Haiti 2013 Day 6, Part 2: Mwen Fou Pou Ou and a Rah-Rah

CHC Haiti Mission Trip Day 6, Part 2

I could have told you when Jim May and I first began to plan this CHC mission trip to Haiti that Thursday would be the most bittersweet day.  It would be the day that we would sum up -- to the extent that we were able -- what God had taught us and worked in us during the previous week; that's always one of my favorite parts of a mission trip.  The last team meeting on the roof of the current House of Abraham home was sweet.  Fenel's words of encouragement and gratitude to us (which included dubbing us Team Determination) were sweet.  We would see our families and loved ones the following day; that was a sweet thought.

When we returned to the house from our beach excursion, it was time for a little more time with the kids and a lot of good-byes.  We were to leave at 3:00 the following morning to try to assure that we arrived at the airport on time (We had experienced what Port au Prince traffic can be like the previous Friday when we arrived, so we were taking no chances.)  So the good-byes began.

For me, my good-byes came through a T-shirt I had bought that says, "Jacmel: Mwen Fou Pou Ou."  That means "Jacmel, I'm crazy for you."  When the team returned to the house, the kids wanted to see what I had bought.  I looked at one of the boys, called him by name, and said, "Mwen fou pou ou."  And that's how I said good-bye to each of them and how they said good-bye to me.

The good-byes continued throughout the night.  Many individual farewells took place before the formal good-byes, when we had a chance to speak to the kids through Fenel.  He also interpreted the kids' words to us.  We went upstairs to the team area to finish packing and get ready for the early wake-up call, only to have the kids call us down later to come in there rooms for one more round of hugs and good-byes.  

The good-byes were bittersweet.  For me, I had been before and, Lord willing, I will go again.  For me, it was more "until next time" than good-bye.  Still, there was work on the new home that was still far from done.  There were kids who didn't want to go to sleep, knowing we would be gone the next morning; that was bittersweet.  There were the discipleship programs that Fenel and Jean Jean lead that we didn't get to experience on this trip.  There was just so much that we were seemingly leaving undone or un-experienced.

The heat was worse on Thursday night than any other night of the trip, so sleep was hard to come by.  Then, some of us were awakened around midnight by a rah-rah on the street right outside the home.  And, of course, we were awakened again at 2:30 to gather our things and head to the airport.  We encountered one other rah-rah on the way to the airport but had no long delays.  It took 22 minutes to cover the mileage that took us four hours to get through the previous Friday.  And then, just like that, we were home.

The kids gathered around "Papa Fefe."

Hangin' with the boys (plus one).

Robbie with Lucien and David (Bubba).  Must be after 6:00; Bubba's sleepy.

Jodie enjoying some Bubba time.

One last game of soccer.

Jim and Jean Jean

The formal good-byes.

The last sunset we would enjoy from the current House of Abraham home.  Next trip, new home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relationships

Colonial Hills Church has long been a relational church, for better or for worse -- and we've seen plenty of both.  The way we do missions is no different; it is relational.  Why did we go to Haiti in the first place?  Relationships, specifically with Dusty Cooper and IsleGo Missions (whom we partnered with through -- you got it -- relationships).  So we'll be back in Jacmel at the House of Abraham.  If not the specific people from this team (or the one before that or the one before that or the one before that), then others in our body will go.  And so will our brothers and sisters from Illinois and Florida and New Jersey and North Carolina, and so on.  And the work that God is doing in Haiti through Fenel Bruna and the House of Abraham will be accomplished.

None of us can point to the completed house here in a few months and claim more that a part of the foundation or the roof, a painted room or two, some blocks on the wall.  But we can all point to the God who brought us to Haiti at one time or another to accomplish works bigger than ourselves.  Not just in building a house but in encouraging and strengthening the next generation of leaders in Haiti to be young men and women of integrity who seek to glorify God in how they live their lives and serve others.

Mimi & Fenel Bruna

Haiti 2013 Team Determination: Jodie, Jim, Robbie, Ethan, Heather, Dusty, Josh, Al, Fenel, Gary

So that's our mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti, and the House of Abraham.  I hope that you have enjoyed the posts and that you have been challenged to get involved.  At last report, the new house is still about $10,000-$12,000 away from being fully funded.  The current lease runs out in May (and that was after a much-prayed-for extension), so time is running short.  You can click here to help.

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.
Does child sponsorship really make a difference?  In a word, yes!  Check out this article.

 A look back at previous day's posts:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge
Day 2: Boaz, Super Ninja. Who Knew?
Day 3: Accomplishment! (and the Return of Josh's Man Card)
Day 4: A Hurtling Batter, Barbie, & Team Determination
Day 5: Puddles, Suncatchers, & Ethan Befriends a Goat
Day 6, Part 1: Pillowcases Without Pillow, a Sliced Arm, & Lobster


Thanks for reading. I hope to have a video slideshow of our trip ready for the blog tomorrow. 

 4theVoiceless,
Al

Haiti Day 6, Part 1: Pillowcases Without Pillows, a Sliced Arm, & Lobster

Haiti Mission Trip, Day 6 (Thursday)

Thursday would be the last full day in Haiti for the Colonial Hills Church 4theVoiceless team.  The last day of a mission trip is usually reserved for sightseeing, purchasing souvenirs, relaxing, saying good-bye, and preparing to return home.  As I have written already, this team was so task-oriented that we had determined that at least part of Thursday would be a work day.  Our later-than-expected arrival the previous Friday had turned Saturday into a relaxing day, so we told Fenel that we wanted to work on Thursday.

As it turned out, the paint team had used all but a gallon or so of the paint.  Also, all of the HoA kids would be out of school for Easter holiday on Thursday.  As a result, Jim, Gary, Dusty, and Josh returned to the work site to hopefully finish out the work on the roof, and the rest of us prepared for a craft we had brought for the kids to do.

Pillowcases Without Pillows

We had brought pillowcases and fabric markers for all of the kids to create their own masterpieces to cover their pillows.  They went to work diligently and had a blast personalizing their pillowcases.  Somewhere amidst the joy of the work (and I don't even know how she discovered this), one of the ladies on our team told me that the kids did not have pillows to sleep on but that they were to be getting some soon.  You would have never known it by the way the kids poured their hearts into their works of art.

Robbie, Jodie, & the girls sharing ideas.

Ethan enjoying a welcome into Widly World.

Luciana's pillowcase nearing completion.

I like the thought of my "hand" holding Tchi's head as he sleeps.

Roberson was full of joy with every craft we worked on all week . . . what a joy!

Thirteen precious children will lay joyful heads down on those pillowcases, and thirteen precious children will at times cry tears of sorrow into those pillowcases.  Hopefully, they will think of us -- a team that showed them each the love of Christ -- when they lay their heads down on their pillows at night.  Even more importantly, I hope they are reminded that no matter what tragic life experiences led them to the House of Abraham, there is a God who knows them by name and loves them very much, as I reminded in these lyrics:

 I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

"He Knows My Name" by Tommy Walker

Along with the pillowcases, the HoA children will also have personalized towels brought on my previous trip that have been put up until after the move to the new house.  One of the things my small group purchased with our Change It Now money was a "Welcome" mat.  It, too, was put aside for the new house.  As if a new house wasn't enough . . .  Reminds me of my Father, who lavishes on me way more than I deserve or could even ask for and who has stored up for me treasures unimaginable . . .

A Trip to Didier's

The "pillowcase team" was also able to walk down the road to meet Didier's (pronounced like D.J.) family.  He is part of the House of Abraham staff who moved from one one the many tent cities that were in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake into a house that one of the IsleGo teams built.  He is incredibly proud of his home and his family.  Hospitality, like kindness and play, transcends language barriers.  It was an honor to be welcomed into Didier's family's home.

Didier & family

Robbie's new friend, Didier's family dog.

 

 

 

 

An Unexpected Turn of Events

I was in my room when the roofing team returned a little earlier than we had expected.  I asked Josh how it had gone up there, expecting that they had finished early.  Instead, he said that they would have gotten finished if Gary hadn't tried to cut his arm off.  Turns out a gust of wind lifted up a piece of sheet metal that gashed Gary's arm, maybe somewhat short of cutting his arm off but a pretty significant cut, nonetheless.

Our "arm repair team" shifted quickly into action.  Heather and Jodie, a pediatric nurse and a pediatric physical therapist, respectively, are well trained to take care of injuries to kids like Gary.  Jim joined in, carefully cutting the hairs our of the wound.  Gary winced a few times but was a model patient.  The nurse that he saw when he returned to the States was very complimentary of the job our team had done on his arm; the only thing she added to his recovery regimen was a healthy dose of antibiotics.

Oh, and the roof was almost completed.  Fenel and one of his workers would be able to finish that work in just a couple of days.

Nurse Heather goes to work as Gary winces and trusts.

Nurse Jodie joins in with steady hands.

Nurse Jim does his part; this time, Jim and a blade were a good thing.

All patched up, nice and neat.  A permanent souvenir.

What Gary Missed

Gary, understandably, decided to stay at the house and take a nap while the rest of us enjoyed one more trip to the beach and one more souvenir run.  Fenel took us to a different beach this time, one that I recognized from my last trip, one that included this!

Lobster, conch, & bottled soft drinks!  Fenel knows how to reward a hard-working team!

When you love missions & love the beach & love your spouse, it doesn't get much better than this!

I will save the good-byes and wrap-up of this mission trip for tomorrow.  Let me just say that even days' worth of writing about a trip here or anywhere else doesn't do it justice.  I'm just one-ninth of the team trying to write from both a team and a personal perspective.  There is so much more that I simply don't have room or time to write and so much more that others experienced that they would add.

There are already those from this trip and others who have been to Haiti -- and even some others who haven't been yet -- who are already looking ahead and even saving ahead for next year.  What about you?  Where will you serve -- both near to home and far away?

Previous Days from the CHC Mission Trip to Jacmel, Haiti:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge
Day 2: Boaz, Super Ninja. Who Knew?
Day 3: Accomplishment! (and the Return of Josh's Man Card)
Day 4: A Hurtling Battery, Barbie, & Team Determination
Day 5: Puddles, Suncatchers, & Ethan Befriends a Goat

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.

Thanks for reading. 

 4theVoiceless,
Al

Haiti in 3 Days: The Excitement Mounts

First, there was the last team meeting of our Haiti last Thursday night.  Definite uptick in excitement as we neared the one-week countdown and made final preparations.

Then, this message from Scott Sims, who led the team that I was a part of in Haiti late last year and who has just returned from leading a team from New Jersey:

"Hey bro... you will be able to do a serious update to that picture at the top of your page very soon :)"

 

My current Facebook profile photo, circa early November 2012

 

Then, I began to see photos from the progress that the team that was there was making:

 

Finally, in corresponding back and forth with Fenel over the last few days, he said that many of the roof panels are in place.  Our team will finish up on the roof and begin to paint.  I can't wait to paint again with Gary Foglesong -- we haven't painted together since Cuba in about 2008, I think, and we're still telling stories from that trip!

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank every one of you who has given to make the new House of Abraham possible.  All of our investment in this place is part of a bigger picture of ministry there in which Haitians will give their lives to Jesus and grow in their faith.  Our teams have already seen this taking place.  Just remember, this is not just about building a house for children; it is kingdom work whose fruit will be eternal.

You can pray specifically for our team from CHC as several of us are battling sickness, and one of our team members is caring for an aging father who is not doing well.  Please pray for us and for the kingdom work that is before us.  We arrive in Haiti this Friday!

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

 

House of Abraham Update in 9 Photos

Almost four months ago, Jacob Walley and I joined up with a team mainly from Charleston, Illinois, on an unforgettable mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti, to serve the House of Abraham.  Part of our team's mission was to help in building the new home for the 13 children that HoA serves.  Click here to see where construction stood when we returned home in early November.

Earlier this week, I received some photos (courtesy of Fenel Bruna via Dusty Cooper with IsleGo) showing progress on the new home.  You can view them below.  Three weeks from now, a team from Colonial Hills will view the home in person and serve these wonderful children and those who love and care for them on a daily basis.  Pray for us, please.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

4theVoiceless Photos: Top 12 in 12 (#9-12)

For a ministry that didn't even exist prior to this year, 2012 was quite the whirlwind year for the 4theVoiceless ministry.  While we may not have even put a dent in the world's orphan crisis, we certainly did more than nothing.  As ministry opportunities opened up to us throughout the year, God's provision did, as well, through great relationships and training opportunities.

Among the year's highlights:

We had several families enter into the adoption process, including one adoption that was completed in 2012.  At least three families completed PATH training and are now qualified to take in children to their homes through the foster care system.

We were a part of mission trips to the Baptist Children's Village in Mississippi, to a deaf school in Jamaica, to orphanages in Russia, and to the House of Abraham in Jacmel, Haiti.

We made paper bead jewelry and paracord bracelets and produced a cookbook to fund the 4theVoiceless ministry.  We had many opportunities to speak to people and make them aware of the needs of the fatherless both close to home and far away.

For the next few days on the blog as we close out the year, I want to share some of my favorite photos and review the stories behind them.  These photos capture some of the highlights of 2012.

Click on the photos to read (or re-read) the stories.

# 12

August Trip to Baptist Children's Village in Star, MS

A guys-only trip that was as much fun for the ones who went as it was for the kids that we served.  Nothing like a slip-n-slide on a hot summer day!

 

# 11

Bracelet Sales throughout the year to raise funds for 4theVoiceless

Crafts fairs, farmer's markets, Christmas fairs -- we served at them all!  Great conversations about orphan care and funds raised for adoption and orphan care at them all.

# 10

Hope for Haiti

The original "Hope for Haiti" post was by far the most popular blog post of the year.  These bracelets began a movement that so far has raised over $10,000 toward building a new House of Abraham home for children in Jacmel, Haiti.  Though there is still much left to do to make the new home a reality, the Hope for Haiti movement has generated interest and awareness in a great way this year.

# 9

CHC Mission Team to Haiti in March

Kim Bennett felt like she had to lead a team of ladies to care for orphans.  This became a reality when 10 ladies, along with Jim May, our missions pastor, went to Haiti in March.  This trip generated an incredible amount of interest in serving there and assisting Fenel & Mimi Bruna and the staff who serve at the House of Abraham.  This trip took place before we began blogging, but you can read how the trip affected my friend Stephanie by clicking on the photo.  She blogged in detail about their trip on her blog, Welcome to Walley World.

Check back tomorrow for photos #5-8 of the 4theVoiceless year in photos top 12 on '12.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

What You Choose to Remember: Haiti Mission Trip, Final Chapter

Something I have learned from previous mission trips to different places around the world is that you can't hold on to them or re-create them.  The trick is in how to remember them and let them change your life.

I will not forget the extreme poverty I saw in Haiti.  I will not forget the stark contrast of tents and stick huts with the backdrop of the beautiful Caribbean. I will not forget the throngs of people constantly moving but seemingly going nowhere.  I will not forget seeing people in every little tributary washing clothes.  I will not forget, as much as I would like to, the very large woman bathing in one of those said tributaries without a care about traffic moving right past her.  I will not forget the stomach-twisting 3 1/2-hour drive from Port au Prince to Jacmel and back through the mountains and the traffic.  I will not forget the heat that made it hard to sleep at night.

As a task-oriented person, I will not forget the progress we made on the new House of Abraham.  Soon, it will be a new home for the 13 children and those who care for them.  One day, it will serve as the team house for visiting mission teams.  I hope to stay in the house that I helped build in the months to come.

Mission trips aren't just about seeing needs and accomplishing tasks, though.  As a matter of fact, they are not even mostly about that.  They are about relationships.  Relationships with other team members.  Relationships with ministry partners like Fenel and Mimi Bruna in Jacmel, Haiti.  Relationships with the native workers at the job site.  Relationships with children and teachers at schools and discipleship meetings.  Most importantly, relationships with 13 beautiful little Haitian children who will capture your hearts and allow you to see beyond the poverty and hopelessness in Haiti to find hope in Jesus Christ and the generation that He is preparing to change Haiti. 

These are the things I choose to remember.  I remember Haiti as a beautiful place.  I remember it as a hopeful place.  Writing about our trip over the last week or so has helped cement these thoughts of Haiti.  I don't seek to hold on to the trip itself, but I do choose to learn from it and allow it to change my life here, to allow relationships like the one with my new discipleship partner to be my priority.  To pursue Great Commission living with greater intensity.

I have created a slideshow with the song that captured me most in my individual times with the Lord during our trip, "You're Beautiful," by Phil Wickham, as the soundtrack.  To watch the video without having been to Haiti, you might get the impression that Haiti is a tropical paradise, full of fun and adventure.  It is.  It's all in what you choose to remember. 

Thanks for reading.  Read about the individual days of our journey by clicking the links below:

Days 1 & 2
Day 3
Day 4
Days 5 & 6
Day 7
Day 8

4theVoiceless,
Al

Haiti Mission Trip: Days 1 & 2

Mission trips can't be accurately expressed through words.  Nor photos.  Nor videos.  Some things you just have to experience for yourself.  I know that. 

As I attempt to journal our 8-day trip to Haiti, I know that the ones who will be most impacted by words, photos, and videos are the ones who have actually been to Jacmel, Haiti.  The ones who have smelled the smells.  The ones who have felt the heat.  The ones who have experienced the traffic.  The ones who have loved on the children and staff of House of Abraham. 

Day 1: Monday, October 29

Jacob Walley and I had flown to Miami on Sunday night and met up with the rest of our team there early Monday morning.  Looking back on meeting all those strangers seems like forever ago now.  It didn't take us long to become family, and I miss them like family.  The team was comprised of 10 people from Salisbury Church in Charleston, Illinois; three people from two different places in Florida; and us two CHC representatives.  There were a husband and wife, mother and daughter, mother and son, and father and daughter as part of the team dynamics.

Scott Sims, Salisbury's pastor, served as our Isle Go facilitator.  Scott got us all there, helped us to run the gauntlet of "airport luggage facilitators," let everyone's gifts flourish throughout the week, and helped us to see how God was at work in us and through us.  He encouraged us to filter the week through these three questions:

     1. What did I see?  (Observation)
     2. What does it mean?  (Interpretation)
     3.  What does God want me to do with it?  (Application)

In the airport parking lot, we met Fenel Bruna, who, along with his wife Mimi, founded and runs the House of Abraham.

I knew going in that I would not be prepared for the humanity piled upon humanity that is Port au Prince.  We drove for about an hour through streets filled with people trying to scrape out a living by selling something, past the rubble that still remains from the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, and past row after row of tents and tiny shacks that so many there call home. 

I took very few photos there and reluctantly share only a couple of them.   You see, God cares for every individual among that mass of humanity, and I don't take their plight lightly.  As Scott reminded us in urging sensitivity about taking photos of extreme poverty, "That's someone's 24/7."  However, if attention to the issues that plague Haiti (and they are many, but I will let you do your own research) helps any of these people, then I want you to see them.  Understand, though, that a couple of photos don't include the massiveness or the smell or the hopelessness of extreme poverty.

After driving through Port au Prince and the surrounding towns, we began to climb the mountains toward Jacmel.  The scenery along this two-lane winding highway was breathtaking!

We saw school children everywhere, dressed in sharp, neatly pressed, colorful uniforms.  They stood in stark contrast to everyone else and were the picture of hope for Haiti's future.

We finally arrived in Jacmel at the House of Abraham late Monday afternoon.  There, we met the 13 children who live there, some of whom I felt like I had known since March, when a team from CHC served there.  We went through a brief orientation, ate dinner, and took in the first of many beautiful sunsets from the roof of HoA.  Have I mentioned that Haiti is a beautiful place?

Haiti is also a hot place.  Though there were fans throughout our rooms, it was hard to sleep.  For me, personally, this served as a great time to listen to the mix of songs that I had chosen for this trip and allow God to speak to me for sometimes hours before I could go to sleep.  He certainly strengthened me beyond the number of hours of sleep I was able to get while we were there!

Day 2: Tuesday, October 30

We were unable to get to the work site of the new HoA on Tuesday.  Flooding from Hurricane Sandy from the previous week had caused the rivers to swell, and there was a river that we were not able to cross on Tuesday.  That crossing would be interesting, to say the least, as you will see tomorrow.

Instead, we bought several hundred pounds of rice and beans, along with some canned fish and pasta to make food bags for the children at a school where Fenel leads discipleship training.  These families were affected by Sandy, so we prepared 140 bags of food to give away to the students and teachers there.  (And while we waited for the truck to return with the supplies, some of the team helped with laundry...House of Abraham style.

The children and teachers expressed gratitude for the food, school supplies, and candy that we gave them but joy that we stayed and played with them.  We had a blast, and I'm pretty sure they did, too.

After our time at the school, we had time to take a drive and walk through downtown Jacmel, and then we returned to the HoA, where the children had returned home from school.  It was playtime, where sometimes it is more fun to get the paper airplane out of the tree (and the bottle you got stuck trying to get it down) than it was playing with it in the first place!

Another delicious Haitian supper, more team sharing and hanging out together, Gabe's rendition of "Jacmel Blues" and the word of the day, and Tuesday was in the books.  We would begin our part of the construction of the new HoA home on Wednesday.

I will be back tomorrow with my chronicles on Wednesday and Thursday of our trip.  Like today's blog, those entries will seem so incomplete compared to the actual experience. 

For Those Who Invested Prayer and Finances in Our Trip

Thanks to everyone who prayed and paid for us to go.  I think I speak for the whole team when I say that your investment in us will reap long-lasting rewards in addition to the short-term benefits of our mission.  I pray that God will return to you many times over what you have invested in His work in Haiti.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al