Time to play catch up on the last couple of weeks...


Last week we had another Georgia BCM team here. This team's main agenda was construction work. I made and posted a video from their first day at Children of Hope Orphanage. You can watch the video by clicking here. We spent most the week at this orphanage, helping to complete the chicken coop and getting the fish hatchery ready for fish. We also helped weed out the field of banana trees, one of the most labor-intensive tasks. The team enjoyed helping with these projects that will have lasting benefits for these children. I have written before about how much I appreciate and admire Pastor Jean Mark for the work he is doing to care for his kids. He is using all of the resources he has available to use the land in sustainable ways. It's always a blessing knowing that your efforts can impact these kids for years to come. After a couple days, the chicken coop was finished. The chickens will soon be bought. When we stopped by on Wednesday this week, water was going into the fish hatchery. The only thing left is to provide some sort of mesh tarp to help shade the direct sunlight. He's already made a call to purchase 500 fish. And of course we loved seeing the kids each day. The group led them in songs, crafts, and taught and acted out Bible stories. The children could often be found at our side at each of the various projects. They weren't afraid to grab a tool and get to work right beside us. Sometimes we would have to pry the tools out of their hands so they wouldn't overdo it, but as much as I could I let them work. You could see the pride and dignity they had in laboring for themselves and for each other. Obviously Pastor Jean Mark has instilled some great values in each of them already. 


Me and Pastor Jean Mark (don't mind the Georgia shirt... it was given to me. I will always be a TN Vols fan!)


We ended the week with an incredible adventure. About two hours from Leogane is a town called Jacmel. If you google Jacmel you'll see beautiful photos from the Caribbean side of Haiti. Not far from there is a path that takes you to Bassin-Bleu (Blue Basin), a stunning waterfall at the end of a beautiful hike. After finding our way to the trail, which included driving our tap taps through a river, barreling up some rocky hills, and walking the rest of the way when we couldn't go further without 4wd, we hired some guides to take us to the falls. We even had to use a rope to climb down to the main waterfall. From there, you take a quick swim around a rock, and voila!--nature's finest ready for you to behold! You can climb up and jump off a rock beside the waterfall to the beautiful blue water below. They say it's about 80 feet deep. We all had a great time swimming and hanging out there together. 




We said goodbye to the team on Saturday. Since we didn't have another team flying in that day, we took advantage of the extra time and Roland, myself, and three of our guys headed to Muncheez--one of the best restaurants in Haiti for "American food". We ordered a big meat lover's pizza, some french fries, and chicken wings for Williamson--who said he didn't like pizza, though I saw him snag a piece. It was a special treat for me and Roland. We love the Haitian food, but it's always good to have a taste from home!



Later that day I met up with my friend Patty who came to stay at the house for a couple days. She's in Haiti through Global Women and plans to come down once a month or as often as she's able. They have partnered with a Haitian group who needs birthing kits. (You can view a PDF file by clicking here that explains these birthing kits in more detail and how you can help.) She's basically a "mule" for them in bringing down the kits and making new connections throughout Haiti. I first met Patty on my first trip to Haiti last August as a volunteer with Samaritan's Purse. We have kept in touch and she even stayed with me last time she was passing through Tennessee. It was fun catching up with her here and telling her a bit about the ministries we have going on. 




Sunday we went to Pastor Bazil's church. This was the first time I'd been back since the first Baptists 4 Haiti team I hosted in May. It was good to be at his church again. After the service we went to visit his wife who is still suffering from a broken collarbone. On Wednesday she was scheduled to get it re-broken and reset. We prayed with her before we left and we're still waiting to hear the result from the operation.




Monday evening I cooked chicken pasta casserole for the house staff and a couple others. We had a great time. I loved having us all together sharing a meal! They all said they liked it, but I'm sure they wouldn't have admitted otherwise.



On Tuesday Roland, Junior and I went with Pastor Jean Claude to see his church and school on the mountain. We met Pastor Jean Claude through my friend Kalebe who is the director of The Lamb Center Orphanage. Pastor Jean Claude has an orphanage with 110 kids. We've taken a group before to visit with the kids and next week we will have a team going there each afternoon to do Vacation Bible School. Pastor Jean Claude began his ministry "up on the mountain". He told us he's having some big activities for the children in July, one on the mountain and one at his orphanage here in Leogane. He asked if we could help him, but we won't have groups on those particular days. We told him we'd go with him to see his school on the mountain and determine if we can send teams there in the future. We were expecting it to take around 1.5hr but it took 2h15m, unfortunately making it difficult for us logistically to send teams there, as travel time would already take most of the day. But it was great to see where he started and the ministries he still has going there. Sadly, his church collapsed during the earthquake and the concrete school building is still incomplete. For now, the 250 kids meet in a tent area with wind-blown tarps for roofs. It's not windy all the time, but it was the day we were there and I can't imagine their papers standing a chance against the elements. So much we take for granted! Not to mention trying to teach 250 kids all sitting in the same small area, obviously all at very different educational levels. Even though we aren't sure exactly how we can help him because of the distance, we were glad to see the place and the kids and have a better idea what happens there. Maybe in the future we can have a "extreme teams" who would be willing to help rebuild the church and school and camp up there throughout the week. I'd do it! It's so beautiful and so peaceful up there!


One of the mountain roads leading to the school
The school
Standing on the roof of the collapsed church
There were many old graves scattered along the mountain. Some were 50 years old or more.


Wednesday we stopped by Children of Hope Orphanage to check on the kids (and the doggies!). It's not unusual for children to be sick around here and there's one baby in particular we've been keeping our eye on. We took him some baby formula. He's typically crying and I'd say a lot of that is because he's hungry. Pastor Jean Mark does his best to feed the kids, and we've been able to start supplementing that a bit, but even still... children need to eat a lot, and Haitian children tend to eat more than I've seen of American children. I LOVE those kids and I'm enjoying getting to know them more each time I go. The dogs there have also become my pet project (no pun intended). One little puppy especially was inching towards his deathbed without intervention. I'm happy to report that he looks a lot better than when I first saw him, and he comes bounding towards me whenever I come. Before I started nursing him back to help, he'd shy away from me and spend most his days sleeping. He's coming back to life and I'm so thankful. They have six other dogs, 5 of them adults, and one an older puppy. They are all skinny though some are more emaciated than others. I've started bringing them food every visit and they gobble it up. I also help make sure they drink water. I try to teach the kids to help with that as well. All of the dogs already had names except for the little puppy. I asked if I could name him and they said yes. I gave it a day of thought and came up with "Beni", which means to bless or blessed in Creole. I figured that was suitable since God brought us together and I could help provide the blessing of a second chance at life. All of you who know me know how much I love animals. I also spent last week feeding the chickens and the goats as well. When we were weeding, I took different "weeds" to the goats to see if they liked any of them. There was one in particular they loved, so I made sure to set those aside instead of letting them go to the trash pile. Some of the kids helped me take them around to the goats.


Me and Audrich
Before
 After
Me and Beni

On Thursday I took Roland and the guys to the Samaritan's Purse compound for them to see and meet my friend Nina. We also were invited by Kalebe to a playground dedication at the Greta Academy (The Lamb Center) building site. Kids Around the World came down for a week through SP and built an incredible playground for the 70+ kids at Kalebe's orphanage. It was a privilege to be there for the joyous occasion. The kids were so thrilled and it was exciting to watch them as they ran and played all over that thing! We talked with one of the main guys from KATW about possibly building a playground at Children of Hope Orphanage next summer. What a blessing that would be! So we will keep in touch with him and I will keep you guys posted with details of how you could be involved in that special project. We also met a couple who have helped create Orbie for Orphans, a discipleship program developed for orphans and foster children. We are excited to check out what they offer and see if it's something we can start using at the orphanages we're involved in.



Yesterday I invited one of our drivers, Lesly, and his daughter, Julie, over to the house. Several of our staff have children and I'd love to meet them all! Julie and I colored for a while, I gave her a pillow case dress and a few other gifts. She is a precious and affectionate little girl. I hope in the weeks to come I can meet more of the staff's families!



So that's the past couple of weeks in a nutshell. I also had my first motorcycle lesson (scary!), taught Roland his first Creole lesson, and we've had all kinds of critters around trying to cause a scene... bats, mice, and tarantulas! But I'm still loving the ministry here. I love our staff and I'm so blessed to call them friends. I pray that more groups catch the vision of Baptists 4 Haiti so that we can have groups here every week of the year! Without teams, we will have to close the doors, so please pray that more teams will sign up for the fall and we can keep everything going strong. There is so much to be done! We have 26 churches that we're trying to help, 16 of them have been assisted in some way, 10 have yet to receive any assistance, and 23 of them still need their church building completed. Will you consider giving to or serving with Baptists 4 Haiti? I'd love to see you down here and introduce you to my Haitian friends--now family! :)
Those of you who are my friends on Facebook know that I post a Photo of the Day to highlight my Haiti happenings. I wanted to take a moment for the rest of you and catch you up on some of my favorites or most notable ones...

Day 12
 
I finally got my reunion with Fibi!! I brought her and Gracie some snacks. Fibi is skinny and tall but the same ole Fibi. :) Today is a GREAT day!


Day 18

At the beach with Diddi and her kids from Mission Haiti Helping Kids. Its a beautiful day here in Haiti and we are blessed to spend the day having church here and playing in the water!

Day 28The Georgia BCM team is running a mobile clinic up on the mountain at Pastor Pilage's church. The climb was as intense as ever and we had a lot of supplies to carry up, but the team did great, excited for the day ahead. Here's a photo of Gabby serving at the triage station. We could easily see 100 patients today. Pray for wisdom and strength for all God wants us to do today.


Day 32


We worshiped with Pastor Abraham's church this morning. Pastor Abraham is an incredible man of God. We were blessed to sit under the mango tree and listen to God's Word being preached through Pastor Abraham and interpreted by Emmanuel.
 
 

Day 35Day 2 of Sherwood Baptist's "eye clinic". I made up some eye tests to determine which reading glasses each person needed. It was incredible to see someone light up when they put on the reading glasses and were so excited to be able to see everything on that piece of paper. Most people wanted glasses in order to be able to read their Bible. What a special gift these glasses are providing! Two of our Haitian staff, Lesly and Ti Chauffeur are my personal assistants this week. :)

Day 39The Georgia BCM team spent the day at Children of Hope Orphanage. There is a lot of work to be done on the property, including finishing their chicken coop. Pastor Jean Marc hopes to have 300 egg-laying chickens in there soon!

Day 43We spent the day trekking over the beautiful mountains to Jacmel. We headed for Bassin Bleu, a spot famous in the Caribbean for its beautiful waterfalls and springs. It was quite a hike to get to the waterfall, then you have to swim around a rock to get there, but WOW! What more can I say?! It was a wonderful way to end a productive week!  
Our second Georgia BCM team this month had a great day today at Children of Hope Orphanage. They worked on finishing the chicken coop. Tomorrow we'll be doing clean-up and helping weed out one of the many gardens the pastor has planted to provide sustainable resources for his kids. Check out this video I put together from today.


Our final ministry site with Sherwood Baptist this week was at an orphanage. We have recently been connected with a nearby orphanage called Children of Hope. Pastor Jean Marc runs this orphanage and has 26 kids. 15 of them are “true orphans” who have lost their mother and father. Pastor Jean Marc originally came to this area from another town for a church planting assignment during seminary. When his leaders told him it was time to move on, he felt God call him to continue with his ministry here and to care for the many orphans he had encountered. He still has the church and now runs an orphanage and a school. The school is open to children in the neighborhood as well. He does not charge the families to put their kids in his school except for exams, in which he has to purchase the materials for the exams. His orphanage operates by faith. It is incredible to see all the ways God has already provided, but there are still many needs there. And I think the biggest way I can see that God has provided is through Pastor Jean Marc himself and his heart for the children. He is a very resourceful man and uses every inch of the land and every bit of his resources to help the kids. He’s planted gardens, he has cows and goats, they have a chicken coop (and is building a bigger one), and they’re trying to build a concrete pool for fish. It is so encouraging to see a man of God, doing everything in his power, relying on God for the rest, and not standing around waiting for a handout. Those are the people I especially want to help because I believe the work will be multiplied even more because of the faith and determination they are already demonstrating.

On Wednesday our group stopped by for about an hour, introduced themselves and played with the kids, including a pick-up game of soccer which the guys (the Americans and our Haitian staff) especially enjoyed. When we started heading back to the house they were all asking if we would come back the next day. We had an eye clinic planned all day Thursday, but today (Friday = typically our beach day) the group willingly spent most of it back at the orphanage. They taught the kids songs, played games, let them braid their hair, and of course played more soccer! It has been such a blessing getting to know Pastor Jean Marc and his kids. He seems willing to sacrifice everything in order to care for them. His own words: “If I lose everything myself, I don’t care. I want to help the children.” It was wonderful getting to see one of our groups come in and interact with the kids and encourage the pastor. I look forward to more groups getting involved in the future and seeing how God leads us in our ministry there.











They have a lot of dogs at their orphanage. The pastor said they are good for protection and man's best friend. I would have to agree... though Roland may think differently! Ha! Unfortunately all are very skinny and about half of them are truly skin and bones. This little puppy will probably die soon without extra attention. Since I recently met some other poor puppies in sad shape and soon after heard of at least one dying, I'm determined to put forth my best effort to save this little one and help the others. I took some scraps today and purchased a big bag (unfortunately expensive) of Puppy Chow to take this weekend. Hopefully I can count on them to put their efforts into feeding the worst off ones and this puppy will have a fighting chance.

Our team this week is from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. They are a team of 8, half of which are boys who just graduated from high school and the three leaders are in their 20s and 30s. It’s been a great week so far though it has turned out quite differently than planned. This week has been a good demonstration of my philosophy… “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken.” No, that’s not in the Bible, but flexibility is an important attitude when you live and serve in a country like Haiti. I encourage every team to adopt this attitude while they are here.

The initial plan for this week was for the team to run a sports camp at a nearby church every afternoon and go to an orphanage each morning. We’ve known for a couple weeks the orphanage would not be an option but last week we discovered another need they could help with in the morning. Pastor Milo’s church just down the road from us has a school that is still not complete. In a couple weeks we have a construction team coming to work solely on that project. There is some prep work to be done, so we decided this young team could help get things going. We went there Monday morning and helped clear some rocks and spread out the dirt to level where the foundation of a new classroom will be poured. We were there less than two hours and finished what needed to be done. School was in session so we had many curious eyes watching us. One little boy was brought over to us. He had fallen and had a deep gash in his chin. I started to clean him up but realized that he actually needed stitches. We were about to leave anyway, so we dropped him and his teacher off at Doctors Without Borders hospital near our guest house. That afternoon we went to Pastor Abraham’s church to start our sports camp for the week. We had gone there Sunday morning for the church service and were blessed to sit with his church under the mango tree and worship together. Probably around 100 kids came out for the sports camp. We rented basketball goals, played soccer, had a giant parachute, jump ropes, and other activities. The team told the story of Daniel and the lion’s den and then we headed home. But from then on, our plans for the week changed. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we did not continue the sports camp.

Someone from Sherwood Baptist had donated 500 pairs of reading glasses. We initially thought that we’d leave them at the house and the next time we had a medical team, we’d throw the reading glasses in with everything else. But the idea came to us to use this group to give them out, so the rest of the week (since the sports camp was cancelled and the prep work at the school was finished for now), we went to three different churches and had an “eyeglasses clinic”, similar to the medical clinic we had had the week before. The first church was “in the boonies” as I’d call it. It was situated on a hill with a great view all around. We had over 100 people come out for the reading glasses. We wanted to spend time encouraging them spiritually as well. We had a big EvangeCube and used that as our primary method for presenting the Gospel. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s a pictorial rubik’s cube type thing that folds and unfolds while someone tells the gospel message. Roland and some of the other guys spent hours telling and retelling the story using the EvangeCube and an interpreter. We would take people three at a time, they would sit first at that station, then after that would go individually to three evangelism stations… just like the ones I mentioned we had with the medical team last week. Each station had an interpreter. The first day alone the team reported 20 salvations! After the team members spent time talking to and praying with each person, they would come to the eyeglasses station. I was at this station the whole week and did the majority of the exams myself. Our two drivers for the week, Leslie and Ti Chauffer, were a tremendous help to me as well! The test consisted of a diopter chart, basically a series of lines where the font increased with each line. I adapted the test from one I found online, and translated Bible verses into Creole. Each line was a different section of a verse or promise from Scripture. Whatever the smallest line was that the person could see most clearly was the strength of eyeglasses we would begin to fit them with. We’d then go down in strength and let them choose the one that was best and most comfortable for them. For me to have no previous experience with this, I was very happy with the test and how well it worked. I can’t describe how much joy came to my heart every time I saw someone light up and with a huge smile say how clearly they could see the instant they put on the pair of reading glasses! Many of them had said they needed reading glasses in order to read their Bible. What a beautiful gift to give them a blessing of sight and a reconnection with God’s Word through reading it clearly for themselves. A couple of them had beat up reading glasses they’d had for years. I was so happy that we could provide them with a brand new pair. Each person received a card from Williamson at check-in. On these sheets of paper we wrote their personal information, prayer requests, reading glasses strength, and also took their phone numbers if they requested a Bible and of course we’d make a note if they accepted Christ that day. Ti Chauffer was keeping up with the papers at our station and anytime he saw “ACCEPTED CHRIST” he would point it out and say, “This is our sister!” or “This is our brother!” He was as excited as anyone to meet a new brother or sister in Christ and wanted to tell me each time! :) And to go back to the Bibles for a moment… I can’t even tell you how many requests we had this week for Creole Bibles, both from the pastors on behalf of their church members and from the individuals themselves. We have added this to our “Items Needed” page on the Baptists 4 Haiti website. This would be a great way for you or your church to get involved with the needs in Haiti. If you want to help, you can purchase the Bibles (online or through your Gideon friends) and mail them to our office in Georgia. Email me for more information.

Before I close, let me just brag on the group. On Wednesday we went to Pastor Gerald’s church “in the valley”. His tiny makeshift church is located on the side of a mountain. You have to walk down from the paved road down a steep and rocky trail. The view is breathtaking from the moment you start until you finally arrive at the church. The climb back up is breathtaking as well, though for a different reason! The crew did great and didn’t complain once. The next day we headed to Pastor Eliassaint's church. His church is up a different mountain. Again we got a good workout climbing, but we were all thankful this time that the climb was at the beginning of the day and not at the end after we were all exhausted from the eye clinic.

This week has been yet another example of how our best laid plans can be changed in an instant and transformed into something even better. Though my heart was saddened that we could not continue the ministry with the children at the sports camp, I accept that for whatever reason, God had other plans. Our week couldn’t have worked out better for this young team, eager to serve wherever they were able. In total, 26 people came to know Christ this week through the eye clinics. Praise the Lord! This group reminded me of the verse in 1 Timothy chapter 4, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity,” (v12 NIV).

The giant parachute was a big hit at the sports camp!

I love seeing how our teams interact with our Haitian staff! Here's a couple of the guys about to get scored on by Peterson.

Water break!

Climbing back up the mountain after the eye clinic at Pastor Gerald's church. Look at that view!

Pastor Gerald's church is smaller than most of our bedrooms...

Roland and Junior and their EvangeCube marathon. :)

When is the last time someone has asked how they can specifically pray for you and your family? I think most people would agree you would feel special and cared about if someone did. I hope that each Haitian we had the opportunity to pray with felt loved and was encouraged by their time with us.

This man was one of 26 who committed their life to Christ this week!


Leslie and one of the nearly 300 "patients" who received reading glasses this week


I couldn't pass up this photo-op! This man graciously agreed when I asked if I could climb up on his donkey (or mule--whatever it was).

Some kids at the top of the mountain. They were laughing at me because I was all tired and sweaty and trying breathlessly to speak to them in Creole.
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About Me

About Me
In 2005 God asked me to surrender my life to His plans and purpose. Everything changed. From Mexico to New Orleans to Namibia to Haiti it's been one incredible adventure with the Lord after another. This blog is a piece of that journey.

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