We are getting geared up to go back to Haiti!

My husband and I have 4 months to purchase infant formula and baby items to take with us to Haiti.  It will be his first time on a mission trip and my second time.  We are on a work team and hoping that means we will be building a house for a Haitian family. 

I am looking forward to writing another journal about my trip.  It is a totally different world.  Even before the earthquake.  Bob and Gretchen with Lifeline and their helpers have done an amazing job showing God's love.

Bhen, our translator and new friend!

January 18, 2008 diary entree...

When we got back to the campgrounds we helped again handing out sponsor gifts. Our group, the Prayers, is made up of hard workers. Linda even with her knee replacement has never complained and keeps up with the younger gals. At the end of the day we were all tired. I couldn’t lift another box or hand out another bag. I went in and took a long shower, making sure I did not touch the top of the shower head so I wouldn’t get electrocuted. That bit of information was given to us in the handbook and then again when we arrived. I kept thinking of the Haitians that were without running water and electricity ~ I am so spoiled!

Before dinner tonight we, Wanda, Diane and Judy R met with our translator, Bhen and the three women who will be helping us tomorrow for the Ladies Day event. It turns out that our helpers are Bhen’s mother, grandmother and good friend. Palmrose, Marsitta and Simone. Palmrose and Simone work in the Pharmacy at Lifeline. I am not sure what they think of us giddy Americans. We were so thrilled to meet Bhen’s family; he is such a wonderful person. Palmrose has ten children; Bhen is the oldest at 30 and her youngest daughter is ten. She also lost one child. That is such a contrast from her mother who gave birth to 17 children and all but three died. Marsitta rejoices now with her 17 grandchildren. All three ladies are such a delight so we should have a good time tomorrow.  Bhen’s wife came up and threw her arms around his neck. She is very pretty and looks so in love. Bhen said they have two small children, a girl and a boy.

At dinner tonight, Ruth Anne asked me if I would sing “Alabaster Box” at the Ladies Day tomorrow. Wanda, when she found out the craft was going to be small bottles filled with perfume to represent the alabaster jar used by Mary in the Bible to anoint the feet of Jesus, told Ruth Anne that I sang that song. She also mentioned that Diane could dramatize it. I had practice it at home because I thought maybe I would sing it for our devotion. It was as if God prepared me and Diane for this very thing.
I’m nervous on one hand but not on the other. I want to bless the Haitian women just as they are going to bless us with their singing tomorrow. When Diane and I practiced it on the roof top, we did ok. Afterwards we prayed and both of us got so choked up. (As I am writing this I am on my top bunk. I looked over at Diane and she is sitting on her top bunk listening to “Alabaster Box” on someone’s iPod. She is moving her arms all around in gestures. I know she wants God to use her in a mighty way! And He will.

Dear Lord, as Diane and I started our day in prayer so I end it in prayer; a thank You prayer. Thank You for taking me out of my comfort zone, out of my little world, out of my small church mind and looking at the big picture of all nations that will one day bow every knew at the name of Jesus.

My friends are home from Haiti!

My friends are home!! Praise God. I can't wait to hear their stories about their mission trip. If you are here for the first time, scroll down and read from the bottom up for mys mission trip. I still have more entrees to make and I am hoping I will be back in Haiti soon to make more memories.

Haiti is in need of prayer

There are 58 ladies on a women's mission trip with Lifeline Missions in Haiti. To read the update from Gretchen DeVoe go to http://www.lifeline.org. God is surely with them! My husband and I were scheduled to go there next week and of course we are waiting for the "ok" to board the plane. Right now they are trying to find transportation for those women to come home. Please donate to this mission.

The Badio House

First Christian Church had sent money to Lifeline in order for a house to be built for the Badio family. Initially we thought we would be building it but that was not what God had planned. We asked if we could see his house since we can't participate in building it and Gretchen made arrangements for Bobby to drive us there in his truck. All of us piled in the extended cab four-wheeler. I am so glad we were able to ride in the front with air conditioning. We left Grand Goave and turned into what looked like a gravel driveway. The terrain was rough and bumpy. It is very dry and tropical but not rainy like Honduras. The mountains have been stripped of their trees; which allows the rain to take the soil down to the ocean. Hurricane Noel went through last October, three months ago and caused mud slides that wiped out bridges, roads and some houses. I am sure the road we were traveling on was better before. Surely it was. But now the land was dry and hard. Several times Bobby had to switch over to 4 wheel drive to make it up the mountain.

The Haitians have harvested so many of their trees and the mountains are bare and not plush at all. Banana and mango trees are abundant but trees for houses do not exist. What trees they do have left they burn to make charcoal. It's a long process that still has me wondering how they do it. Somehow they burn the tree and cover it with dirt and then burn it some more. It smells horrible.

The Haitians are very resourceful people. There is an electric line that runs through the area. The government provides it for a fee. The Haitians can't afford to pay for the electricity so they slice into the wire and take it to their homes. Many have been electrocuted trying to find a way to give light to their dark world. I guess the government looks the other way and doesn't turn the power off.

As we drove through the countryside we asked Bobby lots of questions…I am sure he thought we were quite amusing. We would travel a ways without seeing a single person and then all of a sudden there would be a man with two cows. It was like the man popped out of nowhere. Bobby told us that if we were to walk through the mountains in the middle of the night we would probably run into people doing the same thing. The Haitians are scattered all through the forest in little communities.

A small stream of water appeared at the side of the road and we were curious as to where it began. We spotted a few houses and realized we were in a village. Off to the right was a voodoo temple. A young boy was perched in a tree picking mangoes. I thought Bobby had stopped the truck because of the children in the road, but then I saw the concrete blocks being carried to the house where men were working. The village people gathered around to see what we were doing. I asked if I could take their picture and they smiled. They love having their "photo" taken. I wasn't sure if they knew they were looking at themselves in the picture but they recognized the other children with them.

The adults along with the children would giggle at the "photo." Such simple pleasures. Children here laugh and have joy over water, food and dollar toys. Children in the US hate drinking plain water and only want to eat certain food. I guess in reality I am the same way. One sponsor sent her child US$250. That is probably more than her father makes in four months. The average annual income is US$600. That makes me wonder how much I waste on "stuff" that I don't need or even desire. I have been shopping with other ladies and because of their desire for me to buy something, I did. That won't happen again.

The men were working so diligently and it was so hot and dry. Mr. Badio was there putting his sweat equity into his house. We did not know that at the time or we would have talked to him. Glenda did talk to one of the men who was the foreman. He was from the area but had moved to New York and worked there as a taxi cab driver. In New York he began to drink and eventually drank himself out of a job. So he returned to Grand Guave and asked Mr. DeVoe for his job back. Because of the kindness and grace extended to him, he wanted Jesus in his life. WOW!

This morning like every morning, we started out in prayer.  Diane and I went to the rooftop...our favorite place!  You can see the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.  The morning brings cooler weather and my head doesn't seem as clogged up.  I am so glad my sinuses aren't bothering me as much as I thought they would.  God is so good.

 

Today we were runners and our job was to greet the children and take them through the checkpoints in order to get their sponsors gifts. If their sponsor didn't send them a gift, money or rice and beans, they were given a pantry gift. So much organization goes into the record keeping which I appreciate. When you send gifts or money you want to make sure your child receives it. So there were several checkpoints to take the child through. My heart went out to those children that didn't get anything from their sponsors. It certainly made me want to do a better job at sending cards and extra gifts to my sponsored child in Guatemala through World Vision.

 

I took the hand of the next child and their parent and we walked from checkpoint to checkpoint.  I always wonder what they are thinking of me.  Do they see that I want to help them, or do they look at me as someone who is trying to make myself feel better by giving them a handout?  People in America would think that...but the people here seem so pure.  I think the Haitians are thankful for whatever they receive.  One little boy was surprised when he found out that his sponsor had sent him a pair of fun sun glasses.  They were big, bright green plastic glasses that covered most of his small face.  He wore them proudly. 

The church in the back country of Haiti