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Trip Report There were 8 people who traveled to Haiti, but our team included a host of prayer partners, supporters, and others that made it possible for this trip to happen! To all of you, we say “Mesi”! |
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OUR TRIP THERE
Our pastor and others met with
us at the church to pray for us and see us off! Our ride the
airport was uneventful, but check-in was a little challenging
with baggage.
After a debate with the
Kiosk attendant, we were sent to a ticket counter where our bags
were checked for free.
God is good.
Our flight was good, but
baggage claim was another story…only 15 of our 16 bags made it
to Miami on Friday, but God is good and the missing bag made it
just time to join us on final flight to Haiti.
Our arrival at Port-au-Prince
was an adventure for the five people on our team who had never
been to Haiti.
Our group really enjoyed
watching Heather and Pastor Lee get the bags and sling them back
to other team members.
Baggage claim in the
Port-au-Prince Airport is kind of a free-for-all.
Then we exited the
airport where you are approached by a crowd wanting you to hire
them to carry your bags.
Our ride was few minutes
late, but we made it! We traveled to Titayen and met the Mission of Hope staff, toured the awesome facility (Haitian standards), and then spent the afternoon playing with the House of Hope kids (orphans). |
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MISSION OF HOPE
Mission of Hope is all about
providing a hope for all of the people of Haiti, which begins
with meeting needs leading them to the source of Hope – Jesus!
As a team, we were
overwhelmed by the work that is being done by this mission and
we are all committed to do what we can to help support and
expand what they are doing.
There are just about a
dozen full-time North American missionaries at the Mission of
Hope, most of the work is done by Haitian nationals with
assistance from teams that come in each week.
The ministries of
Mission of Hope include:
Church of Hope
– It is a place where close to a 1,000 children, women, and men
meet every week to worship together.
The goal is for the
church to be a place for the hurting to find healing through the
Body of Christ and to be a place of making disciples so that the
church will be the hands and feet meeting the needs of its
community.
School of Hope
– Currently 1,300 students are enrolled, but plans are in place
to double that for the Fall.
They desire to provide
students an outstanding Christ-centered education and for the
School of Hope students to become Godly, educated people of
influence in the Haitian work force.
This is accomplished
through a Child Sponsorship program.
Hope House/ Village of Hope
– Currently the home to 58 orphans, the goal of this area of
ministry is to
take in children society has given up on and give them hope for
the future.
In the process of
expansion, the goal is to break the children into family groups,
each with a mom that will provide a loving, Godly home for these
children and discipleship so that they will grow into Godly
people of influence in Haiti.
Clinic/Hospital of Hope
– Provides all types of medical treatment, including surgeries.
Since the earthquake, a
prosthetic lab has been established, providing over 400 legs to
amputees since its inception.
Distribution
Center
– Prior to the earthquake Mission of Hope began a food
distribution center providing meals to school children in a wide
area to ensure that the children were receiving at least one
good meal each day.
Since the earthquake and
the fact that they had a system in place that other
organizations did not, Mission of Hope has become the
distribution center for food and medical supplies for a number
of U.S. and Canadian relief organizations.
They supply many of the
medical facilities in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas
with supplies. There are many other things that the mission is doing and they have a great vision for future areas of ministry, as the Lord provides and directs! |
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HAITIAN WORSHIP |
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WORK PROJECTS
We found on this trip that in
the body of Christ, not everyone is called to be the mouth.
Sometimes God calls us
to be the hands and the feet!
We had several projects
that we completed to assist in the mission this week that
Michele Grubb said, “Had to be the Lord, because most of us were
not in perfect physical shape and with the extreme heat, it had
to be God.” With God’s help and others serving at the mission,
the team members accomplished the following:
(1)
Put a roof on new athletic
pavilion at the mission and also trenched around the pavilion to
keep mud from washing under the roof.
(2)
Painted inside and outside of a
new “temporary” guest house at the mission, which will house
other teams coming to help with projects and ministry.
(3)
Trenched and buried sides of a
120’ long medical storage tent, protecting the contents from
rain water that was coming running inside.
(4)
Assisted in sorting medical supplies for use at the mission and
to be distributed to other medical facilities in Haiti.
(5)
Assisted in the clinic and prosthetic lab with patients.
(6)
Assisted with the clean-up around the mission (including washing
dishes).
(7)
Learned about the “Mwen Kapab” curriculum and how one of our
team could help with it stateside
We spent all day Monday working on these projects and then half
of each day the rest of the week. |
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TOUR OF PORT-AU-PRINCE To give us an understanding of the massive destruction and continued needs in Haiti, we were able to take a bus trip through Port-au-Prince one afternoon. It broke our hearts and we spent a good part of the trip choked up and in prayer. Tent cities everywhere, buildings were now a pile of rubble, the palace was no longer the beautiful show piece it has always been, and then more tent cities. People and merchants were back in business, though and it was good to see the people doing their best to get back to living as normal as possible. The masses of people everywhere were a reminder of the numbers of people impacted by the earthquake. |
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THE VILLAGES & OPHANAGES We had the opportunity to visit and minister in two different villages.
Our second village was close to
the town of Caberet.
It was a small village
that is run primarily by the Voodoo Priestess, but also included
two orphanages that touched our lives.
It was another hike back
into a banana field. The Good Samaritan Orphanage was probably
the most difficult thing we did all week … not coming, but
leaving with all of the kids still there.
“One little boy Kenyson
(he was 11) attached himself to my side the entire time we were
there – he looked much younger due to malnutrition,” said Pastor
Lee Dittman.
The children lived in
tents and spent their day under torn blue tarps with 3 water
cups for all of the children to share.
It was so sad.
We made teddy bears with
them and it was a hit.
The children sang a song
in English for us – “Soon
and Very Soon We are Going to See the King.”
The eyes of the children
are etched in our minds forever.
It
was really hard to walk away.
Our journey into the village
led us by a number of homes, where we had brief interaction with
the people and then finally to the “Children of the King
Orphanage.”
It was the opposite end
of the last one.
It had a great facility,
the children were healthy and very active (all boys), and the
moms love the kids. The kids were having fun with the wheels on
our dufflebag (“machine”) and we played several games with them.
In addition to the two orphanages in the village, we spent a lot
of time with the children at the Hope House Orphanage on the
Mission of Hope compound. While the heat and physical labor were draining physically, ministering in the villages was even more draining as the emotional drain cannot even be explained. |
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MIRACLE OF OUR TRIP HOME
At the airport, we quickly said
goodbye to our new friends.
Headed in for check-in
to find out that our flight was delayed for 2 hours… checked our
bags and went to the terminal… and then were told that our
flight was cancelled.
GOD IS GOOD … one of the
attendants got our team booked on a flight that left just 5
minutes after our original flight was scheduled to depart (it
was a make-up flight for one cancelled the day before).
We got on and the plane
was almost empty (there were 200+ people sitting the airport
that did not get to come home)… why?
Not sure, but God
watched out for us.
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What now?
This trip changed our
perspective on what ministry is all about … we want to continue
to be the hands and feet of Jesus, not only in Haiti, but also
in the United States.
People everywhere need
the Hope that is only found Jesus Christ!
We also as a team
brought back to our church and friends a vision for how we can
partner and continue to help the ministry of Mission of Hope.
Here is what God has placed on our hearts and we would ask you
to pray about a continued partnership with us in reaching out to
the people of Haiti:
(1)
An on-going partnership
between our church and Mission
of Hope, both financially and with our physical labors.
Pastor Lee to be the key connection partner.
(2)
Haiti Coffee House
–
On July 9 at 7:00 pm, our team
will be hosting a coffee house where we will present slides,
testimonies, music, and information on Mission of Hope.
$5.00 admission will all go to help the ministry of
Mission of Hope.
All are invited to come out and enjoy coffee, dessert and a
night of “informative” entertainment.
(3)
Another mission team
to take a trip to Mission of
Hope in November.
Pastor Lee will be leading this trip and few members of our team
will be joining new members to go back and assist in the
ministry at Mission of Hope.
Please pray for us, as we
(4)
Shoes
for Haiti for Christmas
– Members of our team were
burdened to collect “Croc-type” shoes for the children of the
orphanages and the families in the villages.
Leather shoes are very hot and flip-flops provide very
little protection for their feet (for the few that even have
them). Donations
can be brought to the H2O Youth Building.
(5)
Adoption
-
Pray with us as one of our team
members is beginning the process to adopt a little boy out of
one of the orphanages where we served.
(6)
Mwen Kapab
– One of our team members is
now assisting indirectly with the new “I Can” curriculum that is
quickly throughout the schools of Haiti.
This is curriculum that is not only pushing for academic
excellence, it is also based on a Christian worldview.
(7)
Hands and Feet Ministry
– Based on our experience in
Haiti, our youth are beginning a ministry in Blue Ridge
using our hands and feet to demonstrate the love of Jesus
– putting our faith in action!
Zac Greene is leading the charge!
(8)
Child Sponsorship
- We are encouraging
everyone to considering sponsoring a school child at the School
of Hope. For $35 a
month, you can provide a child in Haiti with an education and a
healthy meal each day!
Contact us or go to the Mission of Hope website for more
information.
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