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.