Sweet Home & Papillon

Tuesday 7/18/17

Today we visited Sweet Home orphanage and Papillon Enterprises/ Apparent Project. At Sweet Home we got to visit and play with children from the ages of 18 months to 10 years old. It was amazing to see their ability to read and create connections with us in such a short amount of time.Their hearts are so open and receiving to love from new people. It's hard

to leave such sweet faces. Later in the day we took the Tap Tap to Papillon. Papillon means butterfly in Creole, and it's such a fitting name for the company because it has changed peoples lives and given them the wings to fly. It had provided 200 jobs for Haitians and allows parents to not have to relinquish their rights as parents. We were able to see the production side the boutique that we were able to shop in. It's good to know that our money is going to the right place and the right people. To end our day we went to the top of a mountain and over looked the country and the Caribbean. This whole day we had our palms up and hearts open ready to have God work through us.

Lauren St. Martin, Ainsley Rouse, and Sophia Castagnetti

Blog No.1

Hi everybody,

Josh Cornes (and Chad Dezeeuw, ish) here coming at you from Haiti on our first day on the mission trip. Things have gone smoothly with no problems at all, praise Jezi!! We set out dark and early this morning to arrive at the airport at 3:30. Fortunately no one was late and bags got through safe and fast. And luckily their was not only one, but two Starbucks at the airport, so the half alive teenage girls were quickly up and ready for the long day ahead. 17 hours later the coffee has started to wear off and everyone is heading for a hopeful goodnight sleep for an exciting adventure and new experiences for the lot of the group. Even though its a daunting thought and different to what a lot of the group is used to, all seem bursting with anticipation and ready for what lies ahead with creating new memories, building relationships, changing lives, and spreading His love and grace.
Tomorrow we are off to a fairly new orphanage partner called Sweet Home, then off to a place called Apparent Project where Haitians sell homemade products. However, I won't give away too much now as I will let the bloggers tomorrow discuss all the exciting activities and adventures we encounter throughout the day 2.

For more exciting pictures visit the St. Michael's Lutheran Church Bloomington, MN Facebook group.

Our final full day in Haiti began with another drive up to Grace Village in Titanyen to worship and experience the church there. As the whole service was in Creole, there was a lack of understanding verbally, but there was no doubt the Holy Spirit was working in that place as we heard kids singing and saw the passion everyone in that room had for Jesus.

Afterwards, we headed to Wahoo Bay for a day of swimming, relaxing, and snorkeling. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Before lunch, some of the girls played some beach volleyball, then we ended the day eating at the resort and packing back in the taptap for our long ride back to Port Au Prince.

We spent our last night in the guest house the same way we have spent many of our other nights: dinner, chatting with the neighborhood boys, and enjoying each other's company. There is no doubt there will be several hard goodbyes tomorrow, but we will have countless memories to bring back with us.

Day 6

Today we put on our bright green shirts again and headed out to Cite Soleil for another water truck day. We made two stops in neighborhoods and at each we emptied our truck. Like before, we played with the kids, held babies, filled the buckets, and assisted in delivering them back to homes. After the second stop, we drove out to the end of the neighborhood where there was a large dock with kids swimming and people fishing. We gathered some younger kids around and Sam lead us all in a fun Haitian 'Simon Says' game. After returning and cleaning up a bit, we left for Grace Village to eat a wonderful pizza dinner at the Fleuri restaurant. On our ride back from the meal we watched from the Tap-tap as kids came out to play and collect water in a short-lived rain shower (that cooled us off as well). To end the day, we went to the nearby hotel for salsa dancing. Some highlights for us were teaching some of the Haitian dancers the "Cotton Eye Joe" line dance and riding home in the cool night air in the back of the pickup truck with the view of the hillside in front of us.

Overflowing

     Our day started very early today with 6:00 A.M. service. When we walked into the church, we could feel the Spirit of God instantly. Although the service was primarily in Creole, we experienced a pure and authentic worship that went beyond our language barrier.
     After service, we headed on a tap tap ride to Grace Village. Grace Village currently consists of a school, children's homes, and a medical clinic. The facilities service about 75 children right now. It was amazing to listen to the children in VBS, and to spend time drawing and playing with some of them. We have found that the children often don't need much entertain, but often just want to be held and shown affection.
     After visiting Grace Village, we had the treat of touring Fleuri Bakery. The Bakery currently employs about 25 Haitian staff and produces thousands of dollars of merchandise each month. The building was beautiful and the pastry looked, smelled, and TASTED amazing!
     Next, we loaded up for the climax of our day: visited with the elders of the community. Visiting the elders is a ritual that Healing Haiti has for each team trip. We visited four elders, and took them each a plate of food and beverage and offered them prayer, foot washing, massages, and music. It amazed us that as we visited each of the elders, they asked for very little monetary or physical needs, but all asked for prayers for healing and increased faith. They didn't know this, but as we served them and prayed for their faith, our faith was also stretching! We are grateful to have had the opportunity to show the love of Jesus in such a sacred and special way.
     Our last stop of the day was at the mass grave memorial site. This is the burial site for thousands of victims of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti. This earthquake killed 200, 000 people, injured over 300,000. One of our Haitian staff members,Valerie, gave us a tour and shared with us the background of the site. He shared stories of university students who were trapped underneath their building rumble for days without help; and of small children being injured and lost without family or access to medical treatment. It was beyond sobering. We thank God that He allowed us to grow in the knowledge and understanding today.
     Our summary of today is overflowing! Overflowing tears, overflowing sweat, overflowing faith, overflowing servitude, and overflowing GRATITUDE!

Day 3

We started off our day on an hour long tap-tap ride, which ended up being only five miles. Our destination was Monfort Deaf Academy which is a school for deaf children, and helps prepare them for the world outside of the academy. They also have a farm on their property where they have the opportunity to use animals as school projects. We also discovered a wonderful fruit called Knip,  It is a small green grape-like fruit with a pit in the middle. They are highly addictive, and we have been eating them all day long. We then went to the Croix De Bouquet Metal Market where we learned how to bargain for amazing metal masterpieces. After

another bumpy ride, we stopped at Sweet Home Orphanage, which is a home for 26 children aged 3 months to 17 years. We expected to be able to play and hold the kids, but sadly, we arrived during their nap time. Instead, we were given a tour of the property and promised the director we would be back on Monday morning to interact with the children. We ended our day with a nice refreshing swim at the hotel pool, and then proceeded with an intense game of Spikeball. It was an informational day and a day of building friendships.

Good

Today was good.
We started our day by visiting Haitian Initiative. It's a program to encourage kids to do well in school and allows them to play organized soccer. While we were there, the Gambinos got to reunite with the Haitian students they hosted two years ago.
Next, we went to the water fill-up station where our water truck got filled with 3,000 gallons of water for our first stop.

We distributed water at three different locations in Cite Soleil. At each, we filled buckets of water that the people would bring to their homes to wash dishes, themselves, clothes, and/or cook with. As we got out of the truck at each stop kids surrounded the taptap and as you stepped off they jumped into your arms. There was no question, you were going to hold a child ... or three.

When we got out of the taptap, people had already stated lining up with their buckets. The hose never stopped so people would move their buckets in and out as fast as possible trying not to lose a drop. The line continued endlessly until the water truck ran out.

Once people got their buckets filled, they would often signal for help to carry them back to their home. Sadly, we were only allowed to go so far with the buckets so we often had to set them down for the people to carry the rest of the way. We also assisted kids and adults with putting buckets on their heads.

Overall, today was good. The team enjoyed the work and time spent with the people of Haiti and with each other as we rode in the taptap from place to place. We saw a lot of good within members of the community and in the kids. Stepping back and watching each other serve, we saw the good in all that was done.