Day 4 - Eagle Brook Woodbury

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Another terrific day in Haiti. . . so many emotions, so much compassion, such humbled servants of Christ.

Difficult to find the words to describe our forever changing experience!!!!

The day began with another exceptional breakfast by our hosts and helping team members, including Jason on egg duty and Mike flipping pancakes. He even made a special Mickey Mouse pancake for Becki!

Our first stop of the day was to the amazing Grace Village in Titanyen which means "less than nothing." This is a village that Healing Haiti started a few years ago for orphans. Clearly God is at work here for today it is now a flourishing self sufficient community including a school for 500 kids, a full service clinic, dormitories, family style homes, feeding center, play grounds, library, and a church. Our group toured the grounds and the soon to be opened bakery which will provide many jobs for Haitians.

As the school children came out for lunch, the fun really began. Running towards us with open arms, their beautiful brown eyes & smiles were matched only by the excitement in their voices.
Despite lunch being served, they still wanted to first be held and played with in addition to displaying much curiosity with our sunglasses.

Our next stops were opportunities for us to be humble servants of Christ as we visited the homes of 3 of the community Elders.  At each of the visits we provided them with food and drink, as well as music and songs while we washed the hands and feet of these beautiful people.
What a spiritually changing experience!

We first visited a woman who was 91 years old who so wanted to dance it made it difficult to wash her feet! Her contagious spirit inspired us all.  The second stop we were warmly greeted with hugs.
In addition to the hand and feet washing, Paula was able to paint the sweet lady's fingernails! She chose purple which symbolizes spirituality, dignity, and wisdom.  Lastly we had the pleasure of visiting with a gentle man sitting by himself in his yard under a beautiful tree. He enjoyed the music and so did many of his neighbors as they came to listen and observe. The universal language of music and touch provides a powerful message of love. Everyone in our group could feel this today.

Processing the thoughts, questions, emotions, and spirituality following a day like this is challenging to say the least. We experienced hope, we experienced grace, and we experienced God's love, and one thing for certain.......we received much more than we were able to give.................

Michael and Paula Burns    
   

Day 3 - Eagle Brook Church Woodbury team

Dare's 1/2

We went to the home of special needs children.  We played with between 20 - 25 residents in one small room.  The children were on a wide spectrum of needs from minimum to severe; toddlers to young adults.  The activities were singing, blowing bubbles, coloring & snack.  We observed each other's body language, and attempted communication through sign language and the spoken word.  Most of the time we just loved on each other with high fives, holding, rocking, hugging, shaking hands, and helping the children to be as content and happy with these activities.  One child was in need of extra attention, and could be disruptive at times.  Once the music started, this child became more relaxed and loving.  This is why I saw Jesus in the music we heard.  All of the children either started to dance, clap, and/or sing.  The music came from one of the residents who could sing in both English and French.  A few of the others were also bi-lingual.  At this time we all took the opportunity to touch each child and pray over them by the power of the Holy Spirit interceding for us.  This gave me hope for these children.  Jesus told us we are not alone, and He is faithful.  This seemed overwhelming for a moment and we all crumbled a little.  Jesus was there with us; surely He broke our hearts for what breaks His.
-Lois

Dare's 2/2

Today was by far the best, and most difficult and emotional time on our mission trip so far. This morning we were split up into groups, part going to home of sick and dying babies, and the other part (fab five) to Dare's which is an orphanage for the disabled. A sad reality I learned today was that being disabled in Haiti you are often thought of as useless, and unwanted, and are given away to anyone who will take them. When we arrived and saw these kids "useless" and "unwanted" that was the furthest thing from my mind, all I wanted to do was get out the activities we brought for them and start to watch them smile and scream with joy and excitement. Although we had the activities for them, most of the children just wanted us to hold them or push/race them around in wheelchairs and they would steer as if they were driving or racing themselves. Each child had their own personality, even those who were immobile, all you had to do was look into their eyes and watch them as we started to sing or blow bubbles their eyes would light up with life. One of the best parts was snack time and being blessed to have the opportunity to be like Jesus and help feed those who could not feed themselves. Then after snack time we had our last few moments to kind of hang around with the kids and learn more about them. One of them that stuck out to us the most was a blind, 26 years old  man who has been living at the orphanage most of his life, and although his life has been difficult he took on the role as leader in starting up the songs that we sang praising God. He also sat down sat down with Jim, Jeff, and I and started to guess our ages, and to our amazement he got my age correct on the spot just by asking me to stand! Finally we prayed together and said our goodbyes. This moment here was the most difficult part of our trip/lives, saying goodbye to those who wanted and needed us so bad. Our hearts were full and overcome with emotion as tears filled our eyes rolled down our faces. Personally today this visit was a privilege to be able to be around these great kids and to be able to look at them through the eyes of God and know that even though they may be limited in some ways they are truly blessed to find joy in the most simplest of things.

-Nick

Home for Sick & Dying Babies

This mission trip, so far, has been full of new experiences for everyone as we have grown so strong as a team through our evening sharing.  Today 10 of us were at the Home for Sick & Dying Babies.  When we arrived, about 5-6 mothers with there babies were waiting to get in.  When we actually got down to the reception area, there were another 8-12 families waiting for care for their children.  There were 2 areas, more severe & less severely ill children. Each room had rows if cribs, head to foot, with numbers on each crib.  We were there to just love them up, to do whatever we could do to for them.  Some we fed, changed diapers, helped them drink formula from a cup.  We were there to share the love of Jesus to these babies.

#14.    I walked into a section with the  more severely sick babies.  As soon as I walked in I saw a baby in #14.  I picked up this baby with a name I did not know & looked into the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen.  As I held this child, I am guessing a boy, to be about  7-9 months old, he just stared at me looking into my eyes.  I softly started to sing a lullaby that I wrote for my daughter when she was born.  He just kept looking at me as I sang. Then I prayed for this little one for God to heal this little guy. I held him for about 8-10 minute and went to put him back in his crib & he would have nothing to do with that.  He started to cry so I kept holding him a little longer.  I went to put him down & he started crying again.  My heart was torn so I kept holding him.  All he wanted was to be held, to have contact with someone.  At that moment in time I was that someone.  God put me in that child's life for that 15 minute or so, to show him that someone cared.  I put him down and walked away as he cried.  I walked around a corner so he could not see me. I am sure he touched my heart more than I touched his.

In the next section was a little girl laying in bed, very thin.  I started to rub her tummy & pray for her. A few moments later I started softly rubbing her hair.  She was hot to the touch, seeming to me to have a low grade fever.   I picked her up to hold her. I started praying for her and I could feel her back bone which seemed to be curved rather than straight.  I could  feel her rib cage, noticed sagging skin on her inner thigh.  This child was malnourished.  You see photos on TV or online but until you hold a child in this condition it does not really hit home. I held her and she did not move, just letting be hold her.  She was not the only baby like this that I held. This was a lot harder than I anticipated.

Last story.  I later went over to the side of babies not as severely ill.  In fact when I walked in there were many sitting on the floor playing with toys.  I sat down on the floor with a boy with a nerf soccer ball and we started to play catch.  As I played with him, he would giggle & smile.  I would imitate how he would throw the ball & he laugh & smile bigger.  I was leaning against a crib so I would hide the ball behind my head & he had a look of "what happened to the ball."  When the ball got away from him he would crawl after it.  All of a sudden, much to my surprise, he got up to walk after the ball. He then started to try to kick the ball.  I hope he had as much fun as I did.  After about 15 minutes I left this future soccer play and went on to bring the love of Jesus to as many babies as I could.

There are many babies I prayed over, sang to & fed.  This happened during visiting hours when parent had there babies in the court yard so the babies that were in the cribs did not have anyone, hopefully, only that day.  The team that went here this day at this time in the lives of these babies were called for such a time is this, to do his will & share the love of Jesus.

-- Mike Beaudry



The team also visited Apparent Project and learned how this creative organization is ending the orphan cycle through job creation.

Water Truck Day ~ Day 2 Eaglebrook Church Woodbury

Before water truck

Today we delivered clean water to Cite Soleil. From the minute the door opened on the Tap Tap (the truck we ride in) we were covered in beautiful children! They want to be loved and held and didn't want us to let go. In thinking about what this day would bring, I wondered if my heart would be broken when I stepped into their world. But for me it was exactly the opposite. My heart is spilling over with love and joy and I felt the Lord working in me in a way I've never experienced before!! My heart is not broken.... my heart is OPEN!!!! Even with the language barrier, the eyes are the window to the soul and hugs are the universal expression of love.

We went to Hope Church and we got to physically sit in the church that Eaglebrookers along with many other churches helped build!! Again, my heart was filled with love and joy to see and touch what the Lord is doing here. What was once a garbage dump is now a place to worship and praise Jesus! It moved me so deeply to hear the story of this church as he explained this world to us in his words!!

The team at Hope Church.

I'm so grateful and feel so blessed to be part of this team. I will never be the same. Tomorrow we get to love sick babies and handicapped children, our hearts will be filled much more love.

Thank you God for moving me to be here, now... your time, your glory...  is my gift and I am grateful!!! Love, Becki Alexander


Day 2
Water Truck Day!!

I woke up this morning to find our house hosts busy in the kitchen getting ready to feed the team breakfast.  I quickly found myself mixing up pancake batter and grilling pancakes.  Thanks to Mike and Paula for their help too!!  I then was traded to the job of cooking the scrambled eggs which  included, tomatoes, green peppers, turkey, and cheese.  Pretty yummie!!!!  While I was stirring the eggs, one of our hosts came over to check on me.  To my astonishment, she did not use the towel that I was using to hold the handle of the hot pan.  NO, she grabbed the side of the large pan with her bare hand and started to stir the pan herself.  She did this while looking at me and having a beautiful smile on her face.  Boy is she tough, but also kind and gentle!!  After breakfast we headed out to deliver water at three different stops.

I had heard from a family member that the water truck experience would be something that would be something that I would remember for the rest of my life.  He was right!!! 

We had three water stops scheduled for today. Each one of them was similar, but different.  Similar in that we were greeted by numerous families, children, and elders looking for water they needed to survive or a hug or just a smile from some strangers.   Similar in  that our team were Rock Stars at all three stops.  Different in that each stop brought new faces that welcomed our presence and that we were able to work God's plan.   I COULDN'T ASK FOR A BETTER TEAM TO SHARE MY FIRST MISSION TRIP WITH.  I COULDN'T ASK FOR BETTER LEADERS THAN ANGIE AND JASON!

The first two days have gone by quickly.  I pray that God continues to put us in a position throughout the rest of the week to do his work.  No matter what is!!!

Some words on how I felt today were...... indescribable, exhausted, devastated, heart broken, joyful, uncertain, love, happiness, and grateful.  Grateful that God has put me in this position to hopefully make a small difference in the lives that I/we came in contact with today.  Grateful that I had the unconditional support of my family and friends to experience one of my "bucket list" items.

God Bless!

Jeff Whisler

After water truck

Day One - Eagle Brook Church Woodbury team

I have always wanted to be a part of a mission trip. God has been tugging at my heart for years. I'm finally here and am excited and nervous at the same. As I sit here and reflect about the past six hours, I can honestly say that there is nothing that can prepare you for an experience like this. Nothing.  I've watched countless Healing Haiti videos, heard others share their mission stories and even done my own research on everything I could possibly research about Haiti. It doesn't matter. The moment we landed and were off the jet way, everything happened so fast. We were surrounded by Haitian airline employees, security and endless reminders about staying together. Once we started making our way through customs, we waited for other team members to get through and in the meantime were entertained by the airport mariachi band. The next phase was getting through a sea of Haitians to get to our transportation. This was where it started to get real for me. Once we finally made our way through the chaos, we piled our bags and our selves into a truck called a tap tap. It was an adventure of its own trying to get out of the parking lot. People cut you off left and right. Horns constantly honking. As we made our way around a corner, my heart instantly broke.  The vehicles in front of us were stopped by a bunch of teenage kids in the middle of the street harassing the car for food. They made their way to us and did the same thing. Once we made our way through the complete chaos we arrived at the guest house where we are staying for the week. We unpacked the donations, our personal stuff, settled in and had a nice dinner. We also met the resident dogs. Yes, there are four of them and they're all very sweet. After dinner we all cleaned up and Angie, our amazing team lead, asked if we would like to meet some of the neighbor kids. Once we opened the gate, there were a handful of boys that made their way over to us. I didn't know what to expect or really, what to do. Angie introduced some of them to us and they gave us all a hug and some of the younger kids wanted to touch our hair. They were smiling and happy to see us. We brought out a soccer ball for them to play with and they were filled with so much joy. The smiles when we asked them if they wanted to play soccer next door were priceless. We started walking up this gravel, rocky road to a building next door that wasn't really a building. It was were a building use to be. There was a small playing field, enough to kick a ball around and that was good enough for those kids. In the corner were two ladies. One was in a chair getting her hair done. I starting taking pictures with the camera and the kids came up to me and wanted their picture taken with anyone they were standing around. They were so happy and very excited to spend time with us. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings and the rest of the time I am here. I am blessed beyond words to have this experience. I saw God today. He was in the child's smile when he was holding the camera with me eager to see his own image. He was in the tap tap ride with the driver who helped us get to where we needed. He was in the teenage girls who were laughing together standing along side a broken down building. He was with our team as we prayed together at dinner and shared stories before bed. He was with me when I teared up multiple times at the conditions these people have to endure every single day reminding me that He is good. He IS good. All the time! I can't to see what God wants to show me this week. Break my heart, Lord, for what breaks yours. Let me be your hands and feet this week and teach me what I need to know so when I go home I am forever changed in You. Amen!

-- Rachel Guidarelli

Orevwa - Jessica

Orevwa means goodbye in Creole, and it's hard to believe it's already time to say goodbye to Haiti.  We are busy packing and getting ready to travel home, but I find myself reflecting deeply upon all the things we are saying goodbye to as we depart this amazing place.

Goodbye to the joy we have seen here which is amazing and is almost unparalleled at home.  We have been fortunate to show love to so many and truly be the hands and feet of Christ here and it only takes a little effort to get big smiles.  True joy comes from knowing you are loved and I only hope we can share that unconditional, never-failing love to Christ with others when we get home.

Goodbye to the beauty that exists here in the diversity we experienced every day.  There are beautiful moments to savor and treasure that you can't even imagine are possible.  Hope is a beautiful thing too, and Healing Haiti is bringing that hope to so many who need it.  

Orevwa seemed to be the hardest word to say as we left each and every site we were fortunate to visit this week.  We left people in conditions that were unimaginable to me before I experienced it myself.  We left people with desperate looks on their faces and we wanted so badly to help more than we felt we did or could.  We also left behind a little part of ourselves with each and every visit.  What we take with us is so much greater and I pray that we can all continue to be strengthened through the many ways God has revealed Himself to us this week.  I am confident of this, there will be a day when we won't have to say goodbye because we will all be together in heaven and we can celebrate and rejoice in Him together forever!

Glwa Pou Bondye!

Saturday June 25, Water Truck Morning/Apparent Project - Tammy P.

                                                                                               

Another great day in the books for us. Our group went to Cite Soleil once again and delivered much needed water. As written in priors posts, water is not just a want in the slums, but a valuable resource to be able to continue living. Upon arriving, children seeing our truck come running with their arms outstretched and big smiles on their faces. How wonderful to see pure joy!  Seas of young, beautiful brown faces greet us with "Hey you!" and have outstretched arms to be lifted up. Children ages 5 on up and adults, holding babies in their arms, would lift the babies up for us to hopefully grab. There are so many, and while we can't hold them all, we may have 1 or 2 at a time, whispering in Creole how much we love them, how much God loves them, sing sweet songs, and play games like ring around the rosy, London bridge, give horse back rides, and play clapping games. These kiddos just fill up our hearts to overflowing. That is why most short term missionaries who come here with Healing Haiti, return again and again. We get so much more than we could ever give.

Our group had a chance to refresh after water truck and so many of us walked over to the nearby hotel pool. It is such a nice place to cool off, relax or play, eat french fries, and swim.

After the break, our group went to the Apparent Project or Papillon (butterfly) Enterprises. It is a place for consumers to purchase items from the Haitian people. Apparent Project creates jobs for mothers and fathers who don't want to abandon their children to orphanages because they can't feed them. It provides opportunities to women who have never had an education and who can't write their names. It provides hope through the dignity of a job, training in the ability to create something new out of something discarded, using material that has deemed worthless and then breathing beauty into again.

We helped the Haitian economy by purchasing beautiful jewelry made out of clay, old cereal boxes, beads, and/or metal. Clay pottery, metal art, clothing, Christmas ornaments, headbands, heated up wine bottles that have been flattened, embroidered towels are just some of the items that can be found there. Pizza Amore is located upstairs and our group enjoyed some amazing pizza in a tropical open air setting covered by a huge thatch roof.

Our group continues to bond over serving together, eating and praying together, loving up the locals together, and having a raucous time laughing and singing in the tap tap and elsewhere. What a beautiful experience it is!

Water Truck Day 2-By Darren

Yesterday we had the chance to take the team back into Cite Soleil for a 1/2 day of helping on the water truck.  We met the water truck just outside of Cite Soleil and followed it into an area called 4 Coffins.  This seems to be the poorest of the poor as far as Cite Soleil neighborhoods go.  Most of the houses are made of sheets of tin.  

What amazed me was the orderliness of the people as we began to distribute water.  During some water stops pure chaos seems to be the prevailing activity.  Not here, the people que'd up for the most part and the process of distributing our 2500 gallons of fresh water went very well.

Also incredible at this stop were the children.  From the time we parked and tried to get out of the tap tap, the kids were everywhere!  

One little boy stood out to me.  I'm holding him in the first picture.  He was burning up with fever, looked incredibly malnourished and lethargic.  He seemed most content with me simply holding him and at times he'd lay his head on my shoulder and fall asleep.  At those moments I would hug him tightly.  My heart was breaking knowing that in a few short minutes I'd have to put him back on the ground and leave.  The toughest part of this is not knowing what will happen to him.  In the last few minutes of being there, I closed my eyes and prayed that God would protect this sweet little boy and make him strong and healthy.  It's these moments, where my heart gets broken that makes these trips so compelling for me.  If you study the photos of many of these children you'll see a deep and quiet desperation in their eyes.  

The other insight I had at this stop was in seeing the amount of children whos hair color was a burnt orange.  This is an indication of malnutrition in these children.  Again, another very sad reality of the poverty that truly exists in Cite Soleil as well as many other part of Haiti.