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.
