Titus Task - Haiti
On July 14, 2013 - The Tugwell family GOT TO move to Haiti to learn, live and love. Our move was never about what we could do for Haitians, but how we could learn and do life as a family in a radically different context as we desired to live out of the generosity of Jesus in our own lives. It was a crazy amazing, crazy stretching, crazy blessed, crazy hard, crazy growing, crazy humbling, crazy HOT, crazy kind of love for 3 1/2 years. We got to establish an industrial super kitchen with Outside the Bowl - behind the only government run maternity hospital in the country in the middle of the well renowned gang area of Cite Soleil in Port au Prince. Noel got to lead rough young men to the loving grace of Jesus behind that hospital in what he affectionately named the Organic Dreadlock Church. We got to hire wonderful cooks and others that served thousands of meals to children in orphanages, church feeding programs and schools, adults in hospitals and elderly care centers, prisons, and communities. It was nothing short of amazing as we saw the Lord minister healing, deliverance, and feed more people than what we had food to feed. We experienced God together. In the midst of our time - we had many friends that visited and showed love to our own family. We will always hold the memories of those visits close as often times those friends got us through some very diffiult seasons. We eventually passed off leadership of the super kitchen - a business as a mission - to our capable Haitian friends and remained their cheerleaders. In the Spring of 2015 we were asked to direct a much larger scope organization - Child Hope International. We didn't go to Haiti to be involved with an orphanage and wanted to decline - though we spend a lot of time as we dearly love our friends and founders of the organization. One day as Noel and I discussed our decision - Lily was putting a puzzle together on a nearby table. The words came from her mouth - "sometimes life is like a puzzle, you can't see the big picture until you just start doing it." We eventually said YES - The Lord has asked us to do this several times in our lives and we have experienced His provision AFTER we have taken the first step from the boat. Our time at Child Hope was equally difficult and beautiful. We loved the rhythm of life as a family with worship nights and community building - and cared deeply for the 40 children and nearly 40 staff members of Child Hope. After 1 1/2 years of "interim coaching" and downsizing the scope of the ministry at the direction of the organization - we believed our time had come to an end. We believe in the children and organization, but our own family was calling. Our oldest son was soon graduating from High School and we didn't have a good plan for continuing our other children's' education in Haiti, our parents were aging, and we came to the conclusion that, for now, our time living in Haiti was coming to a close. It was a decision made after MUCH prayer and really wrestling with God - and ultimately believed the Lord was calling us back to the United States for this new season. It was hard. So much of us had been invested - and a lot had been spent. We learned, we lived, we loved hard. We were so different. How could we go back?
Again - we stepped and the Lord was faithful in all His provision. He has never let us down. We returned to the US in late 2016 and we are pursuing ALL He has for our family. Noel is learning about God's special children and doing therapy for those unique needs. Our children are thriving in college (Louis), and public school (Lily, Silas, and Esther). I am loving my first role as daughter of the King, then wife to Noel and Mom to our 4.
Looking back - one of the most meaningful things we participated in while living in Haiti was our Gospel centered, life on life, community group. We met at our home every Tuesday night (with very few exceptions) for 3 plus years. It was a mixed group - Haitians, Americans, Canadians, Ugandans, British - and more. We listened, learned, loved. We had food, fellowship, and shared our deepest faith experiences. We worshipped, got in the Word, and wept together. We prayed, provided for one another, and proclaimed the greatness of Jesus. It was a life changing experience. Our schedules didn't matter as much as we needed one another. Our home didn't have to be clean - just open. Sometimes we had a hard day - and we met anyway. One of our biggest desires in returning to the USA is to culitvate community like this. It's going to be harder, but we are asking the Lord to provide - for His Kingdom to come.
Another marvelous thing we got to learn in Haiti is about our remarkable Haitian brothers and sisters. We intimately know many people that are faithful friends carrying the Gospel to the nation of Haiti. Our Haitian brothers and sisters are MORE than ABLE to carry the message of Jesus, to minister His love and truth, to provide for the orphan, to help the family as they struggle to keep their family together and bring an END to the orphan CRISIS. We know the good soil. Will you be the the one who PLANTS, the one who WATERS, the one who encourages and answers the CALL? COME.
As we live life and pursue all God has for us here - that doesn't mean that Haiti isn't constantly on our hearts. Our friends there matter so much to God, so much to us. So since we are neighbors, and since we live in a nation that has so much....we will just ask. This is the heart of God - that we would love beyond ourselves. That we would seek to share in others lives, to lessen their burden a little. What if your family strategically placed to provide could prevent another orphan, help a family provide for their basic need so a Mom wouldn't feel that an orphanage was a better answer for her child than herself? What if your little was someone's A LOT? Let's do this together. We will help you - connect and understand, even visit Haiti if you desire. Life on Life. We promise the blessing goes all the way around.
The Titus Task exists - to prevent more orphans and pursue a future for orphans in Haiti and beyond
WE accomplish this by providing resources and encouragement to our Haitian brothers and sisters as THEY
Live out the GOSPEL in their communities
Strengthen Families to Prevent Orphans
Foster and Adopt Children that have no Family
Train and Equip for Vocation - Indigenous business development
WE invest in maximum generational impact opportunities with people with which we have long term relationships.
Why Haiti?
If you are reading this then you likely either have a heart for Haiti or orphans and happened upon this page OR have a relationship with our family. We want the reason to be involved with the Titus Task in Haiti to be because you love people and desire to be part of what God is doing in the earth - in Judea, Samaria,,
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Use the Paypal donate button on the right to make an online donation to provide for children in Haiti - or mail donations to:
The Titus Task PO Box 82 Siloam Springs, AR 72761 THANK YOU! |
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