Orphan Run Mississippi: The Essentials

The purpose of the Orphan Run Mississippi 5K race is to build houses for orphans in Mabaale, Uganda.  Each runner's bib will have the name of one of orphans on whose behalf he/she will be running.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

2 DAYS AWAY!!!

Predicted Weather at Race Time:
46 degrees and sunny
(After running the course on Tuesday in heat and humidity, I much prefer a little chilly!)

Packet pickup and registration begins at 7:00.  You can still sign up before the race here.

Runners who registered online by the deadline will be guaranteed a race T-shirt.  If you signed up late or are going to register on the day of the race, come early to get a shirt; supplies are limited! 

5K Race begins at 8:00.

1 Mile Run begins at 8:30.

Run begins and ends at Longview Point Baptist Church, 1100 McIngvale Road (corner of McIngvale and Byhalia) in Hernando, Mississippi.

Want more?

Watch the Orphan Run MS video

Read 4theVoiceless posts "And Suddenly...Orphan Run MS" , "Prepping to Run for Orphans", and "Orphan Run Mississippi: A Personal Best, Half a House, and You"

Click here for The Latest Updates

Come See Us

4theVoiceless is one of the race sponsors and will have a table set up at the race.  We will have special race-day pricing on our Flavors of Forever Families adoption cookbooks (to assist families through the adoption process):
     1 book - $10
     2 books - $17
     3 books - $20
     ($5 for each additional book)

All of our paracord bracelets and paper bead jewelry will also be greatly reduced for the Orphan Run.  Proceeds from these sales will benefit the construction of the House of Abraham children's home in Jacmel, Haiti.


I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at the race on Saturday.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Haiti 2013: The Highlights

CHC 4theVoiceless 2013 Haiti Mission Trip

After a week in Haiti and a couple of weeks of blogging about our team's experiences, I have tried to encapsulate our trip in about four minutes in a photo slideshow set to Kristian Stanfill's "Children of Light."  Trying to capture a week's worth of memories in four minutes is incredibly difficult, but I hope that it moves you to move toward children at risk.

Haiti is the poorest country in the world, and we saw and often smelled this poverty firsthand.  However, you will find little, if any, evidence of this in the video.  Why?  I wrote about this topic last November in a post called "What You Choose to Remember."  I encourage you to read it before you watch the video.  The answer is compelling. 

Poverty may define Haiti to the rest of the world, but poverty doesn't define Haiti.  There is hope in Haiti and for Haiti.  That hope is in Jesus Christ, the same as it is here in the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world. That hope is evident at the House of Abraham in Jacmel, Haiti.

Enjoy the pictures of hope from Haiti. . .

I have enjoyed bringing you stories from our mission trip from my admittedly limited perspective.  Other members of the team could add much, much more.  As always, thanks for reading!

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
Day 6, Part 2: Mwen Fou Pou Ou & a Rah-Rah

4theVoiceless,
Al

P.S.: I think I'll celebrate the completion of the video (which kept me up well into the night last night) with an Orphan Run Mississippi prep run.  The run for orphans is 2 weeks from tomorrow in Hernando, MS.  Hope to see you there!

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 Day 5: Puddles, Suncatchers, & Ethan Befriends a Goat

Haiti Mission Trip Day 5 (Wednesday)

Day five of the Colonial Hills Church mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti, brought an unexpected experience.  We awakened to find puddles in the yard.  Our planned trip up to the new House of Abraham work site would be delayed, but there was good news, too.  Because of a rotating Easter holiday in Haiti, all but four of the HoA kids were home that morning.

We spent the morning helping the kids color Easter suncatchers, watching as Fenel read from a Kriol children's Bible that we had brought, and singing round after round of the Zacchaeus song (complete with motions).  For the rest of our time in Haiti, we would hear the boys -- in the deepest, most masculine voices they could muster -- telling one another and us, "YOU COME DOWN!"

Rainy day -- shift in plans.

Suncatchers...on a rainy day.

Anadine focusing intently.

Yes, Jesus lives!

Roberson having a blast!

Richardson with his completed project.

Fenel reading Bible stories in the kids' own language.

Back to Work

The skies cleared during the morning, and we were able to return to the work site after lunch.  The paint team finished off most of the rest of the paint that we had available, completing a base coat on the kitchen, dining room and one of the bedrooms in the process.  The roof team made a great deal of progress, as well.  We stayed a little later in the day that normal to make up for some of the work time we had missed during the morning.  We felt like we made great progress on this day.

Jalen and me: Painters of the ceiling.

Heather and Jodie finishing up by the stairs...the last painting we would do on this trip.

Bedroom #1: Base coat completed.

Roof team: Out of the valley and moving toward the edges.

Almost the the corner!

Mission Accomplished!

All week, Ethan -- our 14-year-old team member -- had been moving closer and closer toward friendship with the seven goats who roam the property.  Andre, the Haitian kid whose dad tends the property, had been showing Ethan how to approach the goats.  Ethan had been inching closer throughout the week . . . until. . . 

Finally...a new friend!

Ethan learned much on this, his first mission trip.  He learned not to believe everything we told him (I'm still trying to convince him to check with his doctor about goat flu -- lesser known than bird flu or swine flu, perhaps, but still worth asking about . . .).  He learned how to paint . . . well, sort of.  He learned that he had set a new world's record for Pop Tarts consumed in a week-long mission trip (close to 30 at last count and certainly not because he didn't eat all the food that we were served during the week).  He also began to learn the heartbeat that his grandfather, Gary, has for missions as they experienced this trip together.  Ethan gave his life to Christ just a couple of months ago at our church's DiscipleNow weekend, and the Lord has already introduced him to the beauty of serving Christ with other brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.  What a blessing.

Back to the Kids

After a good day's work, we returned to a good afternoon of play with the kids at HoA.   They were in rare form, singing and laughing and playing with all their hearts.  We gave them each a Beanie Baby, which they loved, and just hung out and sang and laughed and played with them.

Christella

Bubba and his buffalo

Roberson acting crazy for what he thinks is a video; actually just a photo.

Jim and Lucien

Gary and his glasses in Widly World . . . or is Widly in Gary's World?

After another great meal of breadfruit casserole, we had another good team meeting on the roof.  Some of my favorite times throughout any mission trip are the conversations that I am able to have with all the others on that trip.  The conversations we had -- especially the late-night ones in my room with Josh and Dusty -- ranged from the absurdly hilarious to the gut-honest serious.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time for enough of those conversation back home.  Just sayin'.

That's all for today.  Back tomorrow with an eventful Thursday of our trip.

Up to Date on the Trip?

 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

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.

Thanks for reading.  Check back tomorrow for more mission trip adventures from our last full day Haiti.

 4theVoiceless,
Al

Haiti Day 4: A Hurtling Battery, Barbie, & Team Determination

Haiti Mission Trip Day 4 (Tuesday)

After such a productive Monday, the CHC team was ready to get back at it on Tuesday morning.  Before I move on to the happenings of Tuesday, though, I wanted to share something funny that Josh overhead Monday night.  He was in the team room and heard a Haitian neighbor shouting, “Scoo-by! Scoo-by!”  Before he had much of a chance to process what that could possibly mean in Haitian Kriol, he heard the man whistle and call Scooby again.  I guess he didn’t know that to call Scooby, he should have shouted, “Hey, Scooby, where are you?!?” (“RRRover heeerrrre!”)  Sorry for the digression, but I have a nine-year-old at home who could talk in Scooby-Doo voice all day every day if no one told him to stop, so I thought the Haitian Scooby was particularly funny (he HE he he he).

If Monday was the most productive day of our trip, Tuesday was the most frustrating.  Because we were such a task-oriented team, we saw a lot more that we could have done on Tuesday, and we wanted to accomplish as much as we could in the short time that we would be in Haiti.  The roof team went back to work and encountered to most meticulous part of the roof – lots of measuring and cutting along the valley of the roof.  The paint team went to work on the dining room and kitchen walls and ceiling, only to run out of paint an hour-and-a-half into the day; part of that can be attributed to how efficiently everyone worked.  More paint arrived late in the day, but we spent much of the day waiting and looking for something to do.  (The old construction axiom of “out of work, grab a broom” didn’t work either as there was only one broom, and its handle had been broken in two.)

The work may have been tough, but you couldn't beat the view!

Tedious work

 

Teamwork

Tough part today to prepare for a productive tomorrow.

Better part of a day spent in this valley.

The painting begins

Robbie getting the hard-to-roll places.

Progress!

So much of the day was spent waiting.  But there is much to learn on a mission trip during such slow times.  We had fun getting to know one another and laughing together.  We watched the unfolding story of Andre’s tutelage of Ethan to befriend the goats.  We also adjusted as a team when one of our team members had a . . . uh. . . wardrobe malfunction.  After some clothes-swapping and making use of the resources at our disposal (Remember the blue towels?), as well as separating into male and female painting areas, the work was able to continue with everyone’s dignity intact.

Ethan making new friends.

Andre in a safe place...for a moment.

This little girl loved her new Barbie doll.

Robbie & Jodie posing for the CrossFit crowd.

This whole overhead squat thing was Josh's idea.  Inside story...just sayin'.

Ethan just wants to pet you, pal...

During work times or down times, there was always time to enjoy the incredible views.

A Hurtling Battery

During one moment of down time, I was sitting on the dining room floor with Andre, showing him photos on my phone.  From the roof we heard a loud clatter and looked up to see what was the matter.  No, it wasn’t Santa.  Instead, a drill battery somehow came unclasped, crashed onto the floor, and came hurtling down the stairs just a foot or so from our heads.  I looked at Andre, and Andre looked at me as if to ask, “Did that really just happen?”  I was quickly reminded of the chorus of Chris Tomlin's "Whom Shall I Fear" (as I was on Friday night during the scary part of our drive into Jacmel) that was part of my Haiti soundtrack:

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side.

THE Most Precious Moment

On the way down the mountain from the construction site, we had an extra Barbie doll to give away.  The whole team was on the lookout for a little girl who wasn't surrounded by others; we didn't want to cause a ruckus.  About halfway down, someone spotted a little girl standing outside with some adults.  Dusty gave the doll a heave, and the little girl let out a squeal of joy that words simply will not describe as she raced to pick it up.  I wish we had a photo or video of that moment, but there are some moments that neither photos nor videos would do justice.

Team Determination

One thing that stood out to me on this day was how each team member encouraged the others.  When the roofing team came down at the end of the day and didn’t see much distance from where they had left off on Monday, other team members pointed out how they had done the hard part now and had set themselves up to make much progress the next day.  Fenel would later dub our team “Team Determination.”  That was true in our work but also in our attitudes; I would want to go on another mission trip with any of the members of this team!

Another positive of this day, like all our other days at the construction site, was that after a quick trip to the beach to cool off, there would be 13 amazing boys and girls at the House of Abraham ready to welcome us “home” and make the most of their time with us.

Saintemine -- so stinkin' cute!

Sharing candy with the neighborhood kids over the back wall.

Richarson -- always posing.

Always captivating to see what Widly will do next.

Christalla & Heather

Dusty & Clyphode

Plan of salvation in Kriol on the back of this frisbee; Richarson sharing with Dusty.

Robbie & Tchi

Josh in Widly World

Taking David ("Bubba") for a ride.

 Jodie & Tchi & belly laughs

I'm going to be taking a few days off the blog for Easter weekend ("He is risen, just as He said.").  I will pick up next week on our last couple of days in Haiti, some summary thoughts, and a photo slideshow of the trip.

Catch up on or re-read previous days' blogs here:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge  (Updated: Link corrected)
Day 2: Boaz, Super Ninja. Who Knew?

Day 3: Accomplishment! (and the Return of Josh's Man Card)

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.

Thanks for reading.  Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus at church wherever you are this Sunday!

4theVoiceless,

Al