Day one: travel.
Day two (day one in Haiti): travel to Haiti; MAF 5 person plane ride to Jacmel. Road in a taptap. Held a child at an orphange after having a girl jump on me as I entered.
I went to Jacmel, Haiti from Friday July 30th to Saturday August 6th. Our team had ten people, five guys and five girls (one of the guys being the college pastor, Ben, and the rest college age 18-25). It took about a day of travel to get to Jacmel. We went from Portland, OR to Dallas, TX and then to Miami, FL. We got into Miami at midnight. After “sleeping” a few hours in the airport, we went to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We rode our first “Tap-tap” (Haitian taxi - it is like a truck with a higher raised bed in the back with two benches on each side). We piled our luggage and all ten of us in to the tap-tap to get from one airport to another. We had several hours waiting in a small warm airport before our flight to Jacmel. We took a Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) flights to Jacmel. The plane can only hold 1000 pounds maximum with six passengers, one being the pilot, and our luggage. Half of the team went to Jacmel on the MAF flight at noon and when the plane returned, the rest of the team went. The flight from Port-Au-Prince to Jacmel was about twenty minutes. During the flight over Port-au-Prince, we were able to see the ten communities that have formed.
Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative, CCHI, has rented a nice two story home in Jacmel. After we settled in the home, we had orientation and an overview of what we were doing for the week. Later, we went to an orphanage called Mother Thereso’s orphanage. The ladies at the orphanage feed, clean, and whatever else that is needed to take care of the children. The younger children would stay in cribs and the only time they would be held what when they were being changed or fed. The older children were outside and inside playing or some were sleeping. As soon as we entered the orphanage, the children would hug us or hold our hand. I had a girl jump on me as I walked through the door. We were able to feed the babies and play with the older children outside. We stayed there about thirty minutes and then went back to the home for dinner. We were very tired from traveling and went to bed early.
Our meals for the week were very good, better than what I had expected. CCHI had hired a Haitian lady to cook for long term missionaries and the short term teams. Marie Carmel would cook breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was most days was oatmeal and fresh fruit; a couple of days we had pancakes with fruit. Dinner was usually a Haitian dish with rice. For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost every day. Lunches were made by some members of my team that had that as their chore.
Each member of the team was given chores for the week that were done every day after breakfast or when it was needed to be done. My chore with another guy Ben (not the college pastor) was to sweep and mop all the floors in and around the house; I also had dinner dishes as a chore. Other chores were making lunch, doing the dishes after the meals, making purified water through a filtration system, making sure the two water coolers were filled with water and ice, and cleaning the bathrooms.
Day two: mopped the floors in the house. Went to church called Hosana; talked about victory in God. Swam in the Carribbean.
Sunday, we went to the church; half our team went to an early service. I went to a later one and we sat in the front row. They had a time of worship and a sermon. The sermon was in Creole (language of Haiti that is a mix of French and an African dialect). The pastor spoke a few sentences of what the sermon was about in English. We had lunch back at the house and then had the afternoon to spend at the beach swimming in the Caribbean. Besides having our tap-tap break down on the side of the road for a little bit, it was a relaxing day after travel before a busy week ahead of us.
Day three: VBS at an orphanage in the morning and at a church by the beach. Showed a cartoon version of the Jesus film and did a skit about having Jezi, Jesus, in your heart.
From Monday to Thursday we had an early rise at 5:30 or 6am and had a time of prayer, ate breakfast and did chores. Once we were done with chores we would go out and do Vacation Bible School type outreaches. We would go to an orphanage or community church for an hour to two in the mornings and afternoons; we would go back to the house for lunch. We would present the gospel to the children and play games with the children with the parachute, jump-rope, and soccer ball. Sometimes we would make balloon animals for them or let them blow bubbles. What we did depended on how many children we had and how much space we had. The children loved to be loved: held, touched, and play games with them. We would present the gospel with the wordless book colors [yellow or gold = heaven; black = sin; red = Jesus’ blood; white = made pure; green = new life.] and give them bracelets.
Another team had arrived to CCHI home a day sooner than anticipated and we were able to help them get settled in the home and serve them. Since we had been there a few days, it was like we were a part of the home and they were our guests. It made the house full of people. They were a team that would put on sports out reaches. We expected their team to be a younger group, but they were around my parent’s age and we expected to get to know them more, but that didn’t happen. We had some moments where someone knew the same person someone on our team knew. Makes us realize how small the world is. We didn’t work with them at all, just stayed at the same house with them and had some meals together.
After dinner Monday, we went back to the church by the beach and showed the film, “The God Man,” and did the skit. Some members of the team learned the skit Sunday night. The skit had a girl with a large cardboard heart that had the middle cut out from it; she would walk around sad showing the crowd of people her empty heart. Two others would come in front of the crowd and one would try to fill her heart with partying and getting drunk and the other would try to fill her heart with money. When that did not work, they tried to fill her heart with themselves, but that would not work either so they left. Another friend came in and told her about Jesus from the Bible and prayed with her, after that Jezi, Jesus, filled her heart and she was happy. The pastor at the church went up to the front, and explained the skit to the crowd of people. He had an alter call and a few people came to know Jesus.
Day four: VBS at an orphange. Haitian spagetti for lunch. Heading up the mountain for another VBS and showing the film and skit. God is doing great things. The children love being held.
End of day four: [Tuesday] Had pb & j for dinner. The ride up the mountain on the Tap Tap was exciting, some would say terrifying; however we made it there and back to the CCHI home. I believed that if the wind and waves obey Christ, that the Tap Tap and the tires would listen too. We showed the cartoon Jesus film and played games on the mountain.
My time in Haiti allowed me to get to know the people on my team better and the experience Tuesday helped the bonding. According to one of my friends Jeremy, we almost died going to the church on the mountain. I did not see or feel that way but the experience was pretty intense. On our way to the church in the mountains it began to rain. We had a bigger tap-tap because we had to drive through some shallow rivers. The rain made the road slippery and we hit something (a rock?) and one of the four back tires popped. For about ten minutes we were stuck on a hill with a cliff on one side. We slid backwards a few times; eventually we went backwards purposefully to become not stuck and then the driver just revved the engine to get over the area. We made it to the church and showed the film inside the church while it was raining. After the film and alter call, the children went outside and we played games with them. The original plan was that our team was going to go to this church and have a VBS for the afternoon and then have a dinner break and then show the film in the evening. The rain and our circumstances changed the plan, but God was definitely in control. He kept us safe and allowed us to leave during daylight and make it home safely.
We made it home early in the evening and were able to rest and have a group meeting and devotional time. Ben, the college pastor, had us that evening say something encouraging about everyone. It took a while, but it was really good. I prayed for God to keep me humble because I know whatever good that I may have done, the credit goes to God and for His glory.
Every morning and evening we had a group prayer time and devotional time. It was pretty neat to be able to learn more of God through our experiences and through reading his word, prayer and fellowship.
Day five: (facebook kicks me off for attempting to log on with an unfamiliar phone and place.) [Wed] went to an all girls orphanage and played with them on a small patio space. Had pb & j for lunch. Went to a community church and ran a VBS where there were probably 100 kids. Walked from the house to the view point and then walked down to the cove/beach. Climbed up some rocks and jumped in the ocean.
Spending time with these children was such a blessing. I know that they won’t remember me but I hope and pray that they remember Jesus that was shining through the members of my team. At each place I went to, a child would latch on to me and want to be carried or hold my hand. I would pray for them to know Jesus and to grow to be a strong woman or man of God.
I somewhat became the photographer of the trip. There is only so much I could do when they are playing games. I found I was most useful in documenting the event. When I was taking photos or videos, many times I was holding a child or holding their hand. The children loved to have their pictures taken and then to see their photo on the view screen of the digital camera. A girl at this all girls orphanage was lovely and her eyes were so beautiful. All these children are precious. I know that there is one child I specifically remember from almost all the places, their memory is in my heart.
Day six: [Thursday] Went to the tent village community and ran a VBS. I walked around with a girl and took some video of the places. Had pb & j for lunch at the house. Went to the orphanage that we went to on the first day. I held a 7mo. boy named Markenson.
It was kind of a surreal experience to go back to the same orphanage we went to the first day. The realization that we had been there for a week and our time there was about to come to a close. I did not want to leave; I never want to leave on the mission trips I have gone on in the past. I have had such a hard time transitioning coming back even though it was a week. I prayed that God would help me transition well this time.
Day seven: Friday travel MAF to Port-au-Prince. Was driven around there and saw the devastation of Port-au-Prince and the buildings that have collapsed and haven't been touched. Different that Jacmel that has rebuilt much. We headed to Miami. Hit up South Beach and Pizza Rustica and a Comfort Inn.
Seeing the devastation in Port-Au-Prince was so much different than what we have been seeing in Jacmel the past week. Jamel has 40,000 people which allow them to have the means to clean up and begin rebuilding. Port-Au-Prince has 3 million people, so many people that has made it hard to go through all the rubble. The driver that took us around said that every day that they go through the rubble and are finding bodies. We saw the cathedral, the capital, three story buildings now one story, and so many piles of rubble. When I was back at home a couple of weeks, I watched a video where a group went two weeks after the earthquake. I realized that what I saw of the cathedral and capital seven months later was similar to what it looked like two weeks after the earthquake.
We went to the airport and waited for our flight to Miami. I was tired or it was that I took some motion sickness medicine for the first time and it just put me out. I was asleep most of our wait for the flight. Once in Miami at nine pm, we took a shuttle from the airport to Comfort Inn and there was another group on the shuttle. They were on their way to Haiti. They knew some of the same people we had met. It was neat to meet them as we were coming home from Haiti. Although tired, we had some fun walking around South Beach, getting some food and putting our feet (some of my friends put their whole self) in the Atlantic. We were back at the hotel at midnight and had to be up at four because we had a flight at 6am. I was out asleep, while others I think went exploring around the hotel.
Day eight: Saturday. Early flight from Miami to Dallas and then to Portland. Now, home.>
