28 Jan...7:53p

Haiti said to tell all'y'all "A GREAT BIG HELLO!!"

So here goes...

H  E  L  L  O  !!! -- Haiti

We just got back from spending the afternoon at Matthew 28, followed by a short excursion to UCI (more about that in a minute), and then an extended time with the Bohoc Leadership Council (LC) at one of the churches in Bohoc.

Ummmm...just as a word of warning:  I'm going to be working on this post before and after dinner as well as during our evening debrief.  If ANYTHING seems disjointed or in any way [fill-in-the-blank], please just deem that a figment of the imagination.  I believe that if you do just that, this post may read a lot better and we'll all just get along just fine.

Okay...where were we?  Ah, yes...Matthew 28...

Maybe it was just me, but it felt to me like the population of Matthew 28 dropped by about half since last April.  In April, there were 90+ kids there; today, there were maybe 50.  At any rate (that's for a friend), we had a fabulous time singing (with all the kids) the English and Haitian versions of "Here I Am to Worship," teaching them the English and Haitian versions of 1 Corinthians 10:31 (In everything you do, do it all to the glory of God.), playing soccer, tossing the football and the frisbee, painting faces, playing Haitian Jenga and Uno, etc.  After a couple of hours, we were all pretty much wiped.  But it was a good tired.

After our time at Matthew 28, we dropped by UCI, a missional outreach of Pastor Jean-jean and his wife, Christy.  Jean-jean is Haitian and Christy is from the United States.  I cannot remember how long they've been married but it's been for quite a number of years now.  We visited UCI for the first time when we were here last April.  Unfortunately, Jean-jean and Christy were in PaP today so we didn't get a chance to see them.  UCI includes a church, a school, a large garden, and a bread processing microbusiness.  One of the cool things in the works at UCI is the development of a university, where four-year degrees will be offered in Pastoral Ministry, Teaching, and Agriculture.  The Bohoc LC is REALLY excited about the university coming.

Following our short visit to UCI, we met with six of the thirteen members of the Bohoc LC.  It was so cool, again, to hear from their hearts as they shared their vision for their village as well as their gratefulness to God and to The 410 Bridge.  In summary, the LC are particularly excited about expanding their water project (which will include installing a much larger water storage cistern (currently water is pumped from a spring box to a smaller cistern [this is the main source of water for the entire village as wells have proved largely unsuccessful]), completing some much needed water distribution repairs, and increasing the distribution of water points throughout the village) and the UCI university.  On a more personal level, Jerome Geffard, Vice President of the LC said the following (these are direct quotes):

My hope is to someday when yiou are visiting to be able to open my refridgerator and offer you a cold drink.

We want to live as God's children here on earth.  God has told us that we are His children and that we are to live accordingly--AS His children.  We believe this because we know that God cannot lie.  (Amen to that, Jerome!)

We want to create a community where our children choose to stay right here when they grow up.

Pray for Haiti to become A NEW HAITI.  Especially, right here in our community!

Provided below are a few pictures from yesterday and today...

CU later,

Dave (On Behalf of Team Haiti 2012)

28 Jan...1:20p

Greetings, everyone!

After breakfast, Steve led our first team devotion of the week with a focus on being the body, using the gifts we have, and encouraging others to use theirs.  the biblical references he drew from were 1 Peter 4:10 and Romans 12:4-8.

This morning's activities focused on touring the village of Bohoc.  Edwin, Tompy's brother (of course!) was our driver, and we were also joined by Jedlain, an agricultural specialist, and Jarome Geffard, who is on the Bohoc Leadership Council.

Our first stop allowed us the opportunity to meet a man named Jordany, who is a voodoo witch doctor.  Jordany, who is quite young and about as pleasant as can be, appears to be attracted to Christianity but has not yet made the decision to put his faith in Jesus.  Ronald (our 410 Bridge Haitian Leader) continues to bring teams by to see this man in the hopes that the more exposure Jordany has to Christians the more likely he will to see the beauty of Jesus and make THE decision to follow Him.

Next we stopped at three different homes and prayed with three widows:  Lucienne Victor, who suffered a stroke and who has difficulty with her entire right side; Sorina Victor (Lucienne's sister); and Madam Delius (who has been like a mother to Ronald), who fell and had to stay in the hospital for 18 days.  What a blessing it was to pray for these three matriarchs of the community!

After our home visits, we went to see the Brethren Church building project.  For those who don't know, the April 2011 team worked for a day alongside the community on the church building.  In a nutshell, what we did last spring was play with tarantulas (well, Ramsay did), help move a large pile of stone from one location to another, and just have a blast with each other and our Haitian friends.  The stone we moved was used in the foundation for the building.  This morning, it was amazing to see how much progress has been made since last April.  I promise to begin uploading some photos of the trip this evening; when I do, I'll make sure to try to include one of the church building.

I need to sign out now as we're heading out to play with the kids at the Matthew 28 Orphange.  I'll write later about that as well as our visits this morning to the many elements of the Bohoc water project.

Bendi bene ou!  (God bless you!)

Dave (On Behalf of Team Haiti 2012)

James 1:27:  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

28 Jan...6:15a

Good morning!

I hope that everyone reading this slept well.  Most of the team went to bed fairly early last night as yesterday began at around 2:30a for most of us.  Despite our weariness, though, we all seemed to be in good spirits.  Thus far this morning, I've seen only Ramsay (who just went out to take pictures of the sunrise and, most likely, to talk with some of the kids who are out waiting for the sun to rise so they can begin their reading and memorization work for school [such things put many of us to shame]) and Steve.

There are several things that I especially love about Haiti in the morning:  (1) my one-minute morning shower (I had hot water this morning!); (2) the stars before the sunrise (it's so dark here that one can enjoy the milky way in a manner that is quite rare in the states); (3) hours of alone time with God; (4) the sunrise as it comes up behind the mountains; (5) the ladies who are singing in the kitchen as they prepare breakfast; and (6) Haitian coffee (which I'm having right now!).

Haiti is an arena for the souls of men, women, and children...

Even at 2:55a, when I was out in the courtyard talking with God, I could hear the drumming and chanting that is so characteristic of Haitian voodoo practice.  In Haiti, voodoo is so prevalent that it has, unfortunately, become an integral part of many mainline denominational church services.  In many ways, actually, it's the other way around.  And by that I mean, Christian worship has become integral to voodoo practice.  Keep all our Haitian brethren in your prayers, my friends.

May God bless you and your Saturday morning!

In Him...

Dave (On behalf of Team Haiti 2012)

Jeremiah 31:3...The Lord has appeared to us from a far, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."

27 Jan...5:31p

Greetings!

We made it!!

Aside from one instance of a quick loss of altitude and the resulting spontaneous loss of cabin pressure (which automatically caused hundreds of oxygen masks to fall from the sky all over the plane), the island hop from Miami to PaP (Port au Prince, Haiti) was fairly uneventful.  Actually, the plane took off just fine, it flew just fine, and, fortunately, it landed just fine.  (And, yes, I am just kidding about the loss of altitude, etc.  :op)

The bus ride from PaP to The Haiti Outreach Guesthouse just outside of Bohoc was amazing.  For those of you who've never been to Haiti, Haiti is gorgeous.  At one time, it was dubbed "The Jewel of the Caribbean."  Sometimes, it feels like you're driving through the mountains of southern California, only for things to suddenly look a lot like Costa Rica.  And then, strange as it might sound, "Costa Rica" is followed by an hour long drive through what look like the plains of Montana only for things to then transition back into Costa Rica again.  Despite its numerous bouts with hurricanes and devastating earthquakes, Haiti is, indeed, still one of the most beautiful places on earth.  (And I haven't even talked about the people yet!)

The bus ride from PaP to Bohoc took us about four hours, and there was only one instance where we had to get out and push the bus through one of the several river crossings we had to traverse.

Ronald, our Haitian 410 staff leader, is amazing.  Soft spoken, and always polite, Ronald carries a dignity within that is hard to miss.  We are so looking forward to getting to know him over the next few days.  Tompy, I understand, is working in one of the deaf camps this week.  As such, we probably will not see much of him.  On the Tompy/Tompy's cousin thing, though, we did stop in Hechin to stretch our legs and to use the rest rooms in the home of one of the villagers.  Only after we'd been there for a little while did we realize that the home belonged to a woman named Mary, who is, of course, one of Tompy's cousins.  And the reason this is the case is because almost everyone in Haiti is Tompy's cousin.  Except for the 11 of us on the team from newhope (and maybe one other person).

Anyway, we appear to all now be comfortably settled in at the guesthouse (two to a room), and we are so looking forward to spending the week with each other and with all our Haitian friends.  This is the same place we stayed in last year, and the accommodations are fantastic.  The power comes from solar energy, and the well water is treated by reverse osmosis (a state-of-the-art treatment system).  As such, we can drink the water without fear of getting sick from it.

Tomorrow morning will begin with a team breakfast followed by a team devotion.  The plan (as it stands in this minute) is for us to spend the bulk of the morning with the 90+ kids living at The Matthew 28 Orphanage in Bohoc.  After breaking for lunch, we will have our first meeting with the leadership council (LC).  The Bohoc LC is a collection of 12-13 men and women who help to provide vision and leadership to the village of Bohoc as it strives to become a village that is both sustainable and devoted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Okay...dinner's scheduled for 6p, so I think I'm going to sign off for now and head out to play with some of the kids for a little while.

Please keep us all in your prayers, my friends; may God bless you and the rest of your evening.

Dave (Team Haiti 2012)

27 Jan...8:08a

Greetings!

Just a quick word to let everyone know that we are somewhere between RDU and Miami.  We're currently scheduled to land in Miami at around 9a.

Many thanks to Connie Richeal (Haiti April 2012), Tracy Crosby (Haiti April 2012), Lisa Shear (Kenya 2011), and Kathy Pittman (Kenya 2011) for driving 9 of us to RDU at 4a this morning.  And a big shout out to Tamar Mikhail (Haiti 2011) for meeting us in the newhope parking lot "just to see us off."

When we land in Miami, we will meet up with Brooke Hames, who is flying in from NYC.  It's too bad her husband, Zach, couldn't come this time.  But...we know he's fasting and praying for the team, and we know he's with Brooke in spirit.

The flight from Miami to Port au Prince (PaP) should take less than two hours.  (It's hard to believe that the poorest country in our hemisphere is located just two hours southeast of our national borders.)  When we land in PaP, we anticipate meeting up with Ronald and Tompy in the airport, quickly loading up the bus, and then begining what we hope will be a short five-hour drive to Bohoc.  The village of Bohoc is located in the Haitian mountains about 110 miles north of PaP.  Last year, it took us five hours to make the trip; three months ago, it took another team, lead by my dear friend Blake B., over eight hours to make the trek.

Okay...that's all for now; more later.

God's peace...

Dave (Team Haiti 2012)

PS...Even though I've never met him, I've heard boocoos about Tompy.  I understand that he is related to about half the people in Haiti.  I was told that, last year, the best selling t-shirt in Haiti (and in Miami [Haiti's sister country]) read as follows:  "No, I'm NOT Tompy's Counsin...but I live next door to one..."  CU...  :o)

Haiti or Bust (ummm…and I’m kinda hoping it’s the former!)

Greetings, everyone,

11 of us leave bright and early tomorrow morning (or, as Ramsay might say, “late tonight”) for our second trip to Haiti.  We are all soooooo looking forward to being together with our Haitian friends.

;o) !!!!

Please keep us in your prayers, and don’t forget to follow our daily updates on this blogsite…

Same bat-time, same bat-channel…http://hmi-nc.blogspot.com.

God’s peace to all’y’all!!

Dave <><

Haiti 2012 Travel Team A Flight Itinerary (for Main Team)

Friday, 27 Jan…

AA 969

Depart from RDU at 6:50a

Arrive in Miami, FL, at 9:00a

AA 1291

Depart from Miami, FL, at 9:55a

Arrive in Port au Prince (PaP), Haiti, at 11:55a

Thursday, 2 Feb…

AA 1262

Depart from PaP, Haiti, at 1:05p

Arrive in Miami, FL, at 3:20p

AA 1134

Depart from Miami, FL, at 8:50p

Arrive in RDU at 10:50p