has come and while I am excited and anticipating great things…

I have mixed emotions.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in. All in.

However, I have an amazing wife and 3 kids that I will leave for the next 9 days. I will miss the kiss goodnight from Ash, the pitter patter of toddler feet, staring in the eyes of my little girl, and the bedtime stories that are always an adventure. I am going to miss my family like crazy but here is what I’ve come to understand…

I am a better husband and father because of this.

It’s my calling. It’s obedience to the Father. It is my duty as a Christian to go.

So, while I have mixed emotions, the mixture is good because the ingredients are good. It’s kinda like making a cake.

I have amazing wife, incredible kids, and an irresistable call…

All given by the grace of God.

Mixed emotions? Yes.

But good. All good.