Haiti Trip 2016 Update #7

So if you haven’t heard yet, our Haiti team has arrived safely at home. Frank and Sarah took us to the airport at 5:30AM and helped us through check in, all the way up to security check. After quick good byes, got on the plane and headed home. It’s the travel story you hope for, planes land on time, customs is smooth, connection made, and back home again. Praise the Lord!

I’ve taken a few days to conclude the trip because I couldn’t think of a good way to end to bring my Haiti Trip Updates to an end. But rather then leaving a silence, I thought I’d share some joys and struggles of leading teams on short term trips.

The Joys

The joys start a long time ago, way back to when the first student confirmed her intentions of joining the trip.  This is going to happen! Although we had some up and downs with voiced desires and commitments, every time a team member was added to the trip it was so exciting.

I find it exciting because short term trips impacted my life as a student and I want them to experience it too. I want them to see that God is bigger than they could ever imagine. I want them to see that the rest of the world does not experience the luxuries we have in America. Truly, what we encounter in Haiti is more like the rest of the world then our everyday experience here in Akron.

We only had a couple of team meetings before the trip, and two conference calls, but it was a blessing to spend as much time with the team as we could. I could sense God bringing our team together from day one. As a leader, you have no idea the chemistry a team might have. Often it only takes one bad attitude to ruin a trip. What happens when you combine 7 good attitudes? It was awesome.

Sharing brings great joy! A shared experience adds a depth to relationships that is hard to develop any other way. Our hearts were blessed together with the beauty of the Haitian people and landscape, just as much as our hearts were broken together for the poverty and struggle we witnessed.

An old Irish proverb says, “the best thing you can do with your friends is to share them.” It brought me great joy to introduce my team to my friends at Heartline. Every person we encountered had a unique story of how God has brought them to this place. Truly we were all “hand picked” to be a part of this group.

Spending time with people in a foreign country accelerates the development of your relationships. I learned so much about Mark and Phyllis that I may never had known if we didn’t come on this trip. Most mornings, we would be out on the patio with our coffees, doing our quiet times and begin chatting.

Watching Traiana, Bethany, Daisy and Ashely interact with the Haitian children at the orphanage was awesome. They quickly took to loving those kids! They also showed a very hard work ethic and mature attitudes. They grew in their friendships, but also invited others to be a part of their group.

It was a joy to see Mark on Monday, and the girls on Wednesday get to experience a ministry in Haiti that I have not. They each were able to go the prisons and minister by handing out bread and worshiping with the inmates.

The Struggles

As I began to write today, I didn’t think I was going to spend as much time writing about the joys of the trip, although I could probably keep going. However, I believe in part is that I also would love to avoid the struggles. As a leader on trips like this, I can find it hard to process the trip in real time.

I’ve never been one to shy away from showing my emotions in public. After all, I’ve cried in front of my church at the pulpit on a number of occasions. That being said, I don’t like to cry in public, or at all for that matter.

But when you arrive in a place like Haiti and are surrounded by the poor, broken and impoverished, who live in conditions you could never imagine, I felt as if once I started to weep over their state I may never stop. I put guards on my heart. It’s not easy to do, but I told myself I was doing it for others.

I want to be strong for my team. I want them to know, or perceive, that I have strength beyond me. That I’ve seen this before and can handle it. But in truth, I am not all that strong. I can’t get used to it, nor do I want to. “I want to stay a little strange,” is a phrase from a blog Sarah shared with me.

Another excerpt that stood out, “And I need to remember that feeling a bit messed up after such an experience is a good thing. It means that I was not made for this world. It reminds me of a story I heard years ago in Sunday School about a mustard seed and a tree, and a kingdom that was coming.”

I’ve had the privilege of being in so many places in this world, and every time I visit one like this, it reshapes my soul. It can be a strange feeling. It may not all make sense right away, but it is a good thing.

As I was telling the story of a woman’s reaction to receiving a handmade dress, I felt the tears well up in my eyes, my voice cracked and I wanted to weep right before a room filled with people. Why? My soul was being shaped. I was confronted with her deep needs, but deeper still I was confronted with my own selfishness. I was confronted with my materialism. I was confronted with my own sinfulness.

In those confrontations, I was also reminded about the joy of serving, the joy of giving and the joy of being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Psalm 103 is an amazing Psalm, I would encourage you to read the whole thing. But when I consider how weak I am, how I struggle to do the right thing, to give of myself, or to process these things, I reflect on verses 13-14.

“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14 ESV)

God knows my frame. He knows that I am dust. To me this is so encouraging. When I stood outside the Canter truck to give a little boy a soccer ball, before I knew it I was caught up into a sea of people. They lived in shanties, make shift tent buildings smaller then my bedroom. Their hands were outstretched for help, love, care. I was a little afraid, I was a little alarmed, but I also wanted to help. But how could I? How can I make a dent in a need so big?

God knows that I am limited. God knows that I am weak. God knows that my resources are miniscule. And yet God allows me to partner with Him to be a blessing to others, even in the small things.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

The joys and the struggles, they are the opportunities that God had already prepared for me to walk in. He is still working on me and in the process He allows me to bring others along. It’s His plan, His world, His story. One day He will return to make all things right. In the meantime, we are here to proclaim to the world who He is, participate in what He is doing and love others sacrificially.

And as I bring this post to a conclusion, and our time in Haiti has come to an end, the Haiti Trip Update is not over. It has only just begun. The shaping of our souls will continue. I pray the strangeness never wears off. I hope that I don’t give in to the temptation to pretend I am strong, but allow Christ’s strength to work in and through me.

May the Holy Spirit continue the work He has begun in all of us: those who traveled, those who prayed, those who supported us, those who followed our trip and those who live it every day.

  

Haiti Trip 2016 update #6

Children playing on their rocky soccer court after we gave them toys

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40 ESV)

 

Morning Devotions with the whole crew

Frank shared with us these verses with us for devotions this morning. He pointed out that verse 40 is his favorite verse and I loved his emphasis on the verse. He brought out the point that Jesus says “my brothers” when referring to the less fortunate that they ministered to. Jesus doesn’t see poverty, prison or orphan as the identifying mark, but that they are His brothers.

This week we literally had the opportunity to feed the strangers, cloth the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoners! It is so humbling and exciting to know that what we did this week was for the King!

Trip to the Museum

Today was filled with all kinds of amazing activities and it would be impossible to capture it in a few pages. We went to the Museum of Haiti and learned the history of Haiti from the time of the indigenous Indians, to the time of Christopher Columbus, the struggle for independence and all the way to the present day. We saw the actual anchor from the Santa Maria, the golden crown of a past Haitian emperor and amazing artwork from Haitian artists to name a few things.

The one thing that hit me today was how power corrupts and leads men to do awful things to other men. There were over 1 million indigenous Indians on the Island when Christopher Columbus came and within 50 years there were only 600 left. Then the slave trade hit the shores of Haiti and they continued to dehumanize men and women for power and control. In the paintings I could see how the disfigured the representation of the Indians and slaves to make them look less the human and it deeply saddened me.

Why does God put up with such heinous acts against humanity? Why does mankind continue to kill each other? Why don’t we celebrate life and value each other by celebrating our differences? I looked at the images and realized we haven’t learned much as a people in the last 400 years because we are still dehumanizing and killing each other.

Sin is the reason that humanity keeps following this pattern. We are born enslaved to it and cannot escape it on our own. That is why Jesus Christ came into the world, to set captives free. In Christ we can break the cycle of hate and violence. End of sermon, back to our day.

Haiti Design and Coop

For lunch we had the unique opportunity of going and getting a tour of Haiti Design and Coop, which is a business that had it’s beginning with Heartline Ministries. Some of the ladies that graduated Heartline’s Woman’s Training Center began a business to create and sell their products. Through some strategic partnerships, they became their own business and now employ over 60 Haitians and are selling their products all over the world. Be sure to check out their website http://haitidesigncoop.org/ and support an amazing company that is changing the lives of many Haitians.

 

After the tour, we received an amazing lunch from their café. Mango smoothies with homemade tacos. By homemade, I mean she hand made the tortillas this morning and used fresh ingredients to make the best tacos!

Traveling to the Beach

In route to the beach, we drove through the Market district. The Supermarket we have been going to all week is a really nice store, but only the top 5% of Haitians shop like that. The Market District is where the average Haitian goes. The district was too busy and there was no place to park so we just drove by, but we got a good idea of it.

Our next stop was outside the new and developing Olympic training center that provides selected children to get to train and develop to be on the Haitian Olympic team with access to state of the art equipment.

Shortly after we left there, we did a quick stop at a very somber place. The mass grave for many of the bodies from the 2010 earthquake. Nobody knows the exact number, but the low end is 200,000 bodies. It’s a place to be silent and reflect on the loss of lives and long for the day when Christ will return and make all things new.

For our time at the beach, Frank took us to a friend of his who is a fisherman and was willing to take us out on a boat ride. 

Frank and Sarah on the boat trip

Girls getting back from boat ride

We had an awesome opportunity to play with kids and give out toys and dresses to the children. We also gave out soccer balls and sunglasses. It’s hard to describe what it’s like, but when you are holding one of these little kids, you just want to give them the world. When they receive a gift and their face lights up with a beautiful smile it warms your soul.

 

Jeun helping girls out of the Canter after getting dresses

Kids anxiously awaiting their turn

Traiana holding a precious baby

Mark and I helping the little ones out of the Canter with a new dress

We concluded the night at Pizza Amour, the best pizza place in Haiti! It was a really nice restaurant and great pizza. We had a great time!

It’s hard to believe that tonight is the last night we are here. I’ve made some great friends with our extended team. I’ve really enjoyed seeing parents here with their kids. Patrick and Kim brought their daughter Rylie and son Regan. Jeff brought his daughter Ashley. Sandy came with her daughter Tatum. What an awesome opportunity for a family to experience together.

The Heartline Staff and interns have been wonderful! It was great meeting Scott Hodges at the beginning of the week. Reconnecting with my good friend Frank Verdi has been a blessing. Kalipso and Jeun are always a joy to work with and a huge blessing. Having P help translate and drive was awesome. Sarah has been so sweet and helpful to our whole team and great to work with. Gary was a great foreman and spoke some amazing truth into our team this week. John and Beth challenged and encouraged us spiritually. Moise continues to faithfully pour his life out into the discipleship program and welcomed us into his ministry. And the list goes on!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am very appreciative of all their efforts and providing us with a great opportunity. As our group gathered tonight, jus the 7 from Lakeside, we reflected briefly on this week. Some stated this has been the best week of their lives. I pray God will abundantly bless the seeds planted in our hearts this week! Thanks for your prayers back home!

Prayer Requests

Pray for some on our team who are not feeling well, but especially for Ashley as her stomach has been upset all day. Pray that God heals her and gives her a comfortable ride home tomorrow. It is a miserable thing to be sick so far from home.

Pray for our travels as well as the rest of the team. We leave at 7:55am, another group is leaving at 1:05pm and the last group is at 4:30pm.

Pray that God continues to shape our team for His glory and that we will have wisdom in sharing about our trip and boldness to proclaim the Gospel as we return to the States.

Haiti Trip 2016 Update #5

Just a quick selfie with Bethany

This morning we started our day off with devotions with Beth McHoul, John’s wife and cofounder of Heartline Ministries. Beth is a passionate believer who loves Haiti and the people here. She is a student of the Haitian people and loves learning. She started off with the statement that she “has been here for 27 years and still learning!”

I admire her heart for the people here and how sensitive her heart is to what God is doing. Beth is a midwife at the Maternity Center and helps care for many Haitian women and babies.

She challenged us with the thought that, as builders build a house they will never use, we too are building a house that we may never use, but someone else will. She spoke about how we may never see the results or reap the earthly benefit of our work, but that the Haitian people we are preparing this place for will be blessed by our effort.

Our passage was out of Matthew 7:24-27 and the importance of building our house upon the Rock. When we build on the foundation of Christ, nothing is wasted. He multiplies our faithfulness to bless others. It was great motivation to continue our work for today.

Last Day at OK

Many of us were back at the OK today to try and finish our projects. My group has been putting a ceiling up in the Women’s Training Center, with insulation, that will help keep the temperatures down. I know it will be a blessing to the women when it is complete. It literally was a sauna in there as we were working.

Doing construction in another country is far different than what we are used to. You quickly learn to adapt to the materials and tools you have. We had a great team working on the room this week: Daisy, Traiana, Sarah, Gary, Mark and me. At days’ end today, we were not 100% finished, but all the panels were up and the outside trim was done. It won’t take long to finish the trim and another group will come in a stain it.

Ceiling is looking pretty good!!

Woman’s Prison

While we were working at the Ok, Daisy, Ashley, Bethany, Traiana and Phyllis, and several other women, had the opportunity to go to the woman’s prison. This was a new and unique opportunity for the women and I was excited that they had the opportunity.

It was wonderful to hear their responses to it. Ashley and Daisy said they were excited about how the women worshiped with them, being locked up in prison and yet free to worship. Bethany shared how God has been expanding her understanding of His love for the world. Phyllis told me how proud she was of Traiana for being willing to publically speak to the women.

I wish I could have been there and experienced it with them. One of the adult leaders told me how impressed he was with our girls and said he wished he could have captured a video for me.

Tin Market

Later in the afternoon we headed to the Tin Market. This is a couple of blocks of Haitian artisans who make beautiful artwork out of steel drums. It is fascinating to watch as the shape the objects and tap designs into the metal.

We had 45 minutes to roam the market and haggle for the best prices. I’ll be honest, I am not a good negotiator in these situations. One of the biggest way we can impact Haiti is supporting local vendors to spur their economy. The first item I saw that I liked the guy gave me what sounded like a good price and I was like, “done and done!” Frank would have been disappointed haha.

It was a great experience and a joy to walk through the shop. I went into a shop with these two guys encouraging me to buy their products. I did see a few pieces that I wanted. So I did haggle with them a bit, but I always feel like I am insulting them with my first offer, but I decided to play the game anyway. After we agreed on a price and I paid them, the one young man asked me, “Do you know Jesus?”

I was so excited he asked. I was like “yes I do! Do you?” He said, “ah yes, Jesus is my best friend!” and he reached out to shake my hand. The other young man said, “I know Jesus too!” The next few minutes we shared an excited greeting together and blessing each other. I really appreciated these few moments. They did not use their faith to sell me their goods, they waited until business was done and then blessed me. On my way out, one of them handed me a small hand crafted piece and said, “this is for free brother!” How cool is that? God is so good!

Kids gathering around our van at the Tin Market after Phyllis decided to give out free stuff :)

Maternity Center

It was an unexpected opportunity, but once we got back to the guest house, Frank said if anyone was interested we could do a quick tour of the Maternity Center. I was super excited because we didn’t have this opportunity last year. It was an optional opportunity at the end of a long day, but all of our girls were up for it.

The Maternity Center is the Heartline Ministry that our church was first connected with through Tara’s, one of the midwives, blog. I still haven’t had the opportunity to meet Tara and tell her how her blog has impacted our church and led to two trips here, but maybe one day we will get that opportunity.

The Maternity Center is a midwife run facility that helps with prenatal care, birthing and postpartum care. It’s a ministry where they develop relationships with these women and training them in how to be a mom, to care for their baby, parenting and being a wife.  It was a very impressive facility and I am thankful we got to see it.

Beth McHoul welcoming us to the Maternity Center and giving us a tour

The birthing room at the Maternity Center

The new classroom at the Maternity Center

Devotions

Tonight we talked about Love and Obedience from John 14. When we love Christ, obedience is not an obligation, but an overflow. It’s a joy! I wanted to encourage our group with how I have seen their love for Jesus this week.

Ephesians 2:10 says that “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus onto good works that God has prepared in advance for us to walk in.” When we think about the work we are doing here this week, feeding the poor, caring for orphans, visiting the prisoners, we are obediently fulfilling the Scriptural commands. It’s a joy to serve this way. We are learning, growing and loving in so many ways.

Prayer Requests

Tomorrow is our last day in Haiti. Pray that we make the most of the time we have. We have several learning opportunities as we visit the city center tomorrow.

We will go down to the ocean front and have opportunities for boat rides. But this year, it is a public beach with lots of people and children that we can share with, play soccer with and minister to. Pray that God gives us Gospel opportunities.