Trip Video

Truth - Verite

"The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left.

This is the truth. I have the freedom to believe it. The freedom, the opportunity to do something about it. The truth is that He loves these children just as much as He loves me and now that I know, I am responsible." -Katie J. Davis, Kisses from Katie

Orevwa et Mesi Anpil (Goodbye and Thank you very much)!

Our week in Haiti has come to an end. Our hearts today are filled with gratitude. We were protected from sickness, injury (except for a few blisters), mechancial failures that would have prevented us from doing what we came to do, and natural disasters. We were blessed with a team of 15 people that were flexible, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and dedicated. The Haitian people have been gracious as they have allowed us a glimpse into their lives and culture. We came to help them in small ways by delivering clean water and playing with orphans, but we all recognize they were the ones who ministered to us. We've had the opportunity to observe a people with a steadfast faith in Christ. By American standards, they have nothing. Yet many of us found ourselves envious of what they do have - a life that is fully dependent on God. They do not worship their possessions or take comfort in the things of this world, but direct all of their worship and praise to the ONE who provides for their needs and gives them the strength they need to persevere despite their life circumstances. Thank you to the people of Haiti for teaching us much and to our God for his love for us in providing us this opportunity. And thank you to those who have followed our journey and prayed for us. We look forward to sharing more with you when we return.

One orphan from Haiti and one orphan from Minnesota

Today we took the children from Grace Village up the road an hour to a beautiful beach so that they could play in the water and have lots of fun! There was much splashing, laughing, singing, dogg-pattling, and playing soccer, etc. At departure time as the sun was beginning to set we took this great group photo of our entire team after an amazing day in so many ways.
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Quite soon after our arrival, Sandy noticed Isaac wasn't in the water but instead just sitting on the rocky beach gazing out and rather still. Sandy sat next to him and eventually he leaned in. With the help of an interpreter she learned that he had a headache. Bummer! All of his friends were expending so much excitement in and out of the water and he did not feel well enough to fully participate. So she held him, she held him, and she held him while providing some shade under her floppy sun hat (chapo). He just laid back against her. Very few words were spoken. She wrapped a wet bandana around his head and intermittantly massaged his temples and head softly in an attempt to relieve his discomfort. After some lunch, she held him some more and on the ride back in the tap-tap, Isaac sat on her lap and gazed ahead down the road back to his new home on a mountainside. He glanced back at her and smiled with his eyes.

Isaac doesn't have a mother and father in his current earthly family. He does live with 40 brothers and sisters in Haiti. Isaac also has many other people who love him but today he got some lengthy comforting touch time for his general wellbeing as a child of God.

Sandy no longer has her mother and father in her earthly life. Sandy lives by herself in Minnesota. Sandy does have a brother and sister and special extended family and many people who love her but today she got some lengthy comforting touch time for her general wellbeing as a child of God.

Simply put: In the body of Christ, we are never orphans completely on our own.

Sandy

Repeat??

We had a "repeat" day today. In the morning, we again delivered water to the people of Cite Soliel and in the afternon we visited the home of the sick and dying children. However, the day was not a "repeat" because the people we met and children we played with and comforted are all unique and special children of God. Each water stop had its own personality of the people living there. I especially appreciated how the older children would care for the younger children. I was having children blow bubbles as I was holding the wand. An older boy (12 maybe) came and started holding the wand and making sure everyone had a turn. No matter what country, children are children and love laughing, chasing bubbles and being loved.

I was very hesitant on Wednesday when we went to the home of sick and dying children. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle what I would see emotionally. What I actually experienced on Tuesday and today was quite different from what I expected. It has been one of the highlights of my trip. The opportunity to play with these beautiful children, or to hold a sick child in your arms was such a rewarding experience. I didn't come away sad as I knew that their needs were being met by God. I also knew I was there doing what Christ wanted me to do being His hands and feet.

Stories

Today we heard many stories. As we visited the mass grave outside of Port-au-Prince for earthquake victims, as we visited Jude Jean Paul and his mother who so faithfully attends to him for his day-to-day special needs, as we toured Grace Village orphanage and met the thrilled new residents at their mountainside home -- vibrant in color, activity, and joy, and as we gathered as a team after supper to share our respective word-of-the-day, we learned bits and pieces of stories: of history, of provision, of vision, of legacy, and of reflection.

Today we were curious about untold stories. As we passed the soccer game where every player on both teams had lost a limb and was using a crutch to maneuver the field, as we glimpsed into the eyes of many onlookers on the side of the busy road from our bench seats in the back "cage" of the HH vehicle, as we massaged the limbs of some elders we briefly visited while singing for them and praying over them, and as some of us reflected on "being called" we wondered about the rest of the story: of resilience, of challenges and triumphs, of perseverance, and of finding purpose.

Today we reflected on how we are going to be able to share our stories of this journey. Will people back home be open to more than a one or two-word answer to "how was your trip"?

However the stories in our day unfold and whether we know all the details or not, we put our heads on our pillows tonight confident that God knows every aspect of our personal stories and wants to be intimately present in that story he has planned for us.

Sandy

We are His

Today was a memorable day. I met some amazing people. Jude Jean Paul is a young man who has cerebral palsy. His mother takes care of him in a house that is about 6 feet by 8 feet. In this space there was one twin-size bed, one chair, and a small dresser. Jude Jean Paul was in a wheel chair and did not speak. Our whole team (15 people) gathered around them and sang songs together. Some of us massaged Jude Jean Paul's feet and hands. I knelt on the floor and asked his mother if she would like her feet massaged. She said, "Oui" which means "Yes". I helped her take off her shoes. Tears rolled down her cheek and she said, "Bien, merci" which means, "Good, thank you". We exchanged smiles. What a beautiful woman. She has dedicated her whole life to taking care of her son.
We also visited 3 elders. They each lived in a small home (6' x 8'). A cement slab with sheets hanging for walls. No electricity, no toilet, no stove, no refrigerator. One might think they have nothing. But the opposite is true. They have everything. They have a Savior. They trust in God and have a faith like none I have ever seen. Their hands and feet have gone many places in life. We sat with them, sang with them, and prayed with them. One blind, elderly man said, "Merci, merci, merci, merci", which means "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you". He said it over and over until we left his home. The elders hearts were gracious.
At Grace Village, we were delighted by the children (about 40 orphans). Their smiles were the biggest I have ever seen! They sang with all of their heart to God. Thanking Him and praising Him. We made salvation bracelets together. Each colored bead symbolized our beliefs in God (green= God created the world, orange= praise God, red= Jesus loves us, white= Jesus died on the cross for our sins and has made us new, blue= God's promises are true, yellow= we will be in Heaven together). Most of the children made 2. They planned on giving the extra bracelet to a friend at school. We also sang some silly songs (including my kindergarten student's favorite...Tooti Ta). We all laughed and enjoyed one another. The children have joy!
I am reminded of Psalm 139 tonight. God knows each and every person I met today. He created each one of us. God knows when we rise and when we go to sleep. He knows our pain, our joys, our struggles, and our hope. He knows our every thought. This brings great comfort and peace. Today was a beautiful day. We are His!

Teamwork!

Today we spent time with children that were weak, abandoned, physically handicapped, or needy is some way. And it struck me that we're all needy in many ways. There was this particular boy - he looked about two and a half, but was probably actually about four. I went to touch his arm, intending to pick him up, but he pushed me away. He made it clear in several ways that he wanted to be left alone - as we all do sometimes when we really just want someone to keep trying so that we'll know how invested they are in us. Over the course of about 20 minutes, several women on our team and I tried to break through the tough exterior this child had already developed at the tender age of four. He wanted nothing to do with any of us and tried to convince us he was more interested in sucking on his fingers, but would occasionally glance over to see if one of us was still trying to entice him into interacting. Each of us tried a different strategy, but without sucess. Then along came my husband, wearing his floppy hat, and within seconds, there was interest from our new friend. The toddler played with the hat, then had a ball putting the hat on my husband's head - upside down, then peek-a-boo, then throwing a teething ring into the hat. Before too long there were high fives all around - even for those of us who had originally been pushed away. It took just the right approach to break through and make a difference - it took teamwork. And isn't that exactly what we are all called to in being the body of Christ? We have all been given different gifts, experiences, and resources. We may think our contribution certainly couldn't make a difference. But we'll never know the impact that could be made in this world unless we try - in ways that are as unique as each of us.

What do you take for granted?

Each night, sometime between 8 and 10 pm the power goes out until sometime in the morning between 6 and 9 am.  Apparently the Haitian electrical grid is powered down and if you require electricity, you either need to run a generator or fly a kite and hope for a lightning storm.  Thankfully we have the former here at the guest house, but it makes me stop and take note that a basic necessity, electricity, isn't something that is always available for people here in Haiti.  It definitely makes me take more notice of every light left on in an empty room, or a fan, or air conditioning, or hair dryers, or laptop computers... 

Thank You Jesus

Yesterday we delivered water to the people living in Cite Soleil, one of the largest slums in the Western hemisphere. I'm still trying to process what I saw. The images will be seared into my memory forever.


The stench of garbage, polluted water, and fecies. Children walking barefoot over chards of glass. Makeshift shanty homes of tin, cardboard, and plastic. Narrow, winding alleyways that seemingly go on for miles. People in need of water. People in need of food. People in need of hope.

We came to serve the people of Cite Soleil in the name of Jesus. We gave them fresh water. We gave them love, hugs, sweat, tears, and laughter. We stepped into their homes to serve them.

What did the people of Cite Soleil think about us? What were they trying to tell us? What were they seeing?


On our third water stop of the day, I picked up a little boy. He didn't speak English - but he leaned over to me and another team member and said, "Thank you Jesus."

The people of Cite Soleil knew who was serving them. It wasn't us. It was Jesus.

Thank you Jesus!

Joyful Hearts

What an amazing day! We delivered clean water in Cite Soleil. The people had so much hope and joy in their eyes. The children came over to us and wanted to sing and play. I sang Jesus Loves Me and many of them asked me to sing it over and over until they could sing it with me. They kept saying "chante" which means sing. The people have so much joy in their hearts. God is their provider. Their faith is so strong and the light of Christ shines through them. I was blessed today. My heart has been filled with joy . The chilren's laughter and their smiles brought much joy to my heart. Ke bondye beni' ou (may God bless you in Creole)!

hand (English )= men (Creole)

January 17, 2012

Today instead of using my hands to hit snooze on an alarm, spoon Special K w/chocolate pieces in my mouth, hold on to a handle on a transit bus, type at my computer while looking at dual screens all day, swipe my company access card and transit card, unlock the door to my abode, place the 2nd half of my lunch in the microwave for dinner, text intermittantly, and click on my TV remote control for way too much reality TV before setting an alarm to get up and do it over again....

I held hands to pray with my team, held on to the side of a 2,500-gallon water truck, held the hands OR the entire bodies of many, many children in Citi Soliel, held a jump rope, helped carry 5-gallon buckets of water into tin roofed homes that are the size of my kitchen (in a studio apt. no less), talked with my hands for people with beautiful smiles because I know little Creole (including many high-fives), clapped and hand-jived, moved buckets along a line ("respect the line"), tickled babies, lifted my hands with praise to the skies singing "Glory to God" on a shoreline of garbage, and wiped my wet brow in the 90-degree heat while being confident that this IS being the hands and feet of my Lord in a very small but meaningful ways.

Creator, grant me the insight to look for more small moments to make a difference in paragraph #1 above.

Humbly weary in a VERY good way at the end of our first full day here, Sandy

Safe and Sound



MSP crew....pre-coffee



Somehow we managed...with the bulk of the team meeting at MSP at 3:30am, Alli and myself making it in from DEN the day before, and Mike and Becky from PBI a few days before that, we all connected at MIA (which thankfully does not reflect anyone's status as of this evening's post-dinner count).  After decending through the clouds, and most of us seeing the Haitian landscape for the first time, I think we were all struck at the topography before us.  I certainly was not expecting mountains (sorry, but my middle school geography project was on Newfoundland and Nova Scotia), nor did I realize how desert-like it would be...but that is a story for another day.



Getting ready to board in MIA



Meeting up at MIA



I also did not expect the chaos at the Port-au-Prince airport.  Yet through the mass of bodies around the single luggage carousel, we were able to retrieve all of the bags (even the ones which had to be checked plane side despite the ample room onboard the plane).  It was amazing to see 20-something odd suitcases strewn about, each as intact as when they were packed.  Based on others' experiences, I was fully prepared to have to provide some sort of token to to the customs officials to make it out of customs with the balance of our items, but we managed not to endure any such silliness.  We are thankful for God's presence in our midst and granting us safe passage through what could have been a tremendously difficult situation.

We then proceeded to create a luggage train and made our way through the gauntlet of helpers, each more vociferous than the next.  Especially entertaining was the confrontation between our Haitian airport guide and a second, more aggressive helper...apparently the relatively few number of flights into PaP creates a rather competitive atmosphere between the luggage handlers.  At one point things seemed to slow down a bit as the two men shouted at each other as to whom was the leader of guiding our luggage train to the bus.

Getting ready for the luggage gauntlet

Is this one of ours?

 Thankfully calmer heads prevailed and we made it to the bus unharmed.  We then split up, 2/3rds in the bus and the rest in a pickup for a dusty ride to our accomodations.  After unloading, we celebrated our safe travels with delicious Haitian taco salad (basically taco meat, fixings, and tortilla chips, but so much better than Taco Bell) along with Prestige beer, Cokes, and limonade.  Our meal was completed with passing around a couple cartons of ice cream until they were no more (cause hey, no need to take up freezer space with ice cream).  We are grateful to God for his guiding hand in uniting us all to achieve His plan.  We are blessed to have made it with all of our gifts and packages for the Haitians, and can't wait to see what He has in store for us tomorrow. 



Giving thanks for a great day!



Into the Wilderness

God often calls his people into the wilderness. It's a common theme throughout the Bible. He calls his people away from the comfort and security of their communities and families into a place of danger and chaos. But despite the potential harm that lies in the wilderness, it is often a setting for intense and dramatic encounters with God that lead to spiritual transformation, awakening, and revival.

I believe God has called me into the wilderness. I understand that Haiti is not a desert wasteland like the typical wilderness environment described in the Bible. Quite the opposite, Haiti is populated with over 9 million of God's children. But the lens through which the Haitians have experienced life is far different than mine. As an American, I simply cannot fathom the level of poverty, hunger, tragedy, chaos, and heartbreak that the people of Haiti encounter on a daily basis. But God has called me into a destination of heartbreak. He has called me to ignore my fears, leave the security of my loving family, and serve a people that desperately need our love and support. In doing so, God has put me in a situation to completely rely on Him.

I am so thankful for God's call and I feel privileged to serve on this mission trip. Please pray that as our team serves the people of Haiti we encounter a dramatic "wilderness experience" with God. Pray for spiritual transformation in our lives and in the lives of those we serve. Finally, please pray that despite any language barrier, the people we serve could see and hear Jesus through all that we do in Haiti.

Thank you for your prayers!

Gifts

Alli and I spent this morning organizing and packing all of the donations we collected over the past few months. One of the things we found most interesting is the amount of packaging everything seems to come in these days.  We probably threw away five to ten pounds of superfluous wrappers, cardboard, shrink-wrap, etc. which would just wind up in the trash in Haiti.  We are thankful for recycling here in the U.S., perhaps someday we can convince manufacturers to save a bit on cost and not triple-wrap every single item.

As you can see from the pictures, we have quite the assortment of shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, lotion, and other essentials like toothbrushes, toothpaste, cotton balls, and more.  All of these donations were collected through business travelers at Alli's office, as well as through my travels for work and pleasure.  In fact, what is pictured is only about half of what we are bringing.  Collecting toiletries from hotels and donating them to charitable groups, such as Healing Haiti or Global Soap Project, has become part of my routine when on the road.  For some this may seem like a nuisance, but for us it is knowing that someone that may not have access to such "luxuries" will be able to avoid disease as well as have something so simple and essential that most of us take it for granted.

We are also fortunate to bring beautiful handmade dresses for the girls we meet at the orphanages.  My stepmother and her friend are amazing seamstresses, and provided us with about 25 dresses to bring along with us (pictured to the left).  She has sent close to 1,000 dresses through an organization called Little Dresses for Africa, all made from scrap fabric, pillowcases, and ribbon.  We are really excited to hand these out and we will try and get pictures of the dresses in action once in Haiti.  It is amazing how many people are willing to provide novel means of helping others, from toiletries to dresses, to the suitcases to carry all of the goods (which will be left in Haiti for someone to use as this becomes a primary means of moving one's household goods from place to place).

We pray that all of these gifts make it to Haiti with us, and we don't have any lost luggage or mishaps along the way.

Current Items Looking To Have Donated

For the children:

- 2 tubes of Anti-fungal cream - Grace Village
- 10 bottles (150 tabs each) childrens chewable vitamins with iron (no gummy vitamins, please)
- 2 lage bottles of Hand Sanitizer
- 2 packages of sanitary pads
- 1 container of formula, 1 box of single grain rice cereal, 1 package disposable diapers size 2

For the elderly:

Sustane Eye Drops - 30 bottles
Muscle Rub - 30 tubes
120 AA batteries (for talking Bibles)
10 packages Depend type incontinence products
30 bottles Tylenol
Antibacterial wipes - 30 containers
Butt paste - 15 tubes

Additional for the elderly:

Sardines
canned meat (not requiring a can opener)
bar soap
body lotion - large bottle
applesauce
power bars

30 compact mirrors
30 Master locks - quality ones

If you are able to contribute any of these items please leave a comment here or contact Anne or Brian McNeill or you can leave donations in the collection bins at Calvary's north or south entrances.