You Are Still Held Close To My Heart

It has been six months since I have posted a blog. It isn't because I have nothing to say or that life has been uneventful. It is simply deduced as the desire hasn't been as prominent as it once was in days past. So what brings me to write now you may wonder? It is in fact a trip that some of you may had read about in my posts written back in October. It was a week long venture in the country of Haiti.

I don't really plan on discussing my experience on that trip as you can simply go back and read some old posts in case you missed them the first time around. I also realize I never posted my final day either, but I think this post will make up for its absence.

The last several days my heart has swelled at the thought of the amazing team I had the opportunity to serve alongside with. This is written mostly for myself so I can remember the names and faces of those for years to come. Perhaps you will find this an uninteresting read, but for myself these are people that I will always cherish.

So I debated on how to point out the individuals in the above picture, (from left to right is difficult since the rows are too staggered). I suppose describing them will work out best.

• In the blue shirt on the far left is Ernie. He was a real easy going guy, unlike many of the others in our group Ernie  was a fairly reserved individual. 
• Just above Ernie is Mike in the black shirt. I sat next to Mike on two of my plane rides and got to chat with him more than most of our team. He is a super nice guy and he just exuded such an incredible level of humility it blew me away just talking to him. He was very encouraging to be around and you could tell he really loved people. 
• Just below Mike in the heathered grey shirt is Bill. He is a pastor in a church in Habersham county I believe. You could tell he had a strong faith in the Lord and shown it every waking moment. He also has an incredible testimony and with him even being on the trip with us was amazing.  
• Moving to the top of the picture stands Jason in the white shirt. You can't miss him because he is by far the tallest in the picture. Jason had a really great work ethic about himself when we were out at the churches. He also had a great sense of humor and could really brighten up a room providing a good laugh every now and then.
• Just below Jason, and partly hidden, stands out team leader Doug. He did a great job relaying information to us throughout the week. One night I had the opportunity along with a couple of others to hear his testimony and it is amazing to see what God has brought Him out of. He also always had a great attitude all the time.
• In front of Doug is Lance in the beige shirt. This trip was Lance's first plane ride and mission trip, so he was experiencing lots of new things. He was one of the more quiet guys in our group but I did get to know him pretty well. He worked hard and I could tell that the trip was a great experience for him.
• Beside Lance is Jenny in the grey shirt. Jenny was one of the four from our part of the team. I rode next to Jenny on the other two flights I was on and got to talk to her quite a bit as well. This was her first mission trip out of the country and I assure you she is ready to go on another. She brought lots of energy to the group which was good.
• Just above her stands Jerry in the white shirt. I can't imagine that anyone wouldn't feel blessed after they meet Jerry. If you read my earlier blogs I mentioned him once or twice and my few words do not do justice at the kind of man he is in my eyes. When I think about what it means to go and make Christ known in all the world, I think of Jerry. Being retired doesn't mean you stop serving and reaching others. To me, he is a perfect example of what it looks like to be a servant of Christ.
• Hidden behind Jerry is Stanley. Stanley is a character to say the least. He is funny, controversial, and is truly himself. That may not sound like a compliment but it is in every way possible. He walks to the beat of a different drum and I will never forget his antics. Even with his ridiculous nature, he was no different than so many others on the team. He worked so hard and gave so much of himself.
• To his left is me.
• Below me is Monique in the black shirt. Monique is fun and energetic and I think she was a great addition to the team. She was one of the four from our group and she was a lot like me. Still up in the air about life with some things but still trying to pursue God in all the fog of it.
• Below Monique is Alison in the black t-shirt. It is thanks to her that I had the opportunity to go on the trip in the first place. Alison is one of my heroes. Despite her being a little younger than my self I look up to her as a mentor. She has been one of the few individuals in life I could call a true friend. I am so utterly grateful that I know her and cannot express the impact she has been in my life.

This may feel like a pointless run of descriptions of individuals you may have never met and may not ever meet in this lifetime. But to me these people are so very close to me heart. They may not possess my thoughts every day but for sure enter my thoughts on a weekly basis.

I can honestly say that being around those 11 individuals is the closest thing I have felt to a true unadulterated fellowship with a decent sized group of individuals. I know this because I could see each one of their hearts and they were all beautiful. I have had amazing moments of worship, prayer, and fellowship with some individuals in different parts of life. But no where near the level of humility, servant-hood, love, and obedience towards God than that group of 11 individuals.

Often Christians ponder what they will experience in heaven. I can only imagine that it will feel something like the nature of what I experienced for 7 days with these true men and women of God.

Each one of you are in my thoughts and in my prayers. I hope that an opportunity to see each one of you again in the near future is bound to occur. But if our encounter fails to present itself then I will be overjoyed the day I meet you in heaven.

Thank you for blessing me. Thank you for humbling me. Thank you for your heart.

I love each and every one of you. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Roman 12:1

It Doesn't End Here - Haiti : Day 7

Today is the last full day in Haiti. The week seemed to go by so fast.


Journal Entry : Day 7

Breakfast was really good this morning on a day that I woke up well in time to enjoy it. This morning I lead devotion and used the a verse the following verse - "So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:58. I basically talked about how our work didn't stop here in Haiti. I think it went pretty well and is something that I spoke on to remind myself of that. Soon after we all headed to Alexis' church to have our final day of VBS and construction on the benches.

At VBS we did our usual song time but today Mike joined us for the day. After a few songs Alison told them the story of Daniel and the lion's den. She picked a few kids to act out the story and I think both the audience and actors enjoyed it quite a bit. Following the story we had the kids make some "lion" masks in relation to the story for the craft for the day. Based on an overall assessment I believe the kids enjoyed that craft as most wore there masks proudly. We then did our usual split and today I went out to play soccer on the last day. It was a fun last day to get out and run around with the kids. As we packed up the cones and soccer balls we noticed one of the kids took a soccer ball. I didn't fret too much but for some reason Pucci wanted to figure out the culprit. I told him not to worry and that it was okay, he eventually gave up.

Lion masks!

Back over in the church I walked over to see the progress on the benches and the guys were already on their third bench for the day. The seven they made in two days turned out extremely well. Going from the small rickety benches to some really sturdy wide benches, it was truly a massive improvement. As VBS was coming to a close we gave all the kids a necklace that has a coin hanging from it. On the coin it says in Creole - "Where do you want to spend eternity", and on the reverse side it has John 3:16. These coins were given to us by Jerry who has a buddy that makes these. He can print them in almost any language and gives them to people going on mission trips. Before we were completely packed up and ready to go I sat down on one of the benches close to Mike and there was a little girl that sat close by. She was singing and talking up a storm, quite an adorable little girl Mike was talking to her and had a translator help communicate a little. A few minutes later a young man sat down with us. His name was Jeff and he was 17 years old. He spoke some English and French which was great because I was able to communicate with him pretty well. We talked for maybe twenty minutes or so, I thoroughly enjoyed conversing with him and it was probably the longest conversation I had with a Haitian since I was there. After we parted ways I gave him a coin and an Evangecube track that we had. He wanted some water but we were all out, so I reached into my bag and gave him one of my granola bars instead.

Mike's new friend.

When we arrived back at the house I went upstairs and emptied my backpack. Earlier in the week Clifford asked if he could have my backpack for school, I told him that I didn't think I would have enough space in my suitcase to fit everything in it to manage getting back home on one carry-on. Our core team discussed it and figured we would make it happen one way or another. Alison told me she would have some spare room in her suitcase so I decided that it would be doable. A fe things to know about Clifford is he is 22 and studying to become a dentist. Now one thing you will discover is that any Haitian would ask for anything that they could have. Doug said the country has become a charity nation. Now it did get stuck in my mind all week with that thought but I did feel that Clifford had a genuine heart about his request. I came back downstairs and pulled him aside and offered him the gift. He was truly grateful and I knew that it was something he needed much more than I. It was a blessing to help him and know that it would be put to good use. He wore it the rest of the day proudly sporting his new accessory. It made me smile. That is something that I will remember from this place and that is how often it made me smile. Maybe just doing service for God just does that, but I couldn't help but hold back a smile from time to time.

Coins we gave to the kids.

So this afternoon we got to go visit the beach for a couple of hours. It was a nice change of pace to our everyday routine. The water felt nice among the hot weather and it was an interesting sand on the beach. It was the first time I had been in the ocean in a few years and the salt water hitting the lips was a bit of a surprise. So we headed back to the house arriving just in time for dinner at 4:00. We had our debrief time to follow. Overall it seemed everyone had a good week to say the very least. I shared to the group how the biggest blessing of the week was working alongside the 11 other individuals. Each on of them was an inspiration, a joy, and just a funny set to be around. It will be a group that will not be easily forgotten and held close to my heart. So we didn't have any planning to do that evening so we had several hours to kill. We played cards for a while and socialized along the way. It was a relaxing evening to end the night for sure. A distant storm brought about some rain that will hopefuly cool off the night for a pleasant night's rest. We have to get up early tomorrow to catch our flight out of Port au Prince.

Stanley and Jason enjoying the ocean with a few Haitians

Day 8 and a reflection will hopefully be up tomorrow!

Combien? That's too much. - Haiti : Day 6

Moving forward on to day six which was Thursday and our week was beginning to find its end.

Journal Entry : Day 6

I slept the best last night than I had all week. I do believe the temperature was bit lower last night which most definitely helped the nice slumber. Breakfast was fine but the best part was they served that spectacular cherry juice again. I have still yet to discover a solution for what to substitute it for now that I am home. Devotion was good this morning and lead by Miss Alison. Pastor Milot's message was a little strange to me though, but that wasn't an unusual occurrence. Anyway, we got geared up and headed out to have another day of VBS.

So today as I mentioned in the previous post, we made the colored beads key chain. We handed each bead out one at a time and Alison explained each color's purpose in understanding how to know God and to grow closer towards Him. After the kids finished their craft for the day Pastor Bill was going to go ahead and present the story today. He used an Evangecube to present the gospel of Jesus and his purpose. Until I came on this trip I never saw an Evangecube. They are somewhat clever and for the purposes of an object lesson they captivate the audience's attention quite well. They stayed fairly focused through the presentation and hopefully those kids grasped a fairly good understanding of what they just heard.

We then split them up as usual to go play soccer while the other group stayed in the shade to enjoy a snack and drink. Luckily today Monique and Jennie said they would take my place in recreation, so I stayed to hand out snacks. I enjoyed the time spending with kids on a more chill circumstance. After the snacks were handed out I just sat in the back with a few kids watching them and Clifford interact. Kids are no different wherever you go for sure. They all want a little attention. Every now I'd have one tap my shoulder or pull at my arm hair, just something to get me to turn their way. It's not a foreign feeling as the joy that comes over me to see a kid smile at merely the simplest gesture you return to them. Whether it is merely a high five or a smile, I can't help but recollect thoughts of camp and those similar moments as a counselor.

So the other group was finishing up at Pastor Milot's church before heading this way. But it wasn't too long before they made their way over, it put a big smile across my face as their "tap tap" rolled up. I'm not really sure why but maybe it was the joy of having the team together. I walked over to see if they needed a hand unloading any supplies as they were ready to get started on some benches for this church. I think it was shocking to them at how wide opened the area we had to work in. They were used to working in a gated church that cut them out of the culture that we got to experience every day. I think it was great for their morale though to simply be among so many Haitian kids and adults. To my surprise they had already built a bench while they were at the other church. This bench looked very sturdy and it was leaps and bounds better than what this church already harbored.

Solid benches made for Alexis' church
"The 900lb test" - Jason, Stanley, and Mike obliged.

Pastor Alexis stopped by and saw the team constructing some new benches and he seemed truly grateful. I was so glad he was getting an upgrade as this was a real need for them. It didn't take them two hours to slap three more together before it was quitting time. There was some spare time before both teams headed back to the house. Everyone was able to really interact with the culture which half the team was so deprived of before. I taught some of the kids how to thumb wrestle and finger joust, they got a kick out of it. One guy from our team asked about sugar cane and a Haitian went and cut us some so we could try it. It was pretty interesting I have got to say. It grows in fields that look like corn and the actual sugar cane looks like a stalk of bamboo. You have to tear or cut away the casing and the inside is what you chew. It does taste mildly sweet and you simply bite a piece off and chew for the juice and spit the rest out. It isn't a snack I would eat everyday but an experience nonetheless.

Sugar Cane Plant

Cut Sugar Cane

So we made our way back to the house but anticipating our last full day tomorrow. We arrived and sat around and chat for a little while when a couple of merchants came in to sell us some souvenirs. It took them quite a while to set out all their merchandise and about the time they finished the dinner bell rang. So before we browsed the "shop" we ate. Dinner was good and Doug had a sweet surprise for us and found us some little cups of ice cream and it was excellent. Although it wasn't quite enough to satisfy my desire for ice cream, I would satisfy that later on the trip. Most everyone browsed the items and several things were quite interesting but not too much worth having. I did spot a couple of 8"X10" painting that I thought were pretty and asked "combien?" - how much. He said $20 for both so I offered him $10 for both he came down to $15 and I said that was too much. I didn't bring much money on the trip and didn't really plan on buying any souvenirs and they were definitely something I didn't need. So I stood back and watched as the others shopped until it started to slow down. About 20 minutes later he said he would do $12 dollars and I just shook my head sticking to my guns at my original offer. Jason was still doing a little bit of shopping and I was chatting with him a little pointing to the paintings showing my interest was still there. He figured that as they closed up shop I'd get it for the price I wanted, I thought that was a good strategy. So not long after they began packing up and he $10 and I said okay. I was pleased at my haggling skills because I wasn't sure if it would work.

The two pictures I purchased

After they left we went on to have our debrief time. You could definitely tell the morale of the team was extremely high after today as the construction team really enjoyed being out of the four walls of the other church and out and about with the real culture. It is one thing to do service for someone, it is a completely different experience to to do service for someone as they work hand in hand with you. That is the partnership that our team felt with the Haitians today. Proceeding  the meeting we prepared for VBS and the craft to go with Daniel and the lion's den. Afterwards Alison, Monique, Jennie, and myself went upstairs to play several rounds of cards before bed. So that is it for the day. A demain. Which reminds me how glad I am to have taken French as I can somewhat communicate with people on a basic level. Thanks to Alison refreshing my mind on a few words (she was a better French student than I), I now have an excuse as to why I chose it over Spanish in high school and college.

Hades...I mean Haiti...the heat messes with you... : Haiti - Day 5

So today was a good day but it started out quite strange. So to forewarn you I had a couple of nightmares in the morning that were fairly graphic. I will write out what I wrote in my journal as it was an occurrence in my day, but if you feel that it is content you would prefer to avoid than simply skip pass the red colored text. But I did forewarn you, I thought it was vivid and quite graphic to experience and if anyone feels they have the ability to interpret the dreams/nightmares by all means I would love to get an inkling as to what they mean.


Journal Entry : Day 5

This morning was strange to say the very least. I had a couple of nightmares and up until this point I can say I haven't had a nightmare in years. The first nightmare was at some type of retail store with an outdoor section that was like a full-fledged outdoor environment - like a forest or jungle. For whatever reason I helped design a pond or something and I walked along the side of this body of water. A female was there with me but I don't recall who it was specifically. All of sudden a pack of wolves began chasing us and trying to attack us. I scrambled up a tree and the wolf was right behind me. I stabbed it in the eye with a stick and it was completely unfazed. The following nightmare took place at my old house. I remember looking out the glass door at the front of the house in the living room. The sky was extremely dark and the weather looked troubling. The next thing I know I see a funnel pull down from the sky right in my front yard. I scurry to the hallway and noticed my sister and mom were there. Not a minute passed and it was gone and the sky was clear. Looking back out the door there was a big red truck and paramedics all around. One guy was being moved on a stretcher that was completely severed from the chest down but his eyes were opened and seemed to be conscious. Another guy was being dragged away was severed from the waist down. I awoke quite startled. 

It's hotter than Hades down here.

After that extreme awakening I got ready for breakfast. Breakfast was good although I thought chicken wings for breakfast a bit of an oddity. After the typical morning routine we were on our way to do another VBS. One thing I failed to just mention was that this morning Pastor Milot spoke about Jonah which was quite a funny coincidence since it was the story we were telling today. For setup this go round we did our regular song time as usual to open up the day and then we moved right into story time. So as I mentioned yesterday, I was doing an object lesson on Jonah. I feel like the kids were quite engaged by the story with the help of the balloon. It is hard to explain how it looks so I found a YouTube video of a guy that presents the same story I did using the balloon. I will say he is a better story teller than I no doubt - seriously watch it, it is a clever trick I do believe.

After the story we split them up again with an arts and crafts group along with snack, while the other half off to play some soccer. So to save the girls from the heat I jumped out there again to play along with the kids again. They really do get into that soccer sport. For those of you that know me you know how much I dislike the sport, but alas I did enjoy my time when playing with them. I even scored a goal every now and then. After recreation was coming to a close I was really feeling the brute force of the heat. I'm pretty certain I got a little too hot today, maybe a little dehydrated. So as we finished up there we headed towards the other church. On the "tap tap" I felt a headache coming on and figured it was a sure sign of early dehydration. Luckily I kept some Aleve with me so I took one of those before arriving at the church. You know it is a hot place when you sweat doing nothing but standing in the shade or sitting in the bed writing in a journal.

Don't leave home without it!

We arrived at the church and the other team had once again accomplished quite a bit that day. It appeared there was very little left to be done on benches, in fact they began building some brand new ones from all new material. Feeling the adverse effects from earlier I tried to help when I could and re-hydrate in between. Also for some reason today the fire ants were out in full force. Myself, Alison, and Monique got bit several times. It was unbelievable how fast those Haitian fire ants were. One of my hopes on this trip was to climb a fruit tree and pick some fruit, sadly I will say that this did not occur. However, there was a small lime tree close by and Ernie managed to knock off the lone lime that we saw hanging from it. I cut a sliver off the top of the skin and got to taste some fresh lime juice. I thought it was pretty cool. So anyway work was done for the day before we knew it we were back at the house.

Jason finally had time to take a break.

Dinner was good as usual and we ended up having a longer debrief time than usual. Most of the discussion that came about as to what the work agenda would be for the next two days. The construction team was running out of things to do so we offered up the idea about building some benches for the other church. This church had maybe seven benches that were hardly worth a thing. Only problem we ran into was that we spent all of our money on wood for the first church. The team thought the other church could really use those benches, so as a team everyone scraped together about $150. That blew me away to see how people chipped in for a good cause without hesitation. I was inspired once again by the sacrificial hearts on this team. So after everything was decided, both teams would be at Pastor Alexis' church working as one. I was glad because this church really had so little compared to Pastor Milot's.

The key chains in their final stage, we would make these tomorrow.

So we socialized for a little while afterwards then prepared for VBS. We compiled the crafts materials and set it all up and that took quite some time. We were going to be making key chains with the six different colored beads that represent salvation. We constructed about a hundred pieces of string cut and tied on the ring along with sorting the different colored beads for easy distribution. When all that was said and done it was time for a good night's rest. Hopefully no nightmare's this time around.

God's Calling Doesn't Have a Retirement Plan - Haiti : Day 4

The more time I spent with those eleven other individuals it really excited me at how many of God's people truly are capable of stepping out in faith and serving. No thanks or credit is expected, just merely service at it purist form. 


"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,"
Ephesians 6:5-7

Journal Entry : Day 4


I didn't sleep well last night but good enough to have the energy to get me through the day. Breakfast was okay as I can recall, with a short devotion to follow. Pastor Milot came out for another short sermon as usual. So we made our way towards the church for VBS. As we opened up with singing songs not as many kids arrived today, maybe 60 or so, but we wouldn't let that damper our time there. This time we decided to switch up the scheduling for the day and have half of the kids go do recreation while the other half would do the craft and have their snack. After 30 minutes or so we would then switch the two groups. Bill and myself along with Clifford went over to lead recreation. 

Clifford and I in the hot sun playing soccer.

At first we attempted to teach them dodge ball. It was quite hilarious as the kids would just be hitting each other with the balls or tagging one another with them. Nobody ever went out on the sidelines either, it was like continuous dodge ball. After about 10 minutes of chaos we just switched it to soccer since it was a sport they understood no problem. It was extremely hot this morning especially running around with the kids. After both groups had their rec time and their craft/snack time we brought them all together for story time. Pastor Bill led the story again today about Noah and his faithfulness to God. For some reason the kids didn't pay attention quite as well today as yesterday, I guess we will have to restructure our curriculum for tomorrow.


So at about 12:00 we made our way out to the other church to see if we could get geared up for some more construction. When we arrived I noticed the team had made a lot of progress since yesterday. Come to find out they didn't receive any material yesterday until about 12:00. I helped some cutting a few boards and assembling a bench or two. We also got a couple of rough 1"X12"X16' board which we had to sand down. It took quite some time with the size and with the limited resources we had.

Hard at work!
Pictured left to right: Jennie, Me, Lance, Jerry, Stanley, Bill

On the work site I also spent some time with Jerry today and we chatted for probably close to half an hour. I discovered in his earlier days he used to be a cyclist and he told about some of the long rides he had taken back when and some the sights he has seen. He told about several mission projects he and his wife had been involved with over the years and it was quite interesting to say the least. I also discovered that after this trip he was going to be making his way to Ethiopia in 3 weeks. He is truly using the time he has left to to serve the Lord. Scripture never tells us when to retire from serving His people. It should always be a passion held close to our hearts until the day we breathe our last. 


We left at 3:15 to make it back to the house in time for dinner. I don't recall what we had but dinner was really good that evening. Afterwards we had our debriefing and it went well. Then the VBS team decided to knock out tomorrow's planning early. I would be leading the story tomorrow about Jonah and the whale, using the central theme that God's purpose will be done despite our selfishness. I was going to make it an object lesson with the magic trick of using a twisty balloon. I learned it several years ago but it stuck with me as to how to do it quite well. I really look forward to it being quite captivating to the kids. I shown the trick to several members of the team and they then wanted to attempt it. Many tried and failed and one couldn't help but laugh at the hilarity of seeing a group of adults playing with balloons. Mike figured it out pretty quick but I think he has a little experience with balloon animals and such. 

This is what it is supposed to look like.

Not too long after I began working on my story I would tell tomorrow. I then had a verse come to mind that I wanted to use but I couldn't cite its location. So I found Alison upstairs in the patio area to see if she could help me figure out which one I was trying to find. Neither of us found the exact one I was searching for but I settled on one we found in II Timothy 2:13 - "If we are faithless, He Remains faithful." I felt like it captured the summary to the book of Jonah perfectly. Alison and I continued to chat for a while, in fact it was the first time she and I got to talk by ourselves since we left on the trip. I really enjoyed getting tuned back in to each other's hearts. Some time later Jennie came out to join us asking if we wanted to play a few rounds of Nerts. We obliged and enjoyed the friendly competition. Monique came along much later and joined in with some casual conversation to end the night. Overall it was a pretty solid day.

Lo Le Lo La : Haiti - Day 3

As I said earlier I did not bring a camera but a member from our team came through. Mike from our team posted some pictures from the trip and said I could use them if I would like to for my blog, thanks Mike! So now you will get the occasional photo here and there from our actual trip. Also I went to buy groceries yesterday and looked for a cherry juice but failed in finding anything that appeared to be worthwhile, I might have to squeeze my own.

Journal Entry : Day 3

I slept much better last night. In fact I woke up to the breakfast bell at around 7:30. On a side note I must mention I did not bring a watch or any other time-telling device on this trip, hence the "about" and the "around" estimations. Actually I decided not to bring any electronic devices at all, mainly to avoid any distractions from what I was there for. Waking up so late made me feel a little bad since I wasn't dressed for the day but I knew I'd have time afterwards. Breakfast was good and the juice was good, it tasted like some concoction of pineapple, mango, and papaya juices.

Every morning after breakfast someone from the team leads the group in a short devotion and Pastor Milot comes by to share a short sermon. After that we loaded up in the "tap taps" where half the team would go do construction at Milot's church while the other half to Alexis' church to do VBS with the kids. The construction team consisted of Mike, Jerry, Lance, Jason, Stanley, and Ernie. They took with them Emmanuel and Williamson, they would be their translator and bodyguard for the week. The VBS team was Alison, Monique, Jennie, Bill, and myself. Our translator was Clifford along with Pucci as our bodyguard.

When we arrived at the church there was about 30 kids sitting on the benches anticipating our arrival. We unloaded our craft materials, water, snacks, and recreational stuff. Clifford helped us lead the kids in a series of songs. Most of them they knew already but it was fun hearing the excitement in their voices. Every now and then I would pick up the tune to a song I knew and just sing along in English with them. The title of this blog is in reference to a silly song they sang that I'm not even sure what it meant but they seemed to get excited about singing it. I think we taught them the song "deep and wide" in English in which they enjoyed quite a bit. As we were singing several kids began trickling in from the village and before we knew it we went from about 30 kids to about 75. So after singing songs for about 20 minutes or so we then started doing our craft with them. We did a craft to help learn their names and so they could learn ours. Basically we had these 5"X7" sheets of craft foam in which we had them write their names on. Attached to the foam was a string so they could wear it around their neck. Then we passed out a handful of sticker backed foam shapes and letters they could decorate their name tags. I think the kids got a kick out of it especially reading our names and such.

VBS going on at Pastor Alexis church

After arts and crafts time, Pastor Bill told the kids the story of David and Goliath. He picked a few of them out to act out the story as it was told. Clifford did an a great job interpreting and as the week progressed we really appreciated his enthusiasm with the kids. When Pastor Bill finished telling the story of David and Goliath he sang the old kid's bible song and the kids thought it was totally awesome. It wouldn't be the last time he sand it either as it was requested many more times during the week. Then we passed out some snack crackers to the kids which became quite a difficult task. It became quite a challenge figuring out which kid got a snack and which didn't. Many would take their snack and put it in their pocket and ask for another. As much as we would liked to have given them all numerous amounts of snacks, we only had a limited supply to give out. It was sad knowing how hungry some of these kids may have been. But at the same time it was a little frustrating at their dishonesty. We also passed out bags of water to each kid and let them enjoy those for a the next several minutes.

Bagged water....who thought of that?

As they enjoyed their snack we took out some bubbles and started blowing them for the kids. I started letting some kids blow the bubbles after each time I dipped the wand. Before I knew it there were about 10-12 kids surrounding me wanting to blow the bubbles. With these little guys there is no such thing as personal bubble. It didn't really bother me and their enthusiasm was quite contagious. Seeing their desire for attention really made me think of how much their desire to feel love and worth. In which I have no doubt Jesus can provide for them those two very things. We went out to this open field to set up for some recreation and took with us a couple of soccer balls and cones for goals. As we were out there playing and watching the kids play some soccer I had a little kid maybe two or so walk up to me. I grabbed onto my leg and just stood there. I put my hand down to see if he wanted to be held and he just put his hand in mine. I picked him up and held him in my left arm, he didn't say anything, he just lay his head on my shoulder just chilling. It was the first time I held a little kid in quite some time. On a side not I will say that some of the real little Haitian kids like his size are absolutely the most adorable. kids you will ever see. Not too long after it was time to go (12:00), I sat him down and waved goodbye.

Kids playing soccer

We stopped back at the house to drop off our supplies and then we headed right back out to Pastor Milot's church to help the other team with some construction. When we arrived half of the construction team was working on repairing some stairs and the other half was repairing some school house benches. I decided to jump on board with the benches as more hands looked like they were needed there. The work was slow and a little tedious since we were quite limited with our resources. All we had to work with was a hand saw, one and a half hammers, a battery operated drill, and a couple of pliers and wrenches. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my hands dirty doing some work with the guys. It was a highlight of the day working mostly with Bill, Stanley, Lance, and Jerry. On another side not I must tell you about Jerry. He is 77 years old and been doing mission work for several years. He always has an intriguing story to tell; definitely one of the types of people you could spend a day with just to hear them talk. He was an inspiration to me all week, as all of the team members were, but he definitely blew my socks off in so many ways. We worked until close to 3:00 and headed back to the house.

Stanley and Lance working hard on a bench.

Dinner was really good and the debrief time afterwards was quite enjoyable as well. Alison and I kicked the soccer ball around in the courtyard just killing time for a little while. Sometime close to 6:30 our core team sat around on the front porch with Doug hearing about his testimony. We continued to discuss several different thoughts and ideas as the evening grew late. It was a pleasureful time for sure to learn more on some of these individuals' hearts. We then went inside and went over the VBS agenda for tomorrow and figured out a slightly different plan for tomorrow. Just after 9:00 we decided to call it quits and hit the hay.

Debrief time, a few people aren't in this picture.
From left to right : Jason, Alison, Lance, Doug, Stanley, Bill, Jerry, and Me

Day 4 - tomorrow...

Bondye beni ou : Haiti - Day 2

The title here is Creole for God bless you. Developing an ear for another language was quite difficult to me. I could pick out a word here and there, but often times it was spoken so quickly I couldn't catch most of it. As the week progressed I became a little more adapt to learning how to communicate despite the language barrier. As a whole I would say this was the hardest part about the trip- the inability to communicate or comprehend what was being said around you.

Journal Entry : Day 2

Sunday morning I awake sometime around 4:00 A.M. and it is still dark. Lying there I realize falling back asleep would be unlikely. So I decided to just lay there with my thoughts as the sun starts to creep up around 5:15. At this point, you begin to hear the chime of a rooster or two taking turns informing you that it is morning. This became an everyday occurrence, one that wasn't to bad to get used to. The other sound that you would here were dogs barking at each other from time to time throughout the nights and in the mornings; this to me definitely became a nuisance and for sure one thing I won't miss in Haiti.

At about 5:30 A.M. the house is shaken by the sound of the loudest rooster crow you could imagine. It was absolutely deafening as well as alarming to say the least. Come to find out it was one of the men from the other team that was there with us. His name was Stanley and he is one of the biggest characters you will ever meet. Many of the men from the other team have been on mission trips together and this actually became a tradition that Stanley would do. To describe Stanley he is probably in his late 50's, standing at about 6'1", and weighing in at about 330 lbs. Much like many of the other guys, he was always quick-witted and in good spirits. Later come to find out his infamous rooster call scared not only the people on the team that weren't prepared for it, but also all the Haitian workers at the GBC House. They were terrified and were banging on the Doug's door trying to understand what happened.

Well, I decided to stay in bed since breakfast was still about two hours away despite being fully awake after that occurrence. Around 6:30 I got up to take a shower for the first time in Haiti. Initially, I was somewhat nervous about it because you can't drink the water or get it in your mouth. So water over there is a precious resource and we had to be conservative when it came to showers. We had to take "army" showers which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Basically, you just douse yourself with water getting wet and then you turn the water off. They you lather up and turn the water back on to rinse off. It wasn't too bad except that the water was pretty cold and there wasn't hardly any pressure out of the shower head.

When every meal was was prepared and ready to be served the cook would ring a bell informing us it was ready. So a little after 7:00 we hear the bell for the first time and breakfast was served. In the kitchen/dining room there is a built in A/C unit that doesn't put out much air but does keep that room cooler in the house than any other place. Breakfast this morning was really good. The best part to me was the fresh squeezed cherry juice. I'm not even that big a fan of cherries but when I get back to the States I will hunt me down something that is remotely close to that. So today's agenda was to go to church in the morning and in the evening. Half the team- Lance, Mike, Stanley, Jerry, Ernie, and Bill went to Pastor Milot's church where Pastor Bill from our team would preach that morning. The other half- Doug, Alison, Monique, Jennie, Jason, and myself went to Pastor Alexis church where we would be doing VBS that week.

So we hop in our "tap tap" along with a translator named Clifford as well as a body guard named Pucci. After about a 30 minute drive we make our way down a narrow dirt road with trees and cacti flowing from the sides of the vehicle. Finally we arrive to the church and pull up to what was left of probably a two story building. All that was there were some ruined side walls off to the side and some columns supporting a second story floor that was now a ceiling to a place of worship. The ceiling did provide some shade over the congregation of about 40 or so that were there, but other than that this was an outdoor church. The service had already started when we got there and the church was already singing songs. The members sat on these small 1"X6" benches that looked like they were in desperate need for an upgrade. They wrangled up some plastic patio chairs for us somewhere and sat them up at the front of the church. As the service progressed I found it quite fascinating but also quite perplexing to watch. The small crowd was very energetic belting their voice for their "papa". But the perplexing part was I had no clue what they were singing about. Their enthusiasm really made me want to sing with them but was unable, instead I just clapped along with them. The service was quite long but luckily the translator did interpret the message for us when Pastor Alexis spoke.

Upon the conclusion of the service we shook a few hands and departed back towards the house. Along the way this is when I noticed the ridiculous amount of fruit trees that this country had. There were mango, banana, coconut, papaya, lime, and ginnups. I'm sure there are more than that, but that was all the types I saw on this trip. As we arrived at the house, our core group decided to play some cards for a little while, maybe 30 minutes or so. We then decided to start working on planning some VBS material for the next couple of hours. It took some time but for the most part we settled on the stories and crafts that we would be doing with the kids for that week. Before we knew it, we heard the dinner bell at 4:00. Yep, only two meals a day, this was going to be interesting. Dinner was good from what I recall and we had an hour before everyone was going to leave to go to Pastor Milot's church for an evening service.

Ginnups

This church was much nicer than the one we attended in the morning. It was equipped with a very large industrious sized tent with maybe 20 benches or so. It also had power to it so it was well lit and had a sound system with a couple of mics, an electric guitar, and a keyboard hooked in. The worship was loud and energetic and it lasted for quite a while. Then Pastor Milot got up to give his message in which Emmanuel translated for us. The message started out well with a principle message of, "Do not be afraid, God is there". After that it veered and curved all over the place, but that initial point spoke to me for sure. So after it was over we went back to the house. It was our first time in the "tap tap" at night. Overall it was more peaceful, most likely because of less traffic and less honking of horns.

Riding back it was the first time I saw something that reminded me of home - the moon. It looked just like it did in Georgia. It gave me a small amount of joy and satisfaction. It also made me miss home for just a second. We made it back safely and had a debriefing time with the entire group to share about our day. After that we had a baked cake waiting for us in the kitchen. It was definitely a sweet surprise. So after that it was off to bed on another humid night, tomorrow we would start VBS.

Until tomorrow...Day 3....Mesi (Thank you)