February & March Update

The past month and a half has been full of a variety of things.  I am going to try and give you a concise snap-shot of what we have been up to here at Mission Haiti.

February-

The month of February was spent getting accustomed to working within the ministry without Pam here.  Much of these  new responsibilities fell on Paul, Bethany and Tim.  A lot of the adjustments went very well as even the viliage of Ti-Riviere and the schools we work with also had to adjust to dealing with “the new kids in town’ so to speak. 

Construction began on the new teacher housing the first week of February.  We are enjoying watching the great progress that has been made by a crew who works 6 days a week, from 7:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m.  They are a wonderful crew, who has been gracious in the fact we live amongst their construction site.

As a family, we tried our best to address schoolwork intensely because of the busy upcoming short-term team schedule approaching in the month following.  A fun trip was made to our favorite beach here, Port Salute, at the end of the month.  It is a great place to relax and enjoy the white sand and bright blue water. 

Short-term Teams-

Abiding Saviour Church

This team arrived the end of February and only spent two nights sleeping on our property.  They are a church team who have a long relationship with MH and have taken on the sponsorship of the Toussaint mountain school.  For 4 days and 3 nights the team camped at the school while during the day they spent putting on a VBS for the students of the school.  They were a great group of people ranging in age from 14 to their 40’s.  On their departure to the airport, they also stopped at a local hospital in Les Ceyes to offer prayer with patients.

Nurses & Family

The very next week we had a team of a variety of people.  Two people were here from SD who spent much of their times at our ministry center just a village over from Ti-Riviere.  One gentleman from the previous week stayed a second week to simply take in more of the Haitian culture.  Two nurses arrived who are regular visitors and put on free medical clinics at churches, schools and remote villages to those who usually cannot travel to our local clinic or afford to pay the small fee.  The final two members of this team were Tim’s mom and sister!  They bunked in our house that week and spent time just seeing how we go about our days and soaking up a lot of quality time with our girls.  It was very exciting for us to have family here, and we are so grateful to them for making the trip!!!

Embrace Church –

This past week we had Embrace church from Sioux Falls, SD come and stay.  They are also a church with a long relationship with MH in their sponsorship of another mountain school called Joubuin.  As a team they spent 3 days developing relationships with the kids at the school through VBS and a church service.  Along with this they hauled rocks to a home in the mountain where a family of 4 orphans will call their home.  During a hike down from the mountains one day, they team also spent time stopping at people’s homes along the path and offering prayer to those who lived in the homes.  On Sunday afternoon, we helped organize a basketball tournament for all those in the village with MH and Embrace representing themselves well with teams of their own.  And with the time left, many conversations and games happened with the kids of the MH orphanage and those youth who spend much of their days on our property.  As this team headed back to Port-au-Prince, they also made a stop at a local hospital to pray with patients and offer a small hygiene package. 

Sisters from Canada –

This week we have a couple young women coming here for a short stay on our property to check out MH as a potential place of employment during the upcoming school year as teachers in the new Christian Academy currently being built.  Please pray their hearts and minds are able to be open to the potential of living in Haiti, and being a part of a new way of doing education in this area.  It is very exciting to think of the potential ahead, and we hope God gives clarity and peace for all involved.

Reflections

During this season of teams traveling in and out of the MH property, we as a team find it is both energizing and taxing. 

We love to have people making our home theirs for a week at a time.  It is a joy being able to show them many aspects of the ministry, bless the people who get put in front of them throughout the days, and at the very least consider a new perspective about a corner of the world that has so much to offer.  In some ways it is a bit like being a tour guide, all is asked of us is putting people in situations where their hearts are being affected by the stories of people here in Haiti.

Teams also bring with them a lot of their own stories to tell, which has been a great source of encouragement and learning opportunities for us as well.  As full-time staff, we have all commented that we are blessed and encouraged by short-term teams probably more than they realize.

Yet as teams come and go, our day-to-day tasks and duties don’t always stop, and so our to-do lists can compound pretty quickly.  Everything from our homes turning into dumping grounds, to important meetings with constructions crews, or making sure our youth are making it to school each day.  We are so thankful for the fact all of these duties don’t fall one just one person, but that we as full-time staff can pitch in where we see a need.

One area in particular that I have observed take a toll on our girls, is the let down of when an American team leaves.  The girls seem to latch on to people pretty quickly…. which has its positive and negative affects… then having to quickly say goodbye again.  I would say it has been confusing for our youngest two daughters to understand what role teams play for MH in general (maybe a topic for another post….)

But we have really blessed and encouraged by the teams that have been here recently, and eagerly anticipate the teams to come.  All have been unique, we trust their time was used for the good of kingdom building.  It is our hope that as each member returns to life in the states, they can continue sharing the stories of those they encountered while here for a while.