Dan Leslie - Team Texas - June 10, 2016 (Day 5)

Day 5 - Tent Church, Home for the Sick & Dying Adults & La Loo Orphanages

Word of the Day: Appreciated

For now I am only posting pictures, exhaustion has set in and tomorrow is water truck day so I need to save my energy for hugs and carrying buckets of water...

Ok, another day has passed and I definitely expended a lot of energy today hugging little people and carrying buckets.

We started our day with Tent Church at 6:00am and it was already packed. Unlike in the United States, people walk around the church and pray out loud for over an hour prior to the beginning of the sermon. Merci Jezi!

It was a bit ironic that we saw a van that said "ME age", it only seemed fitting because back home we live in a very egocentric and selfish society. There was the Middle Ages...now we are in the ME age. I think it was just a little reminder that we are called to care for others no matter how much the world advances around us, people still need each other.

*No pictures were taken at the Home for Sick and Dying Adults to respect their privacy.

The Home for Sick and Dying Adults taught us all a lesson in humbleness. We split into gender specific groups and rubbed lotion all over the bodies of many bed-bound adults and elderly. One of the sisters greeted us in one of the rooms and thanked us for coming, I responded "thank you for having us", she said "they needed you". Many women shamelessly removed their hospital gowns to bask in some one-on-one human touch. It seems so simple. Serving others doesn't have to be an elaborate gesture. Mark in the guest house previously shared that we can either share our time, our talents or our treasures with people. In the States we are generally good about giving our treasure but we are often selfish with our time and our talents.

Our final stop was at La Loo orphanage. We played games, shared some scripture and gave the children plates of beautiful drawn flowers, from some 3rd graders in the United States, reminding them that in order to grow into beautiful flowers (people) they must surround themselves with good things, good friends and kind words. I hope we all remember that lesson for ourselves once we return home. Its funny how its so easy to teach someone else something but forget to put it into practice for yourself.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." (3 John 1:4)

Dan Leslie - Team Texas - June 9, 2016 (Day 4)

Day 4 - Grace Village, Visiting Elders & Mass Graves

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Word of the Day: Trapped & Defeated    

Grace Village is the gold of Titanyen. It is an mini-oasis inside a place typically characterized by widespread despair with only small pockets of hope. Grace Village is home to 75 kids who live in family style homes and 28 in transient care. Over 300 additional children are served by a school on site, the entire community has the option to come to the feeding center and the clinic. Within the same area there is a church and bakery that is in the process of opening. Grace Village is a place where children are loved, dreams are encouraged and a community is strengthened by making family a common concept. We were given a tour by the Activities Director "Kiki" and she said she could talk to us all day about the amazing things happening at Grace Village but one story really stood out. It should be noted that the staff at Grace Village are very careful and take their time bringing new children into Grace because it can be seen as a threat to the other children who might feel they will be loved less, have less food available or lose their place among a family. After much preparation, conversation and assurance 3 new members were  recently added to their Grace family. As one terrified little boy walked into his new home, he shook and cried uncontrollably; he was unable to be comforted by the adults who brought him into the situation. Two of the youngest boys who already lived in the house, came and took his small shaking hands and said "You don't have to be scared, you're not an orphan anymore, we're your family now." Love like that can only be learned.

Water truck days are physically exhausting but visiting the Elders and the site of Mass Grave is emotionally draining. We visited 3 elders in the town of Titanyen and though each had a heartbreaking story and situation, each held on to hope that can only be found in community.

The Mass Grave was the government's solution to the 300,000+ bodies that remained as a result of the January 2010 earthquake that destroyed the already struggling Haiti. They dug into the side of a mountain to have a place to bury the bodies. A memorial has been built little by little since that day. One of our guides shared the story of where he was that day and what he saw. Our world stood still as he spoke.

Today we started our day, as usual, with a devotional lead by one of the team members. Even though it was the start of our day, I would like to end this post with it. We went through the alphabet and used words to describe our experiences in Haiti. Below is one example from each letter.

A - Atonement
B - Boaz
C - Confusion
D - Desperation
E - Excitement
F - Friendship
G - Grace
H - Hope
I - Invisible
J - Jezi
K -Kinship
L - Love
M - Mass Grave
N - NHBB
O - Omniscient
P - Progress
Q - Quality
R - Redemption
S - Savior
T - Transition
U - Unified
V - Vibrant
W - Worthy
X - eXalted
Y - Yearning
Z - Zealous

These words might not mean anything to anyone else who wasn't there today but trust that these words hold special meaning to those that experienced them. Just like we have to trust in God when our own understanding fails us, you have to trust in other's experiences and believe in the potential of good. A young man in our group said something very wise - "Sometimes the lesson to be learned is that there is no lesson at all."

Dan Leslie - Team Texas - June 8, 2016 (Day 3)

Day 3 - Home for the Sick & Dying Babies, Global Initiative & the Apparent Project

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Word of the Day: Temporary Despair

 

Home for the Sick & Dying Babies - the name says it all. In my head, I have renamed this place “Halfway to Heaven” because many of these babies could go to heaven to see their Father and some will go home to their families. Wherever they go, God has a plan for their young lives. This is the place where I feared God would break me down the most.  I have a special place in my heart for children, perhaps this is why God made me to be a teacher. Last year, I met Baby “W” and my heart broke. I have prayed the prayer “God break my heart for what breaks yours” and today it happened again with another baby, conveniently also named Baby “W”. A year apart, in the same room, just a few cribs apart, two babies shared the same problem – severe malnutrition and dehydration, an unfortunate condition that many children suffer from in a country with an 80% unemployment rate. Their arms and legs were not much bigger around than my thumbs. Their diapers almost fell off because they were too thin even for the smallest diapers. They were both brought by their families who knew they were dying and could not sustain them nutritionally. This home is limited in their medical care in comparison to the children’s hospitals in the United States but there is a lot of love from the nuns and volunteers. No pictures are allowed to respect the privacy of the children and families there. It is a difficult sight to see mothers holding their children who are lethargic from illness and not being able to speak calming words. As a woman without children of her own yet, how can I possibly sympathize with the pain it feels to have a sick child? There was a part of me that wanted to walk up, embrace them and speak in English in hopes that the words would somehow soothe them and their children…but I knew I shouldn’t. They were already in a state of trauma and exhaustion, many traveling from far away cities, a random stranger hugging them might not help…or would it?

This morning was emotionally draining but this afternoon was spiritually uplifting. We visited 2 projects that were stimulating the Haitian economy, creating jobs and teaching people skills. The first was called the Global Initiative and they used old tires to create sandals that were both sturdy and stylish. The second was the Apparent Project, an organization that teaches woman and men to make things like jewelry, metal artwork and pottery out of items that are generally discarded as trash. In one of the back rooms, a woman was sitting and making metal artwork meticulously by hand. When she noticed I was watching her, she smiled. I said “belle”, meaning beautiful and she blushed. You could see pride in her eyes and I knew because of the organization that she was making items to be able to support her family which instilled a sense of hope for the future. Every parent wants to be able to provide for their family financially and the Apparent Project was allowing them to do so.

 

 

As I have told many others before, the organization is called “Healing Haiti” but without a doubt, there is some personal healing that happens because of the activities we are allowed to participate in. There is a sense of peace here that you cannot achieve at home, a type of silent healing that cannot be explained.

Despair can only be temporary but I think that's part of some Haitian's struggle -  there seems to be no end in sight, no solution to their problems. As God's people we need to be a part of the solution not the problem.  I found out today that more foreign aid goes to Haiti than any other country, which makes sense knowing that Haiti is the poorest country in the world. What doesn't make sense is the fact that there is little improvement in comparison to the money that has come in. Going to Haiti and dumping money, donations and resources is not the solution. Going to Haiti and teaching skills, empowering people and instilling pride is the solution. It takes many small steps and it will not happen overnight. Despair can be a temporary situation. Those who are not in despair should reach out to those who are because the Lord has plans for all of us and we are all God's people.

       

 

 

Dan Leslie - Team Texas - June 7, 2016 (Day 2)

Day 2 - Water Truck and Haitian Soccer Initiative

Word(s) of the Day: Jesus is my God too!

      

Today we delivered water to 3 different districts in Cite Soleil which means we filled A LOT of buckets and we held A LOT of Haitian babies. In the United States, delivering water means you're a Culligan man, but in Haiti, delivering water means bringing life. Cite Soleil is not known for its hospitable environment, its known for its gang violence and poverty. Very few people have running water or electricity. Many Haitians have never set foot in Cite Soleil and gasp at us when we say we do. To be welcomed into a place where the police won't even go is nothing short of a miracle but things are changing there and of course, God is part of it. They just recently finished building a church on over 80 feet of trash and within the church, there is going to be a school. This is the only church in the extremely impoverished area of Cite Soleil. The site is by no accident, its at the corner of 4 rival gang districts. This indicates a change of thinking and a shift in power. The school is offering both adult education and traditional child education classes in hopes to change the mentality that if born in Cite Soleil, you die in Cite Soleil.

In the afternoon we went to the Haitian Initiative, a soccer program started by a professional soccer player that requires the players to go to school, maintain good grades and in turn the players are fed and taught basic soccer skills. The discipline shown by the young kids was pretty incredible and their coaches made it a respectful and caring environment for them to grow in both physically and emotionally.



 



 

We experienced so many incredible moments today but by far my favorite came in the form of a short, simple and powerful conversation with a young boy. He came up and started speaking to me in English. Part of the conversation went like this:

 

Boy: Do you know Jesus in your heart?

Me: Yes I do know Jesus in my heart!

Boy: Is Jesus your God?

Me: Yes, He is.

Boy: Jesus is my God too!

 

The conversation is simple but the look on his eyes and the hug that he gave me was unforgettable. We might be separated by 1,800 miles but our love for God and Jesus stopped time for just a second.

 

Sometimes you just know when you see someone, even a little someone, that they are going to do amazing things for God's people, this little boy will be a leader for God's kingdom.

 



 

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a child will lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)

Dan Leslie - Team Texas - June 6, 2016 (Day 1)

Day 1 - Arrival & "Alo"


 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither things present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38)

 

My Word of the Day - Nostalgia

 

As soon as we stepped off the plane, I swear I could hear the kids singing "God is so good, is so good, is so good". Maybe it was jetlag, maybe it was nostalgia but you can't help but be flooded with the memories, sounds and smells of Haiti as soon as you arrive. Each of our days here result in change. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Well Haiti, here we are, not to change you but to empower you, not to judge you but to love you...

 

 

 

Today, Day 1 - all of our flights and our luggage made it to Haiti. Our leader asked us to make sure and slow down and live in the moment while we are here. Its easy to become accustomed to what you see in Haiti especially when you've seen it before but we just can't look at the whole experience and accept it as "normal". Its not normal for people to lack shelter, food, healthcare and hope. It can be hard to sit around a table and enjoy an amazing meal in the midst of, what appears to be, total despair but you have to keep in mind that we are establishing the relationships within our group to be able to establish relations with the Haitian people. Everything can change in 1 day, in 1 hour, in 1 minute just by seeking relationships. Tomorrow we will go to Cite Soleil and give water and hugs to the people there and try to establish relationships without sharing the same language or even similar lifestyles. One thing we do share - God loves us both. Don't ever let God's love become nostalgic - seek it, deserve it and pass it on to others.   

 

Team Texas at Our First Meal