Pastor Chris Surber and his wife Christina founded the Supply and Multiply Ministry in MONTROUIS, HAITI.
The mission of Supply and Multiply is to share the Gospel and Compassion of Jesus Christ in Montrouis, Haiti. We do this by equipping and empowering indigenous Christians, partnering with local churches, caring for the vulnerable elderly, educating future generations, Bible Clubs, increasing food stability, and staying always awake to other ways as God leads us.
I saw the face of Jesus in Haiti.
Two years ago, two members of my church and I joined 18 other Christians, from all over the United States, to go on a ten day Mission trip. Christina Surber led our amazing Mission team in serving the people of Montrouis, Haiti.
My two partners from church were part of a construction team, whose primary focus was to finish a new home for a family of five and to build bunk beds and chicken coops where needed.
My focus was to be part of a two day medical clinic and Evangelism.
On one of the ten days, we visited families in the back roads of Montrouis, which was where I met the young man that would change my life.
A group of us were driven through the city’s bustling main street, where we passed open air markets filled with all of life’s necessities, including raw meat displayed in booths lining the streets.
Bearing gifts of rice and beans for a local family, we made our way up a dirt, gravel road full of potholes.
After greetings and small talk in French Creole, Chris Surber asked the older gentleman to call his son out into the courtyard.
About eight of us stood watching as a young boy, possibly ten or so, came out from a doorway. (I do not have any pictures of him or his family as it was impolite to take them, but here are pictures of some of the children we did Bible skits for.)
It was difficult to know how old he was for sure, due to his mal nurished condition, but what was most obvious was his determination. His legs were twisted underneath him as he pulled his body through the gravel and dust with his hands. He looked around at all of us and barely grinned.
I was a nurse and had seen sick children before and I had seen pictures of starving children in third world countries on television. I had seen pictures, but this image, this boy crumpled at my feet, broke me and stilled the world around me.
Then, without notice, Chris turned to me and asked me to pray for the young man. I was speechless and that says a lot. I’m never at a loss of words, but none made any sense. None were good enough. What could I say?
Echos of scripture crowded my brain. Visions of Christ and the apostles healing cripples, just like this boy, flashed before my eyes and Jesus saying “take up your mat and walk”, whispered in my ear.
What could I say? What did God expect? What did He want me to do? How much faith did I have? Would any words I said make any difference in this poor boys life? What did everyone standing around me expect me to say and do?
Then I felt it. I felt God drawing me, pulling me as I walked slowly to the boy and lay my hand upon his head. He stared up at me with the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen. It was then that I saw him. I was looking into the eyes of Jesus.
Jesus had brought me nearly 1,000 miles from home, through the back streets of Haiti, to the poorest of the poor to meet Him face to face.
In that moment, the walls of the Church back home disappeared. Jesus didn’t live in a building. We can’t confine Him to a box. All the possessions that I had worked so hard for all my life, meant nothing. Having the ability to eat what I wanted, when I wanted, wherever I wanted, seemed sinful.
I thought I was coming to Haiti, to these people because they needed my help. I thought I was somehow , someway going to help save them when, in fact, I needed to be saved.
Jesus showed me that the most important thing in the world was His people; His children. Caring about what we have, where we live, how much we have in the bank, what we wear or drive doesn’t matter. People matter.
I understood. I finally got it and after my brain was able to get a message to my mouth, I smiled. I stroked the young boy’s head gently and asked God to bless him and his family and then I cried. I felt I should have said more, done more, but God said it was just enough.
I don’t speak French Creole, but somehow I think he knew what I said. Love; the love of God, had run through my fingers as I touched him and that’s what he understood. That was enough.
I don’t remember if he smiled back but I felt Jesus smiling at me through his eyes.
I had seen my Lord in the eyes of a child in Montrouis, Haiti. God had taken me out my comfort zone, across land and an ocean, up a rocky pitted road to where He lived in the heart of a child and it changed me forever.
Things don’t have a hold on me like they used to. Things don’t matter. People hold my heart and that’s why I’m here. I’m believing and planting seeds outside the box and with God’s help, I’m changing the world.
Believing Outside the Box 