Mission trips can change lives! This is something that God taught Jerry and Laurie Haag on their first mission trip to the Dominican Republic in 2004. And He has been showing them this ever since. It was on that first mission trip that they learned about how others live, how they suffer without food, clean water, and education. It was where they saw Dominican and Haitian children whose hair was orange from malnutrition and parents who desperately wanted to work, but there were no jobs.
Since their first trip in 2004, Jerry and Laurie have served in the U.S. and in other foreign countries including Haiti and Venezuela, and it’s to Haiti where God calls Love Feeds OUR World today.
Jerry and Laurie began as mission team participants and as team leaders, but always came home knowing there was more to be done. One week mission trips changed their lives, but what type of long term impact were they having on the lives of the people they served? Eventually, God led them to adopt Judson from an orphanage in Haiti; his adoption taught them about what it really means to hear from God and obey. And yet still, He was preparing them for more…
Love Feeds Our World was a vision God placed on their hearts nearly ten years ago. At first, it was just something to pray about; it seemed so impossible, but with God, all things are possible! Trusting Him completely, they stepped out in faith.
Today, Love Feeds Our World focuses on keeping families together, meeting the needs of child slaves and orphans, and alleviating poverty through giving a hand up – rather than just a hand out. This is done at the local level through supporting the local church and community in the rural village of Macomb, Haiti.
In Haiti, it is common for families to give away or even sell their children. It’s heartbreaking to know that one can go to the market in Port-au-Prince (Haiti’s capital) and purchase a “restavek” (child slave). It isn’t that these parents want to give away or sell their children, but they just cannot afford to feed and educate them, and unfortunately, this means that many children are forced into indentured servitude in order to survive. In James, it states that true religion is to care for widows and orphans. It is the elderly, widowed, orphaned, and disabled who have it the worst in Haiti. They are the victims of all kinds of horrific injustice. And yet, we believe that God has called all of us to action. It is the power of love that changes lives. Please join us!