EBC Spring Lake Park Day 1 (part 2): October 29th

Hello friends and family and greetings from the Healing Haiti guesthouse in Port Au Prince! After much anticipation, packing, and prayers, we arrived safely in Haiti this afternoon for our week long trip. After landing here, we squeezed our luggage (most of us like to think we are light packers...I think we’re wrong) and our group of 17 onto the tap tap for a (relatively) smooth ride to the guest house. We relaxed for a little bit before enjoying some Haitian style tacos together in the dining room. We’ve only had a few meetings to prepare together (and some of us met for the first time today) but it already feels like we’re becoming a family. It is so clear that God has specifically chosen each one of us and our special gifts to contribute to this team and serve on this trip. During devotional time after dinner, we had the opportunity to share our spiritual gifts and decompress on the balcony. We went over our game plan for tomorrow (tune in to the blog tomorrow night) and closed in a prayer led by Chloe. We are feeling inspired and encouraged by those of you at home who continue to pray for us. Tomorrow is a big day and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for our first full day of serving! 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. - 1 Peter 3:8

Anna & Abbie

EBC Spring Lake Park Day 1: October 29th

Our team arrived on a staggered schedule, but everyone made it safely. There are 17 people in our group coming from a variety of states, including Massachusetts, Denver, Minnesota, Kentucky, and New Jersey.  The team brings a tremendous amount of experience both in life and mission work, and we will all learn from each other I am sure.  

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day where we start off at Hope School where we will be doing activities with 150 three and five year olds. The school is located in Cite Soleil which is one of the poorest parts of the Western Hemisphere. The afternoon we will split up with half the group going to the “Home for Sick & Dying Children,” where young children go for care. We will there to support staff and bring a moment of hope for these little ones. The other half of the group will be participating in another activity of service at a nearby orphanage. Looking forward to what God has in-store for us all!

Double Cody's Team Thursday and Friday October 25 and 26 2018

October 25, 2018

We started out Thursday visiting a school and church sponsored by a small congregation in Texas.  We were able to color faith based pictures, some of the school artists used some great color choices to help tell the story.  We (mostly the teachers and students) jumped rope and once again Team Cody Lost in soccer to this schools talented team.  Although the playing surface was rocky none of the team members sustained any injuries. 

Later in the day, we rolled through Port-au-Prince to find ourselves at school of over four hundred which was started by a Haitian girl who attended University in the States.  She returned to Haiti to establish a school environment with a goal of having 12 kids which would be ideal.  God had other plans, the growth to 400+.   Through her encouragement and high expectations many of the kids we met and talked to are fluent in English.  One of the benefits is also the opportunity to pop into their classrooms to assist in teaching.  Unfortunately, our timing was off since they were in the middle of exams.

 October 26 2018

Today the team woke up at 5:30 to attend a local Haitian Church to join in their morning service.  What struck most of us was the joy and passion shown by the people attending, the speakers and the band. Although, we did not speak the language we felt comfortable worshiping with them.   We were also encouraged by some of them,  to participate in moving to the beat of the songs, which additionally made us feel welcome. 

Then off to one of Healing Haiti’s Schools, that also houses a medical clinic, a bakery/restaurant and family style housing for kids.  We had a chance to interact with the kids and get an update on the recent developments in the complex.  Later in the day we were fortunate to be able to sit down to some fabulous pizza, french fries and dessert. 

The highlight of today was the opportunity to spend time with some of the elders of Titanyen.  With prayers, God Songs and some feet washing, we were blessed by the elders love of God and their Joyous responses to our interaction.  This truly was a highlight of our trip.     

Double Cody's Team Wednesday October 24 2018

ALO Friends

Day 3 was filled with some great opportunities to hear and see God's plan for the Healing Haiti people.  We visited a local recycling organization that takes discarded water bags and turns that into purses, a remarkable transformation.  What struck the whole team was not only how the young owner employed local Haitians but also how she  encouraged them to share how they performed their jobs and something they like to do in English.  Her intent is to create a certain confidence in communicating in English while also assisting them in learning valuable job skills.  She is a very inspiring young woman who allowed us to catch a glimpse of  who is truly being lead by God in the world's challenges but also in his ability to use us to transform other believers.  Unbelievable that they are taking plastic trash thrown out and turning it into practical artistic works of Art. 

One of our favorite stops is a school on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince where we get have fun and  play soccer, color and paint nails of some wonderful little ones.  The Double Cody's  traveling soccer team continues to struggle to win against these gifted 8-10 year old boys.   The leader of this school seems to have such a wonderful way to build young people in confidence and manners.  We are amazed as to how we are accepted and there desire to interact with us. 

In mid afternoon, we split the team town the middle with half going to a children's Hospital to minister to babies and toddlers. This group experienced a wonderful way to minister to some sick children; holding, hugging and feeding them.  This was a very heart wrenching experience to partner with the staff to love on some of God's little ones. 

The other Group spend time playing basketball, soccer, jump rope and allowing young girls to paint their own nails as well as some of us.  We learned fairly quickly that these youngsters spoke English very well.  Those kids "done" wore us out.

Double Cody's Team Healing Haiti Trip Tuesday October 23 2018

Hello interested parties after a challenge on how this blogging biz works, I think the Double Cody's team is up and running.

Monday was arrival day and many woke up really early to fly!  some as early as 1:30 AM.  We met in Atlanta and we all arrived in Haiti Port au Prince around 2:30 pm, and the heat hit us right away!   Getting off the plane they had a band playing.  We made it through customs and we almost lost one piece of luggage when another arrive had similar luggage and took ours by mistake.     We arrived at the guest house and got settled in.  It was great to catch up with friends from previous trips and our local Haitian friends.  We had dinner together ( tacos!) which was prepared by our local chefs who are great.  Then we all went to bed early.   Several of us climbing to the second level of the bunk bed.  

We got up today ready to serve!  It was a crazy busy day and we lost all track of time! Out of the gate, we joined the water truck team to provide "dlo" (Creole for Water) to the poorest of the poor in our part of the world. Prior to the Water day we dropped in on the Elder School one of Healing Haiti's first partners to provide educational opportunities for the children of Cite Soleil.   

We all get excited about stopping to distribute water to Cite Soleil residents.. They were waiting to get water with their water buckets, large and small, It’s always so crazy. The kids are so excited to see us!  Always wanting us to carry them. And we help carry buckets of water which are very heavy. It was really hot today.

After one of the water stops, we found ourselves right next to Hope school. Our first experience was a demonstration on the launching of the use of the latest in technology to teach the students of Hope School.  It was truly amazing and the vision of teaching kids was very impressive.

Next Stop was Fleuri farms - we were given an introduction in what HH hopes to do just a mile and a half from ‘hustling’ water from the back of a truck. Their goal, in addition to earning trust of locals, is to work on soil quality, increasing productivity and to add crops that would complement what is already functioning. The goal is partnership in order to provide sustainable livelihoods for locals and to market products to locals and international trade.

We ended the day with a walk to the wharf and got a view of mountains, water and misty clouds in between. All of God’s glory...

EBC Day 6https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5483290867972486866#editor/target=post;postID=584532584768844869

Today our team split up between Team 1 and 2.  Kaylee, Kayce, Stephanie and Deb went with Team 2 and went to Papillion Marketplace, For His Glory Orphanage and Mother Teresa Home for the Sick and Dying.  It was emotionally trying, yet very rewarding.  The rest of Team 1 had the opportunity to go to Rosie's Boutique and Wahoo Bay in Titanyen up in the mountains.  Rosie's Boutique is a store that has a collection of items created by Haitians from multiple in country businesses.  We also bought some smoothies and iced coffees.  Wahoo Bay is a beautiful resort with a beach, pool and a great mountain view!  We took in the scenery and basked in the sun one more day before heading back to the cold of Minnesota.  It was a good chance for all of us to decompress and process the week and have some fun together!  The girls (Serena, Reese, Sydney & Jade) took two jet skis for a ride in the ocean.  It was a wild ride with lots of screaming!  There was a water trampoline near the beach that the girls had fun jumping on as well.  We had lunch on the veranda and got to take in some shade and cool off for awhile.  We arrived back at the guesthouse, took showers and had a filling dinner.  We closed out the week with Team 1 & 2 meeting together on the rooftop area processing the week, worshipping and talking about re-entry into the United States.  We have all had similar experiences this week, but God has worked in our hearts in different ways.  It has been an amazing week for all!

EBC Day 5

We started off the day hearing a message from Jesus calling and spending time in prayer listening to the Lord.  We asked the team to listen for a word from the Lord that describes how he sees them.  Some of the words shared were “bright”, “strong”, “tender hearted” and “beauty”.  Our team has truly been blessed by the Lord our Father.  Our team remains healthy, team relationships are strengthening, we have been given the opportunity to focus on increasing our faith, serve the Lord and the Haitian people.

Our team visited the mass grave site where approximately 300,000 people that died in the 2010 earthquake are buried.  The Haitians have built a beautiful memorial and garden.

We then made our way to Grace Village that consists of an orphanage, school, clinic, dentist, bakery and restaurant.  Our team ate delicious pizza and enjoyed some Haitian appetizers.

The highlight of the day was our elder visits, specifically Pierre and Lauremise.  Pierre told us the story of how he met his wife of one year.  He was walking down the road and when he saw her, he asked her to slow down so that he could catch up to her.  He has such a joyful spirit that filled our team hearts with love and laughter. We had an opportunity to wash their feet, give massages, provide lunch and drinks.  Our team also asked for their prayer requests and laid hands on them to pray.  All four elders asked for healing prayers; I invite readers of our blog to pray for them.

On the ride home, I asked our interpreter if there were any tent cities left in Haiti and he said “no”.  It has been amazing to see the restoration that has taken place since the earthquake as well as the growth and transformation of Healing Haiti.

My the Lord continue to provide His blessings, favor, joy, love and protection to the Haitians, the long term missionaries and our team.

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life.  In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.  Jude 1:20-21