Hamilton/Loween Sunday May 8th

Wow, What a week we have had! I am struggling with all the emotions and thoughts running in my head.  I have been told by my leaders, that I am processing and I think I will be for a while….  God broke me on this trip and now I have to go home and figure out how to not lose the impact of what I saw in Haiti in returning to my everyday life while becoming unbroken.  As my new friend Laura said she was “beautifully broken.”

I ended the week on a high attending “tent” church this morning.  This church was literally started in a tent and now they have a huge building where hundreds of people come to worship God seven days a week.  Even though we don’t speak the same language it doesn’t matter: worship is worship, prayer is prayer, giving is giving.  The service was half in English and half in Creole and to me it was just a reminder that all over the world church services are being held in every language and we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  It was a great feeling.

After church, we headed up the mountain to do some much anticipated mountain shopping.  The views were truly breathtaking and many of us found treasures to bring home to loved ones.  It felt great to boost the Haitian economy.  We also got a great treat-ice cream and espresso.  Thanks Marcia, Trent, and Carlos! 

After returning to the guesthouse we had some team bonding time playing soccer with the neighbor boys, going to the pool, dinner, communion, worship, prayer, and word of the week.  I struggled with word of the week even though I have been thinking about it all day it is too hard for me to pick one word to sum up this last week.  All I know is that I am more blessed by this trip than what I gave to the Haitian people and will never forget this experience the rest of my life. 

-Kim

What a family in Christ this team is.  I think God hand-picked this team to come and experience Haiti together and after this journey, comes a new start for all of us.  We are different than what we were when we arrived. This trip marks a new beginning for all of us in our walk with the Lord.  If you are reading this blog and haven't been here yet I encourage you to pray and see if God is calling you to come.

Thanks to our families and friends for all of the support, we can't wait to get home and share with you what we have experienced here, but I have to say that our hearts are breaking because we are leaving beautiful Haiti, which in just a few days captivated our hearts.

My fellow 14 new brothers and sisters, I love every single one of you.  Thanks for all the love that you gave me. Haiti was only the first stop on this friendship journey for us.

-Carlos

As I sit here and add to the blog, my thoughts are more about the week, not just today. We will be coming back to what “WE” perceive as reality on Monday, but there is more “Reality” in this world that is never experienced and brought to light.

I only pray that I will be able to remember the smells, sounds and sights vividly enough to remain humbled by the experience.

I do see hope and future for the poor in Haiti, it will take time and lots of work. I pray that Healing Haiti will continue down the path they have chosen to support the people of Haiti.

I would like to thank all those who offered up prayers and financial support. It is something that I will never forget.

God bless my teammates! They are an exceptional group.

-Allen

Hamilton/Loween Saturday May 7th

Today was yet another amazing day!  Earlier this week, we had started preparing for Plan B for Saturday.  Our original plan was to take a group of children to the beach, but due to the detour for the collapsed bridge, a trip to the beach could have taken up to three hours one way, so we made alternative plans.

We woke this morning to the sound of falling rain, and that rain continued all day long.  This is a first for all of us that have been to Haiti on previous trips.  We even rearranged our Plan B for the day and formulated a Plan C – just in case. 

Plan B, started with a slightly soggy drive to an orphanage where we had a fun morning playing with the kids.  Some of the team played soccer in the rain, while others held, played hand games, sang with the children and some of us were even treated to new hairstyles!  The smiles and laughter were so wonderful.

We then headed up to the top of the mountain to tour Baptist Haiti Mission.  The drive was again a little soggy and foggy, but the views that we were able to see on the drive up were truly beautiful.  No one from our team had previously been to this place and we all agree that it was a pretty amazing place. 

When we arrived, we started our tour in the museum.  There were items in cases detailing Haiti’s history along with items from many different countries, which have played an influential role in what Haiti is today.  Next we walked further into the compound and found that they have a hospital.  Earlier in the week, our team had been looking forward to going to General Hospital and handing out care packages.   Due to a strike, we were unable to go.  We did happen to bring some care packages with us this morning in case we had to resort to Plan C for the day.  We ended up being able to give out the care packages to many of the patients at Baptist Mission Hospital!  Also during the hospital tour, a few of us (the lab ladies on the trip) were able to tour the lab.  It was a very nice lab with very modern testing equipment. 

Next up on the tour was a “Zoo” and a “Noah’s Ark” playground.  The zoo had an alligator, peacock, bunnies, ducks and goats.  We were all quite surprised to find a “Zoo” in Haiti.  There was a very neat picture of Noah’s ark and all the animals around it – including dinosaurs.  We spent a little time on the playground – some of our team relived their younger years and used the slide, teeter-totter, monkey bars and more!  Keep in mind, it was raining during all of this tour and some of us were actually getting pretty chilled!

After that we stopped by the on site restaurant and gift shop for lunch.  While there, we had the privilege of meeting two AMAZING people.  Wallace and Eleanor Turnbull.  They are the founders of Baptist Haiti Mission (founded in 1948) and at the young age of 92, still live on site.  Many from our team spent time visiting with them and found that many on our team had connections.  Three of us attend a church, where one of their former missionaries is the Mission’s Pastor.  Another one of the team members graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia – the University where the Turnbull’s sent a sponsored Haitian to attend college.  This college will also be giving college credits to students that spend eight months at Baptist Haiti Mission.  This adorable couple inspired so many of us by their many years of service and their passion and love for God.

As we reflect on our day, it is so evident that what was plan B for our team, was truly God’s plan A for our team.  He fulfilled many of our prayers for the trip in ways we did not expect.

Trent and Marcia 

Hamilton/Loween Fritday May 6th

Well, we had quite the early morning! Since Haiti does not participate in daylight savings, the sun rises pretty early, which resulted in fear that I had missed our tap-tap ride to Tent church for 6:00am service.  Thankfully I did not. We all had some coffee and jumped into the back of the tap-tap and headed to church. I had no idea what to expect, but a large open building with a full worship band in the front was not what I planned for. All I can say is that God was present and moving in that room. The Haitians were either praying on the ground or walking all around the church. These beautiful people had their arms held high worshiping and thanking God. We even had the opportunity to pray with a stranger next to us. We had zero idea what the other was saying, but it didn’t even matter. We knew God understood. Church really made a lot of us emotional. It is hard for me to fully understand how they have so much faith and love the Lord so much when they are living in such poverty. These Haitians wake up for church service at 6:00am service everyday, yet we have a hard time waking up for an 8:00am service once a week.  It really put a lot into perspective.

               After church we stopped by Elder School on our way back to Cite Soleil to deliver water. Healing Haiti has partnered with them over the years, especially since the earthquake. It was amazing to hear about the students and get to interact with them.

Our first stop in Cite Soleil was very difficult for most of us. There was desperation in the children to be held and fighting for water. It was hard to see and honestly, I started to shut down. These people are relying on this water to live yet I am getting frustrated about the chaos. Later we talked about this experience and one of our team members had some great insight. Of course it is easy to love on the ones that do not cause trouble and to turn away from the ones that do. However, that is not what God does. He loves us all, even though we are not perfect and do make mistakes. It was a great reminder that I needed.

               We also got to visit a deaf orphanage/boarding school called Monfort. This was not originally on our itinerary, but I think God is trying to tell me something. I studied sign language for many years and loved it. I was just short of becoming an interpreter and over the last few months it has been on my heart to get back into sign language. Personally, this visit was beautiful. I was able to communicate more so with these children than with hearing Haitian children. Haitian sign language is a little different, but we were still able to communicate and learn new signs. The kids loved playing soccer and drawing with chalk. I found myself joyfully crying as I watched these beautiful children play. Seeing that they had a place where they could fit in was amazing. Alright God, I hear you! I’ll look into studying sign language again.

               After some delicious pizza at Pizza Amour, we ended this day of extreme highs and lows with some salsa dancing on the patio. Jean, the Haitian director for Healing Haiti, taught us some salsa moves and had us all laughing hysterically. God is moving here in Haiti, and He is most certainly moving within this team. Our plans have changed many times this week, but the new plans have been exactly what different team members have needed. Funny how He just knows…

-Laura 

Hamilton/Loween Thursday May 5th

Hi all! This morning we embarked on a trek to Grace Village, which included a detour due to a bridge collapse- which, in turn, was due to the nuts and bolts being stolen from the bridge

Seeing Grace Village, and all Healing Haiti is doing through Grace Village, was SO hopeful: 400 children attending the Grace Village school; 4 family-style homes for orphans who as a result, no longer consider themselves such; 26 orphans with a place to live until Healing Haiti can reunite them with their families; a medical clinic; plans for a dental clinic on the way; a church; and a soon-to-open bakery and restaurant to continue creating jobs in the area. Currently, over 120 Haitians work at and run Grace Village. It is amazing to see the work that is being done here to empower the Haitian people, create jobs, and provide a stable environment and education for kids.

Over the past few days, I’ve been working through trying to understand our role here; in light of the extreme level of poverty, what does our visit here really accomplish? I’m a “doer”- I like tasks, I like projects, I like to see results, and I like measurable outcomes. I’ve struggled with the parts of this trip that are “just” holding kids and helping carry buckets. When faced with such complex and seemingly insurmountable issues such as the extreme poverty in Haiti, I’m still learning to be more like Jesus (willing to serve and love the individual) and less like the disciples (“when will we overthrow the Romans already?!”).

But what I starting coming to realize when I was at Grace Village is that it’s not about our individual team and what we do in our minimal time here; rather, it’s the culmination of ALL groups that come here to learn and to serve, and it’s the underlying fact that these visiting groups provide funding that helps Healing Haiti create these opportunities for education and job creation. And that cumulative work is generating incredible results with measurable outcomes.

-Jessi

Today at Grace Village while the rest of the team took the tour, I was advised that my original 2 hours for the CPR class got shrunk down to 1 hour…prep work needed to be done before it started then!  I updated the AED at the Clinic and the one in the Guard Shack.  Jason who works at the clinic front desk was extremely helpful and awesome to work with!! The clinic had 6 staff members attend the class, one of whom was Dr. Gregory.  This was such a fun class and I can say that not only did we complete a Healthcare Provider course in an hours time, but we did all of that with translating everything…God is amazing and it was His will that the class happened and by His grace I was able to teach it successfully with everyone feeling good about what they learned!! This was my favorite part of the trip so far and I really am looking forward to hosting another class for the staff on Monday here at Guest House 2. Thank you Healing Haiti for allowing me to help and be helpful, my heart is happy!!

-Matt

Marcia, Lori and Caron also had the opportunity to utilize their work knowledge at Grace Village today.   A few days before flying out we were notified that the lab needed assistance with setting up a new urinalysis and chemistry analyzer.   It was a great experience and we were blessed to work alongside the laboratory tech.  She did a wonderful job while we overwhelmed her with much information in just a couple hours!!  It was a fun experience to see how a Haiti lab functions!! 

-Caron

Hamilton/Loween Wednesday May 4th.

Wow, what an incredible day today!  The first night here, as our team sat around in a circle describing a first impression phrase of what Haiti was to them, Laura stated it as “beautifully broken”. Ya’ll that phrase could not describe today more perfectly. Our team spent the day simply loving…. Loving on sick and dying babies, loving on special needs, loving at a wound clinic and loving at an orphanage. We loved on sweet kids that the world would typically put in a category of being broken… and let me tell you, it was far from broken, rather incredibly beautiful. And these places we went could have so easily just wrecked us or had us wanting to cry, but I can tell you this, it was the ultimate love, Christ’s love that overpowered those emotions and just overwhelmingly poured out of us on to those sweet babies and children, and as a team I can tell we are so thankful for that ultimate love working through us.

I, Ashleigh, had the opportunity to be apart of the team that went to the home for sick and dying babies this morning. I truly had no idea what this trip would entail, but I did know that it would do a work on me, because leading up to this day for about a month since we got a tentative schedule of this trip, I would break down in tears just thinking about or talking about what this trip would maybe be. Ya'll, it was such a sweet time to be, as a team, able to go in to these few rooms and love on these kids. There were two rooms you could go in, one room with little little babies that were too sick to go outside and really that had babies that were so sick they didn’t even respond too much. I remember going up to a tiny 8 month old and he just laid there, not responding to much, but I just picked him up, and instantly could feel his skin burning on mine. And my heart just broke, but in that moment I found something beautiful because even though he was so sick, I began talking to him, making the typical baby goo goo’s and his tiny face lit up with a smile. These children, in the midst of sickness melt your heart with a smile that you can’t even understand until you’re there experiencing it. The second room held babies/children that were still quite sick but were much more responsive, filling the room with many tears but even more giggles and smiles. Sitting in between the metal cribs on the tile floor playing with, feeding, rocking, and just loving on these children rocked my world today and simply challenged me to just love, love with a love that Christ lavishes on us.

I, JoAnn, had the opportunity to go to Dare’s, an orphanage for kids with special needs. This orphanage held 25 kids, many of whom had severe deformities, mostly of the legs and feet. Not only were they physically handicapped, but there were also those who were mentally handicapped. At this orphanage there was a baby boy by the name of Robinson whose life story would already be considered a miracle. A man who had come with healing Haiti a few months back saw this boy just lying out, and could not get the image of that helpless Robinson out of his head. As he returned to the states, he made a quick turn around to come back to Haiti on his own for a weekend to find this baby boy. After taking all day to search for him throughout the city, the miracle happened when he found this baby boy who was then put in Dare’s getting the love and attention he needed. Today our team got to meet this boy, and our lives were just as impacted. But back to the orphanage, there was a small patio and small play area outside where we got to do chalk and bubbles with the kids. Grace, a healing Haiti missionary, brought her guitar along and we all sat and sang with the kids. There were many tears, and tears were brought to my eyes as I heard some of the sweetest voices I have ever heard. A verse came to mind, that beautifully captured that moment,  “The lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works” Psalms 145:9.

I, Kim, along with my team leader, Amy, had the opportunity to go to the wound clinic in downtown Port Au Prince today.  The drive itself was an experience!  No stoplights, traffic laws, right a ways, constant honking and yelling.  Chaos…but then the nuns started praying and in the midst of all this chaos I was reminded that God is here in this moment.  The street we turned down to get to the wound clinic does not look wide enough for a car to drive down.   The street is lined with vendor after vendor, carts being pushed down the middle of the street. People walking down the middle of the street selling things to make a living.  As the truck makes its way down the street people literally barely move out of the way, they are so close to the truck they can easily be grazed by the vehicle.  Then we just pull over and we have arrived at the wound clinic.

Being a nurse, I knew this visit would be a struggle.  There is no doctor, no doctor’s order, no sterile equipment, and minimal dressing change supplies.  The nuns gave us a quick in-service on how they change the wounds and we begin.  Several people get their wounds changed simultaneously in the clinic or some in the alley outside the clinic by the nuns and volunteers.  I did the best I could with the supplies I had and had to be okay with that.  I kept in the back of my mind that I was making a difference because without this wound clinic these people would not be getting any help at all.  The language barrier is a struggle but the nuns reminded me that the only language we need is love and a giving heart. 

As we dropped off Amy and Kim to go to wound care, the rest of us loaded up and went to La Phere orphanage, where we yet again, loved on kids through playing soccer, drawing with chalk and singing worship songs. There was a lot of love poured out by our team today, but I think we can all come back and say there was a lot of love filled up and overflowing in our hearts from all the sweet children we came in contact with today… and that is only something that could have been done by the Lord we are here serving!

Much Love

Ashleigh, JoAnn, and Kim

Hamilton/Loween Tuesday May 3rd

What an amazing day to recap! Today we brought water to Cite Soleil.  Although there has been rain this season, there was still a great need for water.

“HEY YOU!  The beautiful sound of the Haitian voices as our truck arrived at stops 17, 19, and 26!  The kids and adults flocked the truck with all sorts of containers, from five gallon buckets to basins and cups to carry their water home.  The children loved to be held and asked many times to be picked up regardless of age.  It was truly a beautiful sight.  Like any other child they wanted to be loved up and of course play! They got a kick out of hand games and even showed us a couple dance moves!  It was tough to say good-bye and put down a child that a mother had placed in our arms.

 Young ladies were interested in our hair and could not help but touch and talk about it.  It was very neat to see and engage with them even though our communication is practically nonexistent-it did not stop us from talking to them.  They told us their names and ages and introduced us to their children. 

Stop 26, like 17 and 19, were excited to see us, but carried a different vibe.  Unlike 17 and 19, we helped carry their water to their home.  The water is heavy and often carried on their head.  Being able to help carry the water down the road to their front door step, you could just see the appreciation on their faces.  By no means was it easy!  We all struggled.  As for them, it was just second nature.  As much as they where grateful for our help, they made it very clear not to spill any of the water.  It really goes to show how this is their livelihood.  It made us all work harder and smarter hauling the water. 

In-between stops we were able to tour Hope Church.  It was astonishing!  The worship area is in the heart of the church, while classrooms surround the perimeter.  God sure has been at work at HOPE Church and will provide hope to the community on top of a landfill.

          Thank you for all your continued support and prayer!  We cannot wait to continue sharing this journey with you!