LiveBeyonder Spotlight | Brooke Rice

How many LiveBeyond mission weeks have you served on? Two medical mission weeks—January 2015 and February 2016.

Share how you got involved with LiveBeyond. Through where I work, Truxton Trust. One of our managing directors went and was so impacted returned to tell the rest of the Bank about it. Truxton Trust now sends a team annually to LiveBeyond in Haiti.

What’s your favorite part of the mission week? The eggs at breakfast! Just joking, but they are pretty amazing. I would have to say the entire experience is my favorite part… this includes the amazing morning devotionals, to worship in Creole with all the LiveBeyond staff, to taking weight and height measurements of the clinic patients, to praying over each Haitian as they leave the clinic, to bagging hundreds of beans and rice bags, bopping around in the back of the truck to go on a home visit, seeing the joy of each Haitian as they welcome us into their home, to endless smiles while playing with Johnny’s Kids, and even crawling into my mosquito net at the end of each eventful day.

Share one of your most memorable experiences or encounters in Haiti. Chinyelo’s smile when I saw he remembered me from last year! My heart melted at that moment.

What keeps you coming back to Haiti with LiveBeyond? I go back to see the breakthroughs!!! It’s addicting to see hundreds of Haitians at the start of clinic each day denouncing voodoo. It’s so powerful to see the youth proclaiming God’s Truths over their lives. The atmosphere over Thomazeau is changing, and it’s all about the shifting in the spiritual realm, it’s calling in the Kingdom of God. It’s tangibly seeing Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” These dark powers are coming down as Jesus is becoming known as the King of Kings in Thomazeau.

Tell us how the people of Thomazeau have changed your life. SIMPLICITY! The people of Thomazeau teach me about simplicity. The message of the Gospel is simple—Love God and love others. No need to complicate it.

How have you seen LiveBeyond since your first trip in January 2015? Phenomenal progress in just one short year. I now see a school that did not exist on my first trip not only exist, but thrive daily with 100 kids. And what’s so amazing is that this school is fully staffed by Haitians. And now there is a community church on Sundays open to all of Thomazeau with over 300 in attendance, and again fully staffed by Haitians. And it’s a fruitful church with public courageous baptisms. The agricultural/farming/livestock programs have also been transferred over from the Americans to the Haitians. This is key for sustainability and it is happening. The women are also learning the trade of jewelry making. Great steps of creating an economy is happening in Thomazeau. There is so much spiritual progress!! There are now many more believers than last year, there have been marriages, there are many baptisms, and there is discipleship. Young men are now leading worship and church services. Breakthrough indeed! There is also improvement over the physical landscape… you can see villages that have denounced voodoo visually becoming more colorful with growing trees, no longer a desolate with just dirt and rocks. I have also seen a difference in Johnny’s Kids, these kiddos bodies seem healthier and their smiles are brighter. I am so excited to see it all continue.

Brooke Rice is a native Nashvillian. She graduated from Belmont University with a Bachelor of Science in 2002. Brooke works at Truxton Trust and is so thankful for the leadership of Truxton Trust continuing to send a team to LiveBeyond to love our neighbors in Haiti.

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