Fantastic Friday!

It’s the Lisa’s here-again! Wow! What a day! We started off our visits at The Home For Sick and Dying Adults.  Soon after we arrived, the team split into guys and gals.  Benny and Rich, our amazing guys of the team, visited the men where they were massaging mad-men!  In all they were able to give 14 massages! So awesome!  The lovely ladies of the team divided into two groups to visit with the women.  We too gave massages, but we also got to paint lots of fingernails and toenails.  We all just enjoyed being in the presence of such strong yet such fragile men and women.   

Next stop was the Haitian History Museum.  It was very educational!  All the names of the Freedom Fighters were on a wall.  The guide explained what the names mean in English, let’s just say many were very demeaning.  The four founding fathers were buried in tombs inside the museum, there was an anchor displayed from the Santa Maria and a piece was taken out which was given to Charles Lindberg.  Many paintings depicting slavery and how harshly they were treated.  There was also a wall with pictures of all the leaders of Haiti’s history.  The Haitians optimism and pure happiness is remarkable.

The last visit of the day was to Laloo Orphanage.  The first line of business was doing a craft with the kiddos.  The craft-a paper fish.  It required lots of glue which the kids went crazy over. Nothing like having a bunch of kids and lots of glue!  Hilarious! Written out on the tail was Matthew 4:19. “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men” translated in Creole.

After the clean up, we headed out to play!  Lots of hair braiding, piggy back rides, an intense game of soccer, and basically just loving on these precious children of Haiti.

We wrapped up our evening with a quick swim at the hotel pool, a spaghetti dinner that the ladies prepared for us, birthday celebrations, devotions, salsa lessons and yard games!   It’s clear to see we make the most of every day! And now it’s time for us to go to bed!  

Bon wit (Good Night)

Lisa, Lisa and the Jesus Jam!!!:)

An Action Packed Thursday

It's LISA's here ...

This may have been our most action packed day yet.

Today we visited GRACE VILLAGE in Titanyen. We were fortunate enough to get to ride in the front of the tap tap on our drive up into the mountains. Maxim maneuvers the chaotic streets of Port Au Prince like a seasoned race car driver. He never missed a beat as we asked 100's of questions about Haiti, the culture and his personal life & walk with Jesus. Sitting in the front gave us yet another view of the beauty within Haiti.

GRACE VILLAGE is a family home style orphanage & school. Our tour taught us how they care for these beautiful children, reunite many of them with their families and have been recognized by the Haitian government for doing such an amazing job. This beautiful facility teaches 400+ students during the school year. It works off of the parable of the loaves & fishes. Seeing the innovative area where they raise 1200 Talapia at a time to feed their people was amazing.  Every aspect of this village has been thought through to have it teach the Haitian people how to utilize their resources and become more self sufficient and prosperous. It left us in awe.

After our tour we spent hours playing with the beautiful children of GV. We engaged them in all sorts of games and contests that kept everyone smiling and laughing. Duck Duck Goose was a quick hit, as well as Freeze Tag, and Ring Around the Rosie. Benny seems to draw the attention of the little boys. He quickly got them doing push ups and pull ups and somehow into arm wrestling contests. By the end of our visit EVERYONE was arm wrestling and doing pull ups. It was a great time.

Our tour of the almost finished FLEURI BOULANJE (Bakery & Pizzeria) was again so impressive. Job creation, stimulating the local economy and utilizing local resources are at the top of the their priorities!

From here we visited 3 participants in the ELDERCARE program. This was our favorite part of the day. Literally being the hands & feet of Christ was such a powerful experience. We brought them food, washed their hands & feet and massaged any of their aches & pains. We even got to paint finger & toenails. We sang with them and prayed over them. Again, so amazing.

On our way back, we stopped to visit the MASS GRAVES MEMORIAL. As we sat and listened to Jonas tell the story of the earthquake, it's devastation and the unimaginable difficulty of placing 300,000-400,000 bodies in this one place to be buried, our hearts ached for the people of this country.

Our dinner tonight was authentic Haitian food! YUM! So good. Then we played yard games with some of the staff, did a little gift shop shopping, and took a quick ride in to the grocery store to pick up some ICE CREAM! Wrapping up the night with TEAM DEVOTIONS, Jaime reminded us of the importance of PERSEVERANCE. So as we head off to bed, we look forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow!

THANK YOU for your prayers, love and support!  As we sign off we want to leave you with this verse from John 13:12-17
When he had finished washing their feet he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.  "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.



Lisa & Lisa

Wednesday already?!

As I sat down to write, this song came on in the background and struck a deeper chord than usual. It's by Plumb and is called "Lord I'm Ready Now"...

Lord I'm ready now
All the walls are down
Time is running out
And I want to make this count

I ran away from you
I did what I wanted to
But I don't want to let you down
Lord I'm ready now

Today we split into two groups and visited Home for Sick & Dying Babies and Dare's Orphanage. I led the group that wanted to visit Home for Sick & Dying Babies and we spent a few hours there. We arrived in time to help with breakfast, and spent the remaining time holding, playing with, and loving on the children there. Many of these children have illness of varying degrees and are there to get well. Some have parents who visit daily and others do not. All want some form of loving interaction, whether it be sitting on a lap, playing with a toy, or just holding hands. I was blessed to hold and play with two little boys initially, and was later given a little girl to hold and love on. The Sister shared with me that she is very, very sick, and has no one visiting - all she gets is to lay in her crib all day - so I should hold her and encourage her. She was awake but not very alert, so we had little interaction - but I held her close and talked and sang to her. Later I asked Deb to pray over her and then it was time to go. Heartbreaking but very blessed to be able to just love on that little beauty.

Haley led the rest of the group to Dare's Orphanage, and through pictures we saw that they had an absolute blast. Dare's is a special needs orphanage with about 15 boys and girls of differing ages and abilities. They sang, played music, played with Legos and other toys, and shared lots of laughter and love.

We had a midday break, then went to the ApParent Project (www.apparentproject.org) for a tour and some shopping. Their mission is to provide jobs and prevent kids from being orphaned. Their organization is still quite young overall, and is absolutely exploding. Awesome people with great vision and passion. Check out their website!

Tomorrow we will visit Grace Village and the new bakery. We will also have an opportunity to visit three elders in the area, who are cared for through Healing Haiti's sponsorship program. It is such a privilege to spend time with these amazing men and women! Stay tuned :)

Love,
Jaime

Water Water Everywhere

After a long and exhausting day of travel yesterday, we arrived to the guesthouse around 8pm and settled in for the night. Today we spent our first full day in Haiti by making 3 water truck runs into Cite Soleil.

Water truck day always ends up being one of the highlights of the week. Repeat trip goers light up with excitement as we round the corner into Cite Soleil and know what is up ahead. The shouts of "hey you!!" become louder and louder as the following of children chasing the tap tap (our transportation truck) gets bigger and bigger. Stepping off of the tap tap we are immediately swarmed with little ones who want nothing more than to be held and loved. Those smiling faces are forever ingrained in our hearts and minds.

Before the truck was even stopped, the line began to form with people waiting to get their buckets filled. Waiting for what could be the only water they get all week. And as the 95+ degree sun and like 100% humidity beat down on us, the desperation for this water is obvious. We took turns manning the hose and shuffling buckets while others ran around and played with kiddos. We all left soaking wet, not quite sure how much of it was sweat or water.

Arriving back to the guest house, we restored ourselves by taking a trip up the road to the hotel pool. During our supper "word of the day" reflecting, Lisa Simon said hers was "water" and I could not agree more. We experienced water in many forms today. Life saving, hydrating, relaxing. And now as I write this blog we are loving the soundtrack of pouring rain and thunder rolling in outside. And I know the people of Haiti are more than grateful for this gift from God.

~ Haley

Final Day: Quenching Thirst

Saturday

Today was our second water truck day.  I cannot prepare myself for the smells, sounds, sights and feel of poverty.  Poverty is everywhere in Cite Soleil.  Look to the left, right, under your feet then right at the children.  Their eyes, they tell a story.  The dark brown eyes sometimes cloudy, red or even absent.  One cannot forget the eyes.

The thirst in Cite Soleil cannot be quenched, as the thirst is more than for water.  The thirst is for human touch, acknowledgement, a smile, hug, prayer or even laughter. The thirst is grand!  As missionaries, we do what we can.  We serve the Lord, we are his hands and feet.  He calls us to serve his children, our brothers and sisters. 

Today was bitter sweet.  It is sweet because we can deliver water, look into the eyes, pray and give our best for two water truck stops. Bitter because it is the last day we can try to quench the thirst that exists in Cite Soleil. Bitter because I cannot quench the thirst that continually exists in Haiti. The thirst is one only God can quench.

Kristine 

Final Day: The Gift

Saturday

The second day of water truck, and we have a well formed team.  This day was special, because I knew we would be able to handle anything, just felt that way. The beautiful Haitian children chased us and yelled “Hey you!” as we came to the stop.  They were yelling in unison, and it was beautiful.  As we opened the door and jumped off the truck, at least a dozen surrounded us and one beautiful young girl grabbed me and planted a kiss on my cheek! Wow, just love today!  All we wanted to do was deliver water and more water.  I felt driven to just give, give, give, as did the rest of the team.  We seemed to never have enough love or water to share.  As we left I thought how it would have been for them if we had not come.  What if no water today, or any day?

For that very reason, I’ll be back.  A piece of my heart is forever in Haiti.

As I watched this awesome team this week, I kept thinking of one of the words of the day I had used… gift.  We each have gifts, special and perfect, that God had given to us.  Thank You, Lord, for the blessings that we can share and bring to this beautiful country, and these special people.  It has been joyful again to shine our light upon them, because today, we were indeed there for them as the hands and feet of Jesus.

~ Jan

Day 5: Pure in Heart

Pure in Heart

Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Each day we end with a word of the day. Today I chose purity. Our day began at 5:45am with a church service not too far from our guesthouse. We then moved on to the Home for Sick and Dying Children, and last but not least the Apparent Project. Three very different settings. But all have one thing in common: purity. A strange word to describe these I know. However, there are very few things in our lives we describe as pure. Maybe that’s why the organic food section is so busy now. When it comes to people, we often suspect an ulterior motive. Not much purity to see in our modern businesses. But in the Haitian church service, the people worshiping, waving their hands, kneeling for over 45 minutes with hands raised, walking back and forth praying: that was beautiful. To see worship so wonderfully pure. They definitely weren’t worried about what other people were thinking, because everyone was doing the same thing. It was so free. And you could tell God was loving it. It was a sweet smelling aroma to Him. 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” We saw Him all day long. At the Home, the care and love for those children was pure. It didn’t matter what the children were sick with, if they were small or large, sleeping or awake, crying or smiling. They were being loved. There was a mother who was purely loving on her child she only is able to see for a few hours a day. A few hours A DAY. She kissed her, sang to her, played with her feet, and gazed into her eyes. If the whole atmosphere didn’t bring tears to your eyes, observing those few moments between mother and child would. First they begin as tears of sorrow and compassion, but then move to tears of joy. This mother was fully engaged and enjoying this precious time with her child who was suffering. But that didn’t matter in that moment. It was pure. 

We ended our day’s journey with the Apparent Project. God has blessed this awesome venture! In their few short years, they have expanded to a booming nonprofit/for-profit business. The for-profit side is to pay their employees and expand their business reach. They have created hundreds of jobs, and provide an economic boost for the community. They aren’t in it for the bills they will slide into their pocket at the end of the day. The purpose is to help the people of Haiti live in the best way: with dignity and as a family.  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” A few verses later in Matthew 5, Jesus says this, “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” What happens when salt is no longer pure salt? It’s not good for anything useful, like flavor or preserving. Salt has to be kept pure. In seeing the purity of the day, God encourages me to remain pure, in my motives and in my love for Him and others. Is that difficult? Yes, because there are a few things that work against us in our lives. However we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So, at the end of this day, I will thank God for showing me the glory of the purity that He has preserved and the purity that He is working in me, and will continue to work until His work on this earth through me is done. Praise be to God! 

Tiffany