Haiti Mission Trip 2012

It takes me awhile to write about our trips to Haiti.  Not because I am procrastinating, or because I am hesitant to share.  It just takes me a long time to process Haiti each time I come back to what one missionary I know refers to as "Disneyland."  Every trip I come back with more love for, and information about the people, the culture, the church that makes me reevaluate so many aspects of my own life.

For this post, I will spare you all of my deep thoughts, insights, and struggles...another time.  For now, I will just share with you pictures and highlights about our most recent trip to my second most beloved country.


We had several projects while we were there.  As in typical Haitian mission trip style, most of our plans were completely changed and rearranged.  Setting a foundation for a playground and basketball court for the kids was the work project, and the women were set up to teach, teach, teach.

Work on the playground

The kids need a productive, clean, safe place to play.

We had TONS of rock, sand and dirt hauled in to spread for the foundation
for the new playground. Here are our Sam and Alto working along side Tony.

Alot of the kids helped out.

  

If they ran out of shovels, they just used buckets. 

This is the finished product...ready and waiting for a playground. 

Girl's Retreat

Jillian requested that we hold a retreat for the girls while we were there.  It was a challenge, but it was well-planned and went great.  The girls all said they want it to last the whole 2 weeks we are there next time instead of just 2 days.

In Haiti, there is a struggle with works oriented salvation...being "good enough." Our theme was on how "God can Make you Clean."  We talked about several women who were full of sin.  In our minds sometimes, God only wants to use those who are righteous.  We studied how in the Bible God accepts us and uses us how we are. 

 Jami planned an activity where we made soap.  The girls loved creatively shaping it. 

Aubrey making "red cord" bookmarks with
our dear friend, Milona.

Discussing Rahab and if God can use women like her today.

After Brenda's talk on the woman who
washed Jesus feet, we washed the girls' feet. 

Several people walked in off the street asking
what we were doing...one woman said she had never seen anything like it.
She would be there for worship the following Sunday.  

Terrier Rouge

Our good friend, Gerome and a preacher named Jonathan started a congregation last year in a nearby town called Terrier Rouge.  They have had lots of interest in the gospel and are growing fast.  We spent several days preaching, visiting new Christians and teaching Bible class for (what turned out to be) the neighborhood.

This is Tony visiting with the first convert they had in this town.
She is 100 years old.  She was quite an inspiration to us all.

Teaching the little kids...the crowd kept accumulating off the streets.
They were so excited to be there.

I saw this little boy and HAD to hold him!  He lives next door to the church building .  He comes by himself and brings his little wooden chair to sit in.  He sits at the door and greets people as they come in, shaking their hands.  So many lessons to be learned from this little boy.  How many people do you greet each Lord's Day?

We decided to make some benches for their
congregation as they only had a few chairs to sit in.

Here they are...loaded up and ready to go.

Devotionals for the kids

We lead devotionals, for the older boys, older girls,
as well as the smaller children at the orphanage.
Tony is teaching here an object lesson
about the narrow and broad gate in Matt. 7:13-14.

Roseny, Milonia, and Nellie

Sweet Milonia is a young girl who has found her way into my heart.  She has Type  I Diabetes and suffers a great deal in Haiti.  Our team gave her mother money to start a business so she can provide for her two girls.
The men went over and helped her put a roof on her stand to hold her products.

There is much to say about this dear family...stay tuned. 

The Team and the kids

I don't have any pictures of the work I did while we were there.  I spent most of my time in the office organizing the files so CHCH can soon get licensed.  It involved hunting down a representative for each child to come and sign paperwork for them at the orphanage.The two young men I am standing between (Jude and Willey) were of immeasurable help to me.  One side affect of this job was hearing the story behind each of the children and why they ended up at CHCH.  It motivates me more to spread the only answer to Haiti's problems...the gospel.