Return.

Our trip was amazing.  We are sitting in the Miami airport right now, getting our minds around the abundance we see, and admittedly partaking ourselves as we sit at TGIFriday’s ordering huge plates of food.

Everyone told us re-entry would be hard, but we are just scratching the surface of emotions as we see high heels, glitter purses, large screen TVs, free flowing water and food. And it's weird that everyone has shoes.

We don’t know how to summarize our trip, so in honor of our teenage boys, we thought we would create a Top 10 List, David Letterman style.

The Top 10 Favorite things we did in Haiti:

10. “Uncle Tom’s” jokes – and all our awesome Team Leaders from Healing Haiti.

9.  Watching our boys barter for souvenirs in the marketplaces in Port au Prince and mountain areas.

8.  Doing “word of the day” each evening and hearing how our day’s work uniquely impacted each person.

7.  Visiting the orphaned elderly: praying, singing and delivering food and enjoying their company.

6.  Church!  Sunrise service at the outdoor tent church and Sunday morning worship with the Grace Village children – replete with bilingual translation, children leading worship, the worship flags being used for the first time and the inclusion of the local community of Titanyen!

5. Riding in the “Tap Tap”, singing songs and spending awesome time bonding with the world’s best Haitian staff! 

4.  Our first glimpse of “heaven” up on the hill – Grace Village Orphanage – meeting all the kids after so much anticipation and delivering all the donations we collected. 

3.  Ministering at the Home for the Sick and Dying Children – and witnessing a worldwide ministry in action.  And loving those little babies. 

2.  Water truck ministry in the Cite Soleil.  Between the eager children, riding on the side of the truck and knowing we were serving the poorest of the poor free water who would otherwise have to pay, it was a highlight of our week.  And we never thought we could be so grateful for a cold shower after a hot, dirty day!

1.  Impromptu Soccer in the street outside the guesthouse that turned into 6 nights straight!  Watching our boys “love our neighbors” through the universal language of sports was a God-given gift.  Seeing the boys (and girls) on the last night when we said they could keep their EP jerseys make a decision to collect them all and keep them in one place so they could keep playing soccer was a joyous moment we won’t soon forget. 

Our team’s theme verse for the week was John 15:16 – which says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”    Little did we know how that verse would impact our mission - the boys have already begun praying and planning a dream of building a soccer field for the boys they built relationships with for a week in that neighborhood with the name of “Chosen Fields.”

 

As Moms we couldn’t be more proud of our boys and the way they served the Haitian people.  And with the help of God, we continue to pray there will be much fruit in these treasured communities imprinted in our hearts . . .

Maybe even a soccer field.

With love and thanks for all your support and prayers,
Sarah, Marijo, Karla and Kris (and Nick, Ben, Tim, Matt and Jacob)

Unity

As I sit here in these last hours of our experience down here in Haiti this week, I can't help to smile on the many blessings God has given to me, our team, and the people whom we've been able to be touched by making our lives transformed.

I posted prior to our trip on how we needed to be "in the game" to be used for God's glory, and I know God is smiling down on this team, who have formed together within the unified body for Christ and His purposes. 

We experienced a unified body also up at Grace Village this morning praising and worshiping God led by their beautiful servant of God, Fan Fan.  The children were dressed up in their finest clothes and many townspeople came to the open gates of GV to join in this beautiful service.  We had babies through elderly whom Healing Haiti serves united in celebration!

Later we toured Port Au Prince and even though there is still much rubble from the earthquake that hit over 2 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised how this new government is becoming more unified and making some changes even since last September's visit down here.  A recycling program has begun and much less plastic in gutters and streets, tent cities are fewer, and road construction vehicles are even making some changes, at least in the area down by the palace.

The rained poured all day, but God answered our prayers as the skies opened up after dinner for the boys' final soccer match with the neighborhood kids, who had been waiting for hours and singing "God is so Good" prior to this unified experience.  We knew this one was going to be difficult, as many friendships over a soccer ball had been established.  The boys celebrated the final game by each handing out a medal and jersey to their soccer mates.  We expected that each would leave with their jersey, medal, and snack...my heart skipped a beat as I watched a boy start collecting all the jerseys.  My first thought is that he was forcing the kids to give him the jerseys as I've seen this happen in the past with shoes given to a younger child as an older sibling/child takes the item.  Tears of joy formed as I found out that this boy was collecting the jerseys because they were to continue this nightly ritual of soccer with the Eden Prairie jerseys...a unification of the body in this neighborhood village!  I'm so touched how these EP boys and moms have made such an impact in Haiti and how in turn, Haiti has captured their hearts as much as it has captured mine!


Margie

Amazing

           Today was our free day to do the things that we felt we wanted to do before we leave on Monday. First we went on the water truck for the second time on our trip. The water truck was another amazing experience that really reminded me about how lucky I am to live in the conditions I live in and reminded me that even though the Haitian people have almost nothing, they are always extremely happy. It really helped me open my eyes and change my perspective on life.



The second thing I did today was go to Gertrudes home for special needs kids. This was our second visit there on our trip. Again it was a very fun and joyous time playing with the kids and being a light in their lives as well as them being a light in ours. It a so great to see how they can be so happy despite their disabilities.

The third thing I did today was play soccer. Today was another outstanding evening playing soccer with the little Haitian boys. It is always a blessing to be able to play a game with the boys and have so much fun with a little kickball (soccer ball) and rocks (goal). Everyday as we keep playing more and more kids keep showing up and want to play. Tonight we had a very special gift for the kids after the game ended. We had some extra Feed My Starving Children food and we got to give the kids each two packs of food. It was an amazing moment being able to see the expression on their faces when they got to recieve the food. It was one moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. One last thing that happened before the night was one of my new best friends that I have met on my trip gave me three pictures he drew for me. They were some of the best drawings I have seen in a long time.  They were so detailed and they looked like a person who draws for a living. One of the drawings had my name and his name next to each other and two very neatly drawn birds with flowers and grass. I was so amazed that he drew this and that he made it for me. I thanked him greatly and will keep those pictures for a long time.

        I realized after today that I am making and building new relationships with these people here that will be hard to let go. One of the hardest things about this whole trip will be leaving all of the great people and friends that I have made here. They are loving, nice, happy, joyous, GOD-loving, and outstanding people that have really impacted my life greatly.

-Matt Carson

Captured

The people of Haiti have captured our hearts. 

From the very first moment when we pulled up at the first water stop and they leapt into our arms...they had us.

Today is Saturday, Day 5 of our mission work.  So far we have: delivered water in the Cite Soleil, visited the elders throughout Titanyen in their "homes", held and played with children at the Home of the Sick and Dying Children, visited the special needs children at Gertrude's home, visited a local school, shopped at a local market and  participated in a faith formation lesson at Grace Village and delivered shoes, hats and jerseys while we played with the children there.

Day 5 is "free choice" day, and unanimously we wanted to do the water truck again today for the first part of the day.  We just returned and my heart is heavy because at the last stop I met a little girl named Jennifer whose Grandmother came up to me when I was holding her and asked me to help her because she has no money to take care of her. (this was a common request when we were doing water deliveries, but my first one.)

Both Jennifer's parents died in the Earthquake.  She had beautiful yellow ribbons in her hair and I held her most of the stop.  If I put her down she was never far from me.  Even when I was carrying water buckets for other little girls she had her hand on the back of my shirt and tailed along.  If I gave my attention to any other children she would stand right next to me and hold my hand.

The only time she left my side was when I was doing my job managing the water line did she leave me, but she was right back within reach the moment I moved out from that area. 

Another highlight was a darling girl named Madeline who I sang with.  I began by singing "Jesus loves you." and she then sang it back to me in Creole.  (She is pictured here in the pink shirt in front.) 

The group divided for the afternoon between Home for the Sick and Dying Children and Gertrude's...and we were blessed by holding, singing and loving more children for our last "mission" work of the week. 

Please join us in praying for the mother of a little one who lost their life just as our team was getting ready to leave for the day.  It was heartwrenching for those on our team who witnessed it...pray for their hearts also.

Thank you God for capturing that little girl in your loving and sovereign arms.

Sarah

Grace Village

Grace Village - what a beautiful sanctuary for these sweet little ones.  The village sits amongst a mountain region, overlooking the ocean in the distance.  It has the appearance of a hill city in Tuscany; until the gate is opened and one is surrounded by the most beautiful, sweet children, blessed by all Grace Village has to offer.  They are a community amongst themselves.  The older children are often seen carrying a little one in their arms, easily sharing toys and treasures they find. 

Today we were assigned the task of leading the children of Grace Village in a faith study.  Our team chose to use Mark 9:35, the verse declaring that "whoever wants to be first must take the last place and be the servant of everyone else".  Our activities included making bracelets, playing with dominoes and washing the kids' feet...followed by outfitting each one with a new pair of shoes.  I was struck by how the children of Grace Village ministered right back to us.  One little girl, after having her own feet washed, bent down and took our team leader's shoes off and proceeded to wash her feet!  Amazing.

These little ones are so very blessed to have this beautiful sanctuary - and their Papa Jeff - to surround them with faith, hope and love; and our EP team has been blessed to be a small part of this wonderful ministry.

With love from Haiti, Kris

Grace Village

Today we all went out to the orphanage run by Healing Haiti called Grace Village. It is truly a brilliant sanctuary, a city on a hill amidst a town and nation defined by poverty. The kids we found there were far more brilliant than the magnificant buildings we found them in. To see these kids who are so happy with so much less than we have in the US has been one of the many highlights of my trip. After our arrivial, one little kid was so hot and tired he fell asleep in my lap while all the others played baseball and soccer around the complex. Watching him sleep there with a little smile on his face really showed me that even in polar opposite socities, the children and people are far more alike than different. Gods love is truly lived out at the Grace Village orphanage.

-Tim Ose

Highs and Lows

Wednesday

To quote my teammate, Trish... "Today was a day of HIGHS and LOWS".    Here in Haiti, the lows are more than I could have ever imagined and I'm confident they have changed our hearts forever.   But what's beautiful, is that the Highs are so HIGH, it makes every moment of sorrow worth it!  

We began our day serving at Gertrude's orphanage, a home for disabled children.     I knew going in this would be extremely hard.    I knew for a fact we would be uncomfortable, as we had been prepared that some of the disabilites were extreme.    What we experienced when we walked in was multiple kids strapped in wheel chairs, some tied to the walls for restraint.  A room that smelled of urine.   Broken down truck in the middle of the tiny playground, just to name a few.    This was our LOW.   

After just a few short minutes of acclimating, we wheeled the children out into the open air courtyard.   Some we unstrapped from their wheelchairs and took out to hold and play with.  Our friend, Junior, started playing his guitar much to the delight of the children.    The boys started racing hand-pedaled trikes with Mickey and Jr.,who were quite fast!    We gave our visually impaired friend, Maxim, a hand note that said "Glory to God" in braille hand-made by our Eden Prairie friends the Bushlands, whose daughter is also visually impaired.   We had so much fun and the boys were awesome with the kids.  Very poignant moments and our HIGH!

Next, we headed off to the Home for the Sick and Dying Children.   To say this was tough would be an understatement.   Although the care the children get is wonderful, it was overwhelming to see so many sick babies and toddlers.  Each room was lined with rows of cribs.    Babies malnourished and hooked up to IV's.   Toddlers crying from their cribs, arms outstretched with the hopes of being picked up and held.    Many burning up from fevers.  This was a LOW.

We jumped into action, picking up and holding as many babies as our arms could hold.    The boys brought out some balloons and began entertaining the older kids that were well enough to play.    We carried babies out into the courtyard for some much needed fresh air.   We managed to get beautiful smiles  on the faces of children who had looked so sad and hopeless.    This was a HIGH!

When you're in Haiti, it's extremely hard not to be overcome with feelings of helplessness.  The needs are extreme everywhere we go.  Therefore, we are constantly reminded that our mission is not to meet every physical need.  Our most important mission is to share the Hope they have in Christ and remind them of God's great love for them.

For more photos of our adventures, go to our Facebook page - 2012 EP Haiti mission trip.

Much Love from Haiti,
Karla