Other Photos

Orphanage Visits

Cite Soleil

Home safely

The team is home safely after a great 8 days.  We had issues uploading pictures all week, however there are few picture posts if you follow this link.

https://plus.google.com/collection/0x6lPB

Thanks for all your prayers and support on this trip!

The eagle will again head to the open skies...

Final thoughts...

At the end of each day the team gathered together and each of us shared a personal word of the day.  This time has been a very significant part of our journey as it provided us an opportunity to delve deeply into the often intense experience of serving in Haiti.  I'd like to share our words from the first and last days. I think they shed some light on our many blessings in Haiti.

Day one:  anxious, anticipation, people, excited, tears, encouragement, comfortable, grateful, providence, connecting, joy, apprehensive, hopeful, hope, deja vu, excited.

Last day:  beginnings, milestones, mu sonje (I remember), appreciation, breathe, perspective, intense, genuine, impact, full, home, bittersweet, intensity, inspirational, beautiful. We missed Rick's word as he went to bed early.

Yesterday our team went again into Cite Soleil to help with the water truck at two districts. The children were overjoyed to see the Tap Tap round the street as they shouted "hey you!"  It has been written that the expression "hey you" speaks to "give me....chocolate, food, attention, a smile, anything, but generally for love."  We also visited LaPhare Orphanage and were blessed to enjoy singing, art projects, a visit to their church, nail painting, soccer and jump rope!  It was such a loving environment to be in.

Today we had the gift of enjoying the church service at Grace Church in Titanyen. The Holy Spirit felt vividly present!  For the remainder of the day the team enjoyed time together wrapping up the trip and experiencing the beautiful Haitian countryside.

Our team has been so blessed from the very beginning!!!  Divine appointments bringing us together to see what God had in store for us.  I will take a risk and say we are forever changed and our eyes are seeing out of new and improved lenses! As they say in Creole, "Bondye Bon" God is good!

We shall physically see you very soon!

Friday ~ Church morning

We just returned home to the Guest House and are happily exhausted! Wow. What an amazingly full day we were able to experience.  Many of us set our alarms for 5:30 am and started our day at a Haitian church called Church on the Rock. We were able to worship with them in song ... many beautiful and inspiring songs.  We felt so welcomed there and appreciated some of the prayers said in English, too!

We hopped in the tap tap and enjoyed an unexpected shopping stop at the Papillon Industry.  Here local people create lovely jewelry, ornaments, bags, and other items made out of recycled magazines and cardboard boxes.

We returned to the tap tap (our home away from home) and started a long, curvy, bumpy ride up the mountain.  And was it worth it!!  The view looking out onto the city of Port-au-Prince was spectacular.  We enjoyed some cool drinks at an outdoor restaurant and then walked through some persistent sales people as we jumped back into our ride.

Our next stop of the day was Dare Orphanage, which is a place for special needs children.  We massaged their arms and legs with lotion and gave them love (and applesauce). Melanie and Frank provided music for the group, and we sang songs with the children.  One of the children helped us keep beat with his wonderfully loud clapping.  He definitely loved singing -- it was so great to see.

We were then able to tour and visit a fantastic local company called Rebuild Globally.  Here Haitians make and sell flip flops with the bottoms made of old car tires.   The footware brand, called Deux Mains, is also sold at stores in the United States.  Two people from the company are flying to NYC tomorrow to attend a trade show in Madison Square Garden.  How cool is that?! Please keep your eyes open for this company.

We ended our busy day with a team pizza dinner at Pizza Amour.  A delicious meal was enjoyed by all.

We have so appreciated our driver Maxim.  He has kept us safe and sound on the roads. We are blessed that he is with us daily. Thank you, Maxim!

Haiti, Homes, History hAnd hOther hAdventures

Another full day here in good ole' Haiti. A little less physically exhausting, but still stretching on our emotions as our hearts continue to go back and forth , processing all we've seen so far; aches for the extreme poverty and to see conflict; joy and excitement to see the smiling faces of the kids, the teens, the adults, and not sure of their stories, of their journeys, of their successes, or of their struggles. Grateful for clean water to drink as we get to know each other reaaallllyyyy well from being squished together in a very warm tap tap (we apologize for not filling you in on the joys of a tap tap earlier. A tap tap is a like an open air pick up truck, with cage like material on the sides to allow us to see the jaw dropping scenery, but still enclosed for safety. It's unlike anything we've experienced before). Through our experiences, we've been reminded that God is sovereign and God is good.

Our day consisted of traveling to a city with a home for the sick and dying and a museum about the history of Haiti where we learned so much about, you guessed it, the history of Haiti. Bonus: this museum has the actual anchor from the Santa Maria, which is the ship of Christopher Columbus. Afterwards, we spent some team time discussing and processing the day and continuing to get to know one another as we continue on this journey together. -God is good- The home for the sick and dying is a home of restoration, refreshment, and peace. It is simply beautiful. The patients are of all ages and seem to be at different levels of health. They allowed us to be with them as we rubbed lotion on and massaged their dry skin (the women also painted the fingernails and toenails of the Haitian women). -God is good- unable to speak the same language, we were reminded of the power of eye contact and smiles and allowing the Lord to work in the sometimes uncomfortable quiet. We've continued to wrestle with questions about why God allows some things to happen, but so grateful for the ways He provides, even small joys, and hope for the families of Haiti and in awe of how they allow us to be a part of just a fraction of their lives. -God is good- we go to sleep with our hearts full
and fulfilled. We are unsure of the plans God has set for us for the rest of the week, but we are anxious to see what He will bring us to. Stay tuned!


*at this time, we are still trying to figure out how to post pictures with the limited wifi. We'll post pictures if and when we figure it out (:


https://plus.google.com/collection/0x6lPB

Tuesday

What a full day! We hopped on our tap-tap this morning and began our day with a stop at Elder's school where we were able to visit with the children and share our cross necklaces.
Our tap-tap met a water truck at three different stops in Cite Soleil. As people saw the truck coming, they came out of their homes with empty buckets waiting to be filled. Some of us filled buckets with water while others helped carry full buckets back to homes and others of us were able to play with & love on the children who were so full of joy.

We had the privilege of visiting Hope Church which has been a work-in-progress for the last couple of years and the first worship service was held this past Sunday! The site where this church was built is unreal - like nothing I've ever seen. Built on the site of a dump inside this slum, construction crews had to dig down through some 40 feet of trash and an additional 40+ feet just to find ground solid enough to build on. Healing Haiti's vision for this beautiful church is to pass it on to the Haitian people now that it is up and running.

We were also able to stop at the Haitian Initiative where young boys come to play soccer, receive meals packed by Feed My Starving Children, and spend a couple days each week learning English.
We are all so thankful for the incredible opportunities we had today and are excited for what God has in store for the days ahead!

The eagle has landed.

The team arrived safe and sound to our home away from home in Port au Prince! Fortunately our many bags did too! We were welcomed with friendly faces, a cozy ride in the tap tap and a lovely dinner! The team each shared a word representative of the day's feelings and we enjoyed listening and taking in the individual experiences.

 Hope, joy, anxious, people, comfortable, providence and tears were among the words shared.

We look forward to awaking to a new day and new experiences as many of us will see for the first time Haiti in the daylight.

Pictures to follow, stay tuned!  What is a tap tap? You shall find out tomorrow 😋
Ke Bondye Beni'ou "His hands, His feet, His work, His love!"

Today's words brought to you by Jenny on behalf of our team!

Anne & Brian McNeill

We find so much joy and purpose in bringing people to Haiti, helping them develop a deeper understanding of serving one another both near and far.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

Tony Lambertz

 

This will be my third time to Haiti and I am very excited to go back and experience more of what God has in store for me and the team. Why do I keep going back? Because it is too easy to live this comfortable life where you don't have to worry about where water or next meal is going to come from and this is a great place to make me realize just how fortunate and blessed I am. It still amazes me each time walking thru one of the poorest parts of the world and yet nearly every person you meet still has a smile on their face and all you can do is be thankful for the little or much you have in health, having a job, etc. There is nothing quite like Haiti and that is why I'm going back!

Melanie DeJong

Hey there! My name is Melanie and this is my first trip to Haiti! I'd always hoped to travel and serve in Haiti, but had no idea when that time would come- I'm excited that the time is now! As a graduate of Bethel University, I had the wonderful opportunity to study and serve in Guatemala for 4 months where I naively thought I was going solely to help the people there. In reality, God had so much more planned for me. The joy and deep faith of the people, in spite of the extreme poverty, broke my heart and convicted me of the need to care about every single one of God’s people, hence the reason I was drawn to this trip to Haiti. I honestly don’t think I can even comprehend or begin to imagine what the Lord has in store for our team. I have no idea how, or where He will begin to teach. However, I am expecting the Lord to continue to break my heart and excited to see how He reveals Himself in even more ways through the Haitian people. 

Kallie Thoreson

My name is Kallie, and this trip is my first mission trip.  I was a senior in high school when the earthquake hit Haiti in 2010.  My heart broke for the people there, and I knew right away that I wanted to help.  I headed a fundraiser at my school, but I had no idea that six years later I would have the opportunity to travel to Haiti to serve the people there.  I am so grateful for this opportunity and am excited to see how God will work through our team as we serve His people!

Raeann Mysliwiec

My name is Raeann. I have been in the Mortgage industry for 25+ years. I have a loving family and friends. My life is full with activities most every day from running, biking, skiing, softball, broomball, hiking, camping, hiking, and volleyball. I have jumped out of planes and off of cliffs. I love to travel and have visited many countries. This is my 2nd Haiti missionary trip. I did not think I could be blessed with such an opportunity to go again and share it with my mother. I have a wonderful family and am surrounded by fantastic friends. I also work as an Office Manager and a Firefighter/EMT. I feel blessed in all ways.

Betty Mysliwiec

I am Betty. I am 81 years old. I love to travel, work (which I have retired but still put in many hours on a part time basis), attend and volunteer at church, help people, and do what I can for my fellow man. I have a wonderful family, 5 children that have been taking care of me, or should I say still taking care of them? A daughter in law and a son in law, 6 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. I have 2 new knees and they are working pretty great. I am looking forward to Haiti. It will be a new experience, I don’t know what to expect, but it will be a learning experience. It has been prayers and blessing that has made it God’s will to have me on this wonderful journey.  

Bob Miles

I am widowed and have three children and seven grandchildren (who call me Bubba).  The grandchildren all live out of state and I visit them often so that I can play with them and spoil them (ages 12 years down to 4 months).  I am retired from the Postal Service after 36 years.  I attend New Hope Evangelical Free Church in New Hope where I have been for about 18 years.

This will be my second trip to Haiti, and I have been to the Ukraine on a medical missionary trip with my wife as well.  Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the whole world is our neighbor (Matt 22:39).  Jesus also told us that whatever you do to the least of my children you do unto me (Matt 25:40).  I am only trying to obey my Lord and Savior.  I have dear friends of my wife and myself who have adopted twin girls from Haiti.  Unfortunately my wife never got the opportunity to meet them.  They are beautiful girls who call me Uncle Awesome and I adore them to pieces.  That situation has fueled my desire to offer what meager substance and assistance I can to the people of Haiti.  I very much look forward to this trip with fellow Jesus lovers to be a light in the darkness to the Haitian people.

Kevin Shearer

In June 2009 I was up late watching a show one night because I couldn't sleep. The show was called 'Life to the Max' the host of the show is Mike Max. Mike features people and stories from around Minnesota and the world. In one story his camera crew was following a group of people that worked at Life Touch who were on a missions trip to Haiti. During the segment one person on the missions trip said "when we do our trips to Haiti we can help a lot of people but we can't help them all". At that point, God spoke to me and said "Kevin you need to do something" and that was to adopt again, this time from Haiti. I told my wife the next day and she said to me "don't pull leg, are you serious" then she went on to say "I have been praying about this for a while now". I told her I was serious but I only wanted to adopt one child and her response was "whatever God has in store" then I told her again "only one child". The next day we contacted our adoption agent and she said she was ready to start paperwork. At work the next week God spoke to me again, He said "get two children from Haiti" then I called my wife right away and told her 'two children". Within a day or two we had a list of several boys and girls mixes as well as twins. Our response to our Adoption agent was, "we cannot choose" then she said that Dr Bernard who runs the orphanage has read our profile and picked out the twin girls as the best match for us. So right at that moment we knew our answer and within minutes we had a picture of the most beautiful twins girls you had ever seen, they were around 20 months old. Then two months later Jan. 10th 2010 the Port-au-Prince earthquake rocked Haiti and we didn't even know if our girls were alive. We heard from our adoption agent the next day that they were alive but the orphanage was destroyed. Within a couple days Dr Bernard knew the kids would not survive so he went to the US Embassy to get the kids who were matched out of Haiti for health reasons. Then on Jan. 20th 2010(my wife's birthday) we received a call to come to Miami because your daughters are flying there on the 21st. After many doctor visits and other health concerns our precious girls have now been home over 6 years and are doing very well, we sure are thankful to God for His marvelous gift. 

I want to travel to Haiti to be a blessing to the Haitian people with who I feel I have a special bond as we live it every day in our home. One day in the near future I will return with my whole family so the twins can experience where they came from.

Sandy Rogness

Trip #4 for me.  It’s the calmest I’ve felt in returning.  I get asked, “What do you do there?” as I begin gathering items to bring to Haiti. Well, I leave behind watching this morning’s cartoons with my grandchildren after a special over nighter, worrying about my independent father with dementia and his needs for each day,  his dog that my husband and I walk twice a day even in this cold, concern for my only sibling’s needs as she recovers from oral surgery a week prior to our moving her to a different group home, as well as wondering about subbing for 7th and 8th graders this coming week. What a joyous opportunity ahead to be reminded that God is in charge.  He places before me people who sing and dance “God is so good, He’s so good to me” when they seem to have so little.  My faith in our Lord is renewed and increases as time will be shared with a team that goes with genuine humble Christian hearts to see how we can be of service to God’s needing people of Haiti.

Julie Carlson

This is my first mission trip to Haiti, and I am ready and anxious to experience all that Haiti has to offer.

My name is Julie Carlson, and my husband Boe and I have 4 wonderful children named Charlie (9), Clara (8), Henry (6), and Hazel (4).  We enjoy spending time together as a family and especially love being outside together.  We are beyond blessed with our life and are grateful for all that God has provided.  This mission trip is a chance for me to give back to others by serving the people of Haiti.

I am fortunate to go on this mission trip with my husband Boe and am looking forward to sharing this experience with him.  We are grateful that Grandma and Grandpa will be at home with our kids for the week! Thanks, Mom and Dad!!