Monday June 28

Hey friends :)

Saturday, all of us (both teams) went up the mountain to build homes near St. Etienne. The World Race team had gone up there fairly consistently over the last few weeks, but this was our team's first trip up there to work. It's so beautiful in the mountains, but definitely hard work! All of the housing frames and supplies had to be carried in (not by us... the Haitians had already done all that hard work!). There's trails up and down the ridges and valleys, some not more than two or three feet wide. I imagine that some of those trails would be very difficult to navigate if it was rainy, and I'm sure some of them have been taken out by landslides more than once. The hiking wasn't super difficult, but I had been feeling a little under the weather since Friday night (just a little flu-ish, slight fever, etc.). God was definitely testing my endurance and reliance on Him that day! Later that afternoon, we went back to the beach and I slept for a good couple of hours, which definitely helped in the recovery process.
Saturday night, the original plan was to go to the UN for dinner, since the UN guys in this area are friends with Lex and Renee and had invited us all over. Because it was raining though, we ended up not going, but had delicious ham and cheese sandwiches on the porch instead. this might not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it was. :)

Sunday morning was church, this time under the new tin roof that was put up this week! Pictures will be on facebook when we get back. :) It's so much cooler/breezier/nicer than being under the tarp! Church was followed by resting back at the beach - a typical Sunday in Haiti. I probably slept for another 4 hours or so that afternoon, which is evidently what my body needed, because I'm back to feeling about 95% today. Sunday late afternoon we went back to church for a mini worship 'seminar' of learning some new worship songs before the big conference next week. We're not sure yet exactly what to expect with this conference, but we do know that it's July 1st-4th, and there will be about 2000 people from all over Haiti coming to Mission of Hope for a couple days for seminars and such. We'll be helping in some capacity with it, but still don't know quite what all that will entail. We'll keep you in the loop as we find out.

The World Race team left today, headed back to Port-au-Prince for a day or two of debriefing before they all fly home. It has been so great to work alongside them and get to hear their stories over the last few weeks! We will miss them all greatly!

Before the conference starts Thursday, the five of us that are left have a goal of finishing at least 15 more houses over the next three days. I think it's do-able.... so we better get back to work :)

love you all!!

to Him be the Glory!

Friday June 25

just a snapshot of everyday life here in haiti:

- 15 people in the back of a small toyota truck.... and you still have room for 4 or 5 more.
- just throw the suitcase on the roof across the river in the dark in pouring rain - it'll be fine.
-side note: don't ride on the bumper of the rav 4 across the river unless you have really strong arms
- spaghetti for breakfast!
- stoplights and traffic laws? what are those?
- ravoli straight out of the can? yes please.
- mud. mud. mud. and then some more mud.
- naked people. everywhere.
- your name is now "you! you! you!"
- driving down the street is like a parade... everyday.
- things that can function as ladders: cinder blocks stacked 4 high, wicker chairs that have seen better days, folding wooden chairs, chairs made of rebar, (watched Jeff stand on) a ladder that needed 4 people to support it, particle-board beds, beds with cinder blocks on them, rocks...
- things that can function as a measuring tape: pickaxe, broom, stick, hoe, someone's shoulder.
- two hour break from work to watch the Brazil World Cup game? yes. everyone's a Brazil fan.
- have a personal-space bubble? not anymore!
- deet is your friend.
- finding blue tarp nails still in your pockets when you change at the end of the day.
- sweating more than you ever thought possible.
- cutoff t-shirts are the new style.
- clothes washed in the river and dried on rocks... and they smell cleaner than you ever thought they could.
- don't sit down at the orphanage with a group of girls for more than 5 minutes if you don't want your hair braided.

and that's just the highlights....

Wednesday June 23

we won!! World Cup: USA 1, Algeria 0. means USA and England move on to the next round :)

now... back to work.

to Him be the glory!

Tuesday June 22

hey friends! sorry it's been a few days since the last post. we were all at the office sunday afternoon to watch the brazil world cup game, and i planned to update then, but the internet wasn't cooperating. attempt #2 was yesterday (monday) afternoon, but then it started storming and the internet went out completely (satellite connection). so here's attempt #3. welcome to haiti :)

so the last few days... saturday we worked in the morning again (to make up for not working thursday), then had a fairly low-key afternoon with just our team at the beach property. the world race team had stayed in Jacmel for an extra few days after the wedding, and they got back early sunday morning.
sunday morning i also had the privilege of teaching at church. warren (one of the guys from the world race team) has been doing a series on the kingdom of God, and about how the kingdom coming here on earth requires an inward transformation of each of our hearts. caleb continued that by talking on tuesday about being pure in heart. i chose to teach on Colossians 1 and 3, on how the kingdom of the Son is supreme, and is greater than the kingdom of darkness we have been delivered from. also went on then to discuss how we are to live then as citizens of the kingdom of the Son, as Paul outlines in chapter 3 ("since then you are raised with Christ, set your mind on things that are above..."

yesterday, they started a big construction project at the church, putting up a large tin roof in place of the tarps that they've been holding church and school and everything else under since the earthquake. i'll try to post a picture or two tomorrow if i can. it's exciting to see so much progress in just a day and a half! they should have the roof completed in the next day or so. not sure exactly what the final plan is, but it's definitely exciting! mission of hope is hosting a missions conference the beginning of july, and so it needs to be completed by then. the construction project is being done by the haitian work crew, which leaves the rest of us to finish more houses! 9 done yesterday, and at least 6 more already today - and it's only lunchtime!

speaking of... time to go eat :)
love you all!

to Him be the glory!

Friday June 18

Hey friends! I got a phone call last night via Kevin Poest and skype that the team had gotten to MIA safely, and got an email today from Jason saying that they were all home, so that means the two-week crew is all safe and sound back in Ohio. Thanks to the drivers who sacrificed sleep to pick them all up from DTW!

The 2010 wedding season just wouldn't be complete without a Haitian wedding, now would it?! The five of us still here had the privilege of going to Maestro (the Music Director at Mission of Hope) and his fiance Elsie's wedding in Jacmel yesterday. It was beautiful! So fun to share in a uniquely Haitian experience. Pictures to come on facebook (via Lauren and Steph) when we get home :)

After about 8 hours of bouncing around in the white bus yesterday [Grand Goave - Port au Prince - Grand Goave - Jacmel - Grand Goave], today is a little low-key. We tarped another 4 homes today, and now are catching up on some internet and maybe even a little World Cup this afternoon :) Lex got a nice TV so they can watch the games at the orphanage... might get a chance to take advantage of that this afternoon. It's been fun to be in a foreign country during the World Cup - everyone loves football! A lot of people here are Brazil fans, since Haiti's team isn't in the World Cup this year. Everyone knows the Africa song, too. Probably hear it an average of at least 5 times a day here. So fun.

That's all for now... time to pass the computer. :)
love you friends!

To Him be the Glory!

Wednesday June 16

Hey friends!

Thanks for all the encouraging notes and wall posts and messages. we love you all so much.

Can't believe we're already at day eleven! The nine people from the two-week crew [Rachel, Rachel, Kelley, Sarah, Jason, Steve, McKenzie, Olivia, and Maggie] are headed home tomorrow. The rest of us will be sad to see them go! some conversations earlier this afternoon revolved around what food will be the first meal back in the US... steak and shake, chick-fil-a, milkshakes, mountain dew... we've got a team of healthy eaters. haha. :) Their flight will be leaving PAP at 12:10pm to MIA, then leaving MIA at 8:00pm and arriving at DTW around 11:00pm. please pray for safe travels and that all logistics will run smoothly. I personally won't be with them once they're inside the PAP airport, so please pray for my peace of mind as well. :)

The last few days have been good ones. David was sick from Monday afternoon until this morning, but is feeling much much better today - definitely an answer to prayer. Other than that, things have been going well. Yesterday afternoon, we had a birthday party at the beach property for all the kids from the orphanage. It was so much fun - swimming in the ocean, eating birthday cake, coloring pictures, making tambourines, etc. etc. Lots of joy for sure! I'm sure a zillion pictures will find their way to facebook as soon as everyone gets home tomorrow night!

On the construction front, we finished five more houses this morning, putting the count somewhere in the mid-30s (I think). One woman whose house we finished today was praying as we were cleaning up, "Merci Jesi, Merci Jesi, Merci Signeur", meaning "Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord". simply wonderful. that's what this is all about.

To Him be the Glory.

Monday June 14

Today is a good day. We tarped 7 - count them, 7! - houses today, plus we finished building the beds in an 8th one, so it will be ready for a tarp first thing tomorrow. We're working efficiently as teams now, and everyone is getting really good at their specific roles in the process. The last two work days with all of us here are going to be good ones... I can feel it!

We had a wonderful weekend of "rest"... some actual rest, and some fun activities :) Saturday we slept in a little [until 6:30-7ish] which was a nice break from the normal 5:15am! Mid-morning, we all piled in the back of a Diahatsu flatbed truck for a road trip to Jacmel, a city on the southern shore, about 2 hours over the mountains from Grand Goave. It was a fun ride, windy, curvy mountain highways, sunshine, wind in your hair... but we were all a little sore by the end of the day from bouncing around back there without too much padding! We stopped briefly at a hotel in Jacmel so Lex and Renee could take care of some arrangements for a wedding there on Thursday, and then drove another 20 minutes or so to the beach. This place was the definition of 'beachfront' restaurant - the tables and chairs were on the sand, right at the high tide line! We had conch, a whitefish of some kind, and lobster, fried plantains, and the standard rice and beans. It was delicious! After lunch, time for some bodysurfing and playing in the waves for a while, then back in the truck for the ride home. A great surprise from Lex and Renee on the way home - ice cream! Chocolate, and the best vanilla you've ever tasted. In conversations on the way home, David asked Olivia what her 'contentment level' was at that moment. I was at about a 10.8 [on a scale of 0 to 11]. It was a really good day. :D

Sunday morning was church, and Warren [one of the guys from the World Race team] taught while Pastor Lex translated. He talked about the necessity of biblical community, and especially having people in your life to rebuke you when you need correction, and to encourage you when you need encouragement. One thing about church in Haiti that I still find very interesting is that everyone - and I mean everyone - dresses up for church Sunday. They might live in the tent city across the street, but when they walk into church, they look their best. Nice dresses, dress shirts, suit pants... that's just what they do here. In a way, it's a kind of reverence that I think [at least our generation] has largely lost. Yes, the 'come as you are' method works well in churches today, but there's still something refreshing about dressing up for church.
[ I know, I know... who would have thought.... Kim Conrad enjoys wearing skirts sometimes.... we've all had our laugh, now we can move on. :) ]

The good morning at church was followed by a relaxing afternoon back at the beach property. card games were played, naps were taken, hair was braided... just a good day of rest to catch up from a week of working hard and a Saturday of playing hard. Today was a great day of work, and hopefully tomorrow and Wednesday continues that trend. Can't believe we're taking 9 people to the airport to fly home on Thursday! David has changed his ticket, and will be staying for the next 2 1/2 weeks with Caleb, Steph, Lauren, and myself. We're glad to have his help and mad French skills with us for a while longer. :)
Love you all!


To Him be the Glory!

just two pics...

first one is all of us in the truck, getting ready to leave the beach property to head to the worksite on Wednesday.

second one is of the Samaritan's Purse homes that we've been building. you can see the bunk beds inside on the right side, and the miles of blue tarp that covers the walls. :)

Friday June 11

Hello friends! Sorry that it's been a few days since the last update. I promise we all still love you and think of you often!

So where to begin? It's been a great week. busy but productive, and tiring but definitely rewarding. We've hammered hundreds of nails, stretched miles of blue tarps, played with kids, sung worship songs, eaten lots of rice and beans, learned a few words of Creole, swam in the ocean, developed a new appreciation for a nice breeze, started some sweet tan lines, and sweat more than we ever thought the human body was capable of sweating. haha! It's definitely hot here, but everyone has adjusted fairly well to the heat. Pepe, the project foreman, always tells us 'break! break!'... meaning if we continue working a second more, he's not going to leave us alone until we take a break and drink some water in the shade. It's good to know he's looking out for us 'blancs'! (white people). It's been great to work alongside some of the Haitian workers here as well. They work so hard, and are so kind to us.

I lost track of the number of houses we've built so far, but it's probably around 18 or 20. Mission of Hope has partnered with Samaritan's Purse, and our team [as well as the World Race team that is here with us] has been working from about 7am to mid-afternoon each day constructing them. Here's the process: the 4 walls are already pre-fabricated, so all we do is attach them to each other, and make sure it's square. then anchors are dug for each corner, a 2x4 with a metal strip attached, which is then buried about 18 in deep at each corner and the metal is nailed to the corner of the house. Metal strips and brackets also attach the roof framing to the walls, and the wall studs to the bottom frame. The roof is framed in, then tin sheets are screwed on top. Three bunk beds are built into the right side, wall to wall, and a larger flat bed platform is set on the ground inside on the left. A large, heavy-duty blue tarp is then stretched all the way around the entire house and nailed into all the studs. the key is to make it as tight and wrinkle-free as possible... and trust me, that's harder than it sounds! Our team has really started to hit a groove and everyone is working well together. It's exciting to me to see team members who are very much out of their comfort zone still working hard and doing well.

The goal is to eventually complete 1200 homes! Don't know that we'll quite be able to get all those done during our time here.... but we're working on it. :) The work sites where our team has been are in Thozin, very near to (right across the highway) from the orphanage/school/church site. It's been really fun to be in the same area each day, getting to meet some of the families that live there. There are kids running around constantly, and a few of them know all our names!

Despite the situation they are in, so many people here have so much joy. There was an older man today who had the biggest grin on his face as he watched some of our team finish building a home for him and five of his grandchildren. That's what this is all about. It's about blessing people because we as Christ followers are called to bring hope into darkness, and care for the 'least of these'. I speak for the team when I say that the people we are here serving have impacted us in so many ways as well; this is definitely not a one-sided thing of us serving them, because we have learned so much from them as well. Haitian people are gracious and kind, and it has been wonderful to come alongside of them.

We are truly blessed, and thank you for your prayers for us! Tomorrow is an 'off' day... and we're going on a trip to Jacmel, a town along the southern shore about 2 hours from here. Lunch on the beach is the plan I heard.... and we're all about that! It will be good to have a day to rest and spend time with each other when we're not swinging hammers. :)
Love you all.

to Him be the Glory!

Thursday June 10

we're still doing well!! yesterday was a great day of construction, and hopefully today continues that trend! need to run to the job site to start work before it gets too hot.... but will post another more comprehensive update soon. love you all!

to Him be the glory!

Tuesday June 8

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 5:3

Throughout this trip, our team will be going through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Many thanks to Kevin, who put together the study for us! I'm looking forward myself to see how God challenges us and grows us each day as we study His word.

This morning we talked about what it means to truly be 'poor in spirit' - how we are called to humble ourselves before God, realizing that we have nothing of our own to offer, but only what work the Holy Spirit does in and through us. We are to be fully reliant on Him and his strength and power, and only then will we be truly effective. This doesn't mean beating ourselves up about how we're terrible people who never do anything right. We are created in God's image, and therefore have value as His children. But to expect that we are completely independent, self-sufficient people who can handle any challenge on our own strength is to have a very distorted view of who God calls us to be as His children. Loved, absolutely. Strong, confident, and joyful... yes. But confident in Him, and not ourselves - empowered by Him and His Spirit in the midst of and in spite of our brokenness. That's something I continue to be amazed by every day: how God chooses to work in a broken world through broken people, all in the name of restoring things back to how they should be, in right relationship with Him.

to Him be the Glory!

Monday June 7

We're here!! Our flight landed in Port-Au-Prince yesterday (Sunday, 6 June 2010), only about an hour and a half delayed - not too bad. luckily Jeff and Miguel decided to wait for us! The whole baggage claim/customs/walk out the gate was WAY less hectic than before. There was actually a small conveyor belt set up in the baggage claim hangar now, and so it was MUCH easier and less overwhelming to collect our 27 bags, which included a guitar and two shovels and a sledgehammer wrapped in some garbage bags and duct tape. [We roll in style, what can I say?!] They also set up a secondary fence outside of the main airport fence, so there was less shoving through crowds of people. Big was there to meet us, like before. Forward in Health (a medical missions group that was here recently) had a bus, probably twice the size of the little yellow one, that Mission of Hope is currently using. it's pretty much luxurious! The drive to Grand Goave was uneventful, especially since it was getting dark, and most of us were so tired. We arrived at the beach compound where we are staying around 8:30, and Mary Yve had dinner ready and waiting for us. The other team (a group of 10 from Adventures in Mission's World Race) returned from church soon after that, and we met each other briefly before crashing out for the evening.

Today was an early morning - up at 5am for breakfast before meeting with Renee and some of the Haitian workers at the orphanage around 6. SInce we had already adjusted to 'Haitian time', we rolled in promptly around 6:45. After a quick meeting to discuss the Samaritan's Purse transitional houses that we'll be building, we got right to work. With 24 of us, between the two teams, plus two more girls that are here from Germany, we had plenty of hands to work! There were 12 housing kits that had been partially started already, and we finished all of those, plus in the afternoon, we started a 13th house which will be finished tomorrow (Tuesday).

Today was a lot of watching and learning how these houses go together; since they're from Samaritan's Purse, there are specific instructions on how to build them - what pieces go where, in what order, etc. [I'll explain the houses in more detail in a future post, since it seems that's what a majority of us will be spending most of our time working on.]

After spending a long, hot day working on the houses, we came back to the beach for some much needed downtime. Most of us showered, and we finally unpacked and organized those 27 bags we brought with us. We sorted through everything, and came up with 3 suitcases of supplies for the team (clif bars, gatorade packets, miscellaneous tools, antibacterial soap refills, etc.) and about 16 of donated supplies (clothes, school supplies, toys for the kids, soccer balls, and other donated things).

We had delicious Chicken Pot Pie made by the wonderful Mary Yve, and then talked about our first impressions of Haiti. Lots of good thoughts and wheels turning... God is transforming some worldviews on this trip. After dinner was worship songs around the table, led by Caleb, and then it was time for bed! As I'm writing this (9:57pm Monday), pretty much everyone in the whole camp is already asleep. Early to bed, early to rise... that's how they do it here.

So the short version: we're here safe, going to be building some houses, God is good. More to come tomorrow!

to Him be the glory!

first photos of the trip!

it's a pretty good looking group, considering it's 630am! :) this was in the Detroit airport, just before we got on the first flight of the day. some faces to go with the list of names...

L-R, front row: Kim Conrad, Rachel Hurst, Olivia Johnson, Rachel Eversole, Kelley Parker, and Sarah Conner. L-R, back row: David Besse, McKenzie Baker, Steve Salapski, Maggie Gannon, Caleb Kuzman, Jason Ball, Stephanie Kline, and Lauren Pshsnychniak.

we're currently in the Miami airport, waiting to get on the flight from MIA-PAP. our scheduled ETD was 2:35, which has now been pushed back to 3:00. so far, so good though... no complaints. just means we had time to take a quick nap in the airport :)

we love you all! thank you especially to all who wrote us notes of encouragement for the trip... so wonderful.

to Him be the glory.

i love our community.

yesterday was the first CF (Campus Focus, the college ministry here in Akron) of the summer. Kevin taught on how Jesus was tempted in the desert, and of how God used that to prove his victory over the evil one. He also reminded us that God allows us to be tempted not to watch us fail, but to grow us through the process.
after the last few worship songs, they brought the team up front, and gave us a charge to persevere through the trials that we will encounter on the trip. whatever issues might come up throughout the trip, whether large or small, our God will be faithful, and if we choose to trust and persevere, we open the door for Him to grow us in incredible ways.

afterwards, everyone gathered around and laid hands on us, and Brian and Kevin prayed for us. it was really powerful to see such a visual picture of the support of our community. [i *might* have even shed a tear or two...] it's so encouraging to be reminded that there are SO MANY people who love us and will be praying for us! in all honesty, i've been a little stressed out this week taking care of last minute details, and it was really good to take time to refocus on the big picture of why we're doing this in the first place.

it's not just about fitting exactly 48 pounds of notebooks and clothes and donated meds in each suitcase [although we did a great job of that], or about making sure we each get the right malaria prescription, or even about a fun trip to go play with some really cute kids [although the kids are definitely great].

it's about restoring brokenness to wholeness, because we love and serve a God who desperately wants broken things to be made whole again. it's about living today in hope because we trust that one day everything will be made right and good because that's how it was created to be. it's about being a small piece in a much bigger picture of what God is doing in and through His people, and it's about being faithful to the work that he has called us to.

glow sticks, swimming pools, and shovels

what do these three things have in common, you ask? all played a part in our preparations today. :)

we had a cookout this afternoon at steph's house, including a short swim in the pool once the hail and severe thunderstorms let up! good to spend time together as (most of) a team, although we were missing a few. we'll ALL be together soon enough!

steph had the brilliant idea to throw a birthday party for the orphans while we're there, since none of them know when their actual birthdays are. presents will include a water bottle, glow stick necklace, sunglasses, noisemaker (which might be both the best and worst idea ever...), and a few pieces of candy. there's also a cake mix, streamers, balloons... the whole deal. we packed the water bottles with the other items today, for ease of packing and distributing. so excited - just know the kids will LOVE this party!

also bought some other supplies today to take with us: two shovels, a sledgehammer, drill bits, lots of drywall screws, nails, hammers, rope, electrical stuff, duct tape, utility knives, work gloves... etc, etc. it will be so exciting to see things put to use! also exciting to see a picture renee posted the other day of the transitional houses they're building for families. can't wait to be a part of the work at hand in just a few short days!

the team

There will be a team of 14 of us from Campus Focus leaving the Detroit airport REALLY early on Sunday June 6. most of the team will be returning late on June 17, but a few will be staying through July 5. [Those with asterisks will be there through July.]

Caleb Kuzman*
David Besse
Jason Ball
Kelley Parker
Kim Conrad*
Lauren Pshsnychniak*
Maggie Gannon
McKenzie Baker
Olivia Johnson
Rachel Eversole
Rachel Hurst
Sarah Conner
Stephanie Kline*
Steve Salapski

All of us would love to have your support in prayer as we go! We are just a tiny, tiny piece of the big picture of what God is doing through Mission of Hope in Grand Goave, and throughout the rest of Haiti.
We serve a God who is in the business of restoring broken things, and feel blessed that He is choosing to use us to help accomplish His purposes. To Him be the glory!

welcome!

The plan is to use this to keep all of you updated daily (or at least every few days) on what is happening in Grand Goave throughout our time there. I will be spending approximately a month there, working with the wonderful people at Mission of Hope.

Feel free to pass along this blog address to anyone and everyone who is interested in what our team is doing!

I'll post some more background/preparation info about the trip soon...