July 23, 2008

There are a couple of good posts about the trip here that include a few pictures:

http://missionlifeline.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-23-2008.html

http://missionlifeline.blogspot.com/2008/07/wow.html

VBS in the Mountains

The following note is from Tammy and it gives some awesome highlights of today's VBS in the mountains.
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Hello everyone! We are having a wonderful time in Haiti. The VBS has gone very well so far, and we are managing to handle the heat.

Today was a really hot, exhausting, emotional, awesome day! Some of us rode in the truck, while others from the team hiked up to Petit Bwa. What an experience! The road was REALLY rough! In the cage of the truck it was Brenda, Diane and I; along with Robensen, Pastor Rony, and Patrick. It was very cramped as we were in the little truck and had all of the VBS supplies with us as well. I am very afraid of heights - especially riding in the back of a truck on the edge of a mountain with no guard rails. The road was all rocks with some huge holes. At one point, we almost tipped over. We were thankful that God placed two Haitians right at that spot. It took them, along with Adam, Robensen, Patrick and Pastor Rony, to hold the cage of the truck up so we didn't all tip over. As the guys were holding up the truck, Troy gunned it and made it up. We found out later that the wheel of the truck on one side was completely up in the air. Needless to say, we were doing a LOT of praying!

After we reached the top of the mountain, we started VBS. It went so well. This was such a great group of kids. After VBS, we handed out candy and Bible story books to the kids, and Bibles to the adults. We took a short break to drink a coke. (Somebody up there just happened to have a case of it). Unfortunately, there was a mix up with our lunch. Adam (the other missionary) was supposed to bring lunch up for us in the truck, but he forgot it. Oops!! We were a little hungry, but we pooled our snacks from our backpacks and we managed just fine.

After our break, some of us went into the village to pray with some people at their homes. This has definitely been the highlight of the trip so far. We prayed with several people and gave them Bibles. The village witch doctor saw us praying and was curious. He asked if someone could come pray with him. We went to his house and Pastor Rony and the village pastor talked to him for quite awhile. At that moment I was thinking that we should be praying for the blood of Jesus to cover the house and rid it of evil. All of a sudden the pastors started singing and we realized that they were singing "Power in the Blood", so we all joined in (in English of course). After the song ended, the man dropped to his knees to pray. In Haiti it is the custom that everyone just prays all at the same time, so we all prayed for him, and he accepted Jesus as his Savior. It was absolutely amazing and had most of us in tears. You could just feel the power of God there! We decided that if this was the only thing we did on this trip, it would be worth it.

Sunday in LaDigue

See this blog post for a run down of today's events in LaDigue.

July 2008 Haiti Team Has Arrived

We received word that the July 2008 Haiti team has arrived safely at the mission in LaDigue. Here is what Tammy had to say: "Yes - we made it in and got to the mission at around 7:00 or so. We had a really good supper and now we are exhausted! I think we'll head to bed soon."

Please pray for the team as they lead Vacation Bible School for four different groups of kids this week.

Home at Last!

We all made it safely to GR this afternoon! Even though our team was split into two separate flights, we ended up arriving within 15 minutes of each other. Thank you for all of your prayers!!

Making the most of it...

We're stuck in the airport in Miami overnight... yuck. We all had tents and sleeping bags along with us because we had planned on sleeping in the mountains overnight Saturday to go to church there in the morning, but that never happened. Since we had all our camping stuff, and we had to spend the night in the airport, we found a good spot to sleep in and set up our tents. We have a 10'x14' tent set up by a wall next to a baggage claim thing. About all of the workers have walked past and laughed at us. Lots of people walked past too and were taking pictures. Our guess is that we are going to end up on YouTube or the news or AFV or something like that. That would be so cool!! Here is a picture of us tenting it...



(P.S. This is Tori and Chad and John updating this crazy thing just so you know that!! :))

Newest update

Most of the Haiti team will be flying to GR tomorrow via Chicago at 2:00pm
Flight 4006 American.

Aaron Bonk, and The Gates family will be flying into GR tomorrow via Dallas at 3:05pm
Flight 3693 American

Thanks to everyone who prayed for them today.

Haiti team

Update for the Haiti team. Flights from Miami to Chicago and Chicago to GR
Have been cancelled. Will let you know anything more when I hear it. I was able to call Haiti and let them know before they boarded their flight.

Last Full Day

For our last full day here, we tackled the remaining jobs. Once again, this primarily involved the medical clinic and Aline's house. The painting, chair setup, and cleanup for the medical clinic is now complete. Woo hoo! For Aline's house, the remaining rafters were put up. The rest of this project will be completed by a group of people from the village. We also put up a basketball hoop for the the Livesays and countless others to enjoy. Finally, we installed a water heater in the house that we are staying in. There's a funny story for that job, but we'll save that for Nate to tell sometime. :)

At night, we were able to attend part of a revival service at a church in the village. This was awesome. They had a similar service last night as well. The churches in the area are holding revival meetings during the time of Mardi Gras, which is typically a dark time down here. These meetings go on for hours with all kinds of singing and preaching. The singing literally makes your ears ring and gives you goosebumps! Once again, we were able to witness authentic, heartfelt worship and it was humbling to be a part of it. John was also able to share a song and Rick shared a few words with the people. This was great way to round out the week!

This should be the last post until we are home tomorrow. We have had a great trip but we are looking forward to seeing our families. Our prayer request is for good weather and no delays!

Work and Fun in the Sun

On Monday, nearly everyone spent the morning working on the medical clinic. It's really starting to come together now. We weren't able to continue with the trusses on Aline's house because there was more cement work that needed to be done. A group of people from the village have been doing this part of the project. Hopefully, they will have this done by Tuesday so that the truss work can continue.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Wahoo Bay resort for some sun, snorkling, and a delicious dinner.

On Tuesday, we will be finishing up the medical clinic and Aline's house. Thank you again for your prayers! They are making a big difference!

Mountain Trek Pictures

Mountain Trek

(NOTE: We have had some internet connection difficulties, which is making it a challenge to update the blog and really hard to add pictures.)

Well, yesterday was a big day. Bright and early (a little after 6:00 a.m.), we drove to Barbencourt and got on mules for our two hour journey up the mountain to Bwa Dom. If there was no elevation change, it would be a three mile journey as the crow flies. With the change in elevation, it is about a 2000 foot climb. It was an absolutely beautiful morning with great visibility to...uh...see the donkey in front of you. :) Seriously, with the turn of your head, a large portion of the coastline was in view.

We arrived at Pastor Fritznel's house and were served a delicious breakfast. (By the way, Pastor Fritznel and others traveled down to bring the mules even brighter and earlier in the morning.) After breakfast, we headed to church. There was a wonderful time of praise and worship along with some special music from various church members. These Haitians really know how to worship the Lord--it was awesome.

Nate gave a brief message, which encouraged all of us to be the true body of Christ. In response, we spent time praying with each other. This included praying for those that were sick as well having all of the children gather for us to pray for. Finally, most of us traveled further up the moutain to visit five people who were sick and needed prayer. After lunch, we headed back down the mountain. It was a day to remember for all of us.

Rest of the Day

In the late afternoon, we went to market. There are no pictures to show because it is not advisable to take any there. The market is indescribable unless you've been there; but suffice it to say that this place really illustrates the poverty of the country. Just outside the market is Charcoal Beach. We then went to the Cabaret Berci Orphanage to spend some time with the kids there. Finally, we wrapped up the day with an authentic Haitian meal (complete with goat).

Early tomorrow morning, we will be heading up the mountain on donkeys
to go to church there. (We are not staying overnight as originally planned, but we are looking forward to a great time of worship.)

Pastors Training

Rick and Nate led Pastor's training this morning. There was around
fifty pastors that attended. Rick gave his testimony of how he was led
to become a pastor. This transitioned into a message on discipleship and
reaching out to identify people whom God is calling to spread the
gospel.

We weren't really sure how they were accepting the message when
suddenly a pastor spoke from his heart. He said that there was a
conflict between the pastors, and if the pastors were in conflict with
each one another, then they wouldn't be able to disciple others. If they are
going to lead others to repentance, then they would first need to repent themselves. All of the men knelt on the floor, put there arms
around each other, and prayed for repentance and revival with tears.

Then, Nate spoke and asked for repentance because, as missionaries, we have made the Haitians rely on us instead of discipling them and sending
them out. He then exhorted the men to identify two people
in their congregations and disciple them for one year. Then at
pastor's training in February of 2009, we will have a commissioning
service for 100 new missionaries. They were very excited about this
and most willingly agreed to this challenge. One pastor then stood up
with tears and said he had never heard a missionary say this and he was
convicted that they were the ones that needed to go out and preach the
gospel--they should not rely on foreign missionaries, which was the
point of the day. At the end, they all shared in time of heartfelt
prayer. It was an awesome, Spirit-filled day.

More Work Projects

Today we began putting a roof on Aline's house. Aain, she is the head cook at Lifeline. This is going to be a challenging project because the blocked walls are difficult to work with. But at the end of the day, we had three trusses up, which cover about half of the house. We will resume this on Monday. The rest of the team continued working on the medical clinic.

Work Day

Today began with devotions at the prayer rock; it was the perfect start for the day. Then we got to see the kids in school (the one on the grounds of the mission compound) and, best of all, to hear them sing!

We then went to work on various projects. The main emphasis was on the medical clinic. There was electrical work, plumbing, painting (even Isaac and Noah helped out), chairs to put together, and equipment/supplies to sort and organize (with Jenn giving direction). Another group went to a school in the village to take child information (height, weight, etc.) for potential sponsorship. Other tasks included putting together some baby furniture for the Livesays, unloading a truck with supplies, troubleshooting a solar power issue, etc.

There was a bit of excitement when a garbage burn pile got a little out of control. But Lance was quick to respond with a big bucket of water. We are thankful that it didn't spread because it was close to the buildings and everything is very dry. There was also some excitement in the medical clinic when a mouse was running around. Debbie took a great whack at it but it somehow survived; then it ran around the feet of some screaming girls and finally got away. :)

In the evening, we enjoyed a nice sunset, a delicious dinner cooked up by Tara, some singing at the cross, and more hanging out together. The weather was beautiful today (sounds like it is much nicer than back at home :).

Tommorrow, the current plan is to work in the village on Aline's house (the head cook here at the mission). It was a treat to tell her about it tonight and to pray with her. Thanks again for your continued prayers!

Up at the Cross

Last night, we went up the hill to the cross--always a fun thing to do.

Barbencourt Happenings - Part 2

Some of you may remember Jean Reane. If the picture upload works, he is the boy with the tie-dye shirt, and he is one of those who excitedly accepted Christ last summer when the August team was down here for the Vacation Bible School. When he saw Nate (on the left if you don't know him), Jean's eyes lit up and he gave Nate a big hug.

After the movie, we were able to help out with the feeding program. On the menu? Rice and beans with a spaghetti/tomato sauce. It was humbling and fun to serve the kids this meal, which for many is the only one they will have today.

Afterward, many of us walked to the mission with a bunch of kids from the village holding our hands. Then we had some chow, took a tour of the mission compund, and hung out. Bye for now. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

Barbencourt Happenings - Part 1

There's a missionary from America named Daniel who is going around to all of the cities in Haiti showing a great film about Jesus. Today he and his Haitian partner Ruben showed it in Barbencourt before the regularly scheduled feeding program. We were privileged to be able to help setup and watch it with the kids.

Our guesstimate is that there were around 250 kids who ended up coming to see it. Afterward, Ruben explained what it meant to commit your life to Christ and the kids responded well to this. He led all of the kids in a prayer and then Robenson encouraged anyone who sincerely made a commitment to Christ to talk to Pastor Rony or Troy for follow-up. It was a great time and awesome to see the kids glued to the movie. The movie was a mix between a modern-day situation (real actors) along with a computer-animated presentation of key Biblical events including the fall of man into sin, Jesus' life, His death, and His ressurrection. Very cool! As a sidenote, Daniel is even able to show this movie in Haitian public schools since there are no restrictions like we have in America.

We Made It!

Thank you to for all of your prayers! God gave us a great trip and we are here safely in LaDigue. Although we were delayed yesterday, that ending up working out well. We were very happy with how well American Airlines worked with us to rebook flights. God provided us with a super friendly (and fast-typing) agent who got us all rebooked in time for the earlier of two flights to Miami. Also, this delay gave us a chance to get to know one another a litttle better and to prepare some more before arriving today.

We got into Port au Prince around 9:30 this morning. Troy and Peter drove us straight to Barbencourt rather than going to the mission. It's definitely an eye-opener to see the poverty and the horrible living conditions (familiar to those of you who have gone before, but a bit hard to take in for those of us who are first-timers). We'll attempt to post on Barbencourt with some pcitures now. Hopefullly, it works--the internet connection is pretty flaky right now. (Troy will be working with someone in the next week or two to get the satelllite internet link configured better.) Again, thank you for your prayers. They were definitely answered!!

In the Air

The Haiti team is finally on the final phase of getting to Haiti! They should arrive around 9:25 am!

They had a small delay when American had to get a piece of luggage off the plane that belonged to a passenger that didn't show. Does that sound familiar to anyone that has gone before?!

It is becoming quite common! :)

Their first stop after arriving in Haiti is a trip to Barbencourt where they will be showing the Jesus film to the children there! What an exciting start to their trip!!

This should be the last time I, Brenda should be filling you in and the Haiti team will be blogging!!

Haiti team update!!

thought I would put an update on here for all of you on where the Haiti team is at this momemt. Due to many delays they are finally in the air on their way to Miami. They should arrive this evening about 4:00pm and then will be staying overnight.

Their flight to Haiti leaves at around 7:00am tomorrow morning and they should arrive around 9:00am.

thank you so much for all the prayers that went up on their behalf!!!

Haiti Flight Itinerary 1/30/08

American Airlines

Flight: 4152
From: GRAND RAPIDS MI, MI (GRR) ; Departs: 7:00am
To: CHICAGO OHARE, IL (ORD); Arrives: 7:00am

Flight: 1048
From: CHICAGO OHARE, IL (ORD); Departs: 8:35am
To: MIAMI INTERNTNL, FL (MIA); Arrives: 12:35pm

Flight: 803
From: MIAMI INTERNTNL, FL (MIA); Departs: 2:05pm
To: PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (PAP); Arrives: 4:00pm