Team Loween - Day 5

Love that never ends …

We woke up before sunrise to experience a sunrise worship at the Church on the Rock. We were not sure what to anticipate for worship. Even though the language was not our own, we could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and God’s love weaving in through the sons and daughters of God. We were amazed as they moved back and forth dancing through the pews with their arms lifted up high praising Him. It gave us a foretaste of the feast to come when we are welcomed into our Lord’s arms in heaven.

          As we walked to return to the guesthouse, we had the opportunity to interact with the Haitians in their typical commute to work and school. As we took in the colors and smells of the rush hour we experienced the same love and kindness we received since we landed in this beautiful country this earlier this week.

          After breakfast we went to our second day of water delivery in District 17 in Citi Sole near Hope Church.  As we exited the truck there was a chorus of “hey you's” from the children. As the kids jumped into our arms we caught them and again we were showered with love like the water which poured out from the water trucks into their buckets and barrels.

          We visited the Elder School next. Healing Haiti helped them rebuild their roof and upper floor after the earthquake. We spent some time visiting with the students and Mr. Elder. Conversations, hugs, high fives, and smiles were exchanged with one another. Not many words were spoken but God’s love prevailed.

We then went to Papillion Industries and Apparent Project. The industries was started in 2008. They are currently employing nearly 300 Haitians (and growing). We witnessed the dedication and ingenuity those 300 individuals applied to their craft to create this one of a kind product to make a sustainable living for their families and loved ones. We then supported them by purchasing their products from their store. They also have an online presence for those who interested in supporting them. If interested their web address is papillonmarketplace.com

At the end of the day, we then went to the pool (which is at a nearby hotel), and we had some team time and team sharing.

          God is good. His love is never ending, both at home, Haiti, and the world!! Praise God.

-Dennis, Carlos, and Mark

 

Team Loween - Day 4

We are all sunburned and exhausted, telltale signs of a great day in Haiti. After spending yesterday serving and delivering water in the slums of Cite Solei, today we drove up to Titanyen and Grace Village, where hope abounds.

We met up with live-in missionaries, Don and Carolyn Pugh, at Grace Village for a tour of the facilities there. School was in session, so we saw the classrooms, feeding center, playground, and pavilion all near max capacity with students, all in their formal purple school uniform attire. Students at Grace School come from both the on-site orphan care program and the surrounding Titanyen community. We overlooked the garden, which supplies much of the produce for Grace Village and Fleri Restaurant, and we peeked in the door of one of the family-style homes where children who have not been able to be reunited with their biological families live.

Before leaving the school, we got to see a fully functioning IT lab, a rare and beautiful opportunity to expand the students’ education! A company in Minneapolis has donated and set up over 40 new IPads, along with some other necessary technological upgrades for Grace Village, which are already making a big impact. We looked down at Grace Church and Fleri Restaurant from the waiting area of Grace Clinic, which now serves several hundred people from the community each month, offering reasonable rates for medical and dental care.

Along with our translators, Brune and Emmanuel, we visited three women in the Titanyen community who are part of the elder care program. Some of our group dropped to their knees in washing feet and applying lotion, a beautiful service and connection with these sisters of ours. Others prayed over each one, sang worship songs, and played with neighbor children who came running with “Hey-you”s and every other English phrase they have learned as soon as they saw the Healing Haiti tap-tap.

After those joyful encounters, we headed back for a tour of Fleri Restaurant and Bakery, led by another live-in missionary, Jake Stebbing. The job creation program is flourishing, living up to its name. Now employing 25 Haitians, both from the Titanyen area and older students from Grace Village’s transition program, the bakery makes bread that is distributed by local vendors, boosting the local economy, and the restaurant serves pizza and other delicacies, largely to international groups working in the area.

Our last stop of the day was a visit to the mass graves and memorial, commemorating the January 12, 2010 earthquake. It is a sobering experience to hear first-hand stories, realize the magnitude of what it was like on that day and the days following, and consider all the people that Haiti lost that day.

We wrapped up our day with a cool break at the local hotel pool, an amazing dinner of Haitian food, and rooftop worship. We are sunburned, exhausted, and excited for tomorrow.


-Katie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team Loween - Day 3

Today was “Water Truck Day”, which is generally a very active day physically. Inbetween the water truck stops, as they went to fill up, we visited Hope Church and School, went to a pier, visited a football (soccer) clinic (Haitian Initiative), and ended up visiting a farm that Healing Haiti is starting up.

The first water stop went well. Everyone was fresh and ready to go. We had some fun at the water station waiting for the truck to get filled.

Then, we went to Hope Church and School, while the truck was getting filled. This visit was a very uplifting time. They seem to be on their schedule, as they were able to add another grade this school year. What is a good fact is that the teachers at the school are from the Cite Sole area. All the children were in their usual good spirits. They returned our love 10-fold.

We visited the Haitian Initiative later in the afternoon. Here again, the children were wonderful to see, hold, and play with. It is a great source for the kids to learn structure, teamwork, and fair play among many other things. Some of the teams have a chance to visit other countries, like the U.S.

The last place we stopped at was the farm that “Healing Haiti” is going to try out. It will teach people to farm in a small way better than they do now, but not like in the U.S.

We ended the evening with a cool dip in the pool, a great meal, a good prayer and reflection time, and watching a slideshow of today’s pictures.

-Jim

 

  

 

 

Team Loween - Day 2

Wow…What a great day!!  The weather forecast was for 80% chance of rain…however, the sky was clear and there was lots of Hot Sun!!!  We started off the day with a great breakfast, (after Marcia, our fearless leader, got the coffee maker working…a must for some of us here), at our Healing Haiti guest house.  Our Team is the best…Everyone is fun, helpful and very willing to be present and eager to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  I had a great time watching everyone share their special gifts with all of the people we encountered today.

We left the guest house driving through the crazy/busy streets of Haiti.  All of us were in agreement that we are happy to have a driver taking us everywhere we needed to go!  We were able to learn a bit of the horn honking language from our driver, Max.  No traffic lights or 4 way stops and certainly no round-a-bout that we all know and love! 

Our first Journey was the center for sick and dying adults.  We were able to connect with the people there with lotion hand massages, song and nail polish.  Hopefully it helped them to feel better and find joy at least for a time.  We enjoyed lots of smiles and “mercies”.  (I’m so glad that I’ve had practice with the nail polish on my sweet granddaughters!)

Next we were on to Notra Mason Orphanage.  The kids here touched our hearts with the Joy that they had for doing chalk, blowing bubbles, singing songs, being held, playing with the frisbee and soccer balls.  We enjoyed their smiles and laughter and the excitement that they had when the “mama” director stopped by to see us all.  So fun to share God’s love for the short time we were there.

Our last stop was the hospital for sick and dying babies.  This was a new and very emotional experience for me.  There were 50 babies in two rooms that we fed, changed, and held for a time.  I was able to feed and hold several young kids/babies.  I loved singing to them and seeing their big eyes look back at me.  It was difficult to put each of them down but I knew that when I wasn’t holding them, our God was. 

We came back to the guest house very hot and very sweaty.  Our next journey was a short walk to the swimming pool at a local hotel.  It was wonderful and very refreshing!!  Back to the guest house and dinner, worship with the other Healing Haiti Team down here, and team time.  Everyone had great “words of the day” to share and time for all of us to bond more. 

I am thankful for all of the relationships that are developing and for all of those I have with you back at home!  May you find Joy in your Journey today where ever that may be.

Love and prayers…Lori N-P

 

Team Loween - Day One

Anticipation

Our team successfully navigated our travel day.  We met at the airport at 4:00 a.m. and had smooth travels the entire day.  We arrived in Haiti early this evening.  Our team settled in and we are all ready for whatever comes our way tomorrow.  Thanks for your encouragement and prayers. 

DeWolf 17, Day 7

Day 7

Wow! Our last full day in Haiti! This week has gone by really fast but slow at the same time… it’s something that is really hard to explain until you experience it! Our last day started off like the others. We had a yummy breakfast, got ready, and packed up the tap tap. Some of us were a little sleepy this morning, as we were out pretty late salsa dancing with Jean, our guest house director J

Anyway… this morning we headed to Grace Village in Titanyen for church. It is always so inspiring for me, and this time was no different. The sound of a large group of Haitians worshiping together is simply beautiful. I personally love to just soak in the sound and pray silently thanking God for all He has done and will continue to do in my life and all of these beautiful people’s lives.

After church we got back in the tap tap and headed for the beach! With a little tap tap surfing (you may need to have this explained to you.. J) and excitement for the ocean, the hour drive seemed to go by pretty quickly.

We arrived at the beach and the beauty was breathtaking. Pictures to come.. J We spent the day swimming, having some lunch and frozen drinks, and talking with people from all around the world! There was a large group of Brazilian Marines there who were working for the UN, and a lot of laughter occurred as a result of us trying to understand Portuguese J We spent about 3 hours there and then reluctantly headed home sunburned and tired!

Our drive home seemed much longer as we were all pretty exhausted and ready to get out of the sun. We arrived home around 4pm and showered up before having our last dinner here, pumpkin soup! We then had our last team meeting/reflection time and we shared with each other our word of the week. Each night this week we have shared our “word of the day” (basically one word that sums up your day in regards to what we did or how you feel). Tonight, we shared our work of the week, which at first seemed nearly impossible, but we all were able to find one word. I’m going to share each of our words with you and I would encourage you to have your loved one explain why they picked their word J Thanks again for reading all week and supporting us and our endeavors! Ke Bondye Beni’ou (God bless you!)

Ashley: bittersweet

Jack: blessed

Erin: changed

Aly: eye-opening

Paula: full

Kelsey: Godly

Noah: community

-Erin

DeWolf 17, Day 6

Day 6

So we have arrived at our last day of serving in Haiti.  We will be here tomorrow but today is our last to serve the people.  As many can imagine, spending a week together in close company day in and out, heat, dust and so many new experiences to absorb can take its toll on your energy level and ability to pop up each morning ready to shine.  So it was today.  We all needed a coffee boost and to strap on our mental coffee to get ready for the big day ahead. 

We began our day heading on what was to be a long drive to a residential area of Port au Prince called Carrefour.  We loaded into the blue Tap Tap as had been our usual routine and headed off.  After about 15 min we realized we were heading back to the Guesthouse.  In an unexpected turn of events, our great drivers discovered expired insurance and so returned to trade for the white Tap Tap.  We unloaded and reloaded for the trip again.  This time the trip would be even more of an adventure.  How to describe the difference?  Maybe the difference between riding a greyhound bus and riding a covered wagon J  What a journey!  Sitting on bench seats and hanging on to the hand straps we made our way through the wildest ride ever this trip.  Super crowed streets, bumping and swerving; horns honking along with a myriad of smells were with us for the more than an hour-long drive.

We finally arrived in Carrefour and the Hospital for Sick and Dying Adults.  We entered, most of us unsure of our role, to provide what we could to comfort them.  The guys went to serve in the mens ward while us girls went up to serve the ladies.  It was a touching experience to be able to provide some small amount of comfort and pleasure with massages and nail painting.  The time just flew and it was time to go…wait just one more hand to paint; we hated to leave without serving each person in need.

We left the hospital and took a short drive to the Musee de Pantheon National Haitian.  This was exceptionally interesting.  We had the museum basically to ourselves and were treated to a personal guide who explained the whole history of Haiti.  We walked away with a whole new perspective on Haiti.  The air conditioning wasn’t too bad either!

Next we took a short hop to La Loo Orphanage.  We had a bit of a paperwork snafu to begin with but with that resolved, we entered to a chorus of song from more than 40 young kids.  We got down to business with crafts for all and the kids colored and glued amazingly peacefully.  We so enjoyed connecting with kids at their level.

We made it back in time for a dip in the nearby hotel pool and a dinner of shepard’s pie.  In talking about our day today, we all agreed that throughout this week our perspectives of Haiti have evolved.  Where we first couldn’t see much beyond the garbage, smells and extreme poverty, we can now see the beauty of the people as they work, play and praise God!

Merci Haiti!

-Paula