HAITI 2011 RECAP
PICTURES
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
3\10\11 : Hey! This is Mariah (Mayah- they cannot say Ma-RY-ah)! We had an eventful day today, as im sure you can imagine,from the others` blogs. Today we tried out somewhere new to serve. We took a bumpy, but quick, drive to a church and we had a backyard bible school. ( mini- VBS). As we walked into the church we noticed how beautiful rustic-looking church. We looked around for a while and we noticed that there wasn`t much space to act "crazy" with the kids! So, the pastor, Pastor Judd, walked us down to the basement. The basement was divided into large sections, almost like large cubicles. It worked out perfectly for our plan to teach Bible stories, have arts and crafts, and also play various 'Crenglish' (Creole\ English) games! We had SOOOOOO much fun! We taught the kids: Head, shoulders, knees and toes; God is so good; and attempted Simon says-its was tough. Haha. Some of the kids had uniforms on, which were precious!( check out the pics). We stayed there for about three hours. After we left, we came home and had some grub. Speaking of which, was ALWAYS delicious!- Sorry mom, your food is still the best. ;) Then, we packed up, loaded into the bed of the truck( our main form of transportation) and headed for a smaller tent 'neighborhood'. As we were driving through, we passed MANY beautiful, smiling faces. We were excited; they seemed so kind! We unloaded the truck into a quite well made tent- may have to look into that next time our family goes camping. Before we could even have everything set up in the tent, there was a crowd outside\ in the front of our tent. The pushing crowd passed up the infants and toddlers. That was kind of cool to see them decide to do that. We gave out nearly all of the clothes. As you can suspect, it got a little out of hand( everyone was fine) But, there was obviously just a dire need for clothes, toys, and shoes. So, we decided to leave. It was overall a very successful trip to the tent city. Also, God was able to speak through some of us to encourage some of the residents. We were all happy to be able to be a vessels for God`s work. After the rather intense hoo-rah, we came home, relaxed and took showers. This was a blessing, considering the shower situation at the youth camp. ( the rain) haha! I`m sorry we got behind on our blogging! We will see you all soon! Please pray for our safety. I hope that you have felt as a part of our mission trip as we have been thinking of you all. We love you guys! Thank you for all of your prayers and support! May God Bless you all! Bonje tre bon!( God is so good!) ~Mariah
3\11\11 : Hey guys! This is Erica writing from Haiti (ayiti)! I just wanted to give you a little update on the our last day here in P-a-p. Yesterday morning and this morning we taught some kids bible stories at a church here in Pap. They were such beautiful kids and I'm pretty sure we all fell in love with them! After teaching and acting out the bible stories we played frisbee and soccer and colored with the younger kids. We were able to fit in a little shopping today. We drove up a mountain ( 6 inside the truck and 7 in the bed of the truck) It was pretty fun! At the top of the mountain, we were able to take some amazing pictures at a beautiful view point. The shopping happened right there, at the top of the mountain. We had to pull out our inner bargaining skills to make sure that us, " whities" weren`t going be ripped off. Then, we went out for some Haitian ice cream and had some good bonding time. It was interesting to see the different statuses in the small area of Haiti that we have seen. Once we got home for the evening, we met another team that came in today, they all seemed very nice! We all feel truly blessed for our experience in Haiti and feel honored to witness God at His best work. Tomorrow- off to U.S.A. God Bless! Erica
3\11\11 : Hey guys! This is Erica writing from Haiti (ayiti)! I just wanted to give you a little update on the our last day here in P-a-p. Yesterday morning and this morning we taught some kids bible stories at a church here in Pap. They were such beautiful kids and I'm pretty sure we all fell in love with them! After teaching and acting out the bible stories we played frisbee and soccer and colored with the younger kids. We were able to fit in a little shopping today. We drove up a mountain ( 6 inside the truck and 7 in the bed of the truck) It was pretty fun! At the top of the mountain, we were able to take some amazing pictures at a beautiful view point. The shopping happened right there, at the top of the mountain. We had to pull out our inner bargaining skills to make sure that us, " whities" weren`t going be ripped off. Then, we went out for some Haitian ice cream and had some good bonding time. It was interesting to see the different statuses in the small area of Haiti that we have seen. Once we got home for the evening, we met another team that came in today, they all seemed very nice! We all feel truly blessed for our experience in Haiti and feel honored to witness God at His best work. Tomorrow- off to U.S.A. God Bless! Erica
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Unconfessed Bitterness
Bonswa from Haiti! Today God turned what seemed like an ordinary day into an incredibly spiritual night.
When we first arrived to our guest house in Haiti we learned that two Canadian pilots would be staying with us as well. Little did we know they would change our outlooks as well as our lives for ever.
Today we arrived back at the guest house after spending the past three days at a church retreat in the beautiful Haitian mountains. We spent the day planning, resting, and debriefing the trip this far. After dinner Rick, one of the pilots, approached us after dinner and asked if we could have a small worship service tonight... in all honesty what happened tonight can't be put into words. After singing three songs Rick stopped us and said that he felt the Holy spirit leading him to speak to us about a certain topic, he also said that the Lord was telling him more than one person in the group would benefit from the topic.
Rick spoke to us about forgiveness, but more specifically the forgiveness of unconfessed bitterness and resentment for our parents. As he revealed to us the topic of his talk my mouth dropped... normally I do a great job of shutting off thoughts and focusing on one particular thing, I'm in Haiti serving others therefore I was solely focusing on that and nothing else; however, literally minutes before worship began I had a strange feeling come over me, I started thinking about my family and the different obstacles we are facing and have faced and like any normal human the feelings of bitterness and frustration began to build. As the talk began one by one everyone in the group opened up and shared their story, it was truly amazing to see how everyone's story related.
God is a very mighty, powerful, creative, and all knowing father, he created each and every one of us in this guest house for this very moment. We all now share a bond and will forever carry a piece of each other with us in our hearts. Though we may never see each other again on this Earth we have created an eternal family. Tonight many hearts were broken and then repaired by the Lord himself. We let go of a lot of negative feelings that for some of us have been growing for years. Tonight was an awesome experience that none of us will soon forget. I would like to ask for those of you reading this blog to say a small prayer of thanksgiving and encouragement over us as a team. Confessing and releasing bitter feelings is only one part of the process, we now have to abstain from falling back into our old ways of resentment and anger. We've already given it to God but now we have to leave it there and move on.
"May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." - Psalm 33:22
-April Kirby
When we first arrived to our guest house in Haiti we learned that two Canadian pilots would be staying with us as well. Little did we know they would change our outlooks as well as our lives for ever.
Today we arrived back at the guest house after spending the past three days at a church retreat in the beautiful Haitian mountains. We spent the day planning, resting, and debriefing the trip this far. After dinner Rick, one of the pilots, approached us after dinner and asked if we could have a small worship service tonight... in all honesty what happened tonight can't be put into words. After singing three songs Rick stopped us and said that he felt the Holy spirit leading him to speak to us about a certain topic, he also said that the Lord was telling him more than one person in the group would benefit from the topic.
Rick spoke to us about forgiveness, but more specifically the forgiveness of unconfessed bitterness and resentment for our parents. As he revealed to us the topic of his talk my mouth dropped... normally I do a great job of shutting off thoughts and focusing on one particular thing, I'm in Haiti serving others therefore I was solely focusing on that and nothing else; however, literally minutes before worship began I had a strange feeling come over me, I started thinking about my family and the different obstacles we are facing and have faced and like any normal human the feelings of bitterness and frustration began to build. As the talk began one by one everyone in the group opened up and shared their story, it was truly amazing to see how everyone's story related.
God is a very mighty, powerful, creative, and all knowing father, he created each and every one of us in this guest house for this very moment. We all now share a bond and will forever carry a piece of each other with us in our hearts. Though we may never see each other again on this Earth we have created an eternal family. Tonight many hearts were broken and then repaired by the Lord himself. We let go of a lot of negative feelings that for some of us have been growing for years. Tonight was an awesome experience that none of us will soon forget. I would like to ask for those of you reading this blog to say a small prayer of thanksgiving and encouragement over us as a team. Confessing and releasing bitter feelings is only one part of the process, we now have to abstain from falling back into our old ways of resentment and anger. We've already given it to God but now we have to leave it there and move on.
"May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." - Psalm 33:22
-April Kirby
Youth Camp
Hey everyone!
This is Emily Johnson. So the group just got back from helping out with a youth camp about two hours away from Greg's house. It was a blast. The church has this camp every year during Carnival to help keep the kids away from the craziness in the cities. There were about 80 students there ranging from the ages of 13-30. The term youth pretty much means anyone who is single. It was really fun for everyone getting to know the students, playing soccer and basketball, and exchanging Creole and English vocabulary. The days were pretty laid back and included some activities, sermons, devotionals, worship, and breakouts. Erica and Nathan led separate girls and boys breakouts and Justin spoke during a morning devotional. Everyone led so well and did such a good job of breaking out of their comfort zones. Yesterday was personally my favorite day. We went on a hike to a beautiful lake and sang some worship songs. Then, later that night we went to a sadie hawking type of thing where the girls ask the guys. Many of the Americans even had Haitian dates! It was really fun. One thing about Haitian culture is that everyone dresses SUPER nice for church, even for each sermon in the camp. As we only packed tshirts and shorts, we always felt out of place and underdressed. So last night for the dance, we all decided to make dresses out of our bedsheets, and Mariah helped style them all so well that NOONE could even tell they were't real dresses. The camp offered some new experiences for the team that i believe made us all appreciate our luxuries back in the U.S., like showering in the rain or using a bucket, sleeping on concrete, and 2 hour bumpy rides in the back of a tap tap. The team has been awesome and we are so excited that it's only half way over. Greg said we will be working with kids for the rest of the week, so someone will blog later on to keep you guys updated. Thank you for your prayers!
This is Emily Johnson. So the group just got back from helping out with a youth camp about two hours away from Greg's house. It was a blast. The church has this camp every year during Carnival to help keep the kids away from the craziness in the cities. There were about 80 students there ranging from the ages of 13-30. The term youth pretty much means anyone who is single. It was really fun for everyone getting to know the students, playing soccer and basketball, and exchanging Creole and English vocabulary. The days were pretty laid back and included some activities, sermons, devotionals, worship, and breakouts. Erica and Nathan led separate girls and boys breakouts and Justin spoke during a morning devotional. Everyone led so well and did such a good job of breaking out of their comfort zones. Yesterday was personally my favorite day. We went on a hike to a beautiful lake and sang some worship songs. Then, later that night we went to a sadie hawking type of thing where the girls ask the guys. Many of the Americans even had Haitian dates! It was really fun. One thing about Haitian culture is that everyone dresses SUPER nice for church, even for each sermon in the camp. As we only packed tshirts and shorts, we always felt out of place and underdressed. So last night for the dance, we all decided to make dresses out of our bedsheets, and Mariah helped style them all so well that NOONE could even tell they were't real dresses. The camp offered some new experiences for the team that i believe made us all appreciate our luxuries back in the U.S., like showering in the rain or using a bucket, sleeping on concrete, and 2 hour bumpy rides in the back of a tap tap. The team has been awesome and we are so excited that it's only half way over. Greg said we will be working with kids for the rest of the week, so someone will blog later on to keep you guys updated. Thank you for your prayers!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
We Have Arrived!!!
We have arrived safely! Haiti is a beautiful country and the people here are wonderful! Getting off the plane went smoothly and our host's team was waiting for us at the door! They have been taking great care of our group and we just finished a delicious taco dinner (very spicy)and home made french fries! We had a very fun and interesting truck ride to the hotel, but the place we are staying at is extremely beautiful! There are several little kiddos running around the hotel who are absolutely precious! Tomorrow morning we will be taking a two hour truck ride to the top of the mountain where we will be assisting a youth camp! The youth camp ranges from 13 to 30 years old. We will be playing basketball, soccer, playing with all of the kids, leading breakout bible studies, and assisting in leading worship! There is no internet at the top of the mountain, so this will be the only update until Wednesday evening. The internet is very slow, so we won't be able to host pictures online until we return. In the meantime, google "Jeremy Cowart Voices of Haiti to see pictures and videos of Haiti to help you grasp what's happened here.
Hope everyone is doing well back home!
Please continue to pray for our team and for the people of Haiti!
God Bless!
Hope everyone is doing well back home!
Please continue to pray for our team and for the people of Haiti!
God Bless!
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