Back Home

It's now Thursday morning and I'm just getting around to catching up on updates.  We had a busy last couple of days preparing to come back home.  On Tuesday we went up to Desire to say our last goodbyes to the kids.  That is always a tough time because it seems we only just arrived and began rekindling old friendships and many making new friendships.  But we closed our time praying for the children of Desire and Pastor Jeannot also prayed as he gave thanks for our team making the long journey to spend time with the kids.

When we arrived in Port au Prince we had the chance to visit with the Pathways students from Desire. They had been anticipating our visit for weeks and we had the chance to catch up with the and hear how their experience is going with the program.  The time was short but on a very deep level it was meaningful to them and to us.  The gravity of seeing these students being transformed from orphan to thriving young adult is astonishing and I wish there was an easy way to put it into words.  My prayer is that every orphan has an opportunity like this when they reach the age of adulthood.  That's a very big vision- a God-sized vision but one that only through God's provision could happen.  Seeing lives transformed is an incredible encouragement for my own faith journey.

Yesterday before heading to the airport we had the opportunity to see Life SA.  This is the facility that manufactures clothing in Haiti and is also where t-shirts and other clothing apparel and accessories are created (http://goex.org/ ).  This was amazing to see because there are currently a number of this past year's Pathways graduates working at this facility.  You can see the photos below.

After a long journey from Haiti back home, our team is now resting after an amazing trip and I am excited to debrief and hear how God has impacted them individually and what He has placed on their heart for a next step of action.  I encourage any of you ready this blog to ask lots of questions of our team because I know they would love to share how God used them this past week.

Saying Goodbye

Today we had to say goodbye to our friends in Desire.  It was definitely tough for all of us.  We had some great times together.  It always seems like we are just getting going when we have to say goodbye.

While saying goodbye was hard in Desire, we had a wonderful reunion with the Pathways students from Desire.  Currently there are six young adults in the Pathways program.  Pathways is a program for orphans who have reached the age of an adult.  At 18 years, students can no longer be in the orphan care system of Haiti.  The Global Orphan Project started Pathways over two years ago and the third class of Pathways started this past fall.  Three guys from Desire are on track to graduate this August while the other three are in their first year.  Pathways provides life skills, discipleship and learning a trade to help prepare them for adulthood.  The goal is to turn out great young men and women who end their Pathways experience by having an "above living wage" job at the time of graduation.  It was great to see the Pathways students from Desire and spend some time catching up with them.

Tomorrow we begin our journey home with an arrival close to midnight tomorrow night.  Please pray for our safe travels.  The team is excited to return home so they can share their experience.  The team is also a bit sad to leave because Haiti truly is a special place.

Last Full Day in Desire

This is the time in each trip where we are winding down our time with the kids and it begins to get a bit difficult.  Difficult because it means we are leaving soon.  So we focus on the time we have and reflect back on the day that was.

Each day concludes with a debrief of the day.  We ask- what challenged you? What brought joy to your heart today?  Each debrief is filled with many things- mostly highlights and some challenges.  Examples of each are great things like bonding with the kids and them expressing their appreciation for us being there.  Challenges like kids being kids- kids being possessive of their American friend and pushing others away so that no one takes their friend away.  It's definitely fun for me to be there as team members process their day and this trip.

Today we had English lessons and craft time in the morning and we came back late in the afternoon because we were showing the Jesus Film.  Things went really well and we were privileged as the children watched the Jesus Film- their silence spoke volumes to how it held their attention.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to the kids in Desire but we also get to say hello and spend some time with the students in the Pathways program that are from Desire.  There are currently six young adults from the Desire project enrolled at Pathways.  Three of them are in their second year and slated to graduate in August.  The other three are in their first year at Pathways.

So we balance the hard with the great.  Already weighing on the team is our return home in a couple of days and their challenge of saying goodbye.  You can certainly pray for the hearts of our team members.  Pray that they seek God's next step of action for them.  They will be challenged tomorrow night to seek what God has next for them.

Different Places, Same God

Sunday's in Haiti are special.  Especially when you have a team with the majority members in Haiti for the first time.  One of the special moments is experiencing worship in another culture.  We had the wonderful privilege of worshiping in Desire this morning.  Pastor Jeannot preached and many of the kids shared special music that they had prepared.

Tonight was supposed to be the Jesus Film night but because of a couple of glitches we showed Rio to the kids and community and are going to try the Jesus Film tomorrow night instead.

We were treated to probably the most wonderful expressions of hospitality we could ever receive.  Pastor Jeannot's wife and some of the mamas prepared a dinner for us in Desire before the movie.  It was truly awesome!  Goat, chicken, rice, vegetables, pineapple, mango and Haitian cake.  It's making me hungry all over again just writing about it!

Today we also shared the story of the Isrealites crossing the Jordan and going on to defeat the city of Jericho.  After that was a mixture of crafts and baseball.

Our night was topped off with the movie and it is very special being up in Desire after dark.  Your ability to see the stars and the Milky Way is incredible.  Long day, but a great day- we are from different places but worshiping the same God.

Ministry of Presence

When people ask me what we do when we go to Haiti, it's a challenge to sum it up in a few words.  But boiling it down I would say that it's a ministry of presence- just being here spending time with the kids.  Building relationships with the kids happens in a number of ways- English activities, Bible Stories, crafts, singing and playing.

Spending time with the kids lets them know that they matter.  They may not have a family quite like we do in the States, but they have a different kind of family.  This family comes from a church in Fort Collins and prays for them, spends time with them and partners with the pastor that provides direct care for them.  Why?  So that they may understand that they are KNOWN.  Known but their Heavenly Father that loves them more than they can ever think or imagine.  Known by us- this team, this church.  

Today we had English activities in the morning and since we have two translators we split the kids into two groups.  Once our teams hit their groove with the kids, the laughter and cheering grew louder and louder.  This afternoon we witnessed and impressive display of ingenuity and determination as workers were loading one of the shipping containers from the property.  This turned out to be a community event because stuff like this doesn't happen every day let alone every year!  Once the container was loaded on the truck we resumed our plan to share a Bible story as well as having kids decorate their own journals.

Everyone is doing well and using every bit of energy to serve fantastically on this team.  Relationships on the team are blossoming thanks to the time and work the team has put in not only serving the kids but each other as well.

Tomorrow we go to church in Desire and we just found out that Haiti will not be observing Daylight Savings.  So we are not entirely sure what time breakfast will be and what time church will be.  But we really aren't worried because schedule in Haiti is a loose term- things happen when they happen due to being on Haiti time.  By the time we are scheduled to return on Wednesday, I'm sure American Airlines will figure out their times of arrivals and departures in Haiti.

We Are Here!

We made it safely to Haiti this morning and had a long drive to Gonaives and arrived this afternoon.  We got settled into our hotel and then pushed on to go see the kids.

This is what I love about a team committed to doing ministry on this type of trip: in spite of utter exhaustion, the team showed up promptly at the bus for a quick drive up to the orphan project.  Once we arrived we were greeted by excited kids who were anticipating our arrival today.

We spent a couple of hours hanging out with kids and making new friends.  The kids were excited about meeting friends from Fort Collins who had never visited Haiti before.

I'll have pictures in the coming posts but my memorable moment today was watching our youngest members- an 8 year old, and 9 year old and a 10 year old being escorted around by kids their own size.  Our junior members were indeed a hit with the orphan kids.  I was also very interested in hearing the observations of the young team members.  Their perception of the kids is vastly different than what it was prior to coming to Desire.  The kids truly see themselves as peers with the Deisre children.

Tomorrow we have a full day on tap- English activities in the morning along with crafts and games and then a Bible story in the afternoon as well as more games.

Continue praying for our health and stamina.  Thanks for checking in on the blog!

Haiti- Here We Come!

Tonight we leave for Haiti arriving tomorrow morning.  It was five years ago this month that we made our first trip to Desire.  It was that trip that started us on the road of our partnership that continues to grow.  We have seen these kids that we minister to grow up over these last five years and it has been such a blessing to our congregation.

Our team is a big one- 21 members.  Over half the team is going to Haiti for the first time.  I am so excited for this team and what the Lord has in store for us.

Be praying for our journey that it would go smooth, that we would be safe and stay healthy.